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A CHRISTMAS CAROLby
Charles Dickens
When Charles Dickens presented this little story to the world almost a hundred years ago, he found an instant response in the hearts of people everywhere who saw in it their favorite fictional chronicle of what Christmas is, and what Christmas means to all the people of the Earth. From the day of its first printing, families have been innumerable in which there has remained unbroken the tradition that the reading of "A Christmas Carol" was an item indispensable to a proper observance of the most important of days.
Narrator
Marley was dead, to begin with. There’s no doubt whatever.
Narrator
Old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house, a grim cheerless place if ever there was one. The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, Bob Cratchit, who in a cold and dismal little cell beyond, worked at his ledgers.
A happy Christmas carol plays and the door slams
Narrator
A merry Christmas Uncle! God save you!
Robust and happy
FRED
Bah! Humbug!
A mean old man
SCROOGE
Christmas a humbug, Uncle Scrooge? You don’t mean that, I am sure.
Happy
FRED
I do, Merry Christmas! What right do you have to be merry? What reason? You’re poor enough!
SCROOGE
Come then, what right do you have to be dismal, what reason to be morose? You’re rich enough!
FRED
Bah Humbug! What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money? A time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer?
SCROOGE
Though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that Christmas has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!
FRED
Very well said, Mr. Fred!
Applauding Fred
CRATCHIT
And you, Bob Cratchit, my fine young clerk. One more sound out of you, you’ll keep Christmas by loosing you job.
SCROOGE
Beg pardon, Mr. Scrooge.
CRATCHIT
If I could work my will Fred, every idiot who goes about with “Merry Christmas” on his lips would be boiled in his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.
SCROOGE
Uncle!
FRED
Nephew! Keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine!
SCROOGE
Keep it? But you don’t keep it!
FRED
Let me leave it alone, then. Good afternoon.
SCROOGE
Don’t be angry, Uncle. Come! Dine with us tomorrow!
FRED
Good afternoon!
SCROOGE
I am sorry with all my heart to find you so resolute, Uncle. Merry Christmas!
FRED
Good afternoon!
SCROOGE
And to you too, Cratchit!
FRED
Thank you, sir.
Cratchit
And a happy New Year!
Door slamming shut
FRED
Christmas, indeed! Humbug! Bah!
Doorbell ringing
SCROOGE
Well, Cratchit. See who’s at the door!
SCROOGE
Very good, sir.
Door being opened
CRATCHIT
And who are you?
SCROOGE
Scrooge and Marley’s I believe. Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge or Mr. Marley?
GENTLEMAN
Mr. Marley has been dead for seven years. He died seven years ago this very night.
SCROOGE
I have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner.
GENTLEMAN
Liberality?
Suspicipusly
SCROOGE
At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is ,ore than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time.
GENTLEMAN
Are there no prisons?
SCROOGE
Oh, plenty of prisons.
GENTLEMAN
And the union workhouses? Are they still in operation?
SCROOGE
They are. Still, I wish I could say they were not.
GENTLEMAN
Oh! I was afraid from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course. Let those who are badly off go to the institutions I have just mentioned.
SCROOGE
Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.
GENTLEMAN
Let them do it then, and decrease the surplus population.
SCROOGE
Oh, I am sure you don’t mean that, Mr. Scrooge. What shall I put you down for?
GENTLEMAN
Nothing!
SCROOGE
You wish to remain anonymous?
GENTLEMAN
I wish to be left alone. Good day!
SCROOGE
I see. Good afternoon, Mr. Scrooge.
Door being shut
GENTLEMAN
Christmas, Christmas, Christmas! A poor excuse for picking a man’s pocket every twenty-fifth of December. And you, Cratchit!
SCROOGE
Yes, Mr. Scrooge?
CRATCHIT
I suppose you’ll want to take the whole day off tomorrow?
SCROOGE
It’s customary to have the entire day off on Christmas, Mr. Scrooge.
CRATCHIT
It’s not convenient and it’s not fair! If you take the full day off I will dock you half your pay. I don’t think it’s fair for me to pay a full days wages for no work.
SCROOGE
It’s only once a year, sir…
CRATCHIT
Bah! But I suppose you must have the whole day off. See that you’re here all the earlier next morning. Good night, Cratchit.
