8. The First Journey with the Reindeer
Those were happy days for Claus when he carried his accumulation oftoys to the children who had awaited them so long. During hisimprisonment in the Valley he had been so industrious that all hisshelves were filled with playthings, and after quickly supplying thelittle ones living near by he saw he must now extend his travels towider fields.
Remembering the time when he had journeyed with Ak through all theworld, he know children were everywhere, and he longed to make as manyas possible happy with his gifts.
So he loaded a great sack with all kinds of toys, slung it upon hisback that he might carry it more easily, and started off on a longertrip than he had yet undertaken.
Wherever he showed his merry face, in hamlet or in farmhouse, hereceived a cordial welcome, for his fame had spread into far lands. Ateach village the children swarmed about him, following his footstepswherever he went; and the women thanked him gratefully for the joy hebrought their little ones; and the men looked upon him curiously thathe should devote his time to such a queer occupation as toy-making.But every one smiled on him and gave him kindly words, and Claus feltamply repaid for his long journey.
When the sack was empty he went back again to the Laughing Valley andonce more filled it to the brim. This time he followed another road,into a different part of the country, and carried happiness to manychildren who never before had owned a toy or guessed that such adelightful plaything existed.
After a third journey, so far away that Claus was many days walking thedistance, the store of toys became exhausted and without delay he setabout making a fresh supply.
From seeing so many children and studying their tastes he had acquiredseveral new ideas about toys.
The dollies were, he had found, the most delightful of all playthingsfor babies and little girls, and often those who could not say "dolly"would call for a "doll" in their sweet baby talk. So Claus resolved tomake many dolls, of all sizes, and to dress them in bright-coloredclothing. The older boys--and even some of the girls--loved the imagesof animals, so he still made cats and elephants and horses. And manyof the little fellows had musical natures, and longed for drums andcymbals and whistles and horns. So he made a number of toy drums, withtiny sticks to beat them with; and he made whistles from the willowtrees, and horns from the bog-reeds, and cymbals from bits of beatenmetal.
All this kept him busily at work, and before he realized it the winterseason came, with deeper snows than usual, and he knew he could notleave the Valley with his heavy pack. Moreover, the next trip wouldtake him farther from home than every before, and Jack Frost wasmischievous enough to nip his nose and ears if he undertook the longjourney while the Frost King reigned. The Frost King was Jack's fatherand never reproved him for his pranks.
So Claus remained at his work-bench; but he whistled and sang asmerrily as ever, for he would allow no disappointment to sour histemper or make him unhappy.
One bright morning he looked from his window and saw two of the deer hehad known in the Forest walking toward his house.
Claus was surprised; not that the friendly deer should visit him, butthat they walked on the surface of the snow as easily as if it weresolid ground, notwithstanding the fact that throughout the Valley thesnow lay many feet deep. He had walked out of his house a day or twobefore and had sunk to his armpits in a drift.
So when the deer came near he opened the door and called to them:
"Good morning, Flossie! Tell me how you are able to walk on the snowso easily."
"It is frozen hard," answered Flossie.
"The Frost King has breathed on it," said Glossie, coming up, "and thesurface is now as solid as ice."
"Perhaps," remarked Claus, thoughtfully, "I might now carry my pack oftoys to the children."
"Is it a long journey?" asked Flossie.
"Yes; it will take me many days, for the pack is heavy," answered Claus.
"Then the snow would melt before you could get back," said the deer."You must wait until spring, Claus."
Claus sighed. "Had I your fleet feet," said he, "I could make thejourney in a day."
"But you have not," returned Glossie, looking at his own slender legswith pride.
"Perhaps I could ride upon your back," Claus ventured to remark, aftera pause.
"Oh no; our backs are not strong enough to bear your weight," saidFlossie, decidedly. "But if you had a sledge, and could harness us toit, we might draw you easily, and your pack as well."
"I'll make a sledge!" exclaimed Claus. "Will you agree to draw me if Ido?"
"Well," replied Flossie, "we must first go and ask the Knooks, who areour guardians, for permission; but if they consent, and you can make asledge and harness, we will gladly assist you."
"Then go at once!" cried Claus, eagerly. "I am sure the friendlyKnooks will give their consent, and by the time you are back I shall beready to harness you to my sledge."
Flossie and Glossie, being deer of much intelligence, had long wishedto see the great world, so they gladly ran over the frozen snow to askthe Knooks if they might carry Claus on his journey.
Meantime the toy-maker hurriedly began the construction of a sledge,using material from his wood-pile. He made two long runners thatturned upward at the front ends, and across these nailed short boards,to make a platform. It was soon completed, but was as rude inappearance as it is possible for a sledge to be.
The harness was more difficult to prepare, but Claus twisted strongcords together and knotted them so they would fit around the necks ofthe deer, in the shape of a collar. From these ran other cords tofasten the deer to the front of the sledge.
Before the work was completed Glossie and Flossie were back from theForest, having been granted permission by Will Knook to make thejourney with Claus provided they would to Burzee by daybreak the nextmorning.
"That is not a very long time," said Flossie; "but we are swift andstrong, and if we get started by this evening we can travel many milesduring the night."
Claus decided to make the attempt, so he hurried on his preparations asfast as possible. After a time he fastened the collars around thenecks of his steeds and harnessed them to his rude sledge. Then heplaced a stool on the little platform, to serve as a seat, and filled asack with his prettiest toys.
"How do you intend to guide us?" asked Glossie. "We have never beenout of the Forest before, except to visit your house, so we shall notknow the way."
Claus thought about that for a moment. Then he brought more cords andfastened two of them to the spreading antlers of each deer, one on theright and the other on the left.
