neither by night nor by day; and all men of the cities and towns that
these worthy Kings went through in the night were wonderfully aghast and
passingly marvelled thereof, for they saw kings and vast multitudes go
by in great haste; but they knew not what they were, nor whence they
came, nor whither they should go. On the morrow the way was greatly
befouled with horses' hoofs, whereof they were in much doubt what it
might mean, and great altercation was among them for a long time.

Furthermore, these Kings rode forth over hills, waters, valleys, plains,
and other divers and perilous places without hindrance or disease, for
all the way seemed to them plain and even, and they never took shelter
by night nor by day; nor ever rested; nor did their horses or other
beasts ever eat or drink till they had come to Bethlehem; and all this
time seemed to them but a day.

And thus, through the mercy of God and the leading of the Star, they
came unto Jerusalem and Bethlehem the thirteenth day after Christ was
born, at the uprising of the sun, whereof is no doubt: for they found
Mary and her son in the same place where the Child was born, and laid in
the manger.

But when the three blessed Kings, with their host and company were
almost come to Jerusalem, saving but two miles, then a great and dark
cloud held all the earth, and in that dark cloud they lost the Star. And
Melchior with his people was come fast by Jerusalem beside the hill of
Calvary, where Christ was afterward crucified; and there the King abode
in a cloud of fog and in darkness.

At that time the hill of Calvary was a rock of twelve degrees high,
where thieves and other men for divers trespasses were put to death; and