The Story of the Blue Planet (14 page)
“But who will fetch them for me?”
“They’ll come if you call to them.”
“What a clever system,” said Jolly-Goodday, and he smiled. Then he became thoughtful again.
“I need servants and cooks!” he cried.
“No need,” said the children. “The fruit trees grow right up to your windows and you can reach out for pineapples or apples or oranges whenever you’re hungry.”
“And penguins lay their eggs in the palace courtyard. You can fry them.”
“And if I want meat?”
“Seals sleep on the beach. You can knock out a seal with your mace. You don’t want servants to use your mace, do you?” asked Hulda.
“No, I couldn’t allow that,” said Jolly-Goodday. “I use it to rule with.”
“And kings so enjoy hunting birds and deer and salmon. You don’t want servants to be doing that for you?”
“That’s true,” said Jolly-Goodday. “Only kings should hunt deer and salmon, not serving folk.”
Jolly-Goodday had yet another thought.
“But I need guards and soldiers,” he cried.
“We’re all such good friends that you don’t need soldiers,” said the children.
“That’s a clever idea,” said Jolly-Goodday. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Jolly-Goodday had another brainwave.
“But a chest of gold. Someone must make a chest and look for gold in the mountain and dig it up so it can be kept in the gold vault under my castle.”
“But you’re the king of the mountain and it’s much safer to keep the gold where no one knows where it is. Then you can be sure no one could ever find it.”
“What another clever system,” replied Jolly-Goodday. “I’m certainly the wisest and cleverest king in the world.”
The children smiled at each other and then Jolly-Goodday had another thought and called out of his tower window, “But where am I to keep the rest of the youth? The tank in the spaceship could rust and disintegrate after I’ve moved into the castle.”
“You’re king over us so it will be by far the safest to keep youth in the deep well of our hearts. Then there’ll be more than a hundred subjects safeguarding it.”
Jolly-Goodday beamed.
“That’s a brilliantly good idea. Then no one can take it from you.”
Jolly-Goodday let the children have all their youth back and the wells in their hearts were as full as they had been before. Their skins were as smooth as a baby’s bottom and their hair as yellow as a sandy beach, as black as a raven, or as red as fire. The children were smiling from ear to ear in the sunshine, but Brimir was still worried.
“What about the children in the darkness?” he whispered.
“Don’t worry,” said Hulda. “Isn’t everything perfect now, Jolly-Goodday?”
Jolly-Goodday thought and thought. At last he called out through the window, “Everything’s perfect!”
“Aren’t you king of the moon and stars and clouds?” asked Hulda.
“Yes, I most certainly am,” said Jolly-Goodday.
“But how can you keep an eye on the moon and stars when the sun is fixed with a nail over the island, and how can you see your clouds when the wolf drives them away?”
Jolly-Goodday had a good think about that.
“I must remove the nail from the sun and kill the wolf,” said Jolly-Goodday. “Then I’ll be able to see the moon and stars and clouds.”
Jolly-Goodday was delighted over this brilliant plan of his.
“I’m undoubtedly the wisest king who has ever ruled over this island.”
Jolly-Goodday went out into the palace courtyard and shouted up into the air, “
WOLF! WOLF! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!”
Then came the most awful growl that had ever been heard as the wolf shot across the sky and hovered over them. Jolly-Goodday took out his most powerful vacuum cleaner and pointed it at the wolf so that it was sucked up the tube. Then only a faint howl could be heard from within the vacuum cleaner. And since that day a faint howling moan can always be heard within vacuum cleaners.
“Hooray for Jolly-Goodday!” shouted the children.
Quite soon clouds started coming cautiously over the island again. Some were like woolly lambs and others like flying swans, and many like camels that keep water in their humps. Jolly-Goodday took out his long ladder and rested it against a cloud that looked like a whale. His Majesty Jolly-Goodday climbed up into the sky with a gigantic crowbar and removed the nail from the sun.
“Hooray, the sun’s free!” shouted the children.
Now the day was no longer permanent. The sun continued its journey across the sky and disappeared at last beyond the horizon. The kids strained their ears.
“Sssh …”
And at last they all heard the sound they had been waiting for. From far in the distance, they first heard a cry of amazement, and then an unbelievable shout of joy.
“HooRAY!
HooRAY!
HooRAY!”
The cheering carried from the dark side of the blue planet, which was now no longer dark. The children there were welcoming the sun for the first time in a long time.
“Now the children in the darkness will be happy,” said Hulda smiling. “Because now they’re the children in the light.”
The moon rose and lit up the stars. Then the voice of his majesty Jolly-Goodday could be heard from his tower window:
“Subjects! Is no one going to amuse me?”
The children sat on the beach around a campfire and recited to each other poems or fairy tales about space monsters.
“We’re not important enough to step inside the palace,” cried Hulda.
“Come and join us by the fire, we’ll tell you fairy tales,” said Brimir.
His Majesty Jolly-Goodday came and sat with the children by the fire. They told him stories and fairy tales all night, and he told them about the distant stars he had visited. They then all fell asleep in the warm sand by the fire and dreamed amazing dreams. When the children woke up the next day, the air was full of fluttering butterflies in thousands of colors. No one said a word except Jolly-Goodday, who just smiled and whispered:
“Oh, what delightful beauty.”
ANDRI SNÆR MAGNASON is one of Iceland’s most celebrated young writers. In 2002
LoveStar
was named “Novel of the Year” by Icelandic booksellers and received the DV Literary Award and a nomination to the Icelandic Literary Prize.
The Story of the Blue Planet
—now published or performed in 22 countries—was the first children’s book to receive the Icelandic Literary Prize and was also the recipient of the Janusz Korczak Honorary Award and the West Nordic Children’s Book Prize. Andri is the winner of the 2010 Kairos Award.
ÁSLAUG JÓNSDÓTTIR is an illustrator, author of children’s books, artist, and graphic designer. She has written and illustrated several books for children, amongst them
The Egg (Eggið
, 2003),
I Want Fish! (Ég vil fisk!
2007), and the award-winning
Good Evening
(Gott kvöld
, 2005), which received The Bookseller’s Prize as the best children’s book of 2005, The Icelandic Illustration Award, The Reykjavik Educational Council Children’s Book Prize, and was nominated for The Nordic Children’s Book Award.
JULIAN MELDON D’ARCY is Professor of English Literature at the University of Iceland. He has written books on Scottish literature and sports, and has translated novels, poetry, and films from Icelandic, including the children’s books
Flowers on the Roof
and
The Fisherman’s Boