’Twas the evening of the twenty-fourth of December. The clouds had been
gray and heavy all day, and now the snow flakes were beginning to fall
thick and fast; so fast that already quite a white blanket was spread
over the earth.
This did not please the Brownies; they had work to do, and a snow storm
would hinder rather than help its progress.
Somewhere in the woods nobody knew where, for the Brownies kept the
secret all to themselves, was a great big Christmas Pudding full of plums
and citron, raisins and spices, and the Brownies wanted to bring that
pudding home.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
It was so big and heavy that they had built something that made one think
of a raft or perhaps a ladder with the sides very far apart. How they put
the pudding on it would be hard to tell, but they managed it and bravely
they struggled with their burden perched on their little shoulders. They
took turns so that no one got too tired, but all were glad when they were
safely out of the woods and had landed the pudding in the hollow of the
old tree back of the school house, for this had been the spot chosen for
the grand feast of the morrow. Then to their homes they skipped away to
dream of the good times in store for them, and if their backs did ache
and their poor little feet felt sore and weary, the vision of the pudding
dancing in their heads made them forget all their woes.
And what a treat they had on Christmas Day! The pudding was so good,
and the day was so merry that the Brownies wished as they shut their
sleepy eyes that Christmas came more than once a year. They made up their
minds that they would never let a Christmas go by without having a plum
pudding, for it was the best thing they had ever tasted.
[Illustration]