Speaker 1: The Christmas Dinner by Shepherd Nap. Before the play begins,
Mother Goose comes out in front of the curtain, and
this is what she says.
Speaker 2: Well, well, well, well, well, here we all are again,
and what's more important, Christmas is here again too, aren't
you glad?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: I want to tell you children something. Do you know
what I enjoy most at Christmas time? It's to come
in here and see all you children sitting in rows
and rows, all your faces looking up at me, and
a smile on every one of them. Why, even some
of those great big men and women back there are
smiling too. And I think I know why you are
all smiling.
Speaker 4: There are are.
Speaker 2: Two reasons for it, I believe. One is that you
think old Mother Goose is a good friend of yours
and loves you all very much. And you're quite right
about that, for I declare I love every one of
you as much as I love plum pudding. And the
second reason why you are all smiling, I guess, is
because you think I am going to show you a
Christmas play. And you're right about that too. I have
a play all ready for you there behind the curtain,
and the name of it is the Christmas dinner. Doesn't
the very name of it make you hungry?
Speaker 4: Well, you just wait. Now.
Speaker 2: When the curtain opens, you'll see the warm, cozy kitchen
of a farmhouse where six people live. Two of them
are quite young, because they are just a boy and
a girl, and their names are Walter and Gertrude. And
two of them are older, and yet not so very
old either. They are the father and mother of the
two children. And the last two are the oldest of all,
and they are really old, for they are the children's
grandfather and grandmother. It is late in the afternoon of
the day before Christmas, the hour when it has begun
to get dark. The father is out cutting some good
big sticks of wood for the Christmas fire, and the
two children are playing outside of the house, so you'll
not see them at first, but you will see the
mother who is just finishing the day's work, and the
old grandfather and grandmother who are sitting by the fire.
Are you ready, all of you, be quiet then, for
now it is going to begin.
Speaker 1: Now the curtain opens and you see a farmhouse kitchen,
just as Mother Goose promised. At the back opposite of
you is a fireplace with a mantle shelf. Over it,
a bright fire is burning. On the mantle is a
lamp lighted and an unlighted candle. Also some other things
that you'll hear about later. There is a cupboard against
the back wall. At one side of the room is
the door leading out of doors. Beside it is a
large wood box where the firewood is kept. And nearby
our broom leaning against the wall and a dust pan.
On the other side of the room is another door
which leads to the rest of the house. Beside that
is a big clothes basket where the soiled clothes kept
close to the fire, one on each side. The grandfather
and the grandmother are sitting in comfortable chairs near the front,
and a little at one side are a table and
a chair. On the table is a dishpan and a
number of dishes which mother is washing. When the curtain opens,
the first one to speak is the grandmother, and this
is what she says, Haven't you nearly finished?
Speaker 5: Mary? Yes? Almost, Only a few more things to be
washed and then I can sit down and rest.
Speaker 6: Is everything ready for Christmas dinner tomorrow?
Speaker 5: Every single thing. The goose is ready to go on
the fire, The apple sauce is made. The bread and
the pies are baked, and the plum pudding, well, you
saw the pudding yourself, so that I don't need to
tell you about that. It's a beauty if I do
say so.
Speaker 1: At this moment, the outside door opens and the two children,
Walter and Gertrude, run in their coats and mittens, show
that they have been playing in the snow.
Speaker 4: Oh mother, it's getting dark outside. May we come in now?
Is your work all done?
Speaker 5: Not quite yet? DearS? Run out both of you for
ten minutes more, and then I'll have everything cleared away.
It makes me nervous to have you about while things
are in a mess.
Speaker 7: All right, mother, Come on, Walter, I'll race you to
the gate.
Speaker 1: And both children go out of doors again running. Gertrude
was nearer the door and gets out first.
Speaker 5: Such energy as those children.
Speaker 1: Have, exclaims mother with a sigh, as she goes on
with her work.
Speaker 5: Sometimes it makes me tired to watch them there. Every
last thing is washed, and now when I've dried them,
I can sit down.
Speaker 1: She goes on talking while she dries.
Speaker 5: There's one thing I haven't had time to do, those
paper caps. I suppose the children will be disappointed, but
I simply couldn't find time to make them. The colored
paper and paste and scissors are all on the mantel shelf,
and I suppose I ought to sit right down now
and go to work on them, But I declare I'm
too tired. Getting ready for Christmas seems to take all
the strength I have. I think I must be getting old.
Speaker 6: You getting old, nonsense. Wait till you get to be
our age, then you might talk of getting old and
feeling tired. Isn't that so John?
Speaker 1: John is grandfather's first name.
Speaker 3: Yes, when you get to be as old as we are,
then you'll know what it is to be so tired
Christmas or another day. I tried to help James shut
the gate this morning where the snow had drifted against it,
and it tired me. So I haven't stirred out of
his chair since.
Speaker 1: Now the outside door opens second time, and the children
come in again. Gertrude first, isn't it time now, mother?
Speaker 5: Yes, I've just finished. Take off your coats and try
to quiet down.
Speaker 1: She puts the clean dishes away in the cupboard and
carries the dishpan away into the next room. The children
take off their coats and caps. Walter goes over by
his grandfather and leans against his chair. Gertrude sits down
on a low stool beside her grandmother.
Speaker 3: What have you children been doing all the afternoon?
Speaker 7: Oh, we've had the greatest fun. First we went skating
down the mill pond.
Speaker 4: And then we built a snow fort and the Indians
attacked it and we drove them off with snowballs.
Speaker 7: And then we played tag out by the barn.
Speaker 4: No, that was afterwards, don't you remember, Gertrude. Before that,
we rice down to the crossroads to see if the
postman had brought any mile.
Speaker 7: Oh? Yes, and you tripped and fell down in the
snow drift. An old grandfather. You ought to have seen
him when he got up. He was a sight. But
it all brushed off.
Speaker 6: And don't you feel tired after doing all that?
Speaker 7: No, I'm not a bit tired, are you, Walter?
Speaker 4: Not a bit?
Speaker 6: Well, that's the beauty of being young. I suppose that
when I was your age, I was just the same
as your children are. Now.
Speaker 4: How long is it since you were all right?
Speaker 6: So many years that I haven't had time to count
them up, But I can remember it all clearly, enough.
Even if it was so long ago, everything about it
was very different than from the way it is now.
Speaker 7: How is it different, Grandmother?
Speaker 6: Why in all sorts of ways? For one thing, the
days seemed ever so much shorter when I was a little.
Speaker 3: Girl, and the nights nowadays, and nights they're sometimes quite long,
But when I was a boy they were so short
that it seemed as though they weren't any nights at all.
Speaker 6: And food used to taste quite different.
Speaker 3: Then.
Speaker 6: I used to care a lot more for breakfast and
dinner and supper than I do now.
Speaker 4: Grandfather, do you wish that you could have stayed on
being a little boy always?
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know, Walter. There are two sides to that.
I'll tell you what I would like, though, I'd like
to be a little boy now and then, just for
a short time, to see once more how it would
feel to run and shout and play and eat and
laugh the way I used to then. I think I'd
pretty soon want to be myself again, old as I am,
because there are some grand things about old age, and
I think i'd miss if I had to be a
little boy for good and all, A good, many wonderful
things happen to you when you grow old, and even
if my old body does get pretty tired sometimes, and
you children think, perhaps at grandfather looks very stupid, sitting
so quiet by the fire's side. Here, I'm often thinking
inside of splendid things that little boys and girls don't
know anything about.
Speaker 7: But Grandfather tell us some more things that were different
when you were a boy.
Speaker 3: Well, let me see, there were the brownies. I haven't
said anything about them, have.
Speaker 4: I the brownies? What about the brownies?
Speaker 3: Only that when I was a little boy, I used
to see the brownies sometimes, but now I never see them.
It's many a long year since I caught sight of
a single one.
Speaker 4: Where did you used to see them?
Speaker 3: Right here in this room? There used to be two
of them when I was a boy, and often I
would see them, though none of the growing of people
could see them at all. During the daytime, they used
often to hide in the wood box over there, and
then at night they used to come out and play,
and sometimes they worked too, where I can remember my
father saying sometimes in the morning the floor looked so
clean that I think the brownies must have swept it
last night.
Speaker 4: But Grandfather, I'm a little boy, And I've never seen
the brownies.
Speaker 3: No, not yet, but I think you're likely to any
time now. You see, they don't show themselves to very
little boys for fear of frightening them.
Speaker 1: Gertrude, who has been listening carefully to all of this,
has a question.
Speaker 7: To ask, Grandmother, did you see the brownies too when
you were a little girl.
Speaker 6: No, indeed, the brownies never wanted any girls to see them.
But I used to see the house fairies often, and
they always hid away from the boys, so that only
weak girls ever saw them.
Speaker 7: How many house fairies were there, Grandmother? And where did
you see them? And what did they do? My?
Speaker 6: What a lot of questions. There were two of them
at our house, and they lived in the kitchen, just
as the brownies did.
Speaker 8: Here.
Speaker 6: They used to hide in a big clothes basket, very
much like that one over there at night. Like the brownies.
They used to do some of the housework to help mother.
