Necile

Necile is a wood nymph who lives in the Forest of Burzee and is closely related to Queen Zurline.

Like all the nymphs, she sprang into being when the forest was young. Her hair is the color of a chestnut burr. Here eyes are blue in the sunlight and purple in the shade. Her cheeks are the pink of a cloud at sunset, and her lips are red. She wears sandals on her feet and a costume of oak-leaf green, the traditional color worn by wood nymphs.

Her regular duties are to keep weeds from growing beneath her trees, water them during the dry seasons, and scare away the poisonous Gadgols. Necile is especially important because each year on Budding Day, it is her duty to bring the Golden Chalice of Ak to Queen Zurline, who then drinks to the prosperity of the forest.

Alone among her sisters, Necile became discontented with her immortal state. She longed for adventure, but was restrained by the Law of the Forest. One night, the Great Ak told the nymphs of encountering an abandoned infant at the edge of the forest. Necile crept away and found the infant, taking it to her bower and adopting it as her own. She named him Claus, which means "a little one", though Queen Zurline dubbed him Neclaus which means "Necile's little one".

Public Domain Appearances

 * The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus