Charles Dickens

A CHRISTMAS CAROL
(readapted from Richmond Readers)
Part 1
A young man walks into an office in London. Over the door are the words SCROOGE and
MARLEY. Mr. Scrooge is the young man’s uncle. All the people in London know
Mr.Scrooge. He is very rich but also very mean. He only likes money! Mr. Marley is
dead.
´Good morning Uncle. Merry Christmas`
`Pardon? Merry Christmas?
`Yes, Uncle. Tomorrow is Christmas Day’
`I don’t like Christmas’, says Scrooge, ‘people spend money at Christmas. I hate
spending money!`
‘Come and have dinner with us tomorrow’, says Scrooge’s nephew.
‘No’, Scrooge answers.
‘But it’s Christmas’, the young man insists.
‘ Bah! Humbug! I don’t want to be all the day singing and dancing like an idiot’, says
Scrooge.
‘Very well, Uncle’, and the young man goes out.

In the corner of the office there is a man working. He is Bob Cratchit, Mr.Scrooge’s
clerk. Bob Cratchit is a very nice person. He has a big family and works a lot.
Mr.Scrooges pays him little money. He is very cold because old Scrooge doesn’t buy
much wood for the fire. He is wearing a coat, a scarf and a pair of gloves!
At six o’clock Bob Cratchit goes to Mr. Scrooge.
‘Excuse me, sir. Tomorrow is Christmas Day, can I stay at home with my family?’
‘Stay at home,’ Mr Scrooge shouts. ‘I don’t pay you to stay at home!’
‘But it is Christmas,’ Cratchit says.
‘Very well’, says Scrooge, ‘but you must work more hours on Boxing Day!’
‘Yes, sir, Merry Christmas, sir’
‘Get out,’ shouts Scrooge. ‘Christmas! Everybody talks about Christmas! It’s only an
excuse not work. People want money for doing nothing!
Scrooge puts on his hat and coat and leaves the office.
Part 2
It is Christmas Eve and everyone is shopping. They buy decorations for the tree and
things to eat. On his way home, Scrooge meets two men.
‘Good evening, Mr. Scrooge. Can you give some money for the poor people?’
‘No,’ says Scrooge
‘But it’s Christmas,’ say the men.
‘ I haven’t got money to give people who don’t want to work,’ says Scrooge. ‘At
Christmas or at any other time. Good evening, gentlemen.’
They watch Scrooge walk away.
‘It’s terrible.’ Say the men ‘Scrooge has so much money but he never helps the poor.’
It’s snowing and almost dark when Scrooge arrives home. He takes his key out of his
pocket to open the door, and stops! On the door is a face. It is Marley’s face! The man
who worked with him and now is dead. The face is very white and the eyes look at
Scrooge, then it disappears.
‘Oh dear,’ thinks Scrooge. ‘I’m very tired.’
In the house Scrooge locks the door once, twice, three times! Scrooge keeps all his
money in the house, under the mattress. He doesn’t like banks.
Mr. Scrooge sits down and eats his soup. Then, he hears a noise. A terrible noise! The
door opens. Scrooge is very afraid. It’s Marley! He has chains on his feet and on his
arms.
‘Is that you, Marley?’ asks Scrooge. ‘What do you want?’ Why are you there?’
‘I want to help you,’ says Marley.
‘I don’t need your help’, answers Scrooge.
‘Do as I say,’ says the ghost.
‘I visit many people I knew when I was alive. I must help them or I will have these
chains for eternity. Three Spirits will visit you tonight. The first one will come at one
o’clock. Be ready!’
Marley’s ghost goes out of the window.
‘Humbug,’ says Mr. Scrooge.
Part 3
Scrooge goes to sleep, but at one o’clock he wakes up. There is a man near the bed!
Scrooge is very frightened.
`Who are you? What do you want?’
‘I am the Spirit of Christmas Past. YOUR past, Scrooge. Now come with me.’
‘No thank you,’ says Scrooge. ‘It’s very cold outside.
‘Do you remember your friend Marley?’ asks the Spirit.
‘Of course, I do. He was here a few hours ago.’
‘Well, if you don’t come with me you will be like him when you die.’, says the Spirit.’
Close your eyes.’
‘I am dreaming,’ says Scrooge and closes his eyes.
‘Open your eyes’, says the Spirit.
‘Oh dear,’ says Scrooge, ‘are you still here?’
‘Do you know this town?’ asks the Spirit.
‘Of course, I do, I lived here. Look, there’s the butcher. It’s Christmas. Look at all those
turkeys. And there’s Mr.Brown the baker’.
‘Yes,’ says the Spirit. ‘It’s another Christmas.’
Now they are in a school room. In a corner there is one boy alone. All the other children
are at home for Christmas.
‘Do you know that boy over there with no friends?’
‘Yes, that is me. I was always alone’. ‘There is my sister,’ continues Scrooge. ‘She was
the only person who visited me or loved me. She’s dead. I have no family now’.
‘You have your sister’s son, your nephew’, says the Spirit.
