A Christmas tale for young and old
When the donkeys Santino and Marie were standing in the manger and Pauli wanted to warm the Christ Child
Every year, the stable for the animal nativity scene in the courtyard is decorated and strewn with a thick layer of straw. Every year there is also a lot of excitement because Tati the goat and her friends lie down in the straw and upset the order again.
Hundreds of large and small red Christmas baubles are hung on the stable and the trees around it and a huge Christmas tree is attached to the fence of the living animal manger. “Ouch, it’s the same every year!” exclaims Sepp as he hammers his thumb. His face turns bright red and he wants to swear, but you can’t swear in a nativity scene. The Christ Child is born and the angels are already hovering in the sky. Scolding is not an option. “Can I help you, Sepp?”, Marie the donkey asks timidly. “Leave him alone, Marie!” grumbles Mr Fridolin, the donkey.
Endless strings of fairy lights are wrapped around the tree. “It’s amazing how people climb up a tree. Interesting.”, says the little squirrel and watches Sepp as he uses an electric hoist to hoist himself up to attach the fairy lights. It has to be nice and bright for the angels to find their way to the cot.
Sepp rolls into the courtyard in a large car and Maria helps him unload the wooden figures. All around, the donkeys stand with their mouths open, the goats tilt their heads, the ponies look around in amazement and Vulkan, a former police horse, neighs “Strange, what’s going on?”.
“Iaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Look at all these lights. Joseph and Mary must have found the manger. Look Santino, have you ever seen this before? So many lights?” Johnny the donkey is really excited. Santino puts his ears up and says “No, I haven’t. What’s being built here? They’re such big wooden figures. It looks like they’re people who aren’t moving. That’s strange. Very strange.” Santino frowns, but then walks on to Batzi and Hermes. The two stags should also find out what mysterious things are going on at the farm.
Christ Child is sheltered from the wind. Fits. Oh… what’s that? Pauli, that’s where the Christ Child will be, not you. Out with you, but quickly! Something like that.” Fast as lightning, the fat cat Pauli dashes around the corner and meows: “Too bad, it was so nice and cosy in the straw. Hm, well. We’ll see”.
More and more animals come from all sides and stand around the fence. With a sleepy look on his face, little Chris the pony asks: “Is there anything to eat here?” “Your belly is already big enough anyway, Chris. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, the Christ Child is coming. Lots of children will be flocking to the farm to see the Christ Child!”, says Romeo, the little pony, in a dark, quiet, mysterious voice. “No, that’s not true at all. It’s probably lockdown again and no one is allowed to come and visit us. I’m really sad that my dear friends haven’t been allowed to be here for so long.”, says the little pony Chris.
The animals watch Sepp and Maria at work with great devotion. Here they pluck and there they fold the fabric. At some point, peace returns.
Slowly it gets dark, thousands of little lights come on. It is very quiet. No more donkeys call “Eww”, no more ponies “neigh” and no more goats “bleat”. Mario calls the donkeys together: “Let’s go to the stable. Tomorrow we have to get a good night’s sleep and look after the Christ Child.”
At dawn, the animals gather in front of the manger. It is brightly lit. Something moves in the little straw bed under the blanket and Joe the donkey whispers: “Psst, the Christ Child is asleep”.
This year, unfortunately, no visitors are walking through the courtyard… Mary, the caretaker, goes back to the cot to see what’s going on. She stands there, her eyes widening, her mouth open and she calls out in horror: “Where is Joseph, where is Mary?” Four innocent donkey eyes look towards Mary. Santino the donkey explains: “St Joseph was so tired and has gone to sleep. I’ve got his coat and am now watching over the little baby Jesus!” Suddenly, St Mary in donkey form makes herself heard: “Yes, and St Mary wanted to sleep too and put her coat on me,” whispers Marie the donkey timidly.
Maria smiles and plucks at the coats. Suddenly she notices two cat ears in the little straw bed. She takes the thick blanket away and Pauli meows: “Yes, and I’ve joined the baby Jesus because it’s so cold here! The Christ Child needs to be warm and cosy!”. Maria strokes the fat cat Pauli and says: “It’s all right. It’s Christmas. A special Christmas!”.
Maxime, the mute goose, sings the best Christmas carol in the world. All the animals sing along at the top of their voices and look into the cot. The camels Adi, Bibi and Mali quietly join in. They stretch their long necks over the fence towards the Christ Child and Pauli the cat and wink at each other.
“SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT!” rings out across the Gut Aiderbichl farmyard.
Let’s see what the animals tell us about Christmas next year. As you know, the animals can talk at Christmas. Hopefully there will be lots of visitors again next year. Merry Christmas, Gisela
