David Martinez Professor S. Gates English 1 A June 20, 2001 The Three Wise Men. I remember growing up for part of my child hood living in Mexico City. I was about 4 years old when I moved to Mexico to live close to my grand parents and other relatives. In Mexico City there is a fairy tale tradition that is still practice these days. The fairy tale tradition is that of (Los Tres Reyes Mags) The Three Wise Men or also known as The Three Wise Kings.
Their names are Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar and they ride on camels, Gaspar is the black wise man and they speak all languages because they are universal. The date is January 6 th, when the three wise men come to your house and bring gifts for you. The only requirements are that you have to be a child, have to be sleeping the night of January 6 th when they come to drop of your gifts and the last requirement is that you have to believe in them in order for them come. My parents would tell me about them, the three wise men would come to my house to bring me gifts, the night of January 6 th if I was sleeping.
I had to be under good behavior in order for them to come and bring me gifts or else they wouldn’t bring me nothing because the three wise men knew if you were good or bad. The gifts that the wise men bring are toys, clothing, school supply, shoes, bikes, and other stuff for the children. My parents told my brother and I about the wise men and what they do. My brother and I believed our parents because we were kids and why would your parents lie to us. My brother and I weren’t the only ones that believed in the three wise men, there are still kids that are young enough to believe in them these days, in Mexico City. The three wise men are magical because they can shrink small to the size that they can enter your residence through a small crack or small opening for example like the small space under a door.
They are magical because they can shrink their size or they can turn themselves into light balls and enter your house through a window like regular light would go though a clear glass window. You would have to be sleeping and would have had to leave them one of your shoes or a shoe that belongs to you with the list of what you wanted inside the shoe. My brother and me would make our own separate lists and then I would put my list in one of my shoes; my brother would put his list in one of his shoes. I remember putting a chair in our room so that we could put our shoes on that chair, so that the wise men didn’t miss to see our shoes and read our lists. I remember one January 6 th that I was so exited that the wise men were coming to my house that I could not fall to sleep. I remember lying on my bed tucked in ready to go to sleep, but the only problem was that I wasn’t sleepy.
I was not sleepy because I recall being anxious to see the wise men. I was lying in my bed, cautiously staring at my window in my room to expecting to see the light balls transform to the magical wise men before my eyes. My brother was sleeping and I started to fell sleepy so I would rest my eyes by closing them and opening them so that I didn’t get caught up in a deep sleep. I though I seeing them come in my room from under the door but I was quiet, frozen in my bed and speechless.
I must off fallen a sleep, so I woke up next morning, my shoe was back in its rightful place and there were presents individually marked for my brother and me on and around the chair. I was amazed and felt truly blessed because it was true they do exist, even though I didn’t see them with my eyes. I believed that they existed because my parents told me so and the gifts the wise men brought me were proof. I was around nine when my parents told me the truth behind the three wise men. They told me that the three wise men were just make belief.
They are fictional characters, which have their fairy tale, a tradition in Mexico that comes annually. My parents told me that the wise men really don’t exist, my mom told me that my dad and her use to buy us the gifts days before and waited until the night of January 6 th. They would make sure my brother and I were sleeping when they would slip into our room to drop off our gifts. So we would wake up and think the wise men came at night and left gifts for us but that’s not how it really went down, is it? At the age of nine I was disappointed that the wise men didn’t exist.
I mean they existed in my imagination for some of my childhood years and they exist to those people who choose to believe in them and keep the tradition alive. I choose to still believe in them when I’m around the youngest members of my family and play along with my aunt whenever she tells her daughter the wise men are coming. This fairy tale is well known to Mexican people and is practiced in Mexico till these days. The fairy tale is been kept alive because it is passed on from generation to generation and now as an adult I have the choice of continuing the tradition or breaking it and not make my kids believe in them. When I raise my children I would like them to believe in the three wise men because it’s a nice children fairy tale that can be a live experienced and not just read or watched like other fairy tales. The kids get to live in the fairy tale, they become a big part if not the reason why the fairy tale is told and still practiced.
The kids are young and vulnerable to believe in tales like that and specially if they live in the tale and using all their senses their imagination can be endless. This fairy tale means a lot to me because my parents raised me believing in it and not a lot of people know about it. This tradition was passed down from my parents that I love so much so I feel that I have to pass it on to my kids and hope that I can make an impact like the one my parents had on me. The force driving the fairy tale is the people that still follow tradition and the kids believing it and looking forward to that day of January 6 th when the wise men come to bring gifts for them.