The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Baum)

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum (1902)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

Note that this was finished in 2022, but I didn't catch up on the final reviews of the year.

I grew up at the perfect time to watch all the Rankin/Bass Christmas (and other holiday) specials. And yet despit that, I only saw The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus for the first time just a few years ago. It's the pinnacle of their storytelling ability. No songs, just pure fantasy. Some time after this, I discovered that it was based on a book by L. Frank Baum (the Oz guy, don't you know).

This year I decided to get a copy. It's been in public domain for a while.

A baby is found by Forest of Burzee by Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World. Burzee is home to immortals and no human has ever set foot there. He places the baby in the care of the lioness Shiegra (who had thought the baby might make a good snack before then). The baby is then adopted by the Wood Nymph, Necile. He's given the name "Claus", meaning "little one", but gets called "Neclaus", meaning Necile's little one.

He grows up with the Nooks and Ryls and the nymphs and the animals until Ak decides to take him on a trip about the world to see others of his kind. He leaves the immortals and starts making toys for children. The immortals aid him in this. There are villains, in the form of the Awgwas, which are creatures who could turn invisible, who steal his toys. They are eventually defeated.

When Claus ages to the point of death, the immortals meet to grant the mantle of immortality onto Claus. There is only one that could be given in all of history. It was made to be bestowed, and if one such as Claus isn't worthy of it, no human ever would be. So it is a unanimous decision among the immortals.

I copied this list from Wikipedia (which got it from the text) just because I love the variety of it: a council, headed by Ak (Master Woodsman of the World), Bo (Master Mariner of the World), and Kern (Master Husbandman of the World) gathers together the Gnome King, the Queen of the Water Spirits, the King of the Wind Demons, the King of the Ryls, the King of the Knooks, the King of the Sound Imps, the King of the Sleep Fays, the Fairy Queen, Queen Zurline of the Wood Nymphs, and the King of the Light Elves with the Princes Flash and Twilight, to decide the fate of Santa Claus.

Also amusing was a song that Claus would sing. It reminded me of the song sung in the Merry Old Land of Oz, and with good reason. I wonder if the lyricists used Baum's other works for inspriration. I don't recall a similar song in the text of the Wizard of Oz.

I enjoyed this. Maybe I'll read it again next year. Maybe not -- I tend not to reread books because I have so many "to be read".

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