sledge with their master the following Christmas Eve; and they had
no trouble at all in entering the new-fashioned houses and leaving toys
for the children that lived in them.

And their deft services not only relieved Santa Claus of much labor,
but enabled him to complete his own work more quickly than usual, so
that the merry party found themselves at home with an empty sledge a
full hour before daybreak.

The only drawback to the journey was that the mischievous Wisk
persisted in tickling the reindeer with a long feather, to see them
jump; and Santa Claus found it necessary to watch him every minute and
to tweak his long ears once or twice to make him behave himself.

But, taken all together, the trip was a great success, and to this day
the four little folk always accompany Santa Claus on his yearly ride
and help him in the distribution of his gifts.

But the indifference of parents, which had so annoyed the good Saint,
did not continue very long, and Santa Claus soon found they were really
anxious he should visit their homes on Christmas Eve and leave presents
for their children.

So, to lighten his task, which was fast becoming very difficult indeed,
old Santa decided to ask the parents to assist him.

"Get your Christmas trees all ready for my coming," he said to them;
"and then I shall be able to leave the presents without loss of time,
and you can put them on the trees when I am gone."

And to others he said: "See that the children's stockings are hung up
in readiness for my coming, and then I can fill them as quick as a
wink."

And often, when parents were kind and good-natured, Santa Claus would
simply fling down his package of gifts and leave the fathers and
mothers to fill the stockings after he had darted away in his sledge.

"I will make all loving parents my deputies!" cried the jolly old
fellow, "and they shall help me do my work. For in this way I shall
save many precious minutes and few children need be neglected for lack
of time to visit them."

Besides carrying around the big packs in his swift-flying sledge old
Santa began to send great heaps of toys to the toy-shops, so that if
parents wanted larger supplies for their children they could easily get
them; and if any children were, by chance, missed by Santa Claus on his
yearly rounds, they could go to the toy-shops and get enough to make
them happy and contented. For the loving friend of the little ones
decided that no child, if he co