The wise men came much later after the cave/stable birth, even though their visit is always included during Christmas plays. It was likely a year or more later when the magi brought gifts, which supplied the money for the family's fleeing to Egypt in order to avoid Herod's attack on children two years and younger, and the gifts supported their needs while in Egypt. The area near Bethlehem where the birth took place was known as Migdal Eder, or tower of the flock, which was where lambs for sacrifice in the Jerusalem temple were kept. Shepherds cared for those flocks, so it made sense for Mary's Lamb to be born in a stable in that region, and for the shepherds to be the first visitors to witness the birth. They were told that it would be a sign when they'd find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth, lying in a manger. The middle eastern custom of wrapping an infant was not unusual...but finding one in a manger, the animal's feeding trough, was quite unusual, and there is indication that it was a practice of the temple shepherds, when a new lamb was born, they would wrap it in swaddling cloths and place it for awhile in the manger so that it would not injure itself or get blemished, maintaining its fitness for sacrifice. Tradition has focused so much on there being "no room in the inn", that the significance of the details of the actual story have nearly been lost.