It has dimmed. The street was grey with poor, crumbling plaster walls and the sky was grey with snow clouds that were a dunyha thick.
Christmas hung in the air, but the three boys wandering aimlessly in the streets felt nothing of it.
They have never had a Christmas tree before, nor have any of their friends in the street. They were bored. But they could not deny their childishness, they had a playground until bedtime.
One of them suggested that they should go a few streets away, where in the better-off part of town, the decorated Christmas tree with its bright lights must be shining out of many windows.
It seemed like a good idea, so they went for it. In the meantime, almost unnoticed, the clouds parted and the snow began to fall.
They are not wrong. A few streets away, several windows shone coloured lights into the darkening street. They stopped to admire it.
Suddenly, a small square broke the chain of tall buildings. You remember, in the square, days before, a dark-faced, grim-looking, big man had been selling the most beautiful pines. With the feast now before them and the customers gone, the vendor had cleaned up and disappeared with his tent.
But next to the pavement, there was a pine tree. As they looked closer, they understood why the vendor might have left the tree behind. In fact, he had just got rid of it as scrap. He had thrown it away, destined it for the trash. He couldn't do anything with it, because its trunk was crooked, its top was broken off, and the needles at the ends of its branches were already rusted.
The children, after a brief debate, took the tree in their arms and started walking home at a brisk pace.
By the time they reached their house, they were finding it difficult to walk in the thickening snow. They carried the small pine tree into the yard of the old, shabby house and propped it up against the brick fence.
They turned it, looked at it, looked for the side that looked the straightest, and then put snow at the base of the tree to keep it from falling. One of them pruned the broken branch off the top of the tree with his knife, while his companion picked the dried, rusty needles off. But what to wedge it with? What is winter's most beautiful decoration? Snow, of course...
They made snowballs and pressed the larger and smaller balls onto the branches of the pine cone. When it was full of ornaments, they formed a pointy top out of snow on top. The glowing moon slowly crept up into the bluish-black early evening sky. Its light embraced the barren little fir tree, now a Christmas tree.
Several people in the house noticed the unusual hustle and bustle coming from outside. Curious residents from upstairs slowly made their way down to the courtyard. The younger children in particular were amazed at the magical beauty of the tree, as they had never had a Christmas tree before.
Among the onlookers, two little girls huddled together, shivering, as they admired the small pine tree glistening in the moonlight and sparkling with snow. They had already been freezing a lot, and it couldn't have been warmer in their apartment than it was out in the yard. The older girl, even as she stood, hugged her sister close to her, trying to warm her.
The boys were not unaware of the matter. At least they had a roaring stove waiting for them at home, even if they couldn't afford a Christmas tree.
After enjoying the house's Christmas tree, the residents slowly returned to their homes. Only the three little boys who had shot down the tree were studying something, and they stayed in the yard for a while...
By morning, the beautiful Christmas tree was gone, with no trace of it. As if it had never been. Maybe they just dreamed it was there!
Some people said that the Snow Queen was envious of them, she liked the magnificent Christmas tree, decorated with the most beautiful snow ornaments of the winter. So she took it with her to her kingdom under the cover of night, and now it stands outside her palace for all her subjects to admire.
Others, however, said that two little girls from the poorest of the poor, who were shivering - thanks to someone, on Christmas Eve - were warming themselves by the fire of a pine tree...
