Wayward Woolpack

by Sioranth Smith

dipped inside and came up with a fistful of candy.

  "As you can see, I bring my own gifts as well for all the nice folk, but for the naughty," his gaze lingered on a few children who dropped their eyes guiltily and shuffled their feet, "they must answer my riddles and play my games. If they pass, the Wish-Granter will visit them as well!"

  Voices murmured with interest and excitement. A few heads were already nodding in acquiescence. Young eyes were fixated on the colorful candy between Belsnickel's fingers. Alba considered the strange man and his odd animal friend for some long moments. Eikthyrnir had returned to plowing his way through the rest of the pudding, and Belsnickel was waiting patiently for her answer. At length, she nodded her head.

  "If everyone else is in agreement?" she asked the crowd gathered round. A round of cheers and "Ayes!" went up. "Very well, Belsnickel the Seeker, we will exchange traditions this night, hopefully to the mutual benefit of us all." Her gaze lingered meaningfully on Rorahan's children.

  "Splendid! Eikthyrnir, stop stuffing your gullet and get over here! Now, who wants to go first?" Belsnickel asked gleefully and peered through the sea of faces. He wasn't looking at them but through them. For The Seeker, each pair of eyes he met was a window to the owner's heart. These were kindly folk who did not take without giving something in return. He could see there was not a truly black heart among these people, but there were a few that had been stained.

  The children began jostling forward as they tried to peek inside the bulging patchwork pack. Eikthyrnir joined him and swung his head over the gathered young. Soon, the reindeer started picking his way through the throng. His six heavy hooves moved with surprising delicacy as he nudged a child to the left or right. Within a few moments, there were two groups of children ranging from chubby toddlers to gangly teens. With a flick of his wrist, Belsnickel motioned forward the larger group.

  Wide eyes peered at him in fascination as he squatted before them and gave a satisfied nod of his head. "I see you have all been very good this year. You there," he pointed at a freckle-faced lad with golden hair and wings veined like a spider's web. "You helped your mother plant the garden this year without a single complaint, and you," he singled out a tiny wisp of a girl with solemn hazel eyes, "gave your very favorite doll to a sick friend."

  One by one, he went through the small assembly and named a good deed each of them had done during the past year. When he finished he motioned them all forward and spread open his bag to reveal an endless sea of sweet treats. There were also painstakingly decorated ornaments baked from dough and tiny dolls made from fruit. Scattered throughout were spinning tops and nesting dolls of reindeer and snowmen. A breathless sound of wonderment came from the children. As Belsnickel doled out candy and small toys, happy laughter and chatter followed while the children compared and shared their bounty.

  Eikthyrnir jingled and jangled his bells by prancing about the festival with high steps of his cloven feet. He paused to allow a young woman to place a wreath of holly and mistletoe about his neck, and then continued his ringing salute to those being rewarded.

  When all were finished and had returned to their beaming parents, Belsnickel turned a darkly fearsome gaze upon the other group. The distressed children instinctively shrunk back from the imposing visage.

  "Boy," Belsnickel began in a displeased tone. "You have been discourteous and rude to your family. Daltha," he continued as another boy ducked behind his friend as if to escape, "you put biting flies in your sister's room this summer." Eikthyrnir circled the group to herd them into a tight cohesive mass when some tried to skitter away. What had been anticipatory excitement had now turned to dread. Belsnickel's switch cracked through the air over their heads. Some cowered with hands covering their ears.

  "I see that you pushed a little girl into the mud in your selfish hurry to be first in line, and you there, you stole warm biscuits and then blamed the old one-eyed cat who now has to live outside instead of by the cozy hearth." And so it continued as Belsnickel named their transgressions one by one. Discontent rumbled through the adults as the old stranger and his companion reduced some of their children to crying.

  "See here now! You can't treat our children that way!" Rorahan moved forward to stop him. All three of his children stood waiting in fear. His daughter turned pleading eyes toward him and her lower lip quivered.

  Alba raised a staying hand to halt his progress. She was watching with keen interest as Belsnickel cowed their resident troublemakers. "I will halt things if necessary, Rorahan. I do not think our guest means to harm them, but perhaps a firm hand is what they need. I saw your sons cheating earlier with my own eyes. That is not our way."

