A perfect Christmas story, written by Robert Swindells, narrated by Michael Jayston, 25-26 January 1994. Jackanory (2 BAFTA nominations) was a popular BBC children's television series which was originally broadcast between 1965 and 1996. It was designed to stimulate an interest in reading. Jackanory continued to be broadcast until 1996, with around 3,500 episodes in its 30-year run. The stories were made for children, read by actors, with illustrations in the background. A celebrity reads a story, enhancing it in ways that will entice the most restless of children.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:30Turn your face into the east wind, and if you could see forever, you would see Ivan's
00:37land. It is a land where summer is short and pale like a celandine, winter long and cold
00:43as an icicle. Ivan does not live there anymore, for he grew old long ago, and is gone. But
00:50the people of the Pinewoods remember him. They remember him all the time, but most of
00:54all they remember him in winter, because they are not afraid of winter anymore. They have
00:59no need to be afraid, because of something Ivan did when he was very small. Ivan and
01:06his brother lived in the house of their father, the blacksmith, in a village in the shadow
01:10of the great dark forest. The people of the village were poor, but in the summertime they
01:14were mostly happy, so that the pale warm air rang with their laughter and their singing
01:19as they worked. But as the short summers gave way to autumn, their songs became sad songs,
01:26and their laughter thin, for they knew that far away to the north, Starjik was greasing
01:31the runners of his sled and rounding up his wolves. Starjik, whisper his name, and it
01:38was winter in your heart. When Starjik was in a village, the people lay very still behind
01:43their shutters, but always in the morning, a child was gone, for Starjik was known in
01:49every pinewoods village as the child taker, and those he took were never seen again. One
01:56night Starjik came to Ivan's house, and when Ivan awoke in the morning, his little brother
02:01was gone. All the village wept for the blacksmith and his wife, and for little Ivan, who must
02:06now play alone. And Ivan walked in Starjik's sled tracks to the end of the village, and
02:13he stood there a long time, gazing into the north. For a long time that night, he sat
02:21listening to the wind outside, and as he listened, it seemed to Ivan that something was crying
02:25out there in the night. Wait, little brother, I will not leave you. I am coming. He blew
02:31out his candle and climbed into bed without taking off his clothes. After a while, the
02:35door of his room was opened quietly, and Ivan pretended to be sleeping, while his mother
02:39smoothed his quilt and went out. Ivan slipped out of bed and pulled on his boots. Then he
02:45took his fur parka and moved quietly to the door. Moments later, he was across the warm
02:50dark kitchen and out into the freezing wind. Next morning, the people were awakened by
02:55a terrible cry from the blacksmith's house. The blacksmith's wife had crept early into
03:00Ivan's room and found his bed empty. All that day, the people stood about the village in
03:05groups, talking, but nobody had heard Starjik come again, and nobody could remember having
03:11known anyone as unlucky as the blacksmith and his wife. Far away through the forest
03:16and over the hills walked Ivan. He was afraid, more afraid than he had ever been, for nobody
03:22had ever seen Starjik's land and lived to return home. His head was bowed, and he cried
03:28a little as he went along, and his tears became pips of ice before they touched the snow.
03:34He was afraid, and sometimes he almost turned around to follow his footprints back to his
03:38father's house. But then he would see in his mind a picture of his brother, holding out
03:44his arms and crying in a place that was cold beyond imagining. And then Ivan would brush
03:49away his tears and go on. On and on he went, and when it began to grow dark, he found a
03:55snowdrift and tunneled into it, as his father had taught him. When morning came, he dug
04:00himself out, ate a little food from his pocket, turned his face into the wind, and walked
04:05on. The snow was deeper now, and Ivan's feet sank far beneath its surface with every step.
04:11He began to feel tired, and to wonder if he would ever see his home again, when there
04:16came a sound that felt like an icicle in his heart. It was the long, thin cry a hungry
04:21wolf makes when it scents its prey. The cry was answered by another, and soon the pinewood
04:27echoed with the howls of the hunting pack. Ivan tried to go faster, but the snow sucked
04:32at his boots, making him stumble. He looked back, sobbing. He knew the wolves were running
04:37in his tracks with their noses down to smell him out. A tree. He must find a tree to climb.
