The Nodding Donkey said this aloud, and, as he spoke, he wobbled his
head from side to side and tried to turn over so he could stand on his
feet.

"Here! Don't do that!" suddenly whispered a voice in one of the Donkey's
large ears. "Don't you know it isn't allowed for you to move when any
one is looking at you?"

"I didn't know any one was looking at me," the Nodding Donkey answered.
"I thought Santa Claus had tossed me back to the North Pole."

"Hush! No! Nothing like that has happened," the voice went on, and, by
turning his loose head to one side, the Nodding Donkey saw that a large
Jumping Jack was whispering to him.

"There has been an accident," went on the Jumping Jack. "The sleigh of
Santa Claus banged into a hard, frozen snow cloud, and we were thrown
out into a snowdrift. I am not hurt, and I hope you are not. But we must
not talk or move much more, for I see Santa Claus coming this way, and
even he is not allowed to see us pretend to be alive, so that we move
and talk. He is coming to pick us up, I guess."

And then both toys had to keep quiet, for Santa Claus came stalking
along in his big leather boots. St. Nicholas was wiping some snowflakes
out of his eyes, his breath made clouds of steam in the frosty air and
his cheeks were as red as the reddest apple you ever saw.

"Oh, ho! Here are some of my toys!" cried the jolly old gentleman as he
saw the Nodding Donkey and the Jumping Jack. "I was afraid I had lost
you. We nearly had a bad accident," he went on, speaking to himself, but