nd
called 'em all Sandwiches just to be stupid, and it was stupid."

"But what did he want to be stupid for?" asked Tom.

"Just his vanity, that's all," said the Righthandiron. "The Poker is a
very vain person. He thinks he is superior to everybody else in
everything. If you say to him, 'the gas fixture is bright tonight,' he'll
say, 'Oh, yes--but I'm brighter.' Somebody told him once that the kindling
wood that started the fires was stupid, and he wouldn't even stop his
bragging then. 'Oh, yes,' he said, 'but I'm a great deal stupider than the
kindling wood and I'll prove it.' So he sat down and wrote those verses
and called 'em all Sandwiches, and everybody agreed that he was the
stupidest person going."

"You only told me two of 'em," said Tom.

"No--the whole eight were there. To make it more stupid the Poker said
that the first one was number five and the second was the other seven."

Tom smiled broadly at this and made up his mind to cultivate the
acquaintance of the Poker. He was boy enough to like stupidity of that
sort because it made him laugh.

"I'd like to meet the Poker," he said. "He must be lots of fun."

"He is," said the Lefthandiron. "Tenacre lots of fun. You'll meet him soon
enough because we shall join him shortly. We never go off on any of our
trips without him. He is a great help sometimes when we get into trouble
just because he has so many sides. If we fall into a pit through some
misstep the Poker comes along and pries us out of it. If we fall into the
hands of some horrible creature that wants to hurt us, the Poker talks to
that creature as stupid as he knows how, which makes the other so drowsy
that he can't possibly keep awake, and then, of course, we escape."

"There he is now," cried the Righthandiron, putting his right forepaw up
to his ear and listening attentively. "I can hear him singing, can't you?"

The Lefthandiron stopped short and Tom strained his ears to hear the
Poker's song. For a moment he could hear nothing, but then a slight
buzzing sound like the hum of a bee, came to his ears and in another
minute he could distinguish the words of the song. It was a song showing
that the singer was one of those favored beings who are satisfied with
what the world has given them--as you will see for yourself when you hear
it. These are the words as they came to Tom's ears, sung to a soft little
air which the Poker made up as he went along, thereby showing that he was
a musician as w