drop-cap
Theday before Christmas, poor Count Cormo sat, quite disconsolate, in his castle-hall, before a hearth where there was no fire. He had sold his family bedstead, but he had received very little money for it. People said such old bedsteads were not worth much, even if they were inlaid with precious metals. So he had been able only to prepare a small tree, on which he had hung the cheapest kind of presents, and his feast was very plain and simple. The Countess, indeed, was afraid the things would not go around,for their old servant had told them that he had heard there would be more children at the castle the next day than had ever been there before. She was in favor of giving up the whole affair and of sending the children home as soon as they should come.
“What is the use,” she said, “of having them here, when we have so little to give them? They will get more at home; and then if they don’t come we shall have the things for ourselves.”
“No, no, my dear,” said the Count; “this may be the last timethat we shall have the children with us, for I do not see how we can live much longer in this sorrowful condition, but the dear girls and boys must come to-morrow. I should not wish to die knowing that we had missed a Christmas. We must do the best with what we have, and I am sure we can make them happy if we try. And now let us go to bed, so as to be up early to-morrow.”
The Countess sighed. There was only one little bedstead, and the poor Count had to sleep on the floor.
Christmas-day dawned bright,clear, and sparkling. The Count was in good spirits.
“It is a fine day,” he said to his wife, “and that is a great thing for us.”
“We need all we can get,” said the Countess, “and it is well for us that fine days do not cost anything.”
Very soon the Count heard the sound of many merry voices, and his eyes began to sparkle.
“They are coming!” he cried, and threw open the door of the castle, and went to meet his little guests; but when he saw them he started back.
“What do you think?” he exclaimed to the Countess, who stood behind him. “There is a long procession of them, and they are headed by a giant–the young giant Feldar! Who ever heard of such a thing as a giant coming to a children’s festival! He will eat up everything we have in a few mouthfuls!”
“You might as well let him do it!” said the Countess. “There won’t be enough for the others, anyway. There seem to be hundreds of them; and if there isn’t a band of music striking up!”
Sure enough, quite a processionwas approaching the castle. First came the giant Feldar, with Tillette, the little fairy, on his finger; then four or five musicians; and after them a long line of children, all dressed in their best clothes, and marching two by two.
“Merry Christmas!” shouted the giant, as soon as he saw Count Cormo, and then all the children shouted “Merry Christmas!” until the castle courtyard echoed with the cheerful greeting, while the band played loudly and merrily.
QUITE A PROCESSION WAS APPROACHING THE CASTLE
QUITE A PROCESSION WAS APPROACHING THE CASTLE
QUITE A PROCESSION WAS APPROACHING THE CASTLE
“Come in, my dears,” cried the Count to the children. “I am glad to see you. But as for you, goodgiant, I fear my door is not quite large enough. But perhaps you can stoop and squeeze yourself in.”
“Count Cormo!” cried the fairy, from the giant’s finger. “I have a plan to propose.”
The good Count looked up in surprize.
“If it isn’t a dear little fairy!” he exclaimed. “Why, certainly, if you have a plan to propose, I shall be happy to hear it.”
“Well, then,” said Tillette, “suppose we go first into the great hall in the old wing of the castle. That is so large that it will hold us all, and we can have a grand dance,if we feel like it, after we get there.”
“I am afraid that the great hall would be very uncomfortable,” said the Count. “No one has lived in it, nor even entered it, so far as I know, for many years; and everything must be covered with dust and cobwebs.”
“But it would be so nice to march around that great hall, with the music and everything. I don’t believe there’s any dust.”
“Well, then,” said the Count, “as you seem to have set your heart on it, we’ll go.”
So the Count and the Countessput on their hats and took their places in the procession, at the head of the line of children and just behind the musicians. Then they all marched across the great courtyard to the old wing of the castle, and when they reached the doors of the great hall, the giant swung them open, and everybody entered.
Never were there two such astonished people as the Count and the Countess!
Right in the middle of the hall stood a great Christmas-tree, which the giant had brought in on his shoulders from the woods. On thewide-spreading branches of this tall tree were hung hundreds of presents and sparkling ornaments.
“What does this mean?” gasped the Count. “Whose tree is this?”
“It is yours! It is yours!” cried all the children in a merry chorus which made the old walls ring. “It is your Christmas-tree, and we, the children, who love you, give it to you!”
The Count looked around from one to another of the children, but did not say a word. His heart was too full for him to speak. Then the giant put the fairy on his shirt-frill, and, stoopingdown, took up the Count and Countess, one in each hand, holding them gently but very firmly, and carried them around the tree, raising them up and down, so that they could see all the presents, even those at the very top.
Everything was labeled–not with the name of the person they were for, for they were all for the Count and Countess, but with the names of those who gave them.
