"Let me see, now," mused the Calico Clown, softly banging together his cymbals. "I think I'll ask you the riddle about the pig. What makes more noise than a pig under a gate?"
"What kind of gate?" asked the Monkey on a Stick.
"It doesn't make any difference what kind of gate," said the Clown.
"I should think it would," the Monkey stated. "And while you are about it, why don't you tell us what kind of pig it is?"
"That doesn't make any difference either," said the Clown. "The riddle is what makes more noise than a pig under a gate."
"Excuse me, but I should think it would make a great deal of difference," went on the Monkey. "A big pig under a small gate would make more noise than a little pig under a big gate. If we only knew the size of the gate and what kind of pig it was, we might guess the riddle."
"Hark! I hear a noise! Some one is coming!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier, and all the toys became as quiet as mice.
CHAPTER II
THE JOLLY SAILOR
The noise which the toys had heard, and which had made them all stop talking, causing them to become as quiet as mice—this noise seemed to be coming nearer and nearer. It was a rolling, rumbling sort of noise.