Z E E K E R  ' S   FAVORITE STORY
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HERE'S A TRUE STORY TOLD BY ZEEKER THE ELF--THE GREATEST STORYTELLER IN THE
WORLD!
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Long, long ago there lived a little creature called the Loud-Mouth Twit, and
he was mean as mean can be!  The twit liked to stand on your shoulder and
whisper in your ear, giving you bad ideas.  He'd make you crabby and
moody, and you wouldn't even notice he was there.  That's the kind of a
fellow this nasty twit was!

THE TROUBLE WITH PRESENTS.
We put up with that Loud-Mouth Twit for a long time.  But when he started
causing trouble with our presents, we figured we had to do something!
Back then, people liked to give presents to other peple, just like they do
now.  And back then, the giver liked to surprise the receiver, just like
now.  That was half the fun.
So whenever an elf would make a present, he'd hide it until gift-giving day
came around.  Then, on the gift-day, the elf would pull out that gift and
give it to his friend.	"Oh, thank you, thank you; I had no idea; it's just
what I wanted; oh, thanks so much!" the receiver would say.  And everyone
would be happy.
Twits don't like people to be happy.  It makes them mad.  It shrivels up
their faces and makes their claws come out.  Oh, twits are mean that way!
And the Loud-Mouth Twit was the worst one of all.  "It's the surprise they
like best," he muttered to himself.  "I can't stop this stupid gift-giving,
but I CAN ruin the surprise!"
And that's what he set out to do.  Whenever an elf would hide a gift, the
twit would find it.  And then, like the Loud-Mouth Twit he was, he'd jump on
the shoulder of the other elf and whisper in his ear: "Hey, old Amt is
getting you a new chair for gift-day!  How about that!	It's made of
mahogany and the seat is covered with red velvet, and he's planning to
surprise you. Heh-heh-heh!"
Then the surprise was all ruined, and half the fun was gone.
That made the Loud-Mouth Twit very happy.  "They hate it!" he chuckled
gleefully.  "Their gift-day isn't any fun any longer!"
Well, elves aren't dumb.  They knew that sneaky twit was whispering in
their ears!  The solution was to hide their gifts a lot better.
So they tried hiding presents under the floor of the Elf Hall.	They hid
them under the step.  In the drainpipes.  Under the ceiling.  On top of the
roof.  Out in the bushes.  Under the outhouse seat.  Under their pillows.
Wherever they could think of that the twit wouldn't find them.
But that didn't stop the Loud-Mouth Twit!  Twits have very sharp eyes and a
keen sense of smell.  The Loud-Mouth Twit was able to find every gift they
hid -- and then he went running to the recipient.  "Oh noble Willo!" he'd
sing in the elf's ear.  "Erdi is getting you something wonderful for gift-
day!  A yellow-green blanket to go on your bed, with striped fringes of
amber an gold.	Made out of Erdi's own hair, that he's been saving all these
years.	Isn't this a wonderful surprise!  Oh, won't you be so surprised?"
Then, when Erdi gave the precious blanket to Willo, instead of being happy
and surprised, Willo only said, "Oh, yes, I knew you were going to give
this to me.  Oh, well, okay."
Things finally got so bad that the elves called an Elf Council.
"We've go to stop this Loud-Mouth Twit," the leader said.  "He's ruining
EVERYTHING."
They discussed the problem all day and throught the night.  And then,
finally, one of the youngest elves had an idea.  "Why don't we cover our
presents, so the twit can't see inside?"
"And what would we cover them with, young one?" the leader asked sternly.
"Oh, I don't know," the young elf answered.  "How about paper?"
As soon as the elf said it, all the others knew that was their answer.	They'd
cover the gifts with paper!
The next day all the elves got busy making new gifts, for a special gift-day.
One by one they completed their projects -- and then wrapped the presents in
paper.	They tried to find colorful, pretty, bright paper, to make the gift
look nicer, and some even wrapped the package in a bow.  Then they put all
the presents in a stack by the window.
When the twit came along, he sneered at the elves.  "Hah!" he said.
"Presents!  I'm going to take a little peek."  And he sneaked up to the
pile and tried to look.  But twits are weak, and the paper was strong.	He
tried package after package -- and he couldn't see inside even one of them.
"Oh, woe! Oh, misery!" he shouted.   "The elves are going to be surprised and
in despair he raced from the Elf Hall -- and he's never been seen again.
Ever since then the elves have had great fun surprising each other on gift-
day.  They say, "Oh, thank you, thank you!  I had no idea!  It was just what
I wanted!"  And they've found that wrapping packages makes gifts TWICE as
fun as they were before!