Then sleigh
bells are heard on the roof, as the sleigh starts. The brownies and
fairies turn around then, and come away from the fire-place. The
brownies run to the wood box, climb in, and pull the lid down over
them. At the same time the fairies carry the chair over to the clothes
basket, climb onto the chair, step over into the basket, and pull the
lid down over them. Then everything is quiet again.
And that is the end of the Second Scene.
The Interlude
Again before the Third Scene begins, MOTHER GOOSE comes out in
front of the Curtain, and this is what she says:
Children, I've got a lot to tell you about what has happened to Walter
and Gertrude since the curtain closed. For quite a while they went on
sleeping, because it was still night, you know. And then morning came,
and it didn't take them long to wake up after that, I can tell you. As
soon as it was really light, they put on their wrappers, and woke
their father and mother, and then they went for the stockings. They
took them into their grandparents' room, and Grandmother and
Grandfather sat up in bed with shawls over their shoulders, and the
rest sat on the edge of the bed. Then they all opened their stockings,
and I couldn't begin to tell you what fine presents they found in
them, nor how happy they all were. After breakfast they all sat down
by the kitchen fire, and father got the big family Bible, and laid it
on Grandfather's lap, and Grandfather polished up his spectacles till
they shone, and put them on his nose, and then he read about the story
of the first Christmas long ago in Bethlehem.
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