with, but at what cost?
When Canja was young, her mother told her of Krampus. The Yuletide King, who once visited houses by traipsing through the mountains on a giant, shaggy goat, found his domain had expanded as more good children wished for gifts in lands more and more distant from his home. He needed a faster way to travel. So he slaughtered his great goat, offering him to the sun in hopes it would stave back the darkness of winter while the king went to speak with the fair folk. A deal was made, that eight of the most mischievous fairy-kin, often being goblins and the like, would change to a goat’s form and serve the Yuletide King for his most important of nights.
All seemed well, but when the Yuletide King returned home, he found that the sun had not accepted his offering. The brief darkness had filled the slaughtered goat, changing its carcass into something else, a shaggy, horned creature, twisted into a man’s shape and formed of claw and blood. Despite the sacrifice, the creature wanted to serve the Yuletide King still. His loyalty touched the king’s heart and he regretted his hasty offering, but while the great giver was generous and kingly, the creature was cold and wicked.
Yet the Yuletide King found a place for him. While there were many good children in the places he visited, so too were there bad children, or at least ones who had slipped from their good nature. He called the creature Krampus, instructed him to join the king on his sleigh, and while the Yuletide King tended to the good children, Krampus would tend to the others. The less troublesome children could seek repentance through punishment, but the worst children were taken away by Krampus, where none knew what became of them. Some said that when the Yuletide King’s goats revert to fairy form, they kept the bad children as slaves, or ate them up. Other said Krampus did the eating, and some even said that he simply tore the bad children to shreds and threw their flesh over his back, so that like the Yuletide King’s great goat, they too would become part of Krampus.
In the evening, Papa returned to the home nestled in the mountain above the village. He listened to Mama tell of Canja’s destruction of the doll, but like many men of their land, thought that handling the children was best left to the mother. He went to work around the house, splitting logs for firewood, while Mama prepared their part of the village’s winter feast, a roasted chicken, bowls of boiled turnips, and potatoes stuffed with herbs. Only Tanya came to see Canja in their bedroom.
“I wished to the Yuletide King that he would bring me a doll that won’t frighten you,” Canja’s younger sister said, and Canja at once felt all the worse for burning the old doll.
At night, both girls found themselves restless—Tanya was alive with excitement for the morning, while Canja dreaded the darkness. She pulled her blankets close each time the wind disturbed tree branches and sent them scratching at the house, or their shadows danced over the window pane, for she feared Krampus was afoot.
Sometime past midnight, Canja awoke to the sound of crunching snow. She hurried to the window, where she spotted a small torch vanish into the house below, and a voice muttered, “The smoke came from here.”
Canja clenched her teeth. “Krampus saw the smoke itself. He knows what I’ve done—he saw it himself.” She hurried to her sister’s bed and shook Tanya awake. “Sister, help me. Krampus has come.”
Tanya smiled up at Canja. “Then the Yuletide King is here?”
“I suppose. But that’s not important. I need you to forgive me, and then maybe Krampus will see there’s no need to punish me.”
“I forgive you.”
“Where he can see it!”
Tanya left her bed and headed downstairs to the den with Canja, more to see the Yuletide King than to forgive her sister. Canja squeezed her little sister’s hand, terrified of seeing Krampus’s bloodied hair, his sharp teeth, and
When Canja was young, her mother told her of Krampus. The Yuletide King, who once visited houses by traipsing through the mountains on a giant, shaggy goat, found his domain had expanded as more good children wished for gifts in lands more and more distant from his home. He needed a faster way to travel. So he slaughtered his great goat, offering him to the sun in hopes it would stave back the darkness of winter while the king went to speak with the fair folk. A deal was made, that eight of the most mischievous fairy-kin, often being goblins and the like, would change to a goat’s form and serve the Yuletide King for his most important of nights.
All seemed well, but when the Yuletide King returned home, he found that the sun had not accepted his offering. The brief darkness had filled the slaughtered goat, changing its carcass into something else, a shaggy, horned creature, twisted into a man’s shape and formed of claw and blood. Despite the sacrifice, the creature wanted to serve the Yuletide King still. His loyalty touched the king’s heart and he regretted his hasty offering, but while the great giver was generous and kingly, the creature was cold and wicked.
Yet the Yuletide King found a place for him. While there were many good children in the places he visited, so too were there bad children, or at least ones who had slipped from their good nature. He called the creature Krampus, instructed him to join the king on his sleigh, and while the Yuletide King tended to the good children, Krampus would tend to the others. The less troublesome children could seek repentance through punishment, but the worst children were taken away by Krampus, where none knew what became of them. Some said that when the Yuletide King’s goats revert to fairy form, they kept the bad children as slaves, or ate them up. Other said Krampus did the eating, and some even said that he simply tore the bad children to shreds and threw their flesh over his back, so that like the Yuletide King’s great goat, they too would become part of Krampus.
In the evening, Papa returned to the home nestled in the mountain above the village. He listened to Mama tell of Canja’s destruction of the doll, but like many men of their land, thought that handling the children was best left to the mother. He went to work around the house, splitting logs for firewood, while Mama prepared their part of the village’s winter feast, a roasted chicken, bowls of boiled turnips, and potatoes stuffed with herbs. Only Tanya came to see Canja in their bedroom.
“I wished to the Yuletide King that he would bring me a doll that won’t frighten you,” Canja’s younger sister said, and Canja at once felt all the worse for burning the old doll.
At night, both girls found themselves restless—Tanya was alive with excitement for the morning, while Canja dreaded the darkness. She pulled her blankets close each time the wind disturbed tree branches and sent them scratching at the house, or their shadows danced over the window pane, for she feared Krampus was afoot.
Sometime past midnight, Canja awoke to the sound of crunching snow. She hurried to the window, where she spotted a small torch vanish into the house below, and a voice muttered, “The smoke came from here.”
Canja clenched her teeth. “Krampus saw the smoke itself. He knows what I’ve done—he saw it himself.” She hurried to her sister’s bed and shook Tanya awake. “Sister, help me. Krampus has come.”
Tanya smiled up at Canja. “Then the Yuletide King is here?”
“I suppose. But that’s not important. I need you to forgive me, and then maybe Krampus will see there’s no need to punish me.”
“I forgive you.”
“Where he can see it!”
Tanya left her bed and headed downstairs to the den with Canja, more to see the Yuletide King than to forgive her sister. Canja squeezed her little sister’s hand, terrified of seeing Krampus’s bloodied hair, his sharp teeth, and
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