The Adventures of Nicholas Read Online Free PDF Page B

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