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Page 45
"What in the world are people thinking of, to build such useless
chimneys?" he exclaimed. "In all the years I have traveled with my
reindeer I have never seen the like before."
True enough; but Santa Claus had not then discovered that stoves had
been invented and were fast coming into use. When he did find it out
he wondered how the builders of those houses could have so little
consideration for him, when they knew very well it was his custom to
climb down chimneys and enter houses by way of the fireplaces.
Perhaps the men who built those houses had outgrown their own love for
toys, and were indifferent whether Santa Claus called on their
children or not. Whatever the explanation might be, the poor children
were forced to bear the burden of grief and disappointment.
The following year Santa Claus found more and more of the
new-fashioned chimneys that had no fireplaces, and the next year still
more. The third year, so numerous had the narrow chimneys become, he
even had a few toys left in his sledge that he was unable to give
away, because he could not get to the children.
The matter had now become so serious that it worried the good man
greatly, and he decided to talk it over with Kilter and Peter and
Nuter and Wisk.
Kilter already knew something about it, for it had been his duty to run
around to all the houses, just before Christmas, and gather up the
notes and letters to Santa Claus that the children had written,
telling what they wished put in their stockings or hung on their
Christmas trees. But Kilter was a silent fellow, and seldom spoke of
what he saw in the cities and villages. The others were very indignant.
"Those people act as if they do not wish their children to be made
happy!" said sensible Peter, in a vexed tone. "The idea of shutting
out such a generous friend to their little ones!"
"But it is my intention to make children happy whether their parents
wish it or not," returned Santa Claus. "Years ago, when I first
began making toys, children were even more neglected by their parents
than they are now; so I have learned to pay no attention to thoughtless
or selfish parents, but to consider only the longings of childhood."
"You are right, my master," said Nuter, the Ryl; "many children would
lack a friend if you did not consider them, and try to make them happy."
"Then," declared the laughing Wisk, "we must abandon any thought of
using these new-fashioned chimneys, but become burglars, and break
into the houses some other way."
"What way?" asked Santa Claus.
"Why, walls of brick and wood and plaster are nothing to Fairies.
I can easily pass through them whenever I wish, and so can Peter
and Nuter and Kilter. Is it not so, comrades?"
"I often pass through the walls when I gather up the letters," said
Kilter, and that was a long speech for him, and so surprised Peter and
Nuter that their big round eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
"Therefore," continued the Fairy, "you may as well take us with you on
your next journey, and when we come to one of those houses with stoves
instead of fireplaces we will distribute the toys to the children
without the need of using a chimney."
"That seems to me a good plan," replied Santa Claus, well pleased at
having solved the problem. "We will try it next year."
That was how the Fairy, the Pixie, the Knook and the Ryl all rode in
the sledge with their master the following Christmas Eve; and they had
no trouble at all in entering the new-fashioned houses and leaving
toys for the children that lived in them.
And their deft services not only relieved Santa Claus of much labor,
but enabled him to complete his own work more quickly than usual, so
that the merry party found themselves at home with an empty sledge a
full hour before daybreak.
The only drawback to the journey was that the mischievous Wisk
persisted in tickling the reindeer with a long feather, to see them
jump; and Santa Claus found it necessary to watch him every minute and
to tweak his long ears once or twice to make him behave himself.
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