A Fear Of Mermaids!

“She sat down upon one of these pearls.”

 . . . great icebergs were floating about. These, she said, looked like pearls, although all were much larger than the church towers in the land of human beings. She sat down upon one of these pearls, and let the wind play with her long hair; but then all the ships set their sails in fear, and sailed away as quickly as they could.

 

Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales.

By William Woodburn.

Illustrated by Gordon Robinson.

W. & R. Chambers, Limited: London & Edinburgh. 1917.

Polar Bear, King, Paul & Icicle!

“He looked at Paul with an icy stare and bowed stiffly.”

At that moment Paul saw sticking out of the great fields of ice and snow a pole, not unlike an ordinary clothes-pole, against which leaned a huge misshapen figure made apparently of blocks of ice. One arm was twisted around the North Pole and the other rested on the head of a Polar Bear. The giant had two deep eyes that were blue like the color one sees in the heart of a great iceberg or the waters of Lake Lucerne. He looked at Paul with an icy stare and bowed stiffly. Paul felt a bit homesick, it was so still and solemn.

“That’s a rather cold welcome,” said the Icicle, “but dear me ! what can you expect at the North Pole? Don’t mind if he is cool to you. He can’t help it.”

Then the Icicle stepped in front of the giant and saluted with his right hand, saying:

“O King, freeze forever!

O King, melt thou never!”

“Let me hear your report,” said the giant king of the North.

“O King,” answered the Icicle, “I have done thine errands. Six pairs of men’s ears have I frozen, three miles of sidewalks have I made so slippery that the people cannot stand up on them, four water-pipes have I frozen so that people can get no water . . .”

In The Miz.

Written by Grace E. Ward.

Illustrations by Clara E. Atwood.

Little, Brown, & Co.: Boston.  1904.