04:43Wolves can outrun any living thing, but they cannot climb trees. He stumbled on, looking
04:47wildly around him. But the trees just here were all pines with smooth, icy trunks. The
04:53wolf cries drew nearer. He plunged forward, gasping. A few seconds more, and they would
04:58be upon him. He glanced all about, and plowed through the snow, the wolves at his heels.
05:04He leapt. His hands closed around the lowest branch, and he swung his legs clear of the
05:08group, as the first wolf lunged in a flurry of snow. Now and then a wolf would leap, its
05:14jaws snapping within inches of his feet. Soon Ivan began to feel cold. He knew the frost
05:20would be in his fingers. It would spread through his hands until they could no longer
05:24grip, and he would fall into that whirling mass of fur and fangs. He clung desperately
05:29to his perch. The cold began to seep through his hands. He cried softly, and his tears
05:36froze on his cheeks.
05:37Farewell, little brother, he whispered. I can never save you now.
05:44A startled yelp roused him. He shook his head and looked down. The wolves were scattering
05:50in all directions, and in their midst, rearing on its hind legs, was a huge bear. Its terrible
05:56claws hissed through the air, and the wolves fell back, snapping. The bear lunged at them,
06:01and they turned tails, slipping away between the frozen trees.
06:06Ivan cried out joyfully. Ven gasped with horror. Bears kill people, and bears can climb.
06:14He pulled up his feet, trying to move higher. The bear dropped onto all its four feet and
06:19stood a moment, snarling into the forest. Then, with only an upward glance at the boy,
06:24it loped off, melting soon among the shadows of the pines. Stiffly, Ivan climbed down.
06:31He peered fearfully all around, but the wolves were gone, and there was no sign of the bear.
06:38All the day, little Ivan walked on, and when it began to grow dark, he found another snowdrift
06:44and made a cave inside it. He ate a little of the bread and snuggled down to sleep. At
06:50midnight, Ivan awoke, and it seemed to him that he had heard a voice. He listened. Outside,
06:57the wind was howling. After a moment, he closed his eyes again.
07:00It must have been the wind, he said to himself. Only the wind? But no sooner had he closed
07:06his eyes than he seemed to hear the voice again. He got up, knelt by the hole, and stuck
07:11his head out. The cold made him gasp. Ivan screwed up his eyes and peered into the darkness.
07:18There was nothing. Then, just as he was about to draw his head back inside, he thought he
07:25saw a movement under the trees. A small figure, flitting across a paler patch between the
07:30shadows. Ivan cried out. The figure. It seemed impossible, but from here it had looked like...
07:38Little brother! he cried. Wait! He was stumbling through deep snow. As he drew near, the small
07:45figure seemed to move back, so that he was always the same distance away from it.
07:49Wait! Ivan cried again. Oh, don't run away! It's Ivan! Come to take you home!
07:56But the figure was only a smudge now, and as he watched, it faded and was gone. Then
08:01he knew that the figure in the trees had been Starjik's cruel trick, and the laughter in
08:06the wind, Starjik's laughter. But when he looked around, he could not tell which way
08:11he had come. He ran, first this way, then that. He was lost, and was about to sink down
08:17on the snow when he heard a shrill scream. He jerked his head round and saw a white shape
08:22that flew soundlessly between the trees. The owl circled his head on velvet wings,
08:27and made off through the forest. After a moment it came back, and flew round his head again.
08:33Perhaps, thought Ivan, it wants me to follow it.
08:36When the great white bird flew away again, Ivan followed. In a few moments he saw the
08:42snowdrift in which he had made his shelter. He fell to his knees by the entrance and crawled
08:46inside with the last of his strength. The snowy owl circled the snowdrift once, and
08:52was gone. When dawn came, Ivan wrapped himself up in
08:57his warm clothing and set out again. There was only a little bread left now in his pocket,
09:02and he knew that he must save it, for he still had far to go. When at last it began to grow
09:07dark again, Ivan fell to his knees and began to scrape out a tunnel with his mittened hands.