SCROOGE
Oh, I will, Mr. Scrooge. Good night, Mr. Scrooge! And… Mr. Scrooge…
CRATCHIT
Eh?
SCROOGE
A merry Christmas, sir!
CRATCHIT
Humbug! That’s what it is, humbug!
SCROOGE
Scrooge is in his bed, tossing and turning
SCENE II
Mmm…Can’t sleep…so tired…must get some rest…Clock tolls twelve
SCROOGE
Eh? Twelve midnight already? What’s wrong with me? I can’t sleep. Something must have upset me. Ah yes! That door knocker downstairs. Strange, that door knocker. It looked like Marley’s face… my old business partner, Jacob Marley. But that’s impossible! What are you thinking about , Ebenezer Scrooge? It was the knocker, nothing else! Now get to sleep.Chains dragging
SCROOGE
Eh? What is that sound? Someone’s on the stair. Someone is dragging a chain. Humbug! There’s no one there. There’s that noise again. Chains! It’s humbug still! I won’t believe it! He can’t get in here; I locked the door before getting into bed. He can’t get in here! But… wait! He’s coming… through the door! It’s Marley, that’s who it is. Marley! I know him; it’s Marley’s Ghost! What do you want with me?
SCROOGE
Much.
MARLEY
Who…..who are you?
SCROOGE
Ask me who I was.
MARLEY
Who were you then? You are a might particular!
SCROOGE
In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley.
MARLEY
Dreadful apparition, why do you trouble me?
SCROOGE
It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow men, and travel far and wide. And if that spirit go not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death.
MARLEY
You are bound in chains, Marley. Tell me why?
SCROOGE
I wear the chains I created in life. I made it link by link, yard by yard. I tightened it on my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Do you know the weight and the length of your own chain?
MARLEY
Jacob, old Jacob Marley, speak comfort to me, Jacob!
SCROOGE
I have none to give, Ebenezer Scrooge. Hear me; my time is nearly gone.
MARLEY
I will. But don’t be hard upon me, Jacob.
SCROOGE
I am here tonight to warn you that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. You will be haunted by three spirits.
MARLEY
Is…is that the chance and hope you mentioned Jacob?
SCROOGE
It is.
MARLEY
I…I think I’d rather not.
SCROOGE
Without their visits you cannot hope to shun the path I followed. Expect the first tomorrow, when the bell tolls one.
MARLEY
Couldn’t I take them all at once?
SCROOGE
Expect the second on the next night at the same hour. The third will come the next night, when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate. Goodbye Ebenezer Scrooge. You will see me no more Goodbye…
MARLEY
I am cold. Humbug, I don’t believe it! Ghosts! Ha! Humbug!
Clock tolls one
SCROOGE
One! Oh dear! It’s time for him to come, the first spirit. Nonsense, Ebenezer, there’s no one coming. It’s all humbug! (Gasps) Who…who are you? Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold to me?
SCROOGE
I am
In a kindly ghost-like voice
CHRISTMAS PAST
Who…What are you?
SCROOGE
I am the ghost of Christmas Past.
CHRISTMAS PAST
Long past?
SCROOGE
No, your past. Rise, and walk with me. Come!
CHRISTMAS PAST
Out the window? But I am a mortal and liable to fall!
SCROOGE
Bear but a torch of my hand upon your heart, and you shall be upheld in more than this.
CHRISTMAS PAST
Good Heavens, I know this place. I went to school here when I was a boy!
SCROOGE
The school is not quite deserted. A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still.
CHRISTMAS PAST
Poor boy… why…it’s me! And who is that little girl running into the schoolroom?
SCROOGE
Do you not recognize her?
CHRISTMAS PAST
Why, it’s my little sister, Fan!
SCROOGE
Ebenezer, dear brother!
FAN
Poor Fan! How I miss her, now that she’s dead.
SCROOGE
I have come to bring you home, dear brother. Home home! Father is so much kinder than he used to be, that home’s like Heaven. We’re to be together all Christmas long, and we’ll be happy!
FAN
Pretty little fan! Fred’s mother… and I turned Fred from my door.
