Chapter 37: Santa Claus is Coming to Town
80 AD - The Enchanted Forest
In a small kingdom, a soldier brings the king something
"King Meisterburger" the soldier said "look what was discovered on your front stoop"
"What?" Meisterburger asked "the milk? The daily paper?"
"No, sir" the soldier said "a baby"
"Oh is that all?" Meisterburger asked "wait… a baby?"
"There's a note" the soldier said "Please sir, take care of my child and protect him from the dangers of the Mountain of the Whispering Winds. He will be exceptional if only given the love he needs"
"I, King Meisterburger take care of a baby?" Meisterburger asked "outrageous! What it's name?"
"This is the only clue, sir" the soldier said, showing the king a tag "it says 'Claus'"
"Take the little… uh… baggage to the orphanage" Meisterburger said "that's the proper place for foundlings anyway. Now get the brat out of here!"
The soldier takes the baby to the orphanage on a sled, but the string he was pulling the baby with snapped and the winds blew the baby away. The baby ended up at a home of elves, owned by a family called Kringle. An elf named Dingle found the baby
"Oh, wiggle my ear, and tickle my toes" Dingle said "methinks I see a baby's nose. There's more than a nose, there's a whole baby attached to it. Better call my brothers, Wingle, Bingle, Tingle, Zingle"
"What is it Dingle?" Wingle asked
"A baby" Dingle said
"We should bring him to Tanta" Wingle said and they do
"A baby!" Tanta said "we will take care of him"
"What should we call him?" Wingle asked
"His tag says Claus" Dingle said
"Unusual name" Tanta said "we should call him Kris, Kris Kringle"
100 AD
The Kringles taught Kris everything they knew, reading, writing, arithmetic, and most importantly (to them at least), how to make toys. However, there were no children to play with their toys, the closest children were in the small kingdom across the Mountain of the Whispering Winds, which was treacherous to cross, due to it being the territory of the mysterious wizard, the Winter Warlock. However, when Kris Kringle came of age…
"I'm a man now Tanta" Kris said "I can take those toys across the Mountain of the Whispering Winds"
"It would be nice if someone played with our toys" Dingle said "if only one my dollies could be held tight be a little girl"
"It's decided" Kris said "tomorrow, I leave for the kingdom"
As Kris was packing, Tanta brought him a present
"I made this for your trip" Tanta said and Kris opened the present to see a red suit "a real, Kringle suit" and he puts on the suit, loads the toys into a sack and heads out into the mountain.
"Who nears my Mountain?!" a voice shouts "Go back or you are doomed!" and Kris runs through, and the Winter Warlock lets him go "I shall get him when he returns, he has to cross my mountain on the way home and then…"
Unknown to Kris, King Meisterburger had recently allowed all toys. When he arrives and mentions all he wants to do is give away toys, the people run and hide in fear. Kris then notices a couple of children cleaning their stockings
"Well, what's going on here?" Kris asked
"Doing our chores" the girl said
"Yeah, no more playing" the boy said
"No more playing, eh?" Kris asked "are you washing out… stockings?"
"Uh-huh" the boy said "it's one of our daily duties"
"Then we hang them by the fireplace, so they dry overnight" the girl said
"That's how they judge you around here" the boy said "by how many chores you do and how clean your stockings are"
"Well, uh… you don't have to look so glum about it" Kris said
"Why?" the boy asked
"I don't know, I just don't like sour faces" Kris said "now I got some real nice goodies for you, but not if you look like this. You better watch, you better not cry, you better not pout"
"Why?" the children asked
"I'm telling you why" Kris said
"Yeah?" the children asked
"Because I came to town" Kris said "and look what I brought" and dumps out toys
"Toys!" the girl exclaimed
"Real toys" the boy said
"Why, sure!" Kris exclaimed "compliments of the Kringles"
"But what about the king?" the girl asked
"What about him?" Kris asked "if he wants one, he may have one. I'll save him a big red yo-yo"
"C'mon, let's play" the boy said as went and got his classmates to show them the toys
"Wait" the schoolteacher said "you must not play with toys"
"And who are you?" Kris asked
"That's Miss Jessica, our new schoolteacher" the girl said
"Kris Kringle at your service, Miss Jessica" Kris said
"How dare you come here in those ridiculous clothes and make fun of me" Jessica said "and what do you mean by giving the children toys? Don't you know toys are against the law"
"Yep, it's true" the girl said
"Well, gee, that's kind of a silly law" Kris said
"If the king saw you, we'd all be in great danger" Jessica said
"In danger from toys?" Kris asked "why that's the silliest thing I ever heard"
"Toys are frivolous, impractical, unproductive, and…" Jessica begins, but Kris cuts her off, handing her a doll "… what's that?"
"For you" Kris said
"A china doll" Jessica said "I always wanted one when I was a little girl, but my parents wouldn't… thank-you"
"Watch out for that dolly, she's a harden criminal I hear" Kris said, winking at her
"Maybe it is a silly law…" Jessica said
The king's procession walks through town
"I see the little children are playing with their toys" Meisterburger said "… playing with their toys?! Stop in the name of the law! You brats are under arrest! Take them away"
"Don't arrest those children" Kris said "it was my fault. I gave them the toys"
"You!" Meisterburger said "how dare you?! You are obviously a non-conformist, a rebel!"
