The gifts of the Magi to the Child

Surprisingly, therefore, it was a great experience when he discovered that the houses of the Magi were vacant. The three strologers made small, small things, and with heartfelt humiliation told the reason for that fact to our Lord’s mother and father.

Accuminciaje a parla’ Melchior, ‘o chiu viecchio dei tre, and accuses explains things to St. Joseph:

My master, you must not take these empty casces as an affront or an offense, for we have not troubled so much to come, even chist’anne, to pay homage and take blessing from your Most Holy Son and Savior do munno. As you well know, I was purportedly used for the Child, as a sign of royal gratitude to the King of all humanity. This year, however, so many and such adventures have happened to us during our journey that we have not kept our heart from acting differently from how we acted, even at the risk of humiliating ourselves and presenting ourselves to the holy cave cu ‘e mmane, mmane. The journey that the star has shown us this time, in fact, has also taken us to African lands. Lands tortured by hunger and swept by death. How many creatures born not even from ‘na week have we seen die ‘and let me in the arms of mothers who had not yet finished drying ‘and tears pe n’ato son dead ‘o journo primme. Moved to pity by so much misery and affliction, and aware that it was precisely my western race that contributed to the impoverishment of poor people, I left behind the gold I was carrying in Africa. And this is the reason for the vacancy of my casket.

Fuje ‘a Vota di parla ‘e Gathaspa, the one of the magicians who was so young and who kept a large turban on his head.

My most excellent and holy lady, the same star that brought us to the lands of Africa then led us to all the known churches ‘e stu munno. A thousand rites and a thousand prayers avimme done. Ce simme addonocchiati ‘nanze a ciente paintings and statues of virgins, sorrowful, martyrs and prophets. Avimme pitted rosaries, crowns and coronets. In each of these churches, I left a little of my incense, with my desire that those churches become more and more sacred and less worldly. I implored all the gods and saints that I aggio priato, that they go ‘nsonno to their faithful and tell them that only one people ‘and brother and sister exists in stu munno, that there are a thousand ways, but only one’ or fate ‘and humanity. And this is the reason for the vacancy of my casket.

Fuje therefore ‘votes to speak of Bithisarea, the one among the ‘strologues’ he kept ‘dark-skinned.

Most holy family, at the behest of the star, our journey also took place in the land of Ukraine. Avimme came ‘ncoppa to mountains of rubble of destroyed cities. Avimme passed through a thousand open-air graves with thousands of corpses, both Russian and Ukrainian. I saw such a catastrophe and so much pain that I felt in my heart to open the cascia and give a worthy burial with myrrh to all those bodies eaten by flies. And this is the reason for the vacancy of my casket.

Hearing these words of the three wise men, ‘o Bambinello settette settato dinto ‘a manger. Guardaje to all three cu nu pizzo a riso e li benedicette, po’ parlanne comme se se esse hommo already fatto e fernuto, dicette:

‘E mmane voste so’ vacante ma ‘o core e chine. Go in peace, and tell everyone you meet that this Christmas especially their gifts are made of the same substance as your pains and prayers, because no gold, incense or myrrh can equal the gift and love.