Legends of Saint Nicholas

By James Jesse

Saint Nicholas was a real person. Throughout his life, he helped children and the poor. He performed many miracles. Some miracles even happened after his death.
Many of the legends of Saint Nicholas are well loved stories. Some happened to real people and are even documented in that person’s life.
The stories in this book are based on those some of those legends.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Storm Cloud Publishing
• Release date: Feb 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781925285345

Book preview

Legends of Saint Nicholas

James Jesse

Legends of Saint Nicholas

Text copyright (c) James Jesse (2016-2018)

Published by Storm Cloud Publishing (2019)

ISBN: 978-1-925285-34-5 Smashwords Edition

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of study, research, criticism, review or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act Australia 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made through the publisher.

Contents

The First Christmas Stocking

Little Boys Lost

Feeding the Hungry

The Baby in the Bath

Saint Nicholas and the Kidnapped Boy

Saint Nicholas and the Cow

The Broken Promise

The Blind Prince

About the Author

Storm Cloud ebooks

These stories are based on some of the legends of Saint Nicholas.

Saint Nicholas was a real person who lived about 1, 750 years ago. He wanted to help children and performed lots of miracles. Some miracles even happened after his death.

Many of the legends are well loved stories. Some happened to real people and are even documented in that person’s life.

The problem with legends is that there are so many different versions of them, and everyone says their version is the right one. Even documented cases can be different depending on the source.

I have used the legends as the basis to create my own stories. All names of real people have been changed.

The First Christmas Stocking

Marco stood up and straightened his back. He looked across the barren fields of his farm. The wind beat down and snow threatened to fall from the dark sky. His wife Anna and their three daughters Rosa, Maria and Eva were tilling the hard ground. The soil needed to be turned over before the crops could be planted. Perhaps, with an early crop, the family could survive the rest of the winter.

Marco watched his daughters work. They were good daughters, hard workers. They deserved to find good husbands. But he had no dowry to offer a potential husband. Without a dowry, his daughters would remain unmarried. And if the crop failed…

Marco shivered. He dreaded to think what would happen if the crop failed. The thought sat in the back of his mind, but he had never given it voice.

He felt a warmth at his back and Anna’s arms around his waist.

We will manage, she spoke softly into his ear.

Marco shook his head slowly and said nothing.

As dark began to cover the land, Marco and his family returned to their small house. Marco chopped some wood for the fire and Anna set about cooking supper. Rosa washed their filthy clothes and Maria cleaned the house. Eva sat next to a window with a needle and thread, mending holes in their clothing.

Supper was cabbage soup. Anna added a pinch of salt for flavour. There was only one cabbage leaf, which she dished up to Marco. The other bowls looked like discoloured water.

I’m sorry, she apologised.

The girls said nothing. They were used to such meagre meals. It did nothing to ease their hunger, but they knew there was nothing else. They lowered their heads and ate slowly.

The heat from the stove and the warmth of the fire stopped the chill setting into their bones.

Before they went to bed, Rosa draped the wet clothes over a rope tied from one side of the room to the other. She hung the wet stockings above the fireplace. Eva folded the newly mended clothing, ready for wearing in the morning.

* * *

Nicholas was the bishop of the town church. He enjoyed walking through the town and into the farmlands beyond. He liked to see people living and enjoying their daily lives.

Nicholas saw Marco and his family working hard in the fields. He felt the ground as hard as rock beneath his feet as he walked. Marco would be lucky to plant a crop. Even if he did, an early frost would kill it and the farmer would be left with nothing.

Nicholas had seen all too often what a starving man would do. He had seen the slave markets where children had been sold to pay a family’s debts or to buy food. It was also a place where a daughter, unable to be married, might find her fate.

Nicholas shuddered. It broke his heart to see the extent of human desperation.

He had known Marco’s daughters since their birth. He had baptised them in his church. He wanted to help them.

Nicholas returned to town and the church as the sun was setting. Father Fotios was counting the coins in the poor box. He looked up as Nicholas walked in.

It is not much, Father Fotios said.

Nicholas nodded.

Go home, Father Fotios, he said. You have worked long enough today.

Father Fotios was about to object. Instead, he bowed his head slightly. Yes, Bishop.

Father Fotios put the poor box on the altar and headed out the front door of the church leaving Nicholas alone.

Nicholas emptied the poor box onto the altar. A small handful of coins. The villagers were poor, but they were generous. Like Marco, they would give what they had until they had nothing, and then they would ask forgiveness for not being able to give