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The Feast Of The Kings

Santa Claus loves the feast of Kings.
Every year at the end of the year, he prepares thirty-one pancakes: a pancake for each day of January The reindeer are delighted, Santa Claus too! Today is precisely the feast of Kings. The reindeer have placed a golden carpet on their backs; Father Christmas has put on his cape embroidered with silver threads and calls out: "Everyone come to the dining room! The feast of the Kings is about to begin".

 
The reindeer and Santa Claus rush up the stairs ... then stop dead: there is no pancake on the table! Santa Claus frowns. He looks suspiciously at his reindeer:
"Who stole it? Who bit it? Who ate it?"
"Not us! Not us!"
"Can you swear it?" asks Santa Claus.
"We swear! We swear it! the reindeer promise. We didn't touch anything!"

"Santa Claus runs to the kitchen: is the reserve still in its place, in the large cupboard? Calamity! There is no longer a single pancake, not even the smallest crumb!
" It's impossible, moaned Santa Claus. They didn't fly away "...
"They didn't fly away, repeat the worried reindeer. But maybe they are playing hide and seek, rolling like wheels?"
Immediately, they start looking everywhere, everywhere: in every corner, in every hole ... Nothing! They can't find anything! There is no longer a single pancake, no more the smallest crumb! Without cake, no more celebrations!

 The reindeer and Santa Claus are very sorry; they sit down sadly on the steps of the stairs. Suddenly, musical notes rise up outside the palace. A drum roll is heard. A trumpet throws "POUET" and "POUET"! What a fanfare! Santa Claus peeks out the window ... And what does he see? An incredible spectacle!

A parade of golden floats on which mice are enthroned; mice disguised as kings, queens and princesses! Suddenly, the reindeer Cachou looks at the wheels of the chariots and he cries:
"Father Nono! Father Christmas! They are there! They are there!"
"I'm not blind, grumbles Santa Claus. I can see these mice clearly ..."
"Not the mice! Interrupted Cachou. Not the mice, but the pancakes: they are the wheels!"

Unbelievable! Phenomenal! Father Christmas widens his eyes: yes, his pancakes, his delicious pancakes serve as wheels for parade floats! Furious, he rushes to the ground floor and rushes out of his palace, ready to scold, roar, rant. But in front of the door, someone is already waiting for him:
"Hello Father Christmas! I am Aurélie Dorémi, the real queen of mice. I wanted to invite you and your reindeer to our grand parade."

 
Santa Claus is speechless. He does not know what to answer ... Thunder of thunder! Is he going to get angry? No, he answers with a smile:
"I accept Queen Aurélie! But first, I'll go get something in my workshop."

And under the bewildered gaze of his reindeer, Santa Claus goes up to the attic of the palace, and he brings back real wooden wheels, wheels to replace his pancakes! Soon after, the tanks are ready; the pancakes are stored in the large kitchen cupboard ... all but one, which Santa Claus and his reindeer share with the mice.

 
And guess who got the bean! A man dressed in red, carrying a cape embroidered with silver threads on his back ... Obviously!

Happy Kings Day!