When you remember that no child, until Santa Claus began his travels,
had ever known the pleasure of possessing a toy, you will understand
how joy crept into the homes of those who had been favored with a visit
from the good man, and how they talked of him day by day in loving
tones and were honestly grateful for his kindly deeds. It is true that
great warriors and mighty kings and clever scholars of that day were
often spoken of by the people; but no one of them was so greatly
beloved as Santa Claus, because none other was so unselfish as to
devote himself to making others happy. For a generous deed lives
longer than a great battle or a king's decree or a scholar's essay,
because it spreads and leaves its mark on all nature and endures
through many generations.
The bargain made with the Knook Prince changed the plans of Claus for
all future time; for, being able to use the reindeer on but one night
of each year, he decided to devote all the other days to the
manufacture of playthings, and on Christmas Eve to carry them to the
children of the world.
But a year's work would, he knew, result in a vast accumulation of
toys, so he resolved to build a new sledge that would be larger and
stronger and better-fitted for swift travel than the old and clumsy one.
His first act was to visit the Gnome King, with whom he made a bargain
to exchange three drums, a trumpet and two dolls for a pair of fine
steel runners, curled beautifully at the ends. For the Gnome King had
children of his own, who, living in the hollows under the earth, in
mines and caverns, needed something to amuse them.
In three days the steel runners were ready, and when Claus brought the
playthings to the Gnome King, his Majesty was so greatly pleased with
them that he presented Claus with a string of sweet-toned sleigh-bells,
in addition to the runners.
"These will please Glossie and Flossie," said Claus, as he jingled the
bells and listened to their merry sound. "But I should have two
strings of bells, one for each deer."
"Bring me another trumpet and a toy cat," replied the King, "and you
shall have a second string of bells like the first."
"It is a bargain!" cried Claus, and he went home again for the toys.
The new sledge was carefully built, the Knooks bringing plenty of
strong but thin boards to use in its construction. Claus made a high,
rounding dash-board to keep off the snow cast behind by the fleet hoofs
of the deer; and he made high sides to the platform so that many toys
could be carried, and finally he mounted the sledge upon the slender
steel runners made by the Gnome King.
It was certainly a handsome sledge, and big and roomy. Claus painted
it in bright colors, although no one was likely to see it during his
midnight journeys, and when all was finished he sent for Glossie and
Flossie to come and look at it.
The deer admired the sledge, but gravely declared it was too big and
heavy for them to draw.
"We might pull it over the snow, to be sure," said Glossie; "but we
would not pull it fast enough to enable us to visit the far-away cities
and villages and return to the Forest by daybreak."
"Then I must add two more deer to my team," declared Claus, after a
moment's thought.
"The Knook Prince allowed you as many as ten. Why not use them all?"
asked Flossie. "Then we could speed like the lightning and leap to the
highest roofs with ease."
"A team of ten reindeer!" cried Claus, delightedly. "That will be
splendid. Please return to the Forest at once and select eight other
deer as like yourselves as possible. And you must all eat of the casa
plant, to become strong, and of the grawle plant, to become fleet of
foot, and of the marbon plant, that you may live long to accompany me
on my journeys. Likewise it will be well for you to bathe in the Pool
of Nares, which the lovely Queen Zurline declares will render you
rarely beautiful. Should you perform these duties faithfully there is
no doubt that on next Christmas Eve my ten reindeer will be the most
powerful and beautiful steeds the world has ever seen!"
So Glossie and Flossie went to the Forest to choose their mates, and
Claus began to consider the question of a harness for them all.
In the end he called upon Peter Knook for assistance, for Peter's heart
is as kind as his body is crooked, and he is remarkably shrewd, as
well. And Peter agreed to furnish strips of tough leather for the
harness.
This leather was cut from the skins of lions that had reached such an
advanced age that they died naturally, and on one side was tawny hair
while the other side was cured to the softness of velvet by the deft
Knooks. When Claus received these strips of leather he sewed them
neatly into a harness for the ten reindeer, and it proved strong and
serviceable and lasted him for many years.
