thistle:
Actually the Bible makes no mention of them being kings or even if there were three of them. Scripture talks about wise men and we only assume there were three because of the gifts of gold, frankencense, and myrrh.
We don’t know precisely how many they were in number. Caspar/Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar are traditionally named, but folks have put other names to them. The Ethiopians speak of Hor, Basanater, and Karsudan; the Syrians nominate them as Larvandad, Hormisdas, and Gushnasaph; to the Armenians they were, anciently, Kagba, Badadilma, and Melkon.
More diverse than the names are the numbers of them; they are depicted in various representations and traditions as being as few as 2 and as many as 14. As thistle suggests, the number 3 is most likely ascribed from the gifts they offered, although an early legend puts it to the fact that they represented all humanity in the three great races of Sem, Cham, and Japhet, with one being Caucasian, one Black, and the third Oriental.
Saint Bede the Venerable, in a work ascribed to him,
Collectanea et Flores, records the legendary names, as well as their appearances, and the gifts of each:
The first was called Melchior; he was an old man, with white hair and long beard; he offered gold to the Lord as to his King. The second, Gaspar by name, young, beardless, of yellow hue, offered to Jesus his gift of incense, the homage due to Divinity. The third, black complected, with heavy beard, was called Baltasar; the myrrh he held in his hands prefigured the death of the Son of Man.
Many cultures have folktales that tell of someone (other than the expected entourage of guards, servants,
etc.) who was supposed to travel with the Magi, but was prevented from doing so, by some circumstance or other, usually with consequences. Such “wannabe” Magi are usually associated thereafter with gift-giving, at either Christmas or Epiphany, in an endless search on their part for the Child.
Along this line, in Italy, one finds “La Befana”, a kindly old witch. Legend says that she lived alone in the hills and noticed a bright star in the night sky. Later, 3 richly garbed men stopped and asked directions of her to Bethlehem. When she told them that she didn’t know of any such a place, they invited her to join them in their search; she declined, as she was too busy.
After the Magi left, Befana suffered regrets about her choice, remembering her own child, who had died very young. She baked cakes and cookies for the Baby, took her broom (to help the Baby’s mother clean), and set out to find the caravan. When she became lost and tired, angels appeared and gave her broom the power of flight, to speed her search. She roamed the world, hunting for the Baby and still does. Each year, on the eve of Epiphany, whenever Befana comes to a house where there is a child, she flies down the chimney to see if it might be the One she seeks. It never is, but she leaves a gift anyway.
Henry van Dyke, an early 20th century writer, crafted a short story, “The Other Wise Man”, which related another legend. In it, Artaban, a fourth Magi, was late in arriving to meet the others, who had already left. By the time he came to Bethlehem, they and the Holy Family had left to flee Herod’s wrath. Artaban wandered the earth for 33 years, searching and using his gifts (jewels) to benefit others. When he encountered Christ, face-to-face, on Golgotha, his fortune was gone and he wasn’t able to ransom Him. As Christ died and the earth was shaken by a quake, Artaban was struck by a stone falling from a building. As he lay dying, he heard a voice from Heaven, saying, “What you did for each of these, you did for Me.”
Babushka, an elderly Russian folklore character, appears in two variants of such tales. One mirrors the Italian tale of the initially selfish and later repentant La Befana; the other is a variant on the legend related by van Dyke, except that Babushka reaches the stable, sorrowing that she has given away all her gifts and is consoled to find that what she did for others, she did for the Baby.
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My 2 sisters & I used to sing this & act it out - each of us being 1 of the kings.
