Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn by Albert Bigelow Paine. Once upon a time,
when the robin and turtle, and squirrel and jack Rabbit had all gone
home for the winter, nobody was left in the Hollow Tree except the coon
and the possum and the old black crow. Of course, the others used
to come back and visit them pretty often, and mister dog too, Now
that he had got to be good friends with all the deep Woods people,
and they'd ought a great deal of him. When they got to know him
better, mister Dogg told him a lot of things they had never heard of
before, things that he had learned at mister Mann's house, and maybe that's
one reason why they got to liken him so well. He told him about
Santa Claus, for one thing, and how the old fellow came down the
chimney on Christmas Eve to bring presents to mister Mann and his children, who
always hung up their stockings for them. And mister Dogg said that once he
had hung up his stocking too, and got a nice bone in it that
was so good that he had buried and dug it up again as much as
six times before spring. He said that Santa Claus always came to mister Man's
house, and then whenever the children hung up their stockings, they were always
sure to get something in them. Well, the Hollow Tree people had never
heard of Santa Claus. They knew about Christmas, of course, because everybody,
even the cows and sheep, knows about that, but they'd never heard
of Santa Claus. You see, Santa Claus only comes from mister Mann's house,
but they didn't know that either. So they thought that if they just
hung up their stockings, he'd come there too, and that's what they made
up their minds to do. They talked about it a great deal together,
and mister Possum looked over all his stockings to pick out the biggest one he
had, and mister Crow made himself a new pair on purpose. Mister Coon
said he never knew mister Crow to make himself such big stockings before, but
mister Crow said he was getting old and needed things bigger. And when he
loaned one of his new stockings to mister Coon, mister Coon said, he
said, that's so, and that he guessed they were about right. After
all. They didn't tell anybody about it first, but by and bye they
told mister Dog what they were going to do, and when mister Dog heard
it, he wanted to laugh right out. You see, he knew Santa
Claus never went anywhere except to mister Mann's house, and he thought it would
be a great joke on the Hollow Tree people when they hung up their stockings
and didn't get anything, but by and bye, mister Dog thought about something
else. He thought it would be too bad too for them to be disappointed
that way. You see, mister Dog liked them all now, And when
he thought about that a minute, he made up his mind to do something,
and this is what it was. He made up his mind to play
Santa Claus. He knew just how Santa Claus looked because he'd seen lots of
pictures at mister Man's house, and he thought it would be great fun to
dress up that way, take a bag of presents to the Hollow Tree while
they were all asleep, and fill up the stockings of the Coon and Possum
and the old Black Crow. But first he had to be sure of some
way of getting in, so he said to them he didn't see how they
could expect Santa Claus. Their chimneys were so small, and mister Crow said
they could leave the latch string out downstairs, which was just what mister Dog
wanted. Then they said they were going to have all the folks that had
spent the summer with them over for Christmas dinner and to see the presents they
had gotten their stockings. They told mister Dog to drop over too, if
he could get away, and mister dogg said he would and went off laughing
to himself and ran all the way home because he felt so pleased at what
he was going to do. Well, he had to work pretty hard,
I tell you, to get things ready. It wasn't so hard to get
the presents as it was to rig up his Santa Claus dress. He found
some long wool out in mister Mann's barn for his white whiskers, and he
put some that wasn't so long on the edges of his overcoat and boot tops
and around an old hat he had. Then he borrowed a big sack he
found out there too, and fixed it up to swing over his back,
just as he had seen Santa Claus do in the picture. He had a
lot of nice things to take along, three tender young chickens. He borrowed
from mister Man for one thing, and then he bought some new neckties for
the hollow tree folks all around, and a big striped candy cane for each
one, because candy canes always looked well sticking out of a stalking. Besides
all that, he had a new pipe for each and a package of tobacco.
You see, mister Dogg lived with mister Mann and didn't never have to
buy much for himself, so he had always saved his money. He had
even more things than that, but I can't remember now just what they were.
And when he started out all dressed up like Santa Claus, i'd tell
you his bag was pretty heavy, and he almost wished before he got there
that he hadn't started with quite so much. It got heavier and heavier all
the way, and he was glad enough to get there and find the latch
string out. He set his bag down to rest a minute before climbing the
stairs, and then opened the doors softly and listened. He didn't hear a
thing except mister Crow and mister Coon and mister Possum breathing pretty low, and
he knew they might wake up any minute, and he wouldn't have been caught
there in the midst of things for a good deal. So he slipped up
just as easy as anything. And when he got up there in the big
parlor room, he almost had to laugh right out loud, for there were
the stockings, sure enough, all hung up in a row, and a
card with a name on it over each one, telling whom it belonged to.
Then he listened again, and all at once he jumped and held his
breath, for he heard mister Possum say something. But mister Possum was only
talking in his sleep, and say I'll take another piece, please, And
mister Dog knew he was dreaming about the mince pie he'd had for supper.
So then he opened his bag and filled the stockings. He put in mixed
candy and nuts and little things first, and then the pipes and tobacco and
candy canes so they'd show at the top, and hung a nice dressed chicken
outside. I'd tell you they'd look fine. It almost made mister Dog wish
he had a stocking of his own there to fill, and he forgot all
about them, waking up and sat down in a chair to look at the
stockings. It was a nice rocking chair, and over in a dark corner
where they wouldn't be apt to see him, even if one of em did
wake up and stick his head out of his room. So mister Dog felt
pretty safe now. Anyway. He rocked softly and looked and looked at the
nice stockings and thought how pleased they'd be in the morning, and how tired
he was. You've heard about people being as tired as a dog, and
that's just how mister Dog felt. He was so tired he didn't feel a
bit like starting home, and by and by, he never did know how
it happened, but by and by mister Dog went sound asleep right there in
his chair with all his Santa Claus clothes on. And there he sat with
his empty bag in his hand and the nice full stockings in front of him
all night long. Even when it came morning and began to get light.
Mister Dog didn't know it. He just slept right on. He was that
tired. Then pretty soon the door of mister Possum's room opened and he poked
out his head. And then the door of mister Coon's room opened, and
he poked out his head. Then the door of the old Black Crow opened
and out poked his head. They all looked toward the stockings, and they
didn't see mister Dog or even each other at all. They saw their stockings,
though, and mister Coon said, almost at once, oh, there's
something in my stocking. And then mister Crow says, oh, there's something
in my stocking too, and mister Possum says, oh, there's something in
all our stockings. And with that they gave a great hurrah together and rushed
out and grabbed their stockings and turned around just in time to see mister Dog
jump right straight out of his chair, for he did not know where he
was the least bit in the world. Oh there's Santa Claus himself. They
all shouted together and made a rush for their rooms, for they were scared
almost to death. But it all dawned on mister Dog in a second,
and he commenced to laugh in a row to think what a joke it was
on everybody. And when they heard mister Dog laugh, they knew him right
away, and they all came out and looked at him, and he had
to tell just what he'd done and everything. So they emptied out their stockings
on the floor and ate some of the presents and looked at the others until
they almost forgot about breakfast, just as children do on Christmas morning. Then
mister Crow said all at once that he'd make a little coffee, and that
mister dog must stay and have some, and by and bye. They made
him promise to spend the day with him and be there when the Robin and
the squirrel and mister Turtle and Jack Rabbit came, which he did, and
it was snowing hard outside, made it a nicer Christmas than if it hadn't
been. And when all the others came, they brought presents too, And
when they saw mister dogg dressed up as Santa Claus and heard how he'd gone
to sleep and been caught, they laughed and laughed, and it snowed so
hard they had to stay all night, and after dinner they sat around the
fire and told stories, and they had to stay the next night too,
and all that Christmas week. And I wish I could tell you all that
happened that week, but I can't because I haven't time. But it was
the very nicest Christmas that ever was in the hollow tree or in the deep
big woods, anywhere, and of Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn by Albert Bigelow Pane