Santa's dilemma.

[Kitosdad]

I hope you all like this little story. The local kids asked me to tell them a story and this was what I was able to come up with. Sorry it is short, but so was time.

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Santa Claus was in a real dilemma. He had spent nearly two weeks loading his huge sled with toys for the children, and having discovered that he had more toys than the sled would hold, he had had to resort to adding a trailer onto the back of it.

But that was really only the tip of the iceberg to his problems, because now those pesky reindeer were kicking up a fuss.

When he walked into the barn to rouse them for their duties, Rudolf was waiting to greet him.
The rest were assembled in the corner of the barn.

"Sorry Santa",said Rudolf, "the team are refusing to pull that enormous load tonight. We are in agreement that you are expecting too much from us.
Last year was bad enough, but this year's load seems to be out of all proportion to our capabilities."

Santa was taken aback at this confrontation.
The reindeer had never before made any form of complaint about pulling the heavy sled.
He would have to think about this.

He had a contract with Toys'RUs to deliver this lot, and he wouldn't get paid if he failed to deliver on time.

Santa walked across the barn and addressed the assembled group of reindeer. "C'mon lads, you only work one day in the year. You surely must be capable of working hard for just one night."

Comet looked up from where he was munching a mouthful of hay; "Santa, that load is enormous and we aren't even going to try to move it.
We need at least six more reindeer to even think about it."

"Six more reindeer?"Santa exploded. "Where do you suggest that I find six more reindeer so late in the day? Be sensible lads, it's just isn't possible."

"That not our problem Santa," said Cupid.

Santa resorted to bribery;
"Look, I'll give you all an extra bale of hay each after we finish the delivery,"
"No,"said Blitzen with a note of finality in his voice."We are not pulling that load without further help, and that's final!"
Santa cast an angry look at Prancer and Dancer who were sniggering at the rear of the group.

"Well, what if we were to make two trips, one with the sled and the second with the trailer?"
"That sounds OK, but won't it be nearly daylight by the time we start delivering the second load?" asked Donner.

"Not necessarily," replied Santa. If I can get the Fairy Queen to wave her magic wand, then we could slow down time, and then we would be able to get the deliveries all completed."

"OK, it's a deal," said Rudolf. He didn't like disharmony in the group, but facts were facts, that load was just far too heavy for them to manage.

Santa returned to his cabin and phoned the Fairy Queen. He outlined his needs and the Fairy Queen agreed to cooperate, but for a price.
"It will cost you one thousand Euro," she briskly stated.
"One thousand Euro!" Santa raved, "I'm only getting two thousand Euro for the whole delivery, and you want half?"
"That's my price" the Fairy Queen calmly replied.
"OK then," said Santa.
He didn't dare risk losing his contract with Toys'RUs.
So, it was agreed, and the Fairy Queen waved her wand and time was slowed down.

Santa returned to the barn, and the contented reindeer allowed him to tether them to the sled.
He disconnected the trailer and off they went, but his Ho, Ho, Ho was strangely subdued this year.

Kitos. :) :)
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