The Story of the Other Wise Man
4/5
()
Henry Van Dyke
Henry Van Dyke (1928–2011) was born in Allegan, Michigan, and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama, where his parents were professors at Alabama State College. He served in the Army in occupied Germany, playing flute in the 427th Marching Band. There he abandoned his early ambition to become a concert pianist and began to write. In 1958, after attending the University of Michigan on the G.I. Bill and living in Ann Arbor, he moved to New York, where he spent the rest of his life. Henry taught creative writing part-time at Kent State University from 1969 until his retirement in 1993, and was the author of four novels, including Blood of Strawberries, a sequel to Ladies of the Rachmaninoff Eyes.
Read more from Henry Van Dyke
The Greatest Christmas Stories of All Time: Timeless Classics That Celebrate the Season Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic Christmas Stories: A Collection of Timeless Holiday Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story Of The Other Wise Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Valley of Vision: A Book of Romance and Some Half-Told Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christmas Library: 250+ Essential Christmas Novels, Poems, Carols, Short Stories...by 100+ Authors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Greatest Christmas Stories: 120+ Authors, 250+ Magical Christmas Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHenry Van Dyke - The Mansion: “The woods would be quiet if no bird sang but the one that sang best.” Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/550 Beautiful Classic Christmas Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Mansion (Illustrated) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/550 Classic Christmas Stories Vol. 4 (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest Christmas Stories of All Time - Premium Collection: 90+ Classics in One Volume (Illustrated): The Gift of the Magi, The Holy Night, The Mistletoe Bough, A Christmas Carol, The Heavenly Christmas Tree, A Letter from Santa Claus, The Fir Tree, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King… Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThy Sea is Great, Our Boats are Small and Other Hymns of To-Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stori Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Valley of Vision Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ultimate Christmas Library: 100+ Authors, 200 Novels, Novellas, Stories, Poems and Carols Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Unruly Sprite: Magical Creatures, A Weiser Books Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Story of the Other Wise Man
Related ebooks
The First Christmas Tree Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Unexpected Abundance: The Fruitful Lives of Women without Children Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Adventures of Johnny Chuck Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Adventures of Grandfather Frog Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shepherd, Potter, Spy and the Star Namer: Survival in Canaan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mother: A Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHousehold Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMadame How and Lady Why Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChasing the Divine in the Holy Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOut of the Shadow World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Princess and Curdie Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Color Coded Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMemories And Impressions Of Helena Modjeska Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rich Man and the Parrot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWilderness Ways Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLord Tony's Wife: An Adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Irish Twins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVinzi (Illustrated) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Bird Hill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAt the Back of the North Wind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom the Lake House: A Mother's Odyssey of Loss and Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThey Are Us: Lutherans and Immigration Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of Mankind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLock Her Up Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHoney Butter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings101 Things to Do During a Dull Sermon: A survival guide for sermon victims Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmong the Meadow People Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Astronomers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Children's Longfellow: Illustrated Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKneeling in Bethlehem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Story of the Other Wise Man
90 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I don't know how I missed this short novel/long short story until now. The legend was mentioned in a Christmas special I was watching and I searched it to see if there were more. I found this and I am so glad I did.The version I read was the original one, transcribed through Project Gutenberg. It definitely shows its Victorian roots in its flowery language. I think sometimes I am a misplaced Victorian spinster, so I loved it. The descriptions transported me to an earlier time.This is certainly a Christmas story and as such it does have a message, but it far transcends finding the baby Jesus. Would that we could all live the life Artaban lived. I did need a tissue at the end, but I get emotional easily.Who would like it? Anyone who loves Christmas. It isn't that long and could easily be read to your family, should you wish to start a tradition.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Can't say enough about this book. It is the truth about living a good, meaningful life.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read this short book/story for a challenge "a book set during Christmas." But it turned out to have a deeper and really nice message :)
