A Kidnapped Santa Claus

by L. Frank Baum

After failing to tempt him to their own vices, Santa is kidnapped from the Laughing Valley by the five Daemons of the Caves (Daemons of Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, Malice, and Repentance) on Christmas Eve. Can Christmas be saved?

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories, Fantasy, Classics, Fiction, Holiday, Childrens

Library Binding

First published December 1, 1904

About the author

also wrote under the names:
* Edith van Dyne,
* Floyd Akers,
* Schuyler Staunton,
* John Estes Cooke,
* Suzanne Metcalf,
* Laura Bancroft,
* Louis F. Baum,
* Captain Hugh Fitzgerald

Lyman Frank Baum was an American author best known for his children's fantasy books, particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, part of a series. In addition to the 14 Oz books, Baum penned 41 other novels (not including four lost, unpublished novels), 83 short stories, over 200 poems, and at least 42 scripts. He made numerous attempts to bring his works to the stage and screen; the 1939 adaptation of the first Oz book became a landmark of 20th-century cinema.
Born and raised in Chittenango, New York, Baum moved west after an unsuccessful stint as a theater producer and playwright. He and his wife opened a store in South Dakota and he edited and published a newspaper. They then moved to Chicago, where he worked as a newspaper reporter and published children's literature, coming out with the first Oz book in 1900. While continuing his writing, among his final projects he sought to establish a film studio focused on children's films in Los Angeles, California.
His works anticipated such later commonplaces as television, augmented reality, laptop computers (The Master Key), wireless telephones (Tik-Tok of Oz), women in high-risk and action-heavy occupations (Mary Louise in the Country), and the ubiquity of advertising on clothing (Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work).

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 4 out of 5]

Santa Claus lives in the Happy Valley. It is named that way because everybody and everything is happy there, satisfied with what they have and can do. But the daemons who live in the mountains are not happy. They hate Santa Claus. Because when he makes the children happy, it becomes harder for the daemons to corrupt them. So they come up with a plan.


It’s a rather simple Good Vs Evil story at its core that sets out to prove that happiness will prevail. A satisfying little Christmas-themed short story all things considered. Thanks to my Goodreads friend Darla for bringing this sweet little story to my attention.

[Jayme C (Brunetteslikebookstoo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the five Daemons of the Caves (Daemons of Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, Malice, and Repentance) cannot convince Santa that children aren’t worthy of receiving his gifts on Christmas Eve, they attempt to thwart his plans by kidnapping him instead.

This 31 page short story from 1904 didn’t do much for me, but it’s been around a long time, so do read other reviews!

Free book in the Public Domain

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sweet, old-fashioned and quirky Santa Claus story, published in 1904 by L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.



Santa Claus happily lives and works at his castle and workshop in Laughing Valley - which, disconcertingly, is a lovely green place, at least in summer. (I guess it's not at the North Pole?) Rather than elves, Santa is assisted by various types of "little folk": knooks, ryls, pixies, gnomes, nymphs and fairies. Just roll with it.

Next to Santa's valley is an enormous mountain, with five caves wherein reside five Daemons: Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, Malice ... and Repentance. (Why is REPENTANCE a daemon? I am getting so confused here ...) Anyway, the Daemons confer and decide that Santa is spreading entirely too much happiness around the world, making life difficult for the Daemons. Clearly something needs to be done, and they just are the daemons to do it.

"A Kidnapped Santa Claus" is a very old-fashioned tale with a strong moral to it, mixed with lots of sentimentality. It had a few clever moments to it, but I get the feeling that Frank Baum probably wrote this quickly, tossing it off in an evening or two without putting a whole lot of thought into it. This would make a cute Christmas story to read to the little ones, though.

2.75 stars, rounding up for Christmas spirit. This story is free online at Project Gutenberg. December 2017 group read with the Retro Reads group (1 story down, 5 more to go!)

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

December - it's time to think about Christmas & Santa Claus. (& what to buy my now adult children)

Most of you picture Santa like this;

But I'm in New Zealand. While visiting us, he should be dressed like this;

But I digress. A Kidnapped Santa Claus is a charming, old fashioned, fairy tale, perfect for getting young children in the mood for Christmas. I finished it with a smile on my face - & that's what reads at this time of year should do.

ho, ho, ho!

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and sweet!

This is Kristy Cambron’s ‘What The Dickens’ Book Club pick for December 2024.

📢It’s written by Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz, and is FREE through Cambron's Instagram link in her bio, Kobo, Amazon, YouTube, and Project Gutenburg.

