The Story of a White Rocking Horse
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Laura Lee Hope >> The Story of a White Rocking Horse
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: White Rocking Horse Races With the Elephant on Skates.
Frontispiece]
MAKE BELIEVE STORIES
THE STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE
BY
LAURA LEE HOPE
Author of "The Story of a Sawdust Doll," "The Story of a Bold Tin
Soldier," "The Bobbsey Twins Series," "The Bunny Brown Series," "The
Six Little Bunkers Series," Etc.
ILLUSTRATED BY
HARRY L. SMITH
BOOKS BY LAURA LEE HOPE
MAKE BELIEVE STORIES
STORY OF A SAWDUST DOLL
STORY OF A WHITE ROCKING HORSE
STORY OF A LAMB ON WHEELS
STORY OF A BOLD TIN SOLDIER
STORY OF A CANDY RABBIT
STORY OF A MONKEY ON A STICK
STORY OF A CALICO CLOWN
THE BOBBSEY TWINS SERIES
THE BOBBSEY TWINS
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE COUNTRY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT THE SEASHORE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SCHOOL
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT SNOW LODGE
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON A HOUSEBOAT
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT MEADOW BROOK
THE BOBBSEY TWINS AT HOME
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN A GREAT CITY
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON BLUEBERRY ISLAND
THE BOBBSEY TWINS ON THE DEEP BLUE SEA
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN WASHINGTON
THE BOBBSEY TWINS IN THE GREAT WEST
THE BUNNY BROWN SERIES
THE SIX LITTLE BUNKERS SERIES
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS SERIES
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I READY FOR A RACE
II THE RUDE BOY
III A NICE MAN
IV THE SURPRISE
V A NIGHT RIDE
VI THE BROKEN LEG
VII IN THE TOY HOSPITAL
VIII HOME AGAIN
IX TWO BAD MEN
X THE GRASS PARTY
CHAPTER I
READY FOR A RACE
One by one the lights went out. One by one the shoppers left the toy
department of the store. One by one the clerks rode down in the
elevators. At last all was still and quiet and dark--that is, all dark
except for a small light, so the night-watchman could see his way
around.
"Now we can have some fun!" cried a voice, and it seemed to come from
a Calico Clown, lying down in a box next to a Bold Tin Soldier. "Now
we can really be ourselves, and talk and move about."
"We can, if we are sure there is no one to watch us," bleated a Lamb
on Wheels, who stood on the floor near a White Rocking Horse. "You
know, as well as I do, Calico Clown, that we cannot do as we please if
there are any eyes watching us," said the Lamb.
"No one can see us," said the Bold Tin Soldier. "I am glad the clerks
and shoppers are gone. It will be some time before the watchman comes
up here, and my men and I will be glad to move about. All ready
there!" he called to his soldiers, for he was captain over a brave
company of tin warriors. "Attention! Stand up straight and get ready
to march! You have been in your box all day, and now it is time to
come out!"
It was true; the Bold Tin Soldier and his men had been in a box on the
toy counter all day. For, as you have been told, the playthings cannot
make believe come to life nor move about when any human eyes are
watching them. They must wait until they are alone, which is generally
after dark. That is why you have never seen your doll or your rocking
horse moving about by itself.
But now, in the toy store, from which every one had gone, some strange
things happened. The Calico Clown stood up near the Candy Rabbit and
looked about. Then the Calico Clown banged together the shiny brass
cymbals he held in his hands.
"Clang! Bang!" went the cymbals.
"Ha! that sounds like war," cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Come, my men!
Forward--march!"
And then and there the tin soldiers, with their captain holding his
shiny tin sword in his hand, marched out of their box and around the
toy counter of the big department store.
Yes, I wish you could have seen them; but it isn't allowed, you know.
Just the very minute the eyes of a boy or a girl, or, for that matter,
a father or mother or aunt, uncle or cousin--just the very moment any
one looks, the toys are as still as clothespins.
