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Speaker 1: The Holy Night by Selma Lagerloff. When I was five

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years old, I had such a great sorrow. I hardly

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know if I've had a greater sense. It was then

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that my grandmother died. Up to that time, she used

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to sit every day on the corner sofa in her

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room and tell stories. I remember that grandmother told story

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after story from morning till night, and that we children

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sat beside her quite still and listened. It was a

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glorious life. No other children had such happy times as

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we did. It isn't much that I recollect about my grandmother.

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I remember that she had very beautiful snow white hair

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and stooped when she walked, and that she always sat

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and knitted a stocking. And I even remember that when

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she had finished a story, she used to lay her

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hand on my head and say, all this is as true,

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as true as that I see you and you see me.

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I also remember that she could sing songs, but this

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she did not do every day. One of the songs

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was about a night and a sea troll, and had

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this refrain it blows cold, cold weather at sea. And

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I remember a little prayer she taught me, and a

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verse of a hymn. Of all the stories she told me,

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I have but a dim and imperfect recollection. Only one

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of them do I remember so well that I should

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be able to repeat it. It is a little story

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about Jesus' birth. Well, this is nearly all that I

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can recall about my grandmother, except the thing which I

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remember best, and that is the great loneliness when she

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was gone. I remember the morning when the corner sofa

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stood empty, and when it was impossible to understand how

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the days would ever come to an end. That I

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remember that I shall never forget. And I recollect that

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we children were brought forward to kiss the hand of

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the dead, and that we were afraid to do it,

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But then someone said to us that it would be

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the last time we could thank grandmother for all the

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pleasure she had given us. And I remember how the

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stories and songs were driven from the homestead, shut up

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in a long black casket, and how they never came

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back again. I remember that something was gone from our lives.

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It seemed as if the door to a whole, beautiful,

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enchanted world, where before we had been free to go

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in and out, had been closed, And now there was

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no one who knew how to open that door. And

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I remember that little by little, weech children learned to

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play with dolls and toys, and to live like other children.

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And then it seemed as though we no longer missed

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our grandmother or remembered her. But even to day, after

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forty years, as I sit here and gather together these

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legends about Christ which I heard out there in the Orient,

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there awakes within me the little legend of Jesus's birth

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that my grandmother used to tell. And I feel impelled

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to tell it once again, and to let it also

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be included in my collection. It was Christmas Day and

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all the folks had driven to church except grandmother and I.

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I believe we were all alone in the house. We

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had not been permitted to go along because one of

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us was too old, in the other too young. And

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we were sad, both of us, because we had not

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been taken to early Mass to hear the singing and

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to see the Christmas candles. But as we sat there

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in our loneliness, grandmother began to tell a story. There

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was a man, said she, who went out in the

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dark night to borrow live coals to kindle a fire.

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He went from hut to hut and knocked. Dear friends,

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help me, said he. My wife has just given birth

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to a child, and I must make a fire to

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warm her and the little one. But it was way

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in the night and all the people were asleep. No

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one replied. The man walked and walked. At last he

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saw the gleam of a fire a long way off.

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Then he went in that direction and saw that the

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fire was burning in the open. A lot of sheep

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were sleeping around the fire, and an old shepherd sat

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and watched over the flock. When the man, who wanted

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to borrow fire, came up to the sheep, he saw

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that three big dogs lay asleep at the shepherd's feet.

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All three awoke when the man approached, and opened their

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great jaws as though they wanted to bark, but not

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a sound was heard. The man noticed that the hair

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on their backs stood up, and that their sharp white

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teeth glistened in the firelight. They dashed toward him. He

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felt that one of them bit at his leg and

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one at his hand, and that one clung to his throat.

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But their jaws and teeth wouldn't obey them, and the

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man didn't suffer the least harm. Now, the man wished

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to go farther to get what he needed, but the

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sheep lay back to back, so close to one another

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that he couldn't pass them. Then the man stepped upon

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their backs and walked over them and up to the fire,

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and not one of the animals awoke or moved. Thus far,

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Grandmother had been allowed to narrate without interruption, but at

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this point I couldn't help breaking in. Why didn't they

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do it? Grandma? I asked that you shall hear in

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a moment, said grandmother, and went on with her story.

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When the man had almost reached the fire, the shepherd

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looked up. He was a surly old man who was

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unfriendly and harsh toward human beings, and when he saw

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the strange man coming, he seized his long spiked staff,

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which he always held in his hand when he tended

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his flock, and threw it at him. The staff came

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right toward the man, but before it reached him, it

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turned off to one side and whizzed past him, far

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out into the meadow. When Grandmother had got this far,

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I interrupted her again, Grandma, why wouldn't the stick hurt

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the man? Grandmother did not bother about answering me, but

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continued her story. Now the man came up to the

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shepherd and said to him, good man, help me and

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lend me a little fire. My wife has just given

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birth to wi child, and I must make a fire

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to warm her and the little one. The shepherd would

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rather have said no, but when he pondered that the

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dogs couldn't hurt the man, and the sheep had not

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run from him, and that the staff had not wished

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to strike him, he was a little afraid and dared

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not deny the man that which he asked. Take as

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much as you need, he said to the man. But

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by then the fire was nearly burnt out. There were

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no logs or branches left, only a big heap of

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live coals, and the stranger had neither a spade nor

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shovel wherein he could carry the red hot coals. When

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the shepherd saw this, he said again, take as much

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as you need, and he was glad that the man

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wouldn't be able to take away any coals. But the

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man stooped and picked coals from the ashes with his

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bare hands and laid them in his mantle, and he

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didn't burn his hand when he touched them, nor did

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the coals scorch his mantle, but he carried them away

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as if they had been nuts or apples. But here

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the story teller was interrupted for the third time. Grandma,

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why wouldn't the coals burn the man? That you shall hear?

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Said grandmother, and went on. And when the shepherd, who

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was such a cruel and hard hearted man, saw all this,

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he began to wonder to himself, what kind of a

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knight is this? When the dogs do not bite, the

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sheep are not scared, the staff does not kill, or

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the fire scorch. He called the stranger back and said

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to him, what kind of a knight is this? And

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how does it happen that all things show you compassion?

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Then said the man, I cannot tell you if you

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yourself do not see it. And he wished to go

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his way, that he might soon make a fire to

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warm his wife and show. But the shepherd did not

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wish to lose sight of the man before he had

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found out what all this might portend. He got up

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and followed the man till they came to the place

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where he lived. Then the shepherd saw that the man

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didn't have so much as a hut to dwell in,

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but that his wife and babe were lying in a

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mountain grotto where there was nothing except the cold and

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naked stone walls. The shepherd thought that perhaps the poor

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innocent child might freeze to death there in the grotto.

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And although he was a hard man, he was touched

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and thought he would like to help it. And he

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loosened his knapsack from his shoulder, took from it a

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soft white sheepskin, gave it to the strange man, and

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said that he should let the child sleep on it.

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Just as soon as he showed that he too could

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be merciful, his eyes were opened, and he saw what

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he had not been able to see before, and heard

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what he could not have heard before. He saw that

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all around him stood a ring of little silver winged angels,

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and each held a stringed instrument, and all sang in

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loud tones that to night the Savior was born, who

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should redeem the world from its sins. Then he understood

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how all things were so happy this night, that they

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didn't want to do anything wrong. And it was not

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only around the shepherd that there were angels, but he

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saw them everywhere they sat inside the grotto, they sat

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outside on the mountain, and they flew under the heavens.

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They came marching in great companies, and as they passed,

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they paused and cast a glance at the child. There

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was such jubilation and such gladness, and songs and play,

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and all this he saw in the dark night wheras

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before he could not have made out anything. He was

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so happy because his eyes had been opened, that he

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fell upon his knees and thanked God. Here Grandmother sighed

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and said, what that shepherd saw we might also see,

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for the angels fly down from heaven every Christmas Eve,

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if we could only see them. Then Grandmother laid her

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hand on my head and said, you must remember this,

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for it is as true as true as that I

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see you and you see me. It is not revealed

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by the light of lamps or candles, and it does

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not depend upon sun and moon. But that which is

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needful is that we have such eyes as can see

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God's glory. End of the Holy Night by Selma Lagerloff