Presently, the Count began to read every name aloud, and each time a child’s name was called, all the other children would clap and cheer. There were a good manysmall bags, which looked as if they were very heavy, hanging here and there, and these were all marked “From Feldar,” while some beautiful clusters of diamonds, which glittered in the sunlight that poured in through the windows, were labeled “From Tillette.”
It took a long time to look at all the presents, which were rather different from the things generally seen on Christmas-trees, for the great branches and boughs held every kind of useful and ornamental articles that the Count and Countess needed. Many of these were old family treasures which they oncehad owned, but had been obliged to sell, to keep up their Christmas festivals.
The Count and his wife were more and more delighted as they were carried around the tree, but at last this happy business was over, and the giant put them down upon the floor.
“Now for a dance!” cried the fairy, in her clear little voice, and the music struck up, while all the children began to dance gayly around the tree.
The Count and Countess, with the giant and the fairy, stood aside while this happy play was goingon, enjoying it almost as much as the children, but when the dancing began to flag, the Count thought that the time had now come when the party ought to have something to eat, and his heart failed him when he thought of the very meager repast he had to offer them.
But he need not have troubled his mind about that. As soon as the dance was done, the giant stepped to a door which led to another apartment, and throwing it open he cried:
“Enter the banqueting-hall! This is the feast the children give to the good Count Cormo and his wife.He has feasted them often and often, and made them happy for many a Christmas. It is their turn now.”
Everybody trooped through the door, the children gently pushing the Count and Countess before them. The room was truly a banqueting-hall. A long table was covered with every kind of thing good to eat, and, on smaller tables in the corners, was ever so much more, in case it should be needed. Here and there, on the long table were enormous cakes, great bowls of jelly, and vast pies. Everybody knew these were for the giant.
The Count and Countess took their places at the head and foot of the table; and all the children gathered around, and everybody had a splendid appetite. Just in the center of the table there was a little table about three inches high, on which there were dear little morsels of the dainties the others were eating. At this table, on a little chair, the fairy Tillette sat, where she could see everything, and she enjoyed herself as much as anybody else did.
THE COUNT AND HIS HAPPY GUESTS ENJOY THE CHRISTMAS FEAST
THE COUNT AND HIS HAPPY GUESTS ENJOY THE CHRISTMAS FEAST
THE COUNT AND HIS HAPPY GUESTS ENJOY THE CHRISTMAS FEAST
When the banquet was over, they all went into the great hall, where they had dances and games andsinging, and there never was a merrier company before.
When evening approached the Count stood up and made a little speech. He tried to tell the children how good he thought they were, and how happy they had made him. He did not say much, but they all understood him. When he had finished there was a silence over the whole room. The children looked at one another, some of them smiled, and then, all together, as if they had planned it out before, they cried:
“The giant and the fairy did itall. He gave us the money and she told us what to buy.”
“Oh, pshaw!” said the young giant, his face turning very red; “I thought nothing was to be said about that,” and he went outside so that nobody should make a speech to him.
Now all the children came up, and each in turn bade the Count and Countess farewell, and then, headed by the giant’s band of music, and singing merrily, they marched away to their homes.
But Count Cormo would not let the giant and the fairy go away so soon. He made them come withhim to the dwelling part of his castle, and there, after a little squeezing and stooping by the giant, at the door, they all sat down around the hearth, on which a fine blazing fire had been built.
“I don’t know what to say, my dear Feldar,” said the Count, “and I can never repay you––”
The giant was just about to exclaim that the Count need not say anything, and that he did not wish to be repaid, when, seeing he felt embarrassed, the fairy broke in:
“Oh, yes, dear Count, you can repay him. You can adopt him. You have no children, you are gettingold, and are living alone. He has no parents,–even his grandfather’s uncle is now dead,–and he lives all by himself in his castle on the Shattered Crag. He is rich, and you can show him how to do good with his great wealth. He could come and live in the old wing of the castle, where the rooms are so large; the furniture he has inherited could be sent here, and you could all be so happy together! Will you take him?”
The Count’s eyes filled with tears.
“Would you like us to adopt you?” he said to Feldar.
COUNT CORMO ADOPTS THE YOUNG GIANT
COUNT CORMO ADOPTS THE YOUNG GIANT
COUNT CORMO ADOPTS THE YOUNG GIANT
“Indeed I should,” was the reply. Then the young giant kneeled on the floor; and the Count got up on a table, and put his hands on the young giant’s head, and adopted him.
“Now you ought to adopt her,” said Feldar, after he had kissed the Count and the Countess, and had sat down again by the fire.
“No,” said Tillette, “I can not be adopted. But I will often come to see you, and we shall be happy together, and the children will have a splendid Christmas festival every year.”
“As long as we live,” said the Count and Countess.
“As long as I live,” said Feldar.
When the Count and Countess went up to their room, that night, there they found the family bedstead, all cleaned and polished, with its gold and silver ornaments sparkling like new.
“What a happy Christmas I have had!” said good Count Cormo.