Read on line
Listen on line
Main > Fairy tale > All authors > Frank Baum > Fairy tale "A Kidnapped Santa Claus"

A Kidnapped Santa Claus

Suddenly a strange thing happened: a rope shot through the moonlight

and a big noose that was in the end of it settled over the arms and

body of Santa Claus and drew tight. Before he could resist or even

cry out he was jerked from the seat of the sleigh and tumbled head

foremost into a snowbank, while the reindeer rushed onward with the

load of toys and carried it quickly out of sight and sound.

Such a surprising experience confused old Santa for a moment, and when

he had collected his senses he found that the wicked Daemons had

pulled him from the snowdrift and bound him tightly with many coils of

the stout rope. And then they carried the kidnapped Santa Claus away

to their mountain, where they thrust the prisoner into a secret cave

and chained him to the rocky wall so that he could not escape.

"Ha, ha!" laughed the Daemons, rubbing their hands together with cruel

glee. "What will the children do now? How they will cry and scold

and storm when they find there are no toys in their stockings and no

gifts on their Christmas trees! And what a lot of punishment they

will receive from their parents, and how they will flock to our Caves

of Selfishness, and Envy, and Hatred, and Malice! We have done a

mighty clever thing, we Daemons of the Caves!"

Now it so chanced that on this Christmas Eve the good Santa Claus had

taken with him in his sleigh Nuter the Ryl, Peter the Knook, Kilter

the Pixie, and a small fairy named Wisk--his four favorite assistants.

These little people he had often found very useful in helping him to

distribute his gifts to the children, and when their master was so

suddenly dragged from the sleigh they were all snugly tucked

underneath the seat, where the sharp wind could not reach them.

The tiny immortals knew nothing of the capture of Santa Claus until

some time after he had disappeared. But finally they missed his

cheery voice, and as their master always sang or whistled on his

journeys, the silence warned them that something was wrong.

Also read
Read
Holiday adventures
Category: German folktales
Read times: 35
Read
The entangled mermaid
Category: Dutch folktales
Read times: 19
Read