In the summer time Granny had a little garden at the back of the house, where she raised, with little Gretchen’s help, a few potatoes and turnips and onions.  These she carefully stored away for winter use.  To this meagre supply, the pennies, gained by selling the twigs from the forest, added the oatmeal for Gretchen and a little black coffee for Granny.  Meat was a thing they never thought of having.  It cost too much money.  Still, Granny and Gretchen were very happy, because they loved each other dearly.  Sometimes Gretchen would be left alone all day long in the hut, because Granny would have some work to do in the village after selling her bundle of sticks and twigs.  It was during these long days that little Gretchen had taught herself to sing the song which the wind sang to the pine branches.  In the summer time she learned the chirp and twitter of the birds, until her voice might almost be mistaken for a bird’s voice, she learned to dance as the swaying shadows did, and even to talk to the stars which shone through the little square window when Granny came home late or too tired to talk.

Sometimes, when the weather was fine, or her Granny had an extra bundle of knitted stockings to take to the village, she would let little Gretchen go along with her.  It chanced that one of these trips to the town came just the week before Christmas, and Gretchen’s eyes were delighted by the sight of the lovely Christmas trees which stood in the window of the village store.  It seemed to her that she would never tire of looking at the knit dolls, the woolly lambs, the little wooden shops with their queer, painted men and women in them, and all the other fine things.  She had never owned a plaything in her whole life; therefore, toys which you and I would not think much of seemed to her very beautiful.

That night, after their supper of baked potatoes was over, and little Gretchen had cleared away the dishes and swept up the hearth, because Granny dear was so tired, she brought her own little wooden stool and placed it very near Granny’s feet and sat down upon it, folding her hands on her lap.  Granny knew that this meant that she wanted to be told about something, so she smilingly laid away the large Bible which she had been reading, and took up her knitting, which was as much as to say:  “Well, Gretchen, dear, Granny is ready to listen.”

“Granny,” said Gretchen slowly, “It’s almost Christmas time, isn’t it?”

“Yes, dearie,” said Granny, “only five days more now,” and then she sighed, but little Gretchen was so happy that she did not notice Granny’s sigh.

“What do you think, Granny, I’ll get this Christmas?” said she, looking up eagerly into Granny’s face.

“Ah, child, child,” said Granny, shaking her head, “you’ll have no Christmas this year.  We are too poor for that.”

“Oh, but Granny,” interrupted little Gretchen, “think of all the beautiful toys we saw in the village today.  Surely Santa Claus has sent enough for every little child.”