I shall ask my dear stars tonight to tell them of us.
You know," she added, with a look of relief, "the stars are so very
high that they must know the angels quite well as they come and go
with their messages from the loving God."
Granny sighed as she half whispered. "Poor child, poor child!" but
Gretchen threw her arm around Granny's neck and gave her a hearty
kiss, saying as she did so: "Oh, Granny, Granny, you don't talk to the
stars often enough, else you would not be sad at Christmas time." Then
she danced all around the room, whirling her little skirts about her
to show Granny how the wind had made the snow dance that day. She
looked so droll and funny that Granny forgot her cares and worries and
laughed with little Gretchen over her new snow dance. The days passed
on and the morning before Christmas Eve came. Gretchen having tidied
up the little room--for Granny had taught her to be a careful little
housewife--was off to the forest, singing a birdlike song, almost as
happy and free as the birds themselves. She was very busy that day
preparing a surprise for Granny. First, however, she gathered the most
beautiful of the fir branches within her reach to take the next
morning to the old sick man who lived by the mill.
The day was all too short for the happy little girl. When Granny came
trudging wearily home that night, she found the frame of the doorway
covered with green pine branches.
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