ot a big black cat
All tattooed on my arms,
I'm a friend of all the children,
And I'll help you if I can,
So tell me what your wishes are--
For I'm the Wishing Man.

I come from a distant country
Away up near the pole,
But the things that I am telling you,
You mustn't tell a soul.
I know every witch and goblin,
And if you would believe!
I have fortunes in my pocket-book,
And wonders up my sleeve.
When any little boy or girl
Says, "Wishing Man, appear!"
I jump right up from underneath,
And here I am, my dear!
I'm a friend of all the children,
And I'll help you if I can,
So tell me what your wishes are--
For I'm the Wishing Man.

DUMPLING. And can you really grant us anything we wish for?

WISHING MAN. I can, if it's a good wish--and if you all agree on the
same thing.

TOOTSY. Anything in the wide, wide world?

WISHING MAN. Well, pretty nearly anything. Would you like some new
toys?

TOOTSY. Oh, no, thank you. This is Christmas, you know, and we got
ever so many toys.

SNOOKUMS. Ever so many toys.

WISHING MAN. I don't see what you called me for. You seem to have
everything you want.

DUMPLING. Oh, no, we haven't. We've made a wish, and we're all agreed
on it.

WISHING MAN. Are you sure it's a good wish?

DUMPLING. Oh, yes, it's an awful good wish. You see, we want to be
great big children so we can stay up late at night and go to Aunt
Clara's dinner parties. That's our wish. We want to be the biggest
children there are anywhere.

WISHING MAN (_laughs heartily_). Oh, ho, ho, ho! That's the funniest
wish I ever heard since I've been in the wishing business. So you want
to be the very biggest children there are anywhere, do you?

TOOTSY. Yes, sir; that's just what we want. I want to be a great, big,
tall little girl.

WISHING MAN (_laughing_). A great, big tall little girl, hey?

DUMPLING. And I want to be a great, big, big, _big_ little boy.

WISHING MAN. Oh, a big, _big_, BIG little boy, hey?

SNOOKUMS. And so do I.

WISHING MAN. And so do you, hey?

CHILDREN. Yes, sir; that is our wish.

WISHING MAN. Well, I'll have to see if I can accommodate you. It's a
pretty big job, you know.

TOOTSY. You said you could give us anything we wished for.

WISHING MAN. But I didn't think you'd wish for anything like that.

DUMPLING. That's the only thing we want, Mr Wis