The Miracle of the Great St. Nicolas

By Anatole France

'The Miracle of the Great St Nicolas' (1909) is Anatole France's satirical reimagining of the classic legend. In this short story, St Nicolas attempts to perform a miracle, resurrecting three children massacred by a crazed butcher and preserved in pickle. However, this good deed will come back to haunt the Saint, threatening to destroy everything he holds dear in his life. 'The Miracle of the Great St Nicolas' represents Anatole France at his best, picking apart the superficial virtue of religion and bringing it into the harsh reality of the real world. Fans of France's previous works, or those who wish to see the origins of Santa turn grisly, should venture into this dark but rewarding tale. For any still thirsting for dark Christmases after the 2015 horror movie 'Krampus', they will certainly find something to enjoy here. -

• Language: English
• Publisher: SAGA Egmont
• Release date: Jul 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9788728137291

Anatole France

Anatole France (1844–1924) was one of the true greats of French letters and the winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature. The son of a bookseller, France was first published in 1869 and became famous with The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard. Elected as a member of the French Academy in 1896, France proved to be an ideal literary representative of his homeland until his death.

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Anatole France

The Miracle of the Great St. Nicolas

SAGA Egmont

The Miracle of the Great St. Nicolas

Translated by D.B. Stewart

Original title: Le Miracle du Grand Saint Nicolas

Original language: French

Cover image: Shutterstock

Copyright © 1909, 2022 SAGA Egmont

All rights reserved

ISBN: 9788728137291

1st ebook edition

Format: EPUB 3.0

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This work is republished as a historical document. It contains contemporary use of language.

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THE MIRACLE OF THE GREAT ST. NICOLAS

ST. NICOLAS, Bishop of Myra in Lycia, lived in the time of Constantine the Great. The most ancient and weighty of those authors who have mentioned him celebrate his virtues, his labours, and his worth: they give abundant proofs of his sanctity; but none of them records the miracle of the salting-tub. Nor is it mentioned in the Golden Legend. This silence is important: still one does not willingly consent to throw doubt upon a fact so widely known, which is attested by the ballad which all the world knows:

"There were three little children

In the fields they went to glean."

This famous text expressly states that a cruel pork-butcher put the innocents like pigs into the salting-vat. That is to say, he apparently preserved them, cut into pieces, in a bath of brine. This is, to be sure, how pork is cured: but one is surprised to read further on that the three little children remained seven years in pickle, whereas it is usual to begin withdrawing the pieces of flesh from the tub, with a wooden fork, at the end of about six weeks. The text is explicit: according to the elegy, it was seven years after the crime that St. Nicolas entered the accursed hostelry. He asked for supper. The landlord offered him a piece of ham:

"‘Wilt eat of ham? Tis dainty food.’

‘I’ll have no ham: it is not good.

‘Wilt cat a piece of tender veal?

‘I will not make of that my meal.

Young salted flesh I want, and that

Has lain seven years within the vat.

Wheras the butcher heard this said

Out of the door full fast he fled."

The Man of God immediately resuscitated the tender victims by the laying of hands on the salting-tub.

Such is, in substance, the story of the old anonymous rhyme. It bears the inimitable stamp of honesty and good faith. Scepticism seems ill-inspired when it attacks the most vital memories of the popular mind. It is not