Children’s Story – Three Gifts

Three beautiful Christmas gifts were given to a baby boy, nearly two thousand years ago. He was just a little baby, and He was in a stable.

I’m sure you think that a stable is an odd place for a little baby to be, so I’ll tell you why this baby was in a stable.

His parents were away from home. They were at a town called Bethlehem. There was no room for them in the hotel, so they had to find lodging somewhere else. They looked here and there, but the only place they could find was a corner in a stable. There they had to stay for several days.

This baby boy’s gifts were carried to Him by some grown-up men. They were wise men. The wise men traveled a long, long way to get to Bethlehem. They had never seen the little Child, and they did not know just where He was; but they were led to Him by a bright star.

And they knew that the baby boy was a king!

As they went along the road, they could not always see the star. Once in a while they would ask somebody where the little King was. They would say:

“Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him.”

But for a long time, nobody could tell them where the baby King was located.

After a while they came to a city that is only five or six miles from Bethlehem. There they stopped and asked the question again:

“Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him.”

And somebody said, “In Bethlehem.”

Then the wise men set out for Bethlehem; and as soon as they did that, they saw the star again. It showed them just where to go.

When the wise men saw the baby King, they bowed down low before Him, and worshiped Him. Then they gave Him the three gifts that they had brought for Him.

And what do you think those three gifts were?

One was gold. I do not know how much gold there was in the gift, or just what the shape of it was; but it was gold – beautiful, precious, shining gold.

Another gift was frankincense. This is something that has a very sweet odor; it is also very precious – perhaps just as precious as gold.

The third gift was myrrh. Myrrh also has a sweet odor and it is a good medicine. It is good to heal sick people and help make them well.

All these gifts were very precious. They were just the kinds of gifts for a king. The wise men brought them to little King Jesus.

History Stories for Children, John W. Wayland, ©1991, 95–97.