Here he held the slender, dull-colored metallic band toward the boy.
“Keep it,” said Rob.
The Demon started, and gave him an odd look.
“What did you say?” he asked.
“I told you to keep it,” answered Rob. “I don’t want it.”
The Demon staggered back as if he had been struck.
“Don’t want it!” he gasped.
“No; I’ve had enough of your infernal inventions!” cried the boy, with sudden anger.
He unclasped the traveling machine from his wrist and laid it on the table beside the Demon.
“There’s the thing that’s responsible for most of my troubles,” said he, bitterly. “What right has one person to fly through the air while all his fellow-creatures crawl over the earth’s surface? And why should I be cut off from all the rest of the world because you have given me this confounded traveling machine? I didn’t ask for it, and I won’t keep it a moment longer. Give it to some one you hate more than you do me!”
The Demon stared aghast and turned his glittering eyes wonderingly from Rob to the traveling machine and back again, as if to be sure he had heard and seen aright.
“And here are your food tablets,” continued the boy, placing the box upon the table. “I’ve only enjoyed one square meal since you gave them to me. They’re all right to preserve life, of course, and answer the purpose for which they were made; but I don’t believe nature ever intended us to exist upon such things, or we wouldn’t have the sense of taste, which enables us to enjoy natural food. As long as I’m a human being I’m going to eat like a human being, so I’ve consumed my last Electrical Concentrated Food Tablet — and don’t you forget it!”
The Demon sank into a chair, nerveless and limp, but still staring fearfully at the boy.
“And there’s another of your unnatural devices,” said Rob, putting the Automatic Record of Events upon the table beside the other things. “What right have you to capture vibrations that radiate from private and secret actions and discover them to others who have no business to know them? This would be a fine world if every body could peep into every one else’s affairs, wouldn’t it? And here is your Character Marker. Nice thing for a decent person to own, isn’t it? Any one who would take advantage of such a sneaking invention as that would be worse than a thief! Oh, I’ve used them, of course, and I ought to be spanked for having been so mean and underhanded; but I’ll never be guilty of looking through them again.”
The Demon’s face was frowning and indignant. He made a motion to rise, but thought better of it and sank back in his chair.
“As for the Garment of Protection,” resumed the boy, after a pause, “I’ve worn it for the last time, and here it is, at your service. I’ll put the Electric Tube with it. Not that these are such very bad things in themselves, but I’ll have none of your magical contrivances. I’ll say this, however: if all armies were equipped with Electrical Tubes instead of guns and swords the world would be spared a lot of misery and unnecessary bloodshed. Perhaps in time; but that time hasn’t arrived yet.”
“You might have hastened it,” said the Demon, sternly, “if you had been wise enough to use your powers properly.”
“That’s just it,” answered Rob. “I’m NOT wise enough. Nor is the majority of mankind wise enough to use such inventions as yours unselfishly and for the good of the world. If people were better, and every one had an equal show, it would be different.”
For some moments the Demon sat quietly thinking. Finally the frown left his face and he said, with animation:
“I have other inventions, which you may use without any such qualms of conscience. The Electro-Magnetic Restorer I offered you would be a great boon to your race, and could not possibly do harm. And, besides this, I have brought you what I call the Illimitable Communicator. It is a simple electric device which will enable you, wherever you may be, to converse with people in any part of the world, without the use of such crude connections as wires. In fact, you may — “
“Stop!” cried Rob. “It is useless for you to describe it, because I’ll have nothing more to do with you or your inventions. I have given them a fair trial, and they’ve got me into all sorts of trouble and made all my friends miserable. If I was some high-up scientist it would be different; but I’m just a common boy, and I don’t want to be anything else.”
“But, your duty — “ began the Demon.
“My duty I owe to myself and to my family,” interrupted Rob. “I have never cultivated science, more than to fool with some simple electrical experiments, so I owe nothing to either science or the Demon of Electricity, so far as I can see.”
“But consider,” remonstrated the Demon, rising to his feet and speaking in a pleading voice, “consider the years that must elapse before any one else is likely to strike the Master Key! And, in the meanwhile, consider my helpless position, cut off from all interest in the world while I have such wonderful inventions on my hands for the benefit of mankind. If you have no love for science or for the advancement of civilization, DO have some consideration for your fellow-creatures, and for me!”
“If my fellow-creatures would have as much trouble with your electrical inventions as I had, I am doing them a service by depriving them of your devices,” said the boy. “As for yourself, I’ve no fault to find with you, personally. You’re a very decent sort of Demon, and I’ve no doubt you mean well; but there’s something wrong about our present combination, I’m sure. It isn’t natural.”
The Demon made a gesture of despair.
“Why, oh why did not some intelligent person strike the Master Key!” he moaned.
