Latest / Adventure Books Collection / 01 - The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - L Frank Baum

Transcript

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

• 0:00
  Chapter one, Bursy. Have you ever heard of the great forest of Burzy?
• 0:09
  Nurse used to sing of it when I was a child. She sang
• 0:13
  of the big tree trunks standing close together, with their roots intertwining below the
• 0:18
  earth, and their branches intertwining above it, of their rough coating of bark,
• 0:23
  and queer gnarled limbs, of the bushy foliage that roofed the entire forest,
• 0:29
  save where the sunbeams found a path through which to touch the ground in
• 0:33
  little spots, and to cast weird and curious shadows over the mosses, the
• 0:38
  lichens, and the drifts of dried leaves. The forest of Burzy is mighty
• 0:44
  and grand and awesome to those who steal beneath its shade. Coming from the
• 0:50
  sunlit meadows into its mazes, it seems at first gloomy, then pleasant,
• 0:56
  and afterwards filled with never ending delights. For hundreds of years it has flourished
• 1:02
  in all its magnificence, the silence of its enclosure unbroken save by the chirp
• 1:07
  of busy chipmunks, the growl of wild beasts, and the songs of birds.
• 1:14
  Yet Burzy has its inhabitants. For all this nature peopled it in the
• 1:19
  beginning with fairies, nooks, rills, and nymphs. As long as the
• 1:25
  forest stands, it will be a home, a refuge, and a playground
• 1:29
  to these sweet immortals who revel undisturbed in its depths. Civilization has never yet
• 1:37
  reached Burzy, will it ever? I wonder? End of chapter one,
• 1:46
  chapter two, the child of the forest. Once so long ago our great
• 1:53
  grandfathers could scarcely have heard it mentioned. There lived within the great forest of
• 1:57
  Birzy a wood nymph named Nasill. She was closely related to the mighty Queen
• 2:04
  Zerline, and her home was beneath the shade of a wide spreading oak.
• 2:08
  Once every year, on budding Day, when the trees put forth their new
• 2:12
  Budsncille held the golden chalice of Ac to the lips of the Queen, who
• 2:17
  drank therefrom to the prosperity of the forest. So you see, she was
• 2:23
  a nymph of some importance. And moreover, it is said she was highly
• 2:27
  regarded because of her beauty and grace when she was created. She could not
• 2:31
  have told Queen Zurline, could not have told. The Great Ac himself could
• 2:37
  not have told. It was long ago, when the world was new and
• 2:42
  nymphs were needed to guard the forests and to minister to the wants of the
• 2:46
  young trees. Then on some day not remembered, Nasille sprang into being radiant,
• 2:53
  lovely, straight, and slim as the sapling she was created to guard.
• 2:59
  Her. He was the color that lines a chestnut burr. Her eyes
• 3:02
  were blue in the sunlight and purple in the shade. Her cheeks bloomed with
• 3:07
  a faint pink that edges the clouds at sunset. Her lips were full,
• 3:13
  red, pouting, and sweet. For costumes, she adopted oak leaf green.
• 3:19
  All the wood nymphs dress in that color and know no other so desirable.
• 3:24
  Her dainty feet were sandal clad, while her head remained bare of covering
• 3:29
  other than her silken tresses. Nessil's duties were few and simple. She kept
• 3:37
  hurtful weeds from growing beneath her trees and sapping the earth food required by her
• 3:40
  charges. She frightened away the gadgeles, who took evil delight in flying against
• 3:46
  the tree trunks and wounding them so that they dropped and died from the poisonous
• 3:51
  contact. In dry season, she carried water from the brooks and pools,
• 3:55
  and moistened the roots of her thirsty dependants. That was in the beginning.
• 4:02
  The weeds had now learned to avoid the forests where the wood nymphs dwelt.
• 4:08
  The loathsome gagules no longer dared come nigh. The trees had become old and
• 4:14
  sturdy, and could bear the drought better than when fresh sprouted. So Nesile's
• 4:18
  duties were lessened and time grew laggered, while succeeding years became more tiresome and
• 4:25
  uneventful than the nymph's joyous spirit. Loved truly, the forest dwellers did not
• 4:30
  lack amusement. Each full moon they danced in the royal circle of the Queen.
• 4:36
  There were also the feast of nuts, the jubilee of autumn tintings,
• 4:41
  the solemn ceremony of leaf shedding, and the revelry of budding day. But
• 4:46
  these periods of enjoyment were far apart and left many weary hours between. That
• 4:53
  a wood nymph should grow discontented was not thought of by Nicille's sisters. It
• 4:59
  came upon her only after many years of brooding. But when once she had
• 5:02
  settled in her mind that life was irksome. She had no patience with her
• 5:06
  condition, and longed to do something of real interest, and to pass her
• 5:12
  days in ways hitherto undreamed of by forest nymphs. The law of the forest
• 5:17
  alone restrained her from going forth in search of adventure. While this mood lay
• 5:25
  heavy upon pretty Nasile, it chanced that the Great Ak visited the forest of
• 5:30
  Burzee and allowed the wood nymphs, as was their wont, to lie at
