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Thus when the Spinning Wheel had invited whoever wished to get on and have a Merry-Go-Round ride, and the harsh voice had called: “Make way! Here I come!” the Stuffed Elephant hardly knew what was going to happen.

Then, all at once, a big brown Rat–a real, live rat and not a toy–ran from a hole in the corner, and, with a squeal of delight, jumped up on the twirling Spinning Wheel.

“Here I go on the Merry-Go-Round! I ride this way every night!” squeaked the Rat to the Elephant and the other Christmas toys which Mr. Dunn had hidden in the attic until it was time for Santa Claus to come around.

“Do you, indeed?” asked the Elephant. “You must have lots of fun.”

“I do,” answered the Brown Rat. “But who are you?” and he stood up among the spokes of the Spinning Wheel and looked over toward the moonlight patch on the floor where stood the new toy.

“I am a Stuffed Elephant,” was the answer. “And I have just had the most dreadful adventure! I was pitched out of the auto into a snow bank.”

“I don’t like snow!” squeaked the Rat. “It’s too cold. But I am glad to see you, Mr. Elephant. Don’t you want a ride on this Merry-Go-Round?”

“Thank you, I’m afraid I’m too big,” answered the Elephant. “And I never before saw a Merry-Go-Round that spun this way, like a wheel. In Mr. Mugg’s store, where I came from, there was a toy Merry-Go-Round, but it spun like a top.”

“I’m not a regular Merry-Go-Round,” said the Spinning Wheel. “I just make believe I’m one up here in the attic. Time was when I used to spin yarn for the grandmother of Mr. Dunn. But now all yarn is spun in factories by machinery, and spinning wheels are out of fashion. So I am up here in the dust, and it makes the time pass more quickly to pretend I am a Merry-Go-Round.”

“Yes, and we Rats and Mice have good times!” cried the brown chap, as he wound his tail among the spokes of the wheel, to hold on tightly as he spun around and around.

“I believe I’d like a ride, too,” said a Tin Soldier, which was another toy Mr. Dunn had brought home.

“All right! Climb up!” called out the Rat.

So the Tin Soldier, being able to pretend to come to life since no prying eyes saw him, got up on the Spinning Wheel and rode with the Rat. The Elephant wanted to have this fun, but he was too large to get on the wheel.

“Besides,” he said, “something might happen to my trunk.” He was very proud of his trunk and his tusks, was the Stuffed Elephant.

Several days passed, during which the toys had to remain hidden in the attic, waiting for Christmas. They did not mind it, however, as they were left to themselves and could have fun.

At last, however, Christmas eve came, and when the house was quiet and still, when Santa Claus was on his way flying over the chimneys with his sleigh and eight reindeer, the Stuffed Elephant and the other toys were carried down to the parlor and placed beneath the Christmas tree.

And when Christmas morning came Archie Dunn came racing downstairs, in his little pajamas, crying:

“Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! What did Santa Claus leave for me?”

“Go and look,” replied his mother.

When Archie saw all his toys, but especially the Stuffed Elephant, the little boy shouted and clapped his hands for joy and cried:

“Oh, what a lovely Christmas! Oh, I always wanted a Stuffed Elephant, and now I have it! Oh, what a fine, big Elephant you are!”

He threw his arms around the stuffed creature’s neck and hugged him so hard that the cotton stuffing almost oozed out of the Elephant’s ears.

“I hope he doesn’t squeeze me any harder,” thought the Elephant, though he dared not so much as give a trumpet sound, and as for saying anything or waving his trunk–that was not to be thought of!