Notaron, sí, de súbito, una cosa inexplicable y fenomenal. Todas las figurillas del nacimiento se movieron, todas variaron de sitio sin ruido. El coche del tranvía subió a lo alto de los montes y los reyes se metieron de patas en el arroyo. Los pavos se colaron sin permiso dentro del portal, y san José salió todo turbado, cual si quisiera saber el origen de tan rara confusión. Después, muchas figuras quedaron tendidas en el suelo. Si al principio las traslaciones se hicieron sin desorden, después se armó una barahúnda tal que parecían andar por allí cien mil manos afanosas de revolverlo todo. Era un cataclismo universal en miniatura. El monte se venía abajo, faltándole sus cimientos seculares; el riachuelo variaba de curso y, echando fuera del cauce sus espejillos, inundaba espantosamente la llanura; las casas hundían el tejado en la arena; el portal se estremecía cual si fuera combatido de horribles vientos, y como se apagaron muchas luces, resultó nublado el sol y oscurecidas las luminarias del día y de la noche.
What they did see, however, was phenomenal and inexplicable enough in itself. All the figures of the Bethlehem manger began to move; they were all very quietly being changed around. The tram-car made an ascension to the very pinnacle of the mountain; and the Magi walked straight into the river on all fours. The turkeys passed under the arch and entered the stable without saying by your leave; and Saint Joseph stepped out in a state of perplexity, trying to make out what could be the cause of such extraordinary confusion. Then a number of figures were very coolly tumbled off on the floor. At first they had been moved about very carefully, but suddenly there was a great stir, then a perfect hurly-burly, in which a hundred thousand busy hands seemed eager to turn everything topsy-turvy. It was a miniature of the universal cataclysm. Its secular cement giving way, the mountain was levelled ; the river changed its course ; and scattering the broken bits of mirror from its bed, it overflowed the plain disastrously. The very roofs of the cottages were sunken in the sand. The Roman arch trembled as though it were beaten by fierce winds; and as a number of little lights went out, the sun was obscured, and so were the luminaries of the night.