PICCOLA. Piccola lived in France. She was very poor. Her mamma worked hard, too. But she was a happy little girl. “Then I shall have something to play with. St. Nicholas will not forget me." Christmas Eve came. What do you do on Christmas Eve? The shoe was made of wood. All the poor people have wooden shoes. Soon it was morning. Piccola ran to her shoe. Guess what was in it. A dear little bird. It had flown in at the window. It was cold. Piccola's shoe was warm. It crept into the warm shoe. She fed the little bird. It was not afraid of her. She loved her birdie very much. "I knew St. Nicholas would come. I knew he would bring me a gift," said PICCOLA. But Piccola never doubted at all A sparrow, that in at the window flew, "How good poor Piccola must have been!" While the starving sparrow she fed and warmed, And danced with rapture, she was so charmed. -Celia Thaxter. |