The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Signet Classics)

179 Pages·1986·1.82 MB·English

by  L. Frank Baum

When Lyman Frank Baum (1856–1919) was fifteen,
his father bought him a printing press, and for most
of the rest of his life, he was involved in drama,
writing, or journalism. In 1896, Baum completed his
first two children’s books. Then he decided to collab-
orate with well-known artist and newspaper cartoon-
ist W. W. Denslow. Their first effort produced the
successfulFatherGoose.TheirnextbookwasTheWon-
derful Wizard of Oz. Baum penned about sixty books
for children, including thirteen more Oz books and
seventeen stories for girls written under the pseu-
donym Edith Van Dyne.
Michael O. Riley is the author of Oz and Beyond: The
Fantasy World of L. Frank Baum (University Press of
Kansas, 1997). He teaches Children’s Literature at
Georgia College and State University in Milledge-
ville, Georgia.
Max Apple teaches at the University of Pennsylva-
nia. His novels include Free Agents, Zip, and The
Propheteers, and he is the author of the memoirs
Roommates and I Love Gootie.
The Life and Adventures of
Santa Claus
BY
L. Frank Baum
With a New Introduction by
Michael O. Riley
and an Afterword by
Max Apple
SIGNET CLASSICS
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and
incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are
used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is
entirely coincidental.
Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, The
A SIGNET Book / published by arrangement with the author
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 by The Signet Publishing Group.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, by
mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes
copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to
criminal and civil liability.
For information address:
The Signet Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com
ISBN: 0-7865-6016-9
A SIGNET BOOK®
SIGNET Books first published by Berkley Publishing Group,
a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
SIGNET and the "S" design are trademarks belonging to
Penguin Putnam Inc.
Electronic edition: December 2005

Contents
Introduction ix
YOUTH
Burzee 3
The Child of the Forest 5
The Adoption 12
Claus 15
The Master Woodsman 20
Claus Discovers Humanity 23
Claus Leaves the Forest 28
MANHOOD
The Laughing Valley 35
How Claus Made the First Toy 42
How the Ryls Colored the Toys 48
How Little Mayrie Became Frightened 57
How Bessie Blithesome Came to
the Laughing Valley 63
The Wickedness of the Awgwas 71
The Great Battle Between Good
and Evil 80
vii
viii Contents
The First Journey with the Reindeer 88
‘‘Santa Claus!’’ 99
Christmas Eve 102
How the First Stockings Were
Hung by the Chimneys 111
The First Christmas Tree 119
OLD AGE
The Mantle of Immortality 127
When the World Grew Old 137
The Deputies of Santa Claus 142
Afterword 149
Selected Bibliography 159
Introduction
L. Frank Baum:
American Myth Maker
T HE Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is one of L.
Frank Baum’s most unusual books, and it is an
excellent reminder that he wrote a number of imagi-
native fairy tales apart from the Oz stories. First pub-
lished in 1902 by the Bowen-Merrill Company, this
book is an enchanting fantasy ‘‘biography’’ of the
beloved Christmas figure. Baum adopted the attri-
butes and characteristics of Santa Claus as they were
established in Clement Moore’s famous poem from
1822, ‘‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’’ (‘‘The Night Before
Christmas’’), and he constructed a complex mythol-
ogy to set the figure against. His account provides
both an interesting plot and an explanation of how
Santa Claus became the benevolent immortal so fa-
miliar to everyone.
Because of the popular Oz series, L. Frank Baum
has too often been classified only as a writer of series
books with all the negative connotations that can go
with that label—formulaic plots, endless repetition,
and diminishing creativity. Of course, The Wonderful
ix
x Introduction
Wizard of Oz is Baum’s most famous and successful
creation, but this masterpiece and the thirteen Oz
books that followed it are only a part of his enor-
mous output. During his lifetime, Baum was re-
garded as an original and innovative writer of
children’s fantasy, one who revitalized the genre. He
created a truly American brand of fantasy, and it
should be noted that, working with illustrators like
Maxfield Parrish, W. W. Denslow, and John R. Neill,
he also revolutionized children’s book design.
LIFE
The real biography of the author is as varied and
full of incident as any of the plots he invented. Al-
though he found his real calling of writing for chil-
dren fairly late, the adventurous earlier years were
goodpreparationfortheemergingstoryteller.Lyman
Frank Baum was born in 1856 into a prosperous fam-
ily in the Syracuse area of New York, and despite
health problems, his childhood appears to have been
an idyllic one overseen by loving and indulgent par-
ents. The happiest of his childhood days were spent
at the family home, Rose Lawn, an inspiration for
some of his later stories. Though prevented from
being as active as he wished, the boy made up for it
with activities that required more imagination than
physical strength. He read extensively, avidly col-
lected stamps, wrote and printed a home newspaper,
and later raised prize chickens, becoming an expert
Introduction xi
on the Hamburg breed.* When he was older, he be-
came smitten with the theater—a passion that never
left him, and for a time, it seemed that his career
would be that of an actor and playwright. He was
touring as the lead actor in his own successful play,
The Maid of Arran, when he met his future wife.
In 1882, Baum married Maud Gage, daughter of
prominent suffragette Matilda Joslyn Gage, and al-
though the two were very different in temperament,
it turned out to be a happy and fulfilling marriage.
Marriage did, though, change Baum’s focus. The life
of a traveling actor was not compatible with the sta-
ble family life the couple wanted, so they settled in
Syracuse near his family, and Baum contented him-
self with writing plays and managing the theater his
fatherdeededtohim.Thecouplebegantheirmarried
life with a secure sense of the future, but the plot of
Baum’s life had a number of unexpected twists in
store. Within just a few short years, their comfortable
existence was a thing of the past, after the theater
burned and reversals in the family businesses left
them with few resources.
Frank and Maud then chose a radical and adven-
turous next step. They moved their growing family
to Aberdeen in the Dakota Territory, where Maud’s
brother lived. The frontier was the place for second
chances—at least, that was the way it was portrayed
in stories. Unfortunately, it did not always work out
*TwoofBaum’searliestpublicationsderivedfromtheseinterests:
Baum’s Complete Stamp Dealers’ Directory from 1873 and The Book
ofHamburgs,abrieftreatiseuponthemating,rearingandmanagement
of the different varieties of Hamburgs from 1886.