Santa's Little Helpers, continued

[daniel van eijmeren]

MIKE:

Sorry, I sent the message to you (again), instead of to the list. 
I've corrected that, because I now know how to keep a copy myself.

> >Grandma tells the others she forgot to leave a plate with pap one 
> >*Christmas* and then everything went wrong. As far as I know you'll 
> >get the same problems with the Christmas-gnomes when you forget 
> >leaving a plate at Christmas. That's also a reason for me to think 
> >the gnomes in the story are those Christmas-gnomes.
 
>     What is 'pap'? 

My dictionary told me it was an English word (the Dutch word is the 
same). Ehm, how can I explain? Do you know the word "porridge"? 
That's "pap". 

> Anyway, in Finnish mythology, the Christmas-gnomes are something 
> like Santa's Little Helpers who not only help him make the presents,
> but also observe children and make marks of good and bad deeds of the 
> year and come with Santa to deliver the presents. 

But... don't they want that *porridge*? I've heard of some Christmas-
characters in Scandinavie that want porridge at Christmas. BTW. The 
gnomes in the story say nothing about observing children (in the 
Dutch dialogue). 

---Daniel 2