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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.
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