at or drink till they had come to Bethlehem; and all this
time seemed to them but a day.

And thus, through the mercy of God and the leading of the Star, they
came unto Jerusalem and Bethlehem the thirteenth day after Christ was
born, at the uprising of the sun, whereof is no doubt: for they found
Mary and her son in the same place where the Child was born, and laid in
the manger.

But when the three blessed Kings, with their host and company were
almost come to Jerusalem, saving but two miles, then a great and dark
cloud held all the earth, and in that dark cloud they lost the Star. And
Melchior with his people was come fast by Jerusalem beside the hill of
Calvary, where Christ was afterward crucified; and there the King abode
in a cloud of fog and in darkness.

At that time the hill of Calvary was a rock of twelve degrees high,
where thieves and other men for divers trespasses were put to death; and
there was beside this hill a place where three highways met together.
But because of the darkness of the cloud, and also because they knew not
the way, they abode there, and went no further at that time.

And next came Balthazar, and he abode under the same cloud, beside the
Mount of Olives in a little town that is called Galilee.

Then, when the two Kings were come to these places, the cloud began to
ascend and wax clear, yet the Star appeared not. But when they saw that
they were near to the city of Jerusalem, knowing not each other, they
took their way thither with all their folk; and when they came where the
three ways met, then also appeared King Jaspar with all his host. And so
these three glorious Kings, each with his host and burdens and beasts,
met together in the highway beside the Hill of Calvary. And,
notwithstanding that none of them ever before had seen the other, nor
knew him, nor had heard of his coming, yet, at their meeting, each one
with reverence and joy kissed the other. And they were of diverse
language, yet all, seeming, used the same tongue.

So, afterward, when they had spoken together and each had told his
purpose and the cause of his journey, and the cause of all was learned
to be the same, then they were much more glad and more fervent. And so
they rode forth, and suddenly, at the uprising of the sun, they came
into the city of Jerusalem. And when they knew that this was the city
which the Chaldeans of old time had besieged and destroyed, they were
right glad, expecting to have found the K