I love Baum’s beautiful description of the enchanted forest and the fairy folk who dwell within it. “ This leather was cut from the skins of lions that had reached such an advanced age that they died naturally.” (122-123). The same is true of the leather used for the reindeers’ harnesses. “ Many animals perished in the Forest, from one cause or another, and their fur was brought to Claus that he might cover with it the small images of beasts he made for playthings” (123). Is it any surprise that when he made toy animals, he used only fur from animals who died naturally? “ He could sing the songs of the bees, recite the poetry of the wood-flowers and relate the history of every blinking owl in Burzee” (21). “ His life among the nymphs who guarded the Forest had taught him that a live tree is sacred, being a created thing endowed with feeling” (38).īecause he would do no violence by plowing the earth, he ate the food the ryls brought him ~ milk, bread, honey, apples and grapes (43).
When Santa moved from the Forest of Burzee to the Laughing Valley, he lived in harmony with the valley’s other inhabitants ~ the wildflowers and the grass, the cowslips, daffodils, and dandelions, the butterflies and the bees, and the beautiful sacred trees. Is it any wonder that living in the forest with the nymphs, Santa would grow up to be a young man who would not kill a tree or crush a flower or even tear up a single blade of grass? Santa’s formative years with the immortal beings also left him with a life-long love and respect for all of nature’s creatures. “ His thoughts and words were sweet and gentle, for the nymphs knew no evil and their hearts were pure and loving” (16-17). His defining traits of kindness, goodness, and generosity can be traced back to his idyllic childhood among the nymphs in the Forest of Burzee. As a foundling, Santa was nursed by a lioness and then adopted by a wood-nymph. Santa’s story begins in an enchanted forest inhabited by fairies, knooks, ryls, and nymphs ~ immortal and changeless beings who have peopled the forest since the beginning. Frank Baum is the classic biography of the legendary man in the red suit ~ Santa Claus.Īs with most biographies, I enjoyed the chapters on his childhood the best. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1902) by L.
We will not Banish Magic from the World, not while Jolly Old Saint Nicholas keeps the Spirit of Christmas Alive in our Hearts!
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