And how pleased she used to be when she found
in the morning that some of the work had been
done for her while she was asleep.
Speaker 4: Do you suppose that if I woke up some night
and came and looked in here, I'd see the brownies
working or playing. Very likely, Oh, I'd like to try it.
Can I do it to night?
Speaker 9: No?
Speaker 6: Indeed, Walter, what is your grandfather thinking of to put
such a notion into her head? As for to night? Well,
of all nights in the year, the very night when
we expect Santa Claus to come and fill the stockings,
and you know how displeased he would be to find
the children awake and watching him. Why, he very likely
would go away without leaving a single present.
Speaker 3: To be sure, No, it wouldn't do at all. Besides, think,
I'll tell your you'd be for tomorrow, and then you'd
be sorry. With all the goings on by dinner time,
you'd probably be falling asleep, and we'd have to eat
all the goose in the pudding without you.
Speaker 7: We wouldn't want to miss that. I saw the pudding
out in the store closet, and I tell you it's
not good.
Speaker 4: I bet you tasted it.
Speaker 7: Indeed I did not not even the inst tensiest bit
of it.
Speaker 4: What time will the dinner begin, Grandfather?
Speaker 3: About twelve o'clock noon, I expect.
Speaker 4: And I suppose the pudding will be the last thing
of all.
Speaker 3: Yes, I suppose so it will be.
Speaker 4: An awfully long time to waite, and then when mother
begins to help it, Gertrud and I will have to waite,
and white well all.
Speaker 5: The rest of you.
Speaker 4: I hoped. It's pretty tawsome waiting sometimes.
Speaker 6: But have you forgotten, Walter? You won't have to wait
as long as that tomorrow, For tomorrow is Christmas. And
don't you remember that? One of the ways in which
Christmas is different from all the days in the year
is the way in which the food is helped out
at the Christmas dinner. On other days, the oldest people
are helped first, and the youngest ones have to wait.
But at Christmas Dinner, the first one to be helped
to each thing is the very youngest one of all,
and then comes the next youngest, and so on all
the way around, and the oldest one has to wait
until the very last.
Speaker 7: Oh, I remember that was the way we did it
last year, don't you remember, Walter?
Speaker 1: Walter nods?
Speaker 7: And last year I was the youngest, and I was
helped first to every single thing. Who is the youngest
this year?
Speaker 6: Why you are the youngest, just as you were last Christmas.
Speaker 7: But I'm a whole year older than I was.
Speaker 6: Then, and so is everybody else.
Speaker 7: Really, so I'm the youngest still? Will I be helped
first to the goose and the apple sauce? Yes?
Speaker 4: And will she be helped first to the pudding too?
Speaker 9: Yes?
Speaker 7: Oh, I'm so glad. Isn't it nice to be the youngest?
Speaker 4: Am I the next youngest?
Speaker 6: Yes? And the second helping of everything will go to you.
Speaker 4: Oh well, that's all right, there's sure to be plenty left.
Gertrude couldn't eat it all.
Speaker 1: Now there's the sound of someone outside the door, stamping
to shake the snow from his boots.
Speaker 7: There's father.
Speaker 1: Gertrude and Walter go to the door and open it.
Their father comes in, carrying several good sized pieces of firewood.
Speaker 3: How late you are, jeans, and how tired you look?
Speaker 8: I am tired.
Speaker 1: He lifts the lid of the wood box and throws
in the wood with a great clatter. Then, while he
takes off his cap and gloves and muffler, he says, the.
Speaker 8: Snow is so deep that it's hard to walk in it,
specially carrying a load as heavy as that wood was.
Speaker 1: He sits down.
Speaker 6: Children, go tell your mother that father is here. She'll
want to give us supper at once and hurry you
both off to bed.
Speaker 4: But when an't we to hang up at Stockings.
Speaker 8: We'll do that right after supper. Run along now and
tell mother that I'm here, the children go. Is everything
all ready for tomorrow?
Speaker 6: Yes? Mary finished everything quite a while ago, or almost everything.
She didn't get the paper caps made for the children,
but she was just too tired to do it after
all of the other work.
Speaker 8: I don't wonder when there is so much to be done,
something simply have to be left. Perhaps there will be
time tomorrow morning. I'm leaving some things for tomorrow myself.
For instance, I promised Mary i'd sweep out the kitchen
here after I'd brought in the wood, and it needs
it sure enough for I see, I've tracked in a
lot of dirt. But I'm going to beg off for tonight.
I'll do it first thing in the morning. I only
hope that Santa Claus won't notice it and think we're
an untidy household. But we leave such a dim light
in the kitchen at night that I don't believe he'll
be able to tell whether the room is broom clean
or not. And anyway, I guess he must get tired
himself sometimes, so he'll know how it is and won't
lay it up against us.
