Читать книгу Mimi and the Mountain Dragon - Michael Morpurgo - Страница 8

the same carol: “Sweet bells, sweet

chiming Christmas bells”.

Now, after the last echoes have died away, comes

the time for the story, the story of Mimi and the Mountain Dragon, the story that reminds us each year why we have our carnival on Christmas Eve, why we come back up the mountainside again on Christmas Day, and why this time we come ringing our bells and singing our carols.

The storyteller is chosen by lottery, a name plucked from a hat. This last Christmas time it was my name that came out. I was the storyteller. Everyone hurled their flaming torches into a heap to make a bonfire, and we clustered round it.

“Don’t make it too long, Michael,” the Mayor told me, “or, bonfire or not, we’ll freeze to death up here. Always remember the story has to warm our hearts and warm our toes at the same time.”

Keeping his advice in mind, I began my telling of the story.