by L. Frank Baum
1902
Contents
YOUTH
1. Burzee
2. The Child of the Forest
3. The Adoption
4. Claus
5. The Master Woodsman
6. Claus Discovers Humanity
7. Claus Leaves the Forest
MANHOOD
1. The Laughing Valley
2. How Claus Made the First Toy
3. How the Ryls Colored the Toys
4. How Little Mayrie Became Frightened
5. How Bessie Blithesome Came to the Laughing Valley
6. The Wickedness of the Awgwas
7. The Great Battle Between Good and Evil
8. The First Journey with the Reindeer
9. "Santa Claus!"
10. Christmas Eve
11. How the First Stockings Were Hung by the Chimneys
12. The First Christmas Tree
OLD AGE
1. The Mantle of Immortality
2. When the World Grew Old
3. The Deputies of Santa Claus
...the first part of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus: YOUTH
While the tradition of Father Christmas had been established in Europe for several centuries (based on a record of Bishop Nicholas of Myra in Asia Minor giving three bags of gold to a poor man's daughters for dowries), America is credited with the tradition of Santa Claus bringing toys on Christmas Eve, starting in the early 19th century. The first description of Santa Claus as most of us know him was Clement Clarke Moore's poem "The Night Before Christmas" (originally titled "A Visit from St. Nicholas). Baum's story, published in 1902 two years after his popular book, The Wonderful Wizard of OZ, was another of Baum's attempts to make fairy tale stories for American children. He further distances the Father Christmas myth from any religious origins (although he does include an explanation for it) by having Nicholas raised by elves in a forest glade, with a prediliction for making children happy by giving them toys. The obvious parallel between the author and subject should not be overlooked.
Although a bit too saccharine for my own taste, there is still a whopping story in it, with all the traditions explained, magic, a war between good and evil, and lots of various gnarled creatures. The children themselves, however, are snotty little brats. Oh well, I read through it, and connected for a moment, to those excited winter mornings; and, strangely, to all the animated stories about christmas and santa claus shown at that time, when the family seems to all be hanging together, warm, content, with nothing to worry about but going back to school or work after the holidays.
A short sequel to this story, A Kidnapped Santa Claus, has been noded.