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Erna Noel Helps Santa Claus
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Dennyk
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SYNOPSIS
This is a Christmas story about an Icelandic orphan girl who wishes to help Santa Claus with his Christmas chores.
She writes to Santa, asking him to adopt her and take her to the North Pole.
Please read this story to find out what happens.
Chapter 1. The Early Years in Iceland
Mrs. Noël decided to give her baby, Erna, up for adoption at the adoption centre after her negligent husband left her alone in Reykjavik without money to take care of herself or the baby.
Erna was a happy baby who enjoyed the companionship of the other babies at the adoption home.
However, she was also highly sensitive and insecure.
The adoption centre was her home for several years, and she celebrated the thirteen days of Icelandic Christmas with the other orphan children over the years.
Each year, on Christmas Eve, Erna received a new piece of clothing after the evening meal as old Icelandic folklore states that the Christmas Cat, also referred to as the Yule Cat, will go around during Christmas and eat those who have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve.
In her early years, Erna became scared of the Gryla's Christmas Cat despite it being folklore and she decided at age 6 that she would leave Iceland in a few years' time.
Another piece of folklore, this time about the thirteen Yule Lads, depicted below, also frightened her and convinced her to eventually leave Iceland.
Quoting an Icelandic folklore that frightened Erna:
"Their current names are: Stekkjastaur (Sheepfold Stick), Giljagaur (Gilly Oaf), Stúfur (Shorty), Þvörusleikir (Spoon-licker), Pottasleikir (Pot-licker), Askasleikir (Bowl-licker), Hurðaskellir (Door-slammer), Skyrgámur (Skyr-glutton), Bjúgnakrækir (Sausage-pilfer), Gluggagægir (Peeper), Gáttaþefur (Sniffer), Ketkrókur (Meat-hook) and Kertasníkir (Candle-begger).
As you can tell from these names, they are very mischievous lads who have retained their unique characteristics to this day.
They live in the mountains with their parents, Grýla and Leppalúði.
They come to town, one by one, in the 13 nights leading to Christmas.
The first one arrives on December 12th and the last one on December 24th.
Formerly, they tried to pilfer their favourite things or play tricks on people (hence, their names), but now their main role is to give children small gifts.
Every child in Iceland puts their best shoe on their bedroom window sill on December 12th (some try to put their boot, in the hope that they may get more, but so far, the Yule Lads haven't been fooled) and they get a small gift from each lad when he arrives in town.
But beware not to be naughty or the lad might just leave a rotten potato in your shoe!"
Chapter 2. Erna decides to leave Iceland
Several years passed and Erna continued to be a happy orphan child, except during the 13 days of Christmas which she dreads a lot.
Erna was a very bright student who read almost every book in the library that she could lay her hands on.
One day, she read The Santa Claus Book by Alden Perkes.
Below is a part of the book Erna likes:
"This delightful, fanciful book tells the 'true' story of where Santa came from, how he travels around the world in one night, how he fits all those toys into one bag, where the elves came from, how the reindeer are able to fly, and much, much more.
Author Alden Perkes explains that he made many trips to the North Pole to collect the information, and that he had full access to Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, the elves, and the reindeer, including Rudolph.
Fully illustrated, The Santa Claus Book has chapters on Mrs. Santa Claus, the Polar Dragon, how Santa makes toys, the elvish family tree, why Santa goes down chimneys, and exciting things to see at the North Pole."
She also read the story, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May.
That's when she decided to write to Santa Claus in the North Pole and ask him to adopt her.
In the letter, she wrote that she was seeking to be adopted by Santa Claus and she offered to help him with his many Christmas chores, which was a year-round job.
Her resume spoke of her numerous talents and hard work as an expert seamstress, fine cook, and experienced toy-maker. However, she failed to mention that she was just nine years old.
Due to the high number of letters Santa had to read, it took him several weeks to get to Erna's letter. Erna, meanwhile, was very anxious for a reply, so she kept sending Santa a new letter each week.
While Santa was thinking over her request for adoption, he kept receiving similar letters from her.
This convinced Santa of her commitment, so he decided to pay a visit to the adoption agency in Iceland.
Mr and Mrs Santa Claus harnessed up the reindeer to their sleigh and with a Hi-De-Ho, flew to Reykjavik and to the Intercountry Adoption Agency with Rudolph leading the way in the thick fog.
The Icelandic adoption agents were initially awestruck when they saw Santa, but they soon found him to be a jolly old soul, Saint Nicholas.
In spite of the strictness of the agency and the ages of Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus, the rules were bent to allow them to adopt Erna Noël, who was elated by this news.
Chapter 3. Erna Noël Claus in the North Pole
A very happy Erna arrived at her new home in the North Pole.
Mrs. Claus took the first year to teach Erna everything she needed to know about the toy workshop before giving her the job of managing it, which she had always done for her husband, Santa.
The workshop was expanded to build more toys. The elves liked Erna because she was always fair to them.
Mrs. Claus was also responsible for Erna's education, so she home-schooled her for the next nine years until she turned 18.
One happy year, on Christmas Eve, Santa invited Erna to ride in the sleigh with him as he delivered presents to the good boys and girls of Europe.
She was amazed as time stood still while he was delivering the toys.
Santa then returned to the workshop where Erna, with assistance from the elves, reloaded his huge bag of toys for the good boys and girls of North America.
Erna soon left Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus at the North Pole to study criminology at the University of Sussex.
Watch out for an upcoming story that features Miss Erna Claus as a detective who was in search of her birth mother.
The End
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