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22 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey - Ingersoll Lockwood · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two, The Palace of Ice in the golden sunlight,
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  Speaker 1: and what I imagined it might contain, how we were
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  Speaker 1: halted by a couple of quaintly clad sentinels, the coltiquerps
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  Speaker 1: his frigid majesty King Gelidus. More about the Ice Palace,
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  Speaker 1: together with the description of the throne room, our reception
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  Speaker 1: by the King and his daughter Schnimuleh brief mention of
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  Speaker 1: Bulbrain or Lord Hothead. Scarcely had I advanced a hundred
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  Speaker 1: yards beyond the portal where I had halted, When happening
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  Speaker 1: to turn my eyes to the other side, a sight
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  Speaker 1: met them, which sent a thrill of wonder and delight
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  Speaker 1: through my form. Thereupon the highest terrace stood a palace
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  Speaker 1: of ice, its slender minarets, its high lifted towers, its
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  Speaker 1: rounded turrets, its spacious platform, and its broad flights of steps,
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  Speaker 1: all glittering in the sunlight, as if gem studded and
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  Speaker 1: jewel set. It was a spectacle to stir them most
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  Speaker 1: indifferent heart, let alone one so full of ardor and
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  Speaker 1: buoyancy as mine. But ah, dear friends, even admitting that
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  Speaker 1: I can succeed in awakening in your minds, even a
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  Speaker 1: faint conception of the beauty of this ice palace, as
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  Speaker 1: the sunlight fell full upon it at that moment. How
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  Speaker 1: can I ever hope to give you an idea of
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  Speaker 1: the unearthly beauty of this palace of ice and its
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  Speaker 1: glorious surroundings. When the moon went up in the outer
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  Speaker 1: world at a later hour, and its pale, mysterious light
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  Speaker 1: was poured through the mighty lens in the mountain side
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  Speaker 1: and fell with celestial shimmer upon these walls of ice.
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  Speaker 1: But the one thought that oppressed me now was can
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  Speaker 1: this beautiful bode be without a tenant, without a living
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  Speaker 1: soul within its wonderful halls and chambers? Or may not
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  Speaker 1: its dwellers, overtaken by the pitiless cold, sit with wide
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  Speaker 1: opened eyes and icy glare stark as marble, in chairs
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  Speaker 1: of ice, white frosted hair pressed against ice see cushions,
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  Speaker 1: and hands stiffened around crystal cups filled with frozen wine
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  Speaker 1: of topaz hue, while the harper's fingers cling cramped to
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  Speaker 1: the wires, stiff as the wires themselves, and the last
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  Speaker 1: tones of the singer's voice lie in feathery crystals of
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  Speaker 1: frozen breath, white at his feet, Come what may? I
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  Speaker 1: resolved to lift the crystal knocker that might hang on
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  Speaker 1: the outer door of this palace of ice, and awaken
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  Speaker 1: the Castellan, if his slumber were not that of death.
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  Speaker 1: In a few moments, I had crossed the level space
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  Speaker 1: between me and the first terrace, which it would be
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  Speaker 1: necessary for me to scale in order to reach the second,
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  Speaker 1: and then third, upon which stood the palace of ice.
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  Speaker 1: Imagine my more than surprise upon finding myself now at
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  Speaker 1: the foot of a magnificent flight of steps hewn into
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  Speaker 1: the ice with a master hand, and leading to the
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  Speaker 1: terrace above. Springing lightly up this flight with vulgar close
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  Speaker 1: at my heels, I suddenly set eyes upon two of
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  Speaker 1: the quaintest looking humans beans that I ever remembered seeing
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  Speaker 1: in all my travels. They looked, for all the world
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  Speaker 1: like two big animated snowballs, being clad from top to
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  Speaker 1: toe in garments made of snow white fleece, their skull
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  Speaker 1: caps likewise of white fur, leaving only their faces visible.
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  Speaker 1: In his right hand, each of them carried a very
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  Speaker 1: prettily shaped flint axe mounted upon a helve of polished bone.
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  Speaker 1: Striding up to me and swinging their axes over my head,
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  Speaker 1: in altogether too close proximity to my pole to be
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  Speaker 1: particularly pleasant. One of them cries out, halt, sir, Unless
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  Speaker 1: his frigid Majesty Gelidus, king of the Cully Corpse awaits
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  Speaker 1: they coming. His guards will let a signal from us
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  Speaker 1: roll a few thousand tons of ice down upon thee.
