Story A New Santa Claus

I am not really sure why I made this story, but it is an alternate version of what most people know as Santa Claus. It is a story that all little dwarves hear around the fire during the cold bitter nights of winter.

A story that all Dwarves tell their children in the cold winter nights around the fire.

The little dwarves huddled around the grand crackling fireplace. Shivers ran up and down their stubby arms, but not all of these shivers came from the cold. Grandfather Berkin sat in his old ROCKing chair, his eyes closed. Suddenly Grandfather Berkin's eyes fly open. The children jumped in surprise. "Have I ever told you the story about Sarntic the Gift-giver?" The children excitedly crowd around Grandfather Berkin even though they had all heard the story many times. Grandfather Berkin cleared his old gravely throat and began the story... " Sarntic lived in a underground dwarven hold in Ellador. He was not rich, nor was he poor, he made his living as a simple woodcutter. Winter soon came to that small colony, a winter that had never been seen by the likes of man. The wood stores meant to hold the dwarves through winter soon ran low, and the elders began to worry that there would not be enough wood for both the families and the forges..." At this Grandfather Berkin's eyes started to droop, and his breathing started to slow. One of the children in a worried tone asked, "Is he, is he ASLEEP!? in the middle of a story!?" Grandfather Berkin jerked awake and continued the story as if he never fell asleep. "Sarntic decided to take a walk to help clear his mind, and to think of a solution to the wood shortage. He was in such deep thought that he did not realize that he had been walking for hours without knowing where he was. Sarntic frantically looked around, and to his surprise he saw huge pine trees all around him. Without a second thought he took his ax and fell a dozen of the largest pine trees. He then chopped the tree trunks into useable logs and dragged many back to the dwarven settlement. By the time he found his way back the sun was just setting and darkness settled in. Sarntic gathered together a bushel of the finest logs, and tied them together. He walked out to a nearby cottage, and peered through the window only to see that the family is asleep. He finds the door firmly bolted, and the same went for the windows. As a last resort Sarntic drags the logs up a snowbank onto the low roof of the cottage and drops them down the chimney with a large thud." Grandfather Berkin gave several loud racking coughs and started to beat his chest, once the coughs subsided he returns to story telling. "Sarntic quickly slides down the roof, and moves off to the next dwarven settlement. It took Sarntic all night, but in the end he had delivered wood down to every family in the underground hold. Sarntic continued to deliver wood secretly every week until the dwarves began to see signs of spring. On the last day of winter, Sarntic had prepared extra large supplies for the families. To his surprise, he returned to see that the townspeople had, inspired by the mystery man's example, left gifts for each other that night. That settlement continued the tradition every year even to this day, and several other settlements took on the tradition." Grandfather Berkin says in a hushed voice, "It is said that the spirit of Sarntic Kloss returns to that very grove every winter and delivers wood and gifts to every family on the coldest day of winter." When Grandfather Berkin looked down at the children he was surprised to see that they were all fast asleep.
r00d.

I hope you enjoyed it! Oh and I had a friend who was feeding me ideas as I created this, so I can't claim all the credit