TOY TREASURES: The Story of Forty Dolls and a Red Wooden Horse

TOY TREASURES

The Story of Forty Dolls and a Red Wooden Horse

(Ronald Davis, ©1983)

Once there was a little girl named Abigail. As she lay in her bed at night waiting to fall asleep, she would often wonder what all the dolls on her wallpaper did while she was asleep.

One night as the little girl slept, all forty dolls came to life. The dolls looked out of their paper eyes to make sure Abigail was fast asleep. Then, very quietly, they climbed down to the floor using as steps the old-fashioned cars, milk wagons, and fire engines that were on the wallpaper.

They scurried to the doll trunk near the little dresser which had a red wooden horse sitting on top in front of the mirror. Each doll quickly changed her old-fashioned green dress, hat, and shoes for the play clothes and shoes that were in the doll trunk. They had looked in the mirror and liked what they saw—forty little girls who were dressed like Abigail’s dolls.

The dolls made sure the steps of the stairway didn't creak as they hurried downstairs and out the back door. When outside, all forty dolls with squealed with glee as they came upon all the toys Abigail had left in her sand box the day before.

As they played the moonlit night wore on. Before long some of the dolls ventured out the back gate. What a surprise they found! They called to the others to come and play in the park they had discovered--a park that had slides, merry-go-rounds, swings, monkey bars, and teeter-totters.

But, how were these forty wee ones to play on things that were made for children? The dolls were too small to climb the steps of the slide. They could never lift themselves into the seats of the swings. They could never climb the monkey bars and would never be heavy enough to tilt a see-saw. What were they to do? In their disappointment, the dolls began to cry.

Before many tears were shed, however, one of the dolls, the one with the bright red tennis shoes, looked up and squealed, “Here comes Poky!” To the dolls’ delight, Poky, the little red horse from Abigail’s dresser, had come out to play with them

.

What fun it was for each doll to be given a ride around the park on Poky’s back. While the dolls waited their turns for rides on Poky, they played chase and hide-and-seek around the many giant oak trees in the woodland park. This was such a delightful time for everyone and, especially, for Poky; for it was he who had saved the dolls from their disappointment.

With all the fun and excitement, none of the dolls or Poky noticed that the night was quickly passing into day. All of a sudden little Crystal, the doll with the bright red tennis shoes, called out in alarm, “The moon is setting, and the sun will be rising soon!” Poky and the dolls knew what that meant, and they all dashed in a panic toward Abigail’s house.

The forty dolls and Poky entered the house as quietly as they had left, and they retraced their steps back through the kitchen, through the dining and living rooms, and tip-toed up the stairway that led back to Abigail’s bedroom. Yes, she was still asleep.

As quickly as they could, the dolls changed from their play clothes into their old-fashioned dresses, little hats and shoes. Poky the red horse jumped up to his place on the little dresser with the mirror, and he stood very still. As the dolls stepped up and over the toys on the wallpaper and found their places on the wall, there was a stir in the bed below. The dolls became very still. Abigail opened her eyes.

Yawning and rubbing her eyes, Abigail looked carefully at the wallpaper as she always did in the morning. As she studied the figures on the wall, she noticed something she had never seen before. It was a red tennis shoe on one of the forty dolls! A tennis shoe just like the pair in her doll trunk! She hopped out of bed, ran to the trunk, and searched for the pair of tennis shoes. Finally, she found one—ONLY ONE!! Next to the red shoe was a little green shoe like the ones worn by the wallpaper dolls. “How could this be?” Then, she smiled as she remembered the dream she had during the night. Abigail wondered—“Could my dream have really been true?”