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MANHOOD

1. The Laughing Valley

When Claus came the Valley was empty save for the grass, the brook, the

wildflowers, the bees and the butterflies. If he would make his home here and

live after the fashion of men he must have a house. This puzzled him at first,

but while he stood smiling in the sunshine he suddenly found beside him old

Nelko, the servant of the Master Woodsman. Nelko bore an ax, strong and

broad, with blade that gleamed like burnished silver. This he placed in the

young man's hand, then disappeared without a word.

Claus understood, and turning to the Forest's edge he selected a number of

fallen tree-trunks, which he began to clear of their dead branches. He would

not cut into a living tree. His life among the nymphs who guarded the Forest

had taught him that a live tree is sacred, being a created thing endowed with

feeling. But with the dead and fallen trees it was different. They had fulfilled

their destiny, as active members of the Forest community, and now it was

fitting that their remains should minister to the needs of man.

The ax bit deep into the logs at every stroke. It seemed to have a force of its

own, and Claus had but to swing and guide it.

When shadows began creeping over the green hills to lie in the Valley

overnight, the young man had chopped many logs into equal lengths and

proper shapes for building a house such as he had seen the poorer classes of

men inhabit. Then, resolving to await another day before he tried to fit the

logs together, Claus ate some of the sweet roots he well knew how to find,

drank deeply from the laughing brook, and lay down to sleep on the grass,

first seeking a spot where no flowers grew, lest the weight of his body should

crush them.

And while he slumbered and breathed in the perfume of the wondrous Valley

the Spirit of Happiness crept into his heart and drove out all terror and care

and misgivings. Never more would the face of Claus be clouded with

anxieties; never more would the trials of life weigh him down as with a

burden. The Laughing Valley had claimed him for its own.

Would that we all might live in that delightful place!--but then, maybe, it

would become overcrowded. For ages it had awaited a tenant. Was it chance

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus