Back to Blog
So you can forget about that ‘Saint Nicholas’ nonsense right away. She calls him Claus which in nymph language, means ‘little one’, before modifying it to Neclaus, meaning ‘Necile’s little one’. An immortal by the name if Ak the Woodsman takes pity on the child and delivers him into the caring hands of a wood nymph called Necile. But from here in Baum takes us on a rather extraordinary flight of fancy.Ī baby is abandoned by its mother at the edge of the magical forest of Burzee. He also looks rather the same as the character developed by fellow New Yorkers Clement Clarke Moore and Thomas Nast. He is old, cheerful and delivers presents to children on a sleigh pulled by reindeer. The Oxford Companion to Children’s Literature calls Baum ‘the first writer to create an unforgettable full length original American fantasy.’ In his version Baum sticks to many of the established facts about Santa. Frank Baum’s book is easily the most detailed account.įresh from his success with the Wizard of Oz, Baum turned to creating not just a biography but a full scale parallel universe for his version of the Santa myth. It’s not as funny as A Boy Called Christmas, and nowhere near as violent as Klaus, but L. This is the third version of the life and times of Santa Claus we’ve seen this month.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |