THE CHRISTMAS CAROL OF THE BIRDS.
: Other Popular Stories For ChildrenDo you know, when we are having such good times at Christmas, what
sweet music they have in Norway, that cold country across the sea? One
day in the year the simple peasants who live there make the birds very
happy, so that they sing, of their own free-will, a glad, joyous carol
on Christmas morning.
And this is why they sing on that morning more than on any
other. After the birds have found shelter from
Christmas-eve, and the night is still and bright with stars, or even
if the storm be ever so severe, the good people bring out sheaves of
corn and wheat from their storehouses. Tying them on slender poles,
they raise them from every spire, barn, gatepost, and gable; then,
when the Christmas sun rises over the hills, every spire and gable
bursts forth into joyous song.
You can well believe that these songs of the birds make the people
of Norway very happy. They echo, with all their hearts, their living,
grateful anthem, "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace,
good-will to men!"
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