One winter night, Nicholas was walking along the streets of Patara. He heard some voices as he was passing by a house. The window was half open so he peeped in and eavesdropped out of curiosity. He saw a father with his three daughters inside. The girls were too poor to get married as there was a tradition of presenting a dowry to the bridegroom. The three of them were discussing what to do. One of them suggested to offer herself at the slave market. This would enable the other two to get married. On hearing this, Nicholas climbed the roof...

Myra, was a lively port town.
Ships from Egypt, Lebanon and Syria anchored in Myra before setting off to Istanbul, Sicily, Rome and Venice. They were loaded with olive oil, wine, barley, wheat and spices. Some were transporting precious goods and vases. The goods were auctioned after being discharged at the port. In the meanwhile, the customers were bargaining with the sellers. One could meet people of diffrent nationalities and hear a multitude of languages in the port. The crew used to take to streets of the town after the discharge of the cargo and get drunk in the taverns. Some of them told about...

Myra suffered a terrible drought at one time. It didn't rain for months. The earth scorched and the crops dried. A famine followed this. People and animals died of starvation and dehydration. A ship full of wheat anchored in the port of Myra just at that time. The people were very relieved as they supposed that the ship was there to help them. They went for wheat. But the captain told them that he was taking the wheat to Istanbul and if some of it went missing he would be punished by the emperor. Father Christmas acted as a mediator and asked...