“That’s it!” exclaimed Rob. “I believe that’s the root of the whole evil.”
“What is?” inquired the Demon, stupidly.
“The fact that an intelligent person did not strike the Master Key. You don’t seem to understand. Well, I’ll explain. You’re the Demon of Electricity, aren’t you?”
“I am,” said the other, drawing himself up proudly.
“Your mission is to obey the commands of whoever is able to strike the Master Key of Electricity.”
“That is true.”
“I once read in a book that all things are regulated by exact laws of nature. If that is so you probably owe your existence to those laws.” The Demon nodded. “Doubtless it was intended that when mankind became intelligent enough and advanced enough to strike the Master Key, you and all your devices would not only be necessary and acceptable to them, but the world would be prepared for their general use. That seems reasonable, doesn’t it?”
“Perhaps so. Yes; it seems reasonable,” answered the Demon, thoughtfully.
“Accidents are always liable to happen,” continued the boy. “By accident the Master Key was struck long before the world of science was ready for it — or for you. Instead of considering it an accident and paying no attention to it you immediately appeared to me — a mere boy — and offered your services.”
“I was very anxious to do something,” returned the Demon, evasively. “You’ve no idea how stupid it is for me to live invisible and unknown, while all the time I have in my possession secrets of untold benefit to the world.”
“Well, you’ll have to keep cool and bide your time,” said Rob. “The world wasn’t made in a minute, and while civilization is going on at a pretty good pace, we’re not up to the Demon of Electricity yet.”
“What shall I do!” groaned the Apparition, wringing his hands miserably; “oh, what shall I do!”
“Go home and lie down,” replied Rob, sympathetically. “Take it easy and don’t get rattled. Nothing was every created without a use, they say; so your turn will come some day, sure! I’m sorry for you, old fellow, but it’s all your own fault.”
“You are right!” exclaimed the Demon, striding up and down the room, and causing thereby such a crackling of electricity in the air that Rob’s hair became rigid enough to stand on end. “You are right, and I must wait — wait
— wait — patiently and silently — until my bonds are loosed by intelligence rather than chance! It is a dreary fate. But I must wait — I must wait — I must wait!”
“I’m glad you’ve come to your senses,” remarked Rob, drily. “So, if you’ve nothing more to say — “
“No! I have nothing more to say. There IS nothing more to say. You and I are two. We should never had met!” retorted the Demon, showing great excitement.
“Oh, I didn’t seek your acquaintance,” said Rob. “But I’ve tried to treat you decently, and I’ve no fault to find with you except that you forgot you were a slave and tried to be a master.”
The Demon did not reply. He was busily forcing the various electrical devices that Rob had relinquished into the pockets of his fiery jacket.
Finally he turned with an abrupt movement.
“Good-by!” he cried. “When mortal eyes next behold me they will be those of one fit to command my services! As for you, your days will be passed in obscurity and your name be unknown to fame. Good-by, — forever!”
The room filled with a flash of white light so like a sheet of lightning that the boy went reeling backwards, half stunned and blinded by its dazzling intensity.
When he recovered himself the Demon of Electricity had disappeared.
Rob’s heart was very light as he left the workshop and made his way down the attic stairs.
“Some people might think I was a fool to give up those electrical inventions,” he reflected; “but I’m one of those persons who know when they’ve had enough. It strikes me the fool is the fellow who can’t learn a lesson. I’ve learned mine, all right. It’s no fun being a century ahead of the times!”
THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus appeared in 1902, published by Bowen Merrill, illustrated by Mary Cowles Clark. Baum’s charming tale depicts the life history of Santa Claus and provides colorful answers to many questions children have about the beloved Christmas icon and traditions associated with him. The “biography” also introduces the Nome King, famous for his appearances in the Oz series. Santa Claus and some fairy creatures, ryls and knooks, travel to the Emerald City for Ozma’s birthday party in The Road to Oz.
A first edition copy of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
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
YOUTH
1. Burzee
Have you heard of the great Forest of Burzee? Nurse used to sing of it when I was a child. She sang of the big tree-trunks, standing close together, with their roots intertwining below the earth and their branches intertwining above it; of their rough coating of bark and queer, gnarled limbs; of the bushy foliage that roofed the entire forest, save where the sunbeams found a path through which to touch the ground in little spots and to cast weird and curious shadows over the mosses, the lichens and the drifts of dried leaves.
The Forest of Burzee is mighty and grand and awesome to those who steal beneath its shade. Coming from the sunlit meadows into its mazes it seems at first gloomy, then pleasant, and afterward filled with never-ending delights.
For hundreds of years it has flourished in all its magnificence, the silence of its inclosure unbroken save by the chirp of busy chipmunks, the growl of wild beasts and the songs of birds.
