“Chimney, indeed!” snorted Santa Claus. “After all these years, don’t you think I know the difference between a chimney and a chimley? No, sir! I come down a chimley, every time. I’ll leave it to everyone here.”
And turning to the crowd of boys and girls around him, he asked: “How do I get into the house, children?”
“Down the chimley!” roared the chorus.
“You see?” said Santa Claus.
Alice did see, and felt very much ashamed of her display of ignorance.
“Never mind,” said Santa Claus, kindly. “But I think,” he added, “you had better go with my assistant, and be quite sure we have all these things in stock. He’ll be glad to show you around. It’s all free, you know. Just look around as long as you like, and if you see anything else you want, come right back and tell me about it.”
There was a little boy standing beside Santa Claus, with a metal tag on his collar, and the generous old gentleman turned to him and told him to go and fetch his—that is, Santa Claus’s—assistant. While Alice was waiting, a lot of other children pushed forward, and Alice was pretty nearly forgotten. But after a while she heard some one say, “He’s coming now. He’ll be here in just a minute, now,” and at the same moment she saw Santa Claus’s assistant coming toward her.
He was a sprightly little fellow, and Alice decided to like him. He came up in a sort of blue-green light, which danced all around him, and without the slightest hesitation Alice took his hand and walked away with him.
The little man’s fingers were so cold and hard, though, that Alice was surprised, and when she was sure he wasn’t looking she looked him over earnestly. After she had done that, she almost screamed, used as she was to odd things in Wonderland. For the little man was made of wood. Everything was wood, and Alice was holding on to his wooden fingers, and he was talking out of his wooden mouth, and the whole affair was the most wooden episode Alice could remember. His remarks concerning some of the books Alice wanted, the little girl thought, were the most wooden thing about him. But the little man’s face was rather nice, for it was highly painted in blue and green, and he had bright yellow eyes that fairly sparkled with enamel.
“Let’s see,” said the wooden man. “Dolls were first on the list, weren’t they? Well, here we are. We call this room ‘The Kingdom of Dolls,’ although as a matter of fact it is ruled by a Queen, and never did have a King, because the Queen is rather old and nobody will marry her. And as she won’t allow any of the other dolls to marry until she herself finds a King, it makes it hard for the younger ones.”