"Aren't they fine?" cried a Monkey on a Stick, as he scrambled up to
the very top of his staff, so he might look over the pile of building
blocks that stood near some picture books. "I wish I were a soldier!"
"Oh, no!" exclaimed a Boy Doll.
"You are funnier as a Monkey," remarked the Calico Clown.
"But I am not as funny as you are," laughed the Monkey. "Tell us a
joke, that's a good fellow! Tell us something funny, Calico Clown, so
we may laugh. We have had no fun all day."
"All right," agreed the Calico Clown, with a smile, as he softly
banged his cymbals together. "I'll see if I can think of a joke."
The Bold Tin Soldier and his men stopped marching to listen to what
the Calico Clown might say. The Candy Rabbit raised his big ears up
straighter, so that he would miss nothing. The Lamb on Wheels gave
herself a shake, seemingly so the kinks would come out of her woolly
coat, and the Monkey on a Stick swung by his tail.
"Yes, I'll tell you a joke," said the Calico Clown. "It is a sort of
riddle. Listen, and see if any of you can answer it."
"The Sawdust Doll was very clever at answering riddles," said the Bold
Tin Soldier. "I wish she were here now."
"But she isn't," said the Candy Rabbit. "I liked that Sawdust Doll
very much, but she has gone away."
"Yes, some lady bought her for a little girl's birthday," came from
the Monkey on a Stick. "You are right, Tin Soldier, that doll was very
clever at answering the riddles the Clown used to ask."
"Well, if you don't all stop talking now, how am I going to tell this
joke?" asked the Calico Clown crossly. "Now, who is a--"
"I wonder if the Sawdust Doll will come back and see us once again, as
she did before?" asked the Lamb on Wheels, not paying much attention
to what the Calico Clown said. "Don't you remember, Tin Soldier, how
she once came back to us, after she had been sold and taken away?"
"Clang! Bang!" went the cymbals of the Calico Clown.
"What's the matter?" asked the Monkey on a Stick.
"Matter? Matter enough, I should say!" replied the Clown. "Here I am
asked to tell a funny joke, and none of you will listen. You keep on
talking about the Sawdust Doll. I liked her as much as any one. But
she is gone--she was sold away from us. To-morrow some of us may be
sold, and never see the others again. Let's be gay and jolly while we
can!"
"That's what I say!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit. "Really, we are not
very polite to go on talking when the Calico Clown wants to amuse us
with one of his famous jokes. We should listen to him."
"You are right!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Come now," he went on,
as he waved his sword over his head, "I do not want to be cross with
you, my toy friends, but I command silence! Silence while the Calico
Clown tells his joke!"
The toys on the counters and shelves settled down and turned their
eyes toward the Clown in his funny calico suit of many colors.
"I'm sure you will all laugh at this joke!" cried the Calico Clown.
"It is so funny I have to laugh myself whenever I tell it. Thank you
for getting them quiet so they can listen to me, Bold Tin Soldier. I
am glad you are a friend--"
"Say, you'd better tell that joke, if you're going to!" broke in the
captain. "I don't know how long they'll stay quiet. And I want to
march around some more before morning comes and we have to stay in our
box all day. You know it is the Christmas season, and any one of us
may be bought any day and taken far off. So let us be jolly together
while we may. All quiet now, for the Calico Clown's joke!"
"Thank you," returned the funny fellow again. "Now, why is it that
when--"
And just then there was a rumbling, rolling sound on the floor of the
toy department.
"Dear me!" exclaimed the Candy Rabbit, "can that be the watchman
coming so soon?"
They all listened, and heard the noise more plainly. It rumbled and
rolled nearer and nearer.
"Dear me!" said the Calico Clown, "I'm never going to get a chance to
tell my joke. What is it, Candy Rabbit? Can you see?"
The sweet chap was just going to say he could see nothing, when there
came a whinny from a big White Rocking Horse standing on the floor
near a lawn swing.
