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Page 6
"For the first time within my knowledge," said he, gently, "a nymph
has defied me and my laws; yet in my heart can I find no word of
chiding. What is your desire, Necile?"
"Let me keep the child!" she answered, beginning to tremble and
falling on her knees in supplication.
"Here, in the Forest of Burzee, where the human race has never yet
penetrated?" questioned Ak.
"Here, in the Forest of Burzee," replied the nymph, boldly. "It is my
home, and I am weary for lack of occupation. Let me care for the
babe! See how weak and helpless it is. Surely it can not harm Burzee
nor the Master Woodsman of the World!"
"But the Law, child, the Law!" cried Ak, sternly.
"The Law is made by the Master Woodsman," returned Necile; "if he bids
me care for the babe he himself has saved from death, who in all the
world dare oppose me?" Queen Zurline, who had listened intently
to this conversation, clapped her pretty hands gleefully at the
nymph's answer.
"You are fairly trapped, O Ak!" she exclaimed, laughing. "Now, I pray
you, give heed to Necile's petition."
The Woodsman, as was his habit when in thought, stroked his grizzled
beard slowly. Then he said:
"She shall keep the babe, and I will give it my protection. But I
warn you all that as this is the first time I have relaxed the Law, so
shall it be the last time. Never more, to the end of the World, shall
a mortal be adopted by an immortal. Otherwise would we abandon our
happy existence for one of trouble and anxiety. Good night, my nymphs!"
Then Ak was gone from their midst, and Necile hurried away to her
bower to rejoice over her new-found treasure.
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.
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