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"But it is better to follow even the shadow of the best than to remain content with the worst. And those who would see wonderful things must often be ready to travel alone."Artaban is all prepared to join three of his Magi companions to go and present gifts to a new King whose coming is declared by the heavens. But Artaban's trip encounters delays, profoundly altering his quest in The Story of the Other Wise Man by author Henry van Dyke.I'd never heard of this classic before I came across it some weeks ago. No, it didn't hold groundbreaking revelations or unimaginable surprises for me.But even having a good idea ahead of time about where such a tale would go didn't stop the tale from being beautiful to me. Beautiful in its atmospheric detail as well as in its compelling message about what's important to the King. Yes, the story has some old-fashioned quirks, like the fact that some of the characters speak in "King James" now and then, but the message itself is timeless.Not at all hard to see why this tale is indeed a classic.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I've owned this classic library discard since the 1990s and decided to read it again as I'm culling my shelves. It's what would now be considered novella-length, a fast read about a fourth wise men who is late to join his comrades and meet baby Jesus soon after this birth. The writing is lush and beautiful. Really, I could see this being read aloud as a glorious experience. That said, from a story standpoint it strikes me as... trite and unoriginal. Would it still be considered faith-affirming for some who want a totally predictable story? Absolutely. But not for me.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nearly everyone is familiar with the story of the Wise Men who brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus. Tradition numbers them at three and names them Caspar, Melchoir, and Balthazar. But did you know the story of “The Other Wise Man”? Artaban, a leader of the Persian Magi, learns from heavenly signs that the time is at hand for the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy about the birth among the Hebrews of a holy Prince and Deliverer of Man. Hastening to join three fellow Magi for the long journey into Judaea, he pauses to help a dying man in Babylon and is left behind. And so Artaban begins his pilgrimage alone. Artaban then makes it to Bethlehem but finds that he has just missed both his friends and the young child. But before he can hope to catch up with Joseph, Mary, and their child on their way to Egypt, he stops to assist a mother whose child is in danger of being killed by Herod’s troops. After searching for His quest in Egypt and not finding it, he then travels from place to place, visiting the oppressed, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, tending the sick, and comforting the captive. After 33 years, he ends up, an aged, white-haired man, in Jerusalem on the day of the Passover. Just as he thinks that he might find the object of his search who is being led away to be crucified, he is beseeched by a young girl from his native Parthia who is being sold into slavery to pay her father’s debts. Will he ever see the King for whom He has looked these many years? Henry Jackson van Dyke (1852–1933) was a Presbyterian minister, professor at Princeton University, President Woodrow Wilson’s ambassador to the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and a noted author who wrote the hymn, “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee” set to the “Ode to Joy” theme from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Van Dyke said, "I do not know where this little story came from--out of the air, perhaps. One thing is certain, it is not written in any other book, nor is it to be found among the ancient lore of the East. And yet I have never felt as if it were my own. It was a gift, and it seemed to me as if I knew the Giver." He first read The Story of The Other Wise Man aloud to his New York congregation after writing it and then had it published in written form. It is, in essence, a parable that shows what seeking for Jesus in life is really all about. We did it as a family read aloud, and everyone was moved by the story.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A marvelously told tale of the other wiseman who was too late to travel with his friends to find the baby Jesus; he ended up finding what he was searching for in an unexpected way.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A wonderful and heartwarming story. It examines our hearts and motives and those which God values.I expected this to be a sappy, sentimental story. Instead, I discovered a touching parable. So glad I found it in the hotel to read (the Weaverville Hotel, in Weaverville, CA, has an exceptional bookshelf to borrow from). Two thoughts from the book which deserve pondering:"Who seeks for heaven alone to save his soulMay keep the path, but not reach the goal;While he who walks in love may wander far,Yet God will bring him where the blessed are."Also: "Is a lie ever justifiable? Perhaps not. But may it not sometimes seem inevitable? And if it were a sin, might not a man confess it, and be pardoned for it more easily than for the greater sin of spiritualselfishness, or indifference, or the betrayal of innocent blood?"
Book preview
The Story of the Other Wise Man - Henry Van Dyke
UG$&<+8~mp67^/)UNt{N4Q>h4Nߤ9(jA^; g:@?vKc7&Fgg|(/`tmJƲNk` z{cSs!8 }fzD`8 zG͓_F'|_7~XMx҉6gLMmop1q'@15|]?E$47;x%nΔzU ;g)/.DJTMq7FҰ/qAZ /TNP"w~& gM3pCS-C +wjlN_\,tnօ>v,[䊕_*)/h,gGLJ'_/ Ww,_hjd[N97K{}ŌS+eu j$KrӠ"AQάp"sf6agTJ[Eϱ櫒ZHLeK-$/唯pIǘG?