Speaker 1: And that is the end of the first scene. Again,
before the second scene begins, mother Goose comes out in
front of the curtain, and this is what she says.
Speaker 2: Children, Do you want to know what has happened in
that kitchen since the curtain closed? Well, I've come to
tell you all about it. The first thing was that
they all had supper, not a very hearty supper, because
they all wanted to say up their appetites for the
Christmas dinner the next day, but they had as much
as they needed. And then the two children went and
got their stockings, one for each member of the family.
And then they all hung up their own stockings. Gertrude
hung up her stocking, and Walter hung up his stocking,
and Mother hung up her stocking, and Father hung up
his stocking, and Grandmother hung up her stocking. And and
now I declare I've left somebody out.
Speaker 5: Who can it be?
Speaker 4: I wonder.
Speaker 8: Why?
Speaker 4: To be sure?
Speaker 2: Grandfather? Yes, Grandfather hung up his stocking. And there they were,
all six stockings hanging in a row.
Speaker 4: Look for them.
Speaker 2: There when the curtain opens, I think you'll see them. Well. Then,
of course the children went to bed, and by this
time I think they are both asleep. And now the
rest of the family are beginning to feel sleepy, And
in just a moment, I think one of them is
going to say it's time we all went to bed.
What happens after that, you can see for yourselves. For
now it's going to begin.
Speaker 1: When the curtain opens, you see the kitchen again, just
as before, except that now the six stockings are hanging
from the mantel shelf over the fireplace. Father is sitting
beside the table reading the newspaper. The two grandparents are
still sitting close to the fire, one on each side.
Grandfather has fallen asleep, and grandmother is drowsy so that
her head nods. Then she wakes up and tries to
stay away, but in a minute her head goes nodding again.
Father yawns, puts down his newspaper, yawns once more and stretches,
then goes on reading. Mother comes in and says.
Speaker 5: The children are sound asleep.
Speaker 8: It's time we all went to bed.
Speaker 1: Putting down the newspaper.
Speaker 8: I know I'm ready for it.
Speaker 1: He yawns.
Speaker 5: Besides, the fire is almost out, and indeed it ought
soon to be put out entirely, so as to cool
the chimney for old Santa Claus when he comes.
Speaker 8: That's right too.
Speaker 1: He gets up and goes to grandfather, laying his hand
on his shoulder.
Speaker 8: Father, it's time to go to bed.
Speaker 1: What waking up with a start?
Speaker 3: Why? I must have been dozing? Where are the children?
Speaker 5: They went to bed long ago, don't you remember? And
now it's bedtime for all of us. Are you ready? Mother?
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm more than ready, she writes, And grandfather also,
and with feeble steps, they go toward the door.
Speaker 8: Good night, good night, good night, good night father, pleasant dreams.
Speaker 1: Good night, And grandfather and grandmother go out.
Speaker 5: I'll be off too, James. If you'll look after the
fire and the light.
Speaker 8: Yes, I'll attend to that.
Speaker 1: Then mother goes out, and Father deadens the fire using
the tongs and shovel. He takes the chair in which
he has been sitting and sets it against the wall
beside the clothes basket. Then he lights the candle on
the mantel shelf, blows out the lamp, leaving the room
in a dim light, and goes out for a little
while everything is quiet. Then there is a noise from
the direction of the wood box. The cover rises and
the head of a brownie appears inside the box. He
climbs out, followed by another. They caper about the room
looking at everything, listening at the doors, looking up the chimney.
Then they go to the clothes basket and raise the
lid up come four arms, and then two house fairies
stand up in the basket and get out with the
help of the chair. They also flit about the room
looking at things. Meanwhile, the brownies have taken the broom
and dust pan and begin to sweep, especially over by
the outside door and by the wood box. The fairies
take a chair and climb up by the mantel shelf.
They take down the colored paper, paste and scissors, and,
carrying them to the table, set to work making paper caps.
In a few moments they hold up too complete they
leave them on the table. Now sleigh bells are heard
approaching the brownies, and the fairies leave their work and,
clapping their hands, run to the fireplace and stand in
a group facing it, looking in. Now the sleigh bells
have come very near, and now they are still and
now send Clause is heard scrambling down the chimney, and
as he comes out from the fireplace, the Brownies and
the Fairies separate to let him through. He sets down
his pack. Then the Brownies on one side and the
fairies on the other take hold of his hands and
draw him toward the front of the stage. Santa Claus
smiles down at them, and shaking the hands that hold
his he.
Speaker 10: Says, how are you all merry? Is crickets?
Speaker 1: They nod and dance up and down, still holding his hands.
Speaker 10: And what have you been doing with yourselves? Playing?
Speaker 1: They all nod and working? They nod again. Then the
Brownies draw him over to their side and show him
how clean the floor is good. Then the Brownies let
go his hand, and the Fairies draw him over to
their side and show him.
Speaker 10: The caps they have made fine.
Speaker 1: Then the fairies let go his other hand, and he
goes on talking.
Speaker 10: How are Gertrude and Walter? Have they been good?
Speaker 1: They all nod.
Speaker 10: As for the older people, I don't need to ask
you about them. Do you want to know why they nod?
It's because I've heard all about them already. They're the
little bird that lives up in the eaves of the house,
and often he flies down and listens at the window,
and then he tells me all he hears. Tonight he
flew way up to the pine woods on the hill
to meet me, and he told me some things about
all the older people in this house which make me
feel quite upset. Shall I tell you what it was?
Speaker 1: They nod.
Speaker 10: He says that they, all of them seem to think
they are growing old, not only the grandfather and grandmother,
but the father and mother too. They are all the
time talking about feeling tired and saying how different it
all was when they were children, and how long ago
that seems now. Isn't that a shame? I don't blame
them altogether, because I know myself how that sort of
thing sometimes happens. Two or three years ago, I was
sick for a while, and I declare that Eve and
I began to feel old and tired. But all the same,
I don't believe in letting that sort of thing go
on too long. And do you know what I'm going
to do about it?
Speaker 1: They not eagerly.
Speaker 10: It's the best scheme you ever heard of, and I
want you to help me with it. Well, I'm going
to use some magic to make them all little boys
and girls again for half an hour. And the way
I'm going to do it is this. I've got here
a bag of magic hazel nuts.
Speaker 6: He takes the bag out of his pocket.
Speaker 10: I always keep them in my pocket because you never
know when a thing of that sort will come in handy. Now,
I want you to take these nuts and stick them
into the plum pudding which they are all going to
eat tomorrow for their Christmas dinner. You must stick them
in all around, in different places, so that each of
the older people will be sure to get one. And
it won't do the children a bit of harm if
they get some too. In fact, they are so young
that this kind of magic won't have any effect on
them at all. But with all the older folks, as
soon as the nuts have been eaten, the magic will
begin to work. And what do you suppose will be
the first thing they will all want to do? Do
you want to know?
Speaker 1: They all nod.
Speaker 10: They will all want to get down on their hands
and knees, grandfather and grandmother and all, and crawl under
the table. Won't be funny.
Speaker 1: They all clap their hands and dance up and down.
Speaker 10: That's what the magic hazel nuts will make them do.
And when they have crawled under the table, you see,
it's a table that has a Christmas dinner on it,
and that makes a difference, of course. Well, when they
have crawled under the table, then no, I believe I
won't tell you about what will happen. Then I'll keep
it for a surprise, and it's something worth seeing, you
may be sure. So that's the plan. Will you help me?
Speaker 1: They all nod most emphatically.
Speaker 10: Here are the nuts, then run and stick them into
the pudding while I fill the stockings.
Speaker 1: They take the bag and all run out through the door.
Santa Claus goes to the fireplace and from his pack
fills all six stockings. Then as he finishes and takes
up his pack, the brownies and fairies return and gather
round to him. As he stands in front of the fireplace,
Santa Claus says to them.
Speaker 10: Did you stick them in? They nod all around.
Speaker 1: They nod again.
Speaker 10: That's right. Well, I'm off and tomorrow, if I can
manage it, I'm going to come back here at the
same time when the nuts be get to work. But
I'd like to see the fun myself goodbye.
Speaker 1: They all shake him by the hand. Then he disappears
into the fireplace. They stand in front of it for
a moment, and one of the Brownies kneels down and
looks up the chimney after him. Then sleigh bells are
hurt on the roof as the sleigh starts. The Brownies
and Fairies turn around then and come away from the fireplace.
The Brownies run to the wood box, climb in and
pull the lid down over them. At the same time,
the fairies carry the chair over to the closed basket,
climb onto the chair, step over into the basket, and
pull it down over them. Then everything is quiet again,
and that is the end of the second scene. Again,
before the third scene begins, mother Goose comes out in
front of the curtain, and this is what she.
Speaker 2: Says, children, I've got a lot to tell you about
what has happened to Walter and Gertrude since the curtain closed.
For quite a while, they went on sleeping because it
was still night, you know. And then morning came and
it didn't take them long to wake up. After that,
I can tell you, as soon as it was really light,
they put on their wrappers and woke their father and mother,
and then they went for the stockings. They took them
into their grandparents room, and grandmother and grandfather sat up
in bed with shawls over their shoulders, and the rest sat.
