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: