"A Kidnapped Santa Claus" was first published in the December 1904 edition of The Delineator, the women's magazine that would print Baum's Animal Fairy Tales in the following year.
[3][4] Though the short story has strong similarities with the novel, it has been interpreted as presenting "a less rosy view" of the world,[5] in that it shows elements of evil as fundamental to existence and ineradicable.
The Daemons first try to tempt Santa Claus to their own vices; they visit him one by one, and attempt to lure him into selfishness, envy, and hatred.
Failing at temptation, the Daemons instead kidnap Santa Claus; they lasso him as he is riding in his sleigh on Christmas Eve, and bind him in their caverns.
(In the seventh chapter of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, titled "The Great Battle Between Good and Evil," Baum depicts a combat between massed magical forces.
In 1989 the story was adapted into a musical play for children, Santa Claus Is Missing!, by Sylvia Ashby, with songs by Scott Taylor.
An interactive musical, also under the title Santa Claus Is Missing written by Morna Murphy with songs by Ralph Martell, played at the Staten Island Children's Museum from 2003 to 2008.