The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

by L. Frank Baum

  3. How the Ryls Colored the Toys

  A hush lay on the Laughing Valley now. Snow covered it like a whitespread and pillows of downy flakes drifted before the dwelling whereClaus sat feeding the blaze of the fire. The brook gurgled on beneatha heavy sheet of ice and all living plants and insects nestled close toMother Earth to keep warm. The face of the moon was hid by darkclouds, and the wind, delighting in the wintry sport, pushed andwhirled the snowflakes in so many directions that they could get nochance to fall to the ground.

  Claus heard the wind whistling and shrieking in its play and thankedthe good Knooks again for his comfortable shelter. Blinkie washed herface lazily and stared at the coals with a look of perfect content.The toy cat sat opposite the real one and gazed straight ahead, as toycats should.

  Suddenly Claus heard a noise that sounded different from the voice ofthe wind. It was more like a wail of suffering and despair.

  He stood up and listened, but the wind, growing boisterous, shook thedoor and rattled the windows to distract his attention. He waiteduntil the wind was tired and then, still listening, he heard once morethe shrill cry of distress.

  Quickly he drew on his coat, pulled his cap over his eyes and openedthe door. The wind dashed in and scattered the embers over the hearth,at the same time blowing Blinkie's fur so furiously that she creptunder the table to escape. Then the door was closed and Claus wasoutside, peering anxiously into the darkness.

  The wind laughed and scolded and tried to push him over, but he stoodfirm. The helpless flakes stumbled against his eyes and dimmed hissight, but he rubbed them away and looked again. Snow was everywhere,white and glittering. It covered the earth and filled the air.

  The cry was not repeated.

  Claus turned to go back into the house, but the wind caught himunawares and he stumbled and fell across a snowdrift. His hand plungedinto the drift and touched something that was not snow. This he seizedand, pulling it gently toward him, found it to be a child. The nextmoment he had lifted it in his arms and carried it into the house.

  The wind followed him through the door, but Claus shut it out quickly.He laid the rescued child on the hearth, and brushing away the snow hediscovered it to be Weekum, a little boy who lived in a house beyondthe Valley.

  Claus wrapped a warm blanket around the little one and rubbed the frostfrom its limbs. Before long the child opened his eyes and, seeingwhere he was, smiled happily. Then Claus warmed milk and fed it to theboy slowly, while the cat looked on with sober curiosity. Finally thelittle one curled up in his friend's arms and sighed and fell asleep,and Claus, filled with gladness that he had found the wanderer, heldhim closely while he slumbered.

  The wind, finding no more mischief to do, climbed the hill and swept ontoward the north. This gave the weary snowflakes time to settle downto earth, and the Valley became still again.

  The boy, having slept well in the arms of his friend, opened his eyesand sat up. Then, as a child will, he looked around the room and sawall that it contained.

  "Your cat is a nice cat, Claus," he said, at last. "Let me hold it."

  But puss objected and ran away.

  "The other cat won't run, Claus," continued the boy. "Let me hold thatone." Claus placed the toy in his arms, and the boy held it lovinglyand kissed the tip of its wooden ear.

  "How did you get lost in the storm, Weekum?" asked Claus.

  "I started to walk to my auntie's house and lost my way," answeredWeekum.

  "Were you frightened?"

  "It was cold," said Weekum, "and the snow got in my eyes, so I couldnot see. Then I kept on till I fell in the snow, without knowing whereI was, and the wind blew the flakes over me and covered me up."

  Claus gently stroked his head, and the boy looked up at him and smiled.

  "I'm all right now," said Weekum.

  "Yes," replied Claus, happily. "Now I will put you in my warm bed, andyou must sleep until morning, when I will carry you back to yourmother."

  "May the cat sleep with me?" asked the boy.

  "Yes, if you wish it to," answered Claus.

  "It's a nice cat!" Weekum said, smiling, as Claus tucked the blanketsaround him; and presently the little one fell asleep with the woodentoy in his arms.

  When morning came the sun claimed the Laughing Valley and flooded itwith his rays; so Claus prepared to take the lost child back to itsmother.

  "May I keep the cat, Claus?" asked Weekum. "It's nicer than real cats.It doesn't run away, or scratch or bite. May I keep it?"

  "Yes, indeed," answered Claus, pleased that the toy he had made couldgive pleasure to the child. So he wrapped the boy and the wooden catin a warm cloak, perching the bundle upon his own broad shoulders, andthen he tramped through the snow and the drifts of the Valley andacross the plain beyond to the poor cottage where Weekum's mother lived.

  "See, mama!" cried the boy, as soon as they entered, "I've got a cat!"

  The good woman wept tears of joy over the rescue of her darling andthanked Claus many times for his kind act. So he carried a warm andhappy heart back to his home in the Valley.

  That night he said to puss: "I believe the children will love thewooden cats almost as well as the real ones, and they can't hurt themby pulling their tails and ears. I'll make another."

