A sack full of gifts
Mikołaj knew many very rich people, and he himself came from a very wealthy Patar family. But the first sentence his parents taught him as soon as he started speaking was this: The best things cost nothing. Both his father and mother made him repeat them aloud every morning and evening. And Nicholas repeated them obediently for seven years of his life, without asking what it was for. One day, however, he found that he had to ask someone. It was easiest to ask my father. The boy's father, and his mother, were no longer young people. Nicholas often watched the mothers and fathers of his peers and saw that most of them were much younger than his parents. But he never had the courage to ask why. It didn't matter much to him anyway. His parents loved him very much, and that was all that mattered. But about the mysterious point they made him repeat twice a day, he finally had to ask.
- Why do we want you to keep saying that? his father asked with a smile. - Because mom and I want this truth to fill your every day, your whole life, your whole life.
"Then, Dad, why do you work so much when the best things cost nothing?"
- Sonny, the world is so arranged that you need money to buy something to eat, something to drink, something to wear. But the truth is, the best things in life, the most important of all, cost nothing. Besides, the most important and beautiful things in life cannot be bought.
- Really? What, for example, cannot be bought?
- Let me tell you a story, Santa. The father took his son on his lap. - When I was young I was sure that if I was rich I would be very happy. I was doing well. I got rich quickly, I fell in love with your mother, I married her. I thought we'd have babies soon, but the years passed, we got older and we were still just the two of us. We had a wonderful, beautiful house, expensive robes, we were respected people in Patara, but we still had no children. One night it made me so sad that I could not sleep. I stepped out into the air, looked at our beautiful, expensive home and thought I would have no hesitation in giving it and everything in it for one tiny baby. That night I realized that even the richest man in the world can be the most unhappy at the same time, because things
- Am I the greatest thing in the world? the boy asked in surprise.
Nicholas' father laughed heartily.
"For my mother and me, you are the absolute greatest thing in the world!"
Mikołaj smiled broadly, but also blushed a little.
- That night, my son, I realized that even if I had all the riches of the world, I still couldn't have a son born to me.
"But if the best things are free, why can't you just take them?"
- Because they are gifts. You can't just take a gift. A gift must be given to you by someone to be a gift. Think about your favorite sculpture in the courtyard of our house. An artist from Myra carved it for us. Why was this artist able to make such beautiful figurines? Because he had great talent. Can talent be bought? No, you can only buy a sculpture. Talent is much more than a sculpture and you get it for free, but it's a gift too.
- What else is such a gift, Dad?
- Your mother's love is such a gift for me, health is a gift, family, friends; joy, happiness, peace, wisdom, freedom. The truth is, Santa, that a person's whole life is like a sackcloth full of gifts, except that most often people see only what they don't have and look at what they already have with reluctance. But let's get back to my story. That night I just realized that children are a gift to their parents and that although I cannot buy them, maybe I can get them.
- From who?
- From God. The next day, together with your mother, we decided to ask God to give us a gift of a child. We asked him long and patiently. We also asked many of our friends and relatives to pray for you with us. And God heard us. You were born. You became our greatest victory and that's why we named you Santa.
- Does my name mean: victory? the boy was animated, he obviously liked it very much.
- Your name means: victory of the people. Me, my mother, our relatives and friends who asked for you to come into the world - we were all such a small people. And being born was like a victory for us.
"And then I grew up, I started talking, and you taught me that the best things cost nothing?" - asked Santa to be sure.
"Exactly," my father laughed. - Actually, we should have named you ?? a gift ??!
Santa also laughed.
- You must remember, my son, that the gifts I told you about are much more valuable than riches. Only these gifts make a person truly happy.
Mikołaj liked to watch the servants working around his parents' house. His favorite thing was Salome, who was 17 and helped in the kitchen. She was very pretty and very nice. For Mikołaj, she was like an older sister. Often, when she just had a spare moment, she would play with Santa in the garden or tell him countless stories about travelers, legionnaires or sailors. For several days, however, the usually cheerful girl was so sad that her depression spread to almost everyone who looked at her. The boy repeatedly asked her what was the reason, but she would not answer. One day, Mikołaj accidentally heard Salome confiding in Roksana, who was her peer and took care of the garden.
"I can't marry Rufus because I don't have enough dowry," she told her friend, crying. "His family threatened that if my father did not give me the dowry they asked by the end of the week, Rufus would marry a girl from Myra."
Nicholas did not understand much of this. He had no idea what a dowry was. So he went to a horse friend of a friend who looked after his father's horses and asked him about it. Demetrius laughed out loud when he heard what his seven-year-old master was asking him.
- Are you going to get married, Santa?
- No, why are you asking?
- For a girl to marry, she must have a dowry. A dowry is such a property which - one could say - gives to her husband on the wedding day. If a woman does not have a dowry, and this happens because there are many poor families in our city, she cannot get married. He can't have a family.
- How's that? Mikołaj was indignant. - It's not enough that a woman loves her fiancé and he loves her?
- Unfortunately not, my boy.
- You mean that if someone has no money, he cannot have a family?
- Exactly.
- Who made such a stupid law?
- I don't know, Santa, it's a very old law.
"When I get married, I won't want any dowry from my fiancée!" he announced with deadly seriousness and asked: "Can such a girl be helped somehow?"
- You can, but there aren't many people willing to help.
- How?
- You can give her money or some valuables.
- And that's enough?
- Yes.
- Will you help me, Demetrius?
"I see you need a dowry after all, and it's urgent."
- I don't, but I know someone who is in great need. And I need an adult so that he can pretend it's helping. After all, no one will take a little boy seriously.
- Aren't you gonna get me in trouble? Demetrius was still quite amused.
- Certainly not - Santa replied and ran home.
In a moment he returned to the stable with a leather pouch stuffed with ducats.
- Santa, what is this? The equestrian was worried this time.
- It's a gift I got from one of my uncles. Don't worry, it's really my money.
- The whole purse is too much, boy. Sometimes 12 ducats is enough!
- There is no time. Let's take the horses and ride.
- But where?
- To the house of Salome!
An hour later they returned, fulfilling their mission. Demetrius introduced himself to Father Salome as a man who had heard about his daughter's sad story and decided to help her. He handed him a bag of golden ducats and hurried away. Nicholas was waiting for him on the banks of the Xanthos River, which cut its ribbon across Patara.
"You impressed me, Santa," Demetrius said appreciatively, helping him off his horse.
- You would have done that, too.
When Salome appeared at Mikołaj's house the next day, she was bursting with joy and happiness. Only now did she dare to tell everyone that was so troubled by her.
- It's not good that you didn't say anything earlier - Mikołaj's mother scolded her - we'd help you!
“You've helped me enough,” she reassured her Mrs. Salome, a radiant smile on her lips.
A few days later, Nicholas and his parents went on a trip to Myra - the city where his uncle was a bishop. The boy is 7 years old and it is time to start regular schooling. His parents decided that the best teacher for the boy would be their close relative, a church dignitary. So they decided to visit him and ask if he would agree to teach their only son. Uncle the bishop loved Nicholas very much, he himself prayed for a long time for his birth. So he immediately agreed to the proposition from his family in Patara.
"I will educate him so much that he will become the most famous bishop of Myra!" he said, laughing and tugging Santa's nose.
- I don't want to be a bishop! - Mikołaj replied with a smile.
- Who do you want to be? A merchant like your father?
- I want to be a person who helps others and gives gifts.
- You will be what you want, Santa! said the uncle the bishop.
One time, when they were returning to the bishop's uncle's house, they stopped for a moment in his citrus orchard, where rich and fragrant oranges were just ripening.
- Look, Santa, - said the father - this orange tree gives us people such delicious fruit also for free. If someone came with a purse of money and told this tree to bear a hundred fruits, do you think it would obey it?
Santa laughed.
- It wouldn't, for sure!
- Exactly. But note, my son, that the orange tree bears fruit, which means it only gives gifts once in a while. Not every day of the year. There are gifts in life that you cannot have on command, some of which you have to wait for. You have to grow up to some of them. If you pick an unripe orange from a tree and eat it, you can get poisoned. And if you share it with someone, you can make them poison themselves. Therefore, you must remember that there are gifts that you have to wait patiently for, because sometimes, when you get them too quickly, they can just hurt you.
- Dad, can a man be a gift for only one other man?
- One man can be a gift even for the whole world. You are the greatest gift to me, but when you grow up, you can live your life so that you will be a huge gift to many other people as well.
- How could I do that?
- Helping those who are in need, comforting those who are depressed, visiting those who are lonely. There are plenty of gift opportunities in your life.
- And how many gifts does a person receive from God in life?
- As many as he can notice - my father smiled, took Santa's hand and led him deeper into the citrus orchard.
Aleksandra Polewska
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