"The Father Christmas Letters"

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"The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Cord Hurn »

I've owned this book, illustrated as well as written by J.R.R. Tolkien, since the 1980s, but don't think I've reread it since the Nineties. I thought I would read it again this week, and comment on parts of the book as I go along. The artwork by Tolkien is one of the things that make this work entertaining, so I'll comment on that along with the text as I go through this thread.

For anyone unfamiliar with this work, it was put together by Tolkien's daughter-in-law Baille Tolkien (wife to Tolkien's son Christopher) back in 1976, and it consists of letters and accompanying paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien posing as Father Christmas for the enchantment & entertainment of his children. He not only created the letters and paintings, also addressed the envelopes and painted postage stamp designs for the letters, all to be found by his children on Christmas morning.

I've just finished Jane Austen's Emma, and it exhausted me emotionally, being little action with tons of talking between close-knit high-society neighbors about each other. Took me three months to finish, as it was not my kind of book, so I felt I needed this much lighter JRRT work to recover. I'll revisit this thread more as the week goes on.
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Re: "The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by wayfriend »

Cord Hurn wrote:I've just finished Jane Austen's Emma, and it exhausted me emotionally
D —!
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Re: "The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Cord Hurn »

wayfriend wrote:
Cord Hurn wrote:I've just finished Jane Austen's Emma, and it exhausted me emotionally
D —!
What does that mean? :confused:






[Edited to add the puzzled emoticon.]
Last edited by Cord Hurn on Wed Dec 21, 2022 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

THE INTRODUCTION BY BAILLE TOLKIEN

Baille Tolkien states that "the first of the letters came in 1920 when John, the eldest, was three years old; and for twenty years, through the childhoods of the three other children, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla, they continued to arrive each Christmas. Sometimes the envelopes, dusted with snow and bearing Polar postage stamps, were found in the house on the morning after his visit' sometimes the postman brought them; and letters that the children wrote themselves vanished from the fireplace when no one was about."

Baille Tolkien goes on to relate that at first the North Polar Bear is the focus of the letters, as he is both the main helper to Father Christmas, and the cause of some of the disasters related in the yearly letters. I am guessing that making the North Polar Bear have disasters in the letters serves a duel purpose: to make the children giggle and to explain why Father Christmas couldn't give the children all the presents they requested.

The envelopes are impressive with their fancy script, with fake postage stamps created by Tolkien on them with paintings of Father Christmas and/or the North Pole, and with a seal on the back saying "By Elf Messenger" with a color drawing of an elf running with an envelope in hand, and even fake stamp cancellation marks on the front of an envelope.

All of this a rather elaborate deception by Tolkien to charm his children, making them more convinced that Father Christmas is actually communicating with them and reads their letters. Here Tolkien gets to express his love for his children by indulging in his love for creativity.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

THE 1920 LETTER

The first letter to John in 1920 is the simplest of the collection of letters, where Father Christmas states that he heard John ask his dad what Father Christmas was like and where he lived.

So, included in the letter is a drawing of Father Christmas in a red suit with hood, carrying a bag of toys over one shoulder while trudging through the snow, and a painting of a round white house in the snow. The snow sticking to Father Christmas' footwear, and the blurred flurries around him, do give the sensation of cold.

On the opposite page of the 1920 letter is Tolkien's illustration of Father Christmas in his sleigh pulled by eight flying reindeer doing a descent into Oxford, with the buildings of Oxford silhouetted along with Father Christmas, his sleigh, and the reindeer. For someone who seems to be average at best in painting ability, JRRT shows an impressive attention to detail.
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Re: "The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Wosbald »

+JMJ+
Cord Hurn wrote:
wayfriend wrote:
Cord Hurn wrote:I've just finished Jane Austen's Emma, and it exhausted me emotionally
D —!
What does that mean? :confused:






[Edited to add the puzzled emoticon.]
Does someone sign their letters (someone always seems to be signing letters to "My Dearest Wynthrope" or whomever in pastoral 19th c. England) as "D —"?


