THE ICE MAN

THE ICE MAN

Once when the people were burning the woods in the fall the blaze set fire to a
poplar tree, which continued to burn until the fire went down into the roots and
burned a great hole in the ground. It burned and burned, and the hole grew
constantly larger, until the people became frightened and were afraid it would
burn the whole world. They tried to put out the fire, but it had gone too deep, and
they did not know what to do.
At last some one said there was a man living in a house of ice far in the north
who could put out the fire, so messengers were sent, and after traveling a long
distance they came to the ice house and found the Ice Man at home. He was a
little fellow with long hair hanging down to the ground in two plaits. The
messengers told him their errand and he at once said, “O yes, I can help you,”
and began to unplait his hair. When it was all unbraided he took it up in one
hand and struck it once across his other hand, and the messengers felt a wind
blow against their cheeks. A second time he struck his hair across his hand, and
a light rain began to fall. The third time he struck his hair across his open hand
there was sleet mixed with the raindrops, and when he struck the fourth time
great hailstones fell upon the ground, as if they had come out from the ends of
his hair. “Go back now,” said the Ice Man, “and I shall be there to-morrow.” So
the messengers returned to their people, whom they found still gathered
helplessly about the great burning pit.
The next day while they were all watching about the fire there came a wind from
the north, and they were afraid, for they knew that it came from the Ice Man. But
the wind only made the fire blaze up higher. Then a light rain began to fall, but
the drops seemed only to make the fire hotter. Then the shower turned to a heavy
rain, with sleet and hail that killed the blaze and made clouds of smoke and
steam rise from the red coals. The people fled to their homes for shelter, and the
storm rose to a whirlwind that drove the rain into every burning crevice and
piled great hailstones over the embers, until the fire was dead and even the
smoke ceased. When at last it was all over and the people returned they found a
lake where the burning pit had been, and from below the water came a sound as
of embers still crackling.