The Story-Gift

This is the story I told to the Christ-Child, when I knelt before him in the house at Bethlehem, with the other wise men, and we opened our treasures and offered him gifts.

I couldn't give him gold, or frankincense, or myrrh, like the other wise men, for I had none. My precious things were different. What can I give him? I wondered. Can I tell him a story? And he smiled and nodded.

So I began to tell him the story of what kind of King he would grow up to be. But even as I began, I was overcome with confusion. Was this a story to tell a child? I looked at his Mother and asked her, "Is it all right to tell him this?" "Yes," she smiled, "everything is all right."

And so, choosing words that I thought a child would like to hear, I began to tell him that he would be a King who would reign from a Throne that would bring him great pain and sorrow, for a time, but would draw to him people from every age and every nation, and there would be joy for all the world.

And among the people he would draw to him would be some like this …

There was a boy called Gerard, whose greatest dream and longing was to be a Knight. His heart was pure and true, and he wanted nothing else in all the world, than to be strong, and brave, and to take service with a noble lord to fight in the cause of justice against all that was evil in the land.

But you can't just turn up at someone's door and say, I want to be a Knight. It takes years of training and testing. And so Gerard went and hung around the castle of the local Baron, Bodegar, and tried to get to know the local knights as they went in and out. One of the knights, Sir Peregrine, seemed kinder than the rest. He didn't swear at Gerard like the other knights, or clip his ear and tell him to get out of the way, you brat. So when Gerard thought the time was right, he asked Sir Peregrine if he could become his squire. And he went on asking, he begged and begged, until at last the old knight agreed, and took Gerard as his squire.

Then began a hard time, as Gerard left his parents' home for the first time, and began to learn the ways of chivalry. He had to serve Sir Peregrine day and night, wait upon him at table, clean his armour and groom his horse and make sure his sword was bright and sharp, and ride behind him carrying his lance until it was needed. At the end of each long day, if he was lucky, he could find a warm place to sleep in the straw by the fireside, in the great hall of the castle. But all the time he watched his master, and tried to learn from him and imitate the ways of the knight.

And sure enough, the time came when he had served his time as a squire, and Sir Peregrine agreed to sponsor him for knighthood. Gerard had first to fulfil an ordeal - the hardest thing he had ever had to do (but what it was is another story). Then he must spend a whole night in vigil in the castle chapel, praying for the strength and courage to be a knight. And at last, when morning came, he knelt and took the vows of the order of knighthood, and swore allegiance to truth and honour, and received the weight of the great sword on his head and shoulder, as the words were spoken: "Arise, Sir Gerard."

It was the proudest day of his life as he stood up, a knight, and took service with Baron Bodegar, as the baron's humblest and most junior new knight. And then, for the next few years, he rode with the Baron, and fought the Baron's battles, and fought for peace and law and justice throughout all the Baron's lands.

When some years had passed, he met one day some knights who seemed taller, and braver, than his own comrades. Who were these men? he asked. And they answered, "We are the King's men. We serve King Henry as our lord. He is King over all the barons, and counts, and earls, and dukes of this kingdom, and your Baron Bodegar is a mere country bumpkin in comparison."

At once Gerard was seized with longing to be a King's man, and to serve a greater master than the Baron he had followed until now. Nothing mattered more to him, than to ride behind the greatest lord he could serve. For days, and weeks, and months, he badgered the captain of the King's men, until he gave in and agreed to allow Gerard to take service in the royal army.

Sir Gerard thought his heart would burst with pride, when he first put on the King's livery, and mounted his horse and rode out behind the royal banner. Through the years that followed, he rode with the King, and fought the King's battles, and with all the strength of his arm and will he fought for peace and law and justice throughout all the King's domains.

Yet when some years had passed, he met one day some other knights who seemed taller, and stronger, and braver, than any he had ever met before. Their helms were brighter, their horses better fed, their laughter was louder and more joyous, their shields and breastplates flashing bright as the sun. Who could they be? he asked himself. They answered, "We are the Emperor's knights. The lord we serve is Otto of Brunswick, the Holy Roman Emperor, greater than any barons or counts or earls or dukes or kings, the greatest lord any man could serve. There can be no greater privilege or honour, than to ride behind the imperial standard."

