7.  The Great Battle Between Good and Evil

  Ak listened gravely to the recital of Claus, stroking his
beard the while with the slow, graceful motion that betokened
deep thought.  He nodded approvingly when Claus told how the
Knooks and Fairies had saved him from death, and frowned when
he heard how the Awgwas had stolen the children's toys.  At
last he said:

  "From the beginning I have approved the work you are doing
among the children of men, and it annoys me that your good
deeds should be thwarted by the Awgwas.  We immortals have no
connection whatever with the evil creatures who have attacked
you.  Always have we avoided them, and they, in turn, have
hitherto taken care not to cross our pathway.  But in this
matter I find they have interfered with one of our friends,
and I will ask them to abandon their persecutions, as you are
under our protection."

  Claus thanked the Master Woodsman most gratefully and returned
to his Valley, while Ak, who never delayed carrying out his
promises, at once traveled to the mountains of the Awgwas.

  There, standing on the bare rocks, he called on the King and
his people to appear.

  Instantly the place was filled with throngs of the scowling
Awgwas, and their King, perching himself on a point of rock,
demanded fiercely:

  "Who dares call on us?"

  "It is I, the Master Woodsman of the World," responded Ak.

  "Here are no forests for you to claim," cried the King,
angrily. "We owe no allegiance to you, nor to any immortal!"

  "That is true," replied Ak, calmly.  "Yet you have ventured to
interfere with the actions of Claus, who dwells in the
Laughing Valley, and is under our protection."

  Many of the Awgwas began muttering at this speech, and their
King turned threateningly on the Master Woodsman.

  "You are set to rule the forests, but the plains and the
valleys are ours!" he shouted.  "Keep to your own dark woods! 
We will do as we please with Claus."

  "You shall not harm our friend in any way!" replied Ak.

  "Shall we not?" asked the King, impudently.  "You will see! 
Our powers are vastly superior to those of mortals, and fully
as great as those of immortals."

  "It is your conceit that misleads you!" said Ak, sternly. 
"You are a transient race, passing from life into nothingness. 
We, who live forever, pity but despise you.  On earth you are
scorned by all, and in Heaven you have no place!  Even the
mortals, after their earth life, enter another existence for
all time, and so are your superiors. How then dare you, who
are neither mortal nor immortal, refuse to obey my wish?"

  The Awgwas sprang to their feet with menacing gestures, but
their King motioned them back.

  "Never before," he cried to Ak, while his voice trembled with
rage, "has an immortal declared himself the master of the
Awgwas!  Never shall an immortal venture to interfere with our
actions again!  For we will avenge your scornful words by
killing your friend Claus within three days.  Nor you, nor all
the immortals can save him from our wrath.  We defy your
powers!  Begone, Master Woodsman of the World! In the country
of the Awgwas you have no place."

  "It is war!" declared Ak, with flashing eyes.

  "It is war!" returned the King, savagely.  "In three days your
friend will be dead."

  The Master turned away and came to his Forest of Burzee, where
he called a meeting of the immortals and told them of the
defiance of the Awgwas and their purpose to kill Claus within
three days.

  The little folk listened to him quietly.

  "What shall we do?" asked Ak.

  "These creatures are of no benefit to the world," said the
Prince of the Knooks; "we must destroy them."

  "Their lives are devoted only to evil deeds," said the Prince
of the Ryls.  "We must destroy them."

  "They have no conscience, and endeavor to make all mortals as
bad as themselves," said the Queen of the Fairies.  "We must
destroy them."

  "They have defied the great Ak, and threaten the life of our
adopted son," said beautiful Queen Zurline.  "We must destroy
them."

  The Master Woodsman smiled.

  "You speak well," said he.  "These Awgwas we know to be a
powerful race, and they will fight desperately; yet the
outcome is certain. For we who live can never die, even though
conquered by our enemies, while every Awgwa who is struck down
is one foe the less to oppose us. Prepare, then, for battle,
and let us resolve to show no mercy to the wicked!"

  Thus arose that terrible war between the immortals and the
spirits of evil which is sung of in Fairyland to this very
day.

  The King Awgwa and his band determined to carry out the threat
to destroy Claus.  They now hated him for two reasons: he made
children happy and was a friend of the Master Woodsman.  But
since Ak's visit they had reason to fear the opposition of the
immortals, and they dreaded defeat.  So the King sent swift
messengers to all parts of the world to summon every evil
creature to his aid.

  And on the third day after the declaration of war a mighty
army was at the command of the King Awgwa.  There were three
hundred Asiatic Dragons, breathing fire that consumed
everything it touched.  These hated mankind and all good
spirits.  And there were the three-eyed Giants of Tatary, a
host in themselves, who liked nothing better than to fight. 
And next came the Black Demons from Patalonia, with great
spreading wings like those of a bat, which swept terror and
misery through the world as they beat upon the air.  And
joined to these were the Goozzle-Goblins, with long talons as
sharp as swords, with which they clawed the flesh from their
foes.  Finally, every mountain Awgwa in the world had come to
participate in the great battle with the immortals.

  The King Awgwa looked around upon this vast army and his heart
beat high with wicked pride, for he believed he would surely
triumph over his gentle enemies, who had never before been
known to fight.  But the Master Woodsman had not been idle. 
None of his people was used to warfare, yet now that they were
called upon to face the hosts of evil they willingly prepared
for the fray.

  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.

  Woe came upon the sharp-taloned Goblins when the thorns of the
Ryls reached their savage hearts and let their life-blood
sprinkle all the plain.  And afterward from every drop a
thistle grew.

  The Dragons paused astonished before the Fairy wands, from
whence rushed a power that caused their fiery breaths to flow
back on themselves so that they shriveled away and died.

  As for the Awgwas, they had scant time to realize how they
were destroyed, for the ash switches of the Nymphs bore a
charm unknown to any Awgwa, and turned their foes into clods
of earth at the slightest touch!

  When Ak leaned upon his gleaming ax and turned to look over
the field of battle he saw the few Giants who were able to run
disappearing over the distant hills on their return to Tatary. 
The Goblins had perished every one, as had the terrible
Dragons, while all that remained of the wicked Awgwas was a
great number of earthen hillocks dotting the plain.

  And now the immortals melted from the Valley like dew at
sunrise, to resume their duties in the Forest, while Ak walked
slowly and thoughtfully to the house of Claus and entered.

  "You have many toys ready for the children," said the
Woodsman, "and now you may carry them across the plain to the
dwellings and the villages without fear."

  "Will not the Awgwas harm me?" asked Claus, eagerly.

  "The Awgwas," said Ak, "have perished!"

  Now I will gladly have done with wicked spirits and with
fighting and bloodshed.  It was not from choice that I told of
the Awgwas and their allies, and of their great battle with
the immortals.  They were part of this history, and could not
be avoided.