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  Speaker 1: If thou darest proceed another step. Therefore, stand fast and
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  Speaker 1: tell us who thou art and whether thou art expected, gentlemen, said,
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  Speaker 1: I kindly lower those axes of yours, and I will
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  Speaker 1: convince you that his frigid Majesty hath nothing to dread
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  Speaker 1: in me, for I am none other than the very small,
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  Speaker 1: but very noble and very famous Sebastian von Trump, commonly
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  Speaker 1: known as the Little Baron. Never heard of thee in
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  Speaker 1: all my life, said both of the guards, as with
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  Speaker 1: one voice. But I have of you, gentlemen, I continued,
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  Speaker 1: for now I recollected what the learned Don Fume had
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  Speaker 1: said about the frozen land of the Colli Corps or
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  Speaker 1: cold bodies, And as proof of my peaceful intent, like
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  Speaker 1: a true knight, I now offer you my hand and
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  Speaker 1: beg that you will conduct me into the presence of
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  Speaker 1: his frigid majesty. No sooner had the guards standing next
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  Speaker 1: to me drawn off his glove and grasped my hand,
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  Speaker 1: than he let it loose again with a cry of
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  Speaker 1: fright zounds. Man art thou on fire? Why thy hand
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  Speaker 1: burned me like a flame of a lamp? Why no,
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  Speaker 1: my friend, I said quietly, that's my ordinary temperature. And
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  Speaker 1: thy companion hath even a warmer heart than I have?
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  Speaker 1: Was my reply. Well, our word for it, little baron,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed one of the guards with a chuckle. There will
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  Speaker 1: be no place for thee except in the meat quarry.
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  Speaker 1: Possibly after thou hast been cooled off for a week
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  Speaker 1: or so, his frigid majesty will be able to have
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  Speaker 1: thee about. This was not a very cheerful prospect, for
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  Speaker 1: I had no particular desire to be laid away in
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  Speaker 1: the royal ice box for a week or so. Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: the only thing to be done was to insist upon
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  Speaker 1: being conducted at once into the presence of the King
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  Speaker 1: of the Colti Corps, and abide by his decision. One
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  Speaker 1: of the guards, having saluted me by presenting his battle
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  Speaker 1: axe in real military style, faced about and began to
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  Speaker 1: ascend the grand staircase with intent to announce my arrival
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  Speaker 1: to his frigid majesty, while the other informed me that
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  Speaker 1: he would conduct me as far as the palace. I
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  Speaker 1: was wonder struck with the beauty of the three staircases
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  Speaker 1: leading up to the ice Palace, massive bolustrades with curiously
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  Speaker 1: carved bolasters springing from towering pedestals, crowned with beautiful lamps.
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  Speaker 1: All all, I say, all in everything to the crystal
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  Speaker 1: clear sides of the lamps themselves was fashioned from blocks
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  Speaker 1: of ice. It proved to be a good climb to
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  Speaker 1: the top of the third terrace, and I was not
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  Speaker 1: put out when the guard solemnly lowered his battle axe
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  Speaker 1: of flint to bring me to its standstill. The sun
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  Speaker 1: in the upper world was, no doubt nearing the horizon
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  Speaker 1: for a deep and beautiful twilight suddenly sank upon the
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  Speaker 1: icy dominions of King Gelidus, and to my surprise and delight,
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  Speaker 1: through the great slabs of crystal clear ice which served
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  Speaker 1: for windows to the palace, streamed a soft radiance, as
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  Speaker 1: if a thousand wax tapers were burning in the chambers
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  Speaker 1: and galleries indoors. It was a sight to gladden the
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  Speaker 1: eyes of any mortal. But if I had been spellbound
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  Speaker 1: by the beauty of its exterior, how shall I tell you,
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  Speaker 1: dear friends, of the curious splendor of the interior of
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  Speaker 1: Galadus's Palace of Ice as it burst upon me when
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  Speaker 1: I had crossed its threshold. Hallway led into hallway chain mber,
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  Speaker 1: opened into chamber, through portals, gracefully arched and winding staircases,
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  Speaker 1: climbing to upper rooms. While hanging from lofty ceilings or
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  Speaker 1: resting on graceful pedestals, were a thousand alabaster lamps shedding
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  Speaker 1: light and perfume upon this glorious home of his frigid majesty, Galileus,
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  Speaker 1: King of the Colti corpse, long rows of retainers, all
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  Speaker 1: in snow white fur, lying the wide hallway. As the
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  Speaker 1: guards conducted Bulgar and me into the palace and bowed
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  Speaker 1: in silence as we passed, to my more than wonder
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  Speaker 1: I saw that the inner rooms were most sumptuously furnished,
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  Speaker 1: chairs and divans being scattered here and there, all covered
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  Speaker 1: with superb skins of white fur, while the floor, too
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  Speaker 1: was carpeted with them. And as the soft radiance of
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  Speaker 1: the alabaster lamps fell upon these magnificent pelts, and set
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  Speaker 1: ten thousand jewels in the walls and ceilings of ice.
