A Kidnapped Santa Claus
Encyclopedia
A Kidnapped Santa Claus is a Christmas
-themed short story
written by L. Frank Baum
, famous as the creator of the Land of Oz
; it has been called "one of Baum's most beautiful stories" and constitutes an influential contribution to the mythology of Christmas.
"A Kidnapped Santa Claus" was first published in the December 1904 edition of The Delineator
, the women's magazine that would print Baum's Animal Fairy Tales
in the following year. The magazine text was "admirably illustrated" with "pen drawings of marked originality" by Frederick Richardson
, who would illustrate Baum's Queen Zixi of Ix
in 1905.
(1902), and shares its mythological cosmos: in the story as in the novel, Santa lives in the Laughing Valley on the border of the Forest of Burzee
, and is assisted by knooks, ryls, fairies
, and pixie
s. In modern editions the two works, novel and story, are sometimes published together.
Though the short story has strong similarities with the novel, it has been interpreted as presenting "a less rosy view" of the world, in that it shows elements of evil as fundamental to existence and ineradicable.
s, in that they are not servants of Satan
or necessarily evil. Four of the five, the Daemons of Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, and Malice, certainly are bad, but the fifth, the Daemon of Repentance, is a more ambiguous figure.
The Daemons of the Caves resent Santa Claus because children under the influence of his gifts rarely visit their caves. They decide to frustrate his efforts and counter his influence. (The Daemon of Repentance goes along with the plan, since children cannot reach his remote cave without passing through the caves of his compatriots beforehand.) The Daemons first try to tempt Santa Claus to their own vices; they visit him one by one, and attempt to lure him into selfishness, envy, and hatred. Santa Claus merely laughs at their clumsy efforts. (The obvious model for these episodes is the Temptation of Christ
in the Synoptic Gospels
.) Failing at temptation, the Daemons instead kidnap Santa Claus; they lasso him as he is riding in his sleigh on Christmas Eve, and bind him in their caverns.
Santa Claus is accompanied on his rounds by a fairy, pixie, knook, and ryl, who travel under the seat of his sleigh; once the four realize that Santa is gone, they endeavor to complete his mission and deliver the gifts. They generally succeed, though with some mistakes; they deliver a toy drum to a little girl and a sewing kit to a little boy. Overall, though, they manage to save Christmas. Then they report Santa's absence; the queen of the fairies in the Forest of Burzee knows what has happened. An army of magical creatures is mustered to rescue the missing hero. Meanwhile, though, Santa is released from captivity by the Daemon of Repentance, who has repented the kidnapping. Santa meets the army on its way, and turns it back from attacking the daemons.
(In the seventh chapter of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, titled "The Great Battle Between Good and Evil," Baum depicts a combat between massed magical forces. Here in the short story he avoids that spectacle, a strategy he would employ again in the climax of the sixth Oz book, The Emerald City of Oz
, in 1910.)
reprinted it for Christmas in 1968. The story was released in book form in 1969, with a Foreword by Martin Williams
and new illustrations by Richard Rosenblum. It has appeared in multiple editions in multiple forms since.
In 1989 the story was adapted into a musical play for children, Santa Claus is Missing!, by Sylvia Ashby, with songs by Scott Taylor. Another adaptation exists in the form of the animated film Who Stole Santa? in the Oz Kids
series (1996). In 2009, cartoonist Alex Robinson
adapted the story into comic form in a book released by Harper Collins. More generally, the idea of kidnapping Santa Claus has been exploited by other artists in other works, as in Jean Van Leeuwen
's book The Great Christmas Kidnapping Caper (1975), Tim Burton
's film The Nightmare Before Christmas
(1993), and Ruth Ann Pattee's play Can Mrs. Claus Save Christmas? (2000).
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
-themed short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
written by L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
, famous as the creator of the Land of Oz
Land of Oz
Oz is a fantasy region containing four lands under the rule of one monarch.It was first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, one of many fantasy countries that he created for his books. It achieved a popularity that none of his other works attained, and after four years, he...
; it has been called "one of Baum's most beautiful stories" and constitutes an influential contribution to the mythology of Christmas.
"A Kidnapped Santa Claus" was first published in the December 1904 edition of The Delineator
The Delineator
The Delineator was an American women's magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded by the Butterick Publishing Company in 1869 under the name The Metropolitan Monthly. Its name was changed in 1875. In November 1926, under the editorship of Mrs...
, the women's magazine that would print Baum's Animal Fairy Tales
Animal Fairy Tales
Animal Fairy Tales is a collection of short stories written by L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Land of Oz. The stories, animal tales comparable to Aesop's Fables or the Just-So Stories and Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling, first received magazine publication in 1905...
in the following year. The magazine text was "admirably illustrated" with "pen drawings of marked originality" by Frederick Richardson
Frederick Richardson
Frederick Richardson was an American illustrator of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, perhaps best remembered for his illustrations of works by L. Frank Baum....
, who would illustrate Baum's Queen Zixi of Ix
Queen Zixi of Ix
Queen Zixi of Ix, or The Story of the Magic Cloak is a children's book written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Frederick Richardson. It was originally serialized in the early 20th century American children's magazine St. Nicholas from November 1904 to October 1905, and was published in book...
in 1905.
Baum's mythology
"A Kidnapped Santa Claus" was published two years after Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa ClausThe Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a 1902 children's book, written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Mary Cowles Clark.-Infancy, Youth, Motivation:...
