Shall I open it? asks JACK. And the little green man nods again.  So Jack opens it.

Shall I read it? asks JACK. And the little green man nods again.  So Jacks begins to read: “My dear Children all over the world, I, who write you this letter, am your old friend Santa Claus, and how shall I tell you the sad news, for tonight is the night when I ought to get into my reindeer sleigh and go about filling your precious stockings with Christmas gifts, and I cannot do it because I am sick.  My back aches like a tooth ache, and every joint in my whole body is so stiff that I can hardly move.  Old Father Time, who pretends to be something of a doctor, says the trouble is that I am growing old—­the idea of it!  I sent him packing about his business, I can tell you.  But all the same I do feel mighty queer, and that’s a fact.  And the worst of it is that this is Christmas Eve, and here I am shut up indoors in my house at the North Pole, and every stocking in the world is hanging empty.  I cannot bear to have Christmas come and go without any word at all from me, so I have gotten my good little friends the gnomes and fairies and elves to help me out.  They had some old fairy toys, that are almost as good as new, and these they are going to carry about to all the children; and although these gifts are rather different from what you usually receive from me, I hope they will at least keep you from forgetting poor old Santa Claus.”

Jack and Polly look sadly at one another, and then at the little green man.  He reaches out his hand, takes the letter, folds it up, replaces it in the envelope, and tucks it away in his pocket.  Then he brings out two little packages, all in green paper, tied with green string, and gives one to Polly and one to Jack.  Then, quick as a flash, he has disappeared in the fire-place.

Where did he go to? asks POLLY, after a moment of surprise.

Up the chimney, says JACK.

But what has he given to us? says POLLY, looking at the little green package in her hand.

Let’s open them, says JACK.

So the two children untie the strings, and open the papers, and soon hold up the things they have found inside.  Jack has a pair of spectacles with large round glasses and black rims.  Polly has a curious little brown cap.  They look at them in perplexity.

Oh, there is some writing fastened to mine, says POLLY.

And to mine, too, adds JACK.

POLLY reads:

  “A fairy wishing-cap am I;
  So put me on, and away you fly. 
  Wherever you wish, ’tis there you’ll be,
  And quicker than saying three-times-three.”

Polly puts the cap on her head.  Then JACK reads: 

  “Fairy spectacles are we;
  Put us on, and you shall see
  Things you never saw before,
  Easy as saying four-times-four.”