“I am Winter, the lord of the earth,” he answered.
The young one laughed till the mountains rang:
“Are you really?” said he. “And I am Summer, the lord of the earth.”
They sat again for a while and measured each other with angry glances.
Then Winter said:
“I came out to meet you and talk to you. But I do not like you.”
“I came intending to talk you into your senses,” said Summer. “But I can hardly bear to look at you, you are so grim and ugly.”
“Shall we divide the earth between us?” asked Winter. “You come everywhere with your namby-pamby sunshine and melt my ice and plant your paltry flowers. I retaliate, as you know. I smother your creatures in snow and spoil your pleasure. We are both equally strong: shall we conclude a peace?”
“What would that lead to?” asked Summer, suspiciously.
“Each of us must keep to his own,” replied Winter. “I have my ice-castle in the North, where you can never come, and you have your sun-palace down in the South, where my sway does not reach. As we cannot bear the sight of each other, we had better lay a broad waste belt between our kingdoms.”