gold and choicest jewels;
fetch me, O mermaids, from the bottom of the sea the treasures hidden
there,--the shells of rainbow tints, the smooth, bright pebbles, and
the strange ocean flowers; go, pixies, and other water-sprites, to
your secret lakes, and bring me pearls! Speed! speed you all! for
many pretty things have we to make for the little ones of earth we
love!"

But to the kobolds and the brownies Claus said: "Fly to every house on
earth where the cross is known; loiter unseen in the corners, and
watch and hear the children through the day. Keep a strict account of
good and bad, and every night bring back to me the names of good and
bad that I may know them."

The kobolds and the brownies laughed gleefully, and sped away on
noiseless wings; and so, too, did the other fairies and elves.

There came also to Claus the beasts of the forest and the birds of the
air, and bade him be their master. And up danced the Four Winds, and
they said: "May we not serve you, too?"

The Snow King came stealing along in his feathery chariot. "Oho!" he cried,
"I shall speed over all the world and tell them you are coming. In town and
country, on the mountain-tops and in the valleys,--wheresoever the cross is
raised,--there will I herald your approach, and thither will I strew you a
pathway of feathery white. Oho! oho!" So, singing softly, the Snow King
stole upon his way.

But of all the beasts that begged to do him service, Claus liked the
reindeer best. "You shall go with me in my travels; for henceforth I
shall bear my treasures not only to the children of the North, but to
the children in every land whither the Star points me and where the
cross is lifted up!" So said Claus to the reindeer, and the reindeer
neighed joyously and stamped their hoofs impatiently, as though they
longed to start immediately.

Oh, many, many times has Claus whirled away from his far Northern home
in his sledge drawn by the reindeer, and thousands upon thousands of
beautiful gifts--all of his own making--has he borne to the children
of every land; for he loves them all alike, and they all alike love
him, I trow. So truly do they love him that they call him Santa Claus,
and I am sure that he must be a saint; for he has lived these many
hundred years, and we, who know that he was born of Faith and Love,
believe that he will live forever.

[Illustration: Oh, hush thee, little Dear-my-Soul, And close thine
eyes in dreaming.]

CHRISTMAS EV