Schmutzli (Companions of Christmas)
$10.00
One of the SchweizerCraft "Companions of Christmas" series (#Xmas F 27)
Schmutzli was a chimneysweep in Switzerland, and took in many children from the local orphanage. He didn’t do this out of love or charity; he wanted tiny workers to do the dangerous job of going down the slimmest chimneys to remove the soot and coal ash. After a day of blinding, coughing, bruising, burning work, the little children would be sent hungry to sleep on Schmutzli’s cold cellar floor while he used the pay from their labor to feast in comfort.
Knowing that Santa went down chimneys on Christmas eve, the children had the idea to scrawl messages to Santa in chalk on the inside of those chimneys, asking him for simple blankets and a little bit of food.
When Santa visited the children, he flew into a rage at their condition, and he turned on their exploiter.
Schmutzli, terrified, begged for mercy, and was granted it: his character would be redeemed if he would do the hard work that he’d forced upon his wards, cleaning the chimneys through which Santa passed to deliver his gifts so that the saint himself might never reach the bottom covered in soot, as he didn’t want to scare any youngsters who might catch a glimpse of him.
Schmutzli also accompanies Santa on his rounds in Swtizerland, so that he can see the descendents of the kids whose lives he would’ve cut short had it not been for Santa’s intervention (Santa found them all loving homes after freeing them from Schmutzli’s clutches), and be reminded of how much work he has yet to do to make his amends.
1/4” Baltic Birch, roughly 3.9” tall
This figure can be purchased individually here, or with the 2024 Figures set.
Figure comes with a 2.75 x 8.5” card telling his story. The card fits in the story shelf on the Santa’s Workshop DisPlayset.