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Post by Cord Hurn »

The letters Tolkien created to be from Father Christmas for the years 1921 through 1924 have apparently been lost to time, for the book next moves to the letter for the year 1925.

THE 1925 LETTER

FC mentions he has been dreadfully, busy, didn't have the North Polar Bear to help him move and pack presents, and that he had to move from his house.

JRRT naturally keeps the plot pretty simple for his kids but also keeps the whimsical feel characteristic of so much of his fiction. The North Polar Bear witnesses Father Christmas' hood taken by the wind and hung on top of the North Pole and is determined to retrieve it despite FC's objections.
The pole broke in the middle and fell on the roof of my house, and the North Polar Bear fell through the hole it made into the dining room with my hood over his nose, and all the snow fell off the roof into the house and melted and put out all the fires and ran down into the cellars where I was collecting this years' presents, and the North Polar Bear's leg got broken. He is well again now, but I was so cross with him that he said he won't try to help me again. I expect his temper is hurt, and will be mended by next Christmas.
Two paintings were included with this letter: a painting of the North Polar Bear falling down along with the North Pole over Father Christmas' house which receives severe cracking in its roof, and a painting of FC's house at its new location atop a nearby cliff high enough the North Pole can't fall on it ever again. The second painting also shows the North Pole bandaged up by some red sealant and looking like a dangerously thin white stalagmite ready to snap again at the slightest breeze. You couldn't convince me to climb a towering terror like that, not to retrieve somebody's hat, no sir! This North Polar Bear is clearly foolishly daring enough to be accident-prone. That proves to be the case in the letter that follow.

Father Christmas ends this note with the personal touch:
If John can't read my shaky writing (1925 years old) he must get his father to. When is Michael going to learn to read, and write his own letters to me? Lots of love to you both and Christopher, whose name is rather like mine.
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Re: "The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Cord Hurn »

Wosbald wrote:+JMJ+
Cord Hurn wrote:
wayfriend wrote: D —!
What does that mean? :confused:






[Edited to add the puzzled emoticon.]
Does someone sign their letters (someone always seems to be signing letters to "My Dearest Wynthrope" or whomever in pastoral 19th c. England) as "D —"?


Image

Perhaps that was what way was referring to, Wos. No character in Emma wrote like that, though.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

THE 1926 LETTER

The North Polar Bear has set off a bunch of fireworks, turning the North Pole black, shaking the stars arrangement up, breaking the moon into four pieces, causing the Man in the Moon to fall in FC's garden, and scarring off the reindeer who had just been hitched up to a Christmas-present-laden sleigh.

If I were Father Christmas, I would have written a Letter of Deportation for the North Polar Bear to be exiled to Antarctica at this point. But Father Christmas is more forgiving than me, and observes that the presents were all chocolates, and still in good shape even if the packages got a bit smashed, so no severe punishment for the ungracious ursid.

FC just hopes the Tolkien children won't mind the smashed boxes the chocolates came in. This makes me think JRRT must have had an accident when bringing home chocolates for the kids and had to concoct some explanation in this letter.
Posing as Father Christmas, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote:But isn't the North Polar Bear silly? And he isn't a bit sorry! Of course he did it--you remember I had to move last year because of him? The tap turning on the Aurora Borealis fireworks is still in the cellar of my old house. The North Polar Bear knew he must never, never, touch it. I only let it off on special days like Christmas. He says he thought it was cut off since we moved--anyway he was nosing around the ruins this morning soon after breakfast (he hides things to eat there) and turned on all the Northern Lights for two years in one go. You have never heard or seen anything like it. I have tried to draw a picture of it; but I am too shaky to do it properly and you can't paint fizzing light, can you?
The publishers of Tolkien's works in the U.S. in hardback, Houghton Mifflin, thought enough of Tolkien's painting of FC seeing the sky light up in fireworks behind a blackened North Pole to make it the cover art. It is quite colorful, and much better than the other artwork included with this letter. That other artwork, a drawing of FC looking upset at the sight of reindeer fleeing with his sled while presents spill and NPB laughs, is rudimentary pictography, not so pleasing to my eye.
Last edited by Cord Hurn on Wed Dec 21, 2022 4:45 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: "The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Wosbald »

