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Ak had commanded them to assemble in the Laughing Valley, where Claus,
ignorant of the terrible battle that was to be waged on his account, was quietly
making his toys.
Soon the entire Valley, from hill to hill, was filled with the little immortals.
The Master Woodsman stood first, bearing a gleaming ax that shone like
burnished silver. Next came the Ryls, armed with sharp thorns from
bramblebushes. Then the Knooks, bearing the spears they used when they
were forced to prod their savage beasts into submission. The Fairies, dressed
in white gauze with rainbow-hued wings, bore golden wands, and the Wood-
nymphs, in their uniforms of oak-leaf green, carried switches from ash trees
as weapons.
Loud laughed the Awgwa King when he beheld the size and the arms of his
foes. To be sure the mighty ax of the Woodsman was to be dreaded, but the
sweet-faced Nymphs and pretty Fairies, the gentle Ryls and crooked Knooks
were such harmless folk that he almost felt shame at having called such a
terrible host to oppose them.
"
Since these fools dare fight," he said to the leader of the Tatary Giants, "I will
overwhelm them with our evil powers!"
To begin the battle he poised a great stone in his left hand and cast it full
against the sturdy form of the Master Woodsman, who turned it aside with his
ax. Then rushed the three-eyed Giants of Tatary upon the Knooks, and the
Goozzle-Goblins upon the Ryls, and the firebreathing Dragons upon the sweet
Fairies. Because the Nymphs were Ak's own people the band of Awgwas
sought them out, thinking to overcome them with ease.
But it is the Law that while Evil, unopposed, may accomplish terrible deeds,
the powers of Good can never be overthrown when opposed to Evil. Well had it
been for the King Awgwa had he known the Law!
His ignorance cost him his existence, for one flash of the ax borne by the
Master Woodsman of the World cleft the wicked King in twain and rid the
earth of the vilest creature it contained.
Greatly marveled the Tatary Giants when the spears of the little Knooks
pierced their thick walls of flesh and sent them reeling to the ground with
howls of agony.
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