8.  The First Journey with the Reindeer

  Those were happy days for Claus when he carried his
accumulation of toys to the children who had awaited them so
long.  During his imprisonment in the Valley he had been so
industrious that all his shelves were filled with playthings,
and after quickly supplying the little ones living near by he
saw he must now extend his travels to wider fields.

  Remembering the time when he had journeyed with Ak through all
the world, he know children were everywhere, and he longed to
make as many as possible happy with his gifts.

  So he loaded a great sack with all kinds of toys, slung it
upon his back that he might carry it more easily, and started
off on a longer trip than he had yet undertaken.

  Wherever he showed his merry face, in hamlet or in farmhouse,
he received a cordial welcome, for his fame had spread into
far lands. At each village the children swarmed about him,
following his footsteps wherever he went; and the women
thanked him gratefully for the joy he brought their little
ones; and the men looked upon him curiously that he 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
felt amply repaid for his long journey.

  When the sack was empty he went back again to the Laughing
Valley and once more filled it to the brim.  This time he
followed another road, into a different part of the country,
and carried happiness to many children who never before had
owned a toy or guessed that such a delightful plaything
existed.

  After a third journey, so far away that Claus was many days
walking the distance, the store of toys became exhausted and
without delay he set about making a fresh supply.

  From seeing so many children and studying their tastes he had
acquired several new ideas about toys.

  The dollies were, he had found, the most delightful of all
playthings for 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 to make many dolls, of all
sizes, and to dress them in bright-colored clothing.  The
older boys--and even some of the girls--loved the images of
animals, so he still made cats and elephants and horses. And
many of the little fellows had musical natures, and longed for
drums and cymbals and whistles and horns.  So he made a number
of toy drums, with tiny sticks to beat them with; and he made
whistles from the willow trees, and horns from the bog-reeds,
and cymbals from bits of beaten metal.

  All this kept him busily at work, and before he realized it
the winter season came, with deeper snows than usual, and he
knew he could not leave the Valley with his heavy pack. 
Moreover, the next trip would take him farther from home than
every before, and Jack Frost was mischievous enough to nip his
nose and ears if he undertook the long journey while the Frost
King reigned.  The Frost King was Jack's father and never
reproved him for his pranks.

  So Claus remained at his work-bench; but he whistled and sang
as merrily as ever, for he would allow no disappointment to
sour his temper or make him unhappy.

  One bright morning he looked from his window and saw two of
the deer he had known in the Forest walking toward his house.

  Claus was surprised; not that the friendly deer should visit
him, but that they walked on the surface of the snow as easily
as if it were solid ground, notwithstanding the fact that
throughout the Valley the snow lay many feet deep.  He had
walked out of his house a day or two before 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 snow so easily."

  "It is frozen hard," answered Flossie.

  "The Frost King has breathed on it," said Glossie, coming up,
"and the surface is now as solid as ice."

  "Perhaps," remarked Claus, thoughtfully, "I might now carry my
pack of toys 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
the journey in a day."

  "But you have not," returned Glossie, looking at his own
slender legs with pride.

  "Perhaps I could ride upon your back," Claus ventured to
remark, after a pause.

  "Oh no; our backs are not strong enough to bear your weight,"
said Flossie, decidedly.  "But if you had a sledge, and could
harness us to it, we might draw you easily, and your pack as
well."

  "I'll make a sledge!" exclaimed Claus.  "Will you agree to
draw me if I do?"

  "Well," replied Flossie, "we must first go and ask the Knooks,
who are our guardians, for permission; but if they consent,
and you can make a sledge and harness, we will gladly assist
you."

  "Then go at once!" cried Claus, eagerly.  "I am sure the
friendly Knooks will give their consent, and by the time you
are back I shall be ready to harness you to my sledge."

  Flossie and Glossie, being deer of much intelligence, had long
wished to see the great world, so they gladly ran over the
frozen snow to ask the 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 that turned upward at the front ends, and across these
nailed short boards, to make a platform.  It was soon
completed, but was as rude in appearance as it is possible for
a sledge to be.

  The harness was more difficult to prepare, but Claus twisted
strong cords together and knotted them so they would fit
around the necks of the deer, in the shape of a collar.  From
these ran other cords to fasten the deer to the front of the
sledge.

  Before the work was completed Glossie and Flossie were back
from the Forest, having been granted permission by Will Knook
to make the journey with Claus provided they would to Burzee
by daybreak the next morning.

  "That is not a very long time," said Flossie; "but we are
swift and strong, and if we get started by this evening we can
travel many miles during the night."

