CHAPTER XIV.
WHAT BEFELL WHEN THE THREE KINGS RETURNED TO THEIR OWN
COUNTRY.
And when they had ridden many days they said they would see what the
Child had given them. So they opened the little box, and inside it they
found a stone. On seeing this they began to wonder what this might be
that the Child had given them, and what was the import thereof. Now the
signification was this: when they presented their offerings, the Child
had accepted all three, and when they saw that they had said within
themselves that He was the True God, and the True King, and the True
Physician.{1} And what the gift of the stone implied was that this
Faith which had begun in them should abide firm as a rock. For He well
knew what was in their thoughts. Howbeit, they had no understanding at
all of this signification of the gift of the stone; so they cast it
into a well. Then straightway a fire from Heaven descended into that
well wherein the stone had been cast.
And when the Three Kings beheld this marvel they were sore amazed, and
it greatly repented them that they had cast away the stone; for well
they then perceived that it had a great and holy meaning. So they took
of that fire, and carried it into their own country, and placed it in
a rich and beautiful church. And there the people keep it continually
burning, and worship it as a god, and all the sacrifices they offer are
kindled with that fire. And if ever the fire becomes extinct they go to
other cities round about where the same faith is held, and obtain of
that fire from them, and carry it to the church. And this is the reason
why the people of this country worship fire. They will often go ten
days’ journey to get of that fire.{2}
Such then was the story told by the people of that Castle to Messer
Marco Polo; they declared to him for a truth that such was their
history, and that one of the three kings was of the city called
SABA, and the second of AVA, and the third of that very Castle where
they still worship fire, with the people of all the country round
about.{3}
Having related this story, I will now tell you of the different
provinces of Persia, and their peculiarities.
NOTE 1.—“_Mire_.” This was in old French the popular word for a
Leech; the politer word was _Physicien_. (_N. et E._ V. 505.)
Chrysostom says that the Gold, Myrrh, and Frankincense were mystic
gifts indicating King, Man, God; and this interpretation was the
usual one. Thus Prudentius:—
“Regem, Deumque adnunciant
Thesaurus et fragrans odor
Thuris Sabaei, at myrrheus
Pulvis sepulchrum praedocet.” (_Hymnus Epiphanius_.)
And the Paris Liturgy:—
“Offert Aurum _Caritas_,
Et Myrrham _Austeritas_,
Et Thus _Desiderium_.
Auro _Rex_ agnoscitur,
_Homo_ Myrrha, colitur
Thure _Deus_ gentium.”
And in the “Hymns, Ancient and Modern”:—
“Sacred gifts of mystic meaning:
Incense doth their God disclose,
Gold the King of Kings proclaimeth,
Myrrh His sepulchre foreshows.”
NOTE 2.—“Feruntque (Magi), si justum est credi, etiam ignem
caelitus lapsum apud se sempiternis foculis custodire, cujus
portionem exiguam, ut faustam praeisse quondam Asiaticis Regibus
dicunt.” (_Ammian. Marcell._ XXIII. 6.)
NOTE 3.—Saba or Sava still exists as SÁVAH, about 50 miles S.W. of
Tehrân. It is described by Mr. Consul Abbott, who visited it in
1849, as the most ruinous town he had ever seen, and as containing
about 1000 families. The people retain a tradition, mentioned by
Hamd Allah Mastaufi, that the city stood on the shores of a Lake
which dried up miraculously at the birth of Mahomed. Sávah is
said to have possessed one of the greatest Libraries in the East,
until its destruction by the Mongols on their first invasion of
Persia. Both Sávah and Ávah (or Ábah) are mentioned by Abulfeda
as cities of Jibal. We are told that the two cities were always
at loggerheads, the former being Sunni and the latter Shiya. [We
read in the _Travels_ of Thévenot, a most intelligent traveller,
“qu’il n’a rien écrit de l’ancienne ville de Sava qu’il trouva sur
son chemin, et où il a marqué lui-même que son esprit de curiosité
l’abandonna.” (_Voyages_, éd. 1727, vol. v. p. 343. He died a
few days after at Miana, in Armenia, 28th November, 1667). (_MS.
Note._—H. Y.)]
As regards the position of AVAH, Abbott says that a village still
stands upon the site, about 16 miles S.S.E. of Sávah. He did not
visit it, but took a bearing to it. He was told there was a mound
there on which formerly stood a Gueber Castle. At Sávah he could
find no trace of Marco Polo’s legend. Chardin, in whose time Sávah
was not quite so far gone to decay, heard of an alleged tomb of
Samuel, at 4 leagues from the city. This is alluded to by Hamd
Allah.
Keith Johnston and Kiepert put Ávah some 60 miles W.N.W. of Sávah,
on the road between Kazvin and Hamadan. There seems to be some
great mistake here.
Friar Odoric puts the locality of the Magi at _Kashan_, though one
of the versions of Ramusio and the Palatine MS. (see Cordier’s
Odoric, pp. xcv. and 41 of his Itinerary), perhaps corrected in
this, puts it at _Saba_.—H. Y. and H. C.