"Oh, you're here at last, are you?" neighed the White Rocking Horse.
"Yes, I'm here," answered a voice, and with it came again the
rumbling, rolling sound. "I'm sorry if I am late, but I had to go over
in the sporting goods section to get a pair to fit me."
"A pair of what to fit who? Who is it?" asked the Monkey on a Stick,
for he had taken a seat behind a pile of building blocks, and could
not see very well.
"What's going on here, anyhow?" he asked, as he began to climb up to
the top of his stick.
Then all the toys looked at the White Rocking Horse, and they saw,
trundling toward him, an Elephant on roller skates.
"Oh, how funny he looks!" laughed the Calico Clown. "Oh, dear me! This
is better than any joke I could tell! Oh, how funny!" And the Calico
Clown doubled up in such a kink of laughter that his cymbals tinkled
again and again.
"What is so funny?" asked the Elephant on roller skates.
"You are," replied the Clown. "Of course we are glad to see you," he
added. "And please excuse me for laughing at you. But, really, I
cannot help it! You do look so funny! I--I never saw an elephant on
roller skates before."
"And I never before was on roller skates," answered the toy Elephant.
"I don't believe I'll ever put them on again, either," he said. "But
when the White Rocking Horse asked me to race with him, that was the
only way I could think of to make it fair, as he is so much faster
than I. He said I might put anything I liked on my feet."
"What's this? What's this?" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "Is there to
be a race between an Elephant on roller skates and the White Rocking
Horse?"
"Yes," answered the Horse himself, "we are going to have a little
race, just for fun, you know. I thought it would be amusing."
"Where are you going to run the race?" asked the Candy Rabbit.
"Down to the elevators and back again," answered the White Rocking
Horse. "You see, my friends, it came about in this way," he explained.
"The Elephant was always telling how fast he could run. He said the
real elephants in the jungle, after whom he is patterned, were swifter
than horses. I said I did not think so. I told him I could beat him in
a race, so we agreed to try it some night. I said he could put on
roller skates if he wished, since I had rockers, like those of a
chair, fastened on my hoofs."
The White Rocking Horse was a proud fellow, with his long tail and
mane of real hair. Proudly he held up his head. Proudly he rocked to
and fro. On his back was a red saddle of real leather.
"Get ready for the race!" called the Calico Clown, clanging his
cymbals. "This will be real, jolly fun! Ready for the race!"
The Horse and Elephant stood on a line, which was a crack in the
floor, and they were just going to rush toward the elevators when, all
of a sudden, the Candy Rabbit cried:
"Hush!"
CHAPTER II
THE RUDE BOY
Suddenly all the toys, who had been crowding to the edges of the
shelves and counters to watch the race between the Horse and the
Elephant, became very quiet. The Candy Rabbit seemed to shrink down
behind the Monkey on a Stick. The Bold Tin Soldier slipped his sword
back into its scabbard, and his men lowered their guns. The Calico
Clown, who had been about to bang his cymbals together, dropped them
to his sides. The Lamb on Wheels, who had just been going to ask a Rag
Doll if she did not want to get up on her back, so she might see
better, rolled herself under the counter, and the White Rocking Horse
and the Elephant on his roller skates looked around in surprise.
"What's the matter?" neighed the Horse. "Why did you call out for us
to hush, Candy Rabbit?"
"I thought I heard a noise," was the answer. "Maybe the night watchman
is coming. If he is, he must never see us at our play. Something
dreadful would happen, if he did."
"Hush! Not so loud!" whispered the Calico Clown. "What you say is very
true, Candy Rabbit. We dare not move about or talk if we are looked at
by human eyes. But I do not think the watchman is coming."
"How can we be sure the watchman is not looking at us?" whispered the
Monkey on a Stick." I'd like to see this race."
"So would I," said the Calico Clown. "And there is only one way we can
be certain the watchman is not here."
