"Bring them back in then!" shouted the Madame, out of the rear exit to the tent.
Stephen reappeared with the six donkeys. They had all been shackled and were pulling what appeared to be a large flat metal platform with upturned ends. The donkeys were pulling in two groups of three at the front of the platform, with Stephan wielding a whip from one of the seats behind them.
"It's a sledge!" came a shout from a teen in the audience. Madame Illusia smiled and gestured the boy on to the stage.
"What a clever young man you are", she said to him as he stepped up. "What's your name?"
The teen was a lot shyer now he was in the view of the crowd. Nevertheless he plucked up the courage after a short pause.
"Uh, I'm called Nick."
"Well, hello Nick", came her reply. "And, for a bonus point, can you see what's wrong with this sledge?"
"Umm, is it cos it's got donkeys? Err, and shouldn't there be one more animal pulling, right at the front, to lead the rest of them?"
"Good answers, right first time. And it happens that I'm looking for that animal now!"
Nick's eyes widened in horror as the Madame stared at him. After a few moments she smirked at him.
"Don't worry, young fellow, I don't think you'll be strong enough for that!"
She turned to Rudy, who was chugging down the whisky she had given him earlier. His eye unfocussed, his florid face flushed, he grunted in acknowlegement as, with a gentle voice, the Madame began to sing to him.
"Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Madame came to say:
'Rudy with your nose so bright
Won't you pull my sleigh tonight?'"