  Her tone was quiet and matter-of-fact, but that didn't prevent Rorahan's face from reddening with shame at what his children had done. He plowed a hand through his dark hair and then fell back with the others. A few peers patted his back gently and murmured support.

  Belsnickel watched the exchange silently. It wasn't often he dealt with disgruntled parents. Usually, the naughty children were caught alone or in pairs while in the act of causing trouble.

  "Fear not, children!" he reassured as Alba nodded at him to continue. He straightened from his looming posture. "I will allow you a chance to redeem yourselves by merely answering a riddle. If you answer correctly, you too will receive a gift and a visit from the Wish-Granter. If you answer incorrectly, however, well," here he harrumphed and rubbed his beard. "We'll just see what happens, won't we?" he finished with a wink and a nod at Eikthyrnir.

  The reindeer selected a child and encouraged him forward until he stood trembling before Belsnickel. "What bites and nips but has no teeth?" queried The Seeker.

  Scared brown eyes suddenly brightened as he realized he knew the correct answer. "Frost! Frost, sir!"

  Disgruntled mumbles of "too easy" were heard from the waiting children, but they were quickly silenced with a few gnashes of Eikthyrnir's blunt teeth near their ears.

  "Oh ho ho! Very good, my boy! And here is your reward, as promised." Belsnickel's hand dove into his bag and came up with a smattering of goodies for the child.

  Another child was brought forth and another riddle delivered. "What did the hat say to the scarf?"

  "I…I don't know, sir," stammered a young girl, too terrified to even guess at an answer.

  Rorahan's lips tightened as his daughter failed to answer the riddle. Belsnickel shook his head with another disappointed cluck of his tongue. He motioned to Eikthyrnir who guided the girl off to the side to await whatever the old man had planned next. On and on, he queried the children and was pleased to see clever and quick minds coming up with the appropriate answers. Only three were left when all was finished, and they shifted restlessly while staring in defeat at the snowy ground.

  Rorahan's desperation could be felt by his friends as he stared at his children. Belsnickel's gaze met his and Rorahan felt a strange reassurance in the old man's icy stare. Their visitor seemed more interested in promising rewards for good behavior than punishing bad.

  "Come here, children, do not despair for all is not lost yet!" Belsnickel reassured once more. "Can any of you sing me a song?"

  Rorahan sighed in relief as Cital, his daughter, hustled forward. "Oh! I can! Daddy says I've a lovely voice," she stated quite proudly but without a hint of arrogance. "I was going to sing in the festival tonight," she smiled, showing a gap where one front tooth had recently fallen out.

  "Indeed? Well then, sing me a song that will make my heart smile and you too can join your friends with gifts from my bag."

  Cital glanced at her father who nodded with a loving smile, and then she began to sing a rollicking tune about sledding and building snowman and drinking hot cocoa by a warm fire. Belsnickel's beard split as pearly teeth appeared in a broad grin. Eikthyrnir once again rang his bells merrily while the rest of the band joined in to carry the galloping tune around the entire festival. When she finished, everyone applauded, Belsnickel loudest of them all despite the
gloves muffling his efforts.

  "Well done, I say! And here you go," he said as he handed her a share of the winter wealth. Cital scampered happily to her father's side where Rorahan embraced her gently.

  "What to do with you two," Belsnickel mused quietly while contemplating the two boys that were left. "Aha! I have it! Eikthyrnir, if you please," The Seeker motioned at a bowl of warm chestnuts.

  The reindeer clopped over and carefully selected one between his teeth and then deposited it in Belsnickel's waiting hand. "One of you will win this chestnut and will be rewarded. The other will climb to the top of that tree," and here he pointed to a towering spindly-branched piece of wood. It was devoid of all foliage except for one lone pear that had suddenly sprouted from the topmost branches. "And retrieve that fruit in exchange for your reward as well."

  Belsnickel tossed the chestnut into the air where it spun in lazy flips and then began its descent. Opram, Rorahn's older son, leapt forward to pluck it from the air. Belsnickel's willow whip cracked through the cold at the chestnut and sent it spinning