A Story of the Christ-Child quiz

Questions and answers

1. 1

   Question 1. Which literary categories best describe A Story of the Christ-Child?

   • Tall Tale, Frontier Hero & Big Boasts
   • Fable, Talking Animals & a Stated Moral
   • Correct answer: Legend, Christmas Eve & a Holy Stranger
   • Science Fiction, Inventions & Future Worlds
   • Historical Fiction, Real Cities & Real Dates

   Legend, Christmas Eve & a Holy Stranger is the best fit. Elizabeth Harrison adapted this story from a German legend for Christmas Eve. A legend is an old story people have told for a long time. This one begins "Once upon a time, a long, long time ago" and ends "And it is said, dear children," the way an old tale is passed down.

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2. 2

   Question 2. At the start of the story, what are the people on the city streets doing?

   • Standing in the snow to watch a Christmas parade go by
   • Correct answer: Hurrying home with bundles of presents for their families
   • Lining up outside a big toy shop before it closes
   • Walking to church together for a late Christmas service

   The streets are full of people of every age, "all of whom were hurrying home with bundles of presents for each other and for their little ones." Everyone is in a hurry, and "No one took any notice of him": the little child who is wandering all alone.

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3. 3

   Question 3. The child knocks at a large and handsome house. What does the man-servant tell him?

   • Come back in the morning, when the whole family will be awake
   • Wait on the steps while he goes to ask the children
   • Go around to the back door to get some warm food
   • Correct answer: Go down off the steps, because there is no room for him

   The man-servant looks at the child, shakes his head and says, "Go down off the steps. There is no room here for such as you." He "looked sorry as he spoke." The children inside "did not even know that he had knocked at the door."

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4. 4

   Question 4. The child taps at a window where a white lamb hangs on the tree. What does the little girl who comes to the window do?

   • Correct answer: She frowns and says they are too busy to care for him now
   • She smiles and runs to ask her mother to let him in
   • She takes the lamb from the tree and hands it out to him
   • She waves at him but cannot hear him tapping on the window

   She "only frowned and shook her head." Then she said, "Go away and come some other time. We are too busy to take care of you now." This girl is not the same little girl who lives in the poor little house later in the story.

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5. 5

   Question 5. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "At each place he was refused admission."

   • The price paid for a ticket
   • Saying you did something wrong
   • Correct answer: Being allowed to come inside
   • A note asking a guest to visit

   Here admission means being let in. The child knocks at door after door, but nobody lets him in. Admission can also mean the price of a ticket, but in this story it means getting in the door.

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6. 6

   Question 6. The child is turned away again and again. What reason did one mother have for sending him away?

   • She said her table had no room for one more child
   • Correct answer: She feared he had a disease her children would catch
   • She said he should come back on Christmas morning
   • She feared he would take the toys from their tree

   "One mother feared he might have some ugly disease which her darlings would catch." A father said he had only enough for his own children, and another person told him to go home where he belonged. "At each place he was refused admission."

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7. 7

   Question 7. Late at night the child sees a bright, single ray of light. Where does the light come from?

   • A tall Christmas tree covered all over with burning candles
   • A lantern hung beside the door of a little church
   • A big fire glowing in the window of a bakery shop
   • Correct answer: A tallow candle in an old cup with a broken handle

   The light came from "Nothing but a tallow candle which had been placed in an old cup with a broken handle, in the window, as a glad token of Christmas Eve." It shone from "a poor, little, low house, but the child cared not for that."

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8. 8

   Question 8. Match the term to its meaning in the story: "I will go where the small light beckons, perhaps they will share their Christmas with me."

   • Correct answer: Calls someone to come closer
   • Waves to someone to say goodbye
   • Warns someone to stay away
   • Fades away little by little

   To beckon is to call someone to come closer, often with a wave of the hand. The little light seems to invite the child. The story says, "The light seemed still to call him in."

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9. 9

   Question 9. The child taps on the door of the poor little house. What does the little girl inside think the sound is?

   • The north wind blowing hard against the door
   • A coal popping and crackling in the fireplace
   • Correct answer: The bough of the tree tapping on the window-pane
   • Snow sliding down off the low roof of the house

   The mother says, "I think it was some one tapping on the door." But the little girl says, "Oh, mother, I think it was the bough of the tree tapping against the window-pane." She asks her mother to "go on with our story." She did not hear it as a knock.

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10. 10

    Question 10. The child taps again. The mother rises. What does she say?

    • We will finish our story first, and after that we will see
    • Whoever it is may come back again in the morning
    • We have only enough for ourselves on this cold night
    • Correct answer: No one must be left out in the cold on Christmas Eve

    The mother cries, "My child, my child." Then she says, "that certainly was a rap on the door. Run quickly and open it. No one must be left out in the cold on our beautiful Christmas Eve." She is sure it is a knock, and she wants the door opened at once.

