The Last New Year

Once there was an old woman who lived all alone in a little house. She had no children and her husband and all her relatives had long since passed on and one December, because it was her time to go, death came to knock upon her door.

 

But then, when she opened the door, before Death could introduce himself, she said to him,

 

“I’m just having dinner, please come in and have some with me”.

 

And so death sat down at her kitchen table and the food that the old woman gave him to eat was so delicious that he couldn’t help eating two helpings of it but then, after he had eaten the second plateful of food he started to introduce himself.

 

“Wait”, said the old woman, before he could finish his sentence, “You have not had desert yet”.

 

Then, taking his plate away, the old woman started to serve him up a plate of the most delicious pudding and it tasted so nice that, again, Death could not stop himself having two helpings.

 

But then, after death had finished his second helping of pudding, suddenly, he started to feel very guilty.

 

“The old woman has been so nice to me”, he thought, “It just wouldn’t be right for me to repay her by telling her she is going to die”.

 

But Death didn’t have any option about not taking the old woman’s life for she was so old she could not live too much longer.

 

So death asked the woman,

 

“What is it that you most wish for?”.

 

“To see my husband and all my family again”, she said, “I’m so lonely living on my own and I miss them so much”.

 

And so, thanking her for her kindness, Death made an excuse and then he left.

 

But then, a few days later, on New Year’s Eve, the woman was making dinner again when she heard another knock at the door and opening the door, she saw her late husband standing in the doorway, not looking like a corpse or a ghost but just as he had before he had died.

 

The old woman could not believe her eyes but then her husband, kissing her, told her,

 

“I’m only the first, there’ll be four other guests along in a minute”.

 

So then the old woman put down a plate and served her husband dinner and as she did, she wondered who else could be coming.

 

But then there was another knock at the door and this time it was her departed sister and brother who she saw standing outside so she invited them to come in and served up dinner for them as well.

 

And she was so happy seeing her husband and her brother and sister again that she almost felt like crying,

 

“I haven’t been as happy as this in a long time”, she said.

 

But then, for a third time, the old woman heard a knock at the door and, opening the door, she saw her mother and father and she welcomed them in as well and gave them dinner.

 

And they all celebrated New Year’s Eve together, singing Auld Lang Syne and the woman danced with her husband just as she had when they were both young but then, after midnight, when the bells had rung they all had to leave again and the old woman started to feel sad.

 

“Don’t go”, she said, “Please”.

 

“We have to go, I’m afraid”, said her husband, “We were only allowed to come back for a short time, to visit you”.

 

“Then can’t you take me with you?”, asked the old woman.

 

“But you are coming with us”, said her husband, taking her hand.

 

Then, feeling tired, the old woman closed her eyes and went to sleep for the final time and, when she opened them again, she was still holding her husband’s hand but they were standing in paradise.