Once upon a time--so
long ago that everybody has forgotten the date--in a
city in the north of Europe--with such a hard name
that nobody can ever remember it--there was a little
seven-year-old boy named Wolff, whose parents were
dead, who lived with a cross and stingy old aunt,
who never thought of kissing him more than once a
year and who sighed deeply whenever she gave him a
bowlful of soup.But
the poor little fellow had such a sweet nature that
in spite of
everything, he loved the old woman, although he was
terribly afraid of
her and could never look at her ugly old face
without shivering.
As this aunt of little Wolff
was known to have a house of her own and
an old woollen stocking full of gold, she had not
dared to send the boy
to a charity school; but, in order to get a
reduction in the price, she
had so wrangled with the master of the school, to
which little Wolff
finally went, that this bad man, vexed at having a
pupil so poorly
dressed and paying so little, often punished him
unjustly, and even
prejudiced his companions against him, so that the
three boys, all sons
of rich parents, made a drudge and laughing stock of
the little fellow.
The poor little one was thus as
wretched as a child could be and used
to hide himself in corners to weep whenever
Christmas time came.
It was the schoolmaster's
custom to take all his pupils to the midnight
mass on Christmas Eve, and to bring them home again
afterward.
Now, as the winter this year
was very bitter, and as heavy snow had
been falling for several days, all the boys came
well bundled up in
warm clothes, with fur caps pulled over their ears,
padded jackets,
gloves and knitted mittens, and strong, thick-soled
boots. Only little
Wolff presented himself shivering in the poor
clothes he used to wear
both weekdays and Sundays and having on his feet
only thin socks in
heavy wooden shoes.
His naughty companions noticing
his sad face and awkward appearance, made many jokes
at his expense; but the little fellow was so busy
blowing on his fingers, and was suffering so much
with chilblains, that he took no notice of them. So
the band of youngsters, walking two and two behind
the master, started for the church.
It was pleasant in the church
which was brilliant with lighted candles;
and the boys excited by the warmth took advantage of
the music of the
choir and the organ to chatter among themselves in
low tones. They
bragged about the fun that was awaiting them at
home.
The mayor's son
had seen, just before starting off, an immense goose
ready stuffed and
dressed for cooking. At the alderman's home there
was a little
pine-tree with branches laden down with oranges,
sweets, and toys. And
the lawyer's cook had put on her cap with such care
as she never
thought of taking unless she was expecting something
very good!
Then they talked, too, of all
that the Christ-Child was going to bring
them, of all he was going to put in their shoes
which, you might be
sure, they would take good care to leave in the
chimney place before
going to bed; and the eyes of these little urchins,
as lively as a cage
of mice, were sparkling in advance over the joy they
would have when
they awoke in the morning and saw the pink bag full
of sugar-plums, the little lead soldiers ranged in
companies in their boxes, the menageries smelling of
varnished wood, and the magnificent jumping-jacks in
purple and tinsel.
Alas! Little Wolff knew by
experience that his old miser of an aunt
would send him to bed supperless, but, with
childlike faith and certain
of having been, all the year, as good and
industrious as possible, he
hoped that the Christ-Child would not forget him,
and so he, too,
planned to place his wooden shoes in good time in
the fireplace.
Midnight mass over, the
worshippers departed, eager for their fun, and
the band of pupils always walking two and two, and
following the
teacher, left the church.
Now, in the porch and seated on
a stone bench set in the niche of a
painted arch, a child was sleeping--a child in a
white woollen garment,
but with his little feet bare, in spite of the cold.
He was not a
beggar, for his garment was white and new, and near
him on the floor
was a bundle of carpenter's tools.
In the clear light of the
stars, his face, with its closed eyes, shone
with an expression of divine sweetness, and his
long, curling, blond
locks seemed to form a halo about his brow. But his
little child's
feet, made blue by the cold of this bitter December
night, were pitiful
to see!
The boys so well clothed for
the winter weather passed by quite
indifferent to the unknown child; several of them,
sons of the notables
of the town, however, cast on the vagabond looks in
which could be read all the scorn of the rich for
the poor, of the well-fed for the hungry.
But little Wolff, coming last
out of the church, stopped, deeply
touched, before the beautiful sleeping child.
"Oh, dear!" said the little
fellow to himself, "this is frightful! This
poor little one has no shoes and stockings in this
bad weather--and,
what is still worse, he has not even a wooden shoe
to leave near him
to-night while he sleeps, into which the little
Christ-Child can put
something good to soothe his misery."
And carried away by his loving
heart, Wolff drew the wooden shoe from his right
foot, laid it down before the sleeping child, and,
as best he could, sometimes hopping, sometimes
limping with his sock wet by the snow, he went home
to his aunt.
"Look at the good-for-nothing!"
cried the old woman, full of wrath at
the sight of the shoeless boy. "What have you done
with your shoe, you
little villain?"
Little Wolff did not know how
to lie, so, although trembling with
terror when he saw the rage of the old shrew, he
tried to relate his
adventure.
But the miserly old creature
only burst into a frightful fit of
laughter.
"Aha! So my young gentleman
strips himself for the beggars. Aha! My
young gentleman breaks his pair of shoes for a
bare-foot! Here is
something new, forsooth. Very well, since it is this
way, I shall put
the only shoe that is left into the chimney-place,
and I'll answer for
it that the Christ-Child will put in something
to-night to beat you
with in the morning! And you will have only a crust
of bread and water
to-morrow. And we shall see if the next time, you
will be giving your
shoes to the first vagabond that happens along."
And the wicked woman having
boxed the ears of the poor little fellow,
made him climb up into the loft where he had his
wretched cubbyhole.
Desolate, the child went to bed
in the dark and soon fell asleep, but
his pillow was wet with tears.
But behold! the next morning
when the old woman, awakened early by the cold, went
downstairs--oh, wonder of wonders--she saw the big
chimney filled with shining toys, bags of
magnificent bonbons, and riches of every sort, and
standing out in front of all this treasure, was the
right wooden shoe which the boy had given to the
little vagabond, yes, and beside it, the one which
she had placed in the chimney to hold the bunch of
switches.
As little Wolff, attracted by
the cries of his aunt, stood in an
ecstasy of childish delight before the splendid
Christmas gifts, shouts
of laughter were heard outside. The woman and child
ran out to see what all this meant, and behold! all
the gossips of the town were standing around the
public fountain. What could have happened? Oh, a
most ridiculous and extraordinary thing! The
children of the richest men in the town, whom their
parents had planned to surprise with the most
beautiful presents had found only switches in their
shoes!
Then the old woman and the
child thinking of all the riches in their
chimney were filled with fear. But suddenly they saw
the priest appear,
his countenance full of astonishment. Just above the
bench placed near
the door of the church, in the very spot where, the
night before, a
child in a white garment and with bare feet, in
spite of the cold, had
rested his lovely head, the priest had found a
circlet of gold imbedded
in the old stones.
Then, they all crossed
themselves devoutly, perceiving that this
beautiful sleeping child with the carpenter's tools
had been Jesus of
Nazareth himself, who had come back for one hour
just as he had been
when he used to work in the home of his parents; and
reverently they
bowed before this miracle, which the good God had
done to reward the
faith and the love of a little child.
