hen 10 brilliantly painted ponies, a frog, a cat, a deer and a bunny arrived yesterday, the new Bryant Park Carousel finally began to resemble a merry-go-round. Which was a relief, because when it arrived on Tuesday, it was affixed with wheels, a New York State license plate and functioning red brake lights; it rather closely resembled a U-Haul van.

``We had to legally tow it from Brooklyn somehow,'' said Marvin Sylvor, a 68-year-old carousel maker who built the $200,000 extravaganza in his factory in East New York.

The nearly completed merry-go-round has taken up residence on the bosky southern margin of Bryant Park in the backyard of the New York Public Library under the regard of a 1935 bust of Goethe.

It is scheduled to open to the public later this month, but just try to do something nice for Manhattan.

Before 8 a.m. on Tuesday, as the carousel was being unpacked, the first passer-by lectured, ``You'd better not cut down those trees.'' (Mr. Sylvor said he would do no harm to the London plane trees.)

A second visitor frowned when he learned how much a ride would cost. (The price of a token is $1.50.)

Minutes later, a nearby landlord began complaining about how noisy it could be, raising his voice to be heard over the din of the jackhammering outside his building. (Mr. Sylvor explained that the volume control on the carousel's speakers would be set on low.)

Yesterday, the kibitzers were still in abundance, inspecting the grand delivery of the 60-pound horses. Onlookers were critically observant but decidedly more friendly. ``That one's going to win the Triple Crown,'' said J.W. Ballantine, 75, from Brooklyn, pointing to a blue horse with glittering gold hooves.

``I ride the Central Park carousel all the time,'' he added, ``and I can't wait to ride on this one. You know, the farther past age 65 you get, the younger you get.''

Daniel A. Biederman, executive director of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation, the park's nonprofit benefactor, also looked on. ``We're hoping to get more families into the park,'' he said, ``and we'd like to attract more people on weekends.''

It was Mr. Biederman's dream to bring a French-inspired carousel into the French-style park, with its pebbled Parisian walks and 2,700 spindly green slatted-wood chairs. It took Mr. Biederman three years to win approval from Community Board 5, which twice voted down the proposal.

Some assembly was required. The floral-hued Beaux-Arts carousel that grew in Brooklyn took its final form slowly this week in the park, thanks to a crew of as many as 19 workers. First to be deployed was the central element of the carousel: the six-ton, electric-powered gear drive.

Then came the unfolding of the forest-green rain canopy and its finial, which tops off at 32 feet; the engagement of the prancing steeds' pinions; and the placement of the restored 1928 ticket booth, formerly for a carousel in Hull, Mass. It is painted with ``the prettiest birds from the Audubon book,'' Mr. Sylvor said.