Swedish child: What a beautiful Christmas party! I’m so glad the Christmas fairy brought me.
Hans: Oh, are you another little maid from France?
Swedish child: Oh, no; I come from the frozen north—from Sweden.
Gretchen: Do you have Christmas ’way up there? And does St. Nicholas go so far on Christmas Eve?
Swedish child: Of course we have Christmas, but I never heard of St. Nicholas before.
Hans (to Gretchen): There’s another country he doesn’t go to, Gretchen. (To Swedish child.) Doesn’t any one bring the little Swedish children presents on Christmas Eve?
Swedish child: Oh, yes; the Christmas gnomes do that! They are a little old man and a little old woman who come to every home in Sweden, bringing gifts for all in the house. The old man carries a bell and the old woman a large basket filled with gifts. In Sweden every one is remembered on Christmas Day, and a sheaf of grain is fastened to a pole at each house so that not even the birds are forgotten.
Hans: Oh, Gretchen, let us put up some grain for the birds to-morrow morning! (Song is heard outside.)
Gretchen: Hark—some one is singing! (They all listen. Irish child sings behind the screen.)
At Christmas time in Ireland
There is feasting, there is song,
And merrily the fife and fiddle play;
And lightly dance the colleens,
And the boys, the evening long,
At Christmas time in Ireland far away!