‘Blue eyes are so beautiful,’ murmured the Rocking-Horse Pony. ‘I couldn’t bear to think of starting out next Christmas Eve with brown eyes in my head.’
So Mr. Mendham made the change in a twinkling.
The white cat was more than satisfied with his new green eyes.
‘They have a fine sparkle and gleam,’ he purred, with a proud wave of his tail. ‘Blue eyes are too girlish for me.’
And the Rocking-Horse Pony was happier than words can tell. He smiled, he rocked, he bumped about in a very ecstasy of joy. When the time came, he rocked home, with Sharpeyes on his back, in a very whirl of pleasure.
‘Blue eyes! Blue eyes!’ he sang to himself as he bumped over the snow.
When Sharpeyes showed the Pony to Santa Claus and told him what had happened, Santa Claus laughed and rubbed the Rocking-Horse Pony upon his soft brown nose.
‘I know a little boy who likes blue eyes the very best of all,’ said Santa Claus, ‘and you shall go to live with him next Christmas, if you wish.’
When he heard this, the Rocking-Horse Pony was so happy he thought his heart would burst with joy.
So if, next Christmas, you meet a little boy who has a Rocking-Horse Pony with bright blue eyes, you may know that the Pony was made by Brownie Sharpeyes and that he came down on Christmas Eve in Santa Claus’s sleigh straight from the Snow Palace on the very tip-top of the North Pole.