Speaker 4: On the edge of the bed.
Speaker 2: Then they all opened their stockings, and I couldn't begin
to tell you what fine presents they found in them,
nor how happy they all were. After breakfast, they all
sat down by the kitchen fire, and father got the
big family Bible and laid it on grandfather's lap. And
grandfather polished up his spectacles till they shone, and put
them on his nose, and then he read about the
story of the First Christmas long ago in Bethlehem. And
it was all so quiet while he was reading that
you could almost hear the snowflakes falling outside, for it
had begun to snow. Then, when grandfather had finished reading
and closed the Bible, they all sang a Christmas carol,
which they always sing together every Christmas in that house.
And they sang it out so clear and strong that
a traveler in a sleigh way down at the cross
roads heard it, and it sounded so good that he
stopped his horse in spite of the storm and listened
till it was over. Well, I can't tell you everything
else they did that morning, except that Father found the
floor all swept and knew it must have been done
by the brownies. And then mother found the paper caps
that the house fairies had made. She was ever so glad,
and so were the children when they opened them up
and put them on. You'll see how they look on
the children's heads when the curtain opens. Then about the dinner,
Father had brought in the big table and set it
up in the kitchen in front of the fireplace, and
Mother put on the plates and the forks and the
knives and the spoons and all the rest. Then the
goose was roasted, and oh how good it smelt when
it was cooking. At last everything was ready, and twelve
o'clock came and they all sat down at the table.
And do you know, I believe they are still sitting
there behind the curtain, But they have finished the goose
and the apple sauce and all the good things that
went with them, and now they are just going to
begin on the pudding. They don't know a thing about
the magic nuts, because the brownies and the fairies stuck
them in so neatly that not one of them shows.
Mother is just starting to put the pudding on the saucers.
I wonder if she will remember about giving it to
the youngest first. That's Gertrude, you know. Do you want
to see for yourselves whether she remembers. Will be very quiet,
then for now it is going to begin.
Speaker 1: When the curtain opens, you again see the kitchen, but
it looks a good deal different because the chairs that
grandmother and grandfather used to sit in have been moved out.
So has the small table on which Mother washed the
dishes in the first scene. And now in front of
the fireplace is the great big table that mother goose
told you about the tablecloth on It is so big
that it hangs all the way down to the floor.
At one end of the table sits Father. Then next
to him, back of the table facing you is Grandfather,
then Gertrude, then Walter, then Grandmother, and at the other
end of the table, next to grandmother, Mother is seated.
The children have on those bright colored paper caps that
the house fairies made. Mother, who is helping the pudding,
is the first to speak, and this is what she says.
Speaker 5: There's the first plate full of our Christmas pudding, and
that to Gertrude.
Speaker 1: Of course, she hands it to grandmother, who passes it
on to Walter Um, holding it for a moment under
his nose.
Speaker 4: That smells good.
Speaker 1: He passes it to Gertrude.
Speaker 7: Shall I wait till everybody else is served before I begin?
Speaker 8: No, not today, begin at once. We all want to
know how it tastes.
Speaker 1: Gertrude tastes it.
Speaker 7: Oh, it is good.
Speaker 1: Mother meanwhile has helped another plateful and passed it to Grandmother,
who says, Walter, here is yours, and she hands it
to him. He tastes it.
Speaker 3: Is it good? Walter?
Speaker 1: Walter, with his mouth very full, can only say.
Speaker 5: Mm, pass this down to father.
Speaker 1: And she starts to hand another plateful of putting to grandmother.
Speaker 7: Oh mother, aren't you younger than father? Oh?
Speaker 1: Yes, just by two months, answers Mother, keeping the plateful
of pudding in her hand.
Speaker 5: You think I ought to be helped next. All right,
we'll keep strictly to the rules, and I'll set this
aside for myself while I help the others.
Speaker 1: She helps another plateful. This is for you, James, she
says to father, and passes it along.
Speaker 5: And grandmother, this is for you.
Speaker 1: She hands a plateful of pudding to grandmother.
Speaker 5: Grandfather, here is yours, last of all, because you are
the oldest.
Speaker 1: Of us, Mother says, and starts the last plateful of
putting on its way to grandfather. Suddenly, Father, who has
been eating some of his pudding, exclaims.
Speaker 8: Here's something new. You never put nuts in the plum
pudding before mary nuts.
Speaker 5: There aren't any nuts in the pudding.
Speaker 8: But indeed there are. I've just eaten one, and so
have I.
Speaker 3: And here's another.
Speaker 1: One, declares Grandfather, and he holds it up in a spoon.
