"The Little Old Print Shop"

In the early 1900s lived a humble old man, a printer named Nikolai. The townspeople occasionally came to him, requesting things like circulars, cards, and wedding invitations. Old Nikolai was proud because of the fact he owned one of the first printing shops in the city of Saint Petersburg, which was founded by Peter the Great. Nikolai wasn't rich by any means, yet he was still delighted because he had a deep passion for printing verses from the Bible. However, printing religious material was considered a crime during the Bolshevik Revolutionary War. Despite the dangers he might endure, the printer continued to publish the verses and stories he had grown to love the most. Soon enough, he was caught and jailed, and little old Nikolai's fate was sealed for the crimes committed against the State. He was later condemned and sent to the gallows, executed for printing about God's love. But his spirit lived on in that old printing shop, even years after it was closed down. Before going to the gallows, the old printer prayed for his city, people, and land. "I don't pray for myself, Saint Peter. I hope our Lord lets you hear my plea. I pray that freedom will one day return to this wondrous beautiful land and that one day this old magestic city bears your name once again." During those years of strict regime rule, the city was renamed Leningrad to honor the wit and father of the revolutionary age calling for hate and for war. But many men and women of goodwill grew intense with each passing day and still remember the old printer's prayer. And in 1991, the town was renamed Saint Petersburg after the fall of that ruthless regime. The old print shop is gone, closed down, kaputt now many years have passed. But the spirit of that little old printer who dared to print the stories of truth, love, and freedom lived on, and his prayer for liberty came true. And some still alive in that old part of town where that little old print shop once stood, say on a clear, quiet night; if you really try hard, you can still hear him printing away the stories that a little boy once heard, an old hero that almost nobody knew named Nikolai published one day.