The Christmas Dinner | Page 7

must stick them in all around
in different places, so that each of the older people will be sure to get
one; and it won't do the children a bit of harm if they get some, too. In
fact they are so young that this kind of magic won't have any effect on
them at all. But with all the older folks, as soon as the nuts have been
eaten, the magic will begin to work; and what do you suppose will be
the first thing they will all want to do? Do you want to know? They all
nod. They will all want to get down on their hands and knees,
Grandfather and Grandmother and all, and crawl under the table. Won't
that be funny? They all clap their hands and dance up and down. That's
what the magic hazel nuts will make them do, says SANTA CLAUS.
And when they have crawled under the table--you see, it's a table that
has a Christmas dinner on it, and that makes a difference, of
course--well, when they have crawled under the table, then--. No. I
believe I won't tell you about what will happen then. I'll keep it for a
surprise and it's something worth seeing you may be sure. So that's the
plan. Will you help me? They all nod most emphatically. Here are the
nuts, then, he says. Run and stick them into the pudding, while I fill the
stockings.
They take the bag and all run out through the door. Santa Claus goes to
the fire-place, and from his pack fills all six stockings. Then, as he
finishes and takes up his pack, the brownies and fairies return, and
gather round him as he stands in front of the fire-place. SANTA
CLAUS says to them, Did you stick them in? They nod. All around?
They nod again. That's right. Well, I'm off. And, tomorrow, if I can
manage it, I'm going to come back here at about the time when the nuts
begin to work, for I'd like to see the fun myself. Good-bye.
They all shake him by the hand. Then he disappears into the fire-place.
They stand in front of it for a moment, and one of the brownies kneels

down and looks up the chimney after him. Then sleigh bells are heard
on the roof, as the sleigh starts. The brownies and fairies turn around
then, and come away from the fire-place. The brownies run to the wood
box, climb in, and pull the lid down over them. At the same time the
fairies carry the chair over to the clothes basket, climb onto the chair,
step over into the basket, and pull the lid down over them. Then
everything is quiet again.
And that is the end of the Second Scene.

The Interlude
Again before the Third Scene begins, MOTHER GOOSE comes out in
front of the Curtain, and this is what she says:
Children, I've got a lot to tell you about what has happened to Walter
and Gertrude since the curtain closed. For quite a while they went on
sleeping, because it was still night, you know. And then morning came,
and it didn't take them long to wake up after that, I can tell you. As
soon as it was really light, they put on their wrappers, and woke their
father and mother, and then they went for the stockings. They took
them into their grandparents' room, and Grandmother and Grandfather
sat up in bed with shawls over their shoulders, and the rest sat on the
edge of the bed. Then they all opened their stockings, and I couldn't
begin to tell you what fine presents they found in them, nor how happy
they all were. After breakfast they all sat down by the kitchen fire, and
father got the big family Bible, and laid it on Grandfather's lap, and
Grandfather polished up his spectacles till they shone, and put them on
his nose, and then he read about the story of the first Christmas long
ago in Bethlehem. And it was all so quiet while he was reading that you
could almost hear the snow flakes falling outside, for it had begun to
snow. Then, when Grandfather had finished reading, and closed the
Bible, they all sang a Christmas carol, which they always sings together
every Christmas in that house; and they sang it out so clear and strong,
that a traveler in a sleigh, way down at the cross-roads, heard it, and it
sounded so good that he stopped his horse in spite of the storm, and
listened till it was over. Well, I can't tell you everything else they did
that morning except that Father found the floor all swept, and knew it
must have been done