The Adventures of Nicholas (6 page)

However, Nicholas carefully made a few little toys for Kati and packed them away with his other gifts. Just about a week before Christmas, when he was looking up at the dark, boarded-up house, hoping to catch a glimpse of Kati, a wonderful idea struck him. His eyes brightened and he chuckled to himself. “I’ll try it, by golly, I’ll try it! I may get stuck, but it’s worth the try.”

DOWN THE CHIMNEY
 

CHRISTMAS Eve that year was a dark, moonless night. The wind whistled through the deserted streets, and a cold sleet stung Nicholas’ face and covered his sleigh with a

shining coat of ice.

“Come on now, my good lads,” he encouraged his reindeer. “The trip’s almost over; we’ve only the house on the hill now.” He tied the deer to the front gate and stopped to listen. Not a sound could be heard but a few shutters banging in the wind and the sighing of the big pines.

Nicholas crept over to the side of the house where there was a porch with a railing. There it was easy to reach the roof. Stout as he was, he leaped nimbly to the top of the porch, and in a few moments was crouched on the sloping roof of the house.

Now came the dangerous part. The roof was slippery where the sleet and rain had fallen. Nicholas

had to take out his little knife and hack away the ice to get a foothold. Once he paused when he thought he heard footsteps in the darkness below, but it was only Donder stamping impatiently in the bitter cold.

Finally a big shape loomed up above him: it was the chimney. Nicholas peered down into the inky blackness. “Just as I thought,” he murmured. “The old miser lets his fire go out at night.”

He climbed over the edge, feeling carefully with his feet; and bracing his back firmly against the walls, he slowly made his way down the sooty chimney until he felt solid ground beneath his feet. When his eyes became used to the darkness, he found the stub of a candle and lit it. Then he set to work swiftly.

From his pocket he took a gay red stocking which he filled to the top with little toys and nuts and raisins; he thought the hungry little girl might like a few sweets. Then he hung the fat stocking from the mantel of the fireplace, weighting it down with a heavy candlestick. He was just leaning over to blow the candle out when Karl Dinsler flung open the door and burst into the room.

“Sneaking into my house, eh? After my gold, I suppose. I’ll show you how I treat thieves, I’ll show you!” The old man picked up a heavy pair of fire tongs and made a furious lunge at Nicholas, who quickly stepped aside so that the table was between him and the mad old miser.

“Don’t be such a fool, man,” Nicholas said quickly, realizing the danger he was in. “I haven’t come here after your gold.”

“Then what brings you here? Why do you break into an honest man’s house in the dead of night if it isn’t to steal the gold I’m supposed to have?”

“Look behind you at that stocking there. The other children in the village leave theirs outside their doors, but Kati is too frightened to ask you for anything. I wanted her to find gifts on Christmas morning, the same as the other children do.”

The old man looked at the stocking, bursting with toys and goodies, and slowly lowered the fire tongs.

“You give things away?” he asked, unable to believe what he had heard.

“Yes,” answered Nicholas, “I’ll even give you a Christmas gift. If gold’s all you care for, here’s more…and more…and more to add to your hoard.” He reached into his deep pockets and poured a stream of bright gold on the table under Karl’s astonished eyes.

“That’s just to show you how unimportant I think money is compared to the love of a little child. Do you ever see Kati’s eyes twinkle at you, or do you only see the bright glitter of this stuff? Do you ever feel the warmth of her little hand tucked into yours, or are you satisfied with the cold touch of gold? I feel sorry for you, old man, but don’t you touch that stocking or I’ll make you feel sorry for yourself as well. And now,” he finished indignantly, “I don’t intend to climb back up that chimney. Kindly show me the way to the door.” He marched out of the room, covered with soot from head to toe, and old Karl hurried ahead of him to let him out into the black, stormy night.

During the following week the village buzzed with excitement. Something had stirred up the old miser on the hill! He had ripped off the boards from the doors and windows, and had sent for the schoolmaster. Within a few days Kati and her grandfather walked down the road to the school, the little girl’s face beaming up at the old man and her warm little hand tucked in his.

It was many, many months before the villagers discovered it was all because Nicholas had climbed down a chimney to fill a little girl’s stocking!

“And these are our Christmas Trees.”

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE
 

ERY close to Nicholas’ cottage was a thick grove of pine trees—tall, beautiful, dark-green trees that lifted their branches high up into the sky and made a perfect shelter on the ground beneath. Scattered in among the larger trees were little firs, which stayed green all through the cold winter.

The children loved to play in this grove because, no matter how stormy the weather, this spot was always warm and sheltered. And in the summertime it was a delightful place, with the sharp scent of the pine trees and the soft murmuring of their branches in the breeze.

Nicholas loved this little grove too because in order to get there the children had to pass his cottage, and they would often dash in to talk for a while with their old friend.

