amazement, "it is as roomy as a meal-bag. What an extraordinary foot
that little boy must have!"

Santa Klaus' clothes are all pocket pretty much, and he emptied the
contents of a third into the stocking, which was still not full. Then he
stopped to examine it. "Oh! oh!" said he, "this is very bad! there is a
hole in the stocking!" It would never do to keep pouring things in at
one end while they passed out at the other, and his presents could only
be placed in stockings. So Santa Klaus sorrowfully gathered up the
presents, and leaving the stocking as empty as he found it, was off in a
twinkling.

III.

Kleiner Traum visits Peter Mit.

[Illustration]

The moment Santa Klaus whisked out of the room, Kleiner Traum whisked
in. It is impossible to say how he got into the room either; it is
enough that he was there. Kleiner Traum is a very remarkable personage.
He is like Santa Klaus in this, that he moves very quickly and can make
visits in one night all over the world. But more than that, he has the
power of making people see just what he chooses. Some persons think that
they have seen two Kleiner Traums, a good and a bad, but the fault is
in their eyes. He carries a kaleidoscope with him and shakes it before
people; just how he shakes it, so are the things they see. These things
are very apt to be like what has happened to them at different times,
only much more grotesque.

Kleiner Traum had come to make Peter Mit a visit, and show him his
kaleidoscope. Little Peter was fast asleep--that is the only time when
Kleiner Traum visits people,--and snugly curled up in bed. He was not
thinking or dreaming about anything, when now Kleiner Traum held the
kaleidoscope before him, and gave it a twist. What now did he see?

He saw an exceedingly queer-looking man squeeze out of the fire-place;
he was hung over with toys, and his pockets bulged out with the things
inside; in fact, he was quite the image of the little man he had seen in
the picture in the shop-window, and Peter made up his mind instantly
that it was Santa Klaus. As soon as he got on his legs in the middle of
the room, Two Eyes, whom Peter had so often called upon to swallow him
up, began moving about, apparently trying to mislead Santa Klaus. Peter
was ready to scream out, but for the life of him he couldn't make a
sound. He watched Two Eyes, who seemed to think he would draw Santa
Klaus to the head of the staircase, and then dance about so as to make