Mika's Song, Chapter 24


The throne room of King Herod the Great was humming with an air of muffled excitement. It was early evening and the king and his cabinet had finished dining in the great hall when he had been informed of his strange, distinguished guests from the East. Now as he made his way to the throne room, courtiers clustered around the entrance and servants peeked through doorways.

The smooth marble felt cool under Mika's feet as he stepped into the temple courtyard after climbing the tall stairway. He was surprised to find the entrance filled with more merchants selling animals for offering and jingling coins. His eyes scanned the crowd of customers lingering around the booths, then he dashed past them. In the middle of the immense courtyard he stopped, turning slowly to look all around. Around the periphery of the courtyard, sheltered by an overhanging ceiling, were more merchant booths. There were also priests sacrificing animals. In the middle of the courtyard Mika saw another stone structure surrounded by more stairs. He climbed up and up to the wide veranda for a better view, but there were so many people....

Mika could hardly contain his excitement. After two more long weeks traveling through Yisra'el land from Damascus, they were finally approaching Jerusalem. They were so close now that they didn't bother traveling only at night. In fact, the star they had watched and followed so carefully through the long desert nights had faded until they could no longer see it, even through their glass. Sometimes they were still tempted to doubt, especially because, this close to the Yisra'el Royal city, none of the travelers they met seemed to know anything about a new born king. But they could always count on faithful Master Bobac, who's spirits never faded in spite of the fact he could neither see nor walk anymore.