Christmas in Camelot
Read Christmas in Camelot Online
Authors: Mary Pope Osborne
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I think you are the real Morgan le Fay. There is always magic in your books.
âErica Y.
One day I was really bored and I didn't want to read â¦Â I looked in your book. I read a sentence, and it was interesting. So I read some more, until the book was done. It was so good I read more and more. Then I had read all of your books, and now I hope you write lots more.
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âM. Payne
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2001 by Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrations copyright © 2001 by Sal Murdocca
Christmas ornament illustration copyright © 2009 by Sal Murdocca
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Random House Children's Books in 2001.
Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks and A Stepping Stone Book and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. Magic Tree House is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.
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The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition of this work as follows:
Osborne, Mary Pope
Christmas in Camelot / by Mary Pope Osborne; illustrated by Sal Murdocca.
p. cm.â(Magic tree house)
“A Merlin mission.”
“A Stepping Stone book.”
Summary: On Christmas Eve, Jack and Annie's tree house transports them to King Arthur's castle at Camelot, where they undertake a quest to the Otherworld.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89452-7
[1. Time travelâFiction. 2. MagicâFiction. 3. Arthur, KingâFiction.
4. ChristmasâFiction. 5. Tree housesâFiction. 6. Brothers and sistersâFiction.]
I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.O81167 Ch 2001 [Fic]âdc21 2001019693
Random House Children's Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.0
For Mallory Loehr,
the
real
Keeper of the Cauldron
     Â
Cover
     Â
Title Page
     Â
Copyright
     Â
Dedication
     Â
Prologue
 Â
3. The Knights of the Round Table
 Â
4. Who Will Go?
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5. Rhymes of the Christmas Knight
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6. A White Comet
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7. A Good Trick
     Â
A Note from the Author
      Special Preview of
Magic Tree House #30:
Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve
O brother, had you known our Camelot,
Built by old kings, age after age, so old
The King himself had fears that it would fall,
So strange, and rich, and dim â¦Â
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Idylls of the King
O
nce upon a time, in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods. A boy named Jack and his sister, Annie, climbed into the tree house. They found that it was filled with books.
Jack and Annie soon discovered that the tree house was magic. It could take them to the places they read about in the books. All they had to do was point to a picture and wish to go there. They discovered that during their adventures, no time at all passed in Frog Creek.
Jack and Annie eventually learned that the tree house belonged to Morgan le Fay, an enchantress from Camelot, the long-ago kingdom of King Arthur. On one of their journeys, Jack and Annie visited Morgan's library in Camelot and brought hope and courage to King Arthur.
Now it is winter. Jack and Annie have not seen Morgan or the magic tree house for many months.â¦Â
S
unlight had faded from the late-afternoon sky. Puffy snow clouds were moving in.
“Let's hurry. I'm cold,” said Jack.
He and Annie were walking home from school. Their Christmas vacation was just beginning.
Coooâcooo.
“Wait,” said Annie. “Look.”
She pointed to a white bird sitting on a bare tree branch at the edge of the woods. The bird was staring straight at them.
“It's a dove,” said Jack.
“It's a messenger,” said Annie, “from Morgan.”
“No,” Jack said, afraid to get his hopes up. They hadn't seen Morgan le Fay in a long time. He really missed her.
“
Yes
,” said Annie. “She has a mission for us. I can feel it.”
In the hush of the cold twilight, the dove spread its wings and flew into the Frog Creek woods.
“Come on!” said Annie. “The tree house is back!”
“You're just hoping!” said Jack.
“I'm
knowing
!” said Annie. She ran into the woods, following the white dove.
“Oh, brother,” said Jack. But he took off after Annie.
Even in the growing darkness, they easily found their way. They zigzagged between the bare trees and ran over the frozen ground until
they came to the tallest oak in the woods.
“See?” said Annie, pointing to the top of the tree.
“Yeah,” whispered Jack.
There it was: the magic tree house.