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Comic strip · original lettering, 1905
Little Nemo in Slumberland: Santa’s Reindeer
Winsor McCay·New York Herald, 24 December 1905·11 lines
Santa lets Nemo hold the reindeer while he goes down the chimney. The reindeer do not stand. Eleven short lines, almost all of them one word shouted louder each time, and underneath, four hundred words of 1905 newspaper English telling the same story in a completely different voice.
Two levels on one page
The speech balloons are short and plain, about A2. The story printed underneath further down is written newspaper English from 1905 and is a good deal harder. Read the balloons first and stop there if that is enough for today. The rest will still be here.
The harder layer
The story printed underneath
Under every panel the paper ran a line of small type telling the story in words. It is the same evening as the balloons above, told by a grown-up who is enjoying himself, and it is a great deal harder than anything Nemo says. Read the comic first.
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BetaAudio read-along is new, and we’re still fine-tuning the word-by-word timing, so a word may drift now and then.
Little Nemo had waited for Santa Claus until his eyes would not stay open and he fell asleep. Hardly had he done so when he heard the merry jingle of the bells. With flushed face and heart beating high, he arose and scampered upstairs to the roof. Santa Claus was, most surely, coming with the speed of an automobile through the air towards Nemo's home.
The night was cold, but when Santa pulled up, Nemo was as unconcerned about it as if it was Fourth of July. And when Santa told him he might hold the reindeer while Santa went down the chimney, Nemo broke out into a perspiration. It was quite cute in Santa Claus to encourage Nemo to remain on the roof while he should go below and fill the stockings Nemo had hung.
But he is cute in all he does, and besides, Nemo cared nothing about his presents now, when he was to do some slight favor for this famous and kind old man. Here is where our story becomes sad, we regret to say. Just as Santa Claus was disappearing down the chimney, for some reason known only to themselves, the reindeer became scandalously unruly.
Nemo, as we all know, is no coward, but it is difficult for us to imagine him in any other state of mind, while bounding from roof to roof, than one of extreme fright. However, while we are trembling with fear for him, he is busily engaged getting them under control. A large sack of Christmas gifts which awaited distribution in the sleigh was rapidly emptying itself in a manner totally different from what was intended by the old gentleman, who, left many miles behind, was at this moment filling Nemo's stockings at home.
While dolls, drums, bicycles and toys of every description were being scattered in all directions, Nemo was straining every muscle endeavoring to save a few pieces of the sleigh, which was likewise scattering itself throughout the neighborhood. As for the reindeer, they were displaying as little regard for anything attached to them as they were to themselves, and flew madly against anything and everything in sight.
Nemo knew that sooner or later they must dash themselves to pieces if he deserted them, so he hung to the reins desperately until he was forced by circumstances beyond his control to abandon them. His loud yelling aroused his Papa, who came and awoke him in no gentle spirit.
Words light up as they are read aloud. Tap any word to see what it means and add it to your vocabulary list.
About this page
Christmas Eve, 1905. What McCay is really doing here is the two voices: Nemo says almost nothing all page except Whoa, louder and louder and less and less effective, while the caption underneath keeps up a calm, amused, heavily furnished commentary in the manner of a newspaper of the day. The joke is the distance between them. It is also, by accident, the best English lesson on the page: the same event, said in six words by a frightened boy and in sixty by a writer being paid by the line.
Scanned page from the Internet Archive, marked Public Domain Mark 1.0. Published 1905, so copyright has expired everywhere.
Check what you remember
5 quick questions about the page. Scroll up to re-read any time.
Question 1
What wakes Nemo up at the start?
Question 2
What does Santa let Nemo do?
Question 3
The caption says it was quite cute in Santa Claus to encourage Nemo. Here cute means
Question 4
What happens to the sack of presents?
Question 5
How does the dream end?
0 of 5 answered
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