YAISHWARYAJ: {Awareness} Christmas in the trenches - Olive the other reindeer [2 Attachments]

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Pedagogical Project

"The Joy of Reading"

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Dear Readers,

We would like to invite you to take part in a new project called "From Stories to Books".

The Stories for Everyone Team have been, for some time, gathering and selecting books that provide some sort of reflection on the fundamental ethical principles of our society, such as solidarity, courage, honesty, respect for differences and a sense of justice, matters that have deserved the attention of writers from various nationalities.

Therefore, the Stories for Everyone Team proposes to send, together with the usual weekly stories, and also free of charge, full texts of selected books.

In case you are interested in receiving each week, by email, a chapter of an extensive reading book, all you have to do is answer this message by writing the following sentence in the subject field:

"Yes, I am interested in participating in the project From Stories to Books."

Hoping that this new proposal will meet your utmost interest, we look forward to your reply.

The Stories for Everyone Team

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Dear Reader,

In order to reach a wider audience, the Stories for Everyone Team is now sending, along with the weekly story, another one, shorter and more suitable for early ages, so that younger children can also benefit from beautiful stories that will help them dream.

So you will receive not one but two stories every week.

We hope that our initiative will be useful for all that are in touch with children.

Best regards

Stories for Everyone Team

This week's stories with PDF attachments:

- Christmas in the trenches

- Olive, the other reindeer

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Christmas in the trenches

The only thing separating the two armies on that cold December night in 1914 was a barren stretch of muddy ground called No Man's Land. It was in this setting that the miracle began.

A faint sound of singing cut through the frosty air.

Stille Nacht, heiligeNacht...

Then other voices joined in.

Silent night, holy night.

For a brief time the enemies stopped fighting and behaved as friends. As many as 100,000 soldiers are assumed to have participated in what became known as the unofficial Christmas Truce.

It was a grand human moment.

* *

The presents had been opened and dinner was over. After a long walk through the snow‑covered fields, young Thomas Tolliver curled up next to his grandfather and announced, "Grandpa, this was my very favorite Christmas. Do you have a favorite Christmas?"

"Yes, Thomas, I do," said Grandpa Francis. "I was far away from our home here in Liverpool. It was a Christmas many years ago during the first winter of the Great War."

"You were in the war, Grandpa?" chirped little Nora, climbing onto his lap. "What was it like? Were you a hero?"

Grandpa smiled.

"Let's see," he said. "Why don't I start at the beginning?"

The two children snuggled closer.

"It was 1914. My mates and I had been on the battlefield for many weeks...

We were all so young… just boys… lonely and frightened, trying to be brave.

We had spent a long, cold month on the muddy trenches that were now our home.

We all knew that there would be no break in the fighting. We knew we would be spending Christmas in the trenches.

That Christmas Eve was a night like tonight.

The skies were clearing and frost covered No Man's Land, the field that separated us from the German soldiers.

Staring out toward the enemy trenches, we waited.

Between the bombs and the battles, war is mostly waiting. Waiting to see who will make the next move. That night we figured it would be the Germans.

And we were right.

Suddenly a sentry signaled for silence. All we hushed. A ghostly sound cut through the cold night air.

Singing! It was coming from the enemy's side of No Man's Land!

One of the lads who knew German said, "It's a Christmas carol. He's singing right well, you know…" Soon, it seemed, every German voice joined in.

When they were finished, what could we do? We sang right back at them! "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen."

All of us knew that one.

Then they sang something familiar. We couldn't understand the words… Stille Nacht… but we knew the melody.

It was "Silent Nacht."

And suddenly in two tongues one song filled the night sky. I never imagined singing could seem so… holy.

"Someone's coming toward us!" the front-line sentry cried.

As we aimed our rifles into the December darkness, we saw a most amazing sight.

A single man was coming across No Man's Land. In one hand he held a white truce flag, in the other a Christmas tree shining with candles.

