Danger on a Silent Night
Page 5
Patrick moved to protect Beth.
Brutus stepped closer. “Your King can’t save you,” he said. “There is only one king in Israel. And he wants to be rid of you.”
Just then Patrick remembered the pouches. He whispered to Beth, “Close your eyes.” He grabbed a pouch from his belt and slammed it on the ground. It spilled open. Then he threw the second pouch.
Ka-pow! A thick cloud of white smoke shot up from the ground. Flashes of light exploded in front of Brutus.
The Roman stumbled back against a wall. He dropped his dagger. “Ahhh!” he cried out. He pressed his hands to his eyes.
Patrick grabbed Beth’s arm. He pulled her through the smoke.
Strong hands clawed at the cousins. “I hear you!” Brutus snarled.
“Let me go!” Patrick shouted. He tried to pull away. But the grip on his arm was too tight.
“If I find that dagger . . .” Brutus said.
“There! That’s where the light came from!” Apellus’s voice shouted from the end of the alley. Several servants were with him.
Brutus let go of Patrick and rubbed at his eyes. “You dare not touch me,” Brutus said.
Apellus snorted. “Bind him!” he said to the servants. They obeyed. Soon Brutus was sitting on the ground tied up with ropes.
“What will you do with him?” Beth asked.
“Let me go!” Brutus shouted. “The king—”
One of the servants wrapped a scarf around his mouth and cut off his words.
Apellus looked around. “Put him in that basket,” he commanded the servants. “That will keep him out of trouble until my father comes. He’ll decide what to do with him.”
The Vision
The night sky faded to dawn. The little town of Bethlehem began to wake up. Donkeys pulled carts along the streets, and camels carried bundles of goods.
Beth nudged Patrick, who was sitting in front of her on Old Neb.
“Look,” she said. “The caravan is leaving.”
The wise men and their servants were on camels. They slowly walked away from Joseph and Mary’s house.
Apellus shouted for them to hurry up. Soon Old Neb was trotting alongside Datis’s camel. The leader of the wise men sat tall on his camel. The feather in his turban swayed in the breeze.
“What’s happening, Father?” Apellus asked. “Where are we going?”
Datis looked serious. “We’re going home,” he said. “We did what we came to do.”
“What about King Herod?” Apellus asked. “He’s expecting you to return to Jerusalem.”
Datis shook his head. “Last night I had a vision,” he said. “God warned me not to return to Herod. The king is evil and wants to kill the Child. He will do everything in his power to stop the rival King.”
“He’ll send his soldiers after us,” Apellus said.
“We’ll divide the caravan and travel by different roads,” Datis said.
“What about him?” Apellus asked his father. He gestured to a cart with a large basket on the back.
“Is that the one you chased?” Datis asked.
Apellus nodded.
“We’ll take him part of the way with us,” Datis said. “Then we’ll let him go at a safe distance from Jerusalem. By the time he returns to his king, it won’t matter.”
“What about Mary and Joseph?” Beth asked. “I still need to warn them.”
“They are in the hands of their God,” Datis said.
Patrick turned to Beth and said, “I think we should go back to make sure they’re safe.”
Beth nodded.
Apellus looked to his father. “May I join them?”
His father glanced at him. “If you must,” he said. “But hurry to catch up. You don’t know the route we’ll travel. I don’t want you to get lost.”
Patrick and Beth said their farewells to Datis. Then, with Apellus, they made their way back to Joseph and Mary’s house.
The boys tended to the camels after they arrived at the house.
Beth knocked on the door. No one answered. She walked to the side and looked in the window. The house was empty.
“They’re gone,” she said to Patrick and Apellus.
She looked toward the town. People were going about their business. But there was no sign of a man, a woman, and a small child.
“I hope they go to a safe place,” Apellus said. “Far away from Herod.”
“Is Egypt far enough?” Patrick asked.
Apellus gazed at him. “Why do you think they’ll go to Egypt?” he asked.
Patrick shrugged without answering.
“Your gifts will pay their way,” Beth said.
Apellus thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded. “So they will,” he said.
Just then, Beth heard a familiar hum. Patrick and Beth looked around to see where it was coming from.
“Is something wrong?” Apellus asked. He watched them closely.
“It’s our way home,” Beth said carefully. Then she realized the sound was coming from inside the house. Suddenly the door to the house opened on its own.
“There,” Patrick said.
“We have to leave you now,” Beth said to Apellus.
Apellus looked puzzled. “If you must,” he said and bowed low. “May your journey be safe,” he said.
“Yours too,” Patrick said. “And may you become the wisest wise man ever.”
Apellus smiled.
“Good-bye,” Beth said to Apellus. “And good-bye, Old Neb!” she called to the camel.
The old camel grumbled. He puckered his lips.
Beth giggled.
Apellus didn’t move. He watched the cousins walk into the house. “Wouldn’t the road be faster?” he called after them.
Beth and Patrick smiled and waved without answering. They shut the house door.
The Imagination Station was inside. The cousins took their seats. Patrick pushed the red button.
The doors slid closed and everything started going black. As the blackness grew, Beth saw the door to the house open. Apellus poked his head inside and peeked at them.
The Workshop
The doors of the Imagination Station slid open. Beth and Patrick saw Whit standing by his workbench. He was waiting for them.
The cousins got out of the machine. They were in their normal clothes again.
“So how did you like going back to see part of the first Christmas story?” Whit asked.
“Seeing Jesus as a baby was amazing,” Patrick said.
“I got to hold Him!” Beth said.
“Did anything surprise you about those Christmas events?” Whit asked.
Patrick thought about Apellus and his father. “I was surprised about how many wise men there were. Who were they?” Patrick asked.
“The Bible doesn’t say much about them,” Whit said. “Some experts think they were descendants of Daniel.”
“Daniel? You mean the guy from the Old Testament? The one who was thrown into the lion’s den?” Beth asked.
“That’s right,” Whit said. “Daniel had been captured by King Nebuchadnezzar long ago. Daniel was taken to live in Persia. He became the leader of all the magicians and wise men there.”
“Was Daniel a magician?” Patrick asked.
Whit shook his head. “No,” he said. “Daniel knew better than to mess around with magic. The law of Moses forbade it. And Daniel was a faithful man. He trusted in God to give him all he needed.”
Patrick nodded. “That sounds like something Apellus said. Though I don’t think Apellus believed in God like we do,” he said.
“We don’t know for certain,” Whit said. “But Christians traveled to that part of the world soon after Jesus rose from the dead. They preached the good news to the people there. And many became followers.”
“I want to think that Apellus did,” Beth said.
“And what did you learn about giving presents at Christmas?” Whit asked them.
“I felt bad that I didn’t have a gift fo
r the baby Jesus,” Patrick said. “I mean, besides the little stuffed lion. But that wasn’t really mine to give. It means more when I work to buy the gift. Or when I make it myself.”
Whit nodded. “That’s interesting. What about you, Beth?”
She paused for a moment and then said, “I felt the same way. Judith’s gift was nice, but it didn’t come from me.”
“So do you think people should give presents at Christmas?” Whit asked her.
“I don’t know,” she said. “The wise men gave Jesus gifts. But the first Christmas wasn’t really about presents.”
“What was it about?” Whit asked.
“First, it was about Jesus,” Beth said. “We spent a lot of time and energy looking for Him. The presents came second, as a way to honor Him.”
“It sounds like you got things in the right order,” Whit said.
Patrick thought for a moment. “Did the idea of giving gifts start with the wise men?”
“Some historians think so,” Whit said. “Gift giving isn’t about spending. It’s about showing love and honor, just like Beth said. Whoever we give to, we should give from the heart. We shouldn’t give just because it’s expected of us. Or because we expect to receive something in return.”
“So it can work the other way around,” Beth said.
“What do you mean?” Whit asaked.
“We show needy families love and honor by helping them,” Beth said. “And because we do that, they might see Jesus.”
Whit raised his eyebrows. “That’s a good thought,” he said.
“Wait a minute,” Patrick said. “Is that the answer from our adventure? I’m confused.”
Whit chuckled. “The apostle Paul said we should do everything to give God glory. Even eating and drinking. We can help the poor and give gifts to our loved ones. We don’t have to choose between the two.”
“I should think about giving more to help the needy,” Patrick said.
“I want to show my family that I love them,” Beth said. “So a few gifts wouldn’t be wrong.”
Whit smiled at them. “So you got your answer after all,” he said. “Now let’s go upstairs to the Whit’s End Christmas tree. I forgot something in that last adventure, didn’t I? I think there are a couple of gifts with your names on them . . .”
Questions About the Wise Men
Q: Were the wise men Christians?
A: The Bible calls them, “Magi from the east,” (Matthew 2:1). They had good astronomy skills and were willing to worship the Jewish God. They recognized the Spirit of God in a vision. The Bible doesn’t say if they ever became followers of Jesus.
Q: Didn’t the wise men (not Apellus) meet with Herod a second time?
A: Apellus is a make-believe character. To make the story more interesting for those who know it, we replaced the wise men’s second meeting with Herod with a visit from Patrick and Apellus. See Matthew 2:1–12 for the whole story.
For more info on the wise men and Jesus’ birth, visit TheImaginationStation.com.
Secret Word Puzzle
Answer the questions, and fill in the clues. If you need help, look for hints on the pages listed.
Scribe who believed Jesus was the Messiah: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ (page 83)
The country Daniel was taken to live in: ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ (page 129)
This guided the wise men to baby Jesus: ___ ___ ___ (page 52)
The direction the wise men came from: ___ ___ ___ (page 58, 88)
One of the gifts the wise men gave: ___ ___ ___ ___ (page 41)
This king was angry about Jesus: ___ ___ ___ ___ (pages 52, 83)
Jesus was the newborn King of this group of people: ___ ___ ___ (page 52)
Write the letters from the boxes, in order, in the boxes below. The answer is the secret word. It’s also the name of the book of the Bible where you can read about the wise men.
Go to TheImaginationStation.com
Find the cover of this book. Click on “Secret Word.” Type in the correct answer, and you’ll receive a prize.
AUTHOR MARIANNE HERING is the former editor of Focus on the Family Clubhouse® magazine.
She has written more than a dozen children’s books. She likes to read out loud in bed to her fluffy gray-and-white cat, Koshka.
ILLUSTRATOR DAVID HOHN draws and paints books, posters, and projects of all kinds. He works from his studio in Portland, Oregon.
AUTHOR NANCY I. SANDERS is the bestselling and award-winning children’s author of more than eighty books. She and her husband, Jeff, rode a camel at the zoo. Find out more about her at nancyisanders.com.