+JMJ+
Cord Hurn wrote:
Wosbald wrote:
Cord Hurn wrote: What does that mean? :confused:






[Edited to add the puzzled emoticon.]
Does someone sign their letters (someone always seems to be signing letters to "My Dearest Wynthrope" or whomever in pastoral 19th c. England) as "D —"?


Image

Perhaps that was what way was referring to, Wos. No character in Emma wrote like that, though.
Oh, well. It was worth a shot.

Image


Image
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"The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Cord Hurn »

Wosbald wrote:+JMJ+
Cord Hurn wrote:
Wosbald wrote: Does someone sign their letters (someone always seems to be signing letters to "My Dearest Wynthrope" or whomever in pastoral 19th c. England) as "D —"?


Image

Perhaps that was what way was referring to, Wos. No character in Emma wrote like that, though.
Oh, well. It was worth a shot.

Image
:bang: Indeed it was, and I appreciate the help! :D :thumbsup:
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"The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Cord Hurn »

THE 1927 LETTER

The weather at the North Pole had turned so cold that when the North Polar Bear puta his nose against the Pole, it tears some skin off of it. So NPB must wear a bandage around his nose in Father Christmas' painting of him at the North Pole, with the FC house nearby atop a cliff. This illustration, because of its graceful curved lines, reminds me the most of Tolkien's Middle-Earth paintings. The painting also shows the stars of the Big Dipper and other stars mingling with the light of a comet above NPB, the North Pole, and the FC house.

On the opposite page is a reindeer silhouette on a rectangle resembling a stamp with the words "by direct reindeer post" nearby, of a black-and-white drawing of the North Pole. I didn't think there was anything striking or even interesting about those particular illustrations.
Also it has been very dark here since winter began. We haven't seen the Sun, of course, for three months, and there are no Northern Lights this ear--you remember the awful accident last year? There will be none again until the end of 1928. The North Polar Bear has got his cousin (and distant friend) the GREAT BEAR, to shine extra bright for us, and this week I have hired a comet to do my packing by, but it doesn't work as well--you can see that by my picture. The North Polar Bear has not really been any more sensible this year: yesterday he was snowballing the Snow-man in the garden and pushed him over the edge of the cliff so that he fell into my sleigh at the bottom and broke lots of things--one of them was himself.
8O Father Christmas is apparently not sentimental enough to be queasy about utilizing the corpse of a dead Snow-friend to further his expression of art. He can be naughty as well as nice. Good to know. I guess. :?
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Post by Menolly »

huh.

Regarding way's comment. I read it as an edited version of a word considered blasphemous by some which rhymes with lamb...

I'm probably wrong, though.
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Post by wayfriend »

Menolly wrote:huh.

Regarding way's comment. I read it as an edited version of a word considered blasphemous by some which rhymes with lamb...

I'm probably wrong, though.
Close. It's how Jane Austin writes people swearing.

https://dianeclement.wordpress.com/2013 ... ens-works/

I was testing the Cordling.

Sorry tho. Back to Father Christmas!
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Post by Cord Hurn »

wayfriend wrote:
Menolly wrote:huh.

Regarding way's comment. I read it as an edited version of a word considered blasphemous by some which rhymes with lamb...

I'm probably wrong, though.
Close. It's how Jane Austin writes people swearing.

https://dianeclement.wordpress.com/2013 ... ens-works/

I was testing the Cordling.

Sorry tho. Back to Father Christmas!



Oh, I see. Well, thank you for the explanation. I don't recall there being any swearing in Emma.

