Down the Milky way]

[Illustration: Sprite and Toadstool]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The cunning Moon looked on and laughed
With a shrill and sneering jibe;
Her soul grew fat to see them chaffed,
This mad and elfish tribe.
The big black caldron boiled so high
With food for these queer mites,
That it lit the world throughout the sky,
And down came all the Sprites.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: The big black caldron]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Their mad career upset a star,
As through the air they flew:
It cringed in fear, and shot afar,
And fell where no one knew.
Orion's sword was broke in bits,
Corona's crown was gone,
Capella seemed to lose her wits,
While all so longed for dawn.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Then from the night there came a sound
Of sleigh-bells ringing sweet;
Out of the chaos came a man--
Kris Kringle--for his Christmas treat.
"Ho! Kris!" they cried, "We'll have some fun,
We'll bind the old man down,
We'll tie him up, and toss him o'er
Into our Goblin-town."

[Illustration]

[Illustration: As through the air they flew]

[Illustration]

They climbed the sleigh with shout and din,
To bind his hands and feet;
A hundred strong they clambered in
Our good old Kris to meet.
He sat quite still, with twinkling eyes,
Then seized his mystic wand,
He raised it up, and waved it round
Stilled was this chattering band.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: They climbed the sleigh]

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Stiffly stark and still they stood,
Clad in elfish clothes;
Some were wax, and some were wood,
One had crushed his nose.
"Playthings rare," he said and smiled,
"For children rich and poor;
Some I'll leave the crippled child,
And some at the orphan's door."

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

He shook his reins, and called his steed
To bear him swiftly on.
Full well it knew its Master's need
To hurry e'er the dawn.
From house to house they scampered down,
Their sleigh-bells ringing clear,
Through chimneys in the sleepy town--
Good Kris and his reindeer.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: 'Playthings rare,'