"Me, a rebel?" Kris asked
"Arrest this man immediately" Meisterburger said
"For you" Kris said and he hands Meisterburger a yo-yo
"A yo-yo?" Meisterburger asked "I love yo-yos. I used to be able to do all kinds of tricks" and he starts playing with it
"Excuse me, sir" a soldier said "but you're breaking your own laws"
"What?!" Meisterburger said "we've been bamboozled. Arrest him! Arrest him!" but Kris knocks out the soldiers with his bag of toys and runs away. The soldiers chase him into the woods and give up the chase. Kris notices a sign and reads it.
"You are trespassing on the land of the Winter Warlock" Kris reads. All of a sudden a tree grabs him as the Winter Warlock appears
"You, Kris Kringle" the Winter Warlock said "you've disturbed me for the very last time. Now I have you, and you'll never get away"
"Look, before you do me in" Kris said "will you tell your tree friends to let me loose for a second, you see I have something for you"
"What is this, a trick?" the Winter Warlock asked
"Oh no, Mr. Warlock" Kringle said "or may I call you Winter?"
"Mr. Warlock if you please" the Winter Warlock said
"Well, I managed to save one little toy" Kris said "and I'd like you to have it"
"You wish to give me a present… a toy?" the Winter Warlock asked, shocked
"Yes, sir" Kris said
"But nobody ever gives a mean old warlock anything" the Winter Warlock said
"I'd like to start a new custom" Kris said "if you'd just call off…"
"What, well, oh yeah" the Winter Warlock said and he waves his hand and the tree releases him "no tricks now"
"Oh, no sir, Mr. Warlock" Kris said and he hands the Winter Warlock a stuffed bear
"A bear" the Winter Warlock said "I've always wanted…" and he remembers a little girl he'd long forgotten who would've loved it "why? Why did you make me remember, I only wanted to forget"
"Remember, remember what, Mr. Warlock?" Kris asked
"What happened to her" the Winter Warlock said
"I don't understand, who's her?" Kris asked
"You'll pay for this, Kringle!" the Winter Warlock said and he pulls out a dagger and stabs Kris with it
"What, I don't understand" Kris said, dying
"You almost had, me Kringle" the Winter Warlock said "You almost got me to drop my guard. Almost. Good-bye, Kris" and he pulls out the dagger. The last thing Kris sees is a name written on the dagger
Frosty
Later, the Apprentice finds Kris Kringle's body
"Dark One, what have you done?!" the Apprentice roars
"You know you can't control me" Frosty, the Winter Warlock said "you don't have my Dagger"
"And yet you came" the Apprentice said "now why have you killed this man"
"He trespassed and then reminded me of Karen" Frosty said
"You killed a man for trespassing?!" the Apprentice exclaimed
"I am the Dark One, am I not?" Frosty asked "look, Nicky, I'm not a very good Dark One, Nimue, Arius, and the Professor like to remind me of that, constantly. I only want to be left alone in my misery. I'm not a conqueror or a manipulator, I just want to be left alone. I even put a sign up to warn people to stay away. Just leave me be, and I'll leave everyone else alone"
"I don't like it, Dark One, but you are the most peaceful Dark One we've had so far" the Apprentice said "so I will leave you alone. But I'm returning Kris's body to his family"
"If you must" Frosty said and the Apprentice and Kris's body teleports away.
At the Kringle's home, the Apprentice appears and knocks on the door. Dingle Kringle answers
"Yes, how may we help you?" Dingle asked
"I'm afraid I bring terrible news" the Apprentice said "your son was killed by the Winter Warlock"
"No… no…" Dingle said "please, come in" and the Apprentice explains what happened
"My poor boy" Tanta said "may we see him"
"Yes" the Apprentice said and he waves his hand and Kris's body appears on a bed
"I don't see the stab wound" Dingle said
"I healed his body, so you wouldn't have to see him how I found him" the Apprentice said "I can heal a body, but I can't reunite it with a departed soul"
"Thank you for bringing him back to us" Tanta said "we should've never let him go, should've never let him risk his life for a bunch of toys"
"Toys?" the Apprentice asked
"Yes, toys" Tanta said "we are toymakers by trade, but there's no children to give them to here. The closest children were in the kingdom on the other side of the Mountain of the Whispering Winds, so he was going to deliver it to them there"
"As outrageous as it sounds, the king of that kingdom recently outlawed toys" the Apprentice said "I have traveled many realms and have met many people, but I'm not sure I've ever met anyone like you Kringles, willing to put hard work into making something and then willing to risk your lives to deliver it… all with no expectation of anything in return. I'll tell you what I'd like to do, with your permission. I will take you all somewhere where the Winter Warlock, nor the king can get to you… a Land Without Magic. Continue building toys for children and then I will take one night a year, on December 24 to deliver them to the good children. And I will do so in your son's honor, wearing a Kringle coat, and taking on his name, so all the credit goes to him"
"We'd love all of that" Tanta said "except for one part… please don't take on the name Kris Kringle… that's what we knew him by"
"What would you like me to go by instead?" the Apprentice asked
"He was wearing this when we found him as a baby" Tanta said and she hands the Apprentice the tag that said 'Claus'
"Claus" the Apprentice read
"His birth name" Tanta said
"How about the name…" the Apprentice began
"Santa Claus"