"The Cordling"...LMAO. :lol:
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Post by Cord Hurn »

THE 1928 LETTER

While bringing packages fri the store rooms to the largest room of Father Christmas' house to use as a staging area for loading up the sleigh, the North Polar Bear fell from the top to the bottom of the stairs in that main room, and he had been carrying presents in his arms and balanced on his head. Some packages got smashed, and Father Christmas expresses concern in this letter that none of the Tolkien children got any of the damaged packages. (Guess they must have, or else why would JRRT have Father Christmas mention it? I'm starting to suspect that Tolkien was clumsy at carrying things home from the store. Pipe smoke swirling in front of his eyes may have prevented him from seeing that hazardous patch of ice on the street.)

When he saw the NPB wasn't seriously hurt, and most packages weren't harmed, FC laughed which offended NPB who ran out of the house into the snow and refused to help gather up the packages he spilled. FC sent along a drawing of NPB falling down the stairs, and relates that NPB has threatened to draw a picture of FC when FC has done something idiotic. FC says he has no fear of that, as he never does anything idiotic, and besides the NPB can't draw anything.
But anyway I thought you would like a picture of the INSIDE of my new big house for a change. This is the chief hall under the largest dome where we pile the presents usually, ready to load on the sleighs at the doors. Polar Bear and I built it nearly all ourselves, and laid all the blue and mauve tiles. The banisters and roof are not quite straight, but it doesn't really matter. I painted the pictures on the wall of the trees and stars and suns and moons.


J.R.R. Tolkien never seemed to be very good at drawing faces, and this illustration is further evidence of that. FC's face is two dots for eyes, a curve for a mustache and a hyphen for a mouth, with no shading for depth. But I believe Tolkien WAS really good at geometric design, and this illustration shows some of that. There is a very neat and orderly look to the floor tiles, the wall under the banisters, the chain link holding the chandelier, and the doors leading to the outside. This drawing reminds me of how much I have admired the beautiful symmetry of the heraldic symbols JRRT created for his Elven characters of The Silmarillon.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

THE 1929 LETTER

The Northern Lights have gotten recharged enough after the North Polar Bear's overloading their "power grid" a couple of Christmases ago, and so the area is once again decently lit up at night. Father Christmas and his neighbors the Snow-Elves had a bonfire celebration for the Winter Solstice (the exact wording is "the coming in of winter") mainly to please PB. The Snoe-elves surprise both FC and PB by setting off all their firework rockets at once. In response, NPB burns through 20,000 sparklers in an extroverted flurry, which FC is quick to state is the reason why he can't send any of the requested sparklers to the Tolkien children (maybe JRRT and Edith didn't want the children burning the house or neighborhood down, can't say I blame 'em).

NPB runs off to Norway to hang out with a woodcutter named Olaf and came back with a damaged paw right before Xmas Rush time. No further explanation given for the hurt & healing appendage, but i would guess that NPB tried to "help" Olaf and it didn't turn out too well.
There seem more children than ever in all the countries I specially look after. It is a good thing clocks don't tell the same time all over the world or I should never get round, although when my magic is strongest--at Christmas--I can do about a a thousand stockings a minute, if I have it all planned out beforehand. You could hardly guess the enormous piles of lists I make out. I seldom get them mixed.
But it's becoming an established cosmic constant that the North Polar Bear's got to cause mayhem somehow, and this year it involves getting the lists mixed. As shown by a pair of drawings, one moment FC and NPB are going over paper lists of deserving children in an office setting, the next moment shows what happens when NPB decides the room is too stuffy and opens a window, with papers flying around the room as FS loses his cap and NPB rolls in laughter on the floor. This drawing is with colored pencils and not as aesthetically pleasing to me as the paintings of the book. But I like the two illustrations in the margins of the bear dancing around with FC's cap on his head--something about them I just find amusing.