We have no means of fixing the _Kala’ Atishparastán_. It is
probable, however, that the story was picked up on the homeward
journey, and as it seems to be implied that this castle was reached
three days _after leaving_ Sávah, I should look for it between
Sávah and Abher. Ruins to which the name _Kila’-i-Gabr_, “Gueber
Castle,” attaches are common in Persia.
As regards the Legend itself, which shows such a curious mixture of
Christian and Parsi elements, it is related some 350 years earlier
by Mas’udi: “In the Province of Fars they tell you of a Well called
the Well of Fire, near which there was a temple built. When the
Messiah was born the King Koresh sent three messengers to him, the
first of whom carried a bag of Incense, the second a bag of Myrrh,
and the third a bag of Gold. They set out under the guidance of the
Star which the king had described to them, arrived in Syria, and
found the Messiah with Mary His Mother. This story of the three
messengers is related by the Christians with sundry exaggerations;
it is also found in the Gospel. Thus they say that the Star
appeared to Koresh at the moment of Christ’s birth; that it went on
when the messengers went on, and stopped when they stopped. More
ample particulars will be found in our Historical Annals, where we
have given the versions of this legend as current among the Guebers
and among the Christians. It will be seen that Mary gave the king’s
messengers a round loaf, and this, after different adventures, they
hid under a rock in the province of Fars. The loaf disappeared
underground, and there they dug a well, on which they beheld two
columns of fire to start up flaming at the surface; in short, all
the details of the legend will be found in our Annals.” The Editors
say that Mas’udi had carried the story to Fars by mistaking _Shíz_
in Azerbaiján (the Atropatenian Ecbatana of Sir H. Rawlinson) for
_Shiraz_. A rudiment of the same legend is contained in the Arabic
Gospel of the Infancy. This says that Mary gave the Magi one of the
bands in which the Child was swathed. On their return they cast
this into their sacred fire; though wrapt in the flame it remained
unhurt.
We may add that there was a Christian tradition that the Star
descended into a well between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Gregory
of Tours also relates that in a certain well, at Bethlehem, from
which Mary had drawn water, the Star was sometimes seen, by devout
pilgrims who looked carefully for it, to pass from one side to the
other. But only such as merited the boon could see it.
(See _Abbott_ in _J. R. G. S._ XXV. 4–6; _Assemani_, III. pt. 2,
750; _Chardin_, II. 407; _N. et Ext._ II. 465; _Dict. de la Perse_,
2, 56, 298; _Cathay_, p. 51; _Mas’udi_, IV. 80; _Greg. Turon. Libri
Miraculorum_, Paris, 1858, I. 8.)
Several of the fancies that legend has attached to the brief story
of the Magi in St. Matthew, such as the royal dignity of the
persons; their location, now in Arabia, now (as here) at Saba in
Persia, and again (as in Hayton and the Catalan Map) in Tarsia or
Eastern Turkestan; the notion that one of them was a Negro, and so
on, probably grew out of the arbitrary application of passages in
the Old Testament, such as: “_Venient legati ex Aegypto_: AETHIOPIA
_praevenit manus ejus Deo_” (Ps. lxviii. 31). This produced
the Negro who usually is painted as one of the Three. “_Reges_
THARSIS _et Insulae munera offerent: Reges_ ARABUM _et_ SABA _dona
adducent_” (lxxii. 10). This made the Three into Kings, and fixed
them in Tarsia, Arabia, and Sava. “_Mundatio Camelorum operiet te,
dromedarii Madian et_ EPHA: _omnes de_ SABA _venient aurum et thus
deferentes et laudem Domino annunciantes_” (Is. lx. 6). Here were
Ava and Sava coupled, as well as the gold and frankincense.
One form of the old Church Legend was that the Three were buried at
_Sessania Adrumetorum_ (Hadhramaut) in Arabia, whence the Empress
Helena had the bodies conveyed to Constantinople, [and later to
Milan in the time of the Emperor Manuel Comnenus. After the fall of
Milan (1162), Frederic Barbarossa gave them to Archbishop Rainald
of Dassel (1159–1167), who carried them to Cologne (23rd July,
1164).—H. C.]
The names given by Polo, Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, have been
accepted from an old date by the Roman Church; but an abundant
variety of other names has been assigned to them. Hyde quotes a
Syriac writer who calls them Aruphon, Hurmon, and Tachshesh, but
says that some call them Gudphorbus, Artachshasht, and Labudo;
whilst in Persian they were termed Amad, Zad-Amad, Drust-Amad,
_i.e._ _Venit, Cito Venit, Sincerus Venit_. Some called them in
Greek, Apellius, Amerus, and Damascus, and in Hebrew, Magaloth,
Galgalath, and Saracia, but otherwise Ator, Sator, and Petatoros!
The Armenian Church used the same names as the Roman, but in
Chaldee they were Kaghba, Badadilma, Badada Kharida. (_Hyde, Rel.
Vet. Pers._ 382–383; _Inchofer, ut supra; J. As._ sér. VI. IX.
160.)
[Just before going to press we have read Major Sykes’ new book on
_Persia_. Major Sykes (ch. xxiii.) does not believe that Marco
visited Baghdád, and he thinks that the Venetians entered Persia
near Tabriz, and travelled to Sultania, Kashán, and Yezd. Thence
they proceeded to Kerman and Hormuz. We shall discuss this question
in the Introduction.—H. C.]