stars, and when you came flying through the air, weren't you
frightened?

Well, it wasn't much fun, _says_ POLLY, but we didn't know how else
to get here.

And we knew you were sick, _says_ JACK.

But, _asks_ SANTA CLAUS, what difference did it make to you
children whether an old man like me was sick or not?

Why, Santa Claus, _answers_ POLLY, we all just love you, you know.

Well, well, _says_ SANTA CLAUS. _Then he lays down his cane on
the floor, and stretches himself, and stands up, and walks across the
room without hobbling at all._

How do you feel now? _asks_ JACK.

Feel? _answers_ SANTA CLAUS, _moving more and more briskly_. I
feel as young as a snow flake; I feel as strong as a northeast blizzard.
Quick, Mrs. Santa Claus, bring me my fur cap and gloves. There's time
yet to fill the children's stockings.

_While Mrs. Santa Claus is out of the room_, JACK _says_:
Santa, I didn't even know there was a Mrs. Santa Claus.

Have you ever been very sick? _asks_ SANTA CLAUS.

We've had chicken pox, _answers_ JACK.

Oh, that doesn't count, _says_ SANTA CLAUS, but some times, when
children are very sick indeed--or, for days and days--and when they are
very good and patient, and take their medicine, and never kick the bed
clothes off, then Mrs. Santa Claus comes in the night, and brings them
a present, and when they wake up, they find it beside the bed.

Oh, _says_ POLLY, I think she must be almost as good as you, Santa
Claus.

And besides that, _says_ SANTA CLAUS, who do you suppose dresses
all the dolls that I put into the stockings? She does, of course. Look
here at this fine one that she has just finished. To be sure, I make the
doll part myself, and this one here is a very fine one, if I do say it:
it can talk. Would you like to hear it, Polly? Just pull that string
there.

_Polly pulls the string and the_ DOLL, _in a very squeaky voice,
says_, Ma-ma.

And, by the way, SANTA CLAUS _goes on_, I must put this doll and
that soldier into the shrinking-machine.

Why, what is that, Santa Claus? _asks_ JACK.

The shrinking-machine? _says_ SANTA CLAUS. That is it, over there.
_He points to the tall cupboardy thing at the back. Then he goes
on_. You see it's easier to make toys big, but I couldn't carry them
that way, for the sleigh wouldn't hold them, and besides they wouldn't
go into the stockings. So after they are made, I put them into the
machine, and shrink them. Open the doors, Polly, and we will