Who would take care of little Nicholas now that he was all alone in the world? The fishermen and their wives had a meeting to discuss his plight. “We would take care of him of course,” said one, “but it’s not easy with five mouths to feed already, and he’s a growing boy.”
“It’s now the middle of winter and good fishing days are few and far between,” said another. “With luck we'll just scrape through until spring.”
Then kind, plump Mrs. Bavran spoke. “We have a reserve of food for this winter and there’s an old bed in our store room, so we could take in the poor little mite. But mind you, a fisherman’s life is never easy,” she added. “Who knows what might happen between this year and next? I think that we should all share Nicholas. There are ten of us here now, so if we each agree to have him for one year, that will take care of him until he’s fifteen, and without a doubt he’ll run away to sea long before that.”
Everyone agreed, and so Nicholas went to live with the Bavran family, moving in on Christmas Eve, the day before the Christmas feast. The children’s excitement only made him feel more miserable and he curled himself up in a corner of the storeroom, and with heartbroken sobs for his lost mother, father and beloved Kathy, Nicholas tried to drown the sounds of merrymaking in the cottage. But the door opened slowly, and a little form was seen in the ray of light.
“What do you want?” asked Nicholas almost roughly. “Go away. I want to be alone.”
Standing in the doorway, the little boy’s mouth quivered. “My boat’s broken,” he cried. “The new one given to me for the Christmas feast. Father’s gone out fishing and mother cant fix it. What shall I do?” he asked holding up a broken toy fishing boat. Nicholas dried his eyes on his sleeves and took the broken toy in his hands. “I’ll fix it for you.” he said as he turned back to his lonely corner.
“Oh, come in here where there’s more light,” said the young Bavran.
So Nicholas went in where there was more light, more children, and more laughter and for a while he forgot his sorrows.
As the months passed, Nicholas grew very fond of the Bavran children, Otto, Margaret and Gretchen. He loved playing with them, but he knew it couldn’t last forever. When Christmas day was approaching again and the Bavran family talked of Nicholas leaving them, he became very confused and frightened, yet his main thoughts were of how he could repay them for their kindness. Nicholas wished that he could give them all a gift, but the only things he owned in the world were the clothes that he wore, an extra coat and trousers, an old sea chest and the pocketknife that had belonged to his father. He just couldn’t part with any of these. Suddenly a wonderful idea came into his head. He would carve some toys for the children just as he had done for his dear little sister Kathy.
So for the last two weeks of his stay with the Bavran family, Nicholas worked secretly in the dark storeroom, hiding his knife and wood whenever he heard anybody approaching. He struggled furiously during the last few days so all the gifts could be finished by Christmas morning, because, it was Christmas when the Bavrans had taken him in last winter and now the time had come that he must be passed onto another family.
The children wept quietly as Nicholas packed his meager belongings and Mr. Bavran, waited to take him to the home of Hans the rope maker. The little orphan drew from out of his bag the rough little toys he had made and on seeing the children’s delight in their gifts he was so happy that he didn't feel like crying himself. A lovely glow spread over his heart when he saw their happy faces and heard their cries of thanks.
“Next Christmas I shall be able to make you even better toys.” said Nicholas, an air of determination in his voice. “Just you wait and see!”
With this promise, Nicholas now six years old, bravely left them, his small figure turned away from the happy scene to face the uncertainty of the year ahead with the new family. His face was sad, yet his bright blue eyes were warm with the thought of the happiness he had left behind.
“Well,” he thought to himself as they approached the rope maker’s house “maybe the five children here will be just as nice to me as the Bavrans and I can make toys for them too. Christmas can be a happy time for me even if it’s my moving day.”