A Yuletide Omnibus

Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes

Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,

The bird of dawning singeth all night long:

And then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad,

The nights are wholesome, then no planets strike,

No fairy takes nor witch hath power to charm,

So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.

-Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 1

For your Yuletide enjoyment, here are a few Christmas-themed short stories suitable for those long evenings sitting by the inglenook (courtesy of eastoftheweb.com):

A Kidnapped Santa Claus . . . L. Frank Baum  One might think that Santa Claus would have no enemies on all the earth - and for a long time, he didn't ... then the Daemons came along. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle . . . Arthur Conan Doyle  A Christmas mystery for detective Sherlock Holmes beginning with a lost hat and an abandoned goose. How Santa Claus Came To Simpson's Bar . . . Bret Harte  On Christmas Eve in a remote settlement cut off by heavy flooding, a group of men pay a visit to a deprived boy. The Fir Tree . . . Hans Christian Andersen  Fairy tale about a little fir tree that wants to grow up. The Gift of the Magi . . . O. Henry  A tragic, ironic Christmas for one hard up couple. Markheim . . . Robert Louis Stevenson  Markeim arrives at an antique dealer's on Christmas day, ostensibly to buy a present for a lady. A tale of evil and its nature. Bertie's Christmas Eve . . . Saki  Bertie Steffink takes action against his disapproving relatives. Captain Eli's Best Ear . . . Frank Stockton  Two reclusive, retired ship's Captains decide to celebrate Christmas for the first time in years. And a few favorites of my own: The Burglar's Christmas- Willa Cather At Christmas Time- Anton Chekhov A Child's Christmas In Wales- Dylan Thomas A Christmas Memory- Truman Capote A Miserable Merry Christmas- Lincoln Steffens One Christmas Eve- Langston Hughes Susie’s Letter from Santa- Mark Twain Our Lady's Juggler- Anatole France A Christmas Dream and How It Came True- Louisa May Alcott The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton (from The Pickwick Papers)- Charles Dickens Christmas With Queen Bess (from Master Skylark)- John Bennett Dancing Dan's Christmas- Damon Runyon (added to list via comment thread- thanks, Dave)   Christmas Eve at Sea A wind is rustling "south and soft," Cooing a quiet country tune. The calm sea sighs, and far aloft the sails are ghostly in the moon. Unquiet ripples lisp and purr, A block there pipes and chirps i' the sheave, The wheel-ropes jar, the reef-points stir Faintly --and it is Christmas Eve. The hushed sea seems to hold her breath, and o'er the giddy, swaying spars, Silent and excellent as Death, The dim blue skies are bright with stars. Dear God -- they shone in Palestine Like this, and yon pale moon serene Looked down among the lowing kine On Mary and the Nazarene. The angels called from deep to deep, The burning heavens felt the thrill, startling the flocks of silly sheep And lonely shepherds on the hill. To-night beneath the dripping bows where flashing bubbles burst and throng, The bow-wash murmurs and sighs and soughs A message from the angels' song. The moon goes nodding down the west, The drowsy helmsman strikes the bell; Rex Judaorum natus est, I charge you, brothers, sing Nowell, Nowell, Rex Judaorum natus est. -John Masefield       Christmas! 'Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity in the heart. -Washington Irving

Wishing You All A Joyous Holiday Season!

-Maureen Lang

Comments

[Maureen Lang]

I was able to find links for all the short stories in my section of the Yuletide Omnibus save for the two by Langston Hughes & Lincoln Steffens. If anyone comes across sites where these can be read, please post in the comments. Also, the link for "Christmas with Queen Bess" (a delightful story set in the Elizabethan court during winter performance season) is for Bennett's novel, "Master Skylark," in its entirety. Omnibus story can be found starting on page 105.

[D.W.]

A happy season's greetings to you too, Maureen. Damon Runyon wrote a Xmas story called Dancing Dan's Christmas that belongs on that list.

[Anna W.]

Hello, Maureen and Merry Christmas! Dave likes Runyon, I like Shakespeare's Love's Labours Lost for an inclusion in your list.

When icicles hang by the wall
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
And milk comes frozen home in pail;

When blood is nipt and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tuwhoo! Tuwhit! Tuwhoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,
And Marian's nose looks red and raw;

When roasted crabs hiss in the bowl
Then nightly sings the staring owl
Tuwhoo! Tuwhit! Tuwhoo! A merry note!
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

from Anna

[Maureen Lang]

Thanks for commenting, Dave & Anna.

"Dancing Dan's Christmas" is a welcome addition to this holiday omnibus- I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the cadence of Runyon's coloratura prose until I read the first sentence.

As a teenager, I memorized reams of Shakespearean ditties, including your contribution from LLL, Anna. Did always wonder when reciting this one what made Joan so greasy...lack of opportunity for a proper bath, or hours standing at the kitchen fire "keeling" that pot?

Happy Christmas to you both.

[Jeffrey]

Maureen, where do you find these stories? I read Master Skylark as a kid and had forgotten it in favor of Popular Mechanics. A great memory rereading it, thanks for the memories.

[Maureen Lang]

Jeffrey,

You're welcome.

Assuming your question wasn't rhetorical, many of the stories in both parts of the omnibus above are childhood favorites of mine also. "Christmas with Queen Bess" was in a series of 12 volumes called The Young Folks Shelf of Books that came with an encyclopedia set my parents bought in 1959. Other than reading some sonnets in one of Pat's text books he brought home from freshman year at VMI, I knew little of Shakespeare or his times, so the story was a revelation at age 9. Later found a copy of "Master Skylark" at a library book sale, read & re-read it until the binding cracked, eventually passed it on to my daughter.

[rjj]

a favorite -

http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/tseliot/6602

'A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.'
And the camels galled, sore-footed,
refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the
terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.

Then the camel men cursing and
grumbling
And running away, and wanting their
liquor and women,
And the night-fires going out, and the
lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns
unfriendly
And the villages dirty and charging high
prices:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all
night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears,
saying
That this was all folly.

....

[Maureen Lang]

rjj,

Thank you for your addition of Eliot's "Journey of the Magi" to this Yuletide list. Always was struck in particular by the final lines- the kings long since returned to their kingdoms, still working through the ramifications of the journey that so altered their lives.

[Maureen Lang]

Having included one of Louis May Alcott's Christmas stories in the omnibus, i would like to highly recommend watching tonight's (12/28/09) segment of "American Masters" on PBS. Should be an interesting show, particularly for those TA readers unfamiliar with Alcott's long stint as a pseudonymous writer of lurid pulp fiction:

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women
http://www.alcottfilm.com/

[Natalie]

Thanks for the tv tip, Mom. Now I know why you gave me Little Women to read, adding fuel to that nascent feminism. When are you going to do another post about Hollywood history? Minta Durfee or meeting Gloria Swanson? Or Stage 28 at Universal?

[Maureen Lang]

I'm glad you liked the PBS show on Alcott, Nat. A much more complex woman than is generally known, to be sure.

As for more tales from Hollywood history, I'm planning to do a post soon on early Hollywood cinematography featuring Elgin Lessley, James Wong Howe, & several others.

[Johnny]

I read most of the stories not sitting by the inglenook but in the Florida sun.

Happy New Year to you and your brother.