The Nodding Donkey stood straight and stiff on his four legs, with his
shiny, new coat of varnish--the one he had received in the workshop of
Santa Claus at the North Pole. The Donkey wished he might move about and
talk with some of the other toys he saw all around him, but he dared
not, as the old gentleman and the two ladies were standing in front of
him and looking straight at the toy. All the Donkey dared do was to nod
his head, for, being made on purpose to do that, it was perfectly proper
for him to do so, just as the Jumping Jack jumped, or some of the funny
Clowns banged together their brass cymbals.

"Isn't he the dearest Donkey you ever saw, Angelina?" said one of the
ladies to the other.

"He certainly is, Geraldine," was the answer. "But something seems to be
the matter with his head. It is loose!"

"Tut! Tut! Nonsense! It is made that way, just the same as the moving
head of the Fuzzy Bear," said the old gentleman, whose name was Horatio
Mugg. At first the Nodding Donkey had taken this old gentleman for a
relative of Santa Claus, for he had the same white hair and whiskers and
wore almost the same sort of glasses. But a second look showed the
Nodding Donkey that this was not any relation of St. Nicholas. Besides,
this toy store was not at all like the workshop of Santa Claus.

The Nodding Donkey was at last on Earth in a toy store, and there, it
was hoped, some one would see him and buy him for some boy or girl for
Christmas.

The toy store was kept by Mr. Horatio Mugg and his two daughters, one
being named Angelina and the other Geraldine.