Yet Burzee has its inhabitants — for all this. Nature peopled it in the beginning with Fairies, Knooks, Ryls and Nymphs. As long as the Forest stands it will be a home, a refuge and a playground to these sweet immortals, who revel undisturbed in its depths.
Civilization has never yet reached Burzee. Will it ever, I wonder?
2. The Child of the Forest
Once, so long ago our great-grandfathers could scarcely have heard it mentioned, there lived within the great Forest of Burzee a wood-nymph named Necile. She was closely related to the mighty Queen Zurline, and her home was beneath the shade of a widespreading oak. Once every year, on Budding Day, when the trees put forth their new buds, Necile held the Golden Chalice of Ak to the lips of the Queen, who drank therefrom to the prosperity of the Forest. So you see she was a nymph of some importance, and, moreover, it is said she was highly regarded because of her beauty and grace.
When she was created she could not have told; Queen Zurline could not have told; the great Ak himself could not have told. It was long ago when the world was new and nymphs were needed to guard the forests and to minister to the wants of the young trees. Then, on some day not remembered, Necile sprang into being; radiant, lovely, straight and slim as the sapling she was created to guard.
Her hair was the color that lines a chestnut-bur; her eyes were blue in the sunlight and purple in the shade; her cheeks bloomed with the faint pink that edges the clouds at sunset; her lips were full red, pouting and sweet. For costume she adopted oak-leaf green; all the wood-nymphs dress in that color and know no other so desirable. Her dainty feet were sandal-clad, while her head remained bare of covering other than her silken tresses.
Necile’s duties were few and simple. She kept hurtful weeds from growing beneath her trees and sapping the earth-food required by her charges. She frightened away the Gadgols, who took evil delight in flying against the tree-trunks and wounding them so that they drooped and died from the poisonous contact. In dry seasons she carried water from the brooks and pools and moistened the roots of her thirsty dependents.
That was in the beginning. The weeds had now learned to avoid the forests where wood-nymphs dwelt; the loathsome Gadgols no longer dared come nigh; the trees had become old and sturdy and could bear the drought better than when fresh-sprouted. So Necile’s duties were lessened, and time grew laggard, while succeeding years became more tiresome and uneventful than the nymph’s joyous spirit loved.
Truly the forest-dwellers did not lack amusement. Each full moon they danced in the Royal Circle of the Queen. There were also the Feast of Nuts, the Jubilee of Autumn Tintings, the solemn ceremony of Leaf Shedding and the revelry of Budding Day. But these periods of enjoyment were far apart, and left many weary hours between.
That a wood-nymph should grow discontented was not thought of by Necile’s sisters. It came upon her only after many years of brooding. But when once she had settled in her mind that life was irksome she had no patience with her condition, and longed to do something of real interest and to pass her days in ways hitherto undreamed of by forest nymphs. The Law of the Forest alone restrained her from going forth in search of adventure.
While this mood lay heavy upon pretty Necile it chanced that the great Ak visited the Forest of Burzee and allowed the wood-nymphs as was their wont — to lie at his feet and listen to the words of wisdom that fell from his lips. Ak is the Master Woodsman of the world; he sees everything, and knows more than the sons of men.
That night he held the Queen’s hand, for he loved the nymphs as a father loves his children; and Necile lay at his feet with many of her sisters and earnestly harkened as he spoke.
“We live so happily, my fair ones, in our forest glades,” sai
d Ak, stroking his grizzled beard thoughtfully, “that we know nothing of the sorrow and misery that fall to the lot of those poor mortals who inhabit the open spaces of the earth. They are not of our race, it is true, yet compassion well befits beings so fairly favored as ourselves. Often as I pass by the dwelling of some suffering mortal I am tempted to stop and banish the poor thing’s misery. Yet suffering, in moderation, is the natural lot of mortals, and it is not our place to interfere with the laws of Nature.”
“Nevertheless,” said the fair Queen, nodding her golden head at the Master Woodsman, “it would not be a vain guess that Ak has often assisted these hapless mortals.”
Ak smiled.
“Sometimes,” he replied, “when they are very young — ‘children,’ the mortals call them — I have stopped to rescue them from misery. The men and women I dare not interfere with; they must bear the burdens Nature has imposed upon them. But the helpless infants, the innocent children of men, have a right to be happy until they become full-grown and able to bear the trials of humanity. So I feel I am justified in assisting them. Not long ago — a year, maybe — I found four poor children huddled in a wooden hut, slowly freezing to death. Their parents had gone to a neighboring village for food, and had left a fire to warm their little ones while they were absent. But a storm arose and drifted the snow in their path, so they were long on the road. Meantime the fire went out and the frost crept into the bones of the waiting children.”
Complete Works of L. Frank Baum Page 253
