A long time ago in a far away place where people would still go to church on the morning of Christmas day, there once lived an odd creature. She was grim to look at and her home was not more than a camp site on the edge of a deep forest. The people in the nearby villages would rather choose a detour than to come close to her dwelling grounds. The creature was completely unaware of how lonely she was. She would poke her nose, scratch her long beard and feel quite good about herself. But one fateful night she would come to hear about a thing called Christmas presents and this would change her life forever.
She could neither read nor write but this doesn’t mean she wasn’t smart in her own peculiar way. Secretly she would sneak close the houses in the village at night to smell the cooking and listen to the conversations going on inside. She didn’t understand every word, but slowly she was starting to figure out the world of humans.
One night in December she was eavesdropping as usual and heard and old woman telling a story about how she had received a strange Christmas present from a Swedish relative many years ago. Or she thought at first that the present came from her distant relative since it was so peculiar and she couldn’t think of anyone else who would give her such a thing. But now she wasn’t so sure. The creature outside in the darkness was listening intensively. She had never heard of such a thing called presents and was eager to find out what they were all about. The old woman was now trying to describe the object she had been given and the creature was memorizing every word she said. Later laying on her back on a big moss covered stone the creature would repeat every word to herself.
“A small goat like animal with beard and horns made out of hay and wrapped in red ribbons.”
What a lovely thing! the starry eyed creature thought to herself and suddenly for the first time in her life she felt a bit lonely.
To be continued next Christmas…
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