SCROOGE
Come, Ebenezer Scrooge. Another vision spreads before us!
CHRISTMAS PAST
Why, where is this?
SCROOGE
Another Christmas from your past, Ebenezer Scrooge.
CHRIISTMAS PAST
It’s the Fezziwigs! Dear old Fezziwig, the best hearted man there ever was. I worked for him when I was a lad. Old Fezziwig!
SCROOGE
Ho there, Ebenezer! It’s Christmas Eve! No more work for the day. It’s holiday time! Put up the shutters, my boy. And clear the floor! It’s time for the Christmas dance. Come, come, Ebenezer. Hurry! ‘Tis Christmas!
FEZZIWIG
Laughing
Bless his heart, old Fezziwig.
SCROOGE
Come, Ebenezer Scrooge.
CHRISTMAS PAST
Oh, let me stay a while longer.
SCROOGE
No, another vision appears. You are older still…a young man, engaged to be married, I think.
CHRISTMAS PAST
Yes, and that young lady, there, that was Belle, in intended. Lovely Belle…
SCROOGE
Listen…and remember.
CHRISTMAS PAST
It matters little, Ebenezer. To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me in your heart; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve. Our engagement is an old one, made when we were both poor. You are changed, Ebenezer. Gold and gain are all that matter to you now. I have no dowry, no fortune. And so I release you from your promise to marry me, with a full heart, for the love of him you once were. May you be happy in the life you have chosen.
BELLE
No more, Spirit! Show me no more! Take me home, no more!Clock tolls one
SCROOGE
What? One o’ clock? Could I have slept through a whole day?
Bells jingling gaily
SCROOGE
But what sound is that? Bells jingling?
SCROOGE
Laughs heartily
CHRISTMAS PAST
Laughter! Someone’s in my sitting room! I’ll see who…
SCROOGE
In a jovial voice
Come in! Come in, and know me better man!
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Who…who are you, fellow?
SCROOGE
I am the ghost of Christmas Present. Look upon me!
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
What’s all this mess you’ve got in my room? Holly, mistletoe, ivy, turkeys, geese, poultry.
SCROOGE
And see here! A roaring fire in the chimney, sausage, mince pies, plum puddings, oranges, pears, bowls of punch! A Christmas feast!
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
All to teach me a lesson, no doubt. Well, if you have to teach me, let me profit by it. Spirit, conduct me where you will.
SCROOGE
Touch my robe!
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
What house it that, the one with the peeled paint, there?
SCROOGE
Go to the window and see. Watch the people who live there; listen to their words.
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
It’s a poor woman, with several young children by her side. She’s talking to them.
SCROOGE
Listen!
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
What has got your precious father, then? And your brother, Tiny Tim? And Martha wasn’t as late last Christmas Day by half an hour.
MRS. CRATCHIT
Here comes Martha now, mother!
CRATCHIT BOY
Merry Christmas, mother, children!
MARTHA
Merry Christmas, Martha!
ALL
Wait till you see the goose, Martha!
CRATCHIT GIRL
Sorry I am late, but there was so much work to be done.
MARTHA
Well, never mind, so long as you all have come. Sit down by the fire and have a warm, Lord bless ye!
MRS. CRATCHIT
Look, look! Father is coming!
CRATCHIT GIRL
Hide Martha, hide! We’ll pretend you aren’t here.
CRATCHIT BOY
All right!
MARTHA
Merry Christmas, Mother, children!
BOB CRATCHIT
Merry Christmas, Father! Merry Christmas, Tiny Tim!
ALL
Merry Christmas! Mmm, the goose smells so good!
TINY TIM
And how is… why, where is our Martha?
BOB CRATCHIT
Not coming.
MRS. CRATCHIT
Not coming upon Christmas Day?
BOB CRATCHIT
We’re only teasing Father. Here I am. And a Merry Christmas to you!
MARTHA
Come on Tiny Tim. Come with us!
CRATCHIT GIRL
Come listen to the Christmas pudding sing in the copper!
CRATCHIT BOY
Oh yes, show me!
TINY TIM
And now, how did little Tim behave?
