A Long, Legendary Journey

Gold, frankincense and my
favorite: myrrh.

Today, January 6, is the Epiphany! Originally, the Roman Catholic Church always celebrated Epiphany today, but it was recently changed to the Sunday after New Year's. However, today the two dates line up perfectly. This is also the day that, traditionally, Christmas trees are taken down from houses.

If you are of the Roman Catholic faith you have probably heard that three wise men named Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior followed the star to Jesus and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Actually, nobody knows how many magi there were. The Roman Catholic Church assumes that there are three because of the three gifts, but most Eastern Orthodox churches assume that there are twelve. We do know that they followed the star to Bethlehem, came from the east, brought three gifts, and were probably scholars and astronomers. The rest, including their names, come from legend.

So, say that your characters go on a great journey and become famous amongst their people. What parts of their story will actually be true? Which parts of their story will be made up for it to be a better story, or will be assumed about them? What will be recorded and what will be left to word of mouth?