| OCR Text |
Show ( Reindeer wJisch iejff & NATALIE Mc G RATI I V "What Ho," bellowed Santa. "Do you want to upset the sleigh again, you naughty deer?" All over the world they went, not skipping a place. Blitzen was very tired and as he could think of nothing better to do he snorted and fussed and counted stars. At last just as Christmas Christ-mas morning dawned they found their way home. Mrs. Santa came running out to meet them, and to help Santa unharness the reindeer. "Blitzen cannot have anything to eat and he must go right into the barn," said Santa rather sadly. "And I fear he cannot go with me next Christmas." And now indeed was Blitzen a sadder sad-der and a wiser reindeer. Now, my dear children I know that you all love Blitzen. You must, for he is a lovable old fellow. When you hear the deer on the roof Christmas eve it is always Blitzen's hoofs you hear, because he always stamps harder than is necessary. And when you hear the bells you can always hear Blitzen's Blit-zen's above the rest, no one knows why. Just because he is Blitzen, 1 suppose, and likes to give an extra stamp and an extra shake whenever possible. He will be sadly missed next Christmas eve unless I have it! Let's all write a note to Santa and ask him to forgive poor mischievous Blitzen before next Christmas has a chance to come'around. If all the children chil-dren in all the world should write I'm sure Santa would forgive him. (, 1930, Western Newspaper Union.) I ' I LPTZEN had behaved very I Sj well until the first of Decem-! Decem-! Ffl ber. Then all of a sudden he decided to go into Santa's I I&tosi workshop. The first terrible i tnInS be did was to lap tbe vH paint from a doll's face, i ,lr- 1 Santa had put a great deal j of care into making that doll I for she was. to go to a little girl who was ill in the hospital. Christmas eve came and all the reindeer rein-deer were harnessed and waiting for Santa. "Have you all of your bags, dear?" asked Mrs. Santa. "Yes, we have everything and are on our way to wish the world a very Merry Christmas," answered jolly old Santa. "Hump," said Blitzen to himself, "and hump again." The red paint had had a bad effect upon his disposition. Off they sped and up, up, up they sailed through the air. Blitzen was going along beautifully beau-tifully when he suddenly wondered what Vixen would do if he, Blitzen, should bite his tail. "Not very hard," thought Blitzen to himself. "Just enough to make him jump." And as they hurried along that winter's win-ter's night, Blitzen reached out his funny warm nose and bit Vixen's tail hard. Vixen jumped, then he kicked Donder, who in turn kicked the sleigh, upsetting it. Over it went and down it went, Santa, toys and all. Fortunately For-tunately they all landed in a soft snowbank. Santa picked his snowy self up, put the toys back in the sleigh and off they started once again. The first house they came to was a lovely old farm house. Santa and the reindeer made a beautiful landing on the roof. "Now while I am gone see that you behave!" said Santa and down the chimney he went. As soon as he was out of sight, Blitzen started trouble again. "Dum-dum diddle-dum-dum ! See what I can do !" he snorted, and be crossed his front legs, stamped bis hind ones and sat down kerplunk on the roof. "Here, here," shouted Santa, as he came up the chimney. "What is the meaning of all this noise? It sounded like an earthquake. I thought every moment that the roof would cave in. If you can't stand still on the tops of the houses I shall most certainly leave you on the ground." Santa knew that this would be a iv dreadful punishment to them all as they were very proud of being able to stand on the tops of houses. The next house had a slanting roof with a peak at the top and wbeu Santa had gone down the chimney that mischievous Blitzen promptly sat down again, kerplunk, snorting his favorite song, dum-dum-diddle-de-dum. The first thing he knew he had started to slide and he couldn't get up quickly enough to prevent sliding all the way to the ground. Over the roof he went, dragging the sleigh and his seven brothers with him. Out of the chimney chim-ney came Santa and leaned over the peak of the roof to call them. "I'm just about tired of your nonsense non-sense tonight!" said he. "Now you will stay on the ground." And when in the country, they stopped at another farm house; that is just where Santa left them. "Sniff-sniff, 'sniff-sniff!" A spicy ( smell reached the nose of Blitzen. Inch by inch he moved over to the window and stuck his head right in. He proceeded to devour everything in sirrht. He ate so rapidly that the i other deer could only stare and won-i won-i der. Pies, cakes, tarts, jelly and jam all went down with lightning speed. When he had finished he licked his ( lips, turned around and pushed back i to- the place Santa had left them, j When Santa came out, there they were ' as quiet as mice. j "Well, now, that's fine," called Santa in a cheery ' voice. "See how much better things are when you behave be-have !" Now we all know that it isn't the best thing in the world to run after we have eaten a great many sweets. Blitzen soon learned this and began feeling very ill indeed. But feeling ill only reade his disposition worse. In the distance he could see a city and above this city he saw a tall steeple. As they raced along near the steeple Blitzen pushed his brothers over so that when they passed they wore so close you could not have put your finger between the steeple and the sleigh. Blitzen glanced at Vixen and saw that his hair was standing right up straight. |
