Sunbonnet Soliloquy: The Befana Legend

Sunbonnet Soliloquy

By Jewell Ellen Smith

The Befana Legend

A long time ago there lived in Palestine, in a village not far from the great city of Jerusalem, an old woman named Befana. A strange person, her neighbors said.

“Why, old Befana puts oil in her lamps every day, she bakes fresh bread every day, and she sweeps her floors three times a day,” one neighbor declared.

Another neighbor vowed this was so. “And I can tell you this,” she added, “old Befana cares about nothing except her house! Well, she does like little children --though she never had any of her own -- and she does keep up with the goings-on at the palace of King Herod.

“You see,” and the neighbor let her voice fall to a whisper, “Befana has a cousin who has a cousin living in Jerusalem. And her cousin’s cousin is chief gatekeeper for the king!”

In the mornings old Befana was always the first woman to arrive at the village well, and the young women came early too, mainly to find out what Befana had found out about the sometimes fantastic -- and sometimes dreadful -- events in King Herod’s court.

Though not one village woman would dare mention it, this was how they had learned that years before King Herod had his beautiful wife Mariamme executed, her brother, the high priest, drowned.

Later, Befana confided to them, the king had seemed to go completely mad for a time. He had three of his sons killed, two by strangulation. Yet, all this while King Herod kept 10,000 workmen laboring to erect a new and magnificent temple on the very foundations of the one built by Solomon. And all over Palestine he was building amphitheatres and palaces.

One morning old Befana was last, not first, to reach the village well, and the other women listened with excitement as she told of the newest uproar at King Herod’s palace. In all Jerusalem, for that matter. When the king was troubled, the whole city was uneasy.

The day before three strangers, riding tall, fat camels, had arrived from the East and presented themselves at the palace to inquire about the birth of a new King of the Jews.

At the mention of the words “new king,” King Herod had gone into a rage and waved his arms and stamped the floor and shrieked out all the curses he knew! But not in front of the strangers. To them he was polite.

One attendant told King Herod that these three men were themselves kings, from the orient. Another attendant called the three “Magi,” and said that they had spent years studying the stars.

“Even now, O king,” he said to Herod, “these wise men are following a new star -- one exceedingly brilliant -- as they search for this newborn King!

“Besides all this, O King, one of our palace stable boys, who has a keen eye and a keener nose, told our chief gatekeeper that their camels don’t even smell like camels. They smell like frankincense and myrrh, for their saddle bags are bulging with these sweet gum resins. That means, O King, these strangers could be rich merchants we might want to trade with! For sure, they are rich. Even their servants carry coins of pure gold. The gold I saw with my own eyes!”

So King Herod was hospitable, even helpful, to the strangers. He called in all the chief priests and scribes and ordered them to search the ancient writings of the Israelite Prophets to learn where this new king would appear. Finally a scribe found the words of a prophet who foretold that a king would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. This, King Herod promptly told to the Magi.

The following morning Befana was able to repeat to her friends some of the exact words of King Herod.

First, the king had called the Magi into his private chambers and inquired of them precisely what time the star they were following had appeared.

“Some two years ago, your majesty,” they said.

Then the king talked more of the sacred prophecy of the Jews and advised the three to travel on to Bethlehem.

“Go,” said King Herod, “and search diligently for the young child; and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”

“Befana, have they left yet?” cried the village women.

“No, they travel in the early evening, when they can see the star,” Befana explained. “They will leave Jerusalem today at dusk.”

Let’s all go into the city and see these wise men!” cried one of the women.

“Let’s do!” agreed the others. “Come, Befana, go with us!”

“No. You can go. I have to trim my lamps and bake my bread and sweep my floors. Anyway, I can see them when they return.”

Today, old Befana is still waiting for the Magi to return. She learned that they