It was so surprising and so brave I couldn't help myself. I leaped from the trench and walked toward him.

I was the first one. But soon everyone from both sides was out there too.

It was all so new and strange, we were nervous at first. Before long, though, we were trading small gifts—chocolates, tins of meat, whatever we had to share. When we began showing each other photographs from home, we were no longer soldiers, no longer enemies. We were all just sons and fathers far away from our families and loved ones.

Our land Sanders brought out his squeezebox. One of their boys joined in on a nice violin.

And someone had… a ball.

It was quite the Christmas party we had! But all too soon the dawn reminded us it was time to get back to our own sides.

Back to the trenches.

Back to the waiting.

Wondering what had just happened to us and wondering what the next move should be.

That was my favorite memory—that Christmas in the trenches. I'm a different man today because of the boy I was that night."

Grandpa hugged the children tighter.

"Was I a hero? Ah… for just one night, yes. We were all heroes."

Historical Note

Although christmas in the trenches is a fictional account, the ChristmasTruce of 1914 really happened. It was a series of events occurring along the front line that stretched over 400 miles, through eastern France, from the Belgian coast in the north to the Swiss border in the south.

Four months earlier at the start of World War I (or the Great War, as it came to be known), millions of men from all over Europe had responded enthusiastically to the calls of their leaders to enlist. Most people believed it would be a short war, sure to be over by Christmas. But as winter began, thousands of soldiers had been killed or wounded and the ugly reality of the battlefield had set in.

By December 1914, the Allied forces (Belgium, France, and Britain) were locked in a stalemate with the Germans, each side hoping to wait the other out. The troops were shielded by hastily dug trenches. These narrow ditches, although deeper than the height of a standing soldier, provided little protection from the bitter cold of that winter.

Between the two armies was a barren of ground called No Man's Land, generally wider than the length of two football fields. In some places, only 30 yards separated the entrenched troops. In these spots, they were so near that soldiers on one side could hear their enemies on the other side talking.

From such close quarters, many of the troops must have wondered what the men across the way were really like. Were they content to be stuck in these cold, muddy trenches fighting in the name of the Kaiser or the Queen, or wouldn't they prefer to be at home? As Christmas Eve approached, many soldiers must have been thinking about home and peace. Some had received packages from their families filled with holiday offerings. Even the royal families of Britain and Germany had shipped gifts to their troops. And Germany had sent Christmas trees to their men on the frontlines.

All along the trenches, remarkable things began to happen. In the midst of a terrible war, men willed the fighting to stop, even if only for a few hours. As many as 100,000 may have participated in the unofficial truces that Christmas.

John McCutcheon; Henri Sørensen

Christmas in the trenches

Atlanta, Peachtree Publishers, 2006

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Olive, the other reindeer

Every day, Olive took her daily dog walk, winter, spring, summer or fall.

Today was a winter's day. It was the holidays. There was music playing outdoors.

People were singing along,

"All of the other reindeer..."

Olive was too shy to sing.

"Hmmm-hmm-hm-hm-hmmm-hmmm-hmmm," she hummed.

Back at her dog house, Olive was wrapping presents and listening to the radio. She heard that same song again.

"All of the other reindeer..." went the song.

"Olive, the other reindeer..." Olive sang along.

"Olive... the Reindeer," said Olive. "I thought I was a dog. Hmmm, I must be a Reindeer!"

It was the time of year when all reindeer reported to the North Pole to help Santa Claus.

Olive put down her scissors carefully, and marched out the door.

She took one bus … … and then two buses. She got there just in time.

Santa was checking his list for the second time. Elves were busy helping the reindeer and loading the sleigh with presents for all of the good girls and boys. Everyone was getting ready to go.

Olive took her place.

Santa noticed that there was a little dog in the line-up. Santa knew a lot about dogs, for instance, they can't fly. But as it was time to go, he decided to give Olive a chance.

