The next day the Three Wise Men arrived at Lake Taupo. The summer sun was dazzling down on the lakes and the hills and the shops in the town. The shops were full of people. It was nearly Christmas and lots of people had come to Taupo for the holidays. Kaspar said, “Listen to the children laughing and playing. Hurry up Melchior and Balshazzar. We must find somewhere to stay and then we can go for a walk to the lakeside and perhaps have a ride in one of the launches. After tea we will have to watch and wait for a message about the baby that is going to be born.” Because there were so many people on holiday nearly all the hotels were full but they found a place at the edge of the town that had a room to spare. They unpacked their bags and then walked down to the lake. After they had been sitting for an hour in the sun they asked a man with a launch if he would take them for a ride on the lake. “Certainly,” he said. “Certainly. Jump in and away we go.” He took them swiftly across the fresh water. The spray from the tops of the small waves splashed them. Then the man stopped the boat and let it float. There was not a cloud in the sky. They were in the middle of the lake. On the far side of the lake the high rocky cliffs of Taupo-nui-a-Tia (the great cloak of Tia) fell down to the water's edge. They could hear, faintly, the children laughing on the beach. They trailed their hands in the water as the boat drifted. Melchior said, “I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish that I could go for a swim.” Balshazzar wanted to see some trout and he leaned so far over the edge of the boat, peering into the water, that he nearly fell in. They decided, after that, that it was time to go home. With a sudden loud noise the motor started and before long they were stepping out of the boat on to the land. That night they watched and waited for hours but there was no message and though they were disappointed they went to bed. Melchior lay in the darkness unable to go to sleep and after a time he got up and walked to the window to look out at the lake. “What a beautiful night it is,” he thought, and how brightly the stars were shining. “Although I cannot see the moon I can see its light reflected on the lake.” As he stood by the window, Kaspar, who could not sleep, came and stood beside him. “It looks as though all the starlight was shining on the lake. It is almost as bright as day out where we were in the boat.” And as they looked it seemed as though there was a patch of light in the middle of the lake that was brighter than the rest, and that grew brighter and brighter and began to move slowly across the water until it was no longer shining on the water but on the houses and trees at the edge of the lake. Kaspar and Melchior knelt down at the window. Balshazzar grumbled and mumbled in his sleep, and woke up. When he saw them kneeling and the light shining down, he came, too, and knelt down at the window. Softly the light faded, and moved over the water again, and disappeared. The Three Wise Men stood quietly in the room. Balshazzar said, “We have come to the right place. Tomorrow there will be great joy and happiness here.” In the morning while they were walking slowly along they were attracted by a game some children were playing on the grass under some trees. “That game is called ‘Follow My Leader’,” said Balshazzar. “It is not,” said Melchior. “I use to play ‘Follow My Leader’ when I was a boy and it is different altogether.” They sat down then and there and began to talk about what they had done when they were children. Kaspar joined in and it seemed as though the three of them were going to talk all day when a small boy, one of the smallest three, ran past them. “Excuse me,” said Kaspar. “Could you tell me the name of the game that you are playing with your friends?” The small boy stopped and said, “My name is Eric and we are playing ‘Follow the Star.”' The Three Wise Men looked at each other, and at the small boy as he ran off, and at the other children, and they did