11.  How the First Stockings Were Hung by the Chimneys

  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 of 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 face, 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.