Two more examples of Tolkien's stamp designs are shown with this letter, with holly leaves and berries surrounding a red "2" on one stamp and surrounding a drawing of an arctic sunset on the other stamp. They look hastily done compared to other artwork featured in this book. The illustration of the fireworks being set off has a nice deep blue look to the sky, and I'm guessing that is the only detail of these 1928 illustrations that was painted rather than just drawn. It's the detail about this set of illustrations that I like the best.
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Post by Cord Hurn »

THE 1930 LETTER
I have enjoyed all your letters: I hope you will like your stockings this year: I tried to find what you asked for, but the stores have been in rather a muddle--you see the Polar Bear has been ill. He had whooping-cough first of all. I could not let him help with the packing and sorting which begins in November--because it would be simply awful if any of my children caught Polar Whooping Cough and barked like bears on Boxing Day. So I had to do everything myself in the preparations. Of course Polar Bear has done his best--he cleaned up and mended my sleigh and looked after the reindeer while I was busy. That is how the really bad accident happened. Early this month we had a most awful snowstorm (nearly six feet of snow) followed by an awful fog. The poor Polar Bear went out to the reindeer stables and got lost and nearly buried. I did not miss him or go to look or him for a long while. His chest had not got well from Whooping Cough so this made him frightfully ill, and he was in bed until three days ago. Everything has gone wrong and there has been no one to look after my messengers properly.
When Father Christmas finds the NPB in the snow, he takes him inside and had his feet soaking in warm water and hot mustard to stop him shivering. FC states that he put together a party of Snow-boys and Polar-cubs for the Polar Bear, and they pull apart a noisemaker in NPB's presence so that as the big cracker went off, he threw away his rug, jumped up, and has been well since. (I don't get it; must be meant as some sort of morale booster for the NPB, I guess.)

FC says the NPB soon is back to his old mischief, quarreling with the Snow-man ("my gardener", says FC) and pushing him through the roof of his snow house (doesn't sound very nice of the bear, but real polar bears will no doubt do far worse if they find you in the arctic wilds). Also, FC makes it clear that the Snow-man and Snow-boys are NOT made of snow, so I must walk back my statement on the 1927 letter, as it appears that Snow-man was not killed after all, and not made of snow. Guess Fc just used snow to help make his 1927 illustrations (which I wouldn't think would work very well, but this is a fantasy, after all).

This letter also reveals the NPB's job is to pack ice instead of presents in the parcels going to naughty children. The obvious problem is that the storerooms stay warm enough to melt the ice, which makes running water that tends to spoil the presents of the good children. It's time to admit it: the North Polar Bear just isn't much of a strategic thinker.

The drawings included with this letter are of FC finding NPB in the snow, of NPB sitting with his feet in warm water and hot mustard, of the NPB jumping up to FC's delight as the Polar-cubs and Snow-boys pull apart a noise-making red cracker, and of the party of the Snow-boys, Polar-cubs, and FC celebrating NPB's recovery. The latter has what looks like butterflies flitting around the room, which I don't understand, and the drawing is generally in dull colors. The 'Snow-boys" each wear a piece of white clothing that covers them up except for their faces. No explanation given for why they live there in the frozen North.
Well, my dears, there is lots more I should like to say--about my Green Brother, and my father, old Grandfather Yule, and why we were both called Nicholas after the Saint (whose day is December 6th) who used to give secret presents, sometimes throwing purses of money through the window. But I must hurry away--I am late already and I am afraid you may not get this in time.
I don't think FC ever follows up with explanations about any of this. But I find the concept of a Green Brother intriguing. It's as if there's another immortal figure hinted at who dresses in fur-trimmed green clothing, goes out on Christmas Eve to give presents to the good children of the Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other parts of the Southern Hemisphere, and has operations based at the South Pole. But perhaps I am just letting my imagination run amuck.
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"The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Cord Hurn »

THE 1931 LETTER

For a change, I will give my reaction to the illustrations before discussing the text.

