THE STORY TELLER TOLD THE LAST HOLLOW TREE STORY ON CHRISTMAS EVE. IT
WAS SNOWING OUTSIDE, AND THE LITTLE LADY WAS WONDERING HOW IT WAS IN THE
FAR DEEP WOODS
Once upon a time, he said, when the Robin, and Turtle, and Squirrel, and
Jack Rabbit had all gone home for the winter, nobody was left in the
Hollow Tree except the 'Coon and 'Possum and the old black Crow. Of
course the others used to come back and visit them pretty often, and Mr.
Dog, too, now that he had got to be good friends with all the Deep Woods
people, and they thought a great deal of him when they got to know him
better. Mr. Dog told them a lot of things they had never heard of
before, things that he'd learned at Mr. Man's house, and maybe that's
one reason why they got to liking him so well.
[Illustration: HE TOLD THEM ALL ABOUT SANTA CLAUS.]
He told them about Santa Claus, for one thing, and how the old fellow
came down the chimney on Christmas Eve to bring presents to Mr. Man and
his children, who always hung up their stockings for them, and Mr. Dog
said that once he had hung up his stocking, too, and got a nice bone in
it, that was so good he had buried and dug it up again as much as six
times before spring. He said that Santa Claus always came to Mr. Man's
house, and that whenever the children hung up their stockings they were
always sure to get something in them.
[Illustration: MR. CROW HE MADE HIMSELF A NEW PAIR ON PURPOSE.]
Well, the Hollow Tree people had never heard of Santa Claus. They knew
about Christmas, of course, because everybody, even the cows and sheep,
know about that, but they had never heard of Santa Claus. You see, Santa
Claus only comes to Mr. Man's house, but they didn't know that, either,
so they thought if they just hung up their stockings he'd come there,
too, and that's what they made up their minds to do. They talked about
it a great deal together, and Mr. 'Possum looked over all his stockings
to pick out the biggest one he had, and Mr. Crow he made himself a new
pair on purpose. Mr. 'Coon said he never knew Mr. Crow to make himself
such big stockings before, but Mr. Crow said he was getting old and
needed things bigger, and when he loaned one of his new stockings to Mr.
'Coon, Mr. 'Coon said, "That's so," and that he guessed they were about
right after all. They didn't tell anybody about it at first, but by and
by they told Mr. Dog what they were going to do, and when Mr. Dog heard
it he wanted to laugh right out. You see, he knew Santa Claus never went
anywhere except to Mr. Man's house, and he thought it would be a great
joke on the Hollow Tree people when they hung up their stockings and
didn't get anything.
But by and by Mr. Dog thought about something else. He thought it would
be too bad, too, for them to be disappointed that way. You see, Mr. Dog
liked them all now, and when he had thought about that a minute he made
up his mind to do something. And this is what it was--he made up his
mind to play Santa Claus!
He knew just how Santa Claus looked, 'cause he'd seen lots of his
pictures at Mr. Man's house, and he thought it would be great fun to
dress up that way and take a bag of presents to the Hollow Tree while
they were all asleep and fill up the stockings of the 'Coon and 'Possum
and the old black Crow. But first he had to be sure of some way of
getting in, so he said to them he didn't see how they could expect Santa
Claus, their chimneys were so small, and Mr. Crow said they could leave
their latch string out down stairs, which was just what Mr. Dog wanted.
Then they said they were going to have all the folks that had spent the
summer with them over for Christmas dinner and to see the presents they
had got in their stockings. They told Mr. Dog to drop over, too, if he
could get away, and Mr. Dog said he would, and went off laughing to
himself and ran all the way home because he felt so pleased at what he
was going to do.
Well, he had to work pretty hard, I tell you, to get things ready. It
wasn't so hard to get the presents as it was to rig up his Santa Claus
dress. He found some long wool out in Mr. Man's barn for his white
whiskers, and he put some that wasn't so long on the edges of his
overcoat and boot tops and around an old hat he had. Then he borrowed a
big sack he found out there, too, and fixed it up to swing over his
back, just as he had seen Santa Claus do in the pictures. He had a lot
of nice things to take along. Three tender young chickens he'd borrowed
from Mr. Man, for one thing, and then he bought some new neckties for
the Hollow Tree folks all around, and a big, striped candy cane for each
one, because candy canes always looked well sticking out of a stocking.
Besides all that, he had a new pipe for each, and a package of tobacco.
You see, Mr. Dog lived with Mr. Man, and didn't ever have to buy much
for himself, so he had always saved his money. He had even more things
than that, but I can't remember just now what they were; and when he
started out, all dressed up like Santa Claus, I tell you his bag was
pretty heavy, and he almost wished before he got there that he hadn't
started with quite so much.
[Illustration: IT GOT HEAVIER AND HEAVIER.]
[Illustration: HE ALMOST HAD TO LAUGH RIGHT OUT LOUD.]
It got heavier and heavier all the way, and he was glad enough to get
there and find the latch string out. He set his bag down to rest a
minute before climbing the stairs, and then opened the doors softly and
listened. He didn't hear a thing except Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon and Mr.
'Possum breathing pretty low, and he knew they might wake up any minute,
and he wouldn't have been caught there in the midst of things for a
good deal. So he slipped up just as easy as anything, and when he got up
in the big parlor room he almost had to laugh right out loud, for there
were the stockings sure enough, all hung up in a row, and a card with a
name on it over each one telling who it belonged to.
Then he listened again, and all at once he jumped and held his breath,
for he heard Mr. 'Possum say something. But Mr. 'Possum was only talking
in his sleep, and saying, "I'll take another piece, please," and Mr. Dog
knew he was dreaming about the mince pie he'd had for supper.
So, then he opened his bag and filled the stockings. He put in mixed
candy and nuts and little things first, and then the pipes and tobacco
and candy canes, so they'd show at the top, and hung a nice dressed
chicken outside. I tell you, they looked fine! It almost made Mr. Dog
wish he had a stocking of his own there to fill, and he forgot all about
them waking up, and sat down in a chair to look at the stockings. It was
a nice rocking chair, and over in a dark corner where they wouldn't be
apt to see him, even if one of them did wake up and stick his head out
of his room, so Mr. Dog felt pretty safe now, anyway. He rocked softly,
and looked and looked at the nice stockings, and thought how pleased
they'd be in the morning, and how tired he was. You've heard about
people being as tired as a dog; and that's just how Mr. Dog felt. He was
so tired he didn't feel a bit like starting home, and by and by--he
never did know how it happened--but by and by Mr. Dog went sound
asleep right there in his chair, with all his Santa Claus clothes on.
And there he sat, with his empty bag in his hand and the nice full
stockings in front of him, all night long. Even when it came morning and
began to get light Mr. Dog didn't know it; he just slept right on, he
was that tired. Then pretty soon the door of Mr. 'Possum's room opened
and he poked out his head. And just then the door of Mr. 'Coon's room
opened and he poked out his head. Then the door of the old black Crow
opened and out poked his head. They all looked toward the stockings, and
they didn't see Mr. Dog, or even each other, at all. They saw their
stockings, though, and Mr. 'Coon said all at once:--
"Oh, there's something in my stocking!"