‘Oh, what a crick I have in my neck!’ said the Jack-in-the-Box, making a comical face, ‘unless I am put in my box with the cover fastened down tight.’ And the Jack-in-the-Box crouched down and then gave a mighty spring into the air as if to show that he had no crick in his neck at the present time. As for Mother Goose on the picture-book, she shook her finger at the Little Brown Boy, but she forgave him with a smile, as did all the toys, when he promised them solemnly, just as he had promised Santa Claus, that he would put his toys neatly away every night. ‘I won’t forget,’ said the Little Brown Boy. ‘I promise.’ The Brownies were so happy when they heard this that they said, ‘Let’s have a feast.’ So sitting round the fire, with Santa Claus looking on, they all roasted chestnuts and popped corn, the Little Brown Boy too. And they ate and they ate and they ate until they couldn’t eat any more. Never before, so he thought, had the Little Brown Boy had such a good time. But at last it was the Brownies’ bed-time, and the Little Brown Boy on his leaf was whirled swiftly and safely home. When he woke in the morning the first thing he did was to pick up all his toys and put them neatly away. And once in their proper places, the toys all gave a sigh of relief and fell fast asleep, they were so worn out from lying on the floor. Then the Little Brown Boy crept into his mother’s bed and told her all that had happened to him the night before. ‘What do you think of that?’ asked the Little Brown Boy when he had finished. [Illustration] He was much surprised to have his mother answer, ‘I think it was all a dream.’ ‘A dream?’ exclaimed the Little Brown Boy. ‘How can it be a dream? Look here!’ From the pocket in his night-clothes he pulled a chestnut, a roasted chestnut that the Brownies had given to him last night. ‘How can it be a dream?’ asked the Little Brown Boy again. ‘I don’t know,’ answered his mother. ‘Perhaps it did happen. At any rate, I am glad that, after this, you are going to pick up your toys every night.’ ‘I am,’ said the Little Brown Boy with a nod. ‘I promised Santa Claus.’ And I don’t have to tell you that the Little Brown Boy kept his word. THE BROWNIE WHO FOUND CHRISTMAS THE BROWNIE WHO FOUND CHRISTMAS Merrythought was tired of Christmas. ‘I can scarcely believe it,’ said Santa Claus. ‘I never heard of such a thing before.’ ‘Neither did I,’ answered Merrythought, shaking his head until the tip of his scarlet cap wagged to and fro. ‘But it is true, Santa Claus. I am tired of Christmas.’ Merrythought was a Brownie. He was not only a Brownie, he was Santa Claus’s very best workman as well. It was Santa Claus himself who said so, and surely he ought to know.