Suggested for your December reading pleasure is The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum, who is well known for his Wizard of Oz. Kind permission from Mr. John Long at Aesop's Fables, to reprint any of the full Santa tales at Dubh Sidhe's Folklore is gratefully acknowledged. However, I decided that your reading pleasure would be more enhanced if you read the chapters from Mr. Long's site, in order to maintain continuity.
The stories are divided into three sections: Santa's Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. The Youth section contains seven tales. The first, Burzee, tells of the genesis of Santa, and his finding as an infant in the enchanted forest of Burzee.
The remaining six stories in this section are Child of the Forest; The Adoption; Claus; The Master Woodsman; Claus Discovers Humanity, and Claus Leaves the Forest.
Excerpt from Clause Leaves the Forest
...For at his feet the cowslips and daisies smiled on him in friendly regard; the breeze whistled gaily as it passed by and fluttered the locks on his forehead; the brook laughed joyously as it leaped over the pebbles and swept around the green curves of its banks; the bees sang sweet songs as they flew from dandelion to daffodil; the beetles chirrped happily in the long grass, and the sunbeams glinted pleasantly over all the scene.
"Here," cried Claus, stretching out his arms as if to embrace the valley, "will I make my home!"
That was many, many years ago. It has been his home ever since. It is his home now.
I have read many tales of Santa Claus, variously known as St. Nick, but none have presented the magically whole person, the integrated person that I know as Santa, the person you know, the person whom every child knows--as Santa, as these tales do.
Section II, dealing with the Manhood of Santa contains twelve delightful tales: The High Valley; How Claus Made the First Toy; How the Ryls Colored the Toys; How Little Mayrie Became Frightened; How Bessie Blithesome Came to the High Valley; The Wickedness of the Awgwos; The Great Battle Between Good and Evil; The First Journey with the Reindeer; Santa Claus; Christmas Eve; How the First Stockings were Hung by the Chimneys, and The First Christmas Tree.
Excerpt from Santa Claus
Clause thought that none of the children would ever know where the toys came from which they found by their bedsides when they wakened the following morning. But kindly deeds are sure to bring fame, and fame has many wings to carry its tidings into far lands; so for miles and miles in every direction people were talking of Clause and his wonderful gifts to children. The sweet generousness of his work caused a few selfish folk to sneer, but even these were forced to admit their respect for a man so gentle-natured that he loved to devote his life to pleasing the helpless little ones of his race...and that is how our Claus became Santa Claus. It is possible for any man, by good deeds, to enshrine himself as a Saint in the hearts of the people.
The copyright of the article The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus in Folklore is owned by Virginia Marin. Permission to republish The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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