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11. 11

    Question 11. What stands on the neat wooden table in the poor little house?

    • A tall tree hung with presents
    • Correct answer: A branch of a Christmas tree
    • A plate of Christmas cookies
    • A little white lamb made of soft wool

    Through the window the child saw "standing upon a neat wooden table a branch of a Christmas tree." The big house had "a tall and stately Christmas tree already lighted." The poor family had only a branch.

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12. 12

    Question 12. The little girl says, "we must love him and give him some of our Christmas, too." How does the mother answer?

    • Correct answer: Yes, but first they must warm him by the fire
    • No, because they have too little to share
    • Yes, but first they must give him a good supper
    • Not yet, because he must tell them his name

    The mother says, "Yes," and then, "but first let us warm him." She sits by the fire with him on her lap, and her children warm his "half-frozen hands in theirs." She smooths his tangled curls and kisses his face.

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13. 13

    Question 13. The mother goes to fetch the ornaments, and the room fills with a strange and brilliant light. What has happened to the child?

    • He has fallen fast asleep on the low stool by the fire
    • He has hung gold and silver stars on the branch
    • Correct answer: His ragged clothes have changed to white, beautiful ones
    • He has slipped out the door and run off into the snow

    "His ragged clothes had changed to garments white and beautiful." His curls "seemed like a halo of golden light about his head," and his face shone "with a light so dazzling that they could scarcely look upon it." Then the little room "seemed to grow larger and larger."

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14. 14

    Question 14. Which of these events actually happened in the story?

    • The man-servant at the big house lets the child in to see the tall Christmas tree.

      Didn't happen

      He says, "Go down off the steps. There is no room here for such as you." The child only feels the warm air rush out before he turns back "into the cold and darkness."

    • Walking down the streets, the child looks through windows at happy children trimming Christmas trees.

      Happened

      He looked "with longing eyes through the windows, in upon the glad, happy children, most of whom were helping to trim the Christmas trees."

    • The little girl at the window gives the child the white lamb.

      Didn't happen

      She frowns and says, "Go away and come some other time." The child never gets the lamb.

    • Of all the toys in one window, the child is drawn most to a white lamb with a red ribbon.

      Happened

      The lamb was "made of soft white wool," with a red ribbon tied around its neck, and "most of all was he drawn toward the white lamb."

    • The poor family gives the child a hot supper.

      Didn't happen

      The family warms him, holds him and kisses him, but the story never says they give him any food. The mother says, "but first let us warm him."

    • The mother in the poor house smooths the child's tangled curls and kisses his face.

      Happened

      "The mother smoothed his tangled curls, and, bending low over his head, kissed the child's face."

    • The child tells the poor family his name.

      Didn't happen

      The child never speaks in the poor little house. He only looks at them "With a sweet and gentle smile" before he rises away.

    • The poor family's room seems to grow as wide as the whole world.

      Happened

      "Their little room seemed to grow larger and larger, until it was as wide as the whole world."

    • Before he goes, the child leaves a gift for the family.

      Didn't happen

      He looks at them for a moment, then rises into the sky. "At last he disappeared from sight." The story names no gift.

    • After the child is gone, the children whisper a question to their mother.

      Happened

      They "said in a whisper, “Oh, mother, it was the Christ-Child, was it not?”" And the mother answered, "Yes."

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15. 15

    Question 15. How does the wonderful child leave the poor little house?

    • He walks out the door and away down the snowy street
    • Correct answer: He rises above the treetops until he looks like a star
    • He rides away in a fine carriage pulled by two horses
    • He falls asleep, and by morning he is gone from the house

    He "slowly rose and floated through the air, above the treetops, beyond the church spire, higher even than the clouds themselves, until he appeared to them to be a shining star in the sky above." The children ask, "Oh, mother, it was the Christ-Child, was it not?" The mother answers, "Yes."

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16. 16

    Question 16. The last line of the story speaks to the reader. What does it say about those who take the Christ-Child into their homes and hearts?

    • They will find presents under their tree the next morning
    • They will never again be poor, cold or hungry at all
    • They will hear the church bells ring on Christmas Day
    • Correct answer: They are given a wonderful vision that others do not see

    The story ends: "And it is said, dear children, that each Christmas Eve the little Christ-Child wanders through some town or village, and those who receive him and take him into their homes and hearts have given to them this marvellous vision which is denied to others." It does not promise presents or riches. Many readers take it as a lesson to welcome a stranger who is cold and alone.

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