The Story of a Nodding Donkey | Page 6

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 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 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 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!
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