"I drink red wine," answered the Moor.

"Or of the fair women of the west?" asked the king.

"I love dark-skinned women," said Balthasar.

"Good! Then come, my friend, and bring me news of the new-born king."

Balthasar rode on farther with his companions, and directly he left the
town the star again shone in front of him. It hung high up in the
heavens, and after they had followed it for some hours it slowly turned
its course eastwards, and stopped above a cave in the rocks. And there
the strangers who had ridden out of the east to seek for truth, there
they found truth and life, there they found a child, a child who was as
tender and beautiful as a rosebud in the moonlight, a little child born
to poor people, and other poor folk stood round and offered the very
last of their possessions, and were full of joy.

Dusky Balthasar peered inside. Had he ever seen eyes shine as in this
shepherd's cave? It seemed to him that he saw a new light and a new
life there; but he could not understand it. And in the air he heard a
strange song, more a suggestion than words: "You will be blessed! You
will live for ever!"

The strangers hearkened. What was that? You will be blessed, and you
will live for ever! For us happiness is to be found only in
non-existence. At sight of this new-born infant the idea of immortal
life came to them for the first time.