The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
1902
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
1902
Long before Coca-Cola and department store window displays, L. Frank Baum imagined the real story behind the red suit. Abandoned as an infant in an enchanted forest, the child called Claus is rescued and raised by the gentle wood-nymph Necile, his existence a bridge between the mortal world and the immortals who dwell in Burzee. Growing up among beings who never age, Claus discovers something the nymphs and fairies have forgotten: there are children in the human world who suffer and grieve and need hope. And so begins his extraordinary vocation. Baum constructs a whole mythology of Santa Claus: the Vale of Laughs where toys are made, the Ryls and Knooks and Fairies who serve as his workshop elves, the ancient Awgasi who oppose joy. But beneath the invention lies something timeless: the story of a man who never quite belongs to either world, yet creates something that belongs to everyone. Written in 1902, this is the Santa Claus origin story that started them all, and it remains oddly moving in its portrait of solitary kindness transformed into universal magic.
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“. . .It is the Law that while Evil, unopposed, may accomplish terrible deeds, the power of Good can never be overthrown when opposed to Evil. . .””
— L. Frank Baum
“In all this world there is nothing so beautiful as a happy child.””
— L. Frank Baum
“Everything perishes except the world itself and its keepers...But while life lasts everything on earth has its use. The wise seek ways to be helpful to the world, for the helpful ones are sure to live again.””
— L. Frank Baum
“It is possible for any man, by good deeds, to enshrine himself as a Saint in the hearts of the people.””
— L. Frank Baum
“every man has his mission, which is to leave the world better, in some way, than he found it.””
— L. Frank Baum
“Childhood is the time of man's greatest content. 'Tis during these years of innocent pleasure that the little ones are most free from care. [...] Their joy is in being alive, and they do not stop to think. In after-years the doom of mankind overtakes them, and they find they must struggle and worry, work and fret, to gain the wealth that is so dear to the hearts of men.””
— L. Frank Baum
“Yet every man has his mission, which is to leave the world better, in some way, than he found it.””
— L. Frank Baum
“Yet Burzee has its inhabitants”
— L. Frank Baum
“It is the Law that while Evil, unopposed, may accomplish terrible deeds, the powers of Good can never be overthrown when opposed to Evil.””
— L. Frank Baum
