“Who is the Child?” asked the old woman.

“He is a King, and we go to worship him,” they answered.  “These presents of gold, frankincense and myrrh are for Him.  When we find Him we will take the crowns off our heads and lay them at His feet.  Come with us, Babouscka!”

What do you suppose?  Shouldn’t you have thought the poor little woman would have been glad to leave her desolate home on the plains to accompany these Kings on their journey?

But the foolish woman shook her head.  No, the night was dark and cheerless, and her little home was warm and cosy.  She looked up into the sky, and the Star was nowhere to be seen.  Besides, she wanted to put her hut in order—­perhaps she would be ready to go to-morrow.  But the Three Kings could not wait; so when to-morrow’s sun rose they were far ahead on their journey.  It seemed like a dream to poor Babouscka, for even the tracks of the camels’ feet were covered by the deep white snow.  Everything was the same as usual; and to make sure that the night’s visitors had not been a fancy, she found her old broom hanging on a peg behind the door, where she had put it when the servants knocked.

Now that the sun was shining, and she remembered the glitter of the gold and the smell of the sweet gums and myrrh, she wished she had gone with the travellers.

And she thought a great deal about the little Baby the Three Kings had gone to worship.  She had no children of her own—­nobody loved her—­ah, if she had only gone!  The more she brooded on the thought, the more miserable she grew, till the very sight of her home became hateful to her.

It is a dreadful feeling to realize that one has lost a chance of happiness.  There is a feeling called remorse that can gnaw like a sharp little tooth.  Babouscka felt this little tooth cut into her heart every time she remembered the visit of the Three Kings.

After a while the thought of the Little Child became her first thought at waking and her last at night.  One day she shut the door of her house forever, and set out on a long journey.  She had no hope of overtaking the Three Kings, but she longed to find the Child, that she too might love and worship Him.  She asked every one she met, and some people thought her crazy, but others gave her kind answers.  Have you perhaps guessed that the young Child whom the Three Kings sought was our Lord himself?

People told Babouscka how He was born in a manger, and many other things which you children have learned long ago.  These answers puzzled the old dame mightily.  She had but one idea in her ignorant head.  The Three Kings had gone to seek a Baby.  She would, if not too late, seek Him too.

She forgot, I am sure, how many long years had gone by.  She looked in vain for the Christ-child in His manger-cradle.  She spent all her little savings in toys and candy so as to make friends with little children, that they might not run away when she came hobbling into their nurseries.