f the very latest from the shop of Santa Claus.
Geraldine, please show the boy the Nodding Donkey," Mr. Mugg called, and
as Joe, the lame boy, walked along with Miss Geraldine, Mr. Mugg said to
Mrs. Richmond:

"I am very sorry to see that your boy has to go on crutches."

"Yes, his father and I feel very sad about it," Joe's mother answered.
"We have already had the doctors do almost everything they can to cure
him, but now we fear he must have another and worse operation. I dread
it, and that is why I would get him almost anything to make him happy.
He seemed very pleased with the Nodding Donkey."

"I'm sure Joe will like that toy," said Mr. Mugg.

And when Joe had the wooden animal in his hands, and saw how much faster
the head nodded at him, the lame boy smiled and said:

"Oh, this is the nicest toy I ever had!"

"I am glad you like it," said the storekeeper. "Geraldine, please wrap
up the Nodding Donkey for Joe."

All this while the Nodding Donkey had said nothing, of course, and he
had done nothing, except to shake his head. He took one last look
around the toy store as he was being wrapped up in paper by Miss
Geraldine. The Nodding Donkey saw the Jack in the Box and the China Cat
peering at him.

"I wish I might say good-by to them," thought the four-legged toy, "but
I suppose it isn't allowed. I shall be lonesome without them."

The China Cat wished she might wave her paw, or even the tip of her
tail, at her friend, the Nodding Donkey, and the Jack in the Box did
seem to nod a farewell, but perhaps that was because he was on a spring,
and could move so easily. As for the China Cat, she had to keep straight
and stiff.

With the Nodding Donkey safely wrapped in paper under his arm, Joe left
the store of Mr. Mugg with his mother. Joe limped along on his crutches,
and he had to go slowly. But he was smiling happily, and for the first
day in a long time he forgot about his lameness. And when his mother
saw her son smiling, she, too, smiled. But she was worried about another
operation that Joe must go through. The doctor had said that one of his
legs had grown so crooked that the only way to fix it was to break it,
and let it grow together again, straight.

But now, with his Nodding Donkey, Joe thought nothing about operations,
or his crutches, or about being lame. All his mind was on the Nodding
Donkey, and he even tore a little hole in the paper so he could look
through and make sure his toy was all righ