At the North Pole in Father
Christmas’s village lived two best friends; an elf named Holly and a reindeer
named Bambi. Holly and Bambi had been friends ever since Bambi was a little
calf. The two were inseparable; they would send the day playing in the snow and
go sledging with Bambi pulling Holly’s sled. All the other elves and reindeers
agreed there were no other best of friends like Holly and Bambi at the North
Pole, even Father Christmas and his wife Mother Christmas couldn’t agree more.
There was one thing that Holly and
Bambi had in common; they wished to see the world outside the village. Holly wanted
to travel around the world to see what other lands were like, but she couldn’t
because it was against the law for elves to ever leave the village. Only Father
Christmas and his wife were allowed to leave the village. Bambi wished to fly
with the sleigh on Christmas Eve and travel all round the world. But Bambi
wasn’t destined to pull the sleigh. The story about which reindeers pulled the
sleigh was the first born male calf of the reindeers, which currently pulled
the sleigh, were to be the next fliers. Bambi was the son of the reindeer
Vixen, but he had a twin brother also named Vixen and he was to pull the sleigh
after his father. So Bambi was never to become a flier for the sleigh.
Never to be able to see the world
outside the village made Holly and Bambi feel sad and disappointed. It was more
disappointing for Bambi because Christmas Eve was the only time he could fly;
reindeer could only fly thanks to the magic of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
But it looked hopeless for Holly and Bambi to ever fulfil their dream of seeing
the world.
One day, four months before Christmas, Holly
came up with an idea. Her idea was if she had her own sleigh she and Bambi
could secretly fly it out on Christmas Eve, with Bambi pulling the sleigh. She
told Bambi her idea. “I like that idea Holly,” he said “but will we be allowed
to fly our own sleigh?” “I don’t believe we will,” said Holly “but that’s why
we will do it in secret. We’ll build the sleigh ourselves, but in secret so no
one would guess what we are up to. Then when it’s Christmas Eve and no one is
watching we’ll test out the sleigh and fly around in secret only for a moment.
That way by the time Father Christmas and the reindeers return no one will know
what we are doing”. At first Bambi wasn’t so sure about this because he feared
someone would find out what they were doing. But Bambi was determined to fly on
Christmas Eve and he agreed to the plan.
The only problem was where Bambi and
Holly could build the sleigh. If they were to do it in secret, they had to find
a secret place where no one could see or find out what they were doing. Bambi
came up with the idea; he said to Holly that one time, when he explored with
his father and brother, he found a cave in the mountains not far from the
village. Holly got her sled and Bambi led the way to the cave he found.
The cave was a big one with lots of
space to move around in, and there was no one living in it. Not a polar bear or
artic fox in sight. “What do you think Holly?” asked Bambi. “This is perfect,”
answered Holly “we’ll bring a lot of wood, nails and other things we need here
and build the sleigh here. We must start as soon as possible though; in three
months the elves and I will start making toys for boys and girls and we won’t
be able to make the sleigh during the Christmas season. So tomorrow we’ll start
work on the sleigh, okay?” Bambi understood. “And remember Bambi we do this in
secret, and no one, not even our friends our parents, must know about this,”
said Holly “promise?” “Promise” replied Bambi. They didn’t want anyone to stop
them
The next day Holly and Bambi started
gathering up the things they needed to make a sleigh. There was a big lumber
mill outside the village, where lots of wood was kept all ready for the elves to
use. Bambi collected some wood from the lumber mill and used Holly’s sled to
carry it. Holly went to a work shop and gathered some tools; a hammer, a lot of
nails, a saw and a measuring tape. Then they brought it all to the cave and
Holly began to get to work. Holly knew how to make things with wood and was a
good carpenter. In fact all elves were good at carpentry male or female.
Over the days Holly and Bambi worked
hard on the sleigh together in the cave. Bambi kept bringing the wood, while
Holly worked on building it. Holly took great care of building the sleigh; the
sleigh she and Bambi wanted was just a simple small sleigh, not too big or
heavy for Bambi to pull and fly with. The duo took great care of not letting
anyone know where they had been and what they had been doing, otherwise they
would have been in trouble and their plan would be ruined.
Weeks later, just two months before
Christmas, the sleigh was built; it was a small sleigh just big enough for
Holly and Bambi to use and it wasn’t heavy for Bambi to pull. All that was left
was to paint it. Holly had decided the sleigh would be painted navy blue with
gold lines because then it would blend in with the night sky and no one would
be able to see it at night. Holly got a can of navy blue paint and a can of
gold paint from the workshop and got to work on painting the sleigh. It wasn’t
long until Holly and Bambi finally had a navy blue sleigh with gold lines. “We’ve
done it Bambi,” said Holly “our sleigh is finished at last”. “It’s beautiful”
said Bambi, who loved the sleigh already. Holly covered the sleight up with a
big green sheet; this was to keep it dry and safe. “We’ll leave the sleigh here
in this cave,” said Holly “and when Christmas Eve comes we’ll try it out after
Father Christmas and his reindeers leave”. “What will we do if I can’t fly with
the sleigh?” asked Bambi. Holly had a thought. “If our plan doesn’t work, we’ll
have to try and think of something else,” she said at last “but if it does then
we are fine”. “But what will we do if Father Christmas finds out?” asked Bambi,
worriedly. “We will talk to him when he gets back from his deliveries,”
answered Holly “he is an understanding man, so I’m sure he’ll listen to us”.
