“Those were not islands, my dear Pinocchio. They were icebergs. These great mountains of ice, when they come against each other, are broken into bits. See, all that is left of them are pieces of ice;” and Marsovino pointed to ice which was floating on the sea.
The next day Pinocchio had another surprise. In front of him, as far as he could see, was a city of ice. Everything was flat, everything was white.
Immense landscapes, snowy white, met his eye wherever he turned.
Mountains of ice could be seen in the distance. And, wonderful to see, the ice was so clear and transparent that it looked like glass. When the sun shone on it, it sparkled and showed all the colors of the rainbow.
Pinocchio thought himself in fairyland. But as he was looking, a strong wind rose suddenly; and then the icebergs fell and broke with deafening noise.
Finally, Marsovino thought it best to swim far under water. He was afraid of losing his life in the midst of all those icebergs.
Two days later the two boys rounded the southern point of Greenland. On the sandy shore of this island continent could be seen a large number of animals. They had round clumsy bodies, each having a small head with two small bright eyes. Where we have arms, they had what looked like very strong fins.
These animals were seals. Their bodies were covered with reddish-brown fur. Lying on the sand, they were enjoying the warmth of the sun. The young ones were playing with one another and enjoying themselves, too.
Pinocchio paid little attention to them. But suddenly out of the water came another band. The newcomers were somewhat different from the seals, but they belonged to the same family.