8．St．Nicholas Described by Irving

To support the American Revolution，the American authorWashington Irving used a Dutch St．Nicholas to contrast thepatriotic， hardworking Dutch－Americans with the soft living British．The St．Nicholas described in Irving's Knickerbocker History was not the traditional serious holy saint who protectedtravelers and rewarded good children．Instead he was very muchlike the Dutch immigrants —a happy，fat little man，but ridingthrough the air in a sleigh pulled by reindeer．And this description of a smiling，jolly，mischievous little man became themodel for what is today's most famous St．Nicholas story．

There is one famous poem about St．Nicholas written by Dr．Clement Clark Moore to his children．He read it to them on De- cember nd，．One of his visitors that night liked the poemso much that he copied it down and had the poem published at Christmastime the next year，，in a small newspaper．Soonthe poem was being printed all over America at Christmas．Dr．Moore called his poem “A Visit from St．Nicholas”，but it soonbecame known by its first line，“’T“was the night before Christmas．”The St．Nicholas described in the poem was WashingtonIrving's same tiny，jolly，mischievous，chubby little man ridingacross the sky in his gift—filled sleigh pulled by eight equallytiny，little reindeer．

8．欧文笔下的圣·尼古拉

为了支持美国革命，美国作家华盛顿·欧文使用了荷兰的圣·尼古拉来将爱国而又自强不息的美籍荷兰人与娇气的英国人作了对比。欧文的《荷兰移民后裔的历史》一书中所描述的圣·尼古拉不是传统上严肃的保护旅行者，奖励好孩子的圣徒。相反，他非常象荷兰移民——一个快乐而又胖乎乎的小个子驾着驯鹿拉的雪橇驶过天空。对这个面带微笑、快乐而又淘气的小个子的描述后来成了现在最著名的圣·尼古拉故事中圣诞老人的样子。

有一首关于圣·尼古拉的很著名的诗是由克莱门特·克拉克·摩尔博士写给他的孩子们的。他把诗在年月日那一日读给他的孩子们。那天晚上的一位来访者非常喜欢这首诗，他抄录下来，并在第二年，即年圣诞节期间在一家小报上发表出来。很快这首诗就在圣诞节时在全美国印刷出来。摩尔博士给他的诗起名“圣·尼古拉来访”，但很快这首诗就以其第一行“那是圣诞前夜”而闻名遐迩。这首诗里描述的圣·尼古拉与华盛顿·欧文描述的一样是一个身材矮小、快乐、淘气而又胖乎乎的小个子，驾着他那装满礼物的、由八个身材同样矮小的驯鹿拉着的雪橇驶过天空。