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Page 19
"Why have you made this long journey to see me?"
"I wants a tat!" replied little Mayrie; and her brother, who had not
yet learned to speak many words, nodded his head and exclaimed like an
echo: "Tat!"
"Oh, you want my toy cats, do you?" returned Claus, greatly pleased to
discover that his creations were so popular with children.
The little visitors nodded eagerly.
"Unfortunately," he continued, "I have but one cat now ready, for I
carried two to children in the town yesterday. And the one I have
shall be given to your brother, Mayrie, because he is the smaller; and
the next one I make shall be for you."
The boy's face was bright with smiles as he took the precious toy
Claus held out to him; but little Mayrie covered her face with her arm
and began to sob grievously.
"I--I--I wants a t--t--tat now!" she wailed.
Her disappointment made Claus feel miserable for a moment. Then he
suddenly remembered Shiegra.
"Don't cry, darling!" he said, soothingly; "I have a toy much nicer
than a cat, and you shall have that."
He went to the cupboard and drew out the image of the lioness, which
he placed on the table before Mayrie.
The girl raised her arm and gave one glance at the fierce teeth and
glaring eyes of the beast, and then, uttering a terrified scream, she
rushed from the house. The boy followed her, also screaming lustily,
and even dropping his precious cat in his fear.
For a moment Claus stood motionless, being puzzled and astonished.
Then he threw Shiegra's image into the cupboard and ran after the
children, calling to them not to be frightened.
Little Mayrie stopped in her flight and her brother clung to her
skirt; but they both cast fearful glances at the house until Claus had
assured them many times that the beast had been locked in the cupboard.
"Yet why were you frightened at seeing it?" he asked. "It is only a
toy to play with!"
"It's bad!" said Mayrie, decidedly, "an'--an'--just horrid, an' not a
bit nice, like tats!"
"Perhaps you are right," returned Claus, thoughtfully. "But if you
will return with me to the house I will soon make you a pretty cat."
So they timidly entered the house again, having faith in their
friend's words; and afterward they had the joy of watching Claus carve
out a cat from a bit of wood and paint it in natural colors. It did
not take him long to do this, for he had become skillful with his knife
by this time, and Mayrie loved her toy the more dearly because she had
seen it made.
After his little visitors had trotted away on their journey homeward
Claus sat long in deep thought. And he then decided that such fierce
creatures as his friend the lioness would never do as models from
which to fashion his toys.
"There must be nothing to frighten the dear babies," he reflected;
"and while I know Shiegra well, and am not afraid of her, it is but
natural that children should look upon her image with terror.
Hereafter I will choose such mild-mannered animals as squirrels and
rabbits and deer and lambkins from which to carve my toys, for then
the little ones will love rather than fear them."
He began his work that very day, and before bedtime had made a wooden
rabbit and a lamb. They were not quite so lifelike as the cats had
been, because they were formed from memory, while Blinkie had sat very
still for Claus to look at while he worked.
But the new toys pleased the children nevertheless, and the fame of
Claus' playthings quickly spread to every cottage on plain and in
village. He always carried his gifts to the sick or crippled
children, but those who were strong enough walked to the house in the
Valley to ask for them, so a little path was soon worn from the plain
to the door of the toy-maker's cottage.
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