The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown illustrated by Barbara Cooney

 

The seed grows into a little fir tree. After seven summers a man comes early in Winter and carefully digs up the tiny tree. The tree becomes the focus of their Christmas and brings joy to his young son who is not able to walk or leave his bed. 

This pattern continues for several years until one Winter the man does not come. The little fir tree thinks he has been forgotten and then in a beautiful turn of events a group of caroling children arrive and leading the way is the young boy who is now able to walk into the forest to see his special tree. Interspersed throughout the book there are Christmas carols and other traditional Christmas songs.

The songs are: O Christmas Tree; O come little milk cows; Here we come a wassailing.

Margaret Wise Brown (1910 - 1952) wrote over 100 books including the famous Goodnight Moon and my personal favourite - An Important Book. I previously talked about The Dead Bird and A Home in the Barn. 

This is another very old Christmas book. I talked about Christmas Eve at the Mellops' yesterday.  The Little Fir Tree was first published in 1954 but my copy is a 1982 reprint. This book does have an old-fashioned feel but the story is a gentle classic. Here is the edition from 2009.

Reading A Little Fir Tree reminded me of a story from my childhood that has lingered with me decades after I read it in the 1960s. It told a similar story about young disabled (they used the word crippled) child who cannot leave their bed. This story was in the 'reader' Travelling On. The title is 'The Little Cuckoo Clock' and the credits at the front of this book list is as a story by Gilmore Wood. In this story a clock maker brings the child a beautifully carved cuckoo clock as a special Christmas gift. The miracle of the healing an unwell child is also the theme of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and Heidi by Johanna Spryi.