MRS. CRATCHIT
As good as gold, and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, poor little cripple, sitting by himself so much, he thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me that he hoped the people in church saw him, because he was cripple, and it might be pleasant for them to remember, upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk and blind men see.
BOB CRATCHIT
If only we could do something for him…but hush! Here come the children back again!
MRS. CRATCHIT
I saw the goose!
TINY TIM
And we smelled the pudding!
CRATCHIT BOY
It looks delicious!
CRATCHIT GIRL
And it will be delicious too!
MARTHA
And now… a toast!
BOB CRATCHIT
A toast! Hurrah! Serve the punch!
ALL
Mr. Scrooge! I’ll give you Mr. Scrooge, the Founder of the Feast!
BOB CRATCHIT
The Founder of the Feast, indeed! I wish I had him here. I’d give him a piece of my mind to feast upon, and hope he’s have a good appetite for it.
MRS. CRATCHIT
My dear, the children. Christmas Day!
BOB CRATCHIT
It should be Christmas Day. I’m sure on which one drinks the health of such an odious, stingy, hard, unfeeling man as Mr. Scrooge. You know he is Bob. Nobody knows it better than you do, poor fellow.
MRS. CRATCHIT
My dear, Christmas Day!
BOB CRATCHIT
Very well. I’ll drink to his health for your sake and the day’s, but not for his. Long life to him! A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. He’ll be very merry and very happy, I’m sure.
MRS. CRATCHIT
To Mr. Scrooge.
All raise their glass to Mr. Scrooge
ALL
And now, a Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!
All raise their glass to the family
BOB CRATCHIT
God bless us!
ALL
God bless us, every one.
TINY TIM
Spirit, tell me if Tiny Tim will live.
SCROOGE
Why worry about poor crippled Tiny Tim? If he is going to die, he better do it, and decrease the surplus population.
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
I do, I do. Oh, take me home, Spirit. Show me no more. Take me home!
SCROOGE
As you wish, Ebinezer Scrooge!
CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Take me home, home! Why…why I’m in my bed again. In my bed! Was it a dream? No, impossible. And yet…there’s no holly, no mistletoe! But is wasn’t a dream. I am sure of it!The clock tolls twelve
SCROOGE
Oh dear, oh dear, it’s midnight! It’s time for him to be coming, the Ghost that I fear most of all…the third. The Ghost of Christmas Future. The Ghost of Christmas yet to come.Eerie music plays
SCROOGE
GaspingIt’s he…there in the shadows, I see him. A phantom draped and hooded, coming like the mist! Am I in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? You are about to show me shadows of the things that have not happened, but will happen in time before us. Is that so, Spirit? Ghost of the future, I fear you more than any other Ghost I have seen. But as I know, your purpose is to do me good, I am prepared to bear your company. Lead on! Lead on! The night is waning fast, and it is precious time to me, I know. Lead on, Spirit!
SCROOGE
What, Spirit? Do you, too, bring me to the home of the clerk, Bob Cratchit? You motion me toward the window. There is Mrs. Cratchit by the fire, with her sewing. And the children,,,they are so quiet! Still as statues, they are.
SCROOGE
Are you crying mother?
MARTHA
No dear, it’s… it’s the light, it hurts my eyes. They are weak by the candlelight, and I wouldn’t want to show weak eyes to your father when he comes, for the whole world. It must be time for him to come.
MRS. CRATCHIT
Past it, rather.
MARTHA
He walks a little slower than he used to, these past foe evening, mother.
CRATCHIT BOY
I’ve known him to walk with…I’ve known him to walk with Tiny Tim upon his shoulder, very fast indeed.
MRS. CRATCHIT
So have I, mother.
CRATCHIT GIRL
And so have we all.
MARTHA
But he was very light to carry, and his father loved him so, that it was n trouble. Now, there’s your father at the door.
MRS. CRATCHIT
Come here, Father. Sit by the fire.
MARTHA
Thank you, Martha, my dear.
BOB CRATCHIT
Your tea is ready, Father.
CRATCHIT GIRL
You…you went today, Bob?
MRS. CRATCHIT
Yes, my dear. I wish you could have gone. It would have done you good to see how green a place it is. But you’ll see it often. I promised him that we would. My little child…My Tiny Tim.
