Animal Christmas

There was great excitement among the animals in the forest. Christmas was nearing, and for the first time, yes for the first time the animals had their own Christmas tree.

The idea had been given to them by the old little owl Willibald who slept his days in the beams of the old village church. Just in front of the church stood a huge, festively ornamented and brightly illuminated Christmas tree that he inevitably saw when he flew for prey at night, and when he told the other animals about this glorious wonder of man, laden all over with ornaments, in his somewhat long-winded and pompous way many an animal felt very strange.

Of course it had been the cheeky shrew Anna who boldly claimed: „Bah, we can do that too“! Hardly was the word out when all the animals became enthusiastic for the idea. „Yes, let us set up a Christmas tree like the humans, and on Christmas Eve the big feast will start“ shouted Isidor the woodpecker who had a predilection for feasts of any kind and who often left his wife Isabella and their three kids alone for a spicy drink of dandelion milk, which had earned him the nickname „Boozepecker“ (annotation: an attempt at translating the literaly untranslatable German term "Schluckspecht" combined of „Schlucken“ meaning „to swallow“ and „Specht“ meaning „woodpecker“ which in combination means „boozer“) in the forest.. „A feast for the higher glory of God, arranged by those creatures who really follow His commandments“ the pious mole Theodor added. And suddenly there was a honking, quaking, squeaking, squealing, cooing and whistling as all the animals at the same time tried to make their suggestions heard. Only the three bat sisters Miranda, Esmeralda and Violetta appeared to be untouched, but then of course bats see with their ears, so an optic spectacle like a Christmas tree leaves them cold.

They immediately started their preparations. A truce was declared for Christmas eve so that the mice, rabbits, moles, singing birds and so on could take part without fear of foxes, badgers, owls and other animals who specialized in hunting. Karl the hoopoe was sent out as a scout to have a close look at the Christmas tree in front of the church by daylight. Robert the roebuck, Egon the rabbit, Rudolph the jay and Freddy the fox formed a committee that was given the task of finding the most beautiful tree in the forest that had to serve as Christmas tree. After tough debates they finally agreed on a lofty fir tree that stood a bit apart on a small hill. The sparrows were chosen to carry the news of the planned Christmas feast all around the forest, and since sparrows love nothing more than chatting soon even the smallest earthworm knew about it.

On Christmas Eve all the animals gathered to decorate the tree, and of course every animal wanted to contribute its mite. Gregor the hamster plundered his supply depot for the winter and carried acorns, beechnuts and hazelnuts to the spot. The magpies stole even more rings and silver spoons as usual, something which the pious mole at first did not sanction at all, but then he finally declared that the end justified the means and that God's ways were inscrutable, shyly making the sign of the cross as he spoke so. Most of the other birds ripped out some of their down feathers to serve as decoration. Fridolin the badger donated some silvery-glittering strands from his undercoat which turned out to be an excellent tinsel. Only Freddy the fox attracted some unpleasant attraction when he wanted to decorate the tree with the bodies of a few he had killed, which the mice that were still living sharply protested against. But after some debate he was finally allowed to contribute a few feathers that had remained of his latest goose feast. The protest of the wild geese was turned down by pointing out that one could lose feathers in many ways and so the origin of the feathers was unclear. This was a clear concession to the fox since nobody had any doubts about the origin of these feathers. They were after all afraid he might break the truce in anger. The task of decorating the tree fell to the squirrels because they were the best climbers and had the most dexterous paws. And the illumination...

Franz the forester tumbled into the little village inn on Christmas eve and ordered „a schnapps, and make it a stiff one“ on entering. When the innkeeper gave him what he had wished for he downed it in one gulp and shook himself.

„Well, I've been a goin' in and out the forest for forty years now, but I ne'er saw nuttin' like this before, mates. I was a-passin' tha' ol' weather fir an' blimey wha' do I see? Hundreds of animals a-gatherin`roun' it, really everythin', rabbits, does, foxes, buzzards, everythin'. An' the ol' fir itself decorated top to bottom. An' in that bloody fir – thousands of fireflies! In da midst of winter! 'nother stiff one“!

And while the forester downed his stiff one and the other guests knowingly tapped their foreheads Theodor the mole just ended his festive speech with the words „Merry Christmas“!