  Claus decided to make the attempt, so he hurried on his
preparations as fast as possible.  After a time he fastened
the collars around the necks of his steeds and harnessed them
to his rude sledge.  Then he placed a stool on the little
platform, to serve as a seat, and filled a sack with his
prettiest toys.

  "How do you intend to guide us?" asked Glossie.  "We have
never been out of the Forest before, except to visit your
house, so we shall not know the way."

  Claus thought about that for a moment.  Then he brought more
cords and fastened two of them to the spreading antlers of
each deer, one on the right and the other on the left.

  "Those will be my reins," said Claus, "and when I pull them to
the right or to the left you must go in that direction.  If I
do not pull the reins at all you may go straight ahead."

  "Very well," answered Glossie and Flossie; and then they
asked: "Are you ready?"

  Claus seated himself upon the stool, placed the sack of toys
at his feet, and then gathered up the reins.

  "All ready!" he shouted; "away we go!"

  The deer leaned forward, lifted their slender limbs, and the
next moment away flew the sledge over the frozen snow.  The
swiftness of the motion surprised Claus, for in a few strides
they were across the Valley and gliding over the broad plain
beyond.

  The day had melted into evening by the time they started; for,
swiftly as Claus had worked, many hours had been consumed in
making his preparations.  But the moon shone brightly to light
their way, and Claus 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 of the world, they were timid about meeting men, and
now all the dwellers in 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
the valleys and across the plains until they reached a village
where Claus had never been before.

  Here he called on them to stop, and they immediately obeyed. 
But a new difficulty now presented itself, for the people had
locked their doors when they went to bed, and Claus found he
could not enter the houses to leave his toys.

  "I am afraid, my friends, we have made our journey for
nothing," said he, "for I shall be obliged to carry my
playthings back home again without 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 that village, and just before them was a roof only a few
feet above the sledge.  A broad chimney, which seemed to
Glossie big enough to admit Claus, 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 they gave one bound to the roof and landed beside the big
chimney.

  "Good!" cried Claus, well pleased, and he slung the pack of
toys over his shoulder and got into the chimney.

  There was plenty of soot on the bricks, but he did not mind
that, and by placing his hands and knees against the sides he
crept downward until he had reached the fireplace.  Leaping
lightly over the smoldering coals he found himself in a large
sitting-room, where a dim light was burning.

  From this room two doorways led into smaller chambers.  In one
a woman lay 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.  The little one smiled, as if it dreamed of the
pretty plaything it was to find on the morrow, and Claus crept
softly from the room and entered at the other doorway.

  Here were two boys, fast asleep with their arms around each
other's neck.  Claus gazed at them lovingly a moment and then
placed upon the bed a drum, two horns and a wooden elephant.

  He did not linger, now that his work in this house was done,
but climbed 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 get back to the Forest by daybreak."

  Claus made a trip down this chimney also and found five
children sleeping in the house, all of whom were quickly
supplied with toys.

  When he returned the deer sprang to the next roof, but on
descending the chimney Claus found no children there at all. 
That was not often the case in this village, however, so he
lost less time than you might suppose in visiting the dreary
homes where there were no little ones.

  When he had climbed down the chimneys of all the houses in
that village, and had left a toy for every sleeping child,
Claus found that his great sack was not yet half emptied.

  "Onward, friends!" he called to the deer; "we must seek
another village."

  So away they dashed, although it was long past midnight, and
in a surprisingly short time they came to a large city, the
largest Claus had ever visited since he began to make toys. 
But, nothing daunted by the throng of houses, he set to work
at once and his beautiful steeds carried him rapidly from one
roof to another, only the highest being beyond the leaps of
the agile deer.

  At last the supply of toys was exhausted and Claus seated
himself in the sledge, with the empty sack at his feet, and
turned the heads of Glossie 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 that it was so late.

  "Good gracious!" exclaimed Glossie; "then we shall not be home
by daybreak, 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 snow that he could not see the trees as they whirled past. 
Up hill and down dale, swift as an arrow shot from a bow they
dashed, and Claus shut his eyes to keep the wind out of them
and left the deer to find their own way.

  It seemed to him they were plunging through space, but he was
not at all afraid.  The Knooks were severe masters, and must
be obeyed at all hazards, and the gray streak in the sky was
growing brighter every moment.

  Finally the sledge came to a sudden stop and Claus, who was
taken unawares, tumbled from his seat into a snowdrift.  As he
picked himself up 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 the moisture 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, and turning to the edge of Burzee he saw Glossie
and Flossie just disappearing in the Forest.