The harness and sledge were prepared at odd times, for Claus devoted
most of his days to the making of toys. These were now much better
than the first ones had been, for the immortals often came to his house
to watch him work and to offer suggestions. It was Necile's idea to
make some of the dolls say "papa" and "mama." It was a thought of the
Knooks to put a squeak inside the lambs, so that when a child squeezed
them they would say "baa-a-a-a!" And the Fairy Queen advised Claus to
put whistles in the birds, so they could be made to sing, and wheels on
the horses, so children could draw them around. Many animals perished
in the Forest, from one cause or another, and their fur was brought to
Claus that he might cover with it the small images of beasts he made
for playthings. A merry Ryl suggested that Claus make a donkey with a
nodding head, which he did, and afterward found that it amused the
little ones immensely. And so the toys grew in beauty and
attractiveness every day, until they were the wonder of even the
immortals.
When another Christmas Eve drew near there was a monster load of
beautiful gifts for the children ready to be loaded upon the big
sledge. Claus filled three sacks to the brim, and tucked every corner
of the sledge-box full of toys besides.
Then, at twilight, the ten reindeer appeared and Flossie introduced
them all to Claus. They were Racer and Pacer, Reckless and Speckless,
Fearless and Peerless, and Ready and Steady, who, with Glossie and
Flossie, made up the ten who have traversed the world these hundreds of
years with their generous master. They were all exceedingly beautiful,
with slender limbs, spreading antlers, velvety dark eyes and smooth
coats of fawn color spotted with white.
Claus loved them at once, and has loved them ever since, for they are
loyal friends and have rendered him priceless service.
The new harness fitted them nicely and soon they were all fastened to
the sledge by twos, with Glossie and Flossie in the lead. These wore
the strings of sleigh-bells, and were so delighted with the music they
made that they kept prancing up and down to make the bells ring.
Claus now seated himself in the sledge, drew a warm robe over his knees
and his fur cap over his ears, and cracked his long whip as a signal to
start.
Instantly the ten leaped forward and were away like the wind, while
jolly Claus laughed gleefully to see them run and shouted a song in his
big, hearty voice:
"With a ho, ho, ho!
And a ha, ha, ha!
And a ho, ho, ha, ha, hee!
Now away we go
O'er the frozen snow,
As merry as we can be!
There are many joys
In our load of toys,
As many a child will know;
We'll scatter them wide
On our wild night ride
O'er the crisp and sparkling snow!"
Now it was on this same Christmas Eve that little Margot and her
brother Dick and her cousins Ned and Sara, who were visiting at
Margot's house, came in from making a snow man, with their clothes
damp, their mittens dripping and their shoes and stockings wet through
and through. They were not scolded, for Margot's mother knew the snow
was melting, but they were sent early to bed that their clothes might
be hung over chairs to dry. The shoes were placed on the red tiles of
the hearth, where the heat from the hot embers would strike them, and
the stockings were carefully hung in a row by the chimney, directly
over the fireplace. That was the reason Santa Claus noticed them when
he came down the chimney that night and all the household were fast
asleep. He was in a tremendous hurry and seeing the stockings all
belonged to children he quickly stuffed his toys into them and dashed
up the chimney again, appearing on the roof so suddenly that the
reindeer were astonished at his agility.
"I wish they would all hang up their stockings," he thought, as he
drove to the next chimney. "It would save me a lot of time and I could
then visit more children before daybreak."
When Margot and Dick and Ned and Sara jumped out of bed next morning
and ran downstairs to get their stockings from the fireplace they were
filled with delight to find the toys from Santa Claus inside them. In
fact, I think they found more presents in their stockings than any
other children of that city had received, for Santa Claus was in a
hurry and did not stop to count the toys.
Of course they told all their little friends about it, and of course
every one of them decided to hang his own stockings by the fireplace
the next Christmas Eve. Even Bessie Blithesome, who made a visit to
that city with her father, the great Lord of Lerd, heard the story from
the children and hung her own pretty stockings by the chimney when she
returned home at Christmas time.
On his next trip Santa Claus found so many stockings hung up in
anticipation of his visit that he could fill them in a jiffy and be
away again in half the time required to hunt the children up and place
the toys by their bedsides.
The custom grew year after year, and has always been a great help to
Santa Claus. And, with so many children to visit, he surely needs all
the help we are able to give him.