How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, every who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch live just north of Whoville did not.

The Grinch hated Christmas the whole Christmas season.

Please don't ask why no one quite knows the reason it could be. His head wasn't screwed on just right. It could be perhaps his shoes were too tight. But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

But whatever the reason is hard or his shoes.

He stood there on Christmas Eve hating the who's staring down from his cave with a sour Grinchy frown the warm lighted windows below in the town, for he knew every who down in Whoville beneath was busy now hanging mistletoe wreath. And they're hanging their stockings. He snarled with a sneer. Tomorrow is Christmas. It's practically here. Then he growled, with his Grinch figures nervously drumming. I must find some way to stop Christmas from coming.

Or tomorrow, you knew all the girls and boys would wake bright and early, they'd rush for their toys and then, oh, the noise, oh, the noise, noise, noise, noise.

That's one thing he hated the noise, noise, noise, noise.

Then the who's young and old would sit down to a feast and they'd feast and they'd feast and they'd feast, feast, feast, feast. They would feast on who pudding and rare who roast beast. Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least.

And then they do something he liked least of all every who down in Whoville, the tall and the small would stand close together with Christmas bells ringing, they'd stand hand in hand and the Jews would start singing. They'd sing and they'd sing. Oh, they'd sing, sing, sing, sing.

And the more the Grinch thought of the Who Christmas sing, the more the Grinch thought, I must stop this whole thing. Why, for fifty three years I've put up with it now I must stop Christmas from coming back. How that he got an idea. An awful idea. The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea. I know just what to do. The Grinch laughed in his throat and he made a quick Santa Claus hat and a coat, and he chuckled and clucked.

What a great Grinchy trick with this coat in this hat, I'll look just like Saint Nick. All I need is a reindeer.

The Grinch looked around, but since reindeer are scarce, there were none to be found. Did that stop the old Grinch? No. The Grinch simply said, If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead. So he called his dog Max. Then he took some red thread and he tied a big horn on the top of his head. Then he loaded some bags and some old empty sacks on a ramshackle sleigh and he hitched up old Max.

Then the Grinch said, Get up. And the sleigh started down toward the homes where the hooves various news in their town. All their windows were dark, quiet, snow filled the air and the Jews were all dreaming sweet dreams without care. When he came to the first little house on the square. This is stop number one, the old Grinchy Claus hissed and he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fist. Then he slid down the chimney around a tight pinch.

But if Santa could do it, then so could the Grinch. He got stuck only once for a moment or two. Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue where the little whose stockings all hung in a row. These stockings, he grinned, are the first things to go. Then he slithered and slunk with a smile most unpleasant around the whole room, and he took every present popguns, bicycles, roller skates, drums, checkerboards, tricycles, popcorn, plums.

And he stuffed them in bags. Then the Grinch veritably stuffed all the bags, one by one up the chimney. Then he slunk to the icebox. He took the whole feast. He took the WHO pudding. He took the roast beast. He cleaned out the icebox as quick as a flash. Why the Grinch even took the last card of who had. Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee.

And now when the Grinch I will stuff up the tree and the Grinch grabbed the tree and he started to shove than he heard a small sound like the COO of a dump.

He turned around fast and saw a small, cool little Cindy Lou, who was not more than two. The Grinch had been caught by this tiny who daughter who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water. She stared at the Grinch and said, Santa Claus, why?

Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why?

But you know, that old Grinch was so smart and so slick, he thought up a lie and he thought it up quick.

Why, my sweet little tart, the fake Santa Claus lied. There's a light on this tree, that moonlight on one side. So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear. I'll fix it up there, then I'll bring it back here. And his fool, the child. Then he patted her head and he got her a drink. And he said her to bed, and when Cindy Lou, who went to bed with her cop, he went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up, then the last thing he took was the log for their fire.

Then he went up the chimney himself, the old liar on their walls. He left nothing but hooks and some water. And the one speck of food that he left in the house was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse.

Then he did the same thing to the other, whose houses leaving crumbs much too small for the other, whose houses it was caught or passed on all the homes still a bed, all the who still to snooze. When he picked up his sled, packed it up with their presents. The ribbons, the wrappings, the rags and the tinsel. The trimmings, the trappings. Three thousand feet up up the side of Mount Krumpet. He rode with his load to the tip top to dump it, pooh poohed the hooves.

He was consciously humming. They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming. They're just waking up. I know just what they all do. Their mouths will hang open a minute or two.

And then the whos down in Whoville will all cry, boo hoo.

That's a noise grin the Grinch that I simply must hear. So he paused and the Grinch put his hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound rising over the snow. It started in the low.

Then it started to grow. But the sound wasn't sad by this sound sounded merry.

It couldn't be so, but it was merry. Very. He stared down at Whoville. The Grinch popped his eyes. Then he shook.

What he saw was a shocking surprise. Every who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, was singing without any presents at all.

He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming.

It came somehow or other it came just the same.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling. How could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled three hours till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more. And what happened then?

Well, in Whoville, they say that the Grinch is small. Heart grew three sizes that day.

And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight, he whizzed with his load through the bright morning light and he brought back the toys and the food for the feast.

And he he himself, the Grinch, carved the roast beast.

Want more holiday cheer from Keith Morrison, head over to the Dateline NBC podcast, wherever you're listening right now and listen to a full Dateline episodes anytime.