"Sometimes at night, after the old woman was asleep,
Kristtorn would gaze out the window in the thatched roof
above her bed and count the stars. Somewhere, she felt
sure, in some other part of the world, her brother was
doing the same. And someday, she knew, she would follow the course of those stars and find him."
In this original legend readers meet Kristtorn, twin sister to Kristoffer, also known as Santa Claus. It is a story that has been 'forgotten to time' and has only now come to light for a new generation of readers. We are told there was a time when children knew the Christmas Witch, seeing her in fleeting glimpses if they were patient during the long Yuletide night. She left gifts on the doorstep and vanished without anyone gettting a clear look at her. Through the years, stories were told, songs were written, and they soon became quite scary leaving many children frightened of her evil ways.
Her story is a sad one. She and her brother were abandoned at birth to be raised by the animals of the forest. Each had special gifts that helped them survive. While playing one day, the two heard voices. Kristoffer, the social one, walked right up to the couple and engaged them in conversation while Kristtorn hung back, shy and scared. The old couple offered food and comfort; Kristoffer was so distracted that they walked away together, leaving his sister hiding in a thicket. As luck would have it, the couple's last name was Kringle. Kristoffer's fate was sealed. Kristtorn remained hidden and protected in the thicket until a witch named Lutzelfrau heard her crying and gave care for a number of years.
While Kristoff was living a happy life in the north with the Kringles, Kristtorn was living a very different life improving her magical skills under the watchful eye of Lutzelfrau. Losing her temper when a spell did not work was a problem. She never forgot her brother, dreaming always of a reunion at some point in her life. Eventually, she set off to find him. A long and dangerous journey ended at the south pole. When she heard that he spent Christmas Eve traveling the world, she was determined to find him. Their reunion was not what she had hoped. She was chased by those who held a belief that she was evil.
When the two finally did meet again, Kristoff dismissed her as too different to find a place in his world. As the story ends, Kristtorn makes a vengeful promise concerning a plot to ruin the Christmas holiday.
Excellent storytelling and admirable artwork make this a book to savor and share. It is one more book that I received too late for last year's blog posts. I hope you can find a copy. I also want you to know that The Return of the Christmas Witch made it to book shelves in October. You can look for it now! It's a wonderful Yuletide read.
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