“Well, just wait a moment, if you please,” put in the Bold Tin Soldier. “I want to march some of my men out into the middle of the floor and have a little parade. After I get them past you, why, then you may kick up your heels as much as you please.” “All right,” whinnied the White Horse. “March away! I’m glad to do a favor.” The Bold Tin Soldier nimbly jumped up on the counter, where he had been standing all day in a box with his tin soldier men. He waved his sword over his head until it flashed in the gleam of the one light like a star on a frosty night, and the Sawdust Doll covered her eyes with her hand, because it was so shiny. “Attention, soldiers!” cried the tin captain. Every one of the tin soldiers in the box sprang up straight and stiff and held his gun to his shoulder. “Forward--march!” cried the captain, again waving his sword. The tin soldiers stepped into line behind him, and, one after another, they followed him as he jumped off the counter to the floor. Past the White Rocking Horse they marched, each one as brave as his captain. “Now you may kick your heels as high as you please, Mr. White Rocking Horse,” called the captain. “We are safely out of your reach.” “All right!” came the answer. “Here I go!” And with that the toy horse, which was built to make some boy happy, began rocking to and fro. “If any one wants a ride on my back, now’s his chance!” called the White Rocking Horse. “I do!” cried the Sawdust Doll, and with the help of the Calico Clown she got down off the counter and climbed up and sat on the saddle. And, for a few moments, all that could be heard in Toy Town was the faint sound of the marching feet of the tin soldiers, the rumble of the Rocking Horse and the tinkle of the Calico Clown’s cymbals. It was close to midnight now--the time when all toys are allowed to do as they please, provided no one sees them. No one must ever look at, or watch, the toys at their play. In fact, no one has ever seen them having fun after dark in the big stores. And the reason for that is this: When the toys were given the power of coming to life, of talking, moving about, having fun, and behaving just as they would if they were real folk--when they were given this power there was just one thing they were told, and that was: “No one must ever see you moving about!” “Oh, no! Of course not!” said all the toys. And so, from the very beginning, no one has ever seen the toys at play. Just the very moment the eyes of a boy or a girl, or a daddy or a mother, or even an uncle or an aunt, lights on one of the toys, that toy just becomes as still as anything. If, by some chance, when you weren’t looking a Sawdust Doll should start to dance with a Calico Clown, and you should turn your eyes toward them, they would stop at once, and you’d never know but what they had been motionless all their lives.