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Art et designTranscription
00:00Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
00:19The leaves are so unchanging,
00:23Not only green when summer's here,
00:28But also when it's cold and drear.
00:32Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree,
00:37The leaves are so unchanging.
00:42Out beyond the town, where the farms begin,
00:47is an unusual field.
00:50In the early spring, when all the other fields are bare and brown,
00:55this field is green and bright,
00:59because it is filled with little Christmas trees.
01:04This is the story of one special tree.
01:15From where the little tree was growing, among the rows and rows of trees,
01:21he could at last see the big, bold letters of the sign
01:26that had puzzled him for so long.
01:29There it stood, at the end of the field,
01:32Brown's Christmas Tree Farm.
01:40He was sure that he was a tree,
01:42but he didn't know what a Christmas tree was,
01:45or even what Christmas was.
01:48He did know that he was supposed to grow straight and tall and healthy,
01:53for some special reason.
02:01Every few days a man would walk past and look at him.
02:05The man would pull out the weeds around his trunk and spray him all over,
02:09getting rid of the itchy bugs and the pesky caterpillars
02:13that clogged up his needles and nibbled at his bark.
02:19By the time he was seven years old,
02:21the little tree was big enough for birds and other creatures to perch on his branches.
02:27He looked forward to the arrival of such new visitors
02:30in the hope that they would be able to answer his questions about Christmas.
02:34His first visitor was a goose,
02:37who stopped to nibble the fresh young grass by his trunk.
02:42Please, Miss Goose, asked the tree.
02:46What is Christmas?
02:48And...
02:50What is a Christmas tree?
02:54You're asking the wrong bird, said the goose.
02:58My friends and I always go south at that time of year.
03:05Soon a squirrel came by, leaping from tree to tree.
03:08Please, Mr. Squirrel, what is a Christmas tree?
03:11And...
03:13What is Christmas?
03:15You're asking the wrong squirrel, he said.
03:17We always sleep through that time of year.
03:27Then one stormy day,
03:29a white dove came to rest on his topmost branch.
03:33It landed with a thump, fell off one branch,
03:36threw the next, and the next,
03:38until the tree pulled his softest branches together
03:42to make a thick green bed that caught and cradled the little white dove.
03:48Oh! Oh!
03:50Oh! Oh, thank you!
03:53Thank you, little tree, said the white dove.
03:56I'm just too... too tired to fly any further.
04:00Strong winds blew me away from my home.
04:03A beautiful nest I worked so hard on was blown right off the tree,
04:07and it's time for me to lay my eggs.
04:10Oh, little tree, can you pull your softest branches together
04:13and hold them like that as nests for my eggs?
04:16For weeks and weeks,
04:18the little tree struggled to keep his branches close and still
04:22as the eggs hatched and three baby doves peeped and cooed.
04:27While the busy mother dove was out hunting for seeds,
04:30the little tree made an even greater effort
04:32and pulled his branches right over them
04:34to shelter them from the sun and the rain
04:37and hide them from hawks and other dangerous creatures.
04:46The little tree worked so hard helping the white dove raise her children,
04:50always pulling his branches over to one side,
04:53that he forgot all about growing straight and tall
04:58as a Christmas tree should.
05:00Gradually, he developed a big hump in his trunk.
05:07The farmer walked past and looked disappointed
05:10and shook his head sadly.
05:13He stopped pulling out the weeds around the little tree's trunk.
05:17He hardly bothered to spray him for itchy bugs or nibbling caterpillars anymore.
05:23The little tree felt quite neglected,
05:26but he would not give up taking care of the white dove and her children.
05:44The day arrived when the little doves were big enough to learn to fly.
05:48They stretched their wings and flapped all the way to the next tree and back.
05:54Gradually, they began to fly further and further.
05:59But they always came back to the little tree at dusk.
06:12One day, the mother dove said to the tree,
06:15Oh, little tree, by saving my life and taking care of my children,
06:20you've grown a big hump in your trunk.
06:24The farmer hardly bothers to pull out the weeds around you or spray your branches anymore.
06:29And it's all my fault.
06:46Now it's time for us to fly back to the big tree where I once lived.
06:53The people in the house nearby put out seeds every day in the winter for me
06:56as they did for my mother and grandmother before me.
07:16It's so hard to find food when the ground is covered in snow.
07:19And besides, I'm sure they'd miss us.
07:22But I promise we'll all be back to visit with you in the spring.
07:27Tell me, is there anything I can do for you before we go?
07:31Please, Mrs. Dove, cried the little tree,
07:35before you go, can you tell me what a Christmas tree is?
07:41Can you tell me what a Christmas tree is and what Christmas is?