Comet, the biggest reindeer, used a piece of extra ribbon to make sure Olive was tied in safe and tight.

Now they were ready to go.

Olive was surprised it was so easy to fly.

The other reindeer were very curious about the new helper. They looked at Olive so much – they weren't watching where they were going.

CRASH!

They flew smack into the top of a too tall tree!

"Oh dear,"' said Santa. "My sleigh is stuck in this tree. I'll have to cut it free."

Olive clung to the side of the tree. She tried to fly up to help Santa... but she could not.

She climbed up slowly and started chewing. Chewing sticks was something Olive could do well.

"Thank you, Olive," said Santa Claus, as they got back on their way.

They had not traveled far when Olive's nose began to twitch. Olive smelled trouble. It was the smell of gumdrop candies as they fell from the sleigh.

DROP… DROP… DROP…

Olive barked and Santa knew what to do.

He steered the reindeer down and around so that all of the gumdrops fell,

plop... plop... plop

back in to the toy sack.

"We were very lucky to not lose a single gumdrop," thought Olive. Then she heard a strange sound.

It was the musical note,

EEEEEEEEE.

She spun around on her string to see the night sky filled with falling flutes.

Olive had to howl louder than the wind instruments. This was not music to Santa's ears.

"First gumdrops and now flutes," thought Santa. "That tree must have torn a hole in my sled."

"Prepare for an Emergency Landing," Santa instructed.

The sleigh landed in a snowy field full of flutes. Luckily, Olive was very good at fetching sticks. It is something dogs love to do.

Before Santa had finished patching the hole in the sleigh, Olive had returned each and every flute back to the sack.

Ho, ho, ho," said Santa, "we're ready to go."

They were running late. But after a while all the good children received their presents and Santa and his team headed home.

They were almost home when they got caught in the dreaded North Pole fog. The reindeer slowed down until it was only the breeze that moved them along. The fog was as thick as a pillow. It made everyone feel sleepy.

Then Santa remembered something about dogs — they are expert smellers!

"Olive, I'd hate to be late for breakfast this year," he said. "Mrs. Claus has planned a parade of cookies. Mmmmm, you can almost smell them, can't you?" Olive could smell the cookies.

"Olive, won't you guide my sleigh this morning?" asked Santa.

Olive moved to the front of the reindeer.

Thanks to Olive's nose and Mrs. Claus's baking they made it all the way back to the North Pole.

All of the elves sang out a cheer:

"HURRAY! HURRAY! Santa and the reindeer and the little doggy are back!"

Back at the North Pole, it was a glorious morning.

After eating some good food, it was time to open presents.

The reindeer got jump ropes and the elves got toy trains. Santa reached into his toy sack. There was just one present left.

It was for Olive. It was her very own set of Reindeer Antlers. They fit perfectly.

Then everyone went outside to play reindeer games.

THE END!

Vivian Walsh

Olive, the other reindeer

San Francisco, Chroniclekids, 2010

(adapted)

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Sir/Madam,

We are a group of people with some experience in the area of storytelling and we would like to share our project – The Joy of Reading – with everyone who is in touch with children and young people in general but above all with everyone that enjoys reading.

This project consists of sending stories for free on a weekly basis. So this particular e-mail and the ones that will follow it in the next weeks are intended to share some small stories with you. All the stories we send have some values within: respect for nature, tolerance, tenderness, responsibility, solidarity and many more. They all aim at developing the reading skills among young people, as well as allowing some moments of reflection and dialogue about topics connected with human values, which seem to have been somewhat forgotten in these times of materialism and hedonism.

We thank you for your attention and hope you will welcome this project (which, it is important to say, does not have any profitable aims).

If you know anyone interested in receiving the weekly stories by email, let us know by sending their emails to us.

Please let us know your opinion about the project.

Yours faithfully

The Pedagogical Team

sg@storiesforeveryone.com

stories4ev@gmail.com