Long ago, in a country we now know as Czechoslovakia, there lived a good king called Wenceslaus. He was well loved by his subjects because of his kindness and his thought for the poor.

One winter's day on the Feast of St Stephen, which is what we now call Boxing Day, King Wenceslaus was looking out of his palace window. It was bitterly cold and the snow lay thick on the ground. Suddenly he called his page to him and pointed to a bent figure battling his way home through the snow. 'Who is that poor man?' he asked. 'He looks ill-clad for such freezing weather.'

'He is indeed poor, sire,' said the page. 'He lives in a shack near the Fountain of St Agnes. They say he is so poor that he cannot afford to buy the logs for his fire.' The king ordered the page to the palace kitchens. 'Bring me some wine, bread and fruit,' he said, and a bundle of fire wood. We will go together to the Fountain of Saint Agnes to bring the poor man some Christmas cheer.'

It was terribly cold as the king and his page set forth. They had not got far from the palace when the young page began to falter. 'I cannot go on, sire,' he whimpered. 'My feet are so cold that I can no longer feel them, and my hands too.' 'You must go on,' ordered the king severely. 'Think of that poor man who has no food or heat. Follow behind me in my footsteps and you'll find your feet feel warmer.'

It was as the king said. As soon as the page put his small feet into the king's big footprints he felt them tingling and coming to life again. Very soon he was as warm as toast.

As for the poor man the king and his page visited, why he never forgot that Christmas and the kindness of King Wenceslaus in his hour of need.