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Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn by
Albert Bigelow Paine. Once upon a time,

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when the robin and turtle, and
squirrel and jack Rabbit had all gone

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home for the winter, nobody was
left in the Hollow Tree except the coon

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and the possum and the old black
crow. Of course, the others used

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to come back and visit them pretty
often, and mister dog too, Now

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that he had got to be good
friends with all the deep Woods people,

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and they'd ought a great deal of
him. When they got to know him

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better, mister Dogg told him a
lot of things they had never heard of

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before, things that he had learned
at mister Mann's house, and maybe that's

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one reason why they got to liken
him so well. He told him about

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Santa Claus, for one thing,
and how the old fellow came down the

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chimney on Christmas Eve to bring presents
to mister Mann and his children, who

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always hung up their stockings for them. And mister Dogg said that once he

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had hung up his stocking too,
and got a nice bone in it that

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was so good that he had buried
and dug it up again as much as

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six times before spring. He said
that Santa Claus always came to mister Man's

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house, and then whenever the children
hung up their stockings, they were always

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sure to get something in them.
Well, the Hollow Tree people had never

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heard of Santa Claus. They knew
about Christmas, of course, because everybody,

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even the cows and sheep, knows
about that, but they'd never heard

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of Santa Claus. You see,
Santa Claus only comes from mister Mann's house,

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but they didn't know that either.
So they thought that if they just

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hung up their stockings, he'd come
there too, and that's what they made

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up their minds to do. They
talked about it a great deal together,

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and mister Possum looked over all his
stockings to pick out the biggest one he

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had, and mister Crow made himself
a new pair on purpose. Mister Coon

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said he never knew mister Crow to
make himself such big stockings before, but

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mister Crow said he was getting old
and needed things bigger. And when he

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loaned one of his new stockings to
mister Coon, mister Coon said, he

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said, that's so, and that
he guessed they were about right. After

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all. They didn't tell anybody about
it first, but by and bye they

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told mister Dog what they were going
to do, and when mister Dog heard

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it, he wanted to laugh right
out. You see, he knew Santa

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Claus never went anywhere except to mister
Mann's house, and he thought it would

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be a great joke on the Hollow
Tree people when they hung up their stockings

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and didn't get anything, but by
and bye, mister Dog thought about something

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else. He thought it would be
too bad too for them to be disappointed

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that way. You see, mister
Dog liked them all now, And when

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he thought about that a minute,
he made up his mind to do something,

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and this is what it was.
He made up his mind to play

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Santa Claus. He knew just how
Santa Claus looked because he'd seen lots of

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pictures at mister Man's house, and
he thought it would be great fun to

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dress up that way, take a
bag of presents to the Hollow Tree while

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they were all asleep, and fill
up the stockings of the Coon and Possum

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and the old Black Crow. But
first he had to be sure of some

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way of getting in, so he
said to them he didn't see how they

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could expect Santa Claus. Their chimneys
were so small, and mister Crow said

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they could leave the latch string out
downstairs, which was just what mister Dog

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wanted. Then they said they were
going to have all the folks that had

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spent the summer with them over for
Christmas dinner and to see the presents they

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had gotten their stockings. They told
mister Dog to drop over too, if

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he could get away, and mister
dogg said he would and went off laughing

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to himself and ran all the way
home because he felt so pleased at what

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he was going to do. Well, he had to work pretty hard,

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I tell you, to get things
ready. It wasn't so hard to get

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the presents as it was to rig
up his Santa Claus dress. He found

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some long wool out in mister Mann's
barn for his white whiskers, and he

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put some that wasn't so long on
the edges of his overcoat and boot tops

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and around an old hat he had. Then he borrowed a big sack he

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found out there too, and fixed
it up to swing over his back,

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just as he had seen Santa Claus
do in the picture. He had a

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lot of nice things to take along, three tender young chickens. He borrowed

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from mister Man for one thing,
and then he bought some new neckties for

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the hollow tree folks all around,
and a big striped candy cane for each

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one, because candy canes always looked
well sticking out of a stalking. Besides

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all that, he had a new
pipe for each and a package of tobacco.

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You see, mister Dogg lived with
mister Mann and didn't never have to

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buy much for himself, so he
had always saved his money. He had

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even more things than that, but
I can't remember now just what they were.

