Yes, answers GRANDMOTHER, Mary finished everything quite a while ago. Or almost everything. She didn"t get the paper caps made for the children, but she was just too tired to do it after all the other work.
I don"t wonder, says FATHER. When there is so much to be done, some things simply have to be left. Perhaps there will be time tomorrow morning. I"m leaving some things for tomorrow myself. For instance, I promised Mary I"d sweep out the kitchen here, after I"d brought in the wood; and it needs it, sure enough, for I see I"ve tracked in a lot of dirt. But I"m going to beg off for tonight. I"ll do it first thing in the morning. I only hope that Santa Claus won"t notice it, and think we"re an untidy household. But we leave such a dim light in the kitchen at night, that I don"t believe he"ll be able to tell whether the room is broom-clean or not. And any way, I guess he must get tired himself sometimes. So he"ll know how it is, and won"t lay it up against us.
And that is the end of the First Scene.
The Interlude
Again before the Second Scene begins, MOTHER GOOSE comes out in front of the Curtain, and this is what she says:
Children, do you want to know what has happened in that Kitchen since the curtain closed? Well, I"ve come to tell you all about it. The first thing was that they all had supper; not a very hearty supper, because they all wanted to save up their appet.i.tes for the Christmas dinner the next day. But they had as much as they needed. And then the two children went and got their stockings, one for each member of the family, and then they all hung up their own stockings. Gertrude hung up her stocking, and Walter hung up his stocking, and Mother hung up her stocking, and Father hung up his stocking, and Grandmother hung up her stocking, and--and--and--now, I declare, I"ve left somebody out.
Who can it be, I wonder? Why, to be sure--Grandfather. Yes, Grandfather hung up his stocking; and there they were, all six stockings hanging in a row. You look for them there, when the curtain opens. I think you"ll see them. Well, then of course the children went to bed, and by this time I think they are both asleep. And now the rest of the family are beginning to feel sleepy, and in just a moment, I think one of them is going to say, "It"s time we all went to bed."
What happens after that you can see for yourselves, for now it"s going to begin.
The Second Scene
When the Curtain opens, you see the Kitchen again just as before, except that now the six stockings are hanging from the mantel shelf over the fire-place. Father is sitting beside the table reading the newspaper. The two Grandparents are still sitting close to the fire, one on each side. Grandfather has fallen asleep, and Grandmother is drowsy, so that her head nods. Then she wakes up, and tries to stay awake; but in a minute her head goes nodding again. Father yawns, puts down his newspaper; yawns once more and stretches; then goes on reading.
MOTHER comes in and says, The children are sound asleep.
It"s time we all went to bed, says FATHER, putting down the newspaper. I know I"m ready for it. He yawns.
Besides, adds MOTHER, the fire is almost out; and indeed it ought soon to be put out entirely, so as to cool the chimney for old Santa Claus, when he comes.
That"s right, too, FATHER agrees. He gets up and goes to Grandfather, laying his hand on his shoulder. Father, he says, speaking loud so as to waken him. It"s time to go to bed.
What? says GRANDFATHER, waking up with a start; and then he says, Why, I must have been dozing. Where are the children?
They went to bed long ago, says MOTHER. Don"t you remember? And now it"s bed time for all of us. Are you ready, mother?
Yes, I"m more than ready, answers GRANDMOTHER. She rises and Grandfather, also, and with feeble steps, they go toward the door.
Good-night, GRANDMOTHER says.
Good-night, FATHER and MOTHER answer her, and FATHER continues, Good-night, father. Pleasant dreams.
Good-night, answers GRANDFATHER, and he and Grandmother go out.
I"ll be off too, James, says MOTHER, if you"ll look after the fire and the light.
Yes, I"ll attend to all that, answers FATHER.
Then Mother goes out, and Father deadens the fire, using the tongs and shovel. He takes the chair, in which he has been sitting, and sets it against the wall beside the clothes basket. Then he lights the candle on the mantel shelf, blows out the lamp, leaving the room in a dim light, and goes out.
For a little while everything is quiet. Then there is a noise from the direction of the wood box. The cover rises, and the head of a brownie appears, inside the box. He climbs out, followed by another.
