SANTA CLAUS AND THE BEASTS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22593, 24 December 1938, Page 6 (Supplement)

SANTA CLAUS AND THE BEASTS

phone! Yes! Hullo! Is that you, Mrs Kangaroo? I have just received a letter from a household of animals wanting me to visit them, and I don’t know how I can .work it in. Thank you, I shall be very glad of your help. Good-bye. See you later.” (He smiles) Ha! Now my mind is at ease. What a good thing it is to be old and wise. (Enter Mrs Kangaroo) Mrs Kangaroo: Well, here I am. Santa Claus: The sleigh is ready for you in the back yard, and so are the toys for the animals. Now I must be off to see my toys for the children delivered safely. , Good luck (Exit Santa Claus) Mrs Kangaroo: Oh, dear! I don’t think much of my job now. Wish I hadn’t offered to do it. ■ Still, I suppose* Santa does it every Christmas without grumbling, so I am going to carry it through. SCENE II (The animals’home) First Giraffe: I am sure he will come. Stork: Perhaps he didn’t get our letter. Cockatoos: Yes, you always find some trouble at the last. Let’s hope he comes, anyway. I am

going to watch out of the window. First Giraffe: I am going to have the chimney. Second Giraffe; I will have the other chimney. Then we can talk as well as,,watch. Wise Owls; We’ll have a window. Storks: We’ll have a window, too. Cockatoos: We’ll have the roof. There’s a nice view. (Enter Mrs Kangaroo) Mrs Kangaroo: Oh, what a bother! They’re actually watching lor me, and I can’t go down either of the chimneys because those silly Giraffes have filled them chock-full'of their necks. Well, I shall go through the door. They’re all looking up at the sky, and they won’t notice me. (She enters, and puts the toys on the tree) Mrs Kangaroo; There! They ought to be pleased with that. (Exit Mrs Kangaroo) SCENE 111 (Still the animals’ home) First Giraffe (speaking from chimney): Well, I’m getting sick of watching, so I’m going down to the sitting-room. Second Giraffe: He must have forgotten us after all.

(They all emerge, with gloomy faces) Stork (seeing the tree): Oh, look! ' He must have been here after all. How did he come? First Giraffe; He didn’t come dowr the chimney, anyhow. Stork: And he didn’t come in through the window. Cockatoo: And I am -sure he didn’t come in through the door, because I was on the roof and would have seen him if he had. Well, we have got our toys, anyway. F.rst Giraffe: Yes, but it does puzzle me. 1

Wise Old Owl: Ah, my friends, Santa Claus is such a wonderful person. If he couldn’t come down, the chimney he’d slip through the keyhole. —LORNA EARLY, Greendale.