Once upon a time, a partridge in a pear tree lived in a castle on the far side of Edinburgh with two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five golden rings, six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming, eight maids a-milking, nine ladies dancing, ten lords a-leaping, eleven pipers piping, and twelve drummers drumming.
A long time ago in a Christmas Eve winter snowstorm, the partridge had been delivered to the doorstep of the magical castle in Edinburgh as gifts to the Scottish people by Father Christmas. The castle was owned by Father Christmas and used as one of his many second homes when travelling throughout the world. He wished that the Scottish people would have lasting love through the dark winter season.
As long as the enchanted troupe lived in the castle, the partridge was under strict orders from Father Christmas to organize the troop every year to spread true love from December 25th through January 6th. If the presents didn’t do their job, Father Christmas said he would disband them.
Thanks to the chirping of the partridge, many of the locals had caught word of the assignment that Father Christmas had given them and showed up on their doorstep every time they had a romantic dilemma.
The majority of the year the partridge and the other gifts would receive and organize letters from the Scottish people in search of eternal love and solutions during the Christmas season. The yuletide emissaries themselves had become a symbol of romance and love. They had received abundant requests to travel all over Scotland as gifts, to bring hope to waning romances and doubting hearts. The partridge did everything she could to help the people have a profound realization about true love by January 6th, which was also known as Epiphany.
However, after many years of attempting to orchestrate great love stories, the gifts had given up, or rather, the Scots had given up on the twelve gifts and stopped writing them for help. With many failed attempts to bring everlasting love at Christmas, the partridge knew that Father Christmas had also lost faith in them. If they soon didn’t have more successes, the partridge feared he would split them up and send them off to different owners as gifts.
Then, the partridge would miss the beautiful castle and all her friends in Edinburgh. She loved sitting by its fireplace that told magical stories with its embers. She would miss it so much if she had to leave. She looked up at its soaring ceilings with enchanted icicles and floors with polished ice that never melted. The gingerbread staircases with candy cane railings were lovely.
“Do you think that we can really bring true love?” asked the partridge to her other castle companions. She nibbled on a sweet pear in her tree. “The last several times we tried; it didn’t go very well, and all of Scotland knows it.”
Despite her doubts, she opened a recent piece of mail that sat on the dining room table. As she read it, she hoped that she and her friends could pull it together and show everyone that they could still be the twelve gifts of pure love at Christmas.
“This letter sounds desperate,” she told the group of gifts, as they sat around the long table in the castle.
To Whom It May Concern,
I’m desperate to find true love. I am lonely and have no family. I’ve heard that Father Christmas gave you to the Scots to bring us love at Christmas. If you could please lend me your magic powers and help me find true love this year, I would be ever so grateful. I have a certain lady in mind named Isla Campbell. I once met her at a Hogmanay celebration, and I never forgot her. Please help me win her over. I still believe in true love and hope you do as well. Thank you very much indeed.
Yours truly, Brodie Brown
As the partridge passed the letter around the table for the gifts to read, the drafty room fell silent. The gifts nodded their heads and shrugged their shoulders. The partridge felt a bit nervous. She realized that the person who wrote the letter really believed that the gifts had the answers to his love life. She knew the troop would need a lot of preparation.
A few of the previous disasters stood out in the partridge’s mind, like the time the two turtle doves tried to have two people kiss by picking them up and flying them toward each other, but they knocked heads and got concussions. Another instance is when the eight maids a-milking made a romantic dinner for a couple, to find out later that the milk was sour, and the people got food poisoning. Even worse, the ten lords a-leaping taught a dance class, but the fiancée of a wealthy landowner broke her ankle. The partridge knew it could only get better.
“We are very much in love,” two turtle doves said to each other with coos. They stroked their feathers. “Maybe we can help this young man after all.”
“Oui, oui,” sang the three French hens. “If lovers listen to us, our accents can make them think of the romance of Paris!”
“I certainly hope so,” the partridge said. “I know you are trying to convince all of us that we can succeed this time.”
“We sing love songs,” the four calling birds said and hummed a tune. “It makes anyone fall in love if they have any musical sense.”
“Our golden rings make real gentlemen think of proposing at Christmas,” the five golden rings said, as they clanked against each other. “We fit so easily on empty fingers.”
“Well, at least if we had one big success this year, then Father Christmas might be proud of us, and let us continue to live in the castle,” the partridge said, as she admired a life-sized floating snow globe across the room with a Christmas scene in it. “I love this place!”
“We have magic in our eggs, and they give you the heart of a child,” the six geese-a-laying said. They squawked and rolled golden eggs from under their wings.
“When we put our necks together, we make hearts,” the seven swans-a-swimming said. They swooned with admiration. “We only ever have one mate for life! Humans are so shallow sometimes.”
“We bake the most delicious cakes with our milk,” explained the eight maids-a-milking. They flipped through their cookbooks. Each maid wore a patterned apron and a plain dress. “I don’t think couples eat proper dinners with desserts together anymore. Sigh.”
“Dancing is the most romantic thing that couples can do together,” said the nine ladies dancing. They kicked their knees up high.
“Leap for joy at the thought of true love!” exclaimed the ten lords-a-leaping.
“Celebrate the love that can be found at Christmas!” said the eleven pipers piping with delight. The traditional Scottish pipe band played their bagpipes in unison.
“True love marches to its own beat!” quipped the twelve drummers drumming.
“Well, maybe we should try again,” the partridge suggested. “I could respond to this kind sir and say that we would be willing to help him. He seems to be stuck on romantic suggestions to win over his lady friend. Everything up until this point must have been practice for us. We are all much wiser now. We have to be able to bring him true love this time!”
