jala I saw the sun at noon; it was hardly above the
horizon; it had barely risen and shown itself when it was sunset and it
disappeared under the horizon.

Then came a long snowstorm, and for a wonder one without a gale. After
the snowstorm the sky suddenly cleared, and at noon I saw the sun's
lower rim touching the horizon. It was of a fiery red. Then after a
while it disappeared.

The next day only the upper half of the sun was above the horizon at
noon, and just as the rim was ready to sink I fancied I heard the sun
say to me: "To-morrow you will not see me; then you will have entered
'The Land of the Long Night,' and when you go further and further north
you will be in that land. Good-bye, good-bye."

Then I thought I heard the "Long Night" say to me: "For one night of six
months I rule at the North Pole. Then I am most powerful. In the course
of countless years I have frozen the sea and I have built a wall of ice
so thick, and so broad, and so hard, that no vessel will ever be strong
enough to break through, and no man will ever reach the pole. I guard
the approach to the pole and watch carefully the wall of ice I have
built around it. When the sun drives me away and rules in his turn one
day of six months at the pole (for the whole year is equally divided
between us), he tries with his steady heat to destroy the wall I have
built. On my return I repair the damage the sun has done and make the
wall as strong as it was before. I send terrific gales and mighty
snowstorms over oceans and lands, and even far to the south of my
dominion, for my power is so great that it is felt beyond my realm."

There was a pause; then I thought I heard the sardonic laugh of the
"Long Night." I shuddered when I remembered the words the "Long Night"
had just spoken, and the laugh had in it something sinister. I fancied I
saw the dim figure of a woman with long flowing hair standing at the
pole, looking towards me. She was the "Long Night." I remembered the
names of the valiant and daring commanders who had led expeditions
towards the North Pole, and had perished in their endeavors with the
gallant men who had trusted and followed them.

Then I thought of the brave explorers who had followed in their wake
with better fortune, for their lives had been spared, though they failed
to reach the pole. The wall the "Long Night" had built could not be
passed.

As these thoughts came over me, I exclaimed: "'Long Night,' great and
terrible