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dl_ldws. :D
surprisedThe time of the "reindeer games" comes, and the now-yearling fauns come out to demonstrate their skill. Rudolph comes, wearing an artificial nose cover his father has devised for him. Here Rudolph meets Clarice, the first deer of his own age ever to treat him with kindness, perfect acceptance, and consistent loyalty. He falls for her almost instantly. During the actual games, he prove himself a better flyer than any other young buck present, but in a friendly scuffle his nosepiece falls off, and his 'defect' is revealed. He becomes instantly an object of horror and ridicule, not only by his peers but by the adults as well (Santa, the young reindeer 'coach', and his own father, to whom Santa says "You ought to be ashamed"--apparently meaning for not more carefully hiding Rudolph's 'defect' or for not finding a way to eliminate it.
Rudolph, in humiliation and despair, runs away. Clarice follows him a short distance, but her father finds her and orders her back home, and threatens Rudolph never to come near her {"No daughter of mine is going to be seen with a---with a---red-nosed reindeer!"}. At this lowest point, suddenly out of a neighboring snowbank pops Hermy. They both soon discover their commonality of rejection for their differences, and decide to go off into the world and be "in-de-PEN-dent!" together, and go forth to seek "fame and fortune".
The narrator relates that, somehow, they managed to survive the first night.
Fortunately, they then met Yukon Cornelius, the {self-proclaimed} greatest prospector in the North. He tells them they are coming along with him, but before they've gone far, they are accosted by the Abominable Snowman of the North, a giant albino gorilla-like creature who keeps stalking Rudolph because he is attracted by his glowing nose. They run until trapped up again the waters of the Artic Ocean, and at the last minute Yukon saves them all by hacking off the ice shelf on which they are standing, turning it into a floating raft. He calmly tells the other two to watch--that he knows a secret about "Bumble", as he calls the Abominable, that no one else knows, and as they watch, the creature attempts to follow them but sinks immediately below the waters. Yukon gloatingly relates his knowledge that Bumbles can't swim, as they watch the beast scramble back onto the ice opposite them and roar at them vainly.
They float away on their little raft, until it lands on an island. They are amazed to see a flying lion above them in the dawn light, heading toward a castle in the distance. As they watch him, they are accosted by a jack-in-the-box sentry, who explains to them that this is the Island of Misfit Toys, and the creature they had seen was King Moonracer, who every night searched the whole earth to find any toys that were unwanted and unloved, and brought them to the Island to stay until they should find a home where they could be loved again. Rudolph and Hermy go before the King, and request asylum because they themselves are misfits, and are told that the island is for toys alone. It is at this point that Yukon exclaims, "Well, how d'ya like that! Even among misfits, you're misfits!" The King explains that, unlike toys, living creatures cannot hide themselves away on an island. But, he allows them to stay the night, and asks their help if they should ever return to Christmastown--to ask Santa to come to the Island to pick up the toys and find homes for them. Rudolph promises to do so, "if and when we ever return".
That night, the three have an argument. Rudolph is adamant that he must go on alone, that his presence endangers the other two, because it is he the Abominable Snowman is after. His loyal friends refuse, equally determined that they will stay together. Unable to bear becoming the cause of harm to his friends, Rudolph sneaks out alone during the night, returns to the little ice-raft, and heads back across the sea toward land.
Scenes are shown of time passing, and of Rudolph growing up. He finally decides to return to Christmastown, and when he does, he is immediately accosted by the former bullies who tormented him in his youth. Though angry, he ignores them, and runs home to seek his parents, only to learn from Santa that "they're gone, Rudolph--they've been gone for months, searching for you." He vows to find them.
The first place he looks is the cave of the Abominable, and indeed there he finds them captive--not only his parents but Clarice as well. He attempts to fight the Snow Monster, but is handily brought down by a blow to the head. As he lies unconscious, his friends Yukon and Hermy (who have been seeking him ever since he left them) find him. Hermy is terrified, but Yukon calmly comes up with a strategy to lure the Snow Monster out of his cave and incapacitate him so that they can defeat him. The plan works, and Rudolph, his parents, and Clarice are liberated. They start to leave, when the Monster appears again, roaring in the mouth of his cave. Hermy walks between his legs into the cave, telling them to ignore the beast and walk right past him--for he has pulled ALL its teeth! Yukon laughs uproariously at how the beast has been brought low, and begins teasing him, scaring him to make him walk backwards. However, he does not realize that just behind the Snow Monster the land falls away in a dizzying precipice. To the onlookers' horror, both Yukon and the beast go over the edge, and the others give them up as lost.
They return somberly to Christmastown, where their reappearnce and the story of Rudolph's wanderings and adventures with Hermy and Yukon seem to make others have a change of heart, and everyone from his former tormentors to Santa, and even his own father, apologize to Rudolph for their former treatment of him. The head elf also apologizes to Hermy, and allows him to practice dentritry in the castle. At that moment, a loud knock sounds on the door, and a hearty voice cries: "Open up! 'Tisn't a fit night out for man nor beast!" The door is opened, and Yukon Cornelius marches gaily in, holding a lead rope, and announces, "Here's the man!", then, pulling on the rope, reveals the Abominable Snowman behind him on a leash, and cries, "And here's the beast!" To Rudolph's astonished inquiries as to how he survived, he replies archly, "Didn't I ever tell ya about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce!"
Suddenly, Santa enters the room, obviously distraught. He has just heard the weather reports, that the titanic blizzard which has not only the North Pole but most of the Northern Hemisphere in its grip will not slacken before Christmas, and that he cannot get through it. He has to interrupt his announcement several times to ask Rudolph to tone down the bright glowing of his nose, when suddently Santa starts and cries, "That...nose! Rudolph! Christmas is NOT cancelled! And I want YOU to lead my team!" Santa goes on to explain that the light of Rudolph's nose will cut through the murkiest night, and asks him humbly {in a direct quote from the song}, "Rudolph, with your nose so bright---won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" There is a dead hush while everyone awaits Rudolph's answer, until he says, "It would be an honor, sir!", and the hall of the castle erupts in cheers.
With Rudolph in the lead, the sleigh heads out, first for the Island of Misfit Toys, then out over the world to deliver Christmas toys to the children, with the verses of Johnny Marks song being sung by Burl Ives in the background.)
determined
bouncy