"Tell us how!" suggested the Bold Tin Soldier.
"This is the way," answered the Calico Clown. "I will recite that
funny riddle I started to give you earlier in the evening. If the
watchman is here he will laugh at it, and then well know he is
watching us."
"That will be a fine way!" said the Lamb on Wheels. "Go ahead, Calico
Clown. Tell us the riddle, and we must all listen to see if the
watchman laughs."
"All right I Here I go!" agreed the Calico Clown. He banged his
cymbals together and then, in a loud voice, asked: "Why is a basket of
soap bubbles like a piece of chocolate cake?"
They all listened after the Calico Clown had asked this riddle. But
there was no laugh. It was as quiet in the toy department as if none
of the playthings had made believe come to life.
"I guess the watchman isn't there," said the Calico Clown, "or else he
would have laughed at my riddle."
"Maybe he is waiting for the answer," said the White Rocking Horse. "I
think that must be it, for I don't see anything very funny in the
riddle itself. Maybe the watchman is waiting for you to give the
answer, and then he'll laugh."
"Oh, I'm sure that is it," said the Elephant. "Go ahead, Calico Clown!
Tell us the answer! Why is a basket of soap bubbles like a piece of
chocolate cake? If we hear that, maybe we'll laugh, as well as the
watchman. What's the answer?"
"That's the funny part of it!" said the Calico Clown. "There is no
answer."
"No answer!" cried the White Rocking Horse. "That's a funny riddle!"
"I knew you'd think it was funny," returned the Calico Clown. "That is
why I tried so hard to tell it earlier in the evening, to make you all
jolly. No, there really is no answer. I don't believe a basket full of
soap bubbles is a bit like a piece of chocolate cake. But I just
thought I'd ask to see if any of you knew."
He waited a moment, but none of the toys answered.
"And the watchman doesn't seem to know, either," said the Monkey on a
Stick. "I guess he can't be here, or he would have laughed, Mr. Calico
Clown."
"I'm sure he would," said the joking chap. "It must be all right. No
one is looking at us. On with the race!"
"Yes," rumbled the Elephant, away deep down in his trunk, "if we are
going to have this race let's get it over with. I must go back to my
place among the camels and lions and tigers before morning."
The Elephant, who had borrowed a pair of roller skates to race with
the White Rocking Horse, lived in a large Noah's Ark with the other
animals from the jungle and the desert.
"Get ready now!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "On your marks, Horse and
Elephant! I will have one of my men fire his gun as a signal to start
the race!"
"Good!" neighed the White Rocking Horse.
Slowly he began to sway back and forth, while the Elephant slid along
on his roller skates until both animals stood, once more, on the crack
in the floor. When the Candy Rabbit had cried "Hush!" they had both
slid back toward the toy counter. Later on the make-believe folk found
that the noise was caused by a Jack in the Box springing up quickly to
watch the race.
"Bang!" went a toy pop gun. And then the race began!
And such a race as it was! Across the floor, toward the elevators,
went the Elephant, gliding along on the roller skates. Back and forth
swayed the Rocking Horse, and each time he moved he went a little
faster. His tail and mane streamed out in the air and his red saddle
of real leather glistened in the light of the one dim electric lamp.
"The Elephant is winning! The Elephant is winning!" cried the Monkey
on a Stick. He rather favored the Elephant, for, like the big chap,
the Monkey also had come from a jungle.
"The Horse is going faster!" cried the Bold Tin Soldier. "I'm sure the
Horse will win the race!" The Tin Captain rather favored the Horse,
since all soldiers like horses.
"It is too soon, yet, to tell who will win," remarked the Calico
Clown. "They have to go to the elevators and come back to the starting
mark--the crack in the floor--before the race is finished. Oh, but
this is sport!"
The White Rocking Horse and the Elephant, who wore roller skates, were
close together, making their way as fast as they could toward the
elevators. This was the half-way mark of the race. The two animals
must turn around and come back to the toy counter before it would be
known which was the faster. Just now they seemed to be even.
