It was Christmas Eve and Ollie Elf was hurrying;
he was bending over a pile of toys and lifting
the heavy load carefully so as not to break any. He
stretched to reach the top of the pile and walked
carefully to Santa's sleigh with the delicate presents.
Back and forth, Ollie walked from the
pile to the sleigh, from the sleigh to the pile. Soon the hill of packages
dwindled and Ollie sat down to rest, breathing
deeply. He had to finish his work and time was running out, so
back to the pile he went, and continued the walking, running,
bending, lifting, stretching, and
strong>puffing. His muscles ached so he rubbed his
arms and back. Ollie was very tired so he sat on
the runner of the sleigh to rest. He closed his eyes and
fell asleep. Suddenly he was cold. He shivered
and folded his arms around himself to keep warm.
He opened one eye and then the other,
and turned his head all around. It couldn't be!
He was flying through the air, but how? He tried to stand up,
but he fell off the iron runner into the air.
Fortunately, Ollie grabbed it quick enough to stop his
fall. He shouted for help, waving his legs and
holding on tight. Abruptly he felt ground under his feet
and he opened his eyes wide to see Santa looking down at
him. Santa helped Ollie sit down and gave him a blanket
to stop the shaking. Ollie had fallen asleep on Santa's sleigh and Santa,
not seeing him, had started on his flight, delivering Christmas gifts.
Ollie climbed on hands and knees into the back of the
sled. It was too late to go back so he would help Santa throughout the
night.
The reindeer and sleigh sailed across the sky and landed on a rooftop.
Ollie and Santa hopped out of the sled. They bent
over and picked up the packages they needed.
They stuffed everything into Santa's sack and carefully
put one foot in front of the other, walking
across the slippery roof. Down the chimney they
slid with the toys, landing on the hard
floor. Quickly Ollie and Santa unloaded the sack. They
bent down and lifted the gifts,
placing them under the tree. Next came the stockings
hanging on the chimney. Ollie had to stretch high to the
opening and then drop the presents down into them. When
they were finished they crawled back up
the chimney and hopped into the sleigh to
sit down.
Ollie and Santa continued throughout
the night delivering Christmas presents. It was a long tiring job so when
they returned to the North Pole, Ollie crawled from the
sleigh and hopped right into bed, falling asleep
instantly. |