09:13After a moment he stopped, his head tilted to one side. From far away, carried on the
09:18wind, he thought he heard music. He heard it again. It was the sound of a fiddle. No,
09:27it was not real. It would not be real. It was another cruel trick to hurt him, to keep
09:32him from doing what he must do. He began once more to scrape at the snow, whistling a little
09:37between his teeth to blot out the sound of the fiddle. But when he stopped, there it
09:43was, rising and falling in the wind. He got to his feet and gazed towards the sound, biting
09:49his lip. There was a faint glow in the sky beyond the pines, and now he was sure there
09:55were voices too, mixed in with the fiddle. He looked down at his unfinished den, then
10:01out again towards the glow. He saw a picture in his mind of people, happy people who laughed
10:07and shouted and danced to the fiddle, and suddenly he was overcome with loneliness.
10:13He left the snowdrift and began hurrying through the trees, his eyes fixed on that warm, hypnotic
10:19glow. He came out of the trees onto a long slope, and there below him lay a village.
10:30Everyone in the village seemed to be out of doors, and when Ivan looked down the street
10:33he could see why. At the far end of it someone had built an enormous fire, and the music,
10:38it wafted in great clouds up the slope, and Ivan had never heard such music. He was weary,
10:44but he wanted to dance. And up towards him, their laughter spangling the night, came children,
10:50a long ribbon of children, hand in hand, running up the hill. When they drew near, they stopped,
10:57and their leader smiled, holding out his hand to Ivan. Come, he said, tonight is a feast
11:02and you are welcome here. In the village below, the fiddles began a fresh tune, and
11:07stepping forward, Ivan slipped off a mitten and gave his hand. At once they went whirling
11:12away across the slope and down, down to where the people danced through pools of lamplight
11:17on the snow. Ivan, skipping, threw back his head and laughed. The music grew louder, and
11:23coming round the corner of a house, Ivan saw that they were close to the great fire. In
11:28the flames an ox was roasting, and nearby, on upturned barrels, sat the fiddlers. The
11:34line of children circled, forming a ring with the fiddlers in the middle. Round and round
11:39they whirled, the firelight dancing in their eyes. Then the circle broke, and the child
11:44who had led them was thrust into the centre among the fiddlers, and the tune changed,
11:48and she danced a special dance for them while they went round and round. When her dance
11:53was finished, the girl rejoined the circle. The next child was pushed forward, and the
11:58tune changed again. Ivan watched through tears of joy. The cold was gone, and the loneliness.
12:05What would be the tune when his turn came, and what steps would he dance?
12:53In the black of night, Starzyk came to Ivan's village, and stole his little brother. Alone
13:07and afraid, Ivan followed Starzyk's tracks into the frozen waste. He heard music, and
13:13feeling cold and lonely, he followed it to find a happy village, where the children danced
13:17and urged him to join them. They whirled on. Ivan gasped as a volley of wind whipped
13:23about his legs, unimaginably cold. In an instant he was blinded as the stinging powder lashed
13:28his eyes. He tore his hands from those of his friends and fell to the ground, clawing
13:33at his face. He had broken the circle. He must get up and take his place, or the dance
13:38would be spoiled. Already the fiddlers had stopped playing. He scrambled to his knees
13:43and cried out in pain and disbelief. The fire was gone. There was no ring of children, nor
13:50any mark upon the snow where they had been. There were no villagers. The houses lay cold
13:55and broken along the empty street. Ivan stood there, forlorn. The wind blew round him, and
14:02there was laughter in it, and he knew. He turned and ran along the silent street that
14:08had no footprints on it but his own. He did not stop until he topped the slope, found
14:13a snowdrift and burrowed into it. He cried softly till sleep came. The next morning
14:19he set out, weary and sad. Ivan had not walked far when, turning to look back, he saw something
14:27moving far away between the snow-laden trees. At first it looked like a whirl of snow crystals
14:33whipped by the wind, but as it came closer, he saw that it was an old woman in a grey
14:38sparkling shawl, which flapped about her as she came towards him. She was gazing at
14:43Ivan, but she was also smiling. Ivan took off his mitten, put his hand into his pocket
14:48and pulled out a crust of bread. He held it out to her. Old woman, he said. It is cold.
