The Christmas Barn

The Christmas Barn

The 200-year old barn sat empty and lonely. No longer did horses stamp their feet inside his walls; cows didn’t warm the stalls with their breath; no sheep snuggled against each other to sleep the night away.

     The barn missed these animal friends. He missed the  chickens who used to gossip and mutter inside the feed troughs. He even missed the pigeons in his loft. 

  During the first years after the farmer left, a couple of owls took up residence in the barn and in the winter, a groundhog hibernated under the floor. But, as time passed, even these few visitors stopped coming.

At night, the cold wind moaned

The old barn sighed and his old walls groaned.

     But one day, a miracle happened. Three animals of the forest found the barn. They were long, stealthy animals, moving on silent feet, slipping through the door and tip-toeing to a dark corner.

     Hooray, the barn thought. Someone has come to live here at last. He straightened his walls and his roof creaked with joy.

     “We made a haul tonight, we did,” the first animal muttered. He slung a sack from off his shoulders. “Look at this—lots and lots of corn, two wonderful trout, and half a sack of acorns.”

     “I’ve never heard of a weasel eating acorns, Butch, but if you say so, I’ll give it a try.”

     “I say so,” Butch growled. “We can pull some bark off these logs and make a fine fire to cook our meal.”

     The old barn shook in the wind. Pull bark off his logs? No! Start a fire? What if it got out of hand and burned him to the ground? Suddenly, the newcomers didn’t sound so nice.

     Meanwhile, in the deepest part of the forest a chipmunk, a raccoon, and a squirrel walked in circles, wringing their hands.

     “It was those thieving weasels,” muttered the raccoon. “They stole my fish right from under my nose.”   

     “And, the corn I had stored for Christmas,” the chipmunk said, wiping a tear from her eye.

     The squirrel shook his tail. “All my lovely acorns are gone and the worst part is they destroyed my nest!”

     Another tear slipped from Chipmunk’s eye. ” Instead of having a feast and a warm home for Christmas, now we’ll have nothing.”

     “It’s no good to sit here feeling sorry for ourselves,” the raccoon said. “Let’s see if we can find more food.”

     The chipmunk wiped her eyes. “If we stick together, at least we’ll have each other.”

So the three friends started off through the forest. They scuffed the leaves looking for nuts. Chipmunk and Squirrel followed Raccoon to the creek for more fish, but the water had frozen over. Chipmunk knew there’d be no more corn in the corncrib because she had stolen the last from a farmer.

     The moon, rising over the hill, looked down on three tired, hungry forest folk. As night came and a cold wind ruffled their fur, these friends scrunched under some leaves and shivered.

     “Oh, dear, oh, dear,” cried the chipmunk. “We’ll starve or we’ll freeze, whichever comes first.”

     The squirrel flipped his tail over his nose and closed his eyes.

The cold wind blew their leaves away.

The three friends shivered and wished for day.

“We can’t just do nothing,” the raccoon said. “Come on, squirrel and chipmunk. Let’s go  a bit farther. Maybe we’ll find food.”

     Sighing, the squirrel straightened up and took Chipmunk’s hand. On they went, through the cold night. They had never been to this part of the woods before. They felt they were a long way from home.

     “Look!” the chipmunk cried. “I see a light up ahead. It looks like a fire. Maybe we can get warm.”

     “Until we know whether they are friends or enemies, we’d better be quiet,” Raccoon said.

     Silently, Chipmunk, Raccoon, and Squirrel slipped through the forest until they came upon the barn. Standing on tiptoe, they peered between a crack in the logs and saw the three weasels huddled around a fire. The weasels were eating chipmunk’s corn, Raccoon’s fish, and Squirrel’s acorns.

     “Thieves!” Squirrel said. “That’s our food.”

     “Shh,” Raccoon said. “Weasels are mean and they are quick. We wouldn’t stand a chance against them. Let’s think…how can we get rid of them and get our food back?”

     They thought for a while then Squirrel snapped his fingers. “We could scare them.”

     Chipmunk laughed. “One weasel is three times my size. I don’t think they’d be afraid of me.”

     Raccoon thought some more. “Thieves are already nervous that someone will find them out. They may be easily scared. Let’s think about this.”

     So, they thought. And, thought some more. At last Raccoon whispered, “I’ve got it!”

     Squirrel and Chipmunk put their heads close to Raccoon. They listened while he whispered his plan.

     “It’s worth a try,” Squirrel said.

     They got busy, gathering leaves and sticks. They stuck these on their fur until they looked like three bushes with legs.

     The three friends each went to a different side of the barn. Raccoon began to moan and scratch on the logs. That was their signal. Squirrel screeched as loudly as he could. Chipmunk shouted at the top of her lungs. Then, they ran to the door of the barn. Squirrel climbed on Raccoon’s shoulders. Chipmunk climbed on Squirrel’s shoulders. Everyone held great handsful of dry leaves in front of their faces. Raccoon opened the door and they all yelled and moaned and screeched.

     Startled, the three weasels looked up. All they could see in the shadowy doorway was a tall monster making the strangest noises and waving weird-looking arms.

     The weasels dashed for the door. The three friends stepped aside just in time to keep from being trampled.

     Chipmunk jumped from Squirrel’s shoulders. Squirrel hopped nimbly to the floor. Then they all scurried to the fire and their stolen food.

     “Quick! Throw some dirt on these flames,” said Raccoon.

     Soon, the fire was out.

     The barn creaked his log walls. He wished he could tell the Raccoon, Squirrel, and Chipmunk how grateful he felt that they had put out that dangerous fire.

     The barn heard munching and cracking and smacking. The pile of corn, fish, and acorns grew smaller. At last, the three friends stopped.

     “Ah,” said Chipmunk. “We are not hungry and we are warm. I like this old barn. You know, maybe we could live here.”

     “I don’t see why not,” said Squirrel. “There’s no tree, but there’s a nice loft.”

     “And, some tufts of straw that would make a snug bed,” said Raccoon.

     Chipmunk sighed happily. “I think we’ve found a new home.”

     The Old Barn sighed too. These three animals were much smaller than horses, cows, and sheep, but they were much nicer than the weasels. In his heart, he felt

Happier than in a long, long while.

The Old Barn smiled a grateful smile.