Idol Chatter

When Santa Claus announced his plan to stage "North Pole Idol"--the North Pole version of American Idol--he had expected the elves to be excited about the show. But to his surprise, no one signed up!

"I don't understand it," said Santa. "Elves love to work, and they love to sing, and they love to sing about work. I would have thought they would have jumped at the chance to do this."

"Maybe they're all too shy to sing on stage," said Mrs. Claus.

"What if we just went around and asked some of them to sing?" asked Waldo. "It's hard for an elf to say no."

So Santa, Waldo, and Mrs. Claus went around and asked some elves. But that didn't seem to work:

•Smitty Elf, Santa's Wish List checker, said he wished he could, but couldn't.

•Adamup Elf, Santa's toy counter, said to count him out.

•Toby Elf, the Chief toymaking elf, said he'd toy with the idea.

•Holly Elf, the North Pole's hide-and-seek champion, couldn't be found.

...and so it went. After several fruitless hours, they came upon Twinkle Elf, the smallest and nicest elf at the North Pole.

"Twinkle, can you tell us why no one wants to be North Pole Idol?" asked Santa.

"Oh, heavens!" said Twinkle. "It's because we all like to work!"

"I don't understand," said Mrs. Claus. "You'll still be able to work--it's just a contest!"

Then Waldo started to giggle. "Hey! I think I know the problem!" He went over to the big North Pole Idol sign, and with a magic marker, he made a change to it, so that it read North Pole's Got Talent. "Will you do it now, Twinkle?"

Twinkle Elf looked at the sign. "Oh, yes!" she said. "Where do I sign up?"

"I don't understand," said Santa. "Why did that matter?"

"They're Elves!" said Waldo. "They don't ever want to be idle!"

Who is the most talented Elf at the North Pole? Keep reading The North Pole Times to find out!