II

Then he opened up his sack.  It was filled with gifts, and somehow I knew that they were all meant for me.  I wished with all my heart that I might get a better look at them; but still I would not go out to him.

He beckoned to me kindly, saying, “Come and see for yourself.”  The things I saw there through the glass were not such as I would have asked for myself, nor could I ever have envisioned them even in my wildest dreams, yet I felt as if I had always wanted them.  Nothing in that sack was anything you have ever seen or imagined.  I was filled with wonder, but did not understand what I was seeing.

I turned my face away from the window.  “I will come another time,” I said.  “I am not dressed for the out-of-doors.  See – I am in my night things.  I will come with you when I am better prepared.”

“Better prepared,” he said to me, “you will never be.”

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