er is my trunk. It
really is a long nose, but it is called a trunk."

"Is there anything inside it?" asked a Calico Clown.

"Nothing but air--I breathe through my trunk," the Stuffed Elephant
answered. "But I, myself, am filled with the very best cotton, lots and
lots of it! Have you cotton inside you?" he asked the Donkey.

"No, I'm wood clear through," was the reply. "But as long as you are a
new toy, let me welcome you among us. We are glad to see you. What is
the latest news from the land of Santa Claus?"

"Well, let me see. So many things happen up there that I hardly know
where to start to tell you about them," replied the Stuffed Elephant.
"In the first place----"

"I'm stuffed, too!" suddenly interrupted a high, squeaky voice. "Only
I'm stuffed with sawdust. Here I am, over here!"

"Yes, Miss Sawdust Doll, we see you," brayed the Nodding Donkey. "But
please don't interrupt the Stuffed Elephant. He is going to tell us
about Santa Claus, and I want to hear, as it is some time since I came
from the North Pole."

"Well, I can tell you as well as that Stuffed Elephant can," went on the
squeaky Sawdust Doll. "I came from Santa Claus's shop in the same box
with him."

"You're not the first Sawdust Doll, though. She was bought by a little
girl named Dorothy, I've heard said," remarked a rubber dog.

"Yes, that's right," said the Nodding Donkey. "And her brother Dick had
a White Rocking Horse. But as long as the Stuffed Elephant kindly
offered first to tell us the latest news from the North Pole, I think it
would be only polite to let him finish."

"Oh, of course--yes!" squeaked the new Sawdust Doll.

"Well," began the creature with the trunk and tusks, "I think I will
tell you----"

But just then there was a whirring noise at the end of the shelf, and a
little voice cried:

"Oh, save me, somebody! Please save me! I'm wound up too tight, and my
wheels are running away with me! I'll run to the edge of the shelf and
fall off! Save me, somebody, please!"

A Rolling Mouse, that could run across the room on wheels when wound up,
dashed along the toy shelf. As she had said, she was in danger of
falling off. Straight toward the Stuffed Elephant ran the Rolling Mouse,
squeaking in fright.

"I'll save you! I'll save you!" trumpeted the big toy. "Don't be afraid,
Miss Mouse! I'll save you!"

He uncoiled his long nose of a trunk, and stretched it out toward the
Rolling Mouse.

CHAPTER II

THE MAN AND