14:54Share my bread. It will warm you a little, perhaps. You are kind, but I do not need your
14:59bread, said the old woman. You are a good boy to care about an old woman like me. But
15:05I am not an old woman always. Sometimes I am an icicle, or a bear. Sometimes I am a
15:11twist of wind-blown snow, colder than the night. One night, she said, I was a snowy
15:18owl. Ivan stared, remembering how he had been lost and freezing in the night. Were you the
15:25owl who showed me the way, and the bear who drove off the wolves? The old woman smiled.
15:32It may well be so, for lovers find small miracles, no matter what men say. And no one
15:39ever loved better than you love your brother. How do you know of this? cried Ivan. The old
15:45woman held out her hand to him. Pips of ice lay like diamonds in her palm. These are the
15:52tears that you cried for your brother, she said. I have followed you, gathering them
15:58from the snow, because you will need them soon. Ivan frowned. What would I do with tears,
16:04he said. Why will I need them soon? To soften Starjik's heart, replied the old woman. Here,
16:12take them. Ivan gazed at them. I do not understand, he said. What am I to do with these tears?
16:21The old woman became grave. At the moment of your greatest danger, she said, you must
16:27fling the tears into Starjik's face and say, brothers never more shall part. Melt the winter
16:34in his heart. Ivan said the words softly to himself, so that he would remember, and the
16:40old woman nodded. That is right, she said, and now go, for I can help you no more. Ivan
16:49turned and walked on, and after a long time, he came to a mountain. At the foot of the
16:55mountain was a high cave with a wind booming in its mouth. Ivan shuddered, because he knew
17:01that he had come at last to Starjik's land. Inside the cave, it was utterly black. The
17:07roar of the wind was deafening, and it was deadly cold. Somewhere in this terrible place,
17:12Ivan's little brother was waiting, waiting for Ivan to come and take him home. He set
17:18his lips in a thin, firm line and moved on into the blackness. Something fluttered in
17:23his face. He struck at it with his hand. Whatever the things were, they were all around
17:27him. He screamed, but the wind drowned the cry. For a long time, Ivan moved onward through
17:34the cold darkness. Presently, he stopped, listening intently. Somewhere in front of
17:40him, he heard a laugh. As he moved on, the laughter grew louder, and he could hear other
17:46sounds too, a swishing noise and, now and then, a thin, high scream. Soon he was looking
17:53into a great, glittering cavern. The floor was blue ice, and enormous icicles hung in
17:59thousands from the roof. In the centre of the cavern, its back towards the buoy, stood
18:04a hideous figure. It was stooped and crooked, and its white robe hung in folds from a bony
18:10frame. In one hand, it gripped a thin, springy rod, of the kind which Ivan's people used
18:16to fish for trout in the river. The creature was fishing, but not in the water, and not
18:23for fish. He was fishing in the air, and his victim was a tiny bat that whirled and tugged
18:29frantically as the man began to wind in the thin line. When the terrified creature was
18:34close enough, the man clawed it out of the air, crushed it, and dropped it onto the ice,
18:39where the broken bodies of several others lay. Then he threw back his head and laughed
18:43horribly. Ivan drew back into the passage. The man's cruelty had sickened him, and the
18:50laughter turned his blood cold. No other man could possibly behave with such cruelty. The
18:56man was stargic, and Ivan knew that if he fell into those awful hands, he need expect
19:02no more mercy than the poor, broken bat. And somewhere, not far away, this creature had
19:08his brother. The thought of his little brother in the hands of such a man filled Ivan with
19:13rage. He clenched his fists and stepped into the open. Instantly, he froze. It was as though
19:19his arms and legs had become ice. Try as he might, he could not move. Stargic no longer
19:26fished. He sat now in the middle of the cavern, on a throne of age-grey wood, and his icy
19:32stare held Ivan rigid. The pale eyes now seemed to draw Ivan across the icy floor, until he
19:38stood trembling before the throne. Stargic stared down at him, his hands gripping the
19:44arms of the chair. His grey beard was still with ice, and his hair fell in frozen strands
19:50about his thin shoulders. After a long time, he spoke, and his voice was like walking on
19:55crisp snow.