One wintry day toward the end of the year, Nicholas looked out of his cottage window and saw

a group of children running for dear life away from the grove. At first he thought it was some sort of game, but then he saw that something must have frightened them. A few of the smaller ones were crying, and they didn’t stop running until they had reached the cottage.

“Why, now, what’s all this?” Nicholas asked, picking up the littlest fellow and trying to comfort him. “All you big boys look so frightened! Come inside and tell me all about it.”

“We were playing robbers in the pine grove and it was my turn to hide, so I could jump out at the others,” Arno, the oldest began. Nicholas nodded his head.

“Well,” the boy went on, “I saw the trees move a little and thought it was the others, so I shouted, ‘Robbers!’ and jumped out and…and…”

“And it wasn’t us at all,” shrieked little Elsa, sobbing. “It was somebody else hiding in the woods.”

Elsa’s older sister explained. “We heard Arno shout ‘Robbers!’ so we ran out too, and saw a man with long black hair and a terrible mustache with gold rings in his ears. He looked at us and said something we couldn’t understand, so we turned around and started to run.”

“Then,” said Arno, “we ran right into more people who looked like him—lots more—and even women and babies. Bad men don’t go around with babies, do they Nicholas?”

“No, I expect not,” Nicholas said, smiling. “And just because people look different doesn’t make them bad. Besides, I think I know who they may be. Did they have any horses or carts with them?”

“They had three or four horses and a big covered wagon. One of the wheels had come off, and

it looked as though it was stuck in the snow. Who are they, Nicholas?”

“Do you know, I think they might be Gypsies,” said Nicholas.

“Gypsies!” exclaimed all the children at once.

“Gypsies don’t usually come this far north in the wintertime, but these people may have lost their way, and they can’t go farther south now until spring comes. Very few travelers can get through the pass in the mountains, and if their horses are old they would be foolish to try.”

“But where will they live, Nicholas?” Elsa asked, no longer afraid. “The little babies and their mothers can’t stay out in the cold, and there aren’t any houses in the village where they can stay.”

Nicholas shook his head. “That’s true, but I guess Gypsies are used to all kinds of weather. Why, I’ll bet those babies would cry if they woke up at night and saw a real roof over their heads.”

“I’d like to camp out in the open all the time like the Gypsies,” said one of the boys who had been most frightened. “Only, how can they hang up their stockings if they have no doors?”

“They haven’t even got a chimney. Even Kati’s house had a chimney,” said a little girl. “Do you think they like toys, Nicholas? Are they like other children?”

“Yes, those little Gypsies out there in the pine grove are just like you,” Nicholas said, whistling for Vixen to come play with the little group. So the children forgot their fright and started to play robbers with the little reindeer, who was a splendid playmate because he always wanted to do the chasing.

Just as Nicholas had supposed, the band of Gypsies had been caught in an early winter storm. They explained their troubles to the villagers, who gave them as much food as they could spare, but there was no hope of anyone having enough room to offer them shelter. The Gypsies would just have to make the best of it in their wagon and tents in the pine grove, relying on the thick evergreens to keep out the winter winds.

The children soon made friends with the Gypsies, and there were many happy times in the camp. The Gypsy fathers would build big fires, and then all of them would gather around to sing their sad, sweet songs. Toward Christmas, the village children entertained the Gypsies with long stories about Nicholas—how he went around from house to house filling stockings with beautiful toys and sweets and nuts, and how he even went down a chimney one Christmas Eve because there was no other way of getting into the house.

The Gypsy children listened eagerly. But then they looked at the ragged tents where they lived and shook their heads. “He couldn’t visit us,” they said. “We have no doors, no chimneys, and we never wear stockings.”

Little Elsa, who wanted everybody to be happy, reported these things to Nicholas. Although he never said anything, she knew that the smile on his lips meant he had a plan in his wise old head.

Christmas Eve finally arrived. But this year, after he had finished going to each house in the village, Nicholas drove his reindeer right past his cottage and out into the forest. He stopped at the pine grove, where he was met by Grinka, the Gypsy leader.

“Here are the candles, Grinka. Remember what I said you’re to do?” The man nodded. “Good! You do your part and I’ll follow along with these things.”

The Gypsy silently went from one little fir tree to another, twisting a piece of cord around the base

of each candle and tying it to a branch. Then Nicholas would finish decorating the tree with shiny red apples, brown nuts, and, of course, his lovely hand-carved toys. There were over ten of the evergreens to be trimmed, as Nicholas insisted on having a tree for every family of Gypsy children. It was almost dawn before they finished.

“Now for the lights,” said Nicholas.

They went quickly from tree to tree, touching a taper to each candle, until the whole grove was twinkling and glowing with warmth and beauty.

“Be sure to waken the children before the sun shines through the pine trees and spoils the effect,” Nicholas warned.