Podcast 79 - Babouscka - a Christmas story

Vocabulary for the story

Story starts at 5:30

Welcome back to Practising English. And today I have a little story for you - a Christmas story! Wait a minute, that's a bit late, isn't it? It is a bit late. Epiphany has passed and the procession in Spain called the Cabalgata. That is the procession of the Three Kings through the streets of Seville has finished. That was two or three days ago. But I think it's appropriate that it's a little bit late. I'll explain to you why in a moment. In the story, there are some interesting words about keeping warm and keeping or being comfortable in our home when it's cold outside.

The story is called Babouscka*. I was read the story when I was very small. It comes in a book called The Tall Book of Christmas and the story inside, Babouscka was written by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. Now I believe the story is in the public domain. When I first heard the story, I always felt very, very sorry for the little old lady, who is the main character of the story - Babouscka - I felt very sorry for her. Years later, as an adult looking back, I interpret the story in another way, really. You feel that perhaps it's about a lost opportunity, or perhaps it's about a search - a search which goes on and on and never ends. Perhaps the search itself is important. It's not necessary to find, or is it? Well, those are questions I can let you decide.

It's a Christian story. It's about Christmas. And I'm going to read it to you and give you some vocabulary as well, which is about keeping warm. The first word I'm going to pick out is snug. So to be snug, is to be cosy, which also comes in the story. Cosy, I think that's a B2 word. So to be snug and cosy (these are adjectives) mean to feel very comfortable because you are in your house and outside perhaps it's cold and uncomfortable. So that's snug and cosy. So we can talk about a snug little house or a cosy fire. Anything which makes us feel very comfortable and warm.

Then there's another word - drift. And this is a noun or a verb. To drift, when the wind is blowing outside and it's snowing. It blows the snow along - we say the snow drifts. it drifts and forms a drift. A big sort of hill of snow. Not that we have any snow here in Seville! But in some countries, it could be that cold at this time of year.

Another word is howling. So the verb is to howl. Now the first meaning is the sound that an animal like a wolf makes - the howl of a wolf. But also a similar sound like the wind blowing down the chimney could sound like a howl of a wolf. And we say the wind howls.

And then I've got two words for talking about the fire - the fireplace. Remember in English the chimney is the part where the smoke goes out of the house. And the fireplace is where the fire itself burns in the house. And in the story it talks about a bright blaze. A blaze is a fire burning very well - lots of flames. We call that a blaze. And the other one is an adjective. Here it talks about a crackling fire. So when the fire burns wood, it makes these little sounds that we call crackling. So that's enough of the vocabulary. Listen out for those words, as I read through the story. It's very short, and it's called Babouscka.

The story of Babouscka

House in the snow

It was the night the dear Christ Child came to Bethlehem. In a country far away from Him, an old woman named Babouscka sat in her snug little house by her warm fire. The wind was drifting the snow outside and howling down the chimney, but it only made Babouscka's fire burn more brightly.

'How glad I am that I may be indoors,' said Babouscka, holding her hands out to the bright blaze.

But suddenly she heard a loud knock at her door. She opened it and her candle shone on three old men standing outside in the snow. Their beards were as white as the snow and so long that they reached the ground. Their eyes shone kindly in the light of Babouscka's candle, and their arms were full of precious things - boxes of jewels and sweet-smelling oils and ointments.

'We have travelled far, Babouscka,' they said. 'And we stopped to tell you of the Baby Prince born on this night in Bethlehem. He comes to rule the world and tell all men to be loving and true. We carry him gifts. Come with us Babouscka!'

But Babouscka looked at the driving snow and then inside at her cosy room and the crackling fire.

'It is too late to go with you, good sirs,' she said. 'The weather is too cold.'

She went inside again and shut the door and the old men journeyed on to Bethlehem without her. But as Babouscka sat by her fire rocking, she began to think about the little Christ Child, for she loved all babies.

'Tomorrow I will go to find Him,' she said. 'Tomorrow when it is light, and I will carry him some toys.'

So when it was morning, Babouscka put on her long cloak and took her stick and filled her basket with pretty things a baby would like - golden balls and wooden toys and strings of silver cobwebs, and he set out to find the Christ Child.

But, oh! Babouscka had forgotten to ask the three old men the road to Bethlehem. And they had travelled so far through the night that she could not overtake them. Up and down the road she hurried, through the woods and fields and towns saying to the people she met,

'I go to find the Christ Child. Where does he lie? I bring some pretty toys for His sake.'

But no one could tell her the way to go. And they all said,

Farther on, Babouscka, farther on.'

So she travelled on and on and on for years and years. But she never found that little Christ Child.

They say that old Babouscka is travelling still, looking for Him. When it comes to Christmas Eve, and the children are lying, fast asleep. Babouscka comes softly through the snowy fields and towns wrapped in her long cloak and carrying a basket on her arm. With her stick, she knocks gently at the doors and goes inside and holds her candle close to the children's faces.

'Is he here?' she asks. 'Is the little Christ Child here?'

And then she turns sadly away again, crying.

'Farther on, Babouscka, farther on.'

But before she leaves she takes a toy from her basket and lays it beside the pillow for a Christmas gift.

'For His sake,' she says softly, and then she hurries on through the years and forever in search of the little Christ Child.

And I think with that story, I can finally conclude that Christmas is over! Have a very good 2022! Good bye for now.

*This story originated from Russia. Babouscka is a traditional Russian figure like Father Christmas in the UK. She makes an interesting parallel with Father Christmas and St. Nicholas, who both play a similar traditional role of giving presents to children at Christmas.