When it comes to legendary figures, there are few that quite
measure up to Santa Claus. Sure, there
are other famous characters out there.
However, how many of them have a legend and tradition that still lives
the way that the legend of Santa Claus does?
Interestingly, many parts of the legend we know today were created in
the United States, specifically by residents of New York. Now, I’ve seen my share of Santa Claus origin
stories, ranging from Rankin-Bass’s Santa Claus is Coming to Town to William Joyce’s Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King. However, one other notable attempt at giving
Santa Claus a back story comes from America’s premier writer of children’s
fantasy. That would be The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by
L. Frank Baum.
While this story may not
be as famous as Baum’s Oz stories, it has been adapted a couple of times. Once as a Rankin-Bass special and once as an
animated direct-to-DVD movie.
So, this fictional biography of Santa Claus is split into
three parts: Youth, Manhood and Old Age.
The Youth part of Claus’s life starts in the Forest of Burzee, a sylvan
woodland filled with immortal nature spirits and ruled over by Ak the Master
Woodsman of the World. A forest that one
can only imagine in full bloom, too.
Right from the beginning, this may be the greenest Santa Claus story you’ll
ever read. We’re so used to Santa Claus
stories being perpetually covered in a blanket of white snow. One day, Ak finds an infant abandoned on the
edge of Burzee with the lioness Shiegra poised nearby to turn the poor babe
into a meal. Ak then commands the
lioness to lie near the infant to keep it warm and feed it her milk. Thus, the child is saved. The wood nymph Necile hears of this and moved
by the child’s plight goes off to take the child away from Shiegra. Necile then breaks the law of the Forest by
bringing the child into Burzee and pleading with Ak to let her raise it. After much deliberation, Ak allows it and
Necile names the child Neclaus (meaning “Necile’s Little One” in the immortal
language, and a convenient sound-alike to “Nicholas”) but calls him “Claus” for
short. Claus grows up in the forest,
learning the ways of the Immortals.
However, one day Ak takes Claus out into the world to learn the plight
of other mortals like himself. Claus is
particularly struck by the plight of children.
I don’t want to spend the whole rest of this post
summarizing. However, it’s safe to say
that Claus is on his way to being the famous gift-giver we know he as
today. In his manhood, he learns to
carve toys out of fallen wood (because a man raised by a nymph would never harm
a living tree). He creates his sledge
and befriends the reindeer. He comes up
with the idea of putting gifts in stockings and creates the first Christmas
tree. There are even villains. A group of creatures called Awgwas that drive
children to be naughty bedevil Santa Claus until they’re defeated in The Great
Battle Between Good and Evil by the Immortals.
It’s actually interesting how much Baum covers his tracks when crafting
this story, addressing all the doubters out there among his audience. Baum has Claus deputizing parents as his
helpers. He also supposedly supplies toy
shops with his creations. Also, for
those whose house has no fireplace, he has his helpers Wisk, Peter, Nuter and
Kilter who can pass through walls deliver the gifts. At the same time, Baum isn’t afraid to have
his Claus differ from the expected story.
This Santa Claus does not live at the North Pole but in the Laughing
Valley outside the Forest of Burzee. He
doesn’t get assisted by elves but by a Fairy, Pixie, Ryl and Knook. Also, instead of the usual team of reindeer
(named in Clement Moore’s “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”), this Santa Claus has
a team of ten reindeer named Racer, Pacer, Reckless, Speckless, Fearless,
Peerless, Ready, Steady, Glossie and Flossie.
It’s been argued that a lot of the Santa Claus mythology wasn’t set in
stone yet, but a lot of it was at least out there. Santa Claus was depicted as living at or near
the North Pole as early as 1869 in a poem entitled “Santa Claus and his Works” and
Clement Moore’s poem with the names of the reindeer was published in 1823. This book wasn’t published until 1902. You’ll also notice some of Baum’s attitudes coming
through the work, particularly his attitude towards children. It’s well-known that Baum first created Oz
because he wanted a gentler alternative to the old fairy tales. We see something like that here. Santa loses some of his more cautionary
aspects when it’s made clear that he doesn’t care if children are naughty or
nice but will give gifts to any of them.
Also, there’s a scene where he swears to make toys that are only gentle
and nonthreatening after a carving of the lion Shiegra scares a little girl (as
a boy, I think I would have preferred a badass lioness toy over a gentle kitty
cat like the ones Claus usually carves).
As far as Baum books go, it was okay. When it comes to Baum’s fantasy writing, this
book is kind of toned down. His Oz books
as well as other books like The Sea
Fairies are so inventive on such a crazy level. Yet, here there are almost none of the
absurdly fantastical touches that we associate with Baum’s work. Most of the fantasy here goes into creating
the various immortal nature spirits that are friends with Santa Claus. In addition to the Nymphs which guard over
trees and the Fairies that guard over people, there are Ryls that guard the
flowers and Knooks which guard the animals.
By the end of the tale, we’re also introduced to Wind Demons, Sound
Imps, Water Sprites and Light Elves among a few others. There are even Gnomes which are associated
with the earth and seem much friendlier than the Nomes which often plague his
Oz books. These concepts are good, but
no match for the fantasy of Oz (Oz has a whole village made up of people made
of baked goods, for heaven’s sake).
This Santa did get to be put into the greater L. Frank Baum fictional
universe, though. The Forest of Burzee
also appears in another Baum book Queen
Zixi of Ix and Santa visits Ozma for her birthday in The Road to Oz (Question: with movie studios trying so desperately
to develop interconnected universes for movies, why hasn’t anyone thought to
adapt the “Baumiverse” yet?).
As far as Santa Claus origin stories go, it’s not bad. It’s not my favorite one, though. That award probably goes to William Joyce’s Nicholas St. North. Not only because the character got to be
in a fun Dreamworks animated movie but because it has a lot of the far-out Baum
type of fantasy that this book lacks. The
thing is though, that Santa Claus really doesn’t need an origin story. The most important thing about him is the
magic and generosity he’s associated with in the here and now. Most kids probably aren’t as interested in
where he came from as whether or not he’ll be coming on Christmas Eve. So, if you (or your kids) want a decent little
Santa Claus tale by the USA’s most famous fantasist, give it a try. It’s good, even if I wouldn’t consider it
required reading.
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| Thomas Nast's Santa Claus. No relation to this book at all, but still a nice illustration. |
In the meanwhile, this little Fairy Tale Geek will try to
figure out how to get the Baum Cinematic Universe off the ground. MGM made The Wizard of Oz, maybe they’re
looking for a new multi-franchise endeavor . . .
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