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CHAPTER I

THE LAMB’S WISH

Out of his box the Jack popped his head. The funny, black fringe of whiskers around his face jiggled up and down. His queer, big eyes looked around the store.

“Hurray!” cried the Jack in the Box. “We are alone at last and now we can have some fun! Hurray!”

“Are you sure?” asked a Bold Tin Soldier, who stood at the head of a company of his men in a large box.

“Am I sure of what?” inquired the Jack, as he swung to and fro on the spring which made him pop out of the box.

“Are you sure we are alone?” went on the Soldier. “It would be too bad if we should come to life when any one could see us.”

“There is no one in the department but us toys,” said a Calico Clown, and he banged together some shiny cymbals on the ends of his arms. “The Jack is right–we are all by ourselves.”

“I am glad of it,” said a woolly Lamb on Wheels, who stood on the floor, just under the edge of the toy counter. She was rather too large to be up among the smaller toys. “Yes, I am glad of it,” went on the Lamb. “I have kept still all day, and now I have something to tell you all, my friends.”

“Something nice?” asked a Candy Rabbit, who stood next to a Monkey on a Stick.

“I think it is nice,” said the Lamb. “But, as you know, I could not move about or speak so long as any of the clerks or customers were here.”

“That’s so,” agreed the Bold Tin Soldier.

For it was one of the rules of Toyland, as you know, that none of the folk who lived there could do anything while human eyes were watching them. The Dolls, Soldiers, Clowns, Rocking Horses, Lambs were not able to move, talk, or make believe come to life if a boy or a girl or any one at all looked at them.

“But now we are alone we can have some fun,” said the Jack in the Box. “Let’s have a jumping race, to see who can go the farthest. Come on! I’m ready!”

“Yes, you are always ready to jump out of your box as soon as the cover is taken off,” remarked the Lamb on Wheels. “But the rest of us are not such high kickers as you are. I cannot jump at all. I can only run around on my wheels, just as the White Rocking Horse, who used to live here, could only go on his rockers.”

“Well, what shall we do then?” asked the Jack. “I’m ready to do anything.”

“Suppose we have the Calico Clown play us a little tune on his cymbals,” suggested the Bold Tin Soldier. “My men and I like to hear his music. After that we will march around and then–“

“Then we must listen to what the Lamb has to say,” cried the Monkey on a Stick. “She said she had something to tell us.”

“Oh, excuse me,” came from the Bold Tin Soldier Captain, with a wave of his shiny sward. “Perhaps you want to tell us your story now, Miss Lamb?”

“No,” she answered. “Later will do. It is not exactly a story–it is more of a wish. But first I should like to listen to the Calico Clown.”

“All right! Here we go!” cried the jolly Clown. He was a gaily dressed fellow, and his calico suit was of many colors. One leg was red and another yellow, and his shirt was spotted and speckled and striped.

The Calico Clown stood up near the box where the Bold Tin Soldier was ready to lead his men in a march. And the Clown banged together his shiny cymbals.

“Bang! Bung! Bang! Bung!” clanged the cymbals, making music that the Toy Folk liked to hear, though I cannot say you would have cared much for it.