Then Santa Claus laughed until he cried, for sure enough, there was the soup in the little dwarf’s dish-pan, and the tea was served in a bucket!
Santa Claus was so very hungry that he ate and drank all the food that was before him.
Then he rolled his eyes and said in a half whisper, “Did you ever hang up your stocking?”
The little dwarf stamped his foot and cried,
“What? ho! ho! I am foolish I know,
But I do not hang up my stocking, no! no!”
“All right,” said Santa Claus, “I must be going. If you change your mind about the stocking, it will be all right.”
Then Santa Claus put on his great fur cap and his great fur coat, and the little dwarf stood before him and he stamped his foot and cried,
“I never hung up my stocking at all,