Once, twice, thrice nodded Marmaduke's head.
The red flames of the fire kept dancing, dancing all the time. Very bright
looked the little sleigh at the foot of the bed, very brave the tiny
reindeer.
But look! Something moved--just a little.
The "nigh" little reindeer was stamping his foot and tossing his antlers.
And the other little reindeer tossed his horns and stamped his foot too.
On their backs the sleigh-bells jingled, merrily like fairy bells.
The red and blue sleigh moved a little--just a little.
It began to slide slowly, over the comforter.
Marmaduke was worried. He didn't want the pretty sleigh and the reindeer to
run away. He might never see them again.
"Wait!" he shouted.
"Whoa--you villains!" It was a strange little voice that ordered the
reindeer.
The red and blue sleigh stopped short.
Marmaduke rubbed his eyes.
The strange little voice spoke again.
"Jump in," it said.
And there in the front seat of the toy sleigh sat a funny little chap,
about as big as the Toyman's thumb--no bigger. He wore a pointed cap that
shone like tinsel on a Christmas tree. He wore a white coat that sparkled
too.
"Who are you?" asked the little sick boy. "That's _my_ sleigh. You
shan't run off with it."
And the funny voice under the white cap answered.
"Jump in, then, and take a ride."
"Tell me who you are, first," Marmaduke insisted.
"My name's Jack."
"Jack what?"
"Jack Frost--you ought to know _that_!"
Tinkle, tinkle went the bells The reindeer lifted their hoofs higher and
pawed at the comforter. They shook their antlers impatiently. The little
driver jumped up and down in the seat as if he were sitting on pins and
needles.
More worried than ever was Marmaduke.
"How can I get in that sleigh?" he asked the imp of a stranger. "I'm too
big."
The little chap only chuckled. It was a very mischievous chuckle. Then he
said:
"Take a good look at yourself."
Marmaduke did.
My, how he had shrunk! He was no bigger than a brownie, no bigger himself
than the Toyman's thumb.
"How did that happen?" he said,
"Oh, the dream fairy did that," said Jack. "She likes to play tricks on
people. It's lots of fun. But shake a leg, shake a leg!"
With that he shook the reins himself, and the bells jingled again, and the
reindeer grew more eager every second, snorting impatiently.
Once more Marmaduke looked down at himself. No, his eyes had made no
mistake. He was small enough now to sit on that little red seat with the
tiny driver.
So he popped out from the covers. The folds of the blanket looked as big as
mountains, the lumps of the comforter as high as the hills. Over them he
scrambled and he sprawled till he reached the little red and blue sleigh.
Then he jumped in.
The driver could be very impudent, but he took good care of Marmaduke just
the same, for the boy had been very sick and might catch cold. So Jack
pulled the white robe over his passenger's knees, and tucked him in all
snug and warm.
"Gee-up, gee-up!" he called to the tiny reindeer.
Marmaduke was frightened. What a horrible crash there would be when they
slid from the high bed to the floor.
But nothing like that happened at all. Away off the bed, over the bright
rag carpet, and past the red fire, safely and swiftly they trotted. Below
the window they paused. Pretty silver ferns and trees covered the panes and
sparkled in the firelight. The window was closed, but that did not matter
at all.
"Up with you!" yelled Jack Frost.
Slowly, as if by magic, up went the window sash! Over the sill galloped the
reindeer. And after them ran the toy sleigh with Jack Frost and Marmaduke
on the red seat.
Over the porch, too, they went.
Then something did happen.
"Now look at yourself," said Jack Frost, cracking his whip.
Marmaduke did not hear him at first. He was admiring that whip. It was only
a long icicle, and all Jack had to do was to touch the reindeer with its
point to make them run faster and faster.
"Look at yourself," he repeated.
Marmaduke obeyed.
"Why, I'm as big as I used to be!"
Jack laughed and replied:
"The dream fairy does love to play tricks on folks!"
Yes, the sleigh had grown as large as his father's sleigh; the reindeer as
big as Teddy, the buckskin horse. The tossing horns were as high as the
reindeer's in the Zoo, and Jack Frost was as big as Jehosophat now.
"I'm sorry that Jehosophat and Hepzebiah are not along," said Marmaduke to
himself, "they're going to miss some fun."
He looked ahead through the trees Up over the hill the snow path
stretched--up to the dark blue sky and the stars. Millions of them there
were and they were all twinkle-winking at him. And the Old Man-in-the-Moon,
just over the hill, kept winking at him too.
Jack Frost turned to Marmaduke.
"Where would you like to go _most_?"
Marmaduke didn't need to think, he had his answer all ready.
"I'd like to visit the Old Man-in-the Moon."
"It's a bit of a drive," replied Jack, "but Old Yellow Horns and Prancing
Hoof are fast goers. Gee-up! Gee-up!" he shouted at them, touching their
flanks with the icicle whip. So fast they went they scarcely seemed
to touch the snow, and on up the hill they rode towards the laughing
Man-in-the-Moon.
Then suddenly there came such a barking, a yelping, a neighing, a mooing, a
clucking, a gobbling, a squealing, a squawling, as you never heard before.
Around jerked Marmaduke's head.
There, behind the sleigh, running and leaping and paddling and waddling and
frisking and scampering came a strange procession. There were Rover and
Brownie and little Wienerwurst, Teddy and Methusaleh and all the horses,
Primrose, Daisy, Buttercup, Black-Eyed Susan and all the cows. He could see
_their_ tongues hanging out--it was so hard to keep up with the dogs
and the horses.
"Moo--moo, slow--slow!" called the poor cows.
And behind them ambled the sheep and the curley-tailed pigs; waddled the
ducks and the geese; Miss Crosspatch, the Guinea Hen, and Mr. Stuckup, the
turkey; and, at the very end, all of the White Wyandottes, the fathers and
the mothers, and the little yellow children, and their grandfathers and
grandmothers, and all their uncles and aunts, and their cousins, first,
second, and third--every last one of them.
My--what a fuss and a clatter they made!
There was a long long line of them, stretching down the hill and down the
white road over the snow.
Marmaduke laughed and exclaimed to Jack Frost:
"Why, they look just like the procession of the animals when they came out
of the Ark."
"Yes, I remember them," replied Jack. "And Old Noah too. I used to pinch
their ears and pull their tails o' nights."
Marmaduke looked surprised.
"You! Why, that was _hundreds_ of years ago! You can't be as old as
all that."