The Epiphany of our Lord...
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The Epiphany of our Lord has been inspiration for countless numbers of stories and plays. Who would ever have been able to count the number of children who have donned gaudy bathrobes and discarded millinery to pose as wise men in school and chancel dramas at Christmastide?
Then, of course, there are the classic stories that have no relation to the biblical account but trade on the idea of the gift. O. Henry's Gift of the Magi is about a young married couple who sacrifice to give the best gift to each other. Carlo Menotti claims his opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, was based on his childhood memories of how the wise men were portrayed in his native Italy.
What allows for creative doodling with the story of the wise men is that the wise men are so mysterious. They appear whimsical, because they come out of nowhere and they disappear never to be heard from again. Their brief tour of the stage of Christmas drama is nonetheless colorful and exciting. What can easily be lost from the recounting of the tale is an observation of the ancestor of the newborn King, that no one should raise his "hand against the Lord's anointed."
--Huxhold
Then, of course, there are the classic stories that have no relation to the biblical account but trade on the idea of the gift. O. Henry's Gift of the Magi is about a young married couple who sacrifice to give the best gift to each other. Carlo Menotti claims his opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, was based on his childhood memories of how the wise men were portrayed in his native Italy.
What allows for creative doodling with the story of the wise men is that the wise men are so mysterious. They appear whimsical, because they come out of nowhere and they disappear never to be heard from again. Their brief tour of the stage of Christmas drama is nonetheless colorful and exciting. What can easily be lost from the recounting of the tale is an observation of the ancestor of the newborn King, that no one should raise his "hand against the Lord's anointed."
--Huxhold
