L Frank Baum

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus L Frank Baum

Once, so long ago our great-grandfathers could scarcely have heard it mentioned, there livedwithin the great Forest of Burzee a wood-nymph named Necile. She was closely related to themighty Queen Zurline, and her home was beneath the shade of a widespreading oak. Once everyyear, on Budding Day, when the trees put forth their new buds, Necile held the Golden Chalice ofAk to the lips of the Queen, who drank therefrom to the prosperity of the Forest. So you see shewas a nymph of some importance, and, moreover, it is said she was highly regarded because of herbeauty and grace. When she was created she could not have told; Queen Zurline could not have told; the great Akhimself could not have told. It was long ago when the world was new and nymphs were needed toguard the forests and to minister to the wants of the young trees. Then, on some day notremembered, Necile sprang into being; radiant, lovely, straight and slim as the sapling she wascreated to guard. Her hair was the color that lines a chestnut-bur; her eyes were blue in the sunlight and purple inthe shade; her cheeks bloomed with the faint pink that edges the clouds at sunset; her lips were fullred, pouting and sweet. For costume she adopted oak-leaf green; all the wood-nymphs dress in thatcolor and know no other so desirable. Her dainty feet were sandal-clad, while her head remainedbare of covering other than her silken tresses. Necile's duties were few and simple. She kept hurtful weeds from growing beneath her trees andsapping the earth-food required by her charges. She frightened away the Gadgols, who took evildelight in flying against the tree-trunks and wounding them so that they drooped and died from thepoisonous contact. In dry seasons she carried water from the brooks and pools and moistened theroots of her thirsty dependents. That was in the beginning. The weeds had now learned to avoid the forests where woodnymphs dwelt; the loathsome Gadgols no longer dared come nigh; the trees had become old andsturdy 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 thenymph's joyous spirit loved