19:56Who are you?
20:00Ivan hoped that Stargic could not see him trembling.
20:02I am Ivan, he said. The blacksmith is my father.
20:07Stargic's lips twitched cruelly.
20:09Why did you come here? he hissed. Do you not know that all who enter Stargic's land are
20:15dead?
20:16I've come for my brother, said Ivan.
20:18Your brother is dead, said Stargic.
20:21No, he's not dead. I can feel him.
20:24That is not possible. People cannot feel other people. They can only see them, or hear
20:31them. Do you see your brother here? Do you hear him?
20:35No, said Ivan, but he is nearby.
20:39Stargic gripped the arm of his throne and rose to his feet.
20:42Very well, he said softly. You are right, little Ivan. Your brother is close by.
20:49He turned, beckoning.
20:50Come, and I will show you.
20:53To one side of the cavern, an ice curtain hung from roof to floor.
20:58Stargic went behind this curtain, and Ivan was close on his heels.
21:02Ivan clapped a hand to his mouth, stifling a cry.
21:05He was looking at a great block of ice. It was higher than three houses, and as long
21:10as the cavern.
21:12The ice was as clear as a crystal pool, and inside he saw children, many children, trapped
21:19in the solid ice.
21:21Some looked as though they had been running, others seemed to have been skipping. Some
21:24sat and some stood. There were frozen smiles and frozen frowns, and there, right at the
21:31front, gazing out from his icy prison, was Ivan's brother.
21:36Stargic laughed cruelly.
21:37Such pretty children, he said, and mine forever.
21:43Ivan looked into the twisted face, and his eyes were filled with tears.
21:47But these children do not move, he cried. You cannot play with them or hear them laugh.
21:52I take the children to punish those who sent me away. Once I was a child like these, but
21:59the other children would not play with me. They said my heart was cold, and they sent
22:04me away. Now I have friends, and every one a pretty one, for I have chosen them myself.
22:12He turned, smiling coldly down at Ivan.
22:15You also are a pretty child, he hissed. You would not be out of place in my collection.
22:22You cannot escape. I have only to touch you, and you are mine forever.
22:27Ivan felt the ice prison at his back. He could go no further. Stargic grinned and came on.
22:34Ivan bit his lip. The monster was inches away from him.
22:38As Stargic stooped for the final lunge, the boy whipped off his mitten and flung the ice
22:43pips into the evil face. His voice echoed shrill through the cavern.
22:47Brothers, never more shall part! Melt the winter in his heart!
22:52At once there came a rumbling sound, and the cavern floor quivered. Stargic staggered back
22:57with an awful cry, his hands clawing at his face. Ivan was flung to the floor. Behind
23:03him the ice prison heaved, split and shivered into fragments. Ivan scrambled to his feet
23:09and backed off, eyeing the old man warily. Stargic made no attempt to follow, but stood,
23:16gazing at him across the shattered ice. Then the corner of his mouth twitched. Stargic
23:22was smiling. There was no cruelty now in his smile.
23:27Ivan took a step forward. Something grabbed at his waist, and clung there, very tightly.
23:33He looked down and saw his brother's head pressed against him. All around, children
23:38were awakening, rubbing their eyes and gazing about them.
23:41You ought to be going, Stargic said. There is no wind now. You have a long journey. You
23:50will never see me again. But I shall see you, and when winter comes again, you will have
23:57reason to remember how Stargic's heart was warmed.
24:03And so they left Stargic's land, and Ivan took them home. And at every village he strode
24:08along the street, crying, Here are your children! Home again, from far away! And the people
24:13cheered and brought food and heaped gifts upon them, and stood waving as the line of
24:18children marched away. With each village the line became a little shorter, until at last
24:24only Ivan and his brother were left. And so they came home, and the fear melted
24:32in the hearts of the people, and they were happy. And when winter came again, Stargic
24:37remembered his promise. No one heard him come, for the howling wolves were gone, and his
24:43sled was pulled now by silent deer. But when the people woke at dawn, there were sled tracks
24:49in the snow, and shining gifts by all the children's beds.