An image of this Demon filled with sweets, is given as a present
     on the feast of St. Nicholas which inaugurates the Christmas
     season.--Translators' Note.

December 1st. We are giving everyone of the staff a Krampus, each of
us is to subscribe a crown, I hope Father will give me the crown extra.
Perhaps he'll give us more pocket money now, at least another crown,
that would be splendid. We are going to give big Krampuses to the ones
we like best, and: small ones to those we are not so fond of. We're
afraid to give one to Professor J. But if he doesn't get one perhaps
he'll be offended.

December 2nd. To-day we went to buy Krampuses for the staff. The one for
Frau Doktor M. is the finest. When you open it the first thing you see
is little books with Schiller, Goethe, and Fairy Tales written on the
backs, and then underneath these are the sweets. That's exactly suited
for her, for the Frau Doktor teaches German and in the Fourth in German
they are reading these poets. Last month in the Fourth they had a
Schiller festival and Frau Doktor made a splendid speech and some of
the girls gave recitations. Besides Hella has shown me an awful poem by
Schiller. There you can read: if only I could catch her in the bath, she
would cry for mercy, for I would soon show the girl that I am a man. And
then in another place: "To my mate in God's likeness I can show _that_
which is the source of life." But you can only find that in the _large_
editions of Schiller. I believe we've got some books of that sort in
our bookcase, for when Inspee was rummaging there the other day Mother
called from the next room: "Dora, what are you hunting for in the
bookcase? I can tell you where it is." And she said: Oh, it's nothing, I
was just looking for something, and shut the door quickly.

December 4th. The girls are so tiresome and have made such a muddle
about the Krampuses for the staff. The money didn't come out right and
Keller said that Markus had taken some but Markus said not taken only
kept. Of course Markus complained to Frau Doktor and her father went to
the head and complained too. Frau Doktor said we know quite well that
collections are not allowed and that we must not give any one a Krampus.
Now Keller has the five Krampuses and we don't know what to do about it.
Mother says that sort of thing never turns out well but always ends in a
quarrel.

December 5th. We are in such a funk: Hella and I and Edith Bergler have
taken the Krampus which we bought for Frau Doktor M. and put it on her
doorstep. Edith Bergler knew where she lived for she comes by there
every day on her way to school. I wonder if she'll guess where the
Krampus comes from. I did not know that Edith Bergler was such a
nice girl, I always thought she must be deceitful because she wears
spectacles. But now I'm quite certain she is not deceitful, so one sees
how easy it is to make a mistake. To-morrow's our German lesson.

December 6th. Frau Doktor did not say anything at first. Then she gave
out the subject for the essay: "Why once I could not go to sleep at
night." The girls were all taken aback, and then Frau Doktor said:
Now girls that's not so very difficult. One person cannot go to sleep
because he's just going to be ill, another because he is excited by joy
or fear. Another has an uneasy conscience because he has done something
which he has been forbidden to do; have not all of you experienced
something of the kind? Then she looked frightfully hard at Edith Bergler
and us two. She did not say anything more, so we don't really know if
she suspects. I couldn't go to the ice carnival yesterday because I
had such a bad cough, and Dora couldn't go either because she had a
headache; I don't know whether it was a real headache or _that kind_ of
headache; but I expect it was that kind.

December 17th. I haven't managed to write anything for a whole week.
The day before yesterday we had our Christmas reports: In history I had
satisfactory, in Natural History good, in everything else very good. In
diligence because of that stupid Vischer I had only a 2. Father was very
angry; he says everyone can get a 1 in diligence. That's true enough,
but if one has satisfactory in anything then one can't get a 1 for
diligence. Inspee of course had only 1's, except a 2 in English. But
then she's a frightful swot. Verbenowitsch is the best in our class, but
we can't any of us bear her, she's so frantically conceited and Berta
Franke says she's _not to be trusted_. Berta walks to school with her
cousin who's in the seventh; she's nearly 14, and is awfully pretty. She
didn't say what sort of a report she had, but I believe it was a very
bad one.

December 18th. To-day at supper Dora fainted because she found a little
chicken in her egg, not really a chicken yet, but one could make out
the wings and the head, just a sketch of a chicken Father said. Still,
I really can't see what there was to faint about. Afterwards she said it
had made her feel quite creepy. And she'll never be able to eat another
egg. At first Father was quite frightened and so was Mother, but then he
laughed and said: What a fuss about nothing! She had to go and lie down
at once and I stayed downstairs for a long time. When I came up to our
room she was reading, that is I saw the light through the crack in the
door; but when I opened the door it was all dark and when I asked: Ah so
you're still reading she didn't answer and she pretended to wake up when
I switched on the light and said: What's the matter? I can't stand such
humbug so I said: Shut up, you know quite well it's 9 o-clock. That's
all. On our way to school to-day we didn't Speak a word to one another.
Luckily after awhile we met a girl belonging to her class.

December 19th. I'm frightfully excited to know what I'm going to get for
Christmas. What I've wished for is: A set of white furs, boa, muff,
and velvet cap trimmed with the same fur, acme skates because mine are
always working loose, _German_ sagas, not Greek; no thank you, hair
ribbons, openwork stockings, and if possible a gold pin like the one
Hella got for a birthday present. But Father says that our Christ Child
would find that rather too expensive. Inspee wants a corset. But I don't