Every Who
Down in Who-ville
Liked Christmas a lot...
But the Wench,
Who lived just North of Who-ville,
Did NOT!
The Wench hated Christmas!
The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It
could be that her head wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that her pants were too tight.
But I think
that the most likely reason of all
May have been that her heart was two sizes too small.
But,
Whatever the reason,
Her heart or her shoes,
She stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos,
Staring
down from her cave with a sour, Wenchy frown
At the warm lighted windows below in their town.
For she knew every Who
down in Who-ville beneath
Was busy now, hanging a mistleoe wreath.
"And they're hanging their stockings!" she snarled with a sneer.
"Tomorrow is Christmas! It's practically here!"
Then
she growled, with her wench fingers nervously drumming,
"I MUST find a way to keep Christmas from coming!"
For, tomorrow,
she knew...
...All the Who girls and boys
Would wake up bright and early. They'd rush for their toys!
And then! Oh, the noise!
Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing she hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE!
Then the Whos, young and old, would sit down to a feast.
And they'd feast! And they'd feast!
And they'd FEAST!
FEAST! FEAST! FEAST!
They would start on Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast-beast
Which was something the Wench couldn't
stand in the least!
And THEN
They'd do something she liked least of all!
Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Would
stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing.
They'd stand hand-in-hand. And the Whos would start singing!
They'd sing! And they'd sing!
AND they'd SING! SING! SING! SING!
And the more the Wench thought of the Who-Christmas-Sing
The
more the Wench thought, "I must stop this whole thing!
"Why for fifty-three years I've put up with it now!
I MUST stop
Christmas from coming!
...But HOW?"
Then she got an idea!
An awful idea!
THE WENCH
GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!
"I know just what to do!" The WENCH Laughed in her throat.
And she made a quick Santy Claus hat and a coat.
And
she chuckled, and clucked, "What a great Wenchy trick!
"With this coat and this hat, I'll look just like Saint Nick!"
"All I need is a reindeer..."
The Wench looked around.
But since reindeer are scarce, there was none to be found.
Did
that stop the old Wench...?
No! The Wench simply said,
"If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!"
So she
called her dog Max. Then she took some red thread
And she tied a big horn on top of his head.
THEN
She loaded some bags
And some old empty sacks
On a ramshakle sleigh
And she hitched up old Max.
Then the Wench said, "Giddyap!"
And the sleigh started down
Toward the homes where the Whos
Lay a-snooze in
their town.
All their windows were dark. Quiet snow filled the air.
All the Whos were all dreaming sweet dreams without care
When
she came to the first house in the square.
"This is stop number one," The old Wenchy Claus hissed
And she climbed to
the roof, empty bags in her fist.
Then she slid down the chimney. A rather tight pinch.
But if Santa could do it, then so could the Wench.
She got
stuck only once, for a moment or two.
Then she stuck his head out of the fireplace flue
Where the little Who stockings
all hung in a row.
"These stockings," she grinned, "are the first things to go!"
Then she slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
Around the whole room, and she took every present!
Pop
guns! And bicycles! Roller skates! Drums!
Checkerboards! Tricycles! Popcorn! And plums!
And she stuffed them in bags.
Then the Wench, very nimbly,
Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney!
Then she slunk to the icebox. She took the Whos' feast!
She took the Who-pudding! She took the roast beast!
She
cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash.
Why, that Wench even took their last can of Who-hash!
Then she stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.
"And NOW!" grinned the Wench, "I will stuff up the tree!"
And the Wench grabbed the tree, and she started to shove
When she heard a small sound like the coo of a dove.
She
turned around fast, and she saw a small Who!
Little Cindy-Lou Who, who was not more than two.
The Wench had been caught by this little Who daughter
Who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water.
She stared
at the Wench and said, "Santy Claus, why,
"Why are you taking our Christmas tree? WHY?"
But, you know, that old Wench was so smart and so slick
She thought up a lie, and she thought it up quick!
"Why,
my sweet little tot," the fake Santy Claus lied,
"There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side.
"So I'm
taking it home to my workshop, my dear.
"I'll fix it up there. Then I'll bring it back here."
And her fib fooled the child. Then she patted her head
And she got her a drink and she sent her to bed.
And when
Cindy-Lou Who went to bed with her cup,
She went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!
Then the last thing she took
Was the log for their fire.
Then she went up the chimney herself, the old liar.
On
their walls she left nothing but hooks, and some wire.
And the one speck of food
The she left in the house
Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.
Then
She did the same thing
To the other Whos' houses
Leaving crumbs
Much too small
For the other Whos' mouses!
It was quarter past dawn...
All the Whos, still a-bed
All the Whos, still a-snooze
When she packed up her sled,
Packed
it up with their presents! The ribbons! The wrappings!
The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!
Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mount Crumpit,
She rode to the tiptop to dump it!
"Pooh-pooh to the Whos!"
she was wench-ish-ly humming.
"They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming!
"They're just waking up! I know
just what they'll do!
"Their mouths will hang open a minute or two
"The all the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry
BOO-HOO!"
"That's a noise," grinned the Wench,
"That I simply must hear!"
So she paused. And the Wench put a hand to her
ear.
And she did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It started in low. Then it started to grow...
But the sound wasn't sad!
Why, this sound sounded merry!
It couldn't be so!
But it WAS merry! VERY!
She stared down at Who-ville!
The Wench popped her eyes!
Then she shook!
What she saw was a shocking surprise!
Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
SHE HADN'T stopped
Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the WENCH, with her wench-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came
without ribbons! It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And she puzzled three hours, `till
her puzzler was sore.
Then the Wench thought of something she hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," she thought, "doesn't
come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"
And what happened then...?
Well...in Who-ville they say
That the Wench's small heart
Grew three sizes that day!
And
the minute her heart didn't feel quite so tight,
She whizzed with her load through the bright morning light
And she
brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And she...
...SHE HERSELF...!
The WENCH carved the roast beast!