Latest / Classic Adventure Books - Daily / 01 - The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - L Frank Baum
Transcript
- Chapter one, Bursy. Have you ever heard of the great forest of Burzy? Nurse used to sing of it when I was a child. She sang of the big tree trunks standing close together, with their roots intertwining below the earth, and their branches intertwining above it, of their rough coating of bark, and queer gnarled limbs, of the bushy foliage that roofed the entire forest, save where the sunbeams found a path through which to touch the ground in little spots, and to cast weird and curious shadows over the mosses, the lichens, and the drifts of dried leaves. The forest of Burzy is mighty and grand and awesome to those who steal beneath its shade. Coming from the sunlit meadows into its mazes, it seems at first gloomy, then pleasant, and afterwards filled with never ending delights. For hundreds of years it has flourished in all its magnificence, the silence of its enclosure unbroken save by the chirp of busy chipmunks, the growl of wild beasts, and the songs of birds. Yet Burzy has its inhabitants. For all this nature peopled it in the beginning with fairies, nooks, rills, and nymphs. As long as the forest stands, it will be a home, a refuge, and a playground to these sweet immortals who revel undisturbed in its depths. Civilization has never yet reached Burzy, will it ever? I wonder? End of chapter one, chapter two, the child of the forest. Once so long ago our great grandfathers could scarcely have heard it mentioned. There lived within the great forest of Birzy a wood nymph named Nasill. She was closely related to the mighty Queen Zerline, and her home was beneath the shade of a wide spreading oak. Once every year, on budding Day, when the trees put forth their new Budsncille held the golden chalice of Ac to the lips of the Queen, who drank therefrom to the prosperity of the forest. So you see, she was a nymph of some importance. And moreover, it is said she was highly regarded because of her beauty and grace when she was created. She could not have told Queen Zurline, could not have told. The Great Ac himself could not have told. It was long ago, when the world was new and nymphs were needed to guard the forests and to minister to the wants of the young trees. Then on some day not remembered, Nasille sprang into being radiant, lovely, straight, and slim as the sapling she was created to guard. Her. He was the color that lines a chestnut burr. Her eyes were blue in the sunlight and purple in the shade. Her cheeks bloomed with a faint pink that edges the clouds at sunset. Her lips were full, red, pouting, and sweet. For costumes, she adopted oak leaf green. All the wood nymphs dress in that color and know no other so desirable. Her dainty feet were sandal clad, while her head remained bare of covering other than her silken tresses. Nessil's duties were few and simple. She kept hurtful weeds from growing beneath her trees and sapping the earth food required by her charges. She frightened away the gadgeles, who took evil delight in flying against the tree trunks and wounding them so that they dropped and died from the poisonous contact. In dry season, she carried water from the brooks and pools, and moistened the roots of her thirsty dependants. That was in the beginning. The weeds had now learned to avoid the forests where the wood nymphs dwelt. The loathsome gagules no longer dared come nigh. The trees had become old and sturdy, and could bear the drought better than when fresh sprouted. So Nesile's duties were lessened and time grew laggered, while succeeding years became more tiresome and uneventful than the nymph's joyous spirit. Loved truly, the forest dwellers did not lack amusement. Each full moon they danced in the royal circle of the Queen. There were also the feast of nuts, the jubilee of autumn tintings, the solemn ceremony of leaf shedding, and the revelry of budding day. But these periods of enjoyment were far apart and left many weary hours between. That a wood nymph should grow discontented was not thought of by Nicille's sisters. It came upon her only after many years of brooding. But when once she had settled in her mind that life was irksome. She had no patience with her condition, and longed to do something of real interest, and to pass her days in ways hitherto undreamed of by forest nymphs. The law of the forest alone restrained her from going forth in search of adventure. While this mood lay heavy upon pretty Nasile, it chanced that the Great Ak visited the forest of Burzee and allowed the wood nymphs, as was their wont, to lie at his feet and listen to the words of wisdom that fell from his lips. Ak is the master woodsman of the world. He sees everything and knows more than the sons of men. That night he held the queen's hand, for he loved the nymphs as a father loves his children. And Nasile lay at his feet with many of her sisters, and earnestly hearkened as he spoke. We live so happily, my fair ones, in our forest glades, said Ax, stroking his grizzled beard, thoughtfully, that we know nothing of the sorrow and misery that fall to the lot of those poor mortals who inhabit the open spaces of the earth. They are not of our race. It is true, yet, compassion well befits being so fairly favored as ourselves. Often, as I pass by the dwelling of some suffering mortal, I am tempted to stop and banish the poor thing's misery. Yet suffering in moderation is the natural lot of mortals, and it is not our place to interfere with the laws of nature. Nevertheless, said the fair Queen, nodding her golden head at the master woodsman. It would not be a vain guess that AK has often assisted these hapless mortals. Ac smiled. Sometimes, he replied, when they are very young children, the mortals call them. I have stopped to rescue them from misery. The men and women I dare not interfere with they must bear the burdens nature has imposed upon them. But the helpless infants, the innocent children of men, have a right to be happy until they become full grown and able to bear the trials of humanity. So I feel I am justified in assisting them. Not long ago, a year maybe, I found four poor children huddled in a wooden hut, slowly freezing to death. Their parents had gone to a neighboring village for food and had left a fire to warm their little ones while they were absent. But a storm arose and drifted the snow in their path, so they were long on the road. Meantime, the fire went out, and the frost crept into the bones of the waiting children. Poor things, murmured the queen softly. What did you do? I called Nelko, bidding him fetch wood from my forests, and breathe upon it until the fire blazed again and warmed the little room where the children lay. Then they ceased shivering and fell asleep until their parents came. I am glad you did, thus said the good Queen, beaming upon the master, and the Zil, who had eagerly listened to every word, echoed in a whisper. I too, am glad. And this very night continued ac as I came to the edge of Berzi, I heard a feeble cry, which I judged came from a human infant. I looked about me and found close to the forest a helpless babe, lying quite naked upon the grasses and wailing piteously. Not far away, screened by the forest, crouched Chiagra, the lioness, intent upon devouring the infant for her evening meal. And what did you do, act, asked the queen, breathlessly, not much being in a hurry to greet my nymphs. But I commanded Chiagra to lie close to the babe and to give it her milk, and to quiet its hunger. And I told her to send word throughout the forest to all beasts and reptiles that the child should not be harmed. I am glad you did, thus, said the good Queen again, in a tone of relief. But this time Nasile did not echo her words, for the nymph, filled with a strained resolve, had suddenly stolen away from the group. Swiftly, her lithe form darted through the forest paths until she reached the edge of mighty Burzee, when she paused to gaze curiously about her. Never until now had she ventured so far, for the law of the forest had placed the nymphs in its inmost depths. Nasil knew she was breaking the law, but the thought did not give pause to her dainty feet. She had decided to see with her own eyes this infant act had told of, for she had never yet beheld a child of man. All the immortals are full grown. There are no children among them. Peering through the trees, and a seal saw the child lying on the grass. But now it was sweetly sleeping, having been comforted by the milk drawn from chiagra. It was not old enough to know what peril means. If it did not feel hunger, it was content softly. The nymph stole to the side of the babe and knelt upon the sward, her long robe of rose leaf color spreading about her like a gossamer cloud. Her lovely countenance expressed curiosity and surprise, but most of all a tender, womanly pity. The babe was newborn, chubby and pink. It was entirely helpless. While the nymph gazed, the infant opened its eyes, smiled upon her, and stretched out two dimpled arms. In another instant, nesile had caught it to her breast and was hurrying with it through the forest paths. End of Chapter two.