At once Gerard knew he would never rest, until he too had become a Knight of the Emperor, serving the greatest lord and master in the world. He sent letter after letter, petitioning to be accepted as a warrior in the imperial army. But it was to no avail, until one day the Emperor himself sent to all his vassal kings and lords, asking for their best knights to serve in his army. King Henry was reluctant to let him go, but there was no doubting that Gerard was his best and truest knight, so sadly the King sent him off to the Emperor.

There was no sadness in Gerard, though. Indeed, his heart seemed to swell and grow until it might have embraced the whole world. He was a Knight of the Emperor! From now on the whole strength of his hand and arm, all his courage and skill, all his experience of fighting for the cause of right, would be directed to one end and one end alone: the service of the Emperor, the most mighty lord and master of all the nations upon earth.

For many years he rode with the Emperor, and fought the Emperor's battles, and with all the strength of his arm and will he fought for peace and law and justice throughout all the Empire. At last he knew this must be true happiness. He would never find a greater lord or a more worthy cause to follow with all his strength and courage.

But a day came, a hard grey day of winter after long and bitter campaigning, when Sir Gerard was riding tired and dispirited back to camp. His horse was caked to the shoulder with mud, and his own armour was rent and dinted and stained with his own sweat and blood. Suddenly before him on the rode stood a tall man with a staff. His clothes were like old rags, like a beggar's rags; but he did not stand bent and cowering, his hand outstretched as a beggar would. Instead he stood upright and proud, as if he were the strong man at arms.

"Who are you?" demanded Gerard.

"My name is Brother Pelagius," came the reply.

"Don't you know enough respect for the Emperor to stand out of the road for one of his knights?"

"As to that," came the reply, "the Lord I serve is greater than any Baron, or King, or Emperor, for all of them bow down before him."

"How can that be?" demanded Sir Gerard, dumbfounded. "How could there be such a lord, greater than the Emperor?"

"The lord I serve is Christ the King," said the man in rags. "He is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."

And he told Gerard the story of his lord.

"He is none other than the Son of God, who is the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth. In the fullness of time he took flesh and became a man, born of a Virgin Mother, born in a poor stable. Hunted and hated by the tyrant king of that country, his family fled with him to a strange land; but the tyrant did not live long in his tyranny, and when he died my lord returned to his own land.

"There he grew to manhood, learning the trade of a carpenter, until the day came when his Father called him to a new work. Then he left his carpenter's bench and was baptised, and from that day he went about teaching, healing, telling stories, showing people the way to their true Father.

"At last his enemies seized him and put him to death, the cruel death of the cross."

"Never!" cried Gerard. "Was there no friend to stand by him? Were all his followers such faithless cowards, that they could let him die like a dog?"

Brother Pelagius smiled. "Indeed they could not help him, for he went the way he and his Father had planned. And even if you, brave Sir Gerard, had been there with your strong arm and sharp blade, you could not have saved him. His enemies were too many, and you would only have brought him to death all the sooner, and yourself with him.

"All his friends could do was take his body down from the cross and lay it in the cold tomb. The next day they could do nothing, for it was a special, most holy day. But the third day some of the women took spices and ointments to go to the tomb and anoint his body: the last service of love they could render him. When they came to the tomb they found the great stone rolled away, and his body gone! And two men appeared in shining raiment, saying, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen!'

"For truly, our King had fought upon that field of Calvary the greatest Battle that ever was fought, against the greatest Enemy, Death. And he had conquered. Death is a defeated foe, and now our Lord is alive, and reigns for ever more."

At once Gerard knew that this master and lord was even greater than the Emperor Otto, and his heart was filled with longing to serve a new lord. "How can I serve this King?" he asked.

"You cannot serve him," came the reply, "unless you give up all your fine armour, your horse and sword and possessions. You must give all you have to the poor, and put on the simple garment of the man of God, and go about proclaiming his Truth."

And that is what Sir Gerard did. He sold his horse and fine armour, and gave away all his worldly goods, and went with Brother Pelagius. He became Brother Gerard, apprentice to the man of God, in learning to follow and to serve Christ the King. And he lived all his life, and died in that service, his heart filled with the greatest joy a man could know, the joy of giving his whole strength and love to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

"And that," I told the Christ-Child, "is the kind of person who will come to your Kingdom."

And he smiled, and laughed, and was happy with My Story.