Speaker 1: A Christmas Star by Katherine Pyle. Come now, my little
dear stars, said Mother Moon, and I will tell you
the Christmas Story. Every morning for a week before Christmas,
Mother Moon used to call all the little stars around
her and tell them a story. It was always the
same story, but the stars never wearied of it. It
was the story of the Christmas Star, the Star of Bethlehem.
When Mother Moon had finished the story, the little stars
always said, and the star is shining still, isn't it,
Mother Moon, even if we can't see it. And Mother
Moon would answer, yes, my DearS, only now it shines
from men's hearts instead of their eyes. Then the stars
would bid the Mother Moon good night and put on
their little blue night caps and go to bed in
the sky chamber. For the stars, bedtime is when people
down on earth are beginning to waken and see that
it is morning. But that particular morning, when the little
stars said good night and went quietly away, one golden
star still lingered beside Mother Moon. What is the matter,
my little star, asked the Mother Moon. Why don't you
go with your little sisters, Oh, Mother Moon, said the
golden star. I am so sad. I wish I could
shine for some one's heart, like that star of wonder
that you tell us about. Why aren't you happy up
here in the sky country, asked Mother Moon. Yes I
have been very happy, said the star. But to night
it seems just as if I must find some heart
to shine for. Then if that is so, said mother Moon,
the time has come, my little star, for you to
go through the wonder entry, the wonder entry. What is that,
asked the star, But the mother Moon made no answer.
Rising she took the little Star by the hand and
led it to a door that it had never seen before.
The Mother Moon opened the door, and there was a long,
dark entry. At the far end was shining a little
speck of light. What is this, asked the star. It
is the wonder Entry, and it is through this that
you must go to find the heart where you belong,
said the mother Moon. Then the little Star was afraid.
It longed to go through the entry, as it had
never longed for anything before. And yet it was afraid
and clung to the Mother Moon. But very gently, almost sadly,
the Mother Moon drew her hand away, Go, my child,
she said. Then, wondering and trembling, the little Star stepped
into the wonder entry, and the door of the sky
house closed behind it. The next thing the star knew
it was hanging in a toy shop with a whole
row of other stars, blue and red and silver. It
itself was gold. The shop smelled of evergreen and was
full of Christmas shoppers, men and women and children. But
of all of them, the star looked at no one
but a little boy standing in front of the counter.
For as soon as the star saw the child, it
knew that he was the one to whom it belonged.
The little boy was standing beside a sweet faced woman
in a long black veil, and he was not looking
at anything in particular. The star shook and trembled on
the string that held it, because it was afraid lest
the child should not see it, or lest if he did,
he would not know it as his star. The lady
had a number of toys on the counter before her,
and she was saying, now, I think we have presents
for every one. There's the doll for Loo, and the
game for Ned, and the music box for May, and
then the rocking horse and the sled. Suddenly the little
boy caught her by the arm. Oh mother. He said
he had seen the star. Well, what is it, darling,
asked the lady. Oh, mother, just see that star up there.
Oh I wish I do, wish I had it. Oh,
my dear, we have so many things for the Christmas tree,
said the mother. Yes, I know, but I do want
this star, said the child. Very well, said the mother, smiling.
Then we'll take that too. So the star was taken
down from the place where it hung and wrapped up
in a piece of paper, and all the while it
thrilled with joy. For now it belonged to the little boy.
It was not until the afternoon before Christmas, when the
tree was being decorated, that the golden star was unwrapped
and taken out from the paper. Here is something else,
said the sweet faced lady. We must hang this on
the tree. Paul took such a fancy to it that
I had to get it for him. He will never
be satisfied unless we hang it on too. Oh yes,
said some one else who was helping to decorate the tree.
We will hang it here on the very top. So
the little star hung on the highest branch of the
Christmas tree. That evening, all the candles were lighted on
the Christmas tree, and there were so many that they
fairly dazzled the eyes, and the gold and silver balls,
the fair and the glass fruits shone and twinkled in
the light, and high above them all shone the golden Star.
At seven o'clock a bell was rung, and then the
folding doors of the room where the Christmas trees stood
were thrown open, and a crowd of children came trooping in.
They laughed and shouted and pointed, and all talked together,
and after a while there was music, and presents were
taken from the tree and given to the children. How
different it was from the great, wide, still sky house.
But the star had never been so happy in all
its life. For the little boy was there. He stood
apart from the other children, looking up at the star,
with his hands clasped behind him, and he did not
seem to care for the toys and the games. At
last it was all over. The lights were put out,
the children went home, and the house grew still. Then
the ornaments on the tree began to talk among themselves.
So that is all over, said the sober ball. It
was very gay this evening, the gayest Christmas I remember, Yes,
said a bunch of grapes the best of it is over.
Of course, people will come to look at us for
several days yet, but it won't be like this evening.
And then I suppose we'll be laid away for another year,
said a paper fairy. Really, it seems hardly worth the
while such a few days of the year, and then
to be shut up in the dark box again. I
almost wish I were a paper doll. The bunch of
grapes was wrong in saying that people would come to
look at the Christmas tree the next few days, for
it stood neglected in the library, and nobody came near it.
Everybody in the house went about very quietly with anxious faces,
for the little boy was ill. At last, one evening
a woman came into the room with a servant. The
woman wore the cap and apron of a nurse. That
is it, she said, pointing to the golden star. The
servant climbed up on some step and took down the
star and put it in the nurse's hand, and she
carried it out into the hall and upstairs to the
room where the little boy lay. This sweet faced lady
was sitting by the bed, and as the nurse came in,
she held out her hand for the star. Is this
what you wanted, my darling, she asked, bending over the
little boy. The child nodded and held out his hands
for the star, and as he clasped it, a wonderful,
shining smile came over his face. The next morning, the
little boy's room was very still and dark. The golden
piece of paper that had been the star lay on
a table beside the bed, its five points very sharp
and bright. But it was not the real star any
more than a person's body as the real person. The
real star was living and shining now in the little
boy's heart, and it had gone out with him into
a new and more beautiful sky country than it had
ever known before, the sky country where the little child
angels live, each one carrying in its heart its own
particular star. And of a Christmas Star by Katherine Pyle