Scrooge doesn’t answer
The Spirit takes Scrooge to a party in a different town.
‘I worked here, look, there’s my dear friend Dick. We shared a flat. Hello, Dick, Hello,
Mr.Fezziwig, it’s me Ebenezer.’
‘They can’t hear or see you,’ says the Spirit.
‘They are all happy, aren’t they?’ asks Scrooge. ‘We all loved Mr. Fezziwig’.
‘It’s nice to be loved, don’t you think so?’ says the Spirit.
Part 4
DING, DONG, DING, DONG.
‘What’s that?’ cries Scrooge. ‘The clock, it’s the clock. I’m in bed. It was a dream. No, a
nightmare!’
‘No,’ says a voice, ‘not a dream.’
‘Not again,’ says Scrooge. ‘Who are you?’
‘I am the Spirit of Christmas Present. Come with me’.
The Spirit takes Scrooge to a house.
‘This is Bob Cratchit’s house,’ says Scrooge. ‘He has got a lot of children! That little boy
can’t walk. You are a Spirit, can you do anything for him?’
‘I can’t do anything,’ says the Spirit. ‘And he will die because they haven’t got money
to pay a doctor.’
‘I pay him a good salary,’ says Scrooge, ‘He can pay a doctor’.
‘Doctors are not expensive for you, but they are for him,’ answers the Spirit.
Mrs. Cratchit is laying the table and the children are helping. The little boy is at the
window.
‘Here’s Daddy,’ he cries.
The door opens and Bob Cratchit comes in and picks the little boy up.
‘Hello Tiny Tim, and how are you?’
‘I’m fine, Daddy.’
‘Dinner’s ready,’ calls Mrs.Cratchit.
‘What a fantastic turkey!’ says Tiny Tim
‘That’s not a turkey,’ says Scrooge. ‘It’s a pigeon! Look how small it is!’
‘They haven’t got money for a bigger turkey’, says the Spirit.
‘Oh look,’ says a little girl, ‘Christmas pudding! Is there a surprise inside?’
‘Of course, there is,’ answers the mother.
All the family sits down to have dinner. The children are chatting.
'What a gorgeous dinner,' they say.
'Can we start'?
'First, we will drink a toast to everyone,' says Bob Cratchit.
'Yes,' shouts all the family.
'Including Mr. Scrooge.'
'No, never,' says Mrs. Cratchit.
'He's horrible and unkind,' shout the children.
'Come, come,' says Bob Cratchit, 'It's Christmas.'
'Very well,' says the family.
'Merry Christmas to everyone including the miserable old Scrooge!'
'Charming family,' says Scrooge.
Part 5
The Spirit takes Scrooge to another house.
'This is my nephew's house and that's his wife. Pretty woman, isn't she?
'You don't know her, do you?' asks the Spirit.
'No, I never go to their house for dinner'.
'Listen to them,' says the Spirit.
'I asked my uncle to come to dinner but as usual he was very busy. Busy on Christmas
Day. Ridiculous,' says Fred, Scrooge's nephew.
'I'm sorry for Uncle Scrooge,' says Fred's wife. 'all that money and no friends. Nobody
loves him.'
The Spirit and Scrooge visit many houses. Big and small houses. Rich and poor families.
But in every house the people are very happy!
'Stop, stop,' cries Scrooge. 'I'm tired, I want to go to bed. I give my word I will think
about Christmas next year. Please, take me home now. Spirit, Spirit, where are you?'
The Spirit isn't there.
It is dark and Scrooge is alone. He sees a person dressed in black.
'Are you the Spirit of Christmas to come?' asks Scrooge.
The Spirit doesn't speak. It points to a group of people. The people are talking.
'Is he dead?' asks one man.
'Yes. No-one will cry for him,' says another.
'He was a horrible, unkind man. He never gave money to us poor people. He wasn't a
happy man'.
'Who is dead?' asks Scrooge.
The Spirit points down. It is a grave. There are no flowers and no people there.
'Who is it?' asks Scrooge nerviously.
The Spirit points again.
'No, I don't want to look, I want to go home.'
However, the Spirit doesn't move. Scrooge rubs the snow away very slowly. On the
grave are the words EBENEZER SCROOGE.
Part 6
It is morning. Christmas morning. Scrooge is in bed!
'I'm alive, I'm alive, how wonderful!'
He jumps out of bed, singing and dancing he goes around the room.
'What a beautiful day! I love Christmas. I love everybody.'
He goes to the butcher's and says:
'Take the biggest turkey you have to Bob Cratchit's house.'
He goes to the florist's and says:
'Take these beautiful flowers to my nephew's house. They are for his wife!'
Scrooge meets the two men collecting money for the poor.
'Please take this,' says Scrooge to the men and gave them a big sum of money for the
poor. From that Christmas Scrooge became a new man. He now helps the poor and is
kind to everyone.
Bob Cratchit's son didn't die. Scrooge paid for his doctors.
Scrooge is a happy man and everybody loves him.