Read "The First Christmas Tree" by Henry Van Dyke online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Two years had passed, to a day, almost to an hour, since that / Christmas eve in the cloister of Pfalzel. A little company of / pilgrims, less than a score a men, were creeping slowly northward / through the wide forest that rolled over the hills of central / Germany.
At the head of the band marched Winfried, clad in a tunic of fur, / with his long black robe girt high about his waist, so that it / might not hinder his stride. His hunter's boots were crusted with / snow. Drops of ice sparkled like jewels along the thongs that / bound his legs. There was no other ornament to his dress except / the bishop's cross hanging on his breast, and the broad silver / clasp that fastened his cloak about his neck. He carried a strong, / tall staff in his hand, fashioned at the top into the form of a / cross.