(1902), and shares its mythological cosmos: in the story as in the novel, Santa lives in the Laughing Valley on the border of the Forest of Burzee
Forest of Burzee
The Forest of Burzee is a fictional fairy-tale land originated by L. Frank Baum, famous as the creator of the Land of Oz.Baum first introduced the Forest of Burzee in his 1902 book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, where the fictional setting receives its most extensive treatment and detailed...
, and is assisted by knooks, ryls, fairies
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
, and pixie
Pixie
Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed...
s. In modern editions the two works, novel and story, are sometimes published together.
Though the short story has strong similarities with the novel, it has been interpreted as presenting "a less rosy view" of the world, in that it shows elements of evil as fundamental to existence and ineradicable.
Synopsis
The story opens with a quick overview of Santa's castle in the Laughing Valley. Its focus soon switches to the five Caves of the Daemons in nearby (though unnamed) mountains. These creatures are pagan daemons rather than Christian demonDemon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s, in that they are not servants of Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
or necessarily evil. Four of the five, the Daemons of Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, and Malice, certainly are bad, but the fifth, the Daemon of Repentance, is a more ambiguous figure.
The Daemons of the Caves resent Santa Claus because children under the influence of his gifts rarely visit their caves. They decide to frustrate his efforts and counter his influence. (The Daemon of Repentance goes along with the plan, since children cannot reach his remote cave without passing through the caves of his compatriots beforehand.) The Daemons first try to tempt Santa Claus to their own vices; they visit him one by one, and attempt to lure him into selfishness, envy, and hatred. Santa Claus merely laughs at their clumsy efforts. (The obvious model for these episodes is the Temptation of Christ
Temptation of Christ
The temptation of Christ is detailed in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to these texts, after being baptized, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights in the Judean desert. During this time, the devil appeared to Jesus and tempted him...
in the Synoptic Gospels
Synoptic Gospels
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence, and sometimes exactly the same wording. This degree of parallelism in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence structures can only be...
.) Failing at temptation, the Daemons instead kidnap Santa Claus; they lasso him as he is riding in his sleigh on Christmas Eve, and bind him in their caverns.
Santa Claus is accompanied on his rounds by a fairy, pixie, knook, and ryl, who travel under the seat of his sleigh; once the four realize that Santa is gone, they endeavor to complete his mission and deliver the gifts. They generally succeed, though with some mistakes; they deliver a toy drum to a little girl and a sewing kit to a little boy. Overall, though, they manage to save Christmas. Then they report Santa's absence; the queen of the fairies in the Forest of Burzee knows what has happened. An army of magical creatures is mustered to rescue the missing hero. Meanwhile, though, Santa is released from captivity by the Daemon of Repentance, who has repented the kidnapping. Santa meets the army on its way, and turns it back from attacking the daemons.
(In the seventh chapter of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, titled "The Great Battle Between Good and Evil," Baum depicts a combat between massed magical forces. Here in the short story he avoids that spectacle, a strategy he would employ again in the climax of the sixth Oz book, The Emerald City of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz is the sixth of L. Frank Baum's fourteen Land of Oz books. It was also adapted into a Canadian animated film in 1987. Originally published on July 20, 1910, it is the story of Dorothy Gale and her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em coming to live in Oz permanently...
, in 1910.)
Later editions, adaptations, influences
"A Kidnapped Santa Claus" appeared in an anthology of Christmas stories in 1915; The Baum BugleThe Baum Bugle
The Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz is the official journal of The International Wizard of Oz Club. The journal was founded in 1957, with its first issue released in June of that year . It publishes three times per year, with issues dated Spring, Autumn, and Winter; Issue No. 1 of Volume 50 appeared in...
reprinted it for Christmas in 1968. The story was released in book form in 1969, with a Foreword by Martin Williams
Martin Williams
Martin T. Williams was born in Richmond, Virginia. He was a critic, specializing in jazz and American popular culture. He wrote for major jazz magazines, notably Down Beat, cofounded and coedited The Jazz Review, and wrote many books on jazz, summing up his understanding of its history in The Jazz...
and new illustrations by Richard Rosenblum. It has appeared in multiple editions in multiple forms since.
In 1989 the story was adapted into a musical play for children, Santa Claus is Missing!, by Sylvia Ashby, with songs by Scott Taylor. Another adaptation exists in the form of the animated film Who Stole Santa? in the Oz Kids
The Oz Kids
The Oz Kids is a 26 episode television series produced by Hyperion Pictures and Nelvana based on The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum's classic children's novel, and its various sequels. and was first broadcast on September 14, 1996 on ABC...
series (1996). In 2009, cartoonist Alex Robinson
Alex Robinson
Alex Robinson is an award-winning American comic book writer and artist.-Early life:Alex Robinson grew up in Yorktown Heights, New York, and graduated from Yorktown High School in 1987...
adapted the story into comic form in a book released by Harper Collins. More generally, the idea of kidnapping Santa Claus has been exploited by other artists in other works, as in Jean Van Leeuwen
Jean Van Leeuwen
Jean Van Leeuwen is the author of over forty children's books, including the Oliver Pig series. She currently lives in Chappaqua, New York.-The Great Mouse Gang Series:...
's book The Great Christmas Kidnapping Caper (1975), Tim Burton
Tim Burton
Timothy William "Tim" Burton is an American film director, film producer, writer and artist. He is famous for dark, quirky-themed movies such as Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet...
's film The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to...
(1993), and Ruth Ann Pattee's play Can Mrs. Claus Save Christmas? (2000).