Speaker 3: Mister hazel nut.
Speaker 1: He says, and puts it into his mouth.
Speaker 5: Why I don't understand it at all. I didn't put
any hazel nuts in the plum pudding. Who ever heard
of such a thing? Children? Have you found any in yours?
Speaker 4: Yes, I've had two.
Speaker 1: Mother has been looking carefully at the pudding on her plate.
Speaker 5: I declare, you're right, here's one in mine.
Speaker 1: She eats it.
Speaker 5: They are very good nuts too, But how they ever
got into the pudding is a mystery.
Speaker 1: During this last speech, the lid of the wood box
has been pushed up, showing the two brownies sitting up
in the box, and also the top of the clothes
basket showing the fairies looking out from the basket. Walter
happens to catch sight of the brownies in the wood box.
He starts up from his chair, and, pointing toward the
wood box, cries, there they are, what asked Father, looking
in the direction to which Walter points the brownies.
Speaker 4: See in the wood box?
Speaker 8: I don't see anything except that someone has left the
lid of the wood box open.
Speaker 7: Oh, and the fairies.
Speaker 1: Cries Gertrude, pointing toward the clothes basket.
Speaker 7: There they are, I see them.
Speaker 1: Mother turns around to look and then says to Gertrude.
Speaker 7: There's nothing there, my dear, Oh, but there is there
in the basket.
Speaker 1: Everybody stands up. Gertrude and Walter come around from behind
the table and look at the fairies and brownies, but
they don't get very close to them because they are
just a little bit scared. At the same time, Father
begins to act rather queerly, looking down at the floor
and keeping himself up by holding onto the table. Now
he goes down on his hands and knees near the
end of the table.
Speaker 5: Why James, what are you doing? How queerly you are acting?
Speaker 1: Father gets up again, as though by a great effort.
Speaker 8: I don't know what is the matter, but I have
the funniest sort of feeling. It seems as though I
should just have to get down on the floor and
crawl under the table.
Speaker 5: Well, that's queer, do you know? I begin to feel
the same way myself. So do I, So do I.
Speaker 8: It's perfectly ab surd the way I seem to want
to crawl under the table.
Speaker 1: Father says, and his knees keep bending under him.
Speaker 5: But you're surely not going to do it.
Speaker 8: Oh no, Father answers, I'm not going to do it.
Speaker 1: But all the same, He goes down on his knees again.
Speaker 5: But you are doing it.
Speaker 8: Well, I can't help it. Here goes, Watch me come
out at the other end.
Speaker 5: If he goes, I've got to follow.
Speaker 1: Says mother. And she gets down on her hands and
knees behind him. So have I, says grandfather. And he
kneels down behind mother, And I says grandmother, and she
kneels behind Grandfather. Then close behind one another, they go
under the table. And when they come out at the
other end, Father and grandfather have turned into little boys,
and mother and grandmother have turned into little girls. While
this is happening, the brownies and fairies come out of
the box and basket.
Speaker 4: Oh, Jollie, is this you grandfather?
Speaker 1: He takes hold of her hands with the little boy
the grandfather has turned into, and swings him around in
a circle. Oh, mother, cries Gertrude to one of the
little girls hugging her.
Speaker 7: How darling you are. Isn't this fun?
Speaker 4: Let's all play some game together.
Speaker 7: London Bridge? Shall we play that?
Speaker 1: The others all clap their hands, so she goes on.
Speaker 7: She says, Walter, you and I will be the bridge.
What shall we choose?
Speaker 1: They whisper together. Then the game is played in the
usual way. Each captive is offered a choice between plum
pudding that is Gertrude's side, and ice cream that's Walter's side.
At the very moment when the tug of war is
about to begin, the outside door opens and incomes Santa Claus.
At once, they all leave their games and gather round him.
Speaker 4: Oh, Santa Claus, have you come to play with us?
Speaker 10: How can I play with you? I'm far too big
and far far too old.
Speaker 1: One of the fis Mary's has gone to the table
and gotten a plate a plum pudding, which he now
offers to Santa Claus.
Speaker 10: What's this plum pudding? Well, I never could resist that.
Speaker 1: He begins to eat it.
Speaker 10: This surely is a first class pudding.
Speaker 1: He takes another spoonful.
Speaker 10: Why what's this a nut in the pudding? A hazel nut?
Speaker 1: He stops short and holds the plate away from him.
Speaker 10: A hazel nut. I declare, I'd clean forgotten all about that,
and now I've gone and eaten one. Goodness, is it
going to work? I wonder?
Speaker 1: He puts the plate down on the table.
Speaker 9: Yes, I feel it coming, Yes, it's coming. I've just
got to crawl under that table. Get out of the
way there.
