Quantcast
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 11

Short Story: Brother Robber by Helene Christaller

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
I went looking for simple, classic short stories centered on the celebration of Christmas. I found a nice collection of them called Home For Christmas. Some of the stories from the collection are available for download at The Plough. One story in the collection is this one, a very old tale handed down through many centuries.

 Brother Robber

by Helene Christaller

As the story opens, Brother Angelo, a brown-clad monk, is cleaning a very humble mountain hermitage. It’s cold and all he has is some meal to put in the pot for the Christmas Eve meal.

And then a visitor arrives with a sack of bread and a pitcher of wine. The visitor is Brother Francis, an older man Brother Angelo greatly respects. When Brother Francis learns of Brother Angelo’s action that morning, he is disappointed.

Brother Angelo turned away men he considered robbers. Brother Francis offers him a great lesson: All men are our brothers. Go, find them, and share this sack of bread and pitcher of wine. Also, Brother Francis suggests he ask their forgiveness.

Although he is terrified, Brother Angelo set off up the mountain to find the robbers. It’s very cold, it’s starting to snow, and the sun is beginning to go down. Will the robbers harm him if he finds them?

The story comes to a satisfactory conclusion. In case you didn’t already guess it, this is part of the legends of a man later known as Saint Francis of Assisi. It’s a story that, at the end I said, “Yes. That’s one of the fundamentals of the faith and of Christmas.” I recommend it if you too are looking for a good simple short Christmas story

Short Story Monday is sponsored by John at Book Mind Set.

I’m also linking this post to the Spirit of Christmas Challenge.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 11

Trending Articles