Then he came home, and his mother was very glad to have him back.
"Did you see Santa Claus?" she asked.
"Oh, yes!" the Child answered, for he was quite sure about it now. "I saw him when I met grandfather, and I saw him standing in a red cloak at the street corner and helping the poor. I saw him in the toyman's shop, and I heard his bells ringing just now. I saw Santa Claus everywhere," the Child said.
And so may every child see Santa Claus, wherever love and goodness are at the blessed Christmas time.
THE CHRISTMAS GARDEN
None of the children in the village would play with Christopher because he was the child of Beggar Mother of the Göinge Forest.
The Forest was deep, full of brown, leafless oaks and green fir trees, with the wind singing shrill tunes in their branches. In the darkest part was a thick mountain wall, and in the wall there was an old door made of rough boards. The village children, gathering cones in the Forest, had peeped through this door when Christopher had left it open a crack.
"Christopher's home is nothing but a cave with stones for the floor!" the children whispered.
"Beggar Mother stirs a pot that hangs over a fire of logs!" they said.