.

He dreamed that he was back in the workshop of Santa Claus at the North
Pole and on a shelf with other toys. Suddenly a Wooden Soldier began
beating on the Donkey's back with the end of a gun.

"Rub-a-dub-dub!" drummed the Soldier, and the Donkey's head nodded so
hard that he feared it would be shaken off.

"Stop! Stop!" cried the Donkey in his dream, and then he suddenly
awakened. He heard a hammering, but it was not on his back. It was
outside the case in which he was packed, and he soon noticed that some
one was knocking off the boards that formed the cover.

With a wrench and a squeak one of the cover boards was raised, letting
in a flood of light. The Nodding Donkey blinked his eyes, coming out of
the darkness into the glare of the light. Then he felt himself being
lifted up and set on a shelf. At the same time he heard a pleasant voice
saying:

"Here is the case of new toys, Daughters. And see, one of the very
newest is a Nodding Donkey! I'm sure he will please some little boy or
girl!"

The Nodding Donkey looked around him. He was on a shelf in the jolliest
toy store he had ever imagined. It was almost as nice as the workshop of
Santa Claus. Standing in front of the shelf was a white-haired old man
and two ladies, one on either side of him. The three were looking at the
Nodding Donkey, who bowed his head at them as if saying:

"How do you do? I am very glad to meet you!"

CHAPTER IV

THE CHINA CAT

The Nodding Donkey stood straight and stiff on his four legs, with his
shiny, new coat of varnish--the one he had received in the workshop of
Santa Claus at the North Pole. The Donkey wished he might move about and
talk with some of the other toys he saw all around him, but he dared
not, as the old gentleman and the two ladies were standing in front of
him and looking straight at the toy. All the Donkey dared do was to nod
his head, for, being made on purpose to do that, it was perfectly proper
for him to do so, just as the Jumping Jack jumped, or some of the funny
Clowns banged together their brass cymbals.

"Isn't he the dearest Donkey you ever saw, Angelina?" said one of the
ladies to the other.

"He certainly is, Geraldine," was the answer. "But something seems to be
the matter with his head. It is loose!"

"Tut! Tut! Nonsense! It is made that way, just the same as the moving
head of the Fuzzy Bear," said the old gentleman, whose name was Horatio
Mugg. At first the Nodding Donkey had tak