• 5:33
  his feet and listen to the words of wisdom that fell from his lips.
• 5:38
  Ak is the master woodsman of the world. He sees everything and knows more
• 5:43
  than the sons of men. That night he held the queen's hand, for
• 5:48
  he loved the nymphs as a father loves his children. And Nasile lay at
• 5:53
  his feet with many of her sisters, and earnestly hearkened as he spoke.
• 6:00
  We live so happily, my fair ones, in our forest glades, said
• 6:03
  Ax, stroking his grizzled beard, thoughtfully, that we know nothing of the
• 6:09
  sorrow and misery that fall to the lot of those poor mortals who inhabit the
• 6:13
  open spaces of the earth. They are not of our race. It is
• 6:16
  true, yet, compassion well befits being so fairly favored as ourselves. Often,
• 6:24
  as I pass by the dwelling of some suffering mortal, I am tempted
• 6:28
  to stop and banish the poor thing's misery. Yet suffering in moderation is the
• 6:33
  natural lot of mortals, and it is not our place to interfere with the
• 6:36
  laws of nature. Nevertheless, said the fair Queen, nodding her golden head
• 6:45
  at the master woodsman. It would not be a vain guess that AK has
• 6:49
  often assisted these hapless mortals. Ac smiled. Sometimes, he replied, when
• 7:00
  they are very young children, the mortals call them. I have stopped to
• 7:05
  rescue them from misery. The men and women I dare not interfere with they
• 7:11
  must bear the burdens nature has imposed upon them. But the helpless infants,
• 7:16
  the innocent children of men, have a right to be happy until they become
• 7:20
  full grown and able to bear the trials of humanity. So I feel I
• 7:25
  am justified in assisting them. Not long ago, a year maybe, I
• 7:30
  found four poor children huddled in a wooden hut, slowly freezing to death.
• 7:35
  Their parents had gone to a neighboring village for food and had left a fire
• 7:40
  to warm their little ones while they were absent. But a storm arose and
• 7:44
  drifted the snow in their path, so they were long on the road.
• 7:48
  Meantime, the fire went out, and the frost crept into the bones of
• 7:51
  the waiting children. Poor things, murmured the queen softly. What did you
• 7:59
  do? I called Nelko, bidding him fetch wood from my forests, and
• 8:05
  breathe upon it until the fire blazed again and warmed the little room where the
• 8:09
  children lay. Then they ceased shivering and fell asleep until their parents came.
• 8:16
  I am glad you did, thus said the good Queen, beaming upon the
• 8:20
  master, and the Zil, who had eagerly listened to every word, echoed
• 8:26
  in a whisper. I too, am glad. And this very night continued
• 8:33
  ac as I came to the edge of Berzi, I heard a feeble cry,
• 8:37
  which I judged came from a human infant. I looked about me and
• 8:41
  found close to the forest a helpless babe, lying quite naked upon the grasses
• 8:48
  and wailing piteously. Not far away, screened by the forest, crouched Chiagra,
• 8:54
  the lioness, intent upon devouring the infant for her evening meal. And
• 9:01
  what did you do, act, asked the queen, breathlessly, not much
• 9:07
  being in a hurry to greet my nymphs. But I commanded Chiagra to lie
• 9:09
  close to the babe and to give it her milk, and to quiet its
• 9:13
  hunger. And I told her to send word throughout the forest to all beasts
• 9:18
  and reptiles that the child should not be harmed. I am glad you did,
• 9:24
  thus, said the good Queen again, in a tone of relief.
• 9:28
  But this time Nasile did not echo her words, for the nymph, filled
• 9:33
  with a strained resolve, had suddenly stolen away from the group. Swiftly,
• 9:39
  her lithe form darted through the forest paths until she reached the edge of mighty
• 9:45
  Burzee, when she paused to gaze curiously about her. Never until now had
• 9:50
  she ventured so far, for the law of the forest had placed the nymphs
• 9:54
  in its inmost depths. Nasil knew she was breaking the law, but the
• 10:01
  thought did not give pause to her dainty feet. She had decided to see
• 10:05
  with her own eyes this infant act had told of, for she had never
• 10:09
  yet beheld a child of man. All the immortals are full grown. There
• 10:15
  are no children among them. Peering through the trees, and a seal saw
• 10:20
  the child lying on the grass. But now it was sweetly sleeping, having
• 10:26
  been comforted by the milk drawn from chiagra. It was not old enough to
• 10:31
  know what peril means. If it did not feel hunger, it was content
• 10:35
  softly. The nymph stole to the side of the babe and knelt upon the
• 10:41
  sward, her long robe of rose leaf color spreading about her like a gossamer
• 10:46
  cloud. Her lovely countenance expressed curiosity and surprise, but most of all a
• 10:52
  tender, womanly pity. The babe was newborn, chubby and pink. It
• 10:58
  was entirely helpless. While the nymph gazed, the infant opened its eyes,
• 11:05
  smiled upon her, and stretched out two dimpled arms. In another instant,
• 11:11
  nesile had caught it to her breast and was hurrying with it through the forest
• 11:16
  paths. End of Chapter two.