Latest / Adventure Books Library / 22 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey
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- Chapter twenty two, The Palace of Ice in the golden sunlight, and what I imagined it might contain, how we were halted by a couple of quaintly clad sentinels, the coltiquerps his frigid majesty King Gelidus. More about the Ice Palace, together with the description of the throne room, our reception by the King and his daughter Schnimuleh brief mention of Bulbrain or Lord Hothead. Scarcely had I advanced a hundred yards beyond the portal where I had halted, When happening to turn my eyes to the other side, a sight met them, which sent a thrill of wonder and delight through my form. Thereupon the highest terrace stood a palace of ice, its slender minarets, its high lifted towers, its rounded turrets, its spacious platform, and its broad flights of steps, all glittering in the sunlight, as if gem studded and jewel set. It was a spectacle to stir them most indifferent heart, let alone one so full of ardor and buoyancy as mine. But ah, dear friends, even admitting that I can succeed in awakening in your minds, even a faint conception of the beauty of this ice palace, as the sunlight fell full upon it at that moment. How can I ever hope to give you an idea of the unearthly beauty of this palace of ice and its glorious surroundings. When the moon went up in the outer world at a later hour, and its pale, mysterious light was poured through the mighty lens in the mountain side and fell with celestial shimmer upon these walls of ice. But the one thought that oppressed me now was can this beautiful bode be without a tenant, without a living soul within its wonderful halls and chambers? Or may not its dwellers, overtaken by the pitiless cold, sit with wide opened eyes and icy glare stark as marble, in chairs of ice, white frosted hair pressed against ice see cushions, and hands stiffened around crystal cups filled with frozen wine of topaz hue, while the harper's fingers cling cramped to the wires, stiff as the wires themselves, and the last tones of the singer's voice lie in feathery crystals of frozen breath, white at his feet, Come what may? I resolved to lift the crystal knocker that might hang on the outer door of this palace of ice, and awaken the Castellan, if his slumber were not that of death. In a few moments, I had crossed the level space between me and the first terrace, which it would be necessary for me to scale in order to reach the second, and then third, upon which stood the palace of ice. Imagine my more than surprise upon finding myself now at the foot of a magnificent flight of steps hewn into the ice with a master hand, and leading to the terrace above. Springing lightly up this flight with vulgar close at my heels, I suddenly set eyes upon two of the quaintest looking humans beans that I ever remembered seeing in all my travels. They looked, for all the world like two big animated snowballs, being clad from top to toe in garments made of snow white fleece, their skull caps likewise of white fur, leaving only their faces visible. In his right hand, each of them carried a very prettily shaped flint axe mounted upon a helve of polished bone. Striding up to me and swinging their axes over my head, in altogether too close proximity to my pole to be particularly pleasant. One of them cries out, halt, sir, Unless his frigid Majesty Gelidus, king of the Cully Corpse awaits they coming. His guards will let a signal from us roll a few thousand tons of ice down upon thee. If thou darest proceed another step. Therefore, stand fast and tell us who thou art and whether thou art expected, gentlemen, said, I kindly lower those axes of yours, and I will convince you that his frigid Majesty hath nothing to dread in me, for I am none other than the very small, but very noble and very famous Sebastian von Trump, commonly known as the Little Baron. Never heard of thee in all my life, said both of the guards, as with one voice. But I have of you, gentlemen, I continued, for now I recollected what the learned Don Fume had said about the frozen land of the Colli Corps or cold bodies, And as proof of my peaceful intent, like a true knight, I now offer you my hand and beg that you will conduct me into the presence of his frigid majesty. No sooner had the guards standing next to me drawn off his glove and grasped my hand, than he let it loose again with a cry of fright zounds. Man art thou on fire? Why thy hand burned me like a flame of a lamp? Why no, my friend, I said quietly, that's my ordinary temperature. And thy companion hath even a warmer heart than I have? Was my reply. Well, our word for it, little baron, exclaimed one of the guards with a chuckle. There will be no place for thee except in the meat quarry. Possibly after thou hast been cooled off for a week or so, his frigid majesty will be able to have thee about. This was not a very cheerful prospect, for I had no particular desire to be laid away in the royal ice box for a week or so. Anyway, the only thing to be done was to insist upon being conducted at once into the presence of the King of the Colti Corps, and abide by his decision. One of the guards, having saluted me by presenting his battle axe in real military style, faced about and began to ascend the grand staircase with intent to announce my arrival to his frigid majesty, while the other informed me that he would conduct me as far as the palace. I was wonder struck with the beauty of the three staircases leading up to the ice Palace, massive bolustrades with curiously carved bolasters springing from towering pedestals, crowned with beautiful lamps. All all, I say, all in everything to the crystal clear sides of the lamps themselves was fashioned from blocks of ice. It proved to be a good climb to the top of the third terrace, and I was not put out when the guard solemnly lowered his battle axe of flint to bring me to its standstill. The sun in the upper world was, no doubt nearing the horizon for a deep and beautiful twilight suddenly sank upon the icy dominions of King Gelidus, and to my surprise and delight, through the great slabs of crystal clear ice which served for windows to the palace, streamed a soft radiance, as if a thousand wax tapers were burning in the chambers and galleries indoors. It was a sight to gladden the eyes of any mortal. But if I had been spellbound by the beauty of its exterior, how shall I tell you, dear friends, of the curious splendor of the interior of Galadus's Palace of Ice as it burst upon me when I had crossed its threshold. Hallway led into hallway chain mber, opened into chamber, through portals, gracefully