“We’ve been stuffed in this castle alone for too long,” agreed the two turtle doves. “We don’t have much to do this year at Christmas anyhow!”
“The world has stopped calling on us to bring true love with Christmas magic,” the three French hens said. “This man is willing to give us another try. We should take him up on it.”
“Then, we will plan to spend Christmas with Brodie Brown,” the partridge said.
The bird knew that it would take a lot of strategizing, but she could not imagine a grander idea at the holidays. Father Christmas believed that the twelve gifts had a special magic, so the partridge thought he must somehow be right. She looked at the wall of magically synchronized ticking clocks in the castle that counted down the minutes until Christmas Eve.
On the eve of Christmas Eve, the partridge and the gifts travelled by train from Edinburgh to the home of Brodie in Inverness in the Highlands with its rolling hills and deep valleys. They arrived at Brodie’s door ready for action.
“Merry Christmas! We’re here early ready for Christmas morning, and we aren’t leaving until you have an epiphany on the 6th,” the partridge said. As the bird knocked on the door, her pear tree sat beside her. Then, the door swung open, and Brodie stared at the gifts with shock. “Show us where to set up! We have lots to do!” she said.
“I thought you wouldn’t be arriving until Christmas morning!” Brodie said. “The place is a mess. Can you help me tidy up a bit? I want to propose to Isla on Christmas day. I’ve asked her to come for brunch at my home.”
“We are at your service,” the partridge said. The gifts filed into his home one at a time. The partridge had never been so excited and had a good feeling in her belly.
When Brodie’s special someone, Isla, arrived at ten o’clock on Christmas morning, the gifts presented themselves one at a time as a symbol of true love. The partridge thought this was the best plan for success.
“Gift one: Please be the partridge in my tree, Isla,” Brodie said. “Gift two: we are like these two doves. Gift three: the hens symbolize our faith, hope, and love.”
“All this for me?” Isla said with a smile. “You have gone to quite some trouble!”
The partridge thought Brodie was certainly off to a good start.
“Four calling birds for always speaking love to each other,” Brodie said. “Five golden rings for commitment.”
“Brodie, you have gone out of your way!” Isla said. “I just thought we were having a brunch.”
The partridge looked at the brunch on the stove in the kitchen and hoped it wasn’t getting cold, but the food was not the point of this special Christmas morning.
“Gift six: geese a-laying for whatever we might dream up together!” Brodie said to Isla. “Gift seven: swans a-swimming to match your grace and elegance. Gift eight: maids a-milking for nurture and care.”
“Are there more gifts?” Isla asked. “Where did you find all this extravagance?”
Mishaps and mistakes had gone by the wayside so far, but the partridge knew the gifts were still not in the clear.
“Nine ladies dancing for joy and fun!” Brodie said. “Ten lords a-leaping for devotion and gallantry! Eleven pipers piping for the music we will make together! Twelve drummers drumming for how our hearts will beat together!”
After the twelve drummers drummed, Brodie got down on one knee.
“Will you marry me?” Brodie asked Isla. Silence filled the room with anticipation.
The partridge could hardly believe her eyes that the presentation had gone so well.
“I’ll think about it, Brodie,” she said. “This is all such a surprise. I’m just not sure that true love exists. I’ve had such bad heartbreak in the past.”
The partridge sighed with a touch of despair, and Brodie seemed disappointed, but at least she didn’t say “no.”
“Please don’t leave until Epiphany,” Brodie said. “You can give me your answer then. We could spend the Twelve Days of Christmas together.”
“Yes, dear, I just need some time to think a bit,” Isla said, as she touched his hand.
Then, the gifts got down to work. The partridge hid love notes for Brodie and Isla underneath their pillows at night. In the morning, the calling birds woke the couple with songs and chirps. The geese delivered breakfast in bed with omelets from their own eggs.
During the day, the turtle doves wrote romantic poetry for them. The gold rings insisted they must be worn. Then, the French hens baked romantic meals like coq au vin and crème brûlée. After dinner, the swans took the couple ice-skating on a frozen Scottish loch. The maids made hot chocolate and ice cream for dessert each night.
The ladies taught the couple how to waltz, while the lords insisted on knightly gestures and deep conversation. At night, the pipers and drummers played their bagpipes and drums under the stars. The gifts made up original songs about Brodie’s romance with Isla.
On the final night, Brodie left Isla a handwritten note on her pillow that told her how much he had always admired her.
My Dearest Isla,
These past twelve days with you have been pure joy.
Please say you will be mine.
I want to spend a lifetime with you.
Your love,
Brodie.
In short, the gifts wooed the couple for twelve days until it became clear that Isla had made her decision. The partridge thought it was like a lightbulb went off in her head by Epiphany. Just like the holiday, she had a spiritual awakening and clarity.
“I will marry you!” Isla said. “I love you! I’ve never had twelve days like this in my life.”
The partridge cried tears of joy with Brodie and Isla. The gifts cheered in celebration. Within hours, the partridge was sure that the rest of the village would know of their success and mail would start pouring into the castle again.
When she looked out the window, she caught a glimpse of Father Christmas in his sleigh with his reindeer. He chuckled and flew off into the sky.
As time went on, the enchanted troupe became so famous that Father Christmas wrote a song called “The Twelve Days of Christmas” about their romantic efforts. The partridge and the gifts found ongoing success with their adventures, and everyone in the world wanted true love at Christmas.
Copyright 2022, 2025 Jennifer Waters
