, as
if he longed to use his blinding flashes. Prince Twilight held a great
snuffer in one hand and a big black cloak in the other, and it is well
known that unless Twilight is carefully watched the snuffers or the
cloak will throw everything into darkness, and Darkness is the greatest
enemy the King of the Light Elves has.

In addition to the immortals I have named were the King of the Knooks,
who had come from his home in the jungles of India; and the King of the
Ryls, who lived among the gay flowers and luscious fruits of Valencia.
Sweet Queen Zurline of the Wood-Nymphs completed the circle of
immortals.

But in the center of the circle sat three others who possessed powers
so great that all the Kings and Queens showed them reverence.

These were Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World, who rules the forests
and the orchards and the groves; and Kern, the Master Husbandman of the
World, who rules the grain fields and the meadows and the gardens; and
Bo, the Master Mariner of the World, who rules the seas and all the
craft that float thereon. And all other immortals are more or less
subject to these three.

When all had assembled the Master Woodsman of the World stood up to
address them, since he himself had summoned them to the council.

Very clearly he told them the story of Claus, beginning at the time
when as a babe he had been adopted a child of the Forest, and telling
of his noble and generous nature and his life-long labors to make
children happy.

"And now," said Ak, "when he had won the love of all the world, the
Spirit of Death is hovering over him. Of all men who have inhabited
the earth none other so well deserves immortality, for such a life can
not be spared so long as there are children of mankind to miss him and
to grieve over his loss. We immortals are the servants of the world,
and to serve the world we were permitted in the Beginning to exist.
But what one of us is more worthy of immortality than this man Claus,
who so sweetly ministers to the little children?"

He paused and glanced around the circle, to find every immortal
listening to him eagerly and nodding approval. Finally the King of the
Wind Demons, who had been whistling softly to himself, cried out:

"What is your desire, O Ak?"

"To bestow upon Claus the Mantle of Immortality!" said Ak, boldly.

That this demand was wholly unexpected was proved by the immortals
springing to their feet and looking into each other's face with d