NK - A Yuletide Story

Brannon L. Bain bbain at galstar.com
Fri Dec 18 07:11:10 PST 1998


I realize that the following story may have very little to do with the SCA 
but I thought that all the storytellers in the group might enjoy the 
information contained in the following passage.

Iyesu

On a December night in Chicago many years ago, a little girl climbed onto 
her  father's lap and asked a question. It was a simple question, asked in 
children's curiosity, yet it had a heart-rending effect on Robert May.
"Daddy," four-year old Barbara asked, "Why isn't my Mommy just like 
everybody  else's mommy?"
Bob May stole a glance across his shabby two room apartment. On a couch lay 
his young wife, Evelyn, racked with cancer. For two years she had been 
bedridden; for two years, all Bob's income and smaller savings had gone to 
pay  for treatments and medicines.
The terrible ordeal already had shattered two adult lives. Now Bob suddenly 
realized the happiness of his growing daughter was also in jeopardy. As he 
ran  his fingers through Barbara's hair, he prayed for some satisfactory 
answer to  her question.
Bob May knew only too well what it meant to be "different." As a child he 
had  been weak and delicate. With the innocent cruelty of children, his 
playmates  had continually goaded the stunted, skinny lad to tears.  Later 
at Dartmouth,  from which he was graduated in 1926, Bob May was so small 
that he was always being mistaken for someone's little brother.
Nor was his adult life much happier. Unlike many of his classmates who 
floated  from college into plush jobs, Bob became a lowly copy writer for 
Montgomery  Ward, the big Chicago mail order house. Now at 33 Bob was deep 
in debt,  depressed and sad.  Although Bob did not know it at the time, the 
answer he  gave the little child on his lap was to bring him to fame and 
fortune. It was  also to bring joy to countless thousands of children like 
his own Barbara.
On that December night in the shabby Chicago apartment, Bob cradled his 
little  girl's head against his shoulder and began to tell a story...
"Once upon a time there was a reindeer named Rudolph, the only reindeer in 
the  world that had a big red nose. Naturally people called him Rudolph the 
Red  Nosed Reindeer."
As Bob went on to tell about Rudolph, he tried desperately to communicate 
to  Barbara the knowledge that, even though some creatures of God are 
strange and  different, they often enjoy the miraculous power to make 
others happy.
Rudolph, Bob explained, was terribly embarrassed by his unique nose.  Other 
reindeer laughed at him; his mother and father and sister were mortified 
too.  Even Rudolph wallowed in self pity.
"Well," continued Bob, "one Christmas Eve, Santa Claus got his team of 
husky  reindeer -Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixon ready for their yearly 
trip  around the world. The entire reindeer community assembled to cheer 
these great  heroes on their way. But a terrible fog engulfed the earth 
that evening, and  Santa knew that the mist was so thick he wouldn't be 
able to find any chimney.
Suddenly Rudolph appeared, his red nose glowing brighter than ever.  Santa 
sensed at once that here was the answer to his perplexing problem. He led 
Rudolph to the front of the sleigh, fastened the harness and climbed in. 
 They  were off! Rudolph guided Santa safely to every chimney that night. 
 Rain and  fog, snow and sleet; nothing bothered Rudolph, for his bright 
nose penetrated  the mist like a beacon.
And so it was that Rudolph became the most famous and beloved of all the 
reindeer. The huge red nose he once hid in shame was now the envy of every 
buck and doe in the reindeer world. Santa Claus told everyone that Rudolph 
had  saved the day and from that Christmas, Rudolph has been living 
serenely and  happy."
Little Barbara laughed with glee when her father finished. Every night she 
begged him to repeat the tale until finally Bob could rattle it off in his 
sleep. Then, at Christmas time he decided to make the story into a poem 
like "The Night Before Christmas" and prepare it in bookish form 
illustrated with pictures, for Barbara's personal gift.
Night after night, Bob worked on the verses after Barbara had gone to bed 
for  he was determined his daughter should have a worthwhile gift, even 
though he  could not afford to buy one...
Then as Bob was about to put the finishing touches on Rudolph, tragedy 
struck.  Evelyn May died. Bob, his hopes crushed, turned to Barbara as 
chief comfort.   Yet, despite his grief, he sat at his desk in the quiet, 
now lonely apartment,  and worked on "Rudolph" with tears in his eyes.
Shortly after Barbara had cried with joy over his handmade gift on 
Christmas morning, Bob was asked to an employee's holiday party at 
Montgomery Wards.  He  didn't want to go, but his office associates 
insisted. When Bob finally agreed, he took with him the poem and read it to 
the crowd.
First the noisy  throng listened in laughter and gaiety. Then they became 
silent, and at the  end, broke into spontaneous applause.
That was in 1938.  By Christmas of 1947, some 6,000,000 copies of the 
booklet  had been given away or sold, making Rudolph one of the most widely 
distributed  books in the world.  The interest in Rudolph has increased so 
much that the  tale has come to occupy a permanent place at Christmas.
Through the years of unhappy circumstance, the tragedy of his wife's death, 
and his ultimate success with Rudolph, Bob May has captured a sense of 
serenity. And as each Christmas comes, he recalls with thankfulness the 
night  he prayed for an answer when his daughter, Barbara, asked that 
difficult  question.
So now we know, Rudolf is not just a piece of Holiday fluff, but is the 
answer  to prayer given to a devoted father as a gift to his child.






More information about the Northkeep mailing list