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Speaker 1: Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn by Albert Bigelow Paine.

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Once upon a time, when the robin and turtle, and

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squirrel and jack Rabbit had all gone home for the winter,

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nobody was left in the Hollow Tree except the coon

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

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the others used to come back and visit them pretty often,

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and mister dog too, Now that he had got to

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be good friends with all the deep Woods people, and

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

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to know him better, mister Dogg told him a lot

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of things they had never heard of before, things that

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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.

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He told him about Santa Claus, for one thing, and

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how the old fellow came down the chimney on Christmas

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Eve to bring presents to mister Mann and his children,

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who always hung up their stockings for them. And mister

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Dogg said that once he had hung up his stocking too,

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and got a nice bone in it that was so

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good that he had buried and dug it up again

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as much as six times before spring. He said that

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Santa Claus always came to mister Man's house, and then

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whenever the children hung up their stockings, they were always

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sure to get something in them. Well, the Hollow Tree

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people had never heard of Santa Claus. They knew about Christmas,

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of course, because everybody, even the cows and sheep, knows

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about that, but they'd never heard of Santa Claus. You see,

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Santa Claus only comes from mister Mann's house, but they

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

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just hung up their stockings, he'd come there too, and

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that's what they made up their minds to do. They

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talked about it a great deal together, and mister Possum

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looked over all his stockings to pick out the biggest

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one he had, and mister Crow made himself a new

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pair on purpose. Mister Coon said he never knew mister

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Crow to make himself such big stockings before, but mister

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Crow said he was getting old and needed things bigger.

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And when he loaned one of his new stockings to

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mister Coon, mister Coon said, he said, that's so, and

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that he guessed they were about right. After all. They

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didn't tell anybody about it first, but by and bye

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they told mister Dog what they were going to do,

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and when mister Dog heard it, he wanted to laugh

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right out. You see, he knew Santa Claus never went

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anywhere except to mister Mann's house, and he thought it

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would be a great joke on the Hollow Tree people

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when they hung up their stockings and didn't get anything,

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but by and bye, mister Dog thought about something else.

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He thought it would be too bad too for them

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to be disappointed that way. You see, mister Dog liked

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them all now, And when he thought about that a minute,

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he made up his mind to do something, and this

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is what it was. He made up his mind to

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play Santa Claus. He knew just how Santa Claus looked

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because he'd seen lots of pictures at mister Man's house,

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and he thought it would be great fun to dress

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up that way, take a bag of presents to the

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Hollow Tree while they were all asleep, and fill up

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the stockings of the Coon and Possum and the old

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Black Crow. But first he had to be sure of

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some way of getting in, so he said to them

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he didn't see how they could expect Santa Claus. Their

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chimneys were so small, and mister Crow said they could

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leave the latch string out downstairs, which was just what

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mister Dog wanted. Then they said they were going to

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have all the folks that had spent the summer with

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them over for Christmas dinner and to see the presents

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they had gotten their stockings. They told mister Dog to

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drop over too, if he could get away, and mister

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dogg said he would and went off laughing to himself

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and ran all the way home because he felt so

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pleased at what he was going to do. Well, he

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had to work pretty hard, I tell you, to get

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things ready. It wasn't so hard to get the presents

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as it was to rig up his Santa Claus dress.

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He found some long wool out in mister Mann's barn

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for his white whiskers, and he put some that wasn't

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so long on the edges of his overcoat and boot

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tops and around an old hat he had. Then he

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borrowed a big sack he found out there too, and

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fixed it up to swing over his back, just as

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he had seen Santa Claus do in the picture. He

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had a lot of nice things to take along, three

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tender young chickens. He borrowed from mister Man for one thing,

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and then he bought some new neckties for the hollow

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tree folks all around, and a big striped candy cane

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for each one, because candy canes always looked well sticking

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out of a stalking. Besides all that, he had a

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new pipe for each and a package of tobacco. You see,

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mister Dogg lived with mister Mann and didn't never have

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to buy much for himself, so he had always saved

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his money. He had even more things than that, but

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I can't remember now just what they were. And when

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

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tell you his bag was pretty heavy, and he almost

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wished before he got there that he hadn't started with

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quite so much. It got heavier and heavier all the way,

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and he was glad enough to get there and find

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the latch string out. He set his bag down to

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rest a minute before climbing the stairs, and then opened

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the doors softly and listened. He didn't hear a thing

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except mister Crow and mister Coon and mister Possum breathing

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pretty low, and he knew they might wake up any minute,

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and he wouldn't have been caught there in the midst

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of things for a good deal. So he slipped up

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just as easy as anything. And when he got up

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there in the big parlor room, he almost had to

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laugh right out loud, for there were the stockings, sure enough,

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all hung up in a row, and a card with

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a name on it over each one, telling whom it

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belonged to. Then he listened again, and all at once

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he jumped and held his breath, for he heard mister

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Possum say something. But mister Possum was only talking in

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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

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he'd had for supper. So then he opened his bag

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and filled the stockings. He put in mixed candy and

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nuts and little things first, and then the pipes and

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tobacco and candy canes so they'd show at the top,

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and hung a nice dressed chicken outside. I'd tell you

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they'd look fine. It almost made mister Dog wish he

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had a stocking of his own there to fill, and

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he forgot all about them, waking up and sat down

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in a chair to look at the stockings. It was

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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

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one of em did wake up and stick his head

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out of his room. So mister Dog felt pretty safe now. Anyway.

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He rocked softly and looked and looked at the nice

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

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and how tired he was. You've heard about people being

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as tired as a dog, and that's just how mister

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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

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did know how it happened, but by and by mister

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Dog went sound asleep right there in his chair with

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all his Santa Claus clothes on. And there he sat

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with his empty bag in his hand and the nice

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full stockings in front of him all night long. Even

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when it came morning and began to get light. Mister

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

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was that tired. Then pretty soon the door of mister

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Possum's room opened and he poked out his head. And

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then the door of mister Coon's room opened, and he

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poked out his head. Then the door of the old

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Black Crow opened and out poked his head. They all

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looked toward the stockings, and they didn't see mister Dog

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or even each other at all. They saw their stockings, though,

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

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

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something in my stocking too, and mister Possum says, oh,

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there's something in all our stockings. And with that they

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gave a great hurrah together and rushed out and grabbed

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their stockings and turned around just in time to see

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mister Dog jump right straight out of his chair, for

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he did not know where he was the least bit

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in the world. Oh there's Santa Claus himself. They all

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shouted together and made a rush for their rooms, for

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they were scared almost to death. But it all dawned

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on mister Dog in a second, and he commenced to

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laugh in a row to think what a joke it

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was on everybody. And when they heard mister Dog laugh,

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they knew him right away, and they all came out

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and looked at him, and he had to tell just

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what he'd done and everything. So they emptied out their

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stockings on the floor and ate some of the presents

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and looked at the others until they almost forgot about breakfast,

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just as children do on Christmas morning. Then mister Crow

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

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and that mister dog must stay and have some, and

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by and bye. They made him promise to spend the

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day with him and be there when the Robin and

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the squirrel and mister Turtle and Jack Rabbit came, which

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he did, and it was snowing hard outside, made it

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a nicer Christmas than if it hadn't been. And when

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

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they saw mister dogg dressed up as Santa Claus and

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heard how he'd gone to sleep and been caught, they

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laughed and laughed, and it snowed so hard they had

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to stay all night, and after dinner they sat around

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the fire and told stories, and they had to stay

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the next night too, and all that Christmas week. And

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I wish I could tell you all that happened that week,

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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

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tree or in the deep big woods, anywhere, and of

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Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn by Albert Bigelow Pane