07:47I know that I'll never be a proper Christmas tree now,
07:51but I would like still to know what I might have been
07:55and what all the trees I grew up with are going to be.
08:12Little tree, said the dove,
08:15Christmas is a time when people celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ,
08:22who was born to bring peace to the world.
08:25Just before Christmas, families bring their children
08:28to find a nice straight Christmas tree.
08:31They cut it down and take it home,
08:33where it's decorated with colored lights and shiny ornaments,
08:36and they place gifts around it.
08:38Parents and aunts and uncles and friends all come to admire the tree,
08:43and then when the holiday is over,
08:45the lights and ornaments are put away,
08:47and the poor tree is thrown out alone in the snow.
08:52By saving me and my children, you've grown crooked,
08:57but now you're safe.
09:04With this, the white dove and her children flew off.
09:19The snow came, the winds howled, the pond froze.
09:23The birds flew south, the squirrels slept.
09:26Nothing and no one moved on Brown's Christmas Tree Farm.
09:36And then one day, with the snow softly falling,
09:39the field was filled with people.
09:42Mothers, fathers, children, all laughing and talking,
09:45all looking for the perfect tree to take home.
09:49Some even looked at the little tree,
09:51but when they brushed the snow from his branches
09:53and saw the hump on his trunk,
09:55they shook their heads and moved on.
10:00But along with the laughter, the thud of axes,
10:03and the sound of splitting wood filled the air.
10:06The little tree stood helpless,
10:08as one by one all the other trees fell
10:11and were dragged away to the waiting cars.
10:16That was the loneliest time of the tree's life.
10:19All that long, cold winter he stood, alone,
10:22with nothing to shelter him from the icy winds.
11:15Spring came, no birds stopped by,
11:18for one lonely crooked tree in an empty field
11:21was no place to rest on their long journey.
11:25Farmer Brown came out with some men
11:27who planted hundreds of baby Christmas trees
11:29in rows up and down the field.
11:32But no one took any notice of the little tree.
11:35No one knew what to do with it.
11:38No one knew what to do with it.
11:41No one knew what to do with it.
11:44No one knew what to do with it.
11:50One warm and sunny morning
11:52there was a gentle cooing of the flapping wings.
11:56The white dove had kept her promise
11:58and had brought her children back to visit.
12:04I missed you so much, sobbed the little tree. I thought that winter had taken you from me.
12:17Oh, Mrs. Dove, I'm so alone. They cut down all the friends I grew up with and took them away.
12:23No one wanted me because of the hump on my trunk. Nobody was left to shelter me from the icy winds.
12:29Farmer Brown planted rows of baby trees, but they're far too young for me to talk to.
12:38You told me that a Christmas tree only has colored lights and shiny ornaments for a short time,
12:44but I'd rather bring happiness and laughter to children for those special few days than be lonely and cold all winter by myself.
12:52Isn't that what I was made for? To be a symbol of joy and love?
13:01The white dove and her children comforted the little tree.
13:04They stayed with him all day and flew off with a promise to return soon.
13:11Summer came, and one day, Farmer Brown arrived with some men, some shovels, and a strange machine.
13:19They dug and dug and dug all around the little tree's roots.
13:25They wrapped them in damp sacking, then used the machine to lift him carefully out of the ground and onto a truck.
13:40It was a long journey lying on his side with the sun drying his roots and making him thirsty.
13:50Eventually, the truck arrived at a big house, where a deep hole was waiting in the garden, just the shape and size of the little tree's roots.
14:09They lifted him carefully from the truck, undid the sacking, placed him in the hole, and filled in the empty hole.
14:17And then they soaked the ground with cool, fresh water.
14:21The little tree sighed and settled his roots gratefully.
14:29The next day, he looked around at his new home.
14:32All kinds of strange flowers were growing in the garden.
14:36The little tree was in love with them.
14:40The next day, he looked around at his new home.
14:43All kinds of strange flowers grew nearby.
14:47The grass was even and green, not tufted with the brown patches that he was used to.
14:53But strangest of all, he was surrounded by the most unusual trees.
14:59The little Christmas tree had never seen anything like them.
15:02He was positively dwarfed by them.
15:04Some grew in clumps, others towered alone to the sky, and some even had flowers on their branches.
15:24There wasn't another Christmas tree in sight.
15:35Nevertheless, it was nice to be with trees again.
15:38So he plucked up his courage and spoke to one.
15:41Excuse me, sir, I'm a Christmas tree.
15:48Who are you?
15:55replied the haughty birch.
15:57You're not a real tree.
15:59With a crooked trunk and prickly needles.
