THE SPACE SHUTTLE
One day, Christmas was just around the corner, Santa Claus was busily piling an enormous number of parcels into his golden sleigh, when something strange happened. First he didn't even realize what was going on. Carrying the parcels wrapped up in sky-blue paper, decorated with golden ribbons, out of his gray cloudcastle loading them onto his sleigh, took all his attention. But then he recognized that Rudolph, his fastest reindeer, was nervously pawing his front hoof and blowing little white clouds out of his nostrils. So Father Christmas went to the front of his sleigh, patted Rudolph on his neck asking:
"What's the matter with you, old boy?"
"I'm feeling pretty poor today. It's so boring standing here all day long, waiting till you have finished loading all this stuff. Frankly, year by year it takes you some hours more to do this job. Why don't you ask your boss for one or two of his flying clerks as an assistance. It would be a good opportunity for them to show that they are able to do some real useful work instead of hanging around all day long.
"But Rudolph", Father Christmas replied, "you know pretty well that this is my job only. Nevertheless thanks for your advice. I'll try my best to get the carriage loaded by sunset, okay?" Father Christmas again patted the reindeer's neck and went away. "There he goes", snorted Rudolph,"good old Santa. Nobody will ever know that he's stubborn like a mule."
Some hours later at sunset they were ready to start their journey through the night. Both of them, Rudolph as well as Father Christmas, loved sleigh riding over the top. Both of them loved the wind blowing round their noses and they enjoyed the sparkling stars passing by. But most of all they were looking forward to their first long distance jump this winter. They had worked very hard to stay fit through the long months of spring, summer and autumn. But everyone will clearly understand that sleighing without any carriage is different from what they were supposed to do now. It is no trifle to jump from the far end of one cloud back to the beginning of the next. And there it was, the first deep gulf appeared at the horizon. Rudolph shortened his steps to gather all his strength for the moment when he'd start off right into darkness. The gap came closer and closer. Then with an enormous stride he started off the cloud bank. His hooves left the ground. He was flying through the night, nothing below but a dark, dark sky. His heart was beating rapidly when he reached the other side and heard a rumpling crash. By turning his head he realized that the coachman's seat was empty. He had lost Father Christmas. Rudolph slowed down. By turning the sleigh around he found good old Santa Claus sitting on top of a huge cloud, angrily brushing off the cloud dust and grumbling about his so to say bad luck. Climbing back on the coachman's seat he only uttered:
"Next time you start off like a space shuttle, Rudolph, please do tell me beforehand. I hate bumping into clouds. Otherwise I might have some real useful work for one or two of our flying clerks. "