Bambi believed in Holly and all they could now was to wait for Christmas Eve to
get here.
Two months later it was Christmas Eve
and it was time for Father Christmas to leave to do his deliveries. The sleigh
was filled with presents to be delivered to boys and girls all over the world.
The reindeers Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen
were all ready to pull the sleigh. Mother Christmas, all the elves, and the
reindeers which don’t pull the sleigh were all watching. Even Holly and Bambi
were watching. Father Christmas kissed Mother Christmas goodbye and waved
everyone else goodbye. Father Christmas shook the reins and the reindeers
started to gallop away and then they took off into the sky. Everyone watched
Father Christmas and the reindeers fly away until they were out of sight. Once
there were out of sight the elves and the reindeers made their way back to
their homes, except Holly and Bambi. “Now’s our chance Bambi,” said Holly “now
it’s time for us to test our sleigh out”.
Suddenly Bambi noticed something
lying in the snow. “What’s that?” he asked Holly. Holly ran over to see what it
was and saw that it was a christmas present, wrapped in purple paper with a blue
ribbon. “What’s a christmas present doing here?” asked Bambi. “It must have
fallen out of Father Christmas’ sleigh” said Holly. Holly looked at the label
on the present and read the present was for a boy named Alexander Stone. She
and Bambi were worried. “What should we do?” asked Bambi “Father Christmas is
long gone from here now”. “You’re right,” said Holly “and by the time they come
back it will be too late to deliver this present”. They knew the boy would be
upset to wake up and see there was no present for him. “There’s only one thing
to do Bambi,” said Holly at last “we will have to deliver this present
ourselves”. “What!” gasped Bambi “but we haven’t tested our sleigh yet and I
might not be able to fly”. “We will just have to try now,” said Holly “we can’t
just let this child be missed and not get his present. Christmas will be ruined
for him and for Father Christmas”. Bambi understood that Holly was right and
agreed with Holly’s decision. “Come on Bambi, we have work to do” said Holly.
Bambi and Holly went to one of Father
Christmas’s workshop. This was the mail office where all the letters to Father
Christmas were kept and it was also where all the lists of addresses where
every child in the world lived. The first thing Bambi and Holly had to do was
to find out where Alexander Stone lived. Holly took a real good look through
the address lists, until at last she found Alexander’s address. It read;
Alexander Stone, 33B Plantenster Road, York, England. “So we have to go the
England right?” asked Bambi. “Yes,” answered Holly, who wrote down the address
on a bit of paper, “and now we need to gather some things for our quest”. The
things Holly and Bambi needed were a map and compass to guide them to England,
a lantern to help them see in the dark and some food in case they got hungry.
Holly gathered a map and compass from Father Christmas’s cabin, where he kept
lots of spare maps and compasses. The maps were really magic; wherever Father
Christmas and his sleigh went, his sleigh would appear where it was on the map
so he would never get lost. So Holly and Bambi wouldn’t get lost with their own
magic map on this quest. Then Bambi and Holly gathered food as sandwiches and
carrots so they wouldn’t get hungry, and Holly got a lantern from the workshop
for light.
After gathering the things they
needed, Holly and Bambi made their way to the cave where they left the sleigh.
“Ready for this Bambi?” asked Holly. “Hitch me up Holly” answered Bambi. Bambi
had brought a rein with him and Holly helped hitch Bambi up to the sleigh after
taking off the sheet. Then Holly placed the magic map, compass, the food and
the present onto the sleigh seat and sat on the seat herself. “Let’s go for it
Bambi” she said, holding onto the rein.
Bambi led the sleigh outside of the
cave and then it started to gallop to try and take off. “Believe in yourself
Bambi!” called Holly “I believe you can fly!” Bambi closed his eyes while he
was running, believing that he could fly. Suddenly Holly shouted; “Bambi we’re
flying!” Bambi opened his eyes and saw that he was flying in the sky with the
sleigh. “I don’t believe it, I’m flying!” cheered Bambi. He and Holly laughed
together, happy that their flying test succeeded. “Come on Bambi we’re off to
England” said Holly, tugging at the rein. The quest for delivering the lost
present had now begun.
Flying in the sky was the best thing
that ever happened to Bambi and Holly. They flew through some clouds, which
turned out to be fun, and the stars twinkled like diamonds with the full moon
in the sky. When they flew over the ocean they could see a blessing of narwhals
swimming about. “This is wonderful” said Holly, happily. “Much better than what
we’ve ever dreamed of” agreed Bambi. This was indeed the best night of their
lives. Bambi continued flying over the ocean, until he saw land just ahead. “Is
that England over there?” he asked Holly. Holly checked the magic map. “No
that’s Scotland,” she said “we need to continue on to get to England”. Bambi
flew over all of Scotland until at last Holly told him they had made it to
England.