On and on they raced, faster and faster. If you had been there you
would have enjoyed it, I am sure. But of course that was not allowed.
If you had so much as peeped, even with one eye, the toys would
instantly have become as motionless as the pictures in your spelling
book.
Back and forth rocked the White Horse. Rumble and roll went the
Elephant on his skates. They were close to the elevators in about
three minutes after they had started from the crack mark.
"Now they are going to turn around," whispered the Celluloid Doll, as
she leaned over the edge of the counter.
"Oh, look!" suddenly called the Monkey on a Stick. "Now the White
Rocking Horse will win the race!"
As he spoke there came a loud clattering sound down near the
elevators--the halfway mark of the race. All the toys strained their
necks to look, and they saw that one of the roller skates had come off
the Elephant. He had turned too quickly, and had lost a skate.
"Never mind! Go on! Go on!" cried the Elephant, who was quite a
sporting chap in his own way. "Go on with the race! I can beat you on
three skates, Mr. Horse!"
"Ho! Ho! We'll see about that!" whinnied the rocking chap, as he made
the turn and started back.
The two toys were going along as fast as they could, the rumble of the
rockers on the White Horse mingling with the roll of the skates on the
Elephant, when, all of a sudden, a brighter light shone in the toy
department, the tread of footsteps was heard, and the Calico Clown had
just time to shout:
"The watchman! To your places, every one!"
And instantly the toys were as motionless and quiet as mice. The
Elephant, even on three skates, had been going so fast that he rolled
behind a big pillar all covered with red and green tissue paper, with
which the toy section was decorated. And the White Rocking Horse
stayed just where he was when the Clown called out. Up among the toy
counters and shelves came a big man carrying a lantern. He was the
store watchman, and he went about in the different departments each
night to see that all was well.
"What's this?" exclaimed the watchman, as he noticed the White Rocking
Horse near the elevators. "This toy is out of place! He belongs over
near the counter. Some clerk or customer must have left him here when
the store closed last night. I'll take him back," and, picking up the
White Rocking Horse, the watchman carried the toy back to where it
belonged. And the Horse did not dare give even the smallest kick. He
dared not show that he had been alive and in a race.
The watchman walked back toward the elevator, and saw the skate that
had come off the Elephant's foot. He did not see the Elephant who was
hidden behind the pillar.
"Well, I do declare!" exclaimed the watchman. "The clerks here are
getting very careless! This roller skate belongs over in the sporting
section. I'll take it there."
He picked it up and walked away. When he was gone, and the light of
his lantern no longer gleamed, the Calico Clown slowly raised his
head.
"Now you can go on with the race," he said.
"No, the race is spoiled for to-night," answered the Horse. "It will
soon be daylight, and the clerks and shoppers will be coming in."
"Yes, and I would have to go to the other part of the store to get
back my roller skate," said the Elephant. "I find I cannot get along
on three. We'll have the race to-morrow night, Mr. Horse."
"That will suit me very well," said the proud, brave steed.
"And now we had all better get quiet," said the Monkey on a Stick. "I
can see the sun peeping up in the east. Daylight is coming, and we
dare no longer move about and talk. We have had some fun, but now we
must get ready to be looked at by the shoppers. Quiet, everybody!"
And, as he spoke, the light suddenly grew stronger in the toy
department, the clerks presently began coming in, and soon, when the
sun was a little higher in the sky, the shoppers began arriving.
The White Rocking Horse, proud and stiff, stood near the counter. How
his red saddle, of real leather, glistened in the light! How fluffy
were his mane and tail!
Suddenly there came marching down the aisle of the store a boy whose
feet made a great deal of noise, and who had a loud voice.
"Here's the Rocking Horse I want!" he cried. "I'm going to have this
one!" And in an instant he had leaped on the back of the White Horse,
banging his heels on the painted sides and yanking on the leather
reins.