BOB CRATCHIT
Poor Tiny Tim…oh, why did he have to die? You draw me with you, Spirit. This count through which we hurry now…I know this place. This is where my place of occupation is. I see my office. Let me look in. Why…why, it is not my office! The furniture has been changed. That man at my desk, who is it? Why, it’s my nephew, Fred! What is the meaning of this? Will you answer my questions Phantom? But no; you draw me on.
SCROOGE
A churchyard, overrun with weeds and grass. What a miserable place this is, unkempt, uncared for. What wretched souls finds their ends beneath this neglected soil? You have singled out a grave. Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point, answer me one question. Are these the shadows of the things that may be? You answer not, you just point to the headstone. The stone is decayed, I can’t make out the name. I can only feel out the letters. The spell EB … EBE … EBENEZER SCROOGE!
SCROOGE
Then this wretched grave, this dismal end, is mine! No, Spirit, oh no! Spirit, hear me. I am not the man I was. Why show me this, Spirit? I will change! I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall live within me. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone. Tell me so! Tell me! Tell me!Clock tolling one
SCROOGE
WhimperingTell me, Spirit! Tell me! Why, shy, I’m in my room. I’m home, I’m alive! Oh, Jacob Marley, I will change! Oh, I don’t know what to do. I am as light as a feather, as happy as an angel. Merry Christmas, old room, old bed curtains! Merry Christmas old saucepan! But what am I standing here for? I must find out what it is?Window being opened
SCROOGE
Hello there, what day is it, boy?
SCROOGE
Today? Why, it’s Christmas Day!
YOUNG BOY
Thanks heavens! Christmas! Then I haven’t missed it. May I ask a favor my fine fellow?
SCROOGE
Do you know the Poulterers on the next street, at the corner? Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize turkey that was hanging up in the shop, not the little one, but great big one?
YOUNG BOY
It’s hanging there now, sir.
YOUNG BOY
Is it? What an intelligent boy you are! Go and buy it for me, here’s the money, and a half a crown extra for you.
SCROOGE
Yes sir!
YOUNG BOY
And have them send it to this address. Merry Christmas!
SCROOGE
Merry Christmas to you too, sir!
YOUNG BOY
Ha, ha! I’ll sent to Bob Cratchit! He won’t know who sent it. What a surprise it will be, twice the size of Tiny Tim! But what am I standing here in my nightshirt for? I’ve things to do, people to see. I must be off. Whee!
SCROOGE
Knock at the door
Fred!
SCROOGE
Why who is this I see?
FRED
It’s I, your Uncle Scrooge. I’ve come to dinner, for Christmas. Will you let me in Fred?
SCROOGE
Let you in! You’ll be lucky if I don’t shake your hand off! Merry Christmas, Uncle Ebenezer! Nancy! Looks who’s here! Set another place at the table. It’s Uncle Scrooge, here for Christmas dinner.
FRED
Scrooge had Christmas dinner with Fred. It is now the day after Christmas.
Ah, what a wonderful time that was at Fred’s yesterday. What a charming girl his wife is. I really must do something for them! Oh, but here comes Bob Cratchit. I hoped I’d get her to the office ahead of him to surprise him!
SCROOGE
Door opening Scrooge acts upset
Hello! What do you mean by coming here to work this time of day, Cratchit?
SCROOGE
Timidly
I am very sorry, Mr. Scrooge, sir. It won’t happen again, sir, I promise. I was making merry yesterday, and…
BOB CRATCHIT
Grumbling
Now, I’ll tell you what. I am not going to stand for this sort of thing any more, and therefore I am about to … raise your salary!
SCROOGE
In amazement
Mr. Scrooge?
BOB CRATCHIT
Laughing heartily
A Merry Christmas, Bob, a merrier Christmas, my good fellow, than I’ve given you for many a year. I’ll raise your salary … and we must find the best doctor in all of London for that young son of yours.
SCROOGE
I … I don’t know what to say, Mr. Scrooge.
BOB CRATCHIT
Don’t say anything, Bob, old fellow, This is the happiest Christmas of my life.
SCROOGE
And of mind too! As Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!
BOB CRATCHIT
Merry ChristmasTo All!
ALL
THE END