After flying some more, Holly and
Bambi had arrived at York where Alexander Stone. Bambi carefully landed the
sleigh onto the ground in a park. “So this is England?” asked Bambi. Holly
checked the map. “Yes we’ve made it to England and we are in York,” she said
“now we just to find to get to Plantenster Road wherever that is”.
Suddenly they got startled by some cooing; there were some pigeons
in the park and they flew towards Holly and Bambi. “This is the first time a
reindeer has come to this park” said one pigeon. “It’s also the first time an
elf has come here too” said another pigeon. “What brings you two here?” asked a
third pigeon. Holly explained about the christmas present that Father Christmas
left behind at the North Pole, and that she and Bambi were delivering it for
him. “We need to get this present to a boy named Alexander Stone”. “Oh we know
that boy,” said the first pigeon “he comes to this park with his mum and feeds
us bread”. “Do you know where Plantenster
Road is?” asked Holly. “Yes we do,” said the second pigeon “we’ll lead you
there ourselves”. “Really, thank you” said Holly. She and Bambi were grateful
to get some help.
The
pigeons flew in the sky and Bambi and Holly followed them in the sleigh on the
ground. Soon they had reached Plantenster Road; this neighbourhood had lots of
terraced houses. “Wow nice neighbourhood” said Holly. “A whole lot different
than our home” agreed Bambi. They followed the numbers on the house doors until
at last they found the house number 33B. “This is it,” said Holly, looking at
her paper, “this is the house Alexander Stone lives in. We’ve made it”. “One
question though,” said Bambi “how are we going to get inside the house? We
can’t get through the chimney and the doors and windows will be locked”. “Not a
problem” said Holly. She pulled out a golden key from her pocket. “This is a
magic key,” she explained “Father Christmas uses this to get in any door of any
house when he can’t get down a chimney or if a house doesn’t have a chimney.
Good think he kept a spare magic key for emergencies”. Holly opened the door
with the key and entered the house. Bambi stayed outside and watched with the
pigeons. Holly quietly walked into a living room where a beautiful christmas
tree stood, and then she placed the present under the tree. After that she went
back outside and closed the door. “We’ve done it Bambi mission accomplished”
she said. Bambi and the pigeons were happy that Alexander Stone would wake up
in the morning and get his present. “Now that our quest is over she would head
home now” said Holly. Holly and Bambi thanked the pigeons for their help, said
goodbye and then took off into the sky again. The quest for delivering the
christmas present was over.
Bambi
and Holly flew over England, Scotland and the ocean until at last they made it
back to the North Pole. Once they made it back to the North Pole, Bambi landed
the sleigh near the cave. Holly got off the sleigh and took the rein off Bambi.
“What do we do now Holly?” asked Bambi. “We wait for Father Christmas to come
back, and then we tell him everything of what we’ve done,” answered Holly “we
can’t lie about this forever”. Even though Bambi and Holly knew they had to
tell the truth to Father Christmas, they feared they would be in big trouble
for breaking the rule of never leaving the village.
Soon
Father Christmas and the reindeers came back and everyone was there to welcome
them home. After the reindeers were unhitched and gone back to their stables
and the sleigh was put away, Holly and Bambi went up to Father Christmas and
told him they had something to tell him. Father Christmas brought Holly and
Bambi into his cabin so he could hear what they had to say there. Mother
Christmas joined them too. Holly and Bambi gathered up all their courage and
told Father Christmas and his wife about the sleigh they made together, about
the christmas present that got left behind, and about their adventure of
delivering the present. “We are sorry for breaking the rule of never to leave
the village,” said Holly “but we couldn’t let the boy Alexander Stone not get
his present”. Father Christmas stared at Bambi and Holly and then smiled. “I
thank you two for delivering the present for me,” he said “I found out
Alexander’s present was missing from my sleigh when I started doing my
deliveries in England. And I was surprised to see his present was already
delivered when I got to his house. Therefore I thank you two for helping me”. “We
are honoured to have helped you sir” said Bambi. He and Holly were happy that
Father Christmas wasn’t angry at them. “Do excuse me Father Christmas,” said
Holly “but Bambi and I have something to ask you”. She told him about her and
Bambi’s wish to see the world outside the village. Father Christmas had a
think. “Well the rule is that no elf and reindeer can leave the village,” he
said “but after what you two did for me I think we can the rules a bit”. Mother
Christmas agreed.
So
it was arranged; Bambi and Holly were allowed to leave the village and see the
world on their sleigh. And Bambi was allowed to fly on Christmas Eve with Holly
and the sleigh. The condition was that Bambi and Holly had promised to never
let anyone know they were from Father Christmas’s village; that had to be kept
a secret for always, and Bambi and Holly held on to that promise forever. Bambi
and Holly were now as happy as could be because their wish of seeing the world
had come true at last.
As for Alexander Stone; his present
was a snow globe, with an elf and reindeer in the middle. What he didn’t know
was it was a real elf and reindeer who delivered his snow globe to him that
Christmas Eve instead of Father Christmas.
