ouldn't get up my nose."

"And if I could I wouldn't, because you have been so kind to me,"
squeaked the little mouse toy. "Next time I ride on your back I shall
not be so afraid."

"Would you like to ride now, Miss Mouse?" asked the Elephant, as he set
down with his trunk a Fuzzy Duck who had just been given a ride around
the shelf.

"Oh, no, thank you; not now," answered the Mouse. "And I think it will
soon be time for us to stop our make-believe fun. It will be morning in
a little while, and you know we can't talk or laugh or do anything in
daylight, when Mr. Mugg and his daughters or any customers are in the
store."

"I hope the Elephant will have time to tell us a little of what has
happened in North Pole Land since we came away," said a Rocking Horse,
who had been in the toy store a long time.

"Yes, do tell us!" begged the other playthings.

"I will," said the Elephant.

So the Elephant, swaying on his four big legs, in the same way that real
elephants do, told the latest news from the workshops of Santa Claus,
whence he had lately come with the box of other toys.

"Is Santa Claus as jolly as ever?" asked a Tin Horse.

"Just as jolly!" replied the Elephant. "More so, if anything. His
whiskers are a little longer, and his cheeks are a little redder, but
that is all. I heard him tell some of his workmen, as they packed me in
the box, that he hoped I'd like it down on Earth, among the boys and
girls."

"You're sure to like it," said the Nodding Donkey. "A brother of mine
used to be in this store, and he was given to a boy who took very good
care of him."

"And a sister of yours is owned by a little girl named Dorothy," a Cloth
Rabbit said to the Sawdust Doll. "She has lovely fun, your sister has."

"You'll very likely go to some boy. It seems to me you are too big a toy
for a little girl," said the Calico Clown to the Stuffed Elephant.

"What will happen then?" the Elephant asked.

But just then Mr. Mugg came in to open the shop for the day, and the
toys had to stop talking and pretend to be stiff and unable to move.
They always had to be this way when any one looked at them.

"Well," said Mr. Mugg, as he and his daughters began dusting the toys,
ready for the day's business, "Christmas is coming, and we shall soon be
losing some of our toys."

"You mean people will come in to buy them," smiled Geraldine.

"Yes," her father answered.

"Well, I hope this lovely, big Stuffed Elephant goes to som