"Gid-dap! Gid-dap!" cried the rude boy, and he began kicking the White
Rocking Horse in the ribs.
CHAPTER III
A NICE MAN
"Dear me!" thought the White Rocking Horse to himself, as he felt the
boy banging hard, leather heels into his side. "This is quite
dreadful! I hope I am not sold to this boy! He would be a very
unpleasant master to have, I am sure!"
Just because the White Rocking Horse and the other toys could not talk
and move about when human eyes were watching them, did not stop them
from thinking things to themselves, or from having feelings. And you
may be very sure the White Rocking Horse felt that his feelings were
very much hurt when the boy banged his heels so hard into the sides of
the steed.
"I certainly hope I am not going to belong to this boy," thought the
White Rocking Horse, and he looked toward the toy counter. He saw the
Calico Clown glancing sadly at him, and he noticed the Monkey on a
Stick making funny faces at the boy.
"I wish I could make that boy come over here and look at me," thought
the Monkey. "Then he would let my friend, the White Rocking Horse,
alone."
But the rude boy seemed to like being in the red leather saddle on the
back of the Rocking Horse.
"Grid-dap! Go 'long there!" cried the boy, and again he clapped his
heels against the wooden sides of the Horse, chipping off bits of
paint. With his hands the boy yanked on the reins until he nearly
pulled them off the head of the White Rocking Horse.
A young lady clerk, who worked In the toy department, came along just
then.
"Please do not be so rough on the Horse, little boy," she said in a
gentle voice.
"I'm going to have this Horse!" shouted the rude boy, as he rocked to
and fro. "I'm going to make my mother buy him for me for Christmas. Go
'long! Gid-dap!"
"Oh, I never could stand belonging to this boy!" thought the poor
White Rocking Horse. "I should want to run away!"
While the unpleasant boy was still in the saddle, swaying to and fro
and banging his heels, a lady came walking down the aisle of the toy
department.
"Here's the Horse I want!" the boy cried to her. "He's a dandy! He has
real hair in his tail and mane, and the saddle is real leather! Buy me
this Horse!"
"No, Reginald, I cannot buy you this Horse," said the lady. "It costs
too much, and you have a rocking horse at home now."
"Yes, but that one has no ears, his leg is broken, and he has no
saddle or bridle," cried the boy. "I want this horse!"
"Your horse was as good as this one when it was new," said the boy's
mother. "If you had taken care of it, it would be a good horse yet."
"Well, I couldn't help it 'cause his ears pulled off! I wanted him to
stop rocking and he wouldn't!" grumbled the rude boy. "I had to pull
his ears!"
"Gracious! Think of pulling off the ears of a rocking horse because he
wouldn't stay quiet!" said the Bold Tin Soldier to himself. "I hope
our White Horse doesn't get this boy for a master."
"I want this Horse! I want this one!" cried the boy, again banging his
heels on the side of the toy.
"No, Reginald, you cannot have it," said his mother,
"Then I want this Calico Clown!" the boy exclaimed, jumping off the
horse so quickly that the toy animal would have been knocked over,
only the young lady clerk caught it and held it upright.
The boy caught the Clown up in his hands, and began punching the toy
in the chest to make the cymbals bang together.
"Dear me, what a dreadful chap this boy is!" thought the Calico Clown.
"So rough!"
As for the White Rocking Horse, he began to feel better as soon as the
boy was out of the saddle. True, his wooden sides were somewhat
dented, but the young lady clerk said to her friend at the doll
counter:
"I'll get a little oil and rub the spots out. They won't show, and the
Horse will be as good as ever. It's a shame such boys are allowed in
the toy department."
"Buy me this Calico Clown!" cried the boy, who was punching the gaily
dressed toy, and making the cymbals clang. "I want this, if I can't
have the Rocking Horse!"
"No, you can't have anything until Christmas," said his mother. "Put
it back, Reginald!"