They caper about the room, looking at everything, listening at the doors, looking up the chimney. Then they go to the clothes basket and raise the lid. Up come four arms, and then two house-fairies stand up in the basket, and get out with the help of the chair. They, also, flit about the room, looking at things. Meanwhile the brownies have taken the broom and dust pan, and begun to sweep, especially over by the outside door and by the wood box. The fairies take a chair, and climb up by the mantel shelf. They take down the colored paper, paste and scissors, and, carrying them to the table, set to work, making paper caps. In a few moments they hold up two, complete. They leave them on the table.
Now sleigh bells are heard approaching. The brownies and fairies leave their work, and clapping their hands, run to the fire-place, and stand in a group, facing it, looking in. Now the sleigh bells have come very near: and now they are still. And NOW Santa Claus is heard scrambling down the chimney. As he comes out from the fire-place, the brownies and fairies separate to let him through. He sets down his pack. Then the brownies, on one side, and the fairies, on the other, take hold of his hands and draw him toward the front of the stage.
SANTA CLAUS smiles down at them, and, shaking the hands that hold his, says, How are you all? Merry as crickets? They nod, and dance up and down, still holding his hands. And what have you been doing with yourselves? he asks them. Playing? They all nod. And working?
he asks. They nod again. Then the brownies draw him over to the their side, and show him how clean the floor is. Good! says SANTA CLAUS.
Then the brownies let go his hand, and the fairies draw him over to their side, and show him the caps they have made. Fine! says SANTA CLAUS. Then the fairies let go his other hand, and he goes on talking. How are Gertrude and Walter? Have they been good? They all nod. As for the older people, he says, I don"t need to ask you about them. Do you want to know why? They nod. It"s because I"ve heard all about them already, SANTA CLAUS continues. There"s a little bird that lives up in the eaves of the house and often he flies down and listens at the window, and then he tells me all he hears.
Tonight he flew way up to the pine woods on the hill, to meet me, and he told me some things about all the older people in this house which made me feel quite upset. Shall I tell you what it was? They nod. He says that they all of them seem to think that they are growing old, not only the grandfather and grandmother, but the father and mother, too. They are all the time talking about feeling tired, and saying how different it all was when they were children, and how long ago that seems. Now isn"t that a shame? I don"t blame them altogether, because I know myself how that sort of thing sometimes happens. Two or three years ago I was sick for awhile, and I declare that even I began to feel old and tired. But all the same I don"t believe in letting that sort of thing go on too long; and do you want to know what I am going to do about it? They nod eagerly. It"s the best scheme you ever heard of, and I want you to help me with it. Well, I"m going to use some magic to make them all little boys and girls again for half an hour. And the way I"m going to do it is this. I"ve got here a bag of magic hazel nuts. He takes the bag out of his pocket. I always keep them in my pocket, because you never know when a thing of that sort will come in handy. Now, I want you to take these nuts and stick them into the plum pudding, which they are all going to eat tomorrow for their Christmas dinner. You must stick them in all around in different places, so that each of the older people will be sure to get one; and it won"t do the children a bit of harm if they get some, too. In fact they are so young that this kind of magic won"t have any effect on them at all. But with all the older folks, as soon as the nuts have been eaten, the magic will begin to work; and what do you suppose will be the first thing they will all want to do? Do you want to know?
They all nod. They will all want to get down on their hands and knees, Grandfather and Grandmother and all, and crawl under the table.
Won"t that be funny? They all clap their hands and dance up and down. That"s what the magic hazel nuts will make them do, says SANTA CLAUS. And when they have crawled under the table--you see, it"s a table that has a Christmas dinner on it, and that makes a difference, of course--well, when they have crawled under the table, then--. No. I believe I won"t tell you about what will happen then.
I"ll keep it for a surprise and it"s something worth seeing you may be sure. So that"s the plan. Will you help me? They all nod most emphatically. Here are the nuts, then, he says. Run and stick them into the pudding, while I fill the stockings.
They take the bag and all run out through the door. Santa Claus goes to the fire-place, and from his pack fills all six stockings. Then, as he finishes and takes up his pack, the brownies and fairies return, and gather round him as he stands in front of the fire-place. SANTA CLAUS says to them, Did you stick them in? They nod. All around?
