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01 - The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - L Frank Baum · Classic Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter one, Bursy. Have you ever heard of the great forest of Burzy?
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  Nurse used to sing of it when I was a child. She sang
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  of the big tree trunks standing close together, with their roots intertwining below the
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  earth, and their branches intertwining above it, of their rough coating of bark,
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  and queer gnarled limbs, of the bushy foliage that roofed the entire forest,
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  save where the sunbeams found a path through which to touch the ground in
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  little spots, and to cast weird and curious shadows over the mosses, the
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  lichens, and the drifts of dried leaves. The forest of Burzy is mighty
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  and grand and awesome to those who steal beneath its shade. Coming from the
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  sunlit meadows into its mazes, it seems at first gloomy, then pleasant,
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  and afterwards filled with never ending delights. For hundreds of years it has flourished
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  in all its magnificence, the silence of its enclosure unbroken save by the chirp
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  of busy chipmunks, the growl of wild beasts, and the songs of birds.
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  Yet Burzy has its inhabitants. For all this nature peopled it in the
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  beginning with fairies, nooks, rills, and nymphs. As long as the
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  forest stands, it will be a home, a refuge, and a playground
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  to these sweet immortals who revel undisturbed in its depths. Civilization has never yet
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  reached Burzy, will it ever? I wonder? End of chapter one,
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  chapter two, the child of the forest. Once so long ago our great
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  grandfathers could scarcely have heard it mentioned. There lived within the great forest of
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  Birzy a wood nymph named Nasill. She was closely related to the mighty Queen
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  Zerline, and her home was beneath the shade of a wide spreading oak.
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  Once every year, on budding Day, when the trees put forth their new
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  Budsncille held the golden chalice of Ac to the lips of the Queen, who
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  drank therefrom to the prosperity of the forest. So you see, she was
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  a nymph of some importance. And moreover, it is said she was highly
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  regarded because of her beauty and grace when she was created. She could not
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  have told Queen Zurline, could not have told. The Great Ac himself could
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  not have told. It was long ago, when the world was new and
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  nymphs were needed to guard the forests and to minister to the wants of the
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  young trees. Then on some day not remembered, Nasille sprang into being radiant,
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  lovely, straight, and slim as the sapling she was created to guard.
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  Her. He was the color that lines a chestnut burr. Her eyes
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  were blue in the sunlight and purple in the shade. Her cheeks bloomed with
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  a faint pink that edges the clouds at sunset. Her lips were full,
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  red, pouting, and sweet. For costumes, she adopted oak leaf green.
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  All the wood nymphs dress in that color and know no other so desirable.
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  Her dainty feet were sandal clad, while her head remained bare of covering
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  other than her silken tresses. Nessil's duties were few and simple. She kept
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  hurtful weeds from growing beneath her trees and sapping the earth food required by her
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  charges. She frightened away the gadgeles, who took evil delight in flying against
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  the tree trunks and wounding them so that they dropped and died from the poisonous
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  contact. In dry season, she carried water from the brooks and pools,
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  and moistened the roots of her thirsty dependants. That was in the beginning.
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  The weeds had now learned to avoid the forests where the wood nymphs dwelt.
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  The loathsome gagules no longer dared come nigh. The trees had become old and
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  sturdy, and could bear the drought better than when fresh sprouted. So Nesile's
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  duties were lessened and time grew laggered, while succeeding years became more tiresome and
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  uneventful than the nymph's joyous spirit. Loved truly, the forest dwellers did not
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  lack amusement. Each full moon they danced in the royal circle of the Queen.
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  There were also the feast of nuts, the jubilee of autumn tintings,
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  the solemn ceremony of leaf shedding, and the revelry of budding day. But
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  these periods of enjoyment were far apart and left many weary hours between. That
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  a wood nymph should grow discontented was not thought of by Nicille's sisters. It
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  came upon her only after many years of brooding. But when once she had
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  settled in her mind that life was irksome. She had no patience with her
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  condition, and longed to do something of real interest, and to pass her
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  days in ways hitherto undreamed of by forest nymphs. The law of the forest
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  alone restrained her from going forth in search of adventure. While this mood lay
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  heavy upon pretty Nasile, it chanced that the Great Ak visited the forest of
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  Burzee and allowed the wood nymphs, as was their wont, to lie at
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  his feet and listen to the words of wisdom that fell from his lips.