"My latest portrait--Father Christmas packing 1931. Love to you all. Your loving Fr. NC": An uncommon close-up face drawing from Tolkien. He makes FC look like I'd expect with beard and red suit and hat and even rosy cheeks included, but makes the eyes squinting in concentration look nearly identical to eyebrow above, and there's no depth of any kind to the picture. JRRT was just mediocre with this kind of drawing.

The drawing of the North Polar Bear lying down with firecrackers setting off is blurry and appears hastily done compared to most other illustrations in this book. But in the text it is revealed that North Polar Bear drew these, so JRRT making them a different drawing style makes sense. On one drawing attributed to the NPB, he draws himself and writes the name "Karhu", along with "NPB", so evidently "Karhu" is his proper personal name. The bear is drawn angular and looks crude to me.

But I like the red-and-green-and-black illustration of the sun on the horizon between two mountains, as it reminds me of some of my favorite sketches Tolkien made for The Hobbit.

___________________________________


On to the text. There's a serious Depression that's been going on, and by this time its pain is felt the world over. The children get the timely and truthful reminder that things could always be notably worse.
Here is my latest portrait--Father Christmas packing, 1931. If you find that not many of the things you asked for have come, and not perhaps quite so many as sometimes, remember that this Christmas all over the world there are a terrible number of poor and starving people. I (and also my Green Brother) have had to do some collecting of food and clothes, and toys too, for the children whose fathers and mothers cannot give them anything, sometimes not even dinner.
It's been a relatively warm winter at the North Pole, making the North Polar Bear mostly sleepy and lazy, and when he was not those things then he was sampling food parcels FC had prepared to ensure quality control. But Karhu, the North Polar Bear, gets sent down by FC into the one of the cellars to fetch twenty boxes of firecrackers, and Karhu the Wonder Bruin Brain takes some of the Snow-boys with him to help carry the packages of crackers.
They started pulling crackers out of boxes, and he tried to box them (the boys' ears I mean) and they dodged and he fell over, and let is candle fall right POOF! into my firework-crackers and boxes of sparklers. I could hear the noise and smell the smell in the hall; and when I rushed down I saw nothing but smoke and fizzing stars, and old Polar Bear was rolling over on the floor with sparks sizzling in his coat; he has quite a bare patch burnt on his back. The Snow-boys roared with laughter and then ran away. The said it was a splendid sight, but they won't come to my party on St. Stephen's Day; they have had more than their fair share already.
The Bear was warned FC not to take the Snow-boys down into the firecracker cellar, and he did it anyway, so it's really a case of Karhu Karma as to what he endured. But the Snow-boys are cruel, and probably shouldn't be invited to the next SEVERAL parties until they've learned their lesson.

FC goes on to talk about NPB's two bear cub nephews, Paksu and Valkotukka. Fat-tummied, and frequently fighting with frighteningly funny frequency, these two do things like swallow a ball of string and lie awake at bedtime with a tangled cough, put scratchy holly leaves in FC's bed, and pore ink into the fireplace, and are found passed out after eating two whole puddings raw. In short, as Father Christmas surmises, "They seem to be growing up just like their uncle."

Father Christmas tells the children good-bye, as he will soon be off on his Christmas travels. He wants to assure them he does not use aeroplanes or any motor vehicles to get around. He hates the smell of motor-driven transportation, and his reindeer are faster anyway, ESPECIALLY since this year he has picked up some new young ones from Lapland.
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"The Father Christmas Letters"

Post by Cord Hurn »

THE 1932 LETTER

Summer and autumn in this year had many moments of strange noises being heard from underground, leading Father Christmas to be concerned earthquake-level pressure was building up below the North Pole. North Polar Bear decides he knows what the noises REALLY portend, and leaves Father Christmas' house to go for a walk in late November, and doesn't return. About ten nights later the eldest of the few remaining Cave-bears shows up at FC's house and says, "Do you want your North Polar Bear? If you do, you had better come and get him!"