"Those will be my reins," said Claus, "and when I pull them to theright or to the left you must go in that direction. If I do not pullthe reins at all you may go straight ahead."
"Very well," answered Glossie and Flossie; and then they asked: "Areyou ready?"
Claus seated himself upon the stool, placed the sack of toys at hisfeet, and then gathered up the reins.
"All ready!" he shouted; "away we go!"
The deer leaned forward, lifted their slender limbs, and the nextmoment away flew the sledge over the frozen snow. The swiftness of themotion surprised Claus, for in a few strides they were across theValley and gliding over the broad plain beyond.
The day had melted into evening by the time they started; for, swiftlyas Claus had worked, many hours had been consumed in making hispreparations. But the moon shone brightly to light their way, andClaus soon decided it was just as pleasant to travel by night as by day.
The deer liked it better; for, although they wished to see something ofthe world, they were timid about meeting men, and now all the dwellersin the towns and farmhouses were sound asleep and could not see them.
Away and away they sped, on and on over the hills and through thevalleys and across the plains until they reached a village where Claushad never been before.
Here he called on them to stop, and they immediately obeyed. But a newdifficulty now pr
esented itself, for the people had locked their doorswhen they went to bed, and Claus found he could not enter the houses toleave his toys.
"I am afraid, my friends, we have made our journey for nothing," saidhe, "for I shall be obliged to carry my playthings back home againwithout giving them to the children of this village."
"What's the matter?" asked Flossie.
"The doors are locked," answered Claus, "and I can not get in."
Glossie looked around at the houses. The snow was quite deep in thatvillage, and just before them was a roof only a few feet above thesledge. A broad chimney, which seemed to Glossie big enough to admitClaus, was at the peak of the roof.
"Why don't you climb down that chimney?" asked Glossie.
Claus looked at it.
"That would be easy enough if I were on top of the roof," he answered.
"Then hold fast and we will take you there," said the deer, and theygave one bound to the roof and landed beside the big chimney.
"Good!" cried Claus, well pleased, and he slung the pack of toys overhis shoulder and got into the chimney.
There was plenty of soot on the bricks, but he did not mind that, andby placing his hands and knees against the sides he crept downwarduntil he had reached the fireplace. Leaping lightly over thesmoldering coals he found himself in a large sitting-room, where a dimlight was burning.
From this room two doorways led into smaller chambers. In one a womanlay asleep, with a baby beside her in a crib.
Claus laughed, but he did not laugh aloud for fear of waking the baby.Then he slipped a big doll from his pack and laid it in the crib. Thelittle one smiled, as if it dreamed of the pretty plaything it was tofind on the morrow, and Claus crept softly from the room and entered atthe other doorway.
Here were two boys, fast asleep with their arms around each other'sneck. Claus gazed at them lovingly a moment and then placed upon thebed a drum, two horns and a wooden elephant.
He did not linger, now that his work in this house was done, butclimbed the chimney again and seated himself on his sledge.
"Can you find another chimney?" he asked the reindeer.
"Easily enough," replied Glossie and Flossie.
Down to the edge of the roof they raced, and then, without pausing,leaped through the air to the top of the next building, where a huge,old-fashioned chimney stood.
"Don't be so long, this time," called Flossie, "or we shall never getback to the Forest by daybreak."
Claus made a trip down this chimney also and found five childrensleeping in the house, all of whom were quickly supplied with toys.
When he returned the deer sprang to the next roof, but on descendingthe chimney Claus found no children there at all. That was not oftenthe case in this village, however, so he lost less time than you mightsuppose in visiting the dreary homes where there were no little ones.
When he had climbed down the chimneys of all the houses in thatvillage, and had left a toy for every sleeping child, Claus found thathis great sack was not yet half emptied.
"Onward, friends!" he called to the deer; "we must seek anothervillage."
So away they dashed, although it was long past midnight, and in asurprisingly short time they came to a large city, the largest Claushad ever visited since he began to make toys. But, nothing daunted bythe throng of houses, he set to work at once and his beautiful steedscarried him rapidly from one roof to another, only the highest beingbeyond the leaps of the agile deer.
At last the supply of toys was exhausted and Claus seated himself inthe sledge, with the empty sack at his feet, and turned the heads ofGlossie and Flossie toward home.
Presently Flossie asked:
"What is that gray streak in the sky?"
"It is the coming dawn of day," answered Claus, surprised to find thatit was so late.
"Good gracious!" exclaimed Glossie; "then we shall not be home bydaybreak, and the Knooks will punish us and never let us come again."
"We must race for the Laughing Valley and make our best speed,"returned Flossie; "so hold fast, friend Claus!"
Claus held fast and the next moment was flying so swiftly over the snowthat he could not see the trees as they whirled past. Up hill and downdale, swift as an arrow shot from a bow they dashed, and Claus shut hiseyes to keep the wind out of them and left the deer to find their ownway.
It seemed to him they were plunging through space, but he was not atall afraid. The Knooks were severe masters, and must be obeyed at allhazards, and the gray streak in the sky was growing brighter everymoment.
Finally the sledge came to a sudden stop and Claus, who was takenunawares, tumbled from his seat into a snowdrift. As he picked himselfup he heard the deer crying:
"Quick, friend, quick! Cut away our harness!"
He drew his knife and rapidly severed the cords, and then he wiped themoisture from his eyes and looked around him.
The sledge had come to a stop in the Laughing Valley, only a few feet,he found, from his own door. In the East the day was breaking, andturning to the edge of Burzee he saw Glossie and Flossie justdisappearing in the Forest.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus Page 14