Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer— The Untold Story
Rudolph was awkward as a young reindeer, and the other young reindeer teased him mercilessly because he had an odd, bulbous pinkish-red nose unlike any other reindeer. He tried hard to fit in with the herd, but alas, no one would ever pick him to play reindeer games. For one thing he had four left feet and when he tried to kick the ball he would muff it or just miss and fall down. And then there was the fact of his odd name— Rudolph is a human name. All the other reindeer had nicknames like Comet or Blitzen. But Rudolph— well you must be kidding! That was just weird. Things were looking bleak for Rudolph and he seemed to soon be a candidate for abandonment at an animal shelter and adoption seemed unlikely.
But then along came St. Nickolas of Myra, who was a kind old fellow. He had come to pick his reindeer for his sleigh for the Christmas run around the world, and when he saw Rudolph, an idea popped into his noggin. ‘Maybe if I give him electrolytes for a few days, that reddish nose might be able to give off some light, and light the way from the front of the herd pulling the sleigh’. After a full week on electrolytes sure enough Rudolph’s nose was glowing so bright that he had to sleep apart from the herd because otherwise he would keep everyone awake, and they needed their rest for the long journey from the North Pole all the way around the world and back again.
But when Christmas Eve dawned in the Far East, Santa announced to all the reindeer— ‘And Rudolph will be leading our way with his nose so bright’. And sure enough this journey was so successful that Mrs. Claus journaled about it on her blog and Rudolph’s name suddenly went down in history as the most famous reindeer of all. Indeed, Johnny Marks, a songwriter wrote a tune for ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ which has been sung every Christmas season since 1949. And as Paul Harvey used to say ‘And now you know the rest of the story’.
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