Christmas Tales and Christmas Verse | Page 4

gave them pretty toys, and their
parents loved him because he made their little ones so happy.
[Illustration: For he was so generous that he gave away all these pretty
things as fast as he made them.]
But now Norss and Faia were come to old age. After long years of love
and happiness, they knew that death could not be far distant. And one
day Faia said to Norss: "Neither you nor I, dear love, fear death; but if
we could choose, would we not choose to live always in this our son
Claus, who has been so sweet a joy to us?"
"Ay, ay," said Norss; "but how is that possible?"
"We shall see," said Faia.
That night Norss dreamed that a spirit came to him, and that the spirit
said to him: "Norss, thou shalt surely live forever in thy son Claus, if

thou wilt but acknowledge the symbol."
Then when the morning was come Norss told his dream to Faia, his
wife; and Faia said:
"The same dream had I,--an angel appearing to me and speaking these
very words."
"But what of the symbol?" cried Norss.
"I have it here, about my neck," said Faia.
So saying, Faia drew from her bosom the symbol of wood,--a tiny cross
suspended about her neck by the golden chain. And as she stood there
holding the symbol out to Norss, he--he thought of the time when first
he saw her on the far-distant Orient shore, standing beneath the Star in
all her maidenly glory, shading her beauteous eyes with one hand, and
with the other clasping 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