arched and winding staircases, climbing to upper rooms. While hanging from lofty ceilings or resting on graceful pedestals, were a thousand alabaster lamps shedding light and perfume upon this glorious home of his frigid majesty, Galileus, King of the Colti corpse, long rows of retainers, all in snow white fur, lying the wide hallway. As the guards conducted Bulgar and me into the palace and bowed in silence as we passed, to my more than wonder I saw that the inner rooms were most sumptuously furnished, chairs and divans being scattered here and there, all covered with superb skins of white fur, while the floor, too was carpeted with them. And as the soft radiance of the alabaster lamps fell upon these magnificent pelts, and set ten thousand jewels in the walls and ceilings of ice. I was ready to admit that I had never seen anything half so beautiful, and yet I was still outside the throne room of his frigid magic. At length we came to one end of a broad hallway, which seemed shut off from the rest of the palace by a wall thickly encrusted with strings of great diamonds, each as big as a goose egg, extending from the ceiling to the floor, and turning back the shimmer of the lamps with such a flood of crystalline radiance that my eyes involuntarily closed before it. Think of my amazement when the two guards, laying hold of this wall of jewels, as I deemed it, drew it to the right and left till there was room for me to pass. What I had taken for a wall of jewels was but a curtain made up of round bits of ice, strung upon strings, and hanging like a shower of diamonds there before me, as they glittered in the light of the lamps each side of them. I now stood in the throne room of his frigid majesty, the King of the Colti corpse. Now I realized that what I had seen elsewhere in his palace of Ice was, in reality but a sample of its magnificence. For here the splendor of King Gelidas's castle burst upon me in its fullest strength. Imagine a great round chamber lighted with the soft flames of perfumed oil streaming from a hundred alabaster lamps, the walls lined with broad divans covered with snow white pelts, the floors thickly carpeted with the same glorious rugs. While on one side, glittering in the shimmer of the hundred massive lamps, stands the icy throne of the King of the coltiqrks, decked with snow white skins, and he upon it with schniebouleeh his fair daughter sitting at his feet, and all around and about him, group wise a hundred coultiquorks, the King, the princess, and the courtiers, all clad in skins whiter than the driven snow. And you, dear friends, will have some faint idea of the splendor of the scene which burst upon me. As the two guards drew aside the strands of ice jewels at the end of the hallway in the Palace of Ice. Like all his subjects, King Gelidas looked out through the round window of his fur hood, just as a big, good natured boy does through his skating cap. The Colti Corps were not much taller than I, but were very stocky built, so that when broadened out by their thick fur suits, they really took on at times the appearance of animated snowballs. It would be hard for the fingers of the deftest hand to draw faces fuller of kindliness and good nature than those of the Colti corpse. Their small, honest gray eyes sparkled with a boniform glint, and so broad were their smiles that they were only about half visible through the round holes of their fur hoods. I was delighted with them from the very start, and the more so when I heard King Galidas cry out in a cheery voice, a right crisp and cold welcome to our icy court, little barren But from what our people jell us, thou earnest a pair of hands so hot that we beg thee to take a few days to cool off before thou touchest palms with any of the Colti corps. And we also beg thee to be careful and not to lean against any of our richly carved panels, or to slide down any of our highly polished railings, or to handle the strands of our jewels, or sit down for any length of time on the front steps of our palace. And we make the same request of thy four footed companion, who is said to be of even warmer disposition than thou. I bowed and kissed my hand to his frigid majesty, and assured him that I should make every effort to lower my temperature as speedily as possible, and in the meantime that I should be extremely careful not to come into contact with any of the artistic carving of his palace of ice. As I pronounced these words, the whole company began to clap their hands, and as they did so, a cold shiver ran down my back, for there was a sound, methought, very much like the rattling of dry bones to that applause. But I took good care not to let King Gelidus notice my fright. His frigid magicine now presented me to his daughter Shniboule, a pretty little maid of about sixteen crystal winters, with cheeks round as apples and as deeply dimpled as the furrows of a cross bun. Her eyes twinkled as she looked upon Vulgar and me, and turning to her frigid papa, she asked for leave to touch the tip end of my thumb, which, being done, she gave a squeaky little scream and began to blow on her tiny finger, as if I had blistered it. King Galidas also presented me to several of his court favorites, all men of the coldest blood in the nation. Their names were Jellikin, prostifs Icicle, and Glacier Boy. They were all dreadfully slow fingers when you questioned them very closely on any subject. It didn't take me very long to discover this. In fact, they requested me to be less warm in my manner and not to ask them any posers, as they invariably found that deep thought caused a rise in their temperature. This was, to be honest about it, very annoying to me, for you know, dear friends, what a load stone my mind is never asleep, always in a quiver like a mariner's compass, pointing this way and that, in search of the pole or star of wisdom. Upon making all my trouble to his frigid majesty, King Galidas, he most gracefully ordered one of his trusty attendants to conduct me to the triple walled ice cell of a certain Culti corp by the name of Bulabrain, that is literally boiling brain, a man who had been born with a hot head and consequently with a very active brain. For fifty years, King Gelidas had been doing his very best to refrigerate this subject of his, but without success. And as I was just bursting with impatience to ask a whole stirring of questions concerning the Colti corpse, you may imagine how delighted I was to make the acquaintance of Bulbraine, or Lord hot Head, as he was called among the Colti Corps. But dear friends, you must excuse me if I make this the end of the chapter and stop here for a brief rest. End of Chapter twenty two