“I
will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
I
will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future.
The
Spirits of all Three shall strive within me.
I
will not shut out the lessons that they teach.
Oh,
tell me, Spirit, I may sponge away this picture!”
 |
In
his agony, he caught the spectral hand. It sought to free itself, but
he was strong in his entreaty,
and detained it. The Spirit,
stronger yet, repulsed him ...
|
 |
...
but then it shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into... a
candle ... AND ...
|
 |
"I
am here! HOME! The shadows of the things that would have been, may be
dispelled. They will be. I know they will!"
|
 |
"I will live in the Past,
the Present, and the Future!” Scrooge repeated “The Spirits of
all Three shall strive within me. Heaven, and the
Christmas Time be praised for this!"
|
 |
| "I
am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as
a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man.“ |
 |
| "It’s Christmas Day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I
haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They
can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Whoop!” |
 |
Scrooge
was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more;
and to
Tiny Tim, who did not die, he
was a second father.
He became as good a friend, as good a master, and
as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city,
town, or borough, in the good old world.
|
Some
people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh,
and little heeded them; for
he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe,
for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in
the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he
thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in
grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms.
His own heart laughed:
and that was quite enough for him.
Einige Leute lachten, als sie ihn so verändert sahen; aber er ließ sie
lachen und kümmerte sich wenig darum, denn er war klug genug, zu wissen,
daß nichts Gutes in dieser Welt geschehen kann, worüber nicht von
vornherein einige Leute lachen müssen:
und da er wußte, daß solche Leute
doch blind bleiben würden, so dachte er bei sich, es wäre besser, sie
legten ihre Gesichter durch Lachen in Falten,
als daß sie es auf weniger
anziehende Weise täten.
Sein eigenes Herz lachte, und damit war er
vollauf zufrieden.
Many thanks to Charles Dickens, who -as everybody knows - is the author of the original "Ghost Story of Christmas":
