The Grinch's defeat
The invitation went wherever there was an elf, a fairy, a gnome, a water spirit, a wind spirit, a real witch, a troll or an elf. The invitation reached to all the ends of the earth. It also reached the gods, the angels, the saints, all the special beings in the sky. To everyone who had people who believed in them, the invitation went out.
They were to meet in the darkest night of November in the central circle of the forest, where people have never gone, out of deep fear.
"It must be a very serious matter connected with our work." said St. Klaus to his assistants when he received the invitation.
The elves and gnomes protested. They were busy making toys. There was no time to waste before Christmas Eve.
But Santa, who was almost always laughing, put his hand to his cheek and for a moment had a taciturn expression.
"Something might be going on with the children, it really must be a very serious matter". He thought for a moment.
On the appointed day Santa Klaus was among the first to arrive in the mysterious forest. On the way he met old colleagues from the gift-bearing trade.
The Olentzero, in his traditional Basque dress, came to greet him. They both saw the Three Wise Men appear, coming from the East, mounted on camels, with the light of a comet before them. In the distance, where the comet stopped, they saw the illuminated stable where Jesus was born so many years ago. The infant King would also attend the gathering.
Each guest was assigned a seat whose location was carefully designed.
The fairies flitted among them, locating them, by where they came from and by the type and amount of belief people placed in them.
On one side were the benevolent ones, the childhood favourites. Those who receive letters, those who give toys and sweets. There was The Christ Child, St. Klaus, The Olenzero, The Three Wise Men, The Apalpador, The Befana, Babushka, Dez Moroz, Bendegums, The Boys of Jules. All speaking different dialects and all understanding each other.
On the other side of the circle were the demanding beings, those who punish certain behaviours. Those who take notes of disobedience, of bad words, those who search hearts every night to find divergent feelings.
They are the ones who go through the villages with a sack on their backs to take away the bad children. There Krampus stood out with his sharp horns and his serpentine, pointed tongue, with his hairy body and his watchful eye to find a child who does not want to do his chores.
Next to him, without letting go of his whip, is Père Fouettard, whom it is preferable not to meet if one's behaviour has not been impeccable. If Père Fouettard is in a good mood on Christmas Eve, he will not whip the children, but he will leave a lump of coal and some beetroot in the place of the beautiful gifts.
Huddled around them, looking on as to the purpose of the meeting, are Knecht Ruprecht, HansTrapp, Belsnikel, The Grich, some cannibal trolls and their pet, Jólakötturinn, the terrible cat with hooked whiskers, charged with detecting anyone who doesn't wear new clothes at Christmas.
Amidst the hubbub of the large audience the meeting begins. It is chaired by Artaban, the magician who was lost due to an eclipse that prevented him from seeing the baby Jesus in the manger.
"We have called this emergency meeting at the request of the demanding beings. Those who are confused and feel that they have lost their role to the indifference of people, particularly children." Armagon touches on the subject directly.
"And what is going on?" asks a gnome.
"What happens is that the children no longer believe!" Krampus says with a tone of helplessness.
"Year after year our work suffers, the children do not fear us and the adults do nothing to solve this problem of obedience" it is Père Fouettard who speaks.
One by one the demanding beings raise their problems.
"In short, humanity has lost its way. They are less deserving of presents now than ever before."
"We want you to consider cancelling Christmas once and for all." Said the Grinch in a very loud voice.
After the proposal in the secluded Romanian forest there was a great silence.
The mysterious trees hunched over and an air of desolation darkened the atmosphere even more.
The fairies stopped glowing as a sense of disconsolation invaded their little bodies.
"No more chanting exercises?"
"No more wishing cards?"
"No special dinners? "
"No coloured lights?"
"No meetings? "
"No snowmen?"
"No more bells?"
"No presents?"
The fairies seemed to be losing their colours. The Gnomes, astonished, wondered to what work, if not gift-making, they would now devote their hours.
In their seats the demanding beings smiled. Nothing was more conducive to their ends than the hopelessness they sensed among those present.
"It is always the humans themselves who condemn themselves. Since the beginning of the world they have wanted to break the rules". He wanted to sanction, once and for all, The Grinch with a sentence of consensus.
The demanding beings applauded at length and were about to take the result for granted when Jack Frost, the snow child, asked for the floor.
As he spoke, with his breath, the water droplets in the cold wind froze and the mysterious forest was filled with a blue light, like his eyes.
In the voice of a child in transition to adolescence, Jack began to speak of the way men received the signs of winter and of the deep dread that the cold made him feel. He also spoke of how they invented subterfuges to ward off the fear that always accompanied them in the face of inclement nature, no matter if the sun was shining or the weather was cold.
"It is I who fill the crystals with frost and it is I who look at the men behind the crystals, caring for life, making coats, warming themselves with the heat of a log. It is men who sow the illusion in their children to remain brave. Without the illusion of children there will be no incentive for human life. There will no longer be what the fairies have claimed but neither will there be the fear from which demanding beings live".
Jack's words were clear. Jack's words were very clear. After them the mood brightened. A mathematical Elf called for a vote and Christmas won in a resounding way.
After the result the kindly elders came forward to mediate with the demanding beings.
Only the Grinch refused to agree. Under a trunk of gnarled branches he remained in isolation, ruminating on his defeat and planning a new attack.
This is how the older gnomes tell the story.
