nb...

Oh...I forgot to tell you...I checked into that 'fourth king' business...

remember how this voice in my head kept saying, 'fourth king' 'fourth king', and it wouldn't stop until I looked it up? 

I assumed it was because I'm mental, but I did look it up, and indeed, there was a fourth king who rocked up late for the nativity. 

The fourth King came from even further away than the other three Kings.  He came from the furthest part of Gaul, in other words, from the other side of the world, from a country called Pelloc’hoaz, apparently because he was warned in a dream that the King of Kings was to come down to earth and that the whole world was expecting Him.

Imagine that. the guys nuttier than a fruitcake.  I understand him.  

So he decided to get his skates on and set out at once for a place as yet unspecified, but would be made clear to him when he found a brilliant new Star which would appear in the sky & would lead him to the birthplace of the king.  That's a little vague, but then, apparently he didn't have much on, and in those days, customs and border protection wasn't quite the hassle it is today.  

The King was told by the star he should bring a bunch of good shit with him, like precious jewels and whatnot for the baby king.  I'm not sure why Jesus wanted all these goodies, but the king of kings must and shall have his bling.  That's his thing. 

Anyway...this dude takes the long trek to the middle east, armed with his precious thing of riches.  


One of the precious things of riches was like pink mother of pearl. The pearl was in the shape of a heart, and being a sentimental old doofus, the King of Pelloc’hoaz wanted to offer what was closest to his heart ; his emotions and his worries, his deepest happiness and his most secret sufferings.

Nice one, Pelloc.  Way to go with the secret sufferings.  That'll look good on the mantle. 

The second pearl was green in colour. Like the grasslands of Trogriffon on a frosty morning or the vale of Bigodou, in the October sunshine...etc etc...

given to flights of fancy, was this king. 

in his pearl could be found a reflection of the countryside with its flowers, animal life and all the gentleness of things, blah blah blah.  you get the picture. 


SO...after more song and dancing about this pearl, we come to the third pearl, which was white. Or rather, it was transparent. It was not light, but it diffused light. On looking at it, one was enlightened. One could see the right path to follow, the counsel one could suggest, the solution one had been looking for such a long time.

By means of this pearl, life became straightforward, things fell into place as well as relationships between creatures, with their original transparency.

In giving this pearl to the Newborn Child, the King wished to hand over to him all his wisdom ; his intelligence and his spirit.

That's much better; a lot better than the secret suffering.  Can't wait to see what else is in his bag of goodies. 

So it was that the King, holding tightly onto his casket containing these three unique pearls set out on foot.

As you can imagine, the journey was very, very long and more than once the procession had to stop on the way because of unforeseeable events.  When he arrived at last in the country where the Star stood still, the King noted a strange brou-ha-ha coming from the surrounding towns and villages.  It was like a great lament that nothing could console.

Much caterwauling and gnashing of teeth and what have you. 

The King’s heart was torn with grief and he was wondering what it could be when one of his heralds came to tell him that a barbaric order from Herod had spread death and destruction in the homes of the Jews, by slaughtering all male children under the age of two.

What a bastard.

Hardly had the herald finished his horrifying story than a woman with a tortured expression on her face burst into the inn where the King had stopped over. She was clasping to her breast a child with terror visible in his eyes and she said she was being pursued by Herod’s murderous men.

Indeed, in the doorway there were some of Herod’s mercenaries, men with bestial faces brandishing blood-smeared swords. These brutal unwashed swine had poison in their eyes and murder on their minds.  They meant business, and no mistake. 

they were pursuing the young mother and had been ordered to kill the little Jewish boy. The King of Pelloc’hoaz looked them in the eyes. The brutes did not want to retract : they had to kill the child. Then the King called for his casket and took out the pink pearl. It was of such rare beauty that the mercenaries decided immediately that they would not find anywhere in the world an opportunity of such great price and that they would never recieve such a great reward even if they carried out Herod’s orders to the last detail. They grabbed the pearl and fled, leaving their swords on the doorstep of the inn.

The King of Pelloc’hoaz went on his way, hoping to find the Infant-God. How was he to set about it and why had the star stopped shining above his head ? He didn’t understand.  & I don't blame him. 

Anyway, once, on entering a village, he passed an unusual group of people ; a squad of soldiers were taking away a young men who was struggling and shouting. Behind them followed a group of people with an older woman, no doubt the mother of the prisoner. The man they were taking away was indeed her only son, and she was a widow.

He had indeed committed a theft, for they were poor and had nothing to live on. On learning this, the King of Pelloc’hoaz was moved, and although he did not approve of theft, he did not approve either of the brutality of the guards taking the man away and he asked them to free the thief. As the soldiers refused, the King offered them a significant ransom price for the prisoner. The soldiers still refused. Then the King opened up his casket and took out the pearl with the greenish tinges.

The guards, utterly won over, immediately calculated the value of the fortune represented by this jewel and agreed to hand the young man back to his mother.


Now the King only had the white pearl left to offer the Son of God. For a long time he continued to look for the child for whom he had left his castle by the sea, his country covered in flowering heather, at the other end of the world. In fact he continued his search for thirty years in the country where the Star had led him.

One day as he was approaching the City of Peace ; he saw a young girl running towards him and she flung herself into his arms. She was running away from men who were stoning her because they accused her of having betrayed her father while her parents, very pious people, had promised her in marriage to a rich old man of their family line.

The young girl did not want to die and so she begged the King of Pelloc’hoaz to save her life. The King tried in vain to persuade those in her pursuit not to stone the young girl before making sure that their information was correct and not just false accusations brought against her by jealous men ; it was of no avail.

The accusers were all the more fierce as they had the law on their side and some of them were lawyers. So the King of Pelloc’hoaz decided to hand over the last pearl…

When he showed it to the outraged men they drew back, dumbstruck. Their eyes burned with desire before the luminous pearl that the King held in his fingers. " Come on ! ", he said to them, holding out the treasure, while the young girl, panting, fainted in his arms.

At that very moment the King heard a noise coming from a little lane down in the town. It was the sound of cries, clamouring, and whistling accompanying a condemned man being dragged up outside the walls of the city to be crucified.

The revolting cortège was approaching. The King of Pelloc’hoaz saw the man being led to his death. And the Man turned his face towards him, and he looked at him. And the King knew that it was Him. It was the Child he had been looking for such a long time !… That was what men had done to him !…

The King of Pelloc’hoaz opened his hands : he had nothing left, nothing to offer in exchange for the life of the Son of Man. He had given everything on the way.

Then, on the indescribable face of Jesus, the King saw his three pearls. They were shining, intact, richer and more luminous than in the box in the cassette ; and it was as if they were vibrant, all three of them, with what he had wanted to bring to the Child.

He heard a voice saying to him : " Go in peace, as for your gift, I truly did receive it ! "


The King of Pelloc’hoaz realised that everything he had done for the people along the way, he had in fact done for God.


I don't know what all this has to do with me.  But there you have it.