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THE WOODEN SHOES OF LITTLE WOLFF
BY FRANCOIS COPPEE (ADAPTED)
Once upon a time,--so long ago that the world
has forgotten the date,--in a city of the North of
Europe,--the name of which is so hard to
pronounce that no one remembers it,--there was a
little boy, just seven years old, whose name was
Wolff. He was an orphan and lived with his aunt,
a hard-hearted, avaricious old woman, who never
kissed him but once a year, on New Year's Day;
and who sighed with regret every time she gave
him a bowlful of soup.
The poor little boy was so sweet-tempered that
he loved the old woman in spite of her bad treatment,
but he could not look without trembling at
the wart, decorated with four gray hairs, which
grew on the end of her nose.
As Wolff's aunt was known to have a house of
her own and a woolen stocking full of gold, she did
not dare to send her nephew to the school for the
poor. But she wrangled so that the schoolmaster
of the rich boys' school was forced to lower his
price and admit little Wolff among his pupils.
The bad schoolmaster was vexed to have a boy
so meanly clad and who paid so little, and he
punished little Wolff severely without cause,
ridiculed him, and even incited against him his
comrades, who were the sons of rich citizens.
They made the orphan their drudge and mocked
at him so much that the little boy was as miserable
as the stones in the street, and hid himself
away in corners to cry--when the Christmas
season came.
On the Eve of the great Day the schoolmaster
was to take all his pupils to the midnight mass,
and then to conduct them home again to their
parents' houses.
Now as the winter was very severe, and a
quantity of snow had fallen within the past few
days, the boys came to the place of meeting
warmly wrapped up, with fur-lined caps drawn
down over their ears, padded jackets, gloves and
knitted mittens, and good strong shoes with
thick soles. Only little Wolff presented himself
shivering in his thin everyday clothes, and wearing
on his feet socks and wooden shoes.
His naughty comrades tried to annoy him in
every possible way, but the orphan was so busy
warming his hands by blowing on them, and was
suffering so much from chilblains, that he paid no
heed to the taunts of the others. Then the band
of boys, marching two by two, started for the
parish church.
It was comfortable inside the church, which
was brilliant with lighted tapers. And the pupils,
made lively by the gentle warmth, the sound of
the organ, and the singing of the choir, began to
chatter in low tones. They boasted of the midnight
treats awaiting them at home. The son of
the Mayor had seen, before leaving the house, a
monstrous goose larded with truffles so that it
looked like a black-spotted leopard. Another boy
told of the fir tree waiting for him, on the branches
of which hung oranges, sugar-plums, and punchinellos.
Then they talked about what the Christ
Child would bring them, or what he would leave
in their shoes which they would certainly be careful
to place before the fire when they went to bed.
And the eyes of the little rogues, lively as a crowd
of mice, sparkled with delight as they thought of
the many gifts they would find on waking,--the
pink bags of burnt almonds, the bonbons, lead
soldiers standing in rows, menageries, and magnificent
jumping-jacks, dressed in purple and gold.
Little Wolff, alas! knew well that his miserly
old aunt would send him to bed without any supper;
but as he had been good and industrious all
the year, he trusted that the Christ Child would
not forget him, so he meant that night to set his
wooden shoes on the hearth.
The midnight mass was ended. The worshipers
hurried away, anxious to enjoy the treats awaiting
them in their homes. The band of pupils, two by
two, following the schoolmaster, passed out of the
church.
Now, under the porch, seated on a stone bench,
in the shadow of an arched niche, was a child
asleep,--a little child dressed in a white garment
and with bare feet exposed to the cold. He was
not a beggar, for his dress was clean and new, and
--beside him upon the ground, tied in a cloth, were
the tools of a carpenter's apprentice.
Under the light of the stars, his face, with its
closed eyes, shone with an expression of divine
sweetness, and his soft, curling blond hair seemed
to form an aureole of light about his forehead.
But his tender feet, blue with the cold on this
cruel night of December, were pitiful to see!
The pupils so warmly clad and shod, passed
with indifference before the unknown child.
Some, the sons of the greatest men in the city,
cast looks of scorn on the barefooted one. But
little Wolff, coming last out of the church, stopped
deeply moved before the beautiful, sleeping child.
``Alas!'' said the orphan to himself, ``how
dreadful! This poor little one goes without stockings
in weather so cold! And, what is worse, he
has no shoe to leave beside him while he sleeps, so
that the Christ Child may place something in it to
comfort him in all his misery.''
And carried away by his tender heart, little
Wolff drew off the wooden shoe from his right
foot, placed it before the sleeping child; and as
best as he was able, now hopping, now limping,
and wetting his sock in the snow, he returned to
his aunt.
``You good-for-nothing!'' cried the old woman,
full of rage as she saw that one of his shoes was
gone. ``What have you done with your shoe, little
beggar?''
Little Wolff did not know how to lie, and,
though shivering with terror as he saw the gray
hairs on the end of her nose stand upright, he
tried, stammering, to tell his adventure.
But the old miser burst into frightful laughter.
``Ah! the sweet young master takes off his shoe
for a beggar! Ah! master spoils a pair of shoes for
a barefoot! This is something new, indeed! Ah!
well, since things are so, I will place the shoe that
is left in the fireplace, and to-night the Christ
Child will put in a rod to whip you when you
wake. And to-morrow you shall have nothing to
eat but water and dry bread, and we shall see if
the next time you will give away your shoe to the
first vagabond that comes along.''
And saying this the wicked woman gave him
a box on each ear, and made him climb to his
wretched room in the loft. There the heartbroken
little one lay down in the darkness, and,
drenching his pillow with tears, fell asleep.
But in the morning, when the old woman,
awakened by the cold and shaken by her cough,
descended to the kitchen, oh! wonder of wonders!
she saw the great fireplace filled with bright toys,
magnificent boxes of sugar-plums, riches of all
sorts, and in front of all this treasure, the wooden
shoe which her nephew had given to the vagabond,
standing beside the other shoe which she
herself had placed there the night before, intending
to put in it a handful of switches.
And as little Wolff, who had come running at
the cries of his aunt, stood in speechless delight
before all the splendid Christmas gifts, there
came great shouts of laughter from the street.
The old woman and the little boy went out to
learn what it was all about, and saw the gossips
gathered around the public fountain. What could
have happened? Oh, a most amusing and extraordinary
thing! The children of all the rich men of
the city, whose parents wished to surprise them
with the most beautiful gifts, had found nothing
but switches in their shoes!
Then the old woman and little Wolff remembered
with alarm all the riches that were in their
own fireplace, but just then they saw the pastor
of the parish church arriving with his face full of
perplexity.
Above the bench near the church door, in the
very spot where the night before a child, dressed
in white, with bare feet exposed to the great cold,
had rested his sleeping head, the pastor had seen a
golden circle wrought into the old stones. Then
all the people knew that the beautiful, sleeping
child, beside whom had lain the carpenter's tools,
was the Christ Child himself, and that he had
rewarded the faith and charity of little Wolff.
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