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  Speaker 1: I was ready to admit that I had never seen
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  Speaker 1: anything half so beautiful, and yet I was still outside
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  Speaker 1: the throne room of his frigid magic. At length we
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  Speaker 1: came to one end of a broad hallway, which seemed
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  Speaker 1: shut off from the rest of the palace by a
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  Speaker 1: wall thickly encrusted with strings of great diamonds, each as
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  Speaker 1: big as a goose egg, extending from the ceiling to
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  Speaker 1: the floor, and turning back the shimmer of the lamps
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  Speaker 1: with such a flood of crystalline radiance that my eyes
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  Speaker 1: involuntarily closed before it. Think of my amazement when the
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  Speaker 1: two guards, laying hold of this wall of jewels, as
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  Speaker 1: I deemed it, drew it to the right and left
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  Speaker 1: till there was room for me to pass. What I
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  Speaker 1: had taken for a wall of jewels was but a
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  Speaker 1: curtain made up of round bits of ice, strung upon strings,
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  Speaker 1: and hanging like a shower of diamonds there before me,
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  Speaker 1: as they glittered in the light of the lamps each
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  Speaker 1: side of them. I now stood in the throne room
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  Speaker 1: of his frigid majesty, the King of the Colti corpse.
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  Speaker 1: Now I realized that what I had seen elsewhere in
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  Speaker 1: his palace of Ice was, in reality but a sample
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  Speaker 1: of its magnificence. For here the splendor of King Gelidas's
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  Speaker 1: castle burst upon me in its fullest strength. Imagine a
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  Speaker 1: great round chamber lighted with the soft flames of perfumed
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  Speaker 1: oil streaming from a hundred alabaster lamps, the walls lined
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  Speaker 1: with broad divans covered with snow white pelts, the floors
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  Speaker 1: thickly carpeted with the same glorious rugs. While on one side,
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  Speaker 1: glittering in the shimmer of the hundred massive lamps, stands
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  Speaker 1: the icy throne of the King of the coltiqrks, decked
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  Speaker 1: with snow white skins, and he upon it with schniebouleeh
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  Speaker 1: his fair daughter sitting at his feet, and all around
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  Speaker 1: and about him, group wise a hundred coultiquorks, the King,
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  Speaker 1: the princess, and the courtiers, all clad in skins whiter
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  Speaker 1: than the driven snow. And you, dear friends, will have
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  Speaker 1: some faint idea of the splendor of the scene which
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  Speaker 1: burst upon me. As the two guards drew aside the
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  Speaker 1: strands of ice jewels at the end of the hallway
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  Speaker 1: in the Palace of Ice. Like all his subjects, King
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  Speaker 1: Gelidas looked out through the round window of his fur hood,
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  Speaker 1: just as a big, good natured boy does through his
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  Speaker 1: skating cap. The Colti Corps were not much taller than I,
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  Speaker 1: but were very stocky built, so that when broadened out
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  Speaker 1: by their thick fur suits, they really took on at
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  Speaker 1: times the appearance of animated snowballs. It would be hard
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  Speaker 1: for the fingers of the deftest hand to draw faces
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  Speaker 1: fuller of kindliness and good nature than those of the
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  Speaker 1: Colti corpse. Their small, honest gray eyes sparkled with a
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  Speaker 1: boniform glint, and so broad were their smiles that they
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  Speaker 1: were only about half visible through the round holes of
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  Speaker 1: their fur hoods. I was delighted with them from the
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  Speaker 1: very start, and the more so when I heard King
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  Speaker 1: Galidas cry out in a cheery voice, a right crisp
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  Speaker 1: and cold welcome to our icy court, little barren But
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  Speaker 1: from what our people jell us, thou earnest a pair
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  Speaker 1: of hands so hot that we beg thee to take
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  Speaker 1: a few days to cool off before thou touchest palms
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  Speaker 1: with any of the Colti corps. And we also beg
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  Speaker 1: thee to be careful and not to lean against any
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  Speaker 1: of our richly carved panels, or to slide down any
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  Speaker 1: of our highly polished railings, or to handle the strands
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  Speaker 1: of our jewels, or sit down for any length of
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  Speaker 1: time on the front steps of our palace. And we
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  Speaker 1: make the same request of thy four footed companion, who
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  Speaker 1: is said to be of even warmer disposition than thou.
