"dear me," thought the nodding donkey to himself, as he felt the cold, chilly snow all about him, "this is most dreadful! i hope santa claus has not become angry with me and sent me back to the north pole. i did so much want to go down to earth and be in a big store for christmas. i hope i'm not back at the north pole."
the nodding donkey said this aloud, and, as he spoke, he wobbled his head from side to side and tried to turn over so he could stand on his feet.
"here! don't do that!" suddenly whispered a voice in one of the donkey's large ears. "don't you know it isn't al[pg 25]lowed for you to move when any one is looking at you?"
"i didn't know any one was looking at me," the nodding donkey answered. "i thought santa claus had tossed me back to the north pole."
"hush! no! nothing like that has happened," the voice went on, and, by turning his loose head to one side, the nodding donkey saw that a large jumping jack was whispering to him.
"there has been an accident," went on the jumping jack. "the sleigh of santa claus banged into a hard, frozen snow cloud, and we were thrown out into a snowdrift. i am not hurt, and i hope you are not. but we must not talk or move much more, for i see santa claus coming this way, and even he is not allowed to see us pretend to be alive, so that we move and talk. he is coming to pick us up, i guess."
and then both toys had to keep quiet, for santa claus came stalking along in his big leather boots. st. nicholas was [pg 26]wiping some snowflakes out of his eyes, his breath made clouds of steam in the frosty air and his cheeks were as red as the reddest apple you ever saw.
"oh, ho! here are some of my toys!" cried the jolly old gentleman as he saw the nodding donkey and the jumping jack. "i was afraid i had lost you. we nearly had a bad accident," he went on, speaking to himself, but loudly enough for the nodding donkey to hear. "my reindeer got off the road and ran into a snow cloud and the sleigh was upset."
"it's just as the jumping jack told me," thought the nodding donkey.
"steady there, comet! keep quiet, prancer!" called st. nicholas to his animals, who, stamping their legs, made the bells jingle. "we shall soon be on our way again. nothing is broken."
santa claus picked up the donkey and the jumping jack and carried them back to the sleigh. there the two toys could see their friends, some lying on the seat [pg 27]of the sleigh and others resting in the big bag, through the hole of which the nodding donkey had slipped out, falling into the snow.
"ha! i must fix that hole in the bag," cried santa claus, as he noticed it.
st. nicholas tied some string around the hole in the sack, and then, having again wrapped the tissue paper around the donkey, the jumping jack, and the other toys that had fallen out, the red-cheeked old gentleman put them in the bag and fastened it shut.
"now we're off again!" cried santa claus, as he took his seat in the sleigh. "trot along, comet! fly away, prancer! lively there, donner and blitzen! we must get down to earth with these toys, and then back again to north pole land for another load! trot along, my speedy reindeer!"
the reindeer shook their heads, which made the bells jingle more merrily than before, they stamped their feet on the [pg 28]hard, frozen road that led from the north pole to earth, and then away they darted. santa claus drove them carefully, steering away from snow clouds, and soon the motion was so swift and smooth that the nodding donkey went to sleep, and so did most of the other toys in the big sack.
and what a funny dream the nodding donkey had! he imagined that he was tumbling around a feather bed and that a blue dog was chasing him with a yellow feather duster.
"don't tickle me with that feather duster!" he thought he cried.
"i won't if you'll sing a song through your ears," said the blue dog.
"i can't sing through my ears," wailed the nodding donkey, and then of a sudden he seemed to roll over and the dog and the feather bed came down on top of him. then he seemed to give a sneeze and that blew the dog away and sent the feathers of the bed out into one big snowstorm!
[pg 29]
it was dark when the nodding donkey awoke. he did not hear the jingle of the bells, nor could he feel the sleigh being drawn along by the reindeer. he could see nothing, either, for it was very black and dark. but he heard some voices talking, and one he knew was that of santa claus.
"now i have brought you a whole sleighful of toys," said st. nicholas.
"yes, and i am glad to get them," another voice answered. "the stores are almost empty and it is near christmas time. i shall send a lot of the toys to the stores the first thing in the morning."
santa claus had arrived, in the night, at a large warehouse, where boxes, bales and bags of toys were kept until they could be sent around to the different stores. the nodding donkey, the jumping jack and the others felt themselves being lifted out of the bag and placed on the floor or on shelves. but they could see nothing, for santa claus always comes to earth in the [pg 30]darkness, so no one sees him. and it was the earth that the toys had now reached.
