A Romance of Frost Land

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22468, 11 July 1936, Page 8 (Supplement)

A Romance of Frost Land

T?AR in the cold South Polar region, beyond a ran ge of unscalable ice mountains, lies tho realm of King Frost. King Frost, his queen the Snow Lady, his sons the princes Hail, Lightning, Wind and Rain, and his beautiful daughter Princess Aurora lived in a wonderful palace of ice. The homes of all his subjects were most beautiful —in the sun of the polar day they glittered like a thousand jewels, and in the moonlight of the long night they glowed softly—their colours always changing. The Frost people were tall, fair and handsome. They dressed in clothes woven from the feathers generously given by the polar birds, and their clothes were always clean and silkylooking. For food they used a seaweed brought from tho bottom of the ocean, and prepared in some magic way so that it tasted like a mixture of every delicious thing one could think of. The lives of the Frost people would not appeal to mortals, for they knew not warmth beyond the pale heat of their Polar summer. There were no flowers —no springing grass—no joj'ous bird songs, but they had their own sources of amusement, tobogganing down the shining sides of icebergs, playing tag with the seals, disguising themselves as penguins or stormy petrels and going out into the world beyond, or riding on the giant whales. ... Oh 1 they had any amount of fun.

The Frost kingdom is a very busy place, and all through the summer the people work very hard weaving the lacy coverings of frost, storing up great heaps of snow and ice, and creating the rain and storms to send throughout the world during the winter. Each of the princes was in charge of a factory in which different kinds of weather were manufactured, while the king was kept busy inspecting the finished articles. Man, discovering the Polar region, and seeing their cloud factory working, mistook it for a mountain and called it the "Cloudmaker." Princess Aurora was also kept busy —it was her work to keep the stars polished, and to weave yards and yards of coloured clouds into rainbows.

The kingdom was a happy and contented place, but even there there was one source of discord. The great mountain that men call "Erebus" was the home of a most bad-tempered prince—a cousin of the King—Prince Blizzard, and his rages were the terror of all the land.

For weeks at a time he would stay quietly at home, disturbing none, but, sure as fate, one day something would annoy him and he would rush out of his mountain home raging and storming over the whole country, and people would call "Here is Blizzard I Hide somewhere!" Certainly he was an illnatured, blustering fellow —even the king was nervous of him, and always changed the subject when his Queen asked him why he didn't assert his kingly authority, and curb Blizzard's bad moods.

Unfortunately, Prince Blizzard had decided that he would marry the gentle Aurora, and take her to live with him in his dismal home in the depths of the volcano Erebus, and in spite of Aurora's shrinking from him, he would not cease from worrying her. The king did not wish to give his daughter to Blizzard, but rather feared to offend his powerful cousin, so he always said, "Wait just a little while, cousin, Aurora is rather young, wait for another year." So Blizzard would snort and rush away in one of his rages. One day, on receiving such an answer to his usual question of "When may I marry the princess?" Blizzard left the king's presence in an even worse temper than usual. He stalked over the country and the breath of his rage stirred the sea for hundreds of miles, until even mortals in far distant lands said: "What a terrible storm! I wonder what is causing it?" Now it happened that on that particular day a handsome Maori youth—one Haeri—had gone out from the shore of Stewart Island in his canoe to fish, and as he drifted along, suddenly the sea rose in great waves and the wind blew with ever-increasing force and the canoe was twisted and turned, then driven fast and ever faster toward the south. In vain Haeri called to his gods for help—ever faster the terrible winds drove him onj until

By RENE MACKAY

at last, terrified and dazed, he f e n fainting into the bottom of the canoe Night dropped her veil over the waters' and still southward drifted the tin* craft. With the dawn, Blizzard's rage had abated, and the seas had calmed Haeri's canoe still floated, and at last the youth's eyes opened and he gazed in awe at the scene. All about him on the dark waters gleamed white masses of ice and majestic bergs rose castle, like into the dear air. It was terribly cold, and Haeri looked at. the wonder, ful but desolate scene with hopelesj eyes. Suddenly, away over an ice-floe, he saw figures approaching, and his hopes rose, but as they came nearer he was disappointed to see that they were quaintly human looking birds. Walking solemnly side by side, the six penguin came to the edge of the water and gazed in mute inquiry at Haeri, who called despairingly to them, "Friends can you help me? Give me shelter and food else I must perish!" Now these penguins were not ordin. ary birds, but people of the Frost country disguised as was their usual habit when away from their own hidden domain, so it was qu'te easy for them to understand Haeri's words. Jumping into the canoe they quiokiy pulled and hauled it on to the ice, then seeing that Haeri had fainted again from the cold the leader of the little band picked out two feathers from his own breast and spread them over tho youth. Immediately the feathers spread until in a few seconds Haeri was closely covered with a warm feather rug. The sudden heat caused him to recover from his faint, only to at once fall into a deep but healthful sleep. "Come brothers," said t-Vs chief "let us carry this goodly youth to our king." So all pushing the canoe, they marched with amazing speed over the ice. The royal family was at dinner when an attendant announced thai certain people were begging an audience with his majesty. "Tut! Tut!" grumbled the king, who liked his meals and hated to be disturbed while dining, "Can't they wait until after dinner?" "It is very important, sire," said the attendant. "Oh well!" said the king, "bring them in, freeze 'em!"

However, even the king forgot his dinner when he saw Haeri, and the story his subjects had to tell. The whole royal family, attendants, footmen and the six penguins were all gazing at Haeri when he suddenly opened his eyes and sat up in amazement and terror. "Where am I?" he gasped. " Don't be airraid," said the queen soothingly, "You are quite safe!" So Haeri came to the Frost country, and after partaking of their food and being clad in one of their warmest gowns he was soon able to move about and give an account of himself. Of course, the Frost people didn't require their food to be heated—they knew not that their country was too cold for a mortal to live in for any length of time, so when Haeri begged them to give him a hot meal they could not understand, and were much distressed at his evident discomfort. Princess Aurora had been greatly impressed by the dark stranger, and she was anxious for him to stay in her country, so she consulted a very wise old seal about the matter.

"He's a mortal, your Highness, and he must have fire," said the wise one. "The only fire in these parts is owned by Prince Blizzard. You will have to ask him to give you some from Erebus."

Aurora hated to ask the prince for anything, but she realised that if she wished to keep Haeri alive she must do so this time. So despatching a messenger to Erebus.. she begged His Highness Prince Blizzard for the gift of a little fire, and also for instructions a3 to the use of it. Naturally, Blizzard was very surprised at such a request, for he knew that none of the Frost people cared for fire, and he questioned the messenger about it. When he heard that the princess wanted the fire for a young mortal man, he was at once seized.with a jealous lage and roaring, "Fire! Fire! I'll give him fire," he dragged out great armsful of molten lava from the heart of the volcano, and rushed toward the king's palace. Aurora saw him coming, and was very afraid for Haeri. She ran to his room and said. "Hide! Hide! Blizzard is cominghe will kill you.*' It was too iate—Blizzard had arrived. "So!" he thundered. "You want fire for your mortal! I have brought fire for him," and he leaned forward to cast the burning lava over Haeri. Aurora threw herself on her knees in front of Blizzard. "No," she shrieked. "Stop Blizzard! I will bo your "wife if you will spare this mortal." Blizzard hesitated, then he dropped the lava and breathed on it ana its flame died. (To be continued)