L. Frank Baum enlightens readers about the daemons who live in the mountain caves. They grew to hate Santa Claus very much, and all for the simple reason that he made children happy.

I smiled reading about the broad pathway that leads to the first of four interconnected caves belonging to the Daemon of Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, and Malice. Broad because there’s room for all of us! I know I've visited all those caves!

Of course it’s a small, narrow tunnel leading to the 5th cave - a cozy little room occupied by the Daemon of Repentance. Narrow because we don’t all reach this ‘cave’. “I’m sorry” isn’t something we hear too much anymore…..

I also smiled thinking about WHEN the demons chose to lay in wait for Santa. Satan chooses the most opportune time; when we’re busy and not paying attention. Great warning here!

This tiny book packs a big punch.

[Heidi (can’t retire soon enough) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite being more than 120 years old, this tale of Santa Claus and his Christmas Eve misadventures still delights.

But I’m left wondering what’s a knook or a ryl? We learn that a cadre of magical beings such as they help the jolly old man make children’s Christmas wishes come true!!

😎 Not surprised that Santa and those elves have some super secret helpers—I always figured he had some extra help! 🎄🎅🤩

[Badseedgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to Day 22 of my 2021 25 Days of Short Stories Christmas Advent Calendar. Today’s story comes from our friends at The Gutenberg project and Youtube. That’s right Youtube!

Day 1: The Art of Space Travel by Nina Allan
Day 2: These Deathless Bones by Cassandra Khaw
Day 3: Swift, Brutal Retaliation by Meghan McCarron> (Trigger warning: Emotional abuse of children and women)
Day 4: Freeze Warning by Susan Krinard
Day 5: Daughter of Necessity by Marie Brennan
Day 6: The Girl in the High Tower by Genniger Albin
Day 7: Come See the Living Dryad by Theadora Goss
Day 8: Black Friday by Alex Irvine
Day 9 Up From Hell by David Drake
Day 10: The Tallest Doll in New York City by Maria Dahvana Headley
Day 11: The Caretakers by David Nickle
Day 12: Your Orisons May Be Recorded by Laurie Penny
Day 13: Of Roses and Kings by Melissa Marr
Day 14: A Christmas Bun for Ulysses by Sarah Morgenthaler**
Day 15: Making My Entrance Again With My Usual Flair by Ken Scholes
Day 16: The Library of Lost Things by Matthew Bright
Day 17: Ambiguity Machines: An Examination by Vandana Singh
Day 18: Drona’s Death by Max Gladstone
Day 19: Black Leg by Glen Hirshberg
Day 20: The Effect of Centrifugal Forcesby Maureen F. McHugh
Day 21: Grave by the Handpost by Thomas Hardy
Day 22: A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum


If you are unfamiliar with Project Gutenberg, consider checking out their website here. L. Frank Baum, who is best known for his series of Oz books, also wrote this glorious short story. When Santa is kidnapped by the daemons of Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, Malice, and Repentance, it might just take a miracle and a little fairy magic to save Christmas.
This story reminded me so much of the speech by the Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol, when he pulls back his robes and shows Scrooge Ignorance and Want. The feeling was the same, although Mr. Baum was discussing other sentiments of Christmas.
This is an excellent story for children. There is some comedy and a little tame scares in it, but would make a wonderful addition to a child’s Christmas library.

A Kidnapped Santa Claus by l. Frank Baum can be read for free here and listened to for free here.

[Jess the Shelf-Declared Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderfully endearing story!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the world is fixated on the movie Wicked, I wanted to read a lesser-known short piece by L. Frank Baum. Santa Claus has always been busy making children happy. While many enjoy this, there are some who prefer to see misery around the world. When they are not able to tempt Santa to do wrong, a handful of demons seek to kidnap the jolly fellow. As the five, Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, Malice, and Repentance, put a plan in motion to kidnap Santa, it will take a great deal to save him on Christmas Eve. A cute story that engages the younger reader during the holiday season.

While much could be said of the story, its message seems enough. Baum pens a short piece that keeps the reader wondering as themes or honesty and deception play a tug-of-war with the heartstrings. Baum keeps the reader happy to see the progression of things for all to enjoy.

Kudos, Mr. Baum, for a nice holiday short story!

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was a cute little (2 issue) holiday story that I hadn’t heard of or read before. Thanks SerialReader!

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

forgettable. skip this one and just read the life and adventures.

[Sara Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish it had more pages.

[Emmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but sort of weirdly preachy at the same time? I feel like a lot of old stories for children feel the need to put a moral in, and I think that was part of this story, too. The villains certainly seem very "on the nose". But that being said, I still rather enjoyed it.

[Nostalgia Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun companion short to The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.

[Robin Brigham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This reminds me of the Grinch. I wonder if Dr Seus got his idea from L Frank Baum's book.

[Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this is my least favorite L. Frank Baum story.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speechless

[Hemavathy DM Suppiah-Devi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Do you never repent, yourself?" asked Santa Claus, curiously.

"Oh, yes, indeed," answered the Daemon. "I am even now repenting that I assisted in your capture. Of course it is too late to remedy the evil that has been done; but repentance, you know, can come only after an evil thought or deed, for in the beginning there is nothing to repent of.”

A wonderful old-fashioned fairy tale. The best kind.
🎅🏼🎄🎅🏼🎄🎅🏼🎄🎅🏼🎄

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was a short and cheerful holiday read.
I had no idea that L. Frank Baum had written this but it clearly had his voice all over it as I couldn't help but clearly imagine this world and Santa Claus and these Daemons he describes.

Kinda curious to know if this was a picture book, or maybe it was made into one later as it lends itself well for that, what with the precise descriptions Baum writes.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free | a very short follow up to the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, which barely begins the story before it's over.

[Alex Cozz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was good! It’s an interesting take on Santa and the idea of kidnapping him. I loved that Santa was able to keep his composure.

[Kt · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.2

[Lydia Batchelor · Rating 3 out of 5]

"To laugh one needs to be happy; to be happy one needs to be content"

[Beccy · Rating 3 out of 5]

L. Frank Baum is best known for his 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz', but this is a little Christmas gem, and a great alternative to the usual festive fare that children usually are read.

In this story Santa Claus lives in Laughing Valley with reindeers but no elves, instead his helpers are ryls, knooks, pixies and fairies Together they share the valley with caves in which live the Daemons; Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, Malice and Repentance. (A great project for older children would be to reseach what each of these mythical creatures are and draw and describe their characteristics, and the emotions depicted in the Daemons could also be related to any work previously done on the Greeks, and Aristotle's 'List of Emotions').

Not wanting to spoil the entirety of the story, suffice to say that Santa triumphs over the obstacles put in his way- a classic story of good versus evil. However, the moral of the story is that though good may prevail, there's always badness lurking somewhere...

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 STARS

"First published in 1904, "A Kidnapped Santa Claus" by L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz, describes the action of some uncommon events in the land of Santa. Not far from the Laughing Valley where Santa and all his magical helpers live, and beyond the Forest of Burzee, there stands a huge mountain that contains the Cave of Demons. Each demon has a specialty: Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, Malice, and Repentance. Because the promise of Santa puts all girls and boys on their best behavior, the demons have hardly any visitors to their caves. In order to remedy their dismal foot traffic, they conspire to kidnap Santa But oh even when it looks as if the demons might win, one can never underestimate the power of devoted (and magical ) friends." (From Amazon)

I enjoyed this novella especially since I read it during Christmas. Recommend it for must-read for Christmas.

[Nick H · Rating 3 out of 5]

[ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ __ __ ] [01/04/21 - 01/04/21]

[READ IN ENGLISH] Harmless story about demons who are angry that Santa Claus makes kids happy. There isn’t really much to sink your teeth into here, but it’s enjoyable.

What’s more significant for me specifically is that this is the first book I had read entirely in Japanese without having read the English version first. So I had absolutely no reference point for anything in it when going in for the first time. Now, having read it in English as well, I’m able to compare notes about what I understood about the storyline.

===== SPOILERS FOLLOW =====

For the most part, I understood everything that happened. I missed most of the subtleties of the scene descriptions and character interactions, but I was actually surprised at how accurate I was in internalizing the broad strokes of what was going on. My overall synopsis was just about exact, though the one really big thing I misunderstood was the role of Santa’s four helpers. I thought they got out of the sleigh and bickered about how to save Santa. I didn’t realize that they actually went out and delivered the gifts. When they talked about the two kids who wanted specific presents, I thought they were lamenting that those kids wouldn’t get the things they asked for- I didn’t realize that they had actually delivered the wrong things to them.

A few other small things I missed:

- As I suspected, the title Nico Nico was actually a Japanese term, not a proper noun. It meant “laughing.”

- I didn’t realize the demons were all representative of different emotions, and named specifically after them. I did however, recognize the difference in how they each spoke, and I was able to essentially understand this about them even without knowing their titles. The Japanese translation had an especially good version of the envy demon, who spoke to Santa in a very slang-y way.

