"Yes," Nichola said; "this is a night when all folk stay home. The whole world sits by the fire on Christmas night. An' yet the sleigh-bells ring like mad. It is not holy."
Pelleas and I had never thought of that. But there may be something in it. Who indeed, when all the world keeps hearth-holiday, who is it that rides abroad on Christmas night behind the bells?
"Good spirits, perhaps, Nichola," Pelleas said, smiling.
"I do not doubt it," Nichola declared gravely; "that is not holy either—to doubt."
"No," we said, "to doubt good spirits is never holy."
Zona Gale in The Loves of Pelleas and Etarre
Guests at Yule
NÖEL! Nöel!
Thus sounds each Christmas bell