They nod again. That"s right. Well, I"m off. And, tomorrow, if I can manage it, I"m going to come back here at about the time when the nuts begin to work, for I"d like to see the fun myself. Good-bye.
They all shake him by the hand. Then he disappears into the fire-place. They stand in front of it for a moment, and one of the brownies kneels down and looks up the chimney after him. Then sleigh bells are heard on the roof, as the sleigh starts. The brownies and fairies turn around then, and come away from the fire-place. The brownies run to the wood box, climb in, and pull the lid down over them. At the same time the fairies carry the chair over to the clothes basket, climb onto the chair, step over into the basket, and pull the lid down over them. Then everything is quiet again.
And that is the end of the Second Scene.
The Interlude
Again before the Third Scene begins, MOTHER GOOSE comes out in front of the Curtain, and this is what she says:
Children, I"ve got a lot to tell you about what has happened to Walter and Gertrude since the curtain closed. For quite a while they went on sleeping, because it was still night, you know. And then morning came, and it didn"t take them long to wake up after that, I can tell you. As soon as it was really light, they put on their wrappers, and woke their father and mother, and then they went for the stockings. They took them into their grandparents" room, and Grandmother and Grandfather sat up in bed with shawls over their shoulders, and the rest sat on the edge of the bed. Then they all opened their stockings, and I couldn"t begin to tell you what fine presents they found in them, nor how happy they all were. After breakfast they all sat down by the kitchen fire, and father got the big family Bible, and laid it on Grandfather"s lap, and Grandfather polished up his spectacles till they shone, and put them on his nose, and then he read about the story of the first Christmas long ago in Bethlehem. And it was all so quiet while he was reading that you could almost hear the snow flakes falling outside, for it had begun to snow. Then, when Grandfather had finished reading, and closed the Bible, they all sang a Christmas carol, which they always sings together every Christmas in that house; and they sang it out so clear and strong, that a traveler in a sleigh, way down at the cross-roads, heard it, and it sounded so good that he stopped his horse in spite of the storm, and listened till it was over. Well, I can"t tell you everything else they did that morning except that Father found the floor all swept, and knew it must have been done by the brownies; and then Mother found the paper caps that the house-fairies had made. She was ever so glad; and so were the children when they opened them up and put them on. You"ll see how they look on the children"s heads when the curtain opens. Then about the dinner. Father had brought in the big table, and set it up in the kitchen in front of the fire-place, and Mother put on the plates and the forks and the knives and the spoons and all the rest. Then the goose was roasted, and, oh, how good it smelt when it was cooking. At last everything was ready and twelve o"clock came, and they all sat down at the table. And do you know, I believe they are still sitting there behind the curtain. But they have finished the goose and the apple sauce and all the good things that went with them, and now they are just going to begin on the pudding. They don"t know a thing about the magic nuts, because the brownies and the fairies stuck them in so neatly, that not one of them shows. Mother is just starting to put the pudding on the saucers. I wonder if she will remember about giving it to the youngest first. That"s Gertrude, you know. Do you want to see for yourselves whether she remembers? Well, be very quiet then, for now it is going to begin.
The Third Scene
When the Curtain opens, you again see the kitchen, but it looks a good deal different, because the chairs that Grandmother and Grandfather used to sit in have been moved out; so has the small table on which Mother washed the dishes in the First Scene; and now in front of the fire-place is the great big table that Mother Goose told you about. The table cloth on it is so big that it hangs all the way down to the floor. At one end of the table sits Father; then next to him, back of the table facing you, is Grandfather, then Gertrude, then Walter, then Grandmother and at the other end of the table, next to Grandmother, Mother is seated. The children have on those bright-colored paper caps that the house-fairies made. MOTHER, who is helping the pudding, is the first to speak and this is what she says:
There"s the first plateful of our Christmas pudding, and that goes to Gertrude, of course. She hands it to Grandmother, who pa.s.ses it on to Walter.
Um! says WALTER, holding it for a moment under his nose. That smells good! He pa.s.ses it to Gertrude.
GERTRUDE asks, Shall I wait till everybody else is served, before I begin?
No, not today, says FATHER. Begin at once. We all want to know how it tastes.
Gertrude tastes it. Oh, it is good, she says.