"dear me, this isn't much fun!" complained the nodding donkey, as he stood on a shelf in the darkness. faint and far off he could hear the bells of santa claus' reindeer jingling as jolly st. nicholas drove back to north pole land. "i thought the earth was such a wonderful place," went on the nodding donkey. "but i don't like it here at all."
"hush!" begged the jumping jack. "it is night. you have seen nothing yet. wait until morning."
and, after a while, streaks of light began to come in through the windows of the warehouse where the toys had been left. the sun was rising. from a window near him the nodding donkey caught a glimpse of snow outside, but the land was very different from the north pole where he had been made.
the nodding donkey was turning his head to speak to the jumping jack, and [pg 31]he was going to take a look and see what other toys were near him, when, all of a sudden, three or four men came into the room. they had hammers, nails and boards in their hands.
"hurry now!" cried one of the men. "we must box up a lot of these toys and send them to the different stores. it will be christmas before we know it."
suddenly one of the men caught hold of the nodding donkey, and also of a large doll that had been on the same shelf.
"i'll pack these in a box," said the man. "i just need them to fill one corner. then i'll ship them off."
the nodding donkey wished his friend the jumping jack might go in the same box with him, but it was not to be. the donkey gave one last look at his companion of the snowdrift, and a moment later he was being wrapped in tissue paper again, and was packed down in a corner of a large box. the doll was treated the same way.
[pg 32]
then the board cover was put on the box, and nailed shut with a loud hammering noise.
"dear me, in the dark again!" said the nodding donkey. "i don't seem to be having a good time at all."
"never mind! it will not last long," said the doll, who was made of cloth, so it did not matter how much she was squeezed. "we will soon be in the light again."
the toys in the box could hear loud talking going on in the warehouse where they had been left by santa claus. they could also hear men moving about and the bang and rattle of boxes, like theirs, as the cases were nailed up and taken away.
finally the nodding donkey, the doll, and other toys who were packed together, felt their box being tilted up on one end. by this time the nodding donkey was getting used to being stood on his head, or turned over on his back, and he did not mind it.
[pg 33]
"hurry up! load this box on a truck and take it to the mugg store!" cried a voice.
"the mugg store! i wonder where that is!" thought the nodding donkey.
and then he felt the box in which he lay being lifted up and carried along. there were bumps, thumps, turnings and twistings, and then the nodding donkey felt himself gliding along.
but he soon noticed that this ride was not as smooth as had been the one from north pole land to the earth. instead of riding in a sleigh drawn by reindeer, the nodding donkey was riding on an automobile truck, and as it went out in the street it bumped and rattled along.
there was so much noise and confusion, and it was so warm and cosy in the box where he was packed, that, before he knew it, the nodding donkey had fallen asleep. and, as he slept, the nodding donkey dreamed.
he dreamed that he was back in the [pg 34]workshop of santa claus at the north pole and on a shelf with other toys. suddenly a wooden soldier began beating on the donkey's back with the end of a gun.
"rub-a-dub-dub!" drummed the soldier, and the donkey's head nodded so hard that he feared it would be shaken off.
"stop! stop!" cried the donkey in his dream, and then he suddenly awakened. he heard a hammering, but it was not on his back. it was outside the case in which he was packed, and he soon noticed that some one was knocking off the boards that formed the cover.
with a wrench and a squeak one of the cover boards was raised, letting in a flood of light. the nodding donkey blinked his eyes, coming out of the darkness into the glare of the light. then he felt himself being lifted up and set on a shelf. at the same time he heard a pleasant voice saying:
"here is the case of new toys, daughters. and see, one of the very newest is [pg 35]a nodding donkey! i'm sure he will please some little boy or girl!"
the nodding donkey looked around him. he was on a shelf in the jolliest toy store he had ever imagined. it was almost as nice as the workshop of santa claus. standing in front of the shelf was a white-haired old man and two ladies, one on either side of him. the three were looking at the nodding donkey, who bowed his head at them as if saying:
"how do you do? i am very glad to meet you!"
