The Master's Christmas Tree
Ostap Vishnya
Oh, but the snow we had that winter — fluffy, huge,
thick flakes of snow! There was so much of it that we had
to dig pathways to get to the storehouse, the pig-sty and
to the barn...
We'd dive out of our hallway into the snow — we were
too small to go to school — and ran up and down those
paths like between white, snowy walls — higher than our
heads they were — there was so much snow!
We'd run and run and then — jump! — we'd go head-
first into the drifts.
What fun it was!
Mother and Father weren’t sad or gloomy about it-all
because Grandmother said:
“It’s good, all this snow. There will be a fine harvest!”
But we didn’t need any such reassurance. We slid down
the hillsides on our sleds, tied wooden boot-trees to our
right boots and ran up and down the road, hopping along
for all the world as if we were really on skates, made
snowmen, had snowball fights.
_ And when the older boys, once in a while, gave us a
whirl in a roundabout, then our delight knew no bounds.
What screaming and laughter!
But do you know. what a roundabout is?
A roundabout is really very interesting and lots of
fun. When the creek or pond freezes over so that one
can safely walk on it, a'stake is hammered into the ice.
Then a wagon wheel is placed over the stake, to which a
long pole, with a sled attached to its end, is tied. Then
shorter poles are pushed between the spokes of the wheel
and these are manned by the older boys to turn the wheel.
The sled at the end of the long pole flies around the circle
like a whirlwind. So when the older boys seat us smaller
youngsters on the sled and begin to turn the wheel, we are
sometimes swung around at such speed that we lose our
grip on the sled and fly off like snowballs, sliding along -
the ice and into the snow banks.
A winter with lots of snow — that was real happiness
for us!
* *
We lived on the Master’s Estate in the village, for
Father worked for the Lord of the Manor.
One evening, before the Christmas holidays, Father
came home and announced:
“The Master has ordered that we bring the children
to the Manor on Saturday for a Christmas Tree Party!”
Mother was disturbed.
“Now what on earth gave the Master such an idea?
What do they need a Christmas Tree Party for? And
they’re still much too small to start visiting Manor
Houses!” :
Father thought it over.
“You're right, of course,” he said. “But what can we
do, he’ll be angry if we don’t do as he says.”
But Mother wasn’t happy.
“It’s nearly ten miles to the Manor! It’s winter and
cold! How will they get there? They'll freeze!”
“Oh, we'll get them there somehow! We'll put a roof on
the sled, fill it with hay, bundle them all up in their sheep-
skins and off we’ll go!”
We children, of course, followed this conversation
with bated breath and wondered: “What could it be like,
this Christmas Tree?”
We had never had a Christmas Tree at home. We look-
ed forward to the Christmas holiday, but not because
of the tree. We visited Grandfather and Grandmother,
sang Christmas carols, and carried the Christmas Eve
Supper with us to their place. For this we were given can-
dy and a shiny “gold” penny — Grandpa and Grandma
saved the brightest and newest pennies, “gold” as we
called them, for this occasion.
But our greatest delight came just before the holi-
days, when Grandpa butchered a boar.
Having laid out the huge animal, Grandpa would
then singe it, after which he would wrap it up in straw
and all of us, including Grandpa and Grandma would
climb up on it and bounce up and down so as to soften
the fat.
Grandpa would then give us a piece of the boar’s
singed ear or tail to chew on for our help...
Such happiness was not ours every day!
And now, all of a sudden, a Christmas Tree. And at
the Manor House!
* * *
We started dressing for our trip early Saturday morn-
ing. :
Mother washed us all with soap. For us boys there
were new shirts and pants, for little Parasya — a red
embroidered dress, and even a necklace with a silver
clasp.
And what a sleigh Father prepared for us! On the
sled he had put a box of the kind in which the potters
take their wares in to market or bring the chaff in from
the fields. The box was filled with hay and over the top
Father had put a roof, so that it looked like one of to-
day’s cars, if you could imagine such a thing! In the
traces he harnessed Acorn, a big brown horse that be-
longed to the Manor and the white-hoofed mare, Codling,
followed in the rear by her foal, Breeze.
We were wrapped warmly in sweaters and sheepskin
coats, and away we went. Father took us. Mother had to
stay home with the little ones who were too small to go
out “into the world” as yet. Little brother had only just
learned to walk and little sister had been found under the
cranberry bush by Grandmother just a month ago.
We arrived at the Manor without any trouble except
for one incident when the sled almost overturned in a
gully, but Father quickly jumped off and put a strong
shoulder to its side and saved us from tumbling over into
the snowdrifts.
We arrived early. The Master had said that we must
come for 7 o’clock in the evening, so we had time to visit
before the party with our Uncle Methodiy, who was the
Master’s coachman.
Evening soon came, however, and we duly arrived in
the Master’s drawing room.
We walked in, trembling with nervousness, for the
Master was usually cross and we were afraid of him.
And there was the huge Christmas Tree, shining with
candlelight, in the centre of the large room. Around it
a group of young masters and ladies were dancing.
The Mistress was sitting at the piano playing.
The Master sat in an armchair, flapping his slippers
in time to the music. He stopped when he saw us.
“Well, are you frightened?” he boomed.
For we stood bunched up inside the doorway without
taking our eyes off the tree.
Suddenly the Master shouted:
“Andriy, my pipe!”
Andriy, the kozachok house boy, rushed in, bringing
the Master’s pipe, a long-stemmed affair. Giving it to the
Master, he then went down on his knees, lighting a match
to give him a light. Whether he slipped on the shiny floor,
or what, he somehow, in his hurry, knocked the pipe out
of the Master’s hands. The Master immediately gave him
a strong shove. .
Our Parasya, on seeing this, screamed in fright.
The Master covered his eyes. We all rushed to Parasya,
and in my hurry, I caught one of the branches of the
Christmas Tree, knocking a candle down on one of the
young ladies. She, too, screamed. There was much
running around and great confusion. I dashed forward
to put out the candle and knocked the young lady off her
feet. But nothing terrible really happened, except for
a lot of fuss and bother. The young lady got up, in tears,
and rushed out somewhere.
Father “rounded” all of us out of the drawing room
into the corridor and took us back to our Uncle, the
coachman. The next morning we went back home.
Father then got a lecture from the Master on how
wild his children were.
And that was the first and last time we were invited to
a Christmas Tree Party...
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