MOTHER CHRISTMAS By ROSE FYLEMAN

“My dear,” said Mother Christmas, “it’s no use. You can’t go.”

“Nonsense,” said Father Christmas. “Of course I shall go. I’ve never missed yet. The children would never get over it.”

“Then let me go,” said Mother Christmas. “It’s absurd for you to think of it with a cold like that on you. I can manage perfectly. After all, it was I who packed up all the presents and I know exactly where to take them.”

“And how are you going to manage the reindeer, I’d like to know, with all those telegraph wires about?” said her husband. “No, my dear, it’s a man’s job. I shall be all right. Mix me a hot drink and I’ll have a five minutes’ snooze by the fire before I start.”

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It made him very sleepy.

Mother Christmas said no more, but there was an odd gleam in her eye as she mixed Father Christmas’s glass of hot lemon and water. It’s my belief she put something 133more than lemon into the hot water; however that may be, it certainly made him very sleepy. The five minutes’ snooze lengthened into ten—fifteen—twenty. Mother Christmas was moving about the room very quietly and softly. She wrapped herself up in all manner of woollies, and at last put on her husband’s great red coat and hood all trimmed with white fur, and stole quietly out of the door.

Plup, plup, plup—there was a noise of light hoofs flying over the snow.

Plup, plup, plup—softer and softer it grew. At last it died away.

Father Christmas still slept by the fire.

When he woke up it was quite dark, and it didn’t take him many minutes to realize what had happened. He hurried to the reindeer shed—empty.

The snow was falling thickly. He was terribly upset. What was to be done? He had no other sleigh and no other reindeer, and of course it was impossible to follow his wife down to earth on foot.

Finally he decided to ring up the Fairy Queen. She was always so kind and helpful.

“Please, your Majesty,” he said when he had got through, “I’m nearly distracted. My wife insisted upon taking out the Christmas presents because I had such a cold, and I’m so afraid she may get lost, or stick somewhere.”

“Dear, dear,” said the Queen. “Hold the line a minute while I tell the head of the look-out department to put on his million-horse-power-wireless-radio-telescope-spectacles 134in order to see where she is.” In a minute or two came news.

“She’s caught on some telegraph wires.”

135“She’s caught on some telegraph wires and the reindeer and the sleigh are all tangled up in them. He can see them quite plainly. What would you like me to do?”

“Oh dear, oh dear,” said poor Father Christmas. “I’m afraid the only thing to do is to cut the wires, and the wire-cutter is in the tool-box under the seat of the sledge. She’ll never think of that.”

“Would you like me to send her a message?” said the Queen.

“Oh, your Majesty, if you would ...” said Father Christmas.

So the Queen sent down a messenger at once with instructions about the wire-cutter.

Mother Christmas was in a dreadful tangle. She simply could not get out, and the reindeer were kicking and plunging in a most troublesome way.

Large snowflakes were falling. They fell on to Mother Christmas’s hair and nose and spectacles.

She put up her hand to brush one off her ear.

“Hi,” said a tiny voice. “You mustn’t treat me like that. I’m a Queen’s Messenger.”

Mother Christmas took off her spectacles and wiped them and put them on again.

A tiny dapper little person sat on the rail of the sleigh. He really did look rather like a snowflake in his snug white cap and ulster, but he was very much alive.

“The wire-cutter’s in the tool-box under the seat,” he said, and was off like a flash. He wanted to get home to 136bed I expect. And so Mother Christmas got back safely after all, and she had delivered all the presents too. You may guess what a welcome she received from her husband and what a lot the reindeer had to talk about to one another before they went to sleep.

“There must have been a terrible gale last night,” people said on Christmas morning. “Quite a lot of telegraph wires are down.”

The head of the listening department in Fairyland heard them and told the Queen what they said. How she laughed!

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