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  Speaker 1: I bowed and kissed my hand to his frigid majesty,
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  Speaker 1: and assured him that I should make every effort to
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  Speaker 1: lower my temperature as speedily as possible, and in the
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  Speaker 1: meantime that I should be extremely careful not to come
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  Speaker 1: into contact with any of the artistic carving of his
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  Speaker 1: palace of ice. As I pronounced these words, the whole
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  Speaker 1: company began to clap their hands, and as they did so,
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  Speaker 1: a cold shiver ran down my back, for there was
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  Speaker 1: a sound, methought, very much like the rattling of dry
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  Speaker 1: bones to that applause. But I took good care not
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  Speaker 1: to let King Gelidus notice my fright. His frigid magicine
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  Speaker 1: now presented me to his daughter Shniboule, a pretty little
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  Speaker 1: maid of about sixteen crystal winters, with cheeks round as
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  Speaker 1: apples and as deeply dimpled as the furrows of a
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  Speaker 1: cross bun. Her eyes twinkled as she looked upon Vulgar
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  Speaker 1: and me, and turning to her frigid papa, she asked
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  Speaker 1: for leave to touch the tip end of my thumb, which,
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  Speaker 1: being done, she gave a squeaky little scream and began
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  Speaker 1: to blow on her tiny finger, as if I had
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  Speaker 1: blistered it. King Galidas also presented me to several of
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  Speaker 1: his court favorites, all men of the coldest blood in
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  Speaker 1: the nation. Their names were Jellikin, prostifs Icicle, and Glacier Boy.
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  Speaker 1: They were all dreadfully slow fingers when you questioned them
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  Speaker 1: very closely on any subject. It didn't take me very
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  Speaker 1: long to discover this. In fact, they requested me to
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  Speaker 1: be less warm in my manner and not to ask
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  Speaker 1: them any posers, as they invariably found that deep thought
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  Speaker 1: caused a rise in their temperature. This was, to be
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  Speaker 1: honest about it, very annoying to me, for you know,
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  Speaker 1: dear friends, what a load stone my mind is never asleep,
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  Speaker 1: always in a quiver like a mariner's compass, pointing this
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  Speaker 1: way and that, in search of the pole or star
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  Speaker 1: of wisdom. Upon making all my trouble to his frigid majesty,
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  Speaker 1: King Galidas, he most gracefully ordered one of his trusty
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  Speaker 1: attendants to conduct me to the triple walled ice cell
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  Speaker 1: of a certain Culti corp by the name of Bulabrain,
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  Speaker 1: that is literally boiling brain, a man who had been
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  Speaker 1: born with a hot head and consequently with a very
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  Speaker 1: active brain. For fifty years, King Gelidas had been doing
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  Speaker 1: his very best to refrigerate this subject of his, but
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  Speaker 1: without success. And as I was just bursting with impatience
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  Speaker 1: to ask a whole stirring of questions concerning the Colti corpse,
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  Speaker 1: you may imagine how delighted I was to make the
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  Speaker 1: acquaintance of Bulbraine, or Lord hot Head, as he was
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  Speaker 1: called among the Colti Corps. But dear friends, you must
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  Speaker 1: excuse me if I make this the end of the
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  Speaker 1: chapter and stop here for a brief rest. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two