The farmer was startled. "No! Never!" he cried. "Ever since you left, things have been different here. Almost the very next day it rained - for the first time in months! I was able to harvest a reasonable crop, and feed my family this winter and keep some grain for seed. Hard times still, but we didn't starve. Now look!" So saying, he swept his arm to the field behind him. "Winter rains! My grandfather told me of such things happened when he was a boy."
Samir frowned. "But why-"
"Listen," said the farmer, bending a little over Samir. "I gave that camel not to you, but to the Most High God. That was my prayer. And he has blessed my crops and my family and given me back my life. And now would I dare to take her back? No! Keep her! And may the Most High God bless you and her!" Samir didn't know how to thank him.
Munira swung her great, solemn head towards the farmer, as if recognising him from a story long ago, then turned away to nibble at a lush green bush. The farmer wished them both goodbye, and turned back to his house.
Camel and boy slowly made their way into the town. Samir was almost at the house when he heard footsteps behind him Turning, he saw Ali hurrying towards him. His face looked grim. Uh-oh, he thought.
Ali was a little out of breath. "I just help take the Sultan's camels back," he explained. Then he frowned to himself and looked down at the ground. "Look," he said at last, "I know I wasn't always... kind of... nice to you before, but I've changed on this trip. My father wants me to work with him now, and he says I can help him on trading trips, help with the camels, after all I've learned." He realised he'd got off the subject, and took a deep breath, glancing up at Samir. "I'm sorry for the way I treated you, and now I'm sure we can be friends. Okay?"
This was not what Samir had expected at all. Ali had barely spoken to him since that day in the High King's town. He had always made himself busy with the Sultan's camels, and in the evenings had sat with the camel drivers rather than with Samir and Hamdan. Samir had felt sure he'd wasted his words when he'd said sorry to him.
He took a good look at the new Ali. "We can be friends," he said quietly. Then he grinned suddenly. "As long as you don't break my leg again."
Ali picked up on the joke and laughed out loud with relief. "Yeah, sorry about that," he muttered.
"Tell me one thing, though," Samir asked, smirking now. "How did Al-Thazir end up with a bag of lamb bones?"
"Ahh..." breathed Ali, shaking his head. "That I do not know. My guess is that the cat objected to them and loaded them on the camel himself!" Then they both laughed, and walked together with Munira the camel to the house.
So for a while there was peace and prosperity in the land of the incense tree, where the tales of the Queen of Saba were still told. And even though many centuries have passed, it is said that the town where Al-Thazir and Abdul Malik lived still remembers the tale of their great journey to honour the child king. And there is no doubt that the High King never forgot their offer of friendship. And that is good, because their land today is once again in great need of peace and prosperity. It needs the moist wind coming up from the sea, a wind bringing rainclouds and a hopeful tomorrow.
THE END
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Afterword:
How can I bring a gift to the newborn king? We may not have to travel as far as Samir did, but what if the High King were waiting for you to offer him a gift? He doesn't need gold, because the offering of your whole life is treasure enough for him. This includes throwing out grudges and other wrongs, and begin to treat others as well as you would like to be treated. You can be his friend forever!
The Magi: There are various ideas about the Magi who came 'from the East' to visit the baby Jesus. It's pretty clear that Magi were astrologers, following the beliefs of the Zoroastrian religion. How kind of the Most High God to show them a sign, even though he told Israel many times that astrology is wrong! The Bible doesn't say which country they were from, but they were probably from Persia, where the Zoroastrian priests lived. But I enjoyed having them come from Southern Arabia instead.
It seems most likely that the Magi noticed when several important planets appeared to come close to each other (this is called a conjunction) in a particular constellation that was in the east of the sky at that time. They said themselves, in Matthew 2v2: " For we have seen His star in the East..." or "at its rising..."
To find out more about what the Magi saw in the sky that made them undertake such a difficult and expensive journey, you could look at one of these sites on the internet:
https://www.eclipse.net/~molnar/
https://www.bethlehemstar.net/dance/dance.htm
https://www.jesus.org/birth-of-jesus/star-and-magi/
https://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/bible/themistocles_magi.htm
I used the theory of conjunctions that I think would have made most sense to the Magi astrologers, but I may have missed a better one! What do you think?
The first link above is pretty good. It explains what our English Bible says in Matthew 2, "the star they had seen when it rose went ahead until it stopped over the place where the child was". God arranged the shining planet to move in the sky in such a way that it helped the Magi be sure this was the great king they were expecting. The second link says the same thing, but for a conjunction in a different year.
As for Samir's part in this great adventure, I couldn't find anything about him or Munira the camel on the internet!
(c) John Peace 2011
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About The Author:
Originally an engineering graduate from the UK keen to become an astronaut, somehow John Peace ended up working in community development in the Middle East for some years. He settled with his Canadian wife and their two sons in Ontario, where they enjoy the great outdoors, Finnish pancakes and blueberries, preferably all three at once.
He drip-feeds a blog or two at https://johnmpeace.blogspot.com/ .
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