Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
A Christmas Carol
The story of a miser whose heart was thawed by a single Christmas night
Also in: Božična pesem (Slovenian) · Vianočná koleda (Slovak)
"Bah! Humbug!" That is what old Ebenezer Scrooge said about every fine day of the year, and most of all about Christmas Eve. His office was so cold that the ink almost froze in the pot. Outside the snow came down and carol singers sang in the street, while he counted his money and muttered: "Christmas? Humbug! A waste of time and money."
1
In the freezing little room next door his clerk, Bob Cratchit, blew on his numb fingers. He had one small lump of coal in his stove. Just then Scrooge's nephew Fred came in. "Merry Christmas, uncle! Come and dine with us tomorrow!" — "Humbug!" growled Scrooge. "Leave me in peace." And Fred went off smiling into the snow.
2
Late that evening Scrooge came home. As he reached for the handle, the heavy iron knocker on the door turned into a face — the face of his dead partner, Jacob Marley, seven years in his grave. Scrooge blinked, and the knocker was only a knocker again. "Humbug," he said, but his voice shook.
3
Upstairs something rattled. Straight through the shut door came Marley, all see-through, wound round with long chains of cash-boxes and keys. "I forged these chains in life, link by link," he groaned. "Yours is longer still, Ebenezer. Tonight three spirits will come to you. Listen to them!" And he drifted out through the window.
4
The clock struck one. Beside the bed stood a gentle spirit with a light above its head, bright as a candle. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Past. Come with me." At once they stood in an empty schoolroom, where a small boy sat all alone with a book in his lap. The others had all gone home; he had stayed. "That is me," whispered Scrooge. "Poor little fellow."
5
Then they saw an old warehouse full of light and music. Kind Mr Fezziwig clapped his hands: "Clear the floor! Tonight we dance!" The fiddler struck up, and young Scrooge spun and laughed until he had no breath left. "So little of him made us all so happy," said Scrooge quietly. "How could I have forgotten?"
6
The clock struck again. In the next room sat a giant in a green robe with a wreath of holly on his head, on a throne of roast dinners, fruit and pies. The room glowed like summer. "I am the Ghost of Christmas Present," he laughed. "Touch my robe!" And away they went, high over the snowy rooftops of the city, where every single window was alight.
7
The Cratchits' small house smelled of goose and hot fruit pudding. All six children were singing, and the smallest, Tiny Tim, stood at the table with his little crutch. He raised his cup and said: "God bless us, every one!" Something warm squeezed Scrooge's heart. "Spirit, tell me — will that child live?" he asked. The spirit said nothing.
8
The last spirit spoke no word at all. It was tall and silent, all in a dark hooded cloak, and it only pointed. It pointed to a neglected grave under the snow, with not one branch laid upon it. Scrooge knelt down in the snow. "Spirit, tell me — can this still be changed? Please. I will be a different man. I promise!"
9
And then he woke — in his own bed, in his own room, alive! The bells were ringing from every steeple and the sun was shining on the fresh snow. Scrooge threw open the window and called to a boy in the street: "What day is it today?" — "Christmas Day, sir!" — "Christmas! I have not missed it!" And he laughed until the tears ran down his cheeks.
10
"Boy, do you know the poulterer's on the corner? There is a great turkey hanging in the window, bigger than you are. Buy it and have it sent to this address — and quickly!" The boy was off like the wind, as if the world were after him. The turkey was so big they could hardly lift it onto the cart. The Cratchits never knew who had sent it.
11
Then Scrooge put on his finest coat and went out into the street. He wished everyone a merry Christmas, patted children on the head and pressed coins into beggars' hands. People hardly knew him. That afternoon he knocked at his nephew's door. "Fred, I have come to dinner — if you will have me." That house had never known such joy.
12
Next morning Bob Cratchit came to the office nineteen minutes late. "Bob," growled Scrooge — and then he smiled. "I am going to raise your wages and help your family!" And he piled a whole second scuttle of coal on the stove. To Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father ever after. And he never said "Humbug!" again.
13The End
