SAVING LIFE:

In this beautiful and charming little story, Henry van Dyke tells the tale of Artaban, the Other Wise Man, who was accidentally left behind when the famous three set out and who spent the rest of his days seeking the new King whose birth the stars foretold. Van Dyke says in his introduction that he has always felt the story not to be his own although not written in any other book. "I do not know where it came from--out of the air, perhaps... It was sent to me; and it seemed as if I knew the Giver." Van Dyke describes himself in a hall of dreams, from where he witnesses the unfolding of the story.

Artaban carries his gifts for the Child under his cloak: a sapphire, a ruby, and a pearl. Over the course of the story he finds himself in difficult situations and his gifts provide the means required to remedy them. Since he was delayed by helping a sick man on the side of the road, Artaban is late for the caravan crossing the desert so he must decide either to sell his sapphire to fund his quest or to abandon it. Later, he bribes a Roman officer with his blood-red ruby so that he will not bring bloody death to a certain house during the slaughter of the innocents. Artaban struggles with his choices. He thinks he does wrong to spend for man what was meant for God. Van Dyke describes this conflict as the expectation of faith against the impulse of love. [...]

Artaban parts with his gifts to save a sick stranger, a threatened child, and a friendless woman. We are left with the words of Christ echoing in our ears: "Verily I say unto thee, inasmuch as thou hast done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it unto me." Artaban must part even with his pearl, pointedly called the pearl of great price by van Dyke in the chapter title. Artaban, like the man in the parable, sold all of his possessions to buy the gems for the King; to obtain the Kingdom of Heaven. This was the expectation of faith. What he did not expect was that he would have to give these gifts to others out of love. The Kingdom is gained through the giving of it. "For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it."

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