The next morning “the three wise men” had a long chat with Santa Claus, and it was decided they were to come there to live. But Santa Claus explained to Snythergen kindly that as he had feared, it was against the laws of the Wreath to bring any more grownups there; and that he would be unable to include his parents in the invitation. Snythergen looked so sorrowful when he heard this that Santa Claus said brightly:
[148]
“Cheer up! Stay for a while, and I will see if it cannot be arranged somehow.”
Snythergen’s interest in the wonderful things he saw soon revived his spirits—though the thought of his mother and father was seldom far away.
When Santa Claus explained to the housekeeper that the family would be enlarged by three new members, she looked rather doubtful.
“Are you sure, Santa Claus,” she asked, “that it is wise to add them all at once, before you know more about them?”
“Yes, I am sure,” he said, “and I know they will be handy in the toy factory.”
And so it proved. For a time the newcomers made themselves so useful, even the housekeeper wondered how they had ever managed without them. Sancho Wing devised all sorts of new toys. Squeaky made a model of a Teddy Pig so cunning and lifelike, it bid fair to vie in popularity with the famous Teddy Bear. When you squeezed it it squeaked so naturally, that you had to look twice to be sure you were not holding a live pig in your hands. Snythergen designed a mechanical tree that walked on its roots and waved its branches in the most comical manner.
For a month Snythergen was happy. He[149] seemed almost to have forgotten his “big trouble.” But as the novelty of his new life wore away, he found his thoughts returning more and more often to his mother and father. One day Santa Claus said to him:
“Snythergen, you are not happy and the reason is not hard to guess. No boy can be happy long away from his parents. The housekeeper and I have been talking it over and we can find no way of getting grownups admitted to the Wreath. So I have decided to give you your choice. Either you may stay here and live with us, or I will reduce you to the size of an ordinary boy and let you go home.”
“Can you make me small like other boys!” cried Snythergen excitedly.
“Yes,” said Santa Claus, “I can do it by feeding you toy foods! I can have my cooks and my bakers make such tiny cakes and pies, that if you eat them one at a time, you will grow smaller and smaller. It will not be easy and you may have to go hungry at times, but in the end y............