16:02A real tree has silver bark and soft green leaves.
16:06You don't belong in this garden at all.
16:08With that, he turned his leaves to the sun and ignored the little tree.
16:13Timidly, the little tree turned his branches up and spoke to the giant behind him.
16:19Excuse me, sir, I'm a Christmas tree.
16:23Who are you?
16:26Thundered the proud oak.
16:28Real trees grow straight and tall.
16:31You're not a real tree.
16:33You're just a crooked little nothing.
16:36And so it was with all the others.
16:38They wouldn't speak to him.
16:40Because he wasn't tall enough, or straight enough.
16:43And so it was with all the others.
16:45They wouldn't speak to him.
16:47Because he wasn't tall enough, or straight enough.
16:50And so it was with all the others.
16:52Because he wasn't tall enough, or straight enough.
16:55Or wearing the right color bark.
16:58The little Christmas tree was just as lonely as he had been in the empty field.
17:02Even the birds ignored him, preferring to perch in the branches of the taller trees.
17:06As summer turned to autumn and nights became cold,
17:10all the trees started to change.
17:13Their greens turned to gold and brown.
17:17Leaves hung limply from branches and then fell to the ground.
17:21The giant oak shivered, naked in the winter winds.
17:25The haughty birch, whose bark was not quite as fine when there were no leaves to hide it,
17:30shook in the sleet and rain.
17:43The only one who stood green and fresh in the garden
17:49was the little Christmas tree.
17:55Even as autumn turned to winter and the rain turned to snow,
17:59the little tree stood proudly green and fresh,
18:02with a lacy coat of fluffy white snow on his branches.
18:12One cold day, the people of the house came out to the little tree,
18:16with big boxes full of beautiful things.
18:19They hung strings and strings of colored lights from his branches,
18:23and they decorated him from top to bottom with shiny ornaments and bright ribbons.
18:28The little tree stood as tall and proud as he could.
18:32He stretched and strained and tried to stand straight and tall,
18:36but with his colored lights glowing and his shiny ornaments glittering,
18:40no one seemed to notice that he was little and crooked.
18:45People stopped their cars to admire.
18:48The children of the house checked his lights and ornaments daily
18:51to make sure that none had blown off.
18:59On Christmas Eve, the people of the house came out, bundled against the cold.
19:04People arrived from all around the neighborhood.
19:07Even strangers stopped to join.
19:10Softly, sweetly, they sang in harmony.
19:13Oh, holy night, the stars are brightly shining.
19:18Oh, night divine, the night that Christ was born.
19:22Oh, holy night, the stars are brightly shining.
19:29It is the night of the dear Savior's birth.
19:36As the last notes died away in the still night,
19:39there was a cooing and a whirring of wings.
19:43The people looked up and saw perched on the very tip of the little tree
19:48a beautiful white dove.
19:59The dove remained on top of the tree until the last neighbor had left
20:02and the last child had gone to sleep.
20:05And then she slipped closer in among the branches and said softly,
20:10Little Christmas tree, you gave me shelter when I was too tired to fly any further.
20:17You gave me your softest branches as a nest for my children.
20:20In doing this, you caused yourself to grow crooked
20:24and you suffered through a long, cold, lonely winter.
20:29When we parted, you asked me about Christmas trees
20:32and about the meaning of Christmas.
20:34Even then, after seeing the fate of all your friends,
20:36you wanted to fulfill your destiny.
20:40Look down, little tree.
20:42Look at your branches.
20:44See the shiny ornaments.
20:46See the bright lights.
20:47See the footprints in the snow of all the people who came to admire you.
20:52This is your award.
20:54For many years to come, you will stand proudly in this garden
20:59and every Christmas, you'll be decorated like this
21:03and surrounded by love.
21:07The little tree looked down.
21:10He saw himself shining in the dark.
21:14He saw the footprints in the snow of all the people
21:17who had come to share their joy around him.
21:22And he felt bigger and taller than any tree that garden had ever seen.
22:22Oh, Christmas tree, your leaves are so unchanging.
22:28Not only green when summer's here,
22:33but also when it's cold and drear.
22:37Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree,
22:42your leaves are so unchanging.
22:47Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree,
22:51much pleasure thou canst give me.
22:55How often has the Christmas tree afforded me the greatest glee.
23:04Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree,
23:08much pleasure thou canst give me.
23:14Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree,
23:19thy candle shines so brightly.
23:23From base to summit, gay and bright,
23:28there's only splendor for thy sight.
23:32Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree,
23:36thy candle shines so brightly.
23:42Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree,
23:46how richly God has decked thee.
23:50Love is most true.