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  Ak is the master woodsman of the world. He sees everything and knows more
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  than the sons of men. That night he held the queen's hand, for
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  he loved the nymphs as a father loves his children. And Nasile lay at
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  his feet with many of her sisters, and earnestly hearkened as he spoke.
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  We live so happily, my fair ones, in our forest glades, said
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  Ax, stroking his grizzled beard, thoughtfully, that we know nothing of the
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  sorrow and misery that fall to the lot of those poor mortals who inhabit the
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  open spaces of the earth. They are not of our race. It is
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  true, yet, compassion well befits being so fairly favored as ourselves. Often,
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  as I pass by the dwelling of some suffering mortal, I am tempted
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  to stop and banish the poor thing's misery. Yet suffering in moderation is the
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  natural lot of mortals, and it is not our place to interfere with the
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  laws of nature. Nevertheless, said the fair Queen, nodding her golden head
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  at the master woodsman. It would not be a vain guess that AK has
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  often assisted these hapless mortals. Ac smiled. Sometimes, he replied, when
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  they are very young children, the mortals call them. I have stopped to
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  rescue them from misery. The men and women I dare not interfere with they
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  must bear the burdens nature has imposed upon them. But the helpless infants,
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  the innocent children of men, have a right to be happy until they become
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  full grown and able to bear the trials of humanity. So I feel I
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  am justified in assisting them. Not long ago, a year maybe, I
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  found four poor children huddled in a wooden hut, slowly freezing to death.
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  Their parents had gone to a neighboring village for food and had left a fire
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  to warm their little ones while they were absent. But a storm arose and
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  drifted the snow in their path, so they were long on the road.
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  Meantime, the fire went out, and the frost crept into the bones of
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  the waiting children. Poor things, murmured the queen softly. What did you
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  do? I called Nelko, bidding him fetch wood from my forests, and
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  breathe upon it until the fire blazed again and warmed the little room where the
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  children lay. Then they ceased shivering and fell asleep until their parents came.
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  I am glad you did, thus said the good Queen, beaming upon the
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  master, and the Zil, who had eagerly listened to every word, echoed
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  in a whisper. I too, am glad. And this very night continued
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  ac as I came to the edge of Berzi, I heard a feeble cry,
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  which I judged came from a human infant. I looked about me and
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  found close to the forest a helpless babe, lying quite naked upon the grasses
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  and wailing piteously. Not far away, screened by the forest, crouched Chiagra,
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  the lioness, intent upon devouring the infant for her evening meal. And
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  what did you do, act, asked the queen, breathlessly, not much
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  being in a hurry to greet my nymphs. But I commanded Chiagra to lie
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  close to the babe and to give it her milk, and to quiet its
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  hunger. And I told her to send word throughout the forest to all beasts
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  and reptiles that the child should not be harmed. I am glad you did,
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  thus, said the good Queen again, in a tone of relief.
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  But this time Nasile did not echo her words, for the nymph, filled
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  with a strained resolve, had suddenly stolen away from the group. Swiftly,
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  her lithe form darted through the forest paths until she reached the edge of mighty
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  Burzee, when she paused to gaze curiously about her. Never until now had
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  she ventured so far, for the law of the forest had placed the nymphs
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  in its inmost depths. Nasil knew she was breaking the law, but the
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  thought did not give pause to her dainty feet. She had decided to see
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  with her own eyes this infant act had told of, for she had never
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  yet beheld a child of man. All the immortals are full grown. There
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  are no children among them. Peering through the trees, and a seal saw
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  the child lying on the grass. But now it was sweetly sleeping, having
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  been comforted by the milk drawn from chiagra. It was not old enough to
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  know what peril means. If it did not feel hunger, it was content
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  softly. The nymph stole to the side of the babe and knelt upon the
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  sward, her long robe of rose leaf color spreading about her like a gossamer
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  cloud. Her lovely countenance expressed curiosity and surprise, but most of all a
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  tender, womanly pity. The babe was newborn, chubby and pink. It
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  was entirely helpless. While the nymph gazed, the infant opened its eyes,
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  smiled upon her, and stretched out two dimpled arms. In another instant,
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  nesile had caught it to her breast and was hurrying with it through the forest
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  paths. End of Chapter two.