4.  Claus

  Another day found Necile's bower the most popular place in the
Forest. The nymphs clustered around her and the child that lay
asleep in her lap, with expressions of curiosity and delight. 
Nor were they wanting in praises for the great Ak's kindness
in allowing Necile to keep the babe and to care for it.  Even
the Queen came to peer into the innocent childish face and to
hold a helpless, chubby fist in her own fair hand.

  "What shall we call him, Necile?" she asked, smiling.  "He
must have a name, you know."

  "Let him be called Claus," answered Necile, "for that means 'a
little one.'"

  "Rather let him be called Neclaus,"** returned the Queen, "for
that will mean 'Necile's little one.'"

  The nymphs clapped their hands in delight, and Neclaus became
the infant's name, although Necile loved best to call him
Claus, and in afterdays many of her sisters followed her
example.

  Necile gathered the softest moss in all the forest for Claus
to lie upon, and she made his bed in her own bower.  Of food
the infant had no lack.  The nymphs searched the forest for
bell-udders, which grow upon the goa-tree and when opened are
found to be filled with sweet milk.  And the soft-eyed does
willingly gave a share of their milk to support the little
stranger, while Shiegra, the lioness, often crept stealthily
into Necile's bower and purred softly as she lay beside the
babe and fed it.

  So the little one flourished and grew big and sturdy day by
day, while Necile taught him to speak and to walk and to play.

  His thoughts and words were sweet and gentle, for the nymphs
knew no evil and their hearts were pure and loving.  He became
the pet of the forest, for Ak's decree had forbidden beast or
reptile to molest him, and he walked fearlessly wherever his
will guided him.

  Presently the news reached the other immortals that the nymphs
of Burzee had adopted a human infant, and that the act had
been sanctioned by the great Ak.  Therefore many of them came
to visit the little stranger, looking upon him with much
interest.  First the Ryls, who are first cousins to the
wood-nymphs, although so differently formed.  For the Ryls are
required to watch over the flowers and plants, as the nymphs
watch over the forest trees.  They search the wide world for
the food required by the roots of the flowering plants, while
the brilliant colors possessed by the full-blown flowers are
due to the dyes placed in the soil by the Ryls, which are
drawn through the little veins in the roots and the body of
the plants, as they reach maturity.  The Ryls are a busy
people, for their flowers bloom and fade continually, but they
are merry and light-hearted and are very popular with the
other immortals.

  Next came the Knooks, whose duty it is to watch over the
beasts of the world, both gentle and wild.  The Knooks have a
hard time of it, since many of the beasts are ungovernable and
rebel against restraint.  But they know how to manage them,
after all, and you will find that certain laws of the Knooks
are obeyed by even the most ferocious animals.  Their
anxieties make the Knooks look old and worn and crooked, and
their natures are a bit rough from associating with wild
creatures continually; yet they are most useful to humanity
and to the world in general, as their laws are the only laws
the forest beasts recognize except those of the Master
Woodsman.

  Then there were the Fairies, the guardians of mankind, who
were much interested in the adoption of Claus because their
own laws forbade them to become familiar with their human
charges.  There are instances on record where the Fairies have
shown themselves to human beings, and have even conversed with
them; but they are supposed to guard the lives of mankind
unseen and unknown, and if they favor some people more than
others it is because these have won such distinction fairly,
as the Fairies are very just and impartial.  But the idea of
adopting a child of men had never occurred to them because it
was in every way opposed to their laws;  so their curiosity
was intense to behold the little stranger adopted by Necile
and her sister nymphs.

  Claus looked upon the immortals who thronged around him with
fearless eyes and smiling lips.  He rode laughingly upon the
shoulders of the merry Ryls; he mischievously pulled the gray
beards of the low-browed Knooks;  he rested his curly head
confidently upon the dainty bosom of the Fairy Queen herself. 
And the Ryls loved the sound of his laughter; the Knooks loved
his courage; the Fairies loved his innocence.

  The boy made friends of them all, and learned to know their
laws intimately.  No forest flower was trampled beneath his
feet, lest the friendly Ryls should be grieved.  He never
interfered with the beasts of the forest, lest his friends the
Knooks should become angry.  The Fairies he loved dearly, but,
knowing nothing of mankind, he could not understand that he
was the only one of his race admitted to friendly intercourse
with them.

  Indeed, Claus came to consider that he alone, of all the
forest people, had no like nor fellow.  To him the forest was
the world. He had no idea that millions of toiling, striving
human creatures existed.

  And he was happy and content.

  ** Some people have spelled this name Nicklaus and others
Nicolas,    which is the reason that Santa Claus is still
known in some lands    as St. Nicolas.  But, of course,
Neclaus is his right name, and    Claus the nickname given him
by his adopted mother, the fair nymph    Necile.