The legend of the Christmas gift giver has been around for centuries. Yet the first images of Santa Claus looks little like the Santa we know today.

This most popular folktale concerning St. Nicholas says he offered to help a poor father and his three daughters, who seemed destined to a life of either servitude or prostitution, the Catholic Insight reports. However, as accepting charity publicly was considered dishonorable in that time, Nicholas went to the family's home three different times to leave gold at their home so the father could pay his daughters' dowries while sparing them the shame of accepting the charity.