- I found that overall, I understood what the demons were saying much more than I understood Santa. I got almost nothing from him whenever he said anything, but for the demons I understood very specific things. Stuff like the one telling Santa about toy stores, and the other saying that kids don’t believe in him, I actually got. It all comes down to the characterizations, I think. Every character, even in English, has their own speech pattern. I find I’m especially weak at recognizing the way older men speak in Japanese. They tend to use bigger words with more complex kanji characters.

- At the end, when they form a big army to go attack the demons, I thought they meant ‘parade,’ as that is an alternate meaning of the Japanese word they used to describe the war party. Gives a different vibe for sure, though I like my version better to be honest. More wholesome.


That’s about it. Overall I’m very pleased with my results this time. Definitely above average for my usual reading retention in the language, and I certainly hadn’t tried something like this with no artwork before. Usually I read manga when doing a ‘Japanese-only reading.’ It sounds ridiculous to be proud of having successfully read a children’s story, but as a new language learner I take any victory I can get. I was definitely reading above my “grade level” with this one and I’m excited to see if there are other similar ones I can find.



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[ ⭐️⭐️⭐️ __ __ ] [ 12/31/20 - 01/01/21]

[READ IN JAPANESE] This is the first ever traditional book (non-manga) I’ve read entirely in Japanese, without having read the English version first. I enjoyed it, and even though I don’t feel I got the subtleties of everything that happened, I still feel I understood the bulk of the story. The plot is largely inconsequential, but I liked the antics of the bad guys and Santa’s chief helpers. As I plan to later read the book in English to compare notes on how much I understood, I will now recount the plot as far as I understood it in Japanese, for future reference:

===== SPOILERS FOLLOW (maybe) =====

Santa Claus, along with all sorts of elves, fairies, pixies, gnomes and other magical creatures, live in a place called Nico Nico Village. (I’m not sure if Nico Nico is a Japanese term meaning something specific, or if that’s the actual name. Either way it’s a cool name for a village so I’m going with that.) Also, Santa has an uncle but I couldn’t find any real reference to him after the first time they mention him, so I honestly have no idea what he was doing in the story.

Anyway, near the village there live 5 demons, all with weird names, and they devise a plan to screw with Santa. I couldn’t really understand their explanation for why they were doing it, but does it really make any difference why? They’re demons after all. At first, it seems like various ones of the demons try to approach Santa and convince him in different ways to give up his job, but none of their attempts at coercion work. So the demons decide to wait until Christmas Eve, and they snatch Santa right from the seat of his sleigh. I wasn’t entirely sure how they did the deed. Best I could figure out, it seemed like they used some kind of magic to make him black out or something, then tied him up with a rope and brought him back to their caves.

While Santa is imprisoned and the demons are calling him mean names (I love how wholesome that method of torture is), a few of Santa’s favorite helpers try to find him. As far as I understood, they sort of sit around and argue the whole time and never end up really getting anything done. At some point, one of the demons changes sides and releases Santa Claus (or did they all have a change of heart? Wasn’t super clear on that) and the elf search party stumbles onto Santa walking back to Nico Nico Village. Then they all have a parade or something and all the world’s kids get their toys a little late on Christmas, but overall everyone is happy. At the end, Santa says something about the demons who held him captive, but I honestly had zero idea what he said. I assume he forgave them, but that’s pure speculation.

The end! Interested to see if I got any of it right 😅

[Richard Dominguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considered to be one of Frank Baum's best stories, A kidnapped Santa Claus touches on the subjects of negative emotions and redemption. A cute/quick little story of Santa's kidnapping by the Daemons of the nearby caves.
I enjoyed this fast paced story as it gently embraces the qualities that can make Christmas a year long event. The story is purely event driven and little time is given to the characters,but the story is short enough where the events carry the story.
If at this point in my life I had little ones who liked being read to, this would be one for the reading ...

[Vanellope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, but thematically questionable? In a kind of funny way lmao, I feel like all the modern Christmas movies are like "Christmas is ~not~ about the presents! It's the magic of love/family/whatever the heck" but this story straight up said "if these kids don't get their toys there Will be a riot of epic proportions." Hysterical.

[Gator · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baum doesn’t fail to deliver, his characters are solid. I love how the old kiddy books from back in the day are so dark vs the watered down fluff they pass off as dark now. The power of Santa and his helpers reigns supreme !

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite word in the book: “rattleprat”