“Thank you; may I wander onward?”
“Ay! Few come here to break my repose. I live here alone. Continue your journey onwards towards Moonrise, and you will see all you want.”
“Shall I see everything, O King Frost?”
“Nay, that will depend on yourself. If you can fling away from you every thought that is not fit for the pure mind of an innocent child, then shall you behold wonders.”
“Alas! great King, I am afraid I cannot do that. Who can, who can? In my youth I never heard of this glorious Fairyland. Childhood, young manhood, mature age, were all spent by me in getting and hoarding money; and now the time is drawing near when I must depart; but ere I go I want to view the silver mosses and green slopes of these regions.”
The old man bent low before the Ice Monarch, whose cold blue eyes changed to flashing steel.
Australian Fairy Tales] [Page 266.
“The old man bent low before the ice monarch.”
“I can help you,” he answered. “Come here, and let me touch your forehead. If you wish it in your heart, I will draw from you your memories and thoughts, and send you a child into Fairyland. [[267]]Your past will lie here for you in my ice cave, a burden or a blessing, for you to resume as you go out.”