Speaker 10: I've just got to do it. It's no use trying, ain't not.
Speaker 1: To the children. The brownies and the fairies are all
delighted and laugh and dance up and down and clap
their hands.
Speaker 4: Go on, Santa, you'll make a jolly boy.
Speaker 1: Down, goes Santa Claus on his hands and knees and
crawls under the table. When he comes out on the
other end, he is a little roly poly boy, smaller
and fatter than any of the others and dressed in
white with red trimmings. All the others join hands with
him in a circle, and they swing around gleefully.
Speaker 4: Now for a game of follow my leda. I'll be
the lada, come off to me.
Speaker 1: Off Walter starts around the room, the others following, first Gertrude,
then the Brownies and the Fairies, then the others, with
Santa Claus bringing up the rear. They go over the
wood box, on to a chair, and down again, and
at last Walter dies under the table in the opposite
direction to that in which the magic change was made.
The children, the Brownies, and the fairies go through without
any change, of course, but the other five all out
in their original form. They stand up, straightening their clothes,
mother and grandmother setting their hair to rights. Meantime, while
the children are occupied watching the transformations of their parents
and grandparents, the Brownies and fairies go back into the
box and basket and pull the lids down after them.
Speaker 8: I'm all out of breath, so.
Speaker 6: Am I, But what fun it was.
Speaker 5: I wouldn't have missed it for a thousand dollars.
Speaker 3: Nor I even now, although I've got my old body
back again. I declare, I feel as young as a
boy inside.
Speaker 7: Oh, Santa Claus, you were the dearest, funniest little boy
I ever saw. It just made me laugh to look
at you.
Speaker 1: Hush, says Santa Claus, looking cautiously over his shoulder.
Speaker 10: I hope you won't let anyone know how foolish I
looked and acted. What would people say if they heard
that a man hundreds of years old like me has
been ropping around that way?
Speaker 4: Why, Santa Claus, everybody would think it was fun.
Speaker 10: Do you think so?
Speaker 1: Asked Santa Claus, looking around from one to the other.
Speaker 8: Of course they would. The fact is they'd love you
all the more for it, if that's possible.
Speaker 7: Dear Santa Claus, you don't mind my laughing at you,
do you? Because you are funny?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 10: Well? No, I guess I don't mind much. In fact,
the more I think of it, the more I think
myself that it was funny. Only so high.
Speaker 1: He measures the height with his.
Speaker 10: Hand, and as fat as butter.
Speaker 1: He goes off into a roar of laughter, and everybody
else begins laughing, and they laugh more and more until
they have to lean up against the wall, and the
table and wipe their eyes. When the laughing has stopped,
Santa Claus.
Speaker 10: Says, there is only one person I don't believe I
can quite forgive, and that's that sly puss of a
fairy who gave me the plumb pudding. She knew what
would happen. Well enough, where is she?
Speaker 1: He looks around for her.
Speaker 10: Why she's gone, so.
Speaker 1: She has, says Gertrude, looking around.
Speaker 7: They're both gone, and the brownies too.
Speaker 10: Oh when I must be going this very minute? Goodness
knows how late it is.
Speaker 1: He goes toward the door.
Speaker 10: Goodbye, everybody, Goodbye till next Christmas.
Speaker 1: Just at the door, he turns and says.
Speaker 10: By the way, I've got some more of those hazel
nuts at home. What do you think i'd better do
with him?
Speaker 6: Santa Claus? Bring them with you next Christmas and let's
do it all over again, shall I asks Santa Claus,
looking around at the.
Speaker 10: Yes, yes, yes, it's a bargain. Don't forget next Christmas. Goodbye.
Speaker 1: He opens the door to go out.
Speaker 5: Goodbye, Bye.
Speaker 8: Christmas.
Speaker 1: They all cry after him, and they wave their hands
to him as the curtain closes, And this is the
end of the play.
Speaker 2: Well, children, did you like it? Do you know? I
rather wish I could try one of those magic nuts myself.
I think I'd made a real cunning little girl, don't you.
But there's no use wishing for what you can't have,
And besides, there's something more important to be attended to.
I noticed that Santa Claus is a great one to
give everybody presents, And sure enough he's done it again
this time, just as usual. He he's brought boxes of
candy for all you boys and girls. He left them
outside on the doorstep, and I was almost afraid the
snow might have spoiled them, but it was such dry
snow it didn't do them any harm at all. And
in a minute, when the curtain's open, they'll be brought
indoors and handed out to you. Well, I guess that's
all for this year, except for old mother Goose to
wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
Speaker 1: And of the Christmas Dinner by Shepherd Knap