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And when he started out all dressed
up like Santa Claus, i'd tell

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you his bag was pretty heavy,
and he almost wished before he got there

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that he hadn't started with quite so
much. It got heavier and heavier all

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the way, and he was glad
enough to get there and find the latch

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string out. He set his bag
down to rest a minute before climbing the

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stairs, and then opened the doors
softly and listened. He didn't hear a

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thing except mister Crow and mister Coon
and mister Possum breathing pretty low, and

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he knew they might wake up any
minute, and he wouldn't have been caught

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there in the midst of things for
a good deal. So he slipped up

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just as easy as anything. And
when he got up there in the big

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parlor room, he almost had to
laugh right out loud, for there were

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the stockings, sure enough, all
hung up in a row, and a

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card with a name on it over
each one, telling whom it belonged to.

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Then he listened again, and all
at once he jumped and held his

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breath, for he heard mister Possum
say something. But mister Possum was only

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talking in his sleep, and say
I'll take another piece, please, And

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mister Dog knew he was dreaming about
the mince pie he'd had for supper.

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So then he opened his bag and
filled the stockings. He put in mixed

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candy and nuts and little things first, and then the pipes and tobacco and

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candy canes so they'd show at the
top, and hung a nice dressed chicken

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outside. I'd tell you they'd look
fine. It almost made mister Dog wish

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he had a stocking of his own
there to fill, and he forgot all

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about them, waking up and sat
down in a chair to look at the

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stockings. It was a nice rocking
chair, and over in a dark corner

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where they wouldn't be apt to see
him, even if one of em did

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wake up and stick his head out
of his room. So mister Dog felt

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pretty safe now. Anyway. He
rocked softly and looked and looked at the

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nice stockings and thought how pleased they'd
be in the morning, and how tired

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he was. You've heard about people
being as tired as a dog, and

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that's just how mister Dog felt.
He was so tired he didn't feel a

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bit like starting home, and by
and by, he never did know how

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it happened, but by and by
mister Dog went sound asleep right there in

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his chair with all his Santa Claus
clothes on. And there he sat with

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his empty bag in his hand and
the nice full stockings in front of him

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all night long. Even when it
came morning and began to get light.

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Mister Dog didn't know it. He
just slept right on. He was that

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tired. Then pretty soon the door
of mister Possum's room opened and he poked

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out his head. And then the
door of mister Coon's room opened, and

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he poked out his head. Then
the door of the old Black Crow opened

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and out poked his head. They
all looked toward the stockings, and they

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didn't see mister Dog or even each
other at all. They saw their stockings,

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though, and mister Coon said,
almost at once, oh, there's

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something in my stocking. And then
mister Crow says, oh, there's something

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in my stocking too, and mister
Possum says, oh, there's something in

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all our stockings. And with that
they gave a great hurrah together and rushed

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out and grabbed their stockings and turned
around just in time to see mister Dog

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jump right straight out of his chair, for he did not know where he

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was the least bit in the world. Oh there's Santa Claus himself. They

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all shouted together and made a rush
for their rooms, for they were scared

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almost to death. But it all
dawned on mister Dog in a second,

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and he commenced to laugh in a
row to think what a joke it was

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on everybody. And when they heard
mister Dog laugh, they knew him right

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away, and they all came out
and looked at him, and he had

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to tell just what he'd done and
everything. So they emptied out their stockings

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on the floor and ate some of
the presents and looked at the others until

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they almost forgot about breakfast, just
as children do on Christmas morning. Then

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mister Crow said all at once that
he'd make a little coffee, and that

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mister dog must stay and have some, and by and bye. They made

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him promise to spend the day with
him and be there when the Robin and

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the squirrel and mister Turtle and Jack
Rabbit came, which he did, and

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it was snowing hard outside, made
it a nicer Christmas than if it hadn't

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been. And when all the others
came, they brought presents too, And

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when they saw mister dogg dressed up
as Santa Claus and heard how he'd gone

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to sleep and been caught, they
laughed and laughed, and it snowed so

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hard they had to stay all night, and after dinner they sat around the

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fire and told stories, and they
had to stay the next night too,

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and all that Christmas week. And
I wish I could tell you all that

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happened that week, but I can't
because I haven't time. But it was

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the very nicest Christmas that ever was
in the hollow tree or in the deep

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big woods, anywhere, and of
Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn by Albert Bigelow Pane