A Little Book of Profitable Tales | Page 6

the cross,--the holy talisman of her faith.
"Faia, Faia!" cried Norss, "it is the same,--the same you wore when I
fetched you a bride from the East!"
"It is the same." said Faia, "yet see how my kisses and my prayers have
worn it away; for many, many times in these years, dear Norss, have I
pressed it to my lips and breathed your name upon it. See now--see
what a beauteous light its shadow makes upon your aged face!"
The sunbeams, indeed, streaming through the window at that moment,
cast the shadow of the symbol on old Norss's brow. Norss felt a
glorious warmth suffuse him, his heart leaped with joy, and he
stretched out his arms and fell about Faia's neck, and kissed the symbol
and acknowledged it. Then likewise did Faia; and suddenly the place

was filled with a wondrous brightness and with strange music, and
never thereafter were Norss and Faia beholden of men.
Until late that night Claus toiled at his forge; for it was a busy season
with him, and he had many, many curious and beauteous things to
make for the little children in the country round about. The colored
flames leaped singing from his forge, so that the Northern sky seemed
to be lighted by a thousand rainbows; but above all this voiceful glory
beamed the Star, bright, beautiful, serene.
Coming late to the cabin in the fir-grove, Claus wondered that no sign
of his father or of his mother was to be seen. "Father--mother!" he cried,
but he received no answer. Just then the Star cast its golden gleam
through the latticed window, and this strange, holy light fell and rested
upon the symbol of the cross that lay upon the floor. Seeing it, Claus
stooped and picked it up, and kissing it reverently, he cried: "Dear
talisman, be thou my inspiration evermore; and wheresoever thy
blessed influence is felt, there also let my works be known henceforth
forever!"
No sooner had he said these words than Claus felt the gift of
immortality bestowed upon him; and in that moment, too, there came to
him a knowledge that his parents' prayer had been answered, and that
Norss and Faia would live in him through all time.
And lo! to that place and in that hour came all the people of Mist-Land
and of Dream-Land to declare allegiance to him: yes, the elves, the
fairies, the pixies,--all came to Claus, prepared to do his bidding.
Joyously they capered about him, and merrily they sang.
"Now haste ye all," cried Claus,--"haste ye all to your homes and bring
to my workshop the best ye have. Search, little hill-people, deep in the
bowels of the earth for finest gold and choicest jewels; fetch me, O
mermaids, from the bottom of the sea the treasures hidden there,--the
shells of rainbow tints, the smooth, bright pebbles, and the strange
ocean flowers; go, pixies, and other water-sprites, to your secret lakes,
and bring me pearls! Speed! speed you all! for many pretty things have
we to make for the little ones of earth we love!"
But to the kobolds and the brownies Claus said: "Fly to every house on
earth where the cross is known; loiter unseen in the corners, and watch
and hear the children through the day. Keep a strict account of good
and bad, and every night bring back to me the names of good and bad,

that I may know them."
The kobolds and the brownies laughed gleefully, and sped away on
noiseless wings; and so, too, did the other fairies and elves.
There came also to Claus the beasts of the forest and the birds of the air,
and bade him be their master. And up danced the Four Winds, and they
said: "May we not serve you, too?"
The snow-king came stealing along in his feathery chariot. "Oho!" he
cried, "I shall speed over all the world and tell them you are coming. In
town and country, on the mountain-tops and in the
valleys,--wheresoever the cross is raised,--there will I herald your
approach, and thither will I strew you a pathway of feathery white. Oho!
oho!" So, singing softly, the snow-king stole upon his way.
But of all the beasts that begged to do him service, Claus liked the
reindeer best. "You shall go with me in my travels; for henceforth I
shall bear my treasures not only to the children of the North, but to the
children in every land whither the Star points me and where the cross is
lifted up!" So said Claus to the reindeer, and the reindeer neighed
joyously and stamped their hoofs impatiently, as though they longed to
start immediately.
Oh, many, many times has Claus whirled away from his far Northern
home in his sledge drawn