Lesson 20 Reading: The Story of Saint Nicholas

The Story of Saint Nicholas

For use after Lesson 20.

Sight Words to Know

one, once, was, love, to, from

his, has

good, her, they, their, want, all

there, very

when, why, where

are, were

said, again

the

knew

could

people

Sight or Common Words Child Should Be Becoming Familiar With

cannot

girl

two

out, house

other

great

Words above Instructional Level (From Context, Parent)

birth

world

long, bring

took, wood

cold, gold, pull

more, poor, north, horse

find, mind, behind

Jesus, often, wagon

Nicholas, reindeer, twenty-fifth

father, sister, after, remember

crying, making, morning, hoping

marry, sorry, sadly, quickly, dowry, city

            Once there was a man named Nicholas. He was a good man, and very rich too. One day he was on his way home when he saw a girl on her steps. She was crying sadly.

            “Why are you crying?” asked Nicholas.

            “Oh!” said the girl. “I am in love, but I cannot marry. My father is very poor, and he has three girls. He has no gold to pay a dowry.”

            “I am sorry,” said Nicholas. Then he went home, but the poor girl’s plight stayed on his mind. That night after the sun set, he left his house and went back to where he had seen her. He put a bag of gold coins on the steps where she had sat and left them for her to find.

            When the morning came, the girl was very glad. Soon after she was married to her love, and Nicholas was very glad too. But he knew that she had two sisters who still could not marry. So again he sneaked out in the night. This time he put two bags of coins on the steps, and the other girls were married too. From then on Nicholas often came to the homes of his city’s poor at night, and left coins on their steps when they were in need.

            But Nicholas knew he could do more. He wanted to spend all of his days making people glad. So at last he left his city and went north, where the snow was deep and the wind was cold. Horses could not go there, and wagons got stuck in the snow drifts. But great beasts called reindeer roamed the north, and Nicholas got to some of them to know and trust him. Then he took the wheels off his wagon and put long bits of wood on in their place. He hitched the reindeer to his new sled, and they pulled him on the snow with great ease.

            The reindeer ran more and more quickly, and then their feet left the snow! They flew in the sky, with Nicholas and his sled behind them. At last they landed at the North Pole, at the very top of the world. There Nicholas set up a shop to make gifts and toys, and soon he was joined by elves to help him. And each twenty-fifth of December, when people remember Jesus’s birth, he takes his gifts and toys and flies from house to house, hoping to bring joy to the world.