MsCharlotte's Stuff: Christmas

Chapter 16: The Race

After the drinking contest the Pigwidgen stomped away and all the pygmies withdrew to ponder the awful fact that their king had lost.

Claus waited in the great hall. Patrick Tweedleknees crawled out from under the table. "Where have you been?" cried Claus. Tweedleknees lifted the tablecloth. Claus leaned over and saw a half empty vat of chocolate milk. A hose led from the vat to the urn the Pigwidgen had drunk from.

"So that was why the urn was always full!" exclaimed Claus admiringly.

"Precisely!" replied the elf. "And now our wits together have twice defeated the Pigwidgen and he must lift the curse."

But when the Pigwidgen returned, he announced there would be still another contest. This time he would race Claus to the end of the rainbow and the winner would name his own reward.

Before Claus could protest the Pigwidgen left the castle and raced toward the far distant spot where the rainbow ended.

The Pigwidgen had put on magic boots which could take 100-mile steps and when Claus had barely started the Pigwidgen was halfway there.

"It is useless!" moaned Claus. He leaned against a tree and gasped for breath.

At that moment one of the flying reindeer appeared in the woods. Quietly Claus approached him and gently rubbed his nose. He climbed on the reindeer's back and whispered softly, "Fly! Oh, please fly me to the end of the rainbow!"

The reindeer soared into the sky and in an instant came to earth at the spot where the rainbow came to an end. Hours later the Pigwidgen came panting in. There was Claus, sitting on a rock, calmly smoking his pipe.

"What kept you?" inquired Claus pleasantly.

Now the Pigwidgen was mortified and sunk in gloom. But when they returned to the castle and Claus demanded that all curses be lifted, the Pigwidgen declared there would be one last contest.

"And how do I know it will be the last?" demanded Claus. "Always you break your word and put me off."

The Pigwidgen led Claus outdoors to a small round box in the middle of the lake of ice in front of the castle.

"This box holds all my sorcery," said the Pigwidgen. "All my spells, charms, hoodoo, hexes, curses, incantations, enchantments and witchcraft. If you can lift the box, it will be yours and all my magic power will pass to you. If you can't lift it you will turn to stone. Agreed?"

Claus nodded solemnly. The box was very small. Even if it were filled with lead he was sure he could lift it if only an inch from the ice.

While the Pigwidgen went away to call the pygmies to watch the contest, Patrick Tweedleknees rushed up to Claus. "It's a trick!" he cried. "The box is really the tip of the North Pole. No one on earth could lift it!"

"What shall I do?" groaned Claus.

The elf screwed up his face and pulled at his hair and twisted his ears. He was stirring up his wits. At last he growled, "Go back to the castle and delay things as long as you can." With that he dashed away.