At the end of the forest he found the frozen ocean
lit by the shuddering light of the aurora, flashing in a great fan from
east to west. Past white-tusked walruses and sleepy penguins he flew,
till on the eleventh day he saw the green, icy pinnacles of the Giant's
palace against the waving curtain of the Polar lights. On the evening of
the twelfth day he entered the castle.
The Giant of the North Pole was a tall, strong, yellow-haired fellow
wearing a crown of ice and a great sweeping mantle made from the white
fur of the polar bear. His servants were the Gusts,--strange, supple,
shadowy creatures moving quickly to and fro,--and his courtiers were
the whirlwinds and the storms. The Giant's wife sat by his side; she had
dark hair and eyes of icy, burning blue.
"Welcome, little Poldo," said the Giant; and his voice sounded like the
wind in the treetops; "what seek you here?"
"I seek some words of the Fairy Malvolia which were carried away by the
northeast wind at Prince Rolandor's christening," replied the poodle.
"Whew, oo-oo," whistled the Giant of the North Pole.
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