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doorway As the children set off with their sleds for the
race, the whole village followed behind to watch the
excitement. But there was no sign of Nicholas.
Unfortunately one of his old sled’s wooden runners
had broken under the strain of carrying the heavy load of
toys. As he desperately tried to lash it together with
rope, he could hear the faint echo of the Squire’s
horn coming from the top of the hill. The race had
started. Nicholas was deeply disappointed because he knew
he had missed the chance to win the new sled, but as he
had to go to the woodcutter’s cottage anyway to
deliver Elsa’s present, he turned the battered sled
upright and made a dash for the hilltop. As he reached
the starting line, Nicholas saw his friends speeding off,
looking like little black specks in the distance. "Come on Nicholas," called the villagers, "Let’s give you a good push to get you started. One, two, three. Off you go." Nicholas flew down the hill, his face stinging in the wind, faster and faster he went, the wooden runners hardly touching the hard packed snow. The black specks were becoming larger and Nicholas knew he must have been catching up to the other children. Larger and larger they became until Nicholas nearly fell off his sled with amazement. They had stopped and were waiting for him just in front to he woodcutter’s cottage. "Hurry up Nicholas." encouraged little Josef, "We would have waited for you at the top, but the Squire became impatient and made us start when the horn blew. You know we’d have waited for you if we could." "Yes," shouted Otto, "now go and leave that doll in Elsa’s doorway, and let’s go! From now on just see how long we’ll wait for you! First come, first served for the new sled with metal runners." page 8 |
5b |
Nicholas
wiped a tear from his eye. "You shouldn’t have
gone so soon after being sick, but I do love the little
berries. What are they called?" "I don’t know, but I liked them because they remind me of you, so round, red and shiny," said the little girl with a mischievous laugh. "That’s funny," answered Nicholas, "they remind me of you somewhat, so brave growing out there in the darkness and cold. Those little berries have the deep red of courage in them, so I think I’ll christen them and from now on we’ll call them ‘Holly’."
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