It seems the NPB got lost in the vast network of caves that this old Cave-Bear says is his territory. NPB ducked into a hole to avoid a snowstorm, slipped down a long slope, had rocks fall on him, and he couldn't get out or limb up from where he was underground. He smelled Goblin, and set off after the smell, and the Goblins shut off all lights in the cave system and got NPB lost.

These Goblins are not described in the same way as are the Orcs of Middle-earth in the text, and are painted as small dark thin creatures.
Goblins are to us very much what rats are to you, only worse, because they are very clever, and only better because there are, in these parts, very few. We thought there were none left. Long ago we had great trouble with them, that was about 1453, I believe, but we got the help of the Gnomes, who are their greatest enemies, and cleared them out. Anyway there was poor old Polar Bear lost in the dark all among them, and alone until he met Cave-Bear, who lives there. Cave-Bear can see pretty well in the dark, and he offered to take Polar Bear to his private back door. So they set off together, but the Goblins were very excited and angry (Polar Bear had boxed one or two flat that came and poked him in the dark, and had said some very nasty things to them all), and they enticed him away by imitating Cave-Bear's voice, which of course they know very well. So Polar Bear got into a frightful dark part, all full of different passages, and he lost Cave-Bear, and Cave-Bear lost him.

"Light is what we need," said Cave-Bear to me. So I got some of my special sparkling torches--which I sometimes use in my deepest cellars--and we set off that night The caves are wonderful. I knew they were there, but not how many or how big they were. Of course the Goblins went off into the deepest holes and corners, and we soon found Polar Bear. He was getting quite long and thin with hunger, as he had been in the caves about a fortnight. He said, "I should soon have been able to squeeze through a Goblin crack."
The three of them notice all the pictures drawn on the walls of the caves here, and Cave-Bear says his family for 90 generations has passed on the belief that these drawings were made by men back at a time when the North Pole was somewhere else in the world. The figures Father Christmas identifies include dragons, mammoths, humans, a hairy rhinoceros, and Goblins astride creatures called drasils which are dwarf & dachshund-shaped horse-like creatures. They all admire the cave drawings, and Tolkien provided paintings of the moment (nice, as I was liking those colored-pencil drawings of the last three Christmases). The distant shot of them looking at the caves walls has a nice depth effect, and the close up of the caves drawings show Tolkien is competent at pictograph illustrations.

After rescuing North Polar Bear and taking him back to his house, Father Christmas has a week or so of quiet while he prepares his presents. Then when FC and NPB are going into the cellars the week before Christmas to get supplies for rewarding the good English children, they discover the cellars rearranged and much inventory missing. They find a large hole leading to a tunnel, and FC realizes the noises they heard earlier in the year were the Goblins burrowing to these cellars under where the FC house used to be next to the North Pole, and stealing many presents, and had been slowly but surely doing it for generations. They increased there theft rate more recently, the evidence shows FC.

In response, FC blows green luminous smoke down the Goblin tunnel and Polar Bear blows it down further using the enormous bellows they have in FC's kitchen. The Goblins shriek, run out the other end of their caves, and are caught by Red Gnomes FC had brought in from Norway.

Father Christmas says the Gnomes captured many Goblins while running off the rest into the snow, which Goblins hate being in. The Gnomes made the surrendering Goblins show where they hid all the presents, and Christmas preparations near the North Pole are underway once again, as the Gnomes continue to chase the Goblins away from the area. The Gnomes promise FC that the Goblins will now be scarce for years, but FC isn't so sure.

A photo of the envelope Tolkien used for this letter is shown in the book, and it has written on one side with a stamp cancellation mark and a seal of dark red wax the words, "By gnome-carrier *Immediate haste!" JRRT continues to make it look like Father Christmas' letters actually came through the British mail service for the fun of his children. But of course the man is well-known for his attention to detail in many if not all things.
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