  So this was the beginning of his great work.

  The next cat was better made than the first. While Claus sat whittlingit out the Yellow Ryl came in to make him a visit, and so pleased washe with the man's skill that he ran away and brought several of hisfellows.

  There sat the Red Ryl, the Black Ryl, the Green Ryl, the Blue Ryl andthe Yellow Ryl in a circle on the floor, while Claus whittled andwhistled and the wooden cat grew into shape.

  "If it could be made the same color as the real cat, no one would knowthe difference," said the Yellow Ryl, thoughtfully.

  "The little ones, maybe, would not know the difference," replied Claus,pleased with the idea.

  "I will bring you some of the red that I color my roses and tulipswith," cried the Red Ryl; "and then you can make the cat's lips andtongue red."

  "I will bring some of the green that I color my grasses and leaveswith," said the Green Ryl; "and then you can color the cat's eyesgreen."

  "They will need a bit of yellow, also," remarked the Yellow Ryl; "Imust fetch some of the yellow that I use to color my buttercups andgoldenrods with."

  "The real cat is black," said the Black Ryl; "I will bring some of theblack that I use to color the eyes of my pansies with, and then you canpaint your wooden cat black."

  "I see you have a blue ribbon around Blinkie's neck," added the BlueRyl. "I will get some of the color that I use to paint the bluebellsand forget-me-nots with, and then you can carve a wooden ribbon on thetoy cat's neck and paint it blue."

  So the Ryls disappeared, and by the time Claus had finished carving outthe form of the cat they were all back with the paints and brushes.

  They made Blinkie sit upon the table, that Claus might paint the toycat just the right color, and when the work was done the Ryls declaredit was exactly as good as a live cat.

  "That is, to all appearances," added the Red Ryl.

  Blinkie seemed a little offended by the attention bestowed upon thetoy, and that she might not seem to approve the imitation cat shewalked to the corner of the hearth and sat down with a dignified air.

  But Claus was delighted, and as soon as morning came he started out andtramped through the snow, across the Valley and the plain, until hecame to a village. There, in a poor hut near the walls of thebeautiful palace of the Lord of Lerd, a little girl lay upon a wretchedcot, moaning with pain.

  Claus approached the child and kissed her and comforted her, and thenhe drew the toy cat from beneath his coat, where he had hidden it, andplaced it in her arms.

  Ah, how well he felt himself repaid for his labor and his long walkwhen he saw the little one's eyes grow bright with pleasure! Shehugged the kitty tight to her breast, as if it had been a precious gem
,and would not let it go for a single moment. The fever was quieted,the pain grew less, and she fell into a sweet and refreshing sleep.

  Claus laughed and whistled and sang all the way home. Never had hebeen so happy as on that day.

  When he entered his house he found Shiegra, the lioness, awaiting him.Since his babyhood Shiegra had loved Claus, and while he dwelt in theForest she had often come to visit him at Necile's bower. After Claushad gone to live in the Laughing Valley Shiegra became lonely and illat ease, and now she had braved the snow-drifts, which all lions abhor,to see him once more. Shiegra was getting old and her teeth werebeginning to fall out, while the hairs that tipped her ears and tailhad changed from tawny-yellow to white.

  Claus found her lying on his hearth, and he put his arms around theneck of the lioness and hugged her lovingly. The cat had retired intoa far corner. She did not care to associate with Shiegra.

  Claus told his old friend about the cats he had made, and how muchpleasure they had given Weekum and the sick girl. Shiegra did not knowmuch about children; indeed, if she met a child she could scarcely betrusted not to devour it. But she was interested in Claus' new labors,and said:

  "These images seem to me very attractive. Yet I can not see why youshould make cats, which are very unimportant animals. Suppose, nowthat I am here, you make the image of a lioness, the Queen of allbeasts. Then, indeed, your children will be happy--and safe at thesame time!"

  Claus thought this was a good suggestion. So he got a piece of woodand sharpened his knife, while Shiegra crouched upon the hearth at hisfeet. With much care he carved the head in the likeness of thelioness, even to the two fierce teeth that curved over her lower lipand the deep, frowning lines above her wide-open eyes.

  When it was finished he said:

  "You have a terrible look, Shiegra."

  "Then the image is like me," she answered; "for I am indeed terrible toall who are not my friends."

  Claus now carved out the body, with Shiegra's long tail trailing behindit. The image of the crouching lioness was very life-like.

  "It pleases me," said Shiegra, yawning and stretching her bodygracefully. "Now I will watch while you paint."

  He brought the paints the Ryls had given him from the cupboard andcolored the image to resemble the real Shiegra.

  The lioness placed her big, padded paws upon the edge of the table andraised herself while she carefully examined the toy that was herlikeness.

  "You are indeed skillful!" she said, proudly. "The children will likethat better than cats, I'm sure."

  Then snarling at Blinkie, who arched her back in terror and whinedfearfully, she walked away toward her forest home with stately strides.