Mr. Mugg put the doll down under the counter, where no other little girl might see her and want her. Then the toy man reached up and gently touched the head of the Donkey, so that it nodded harder than ever.
"Here is a new toy that just came in," said Mr. Mugg. "It is one of the latest. It is called a Nodding Donkey, and once you start his head going it will move for hours."
"Oh, it is nice!" said the lady. "Would you rather have that than your Jack in the Box, Robert?" she asked the little boy.
The boy stood first on one foot and then on the other. He looked first at the Jack in the Box and then at the Donkey.
"They are both nice," he said; "but I think I would rather have the Jack. I'll have the Donkey next Christmas."
The Jack in the Box was set aside with the Cloth Doll, and then the lady and the little boy and girl passed on. But all that day there were many other boys and girls who came into the store to look at the toys. Some only came to look, while others, as before, bought the things they wanted, or had them set aside for Christmas.
After a while it began to grow dark in the store, just as it had grown dark in the workshop of Santa Claus.
"Now I will soon be able to move about and talk to the other toys," thought the Nodding Donkey. But this was not to be—just yet.
"Turn on the lights, Angelina," called Mr. Mugg to his daughter, and soon the store was glowing brightly.
"Hum! It seems they work at night here, as well as by day," thought the Nodding Donkey. "It was not so at North Pole Land. But it is very jolly, and I like it."