"Certain providence"

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The Three Wise Men in their special "home" - a round wooden chip box (above and left). Norbert Wolf cherishes the Three Wise Men in his Christmas parlor.

(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

Tyrolean Norbert Wolf holds three figures in his pre-Christmas living room in particularly high esteem. The reason for this goes back 40 years and happened when the now 88-year-old wanted to dispose of his household waste . . .

As in other places, the garbage in Radfeld in the Tyrolean district of Kufstein was disposed of in a pit (near today's model airfield). Everything, including hazardous waste, simply disappeared into the ground. "When I took my household waste there once, I noticed a wooden chipboard box with a lid in the pit," says the now 88-year-old. The round thing was apparently made of a thin, bent board. "I was curious, but couldn't open the box straight away because of the moisture. After a few days in the sun, the lid finally came off and I came across a pitchy black and red mass," continues Norbert Wolf.

Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar were rescued from the garbage.

(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

A surprise in the pitch-like mass
Scraping it out finally revealed something surprising - three well-preserved, colorful figures of the Three Wise Men wrapped in tissue paper. They were holding their gifts to the baby Jesus - gold, frankincense and myrrh. "I was once at Zoll am Brenner and often saw itinerant traders there. They offered such figures, often carved in Val Gardena in South Tyrol," recalls the pensioner. Nativity experts confirmed this assumption with regard to the origin of the small works of art.

Place of honor in the pre-Christmas parlor
Norbert Wolf's late wife saw the find as "a certain coincidence". And so Kaspar, Melchior and Balthasar were always held in special honor in the Christmas-decorated parlor. The kings and their "home" - the wooden chipboard box - form a fixed unit.

The Three Wise Men in their special "home" - a round wooden chipboard box.

(Bild: Johanna Birbaumer)

"Looking back, it was probably a rare coincidence. I was simply in the right place at the right time. Minutes later, a tractor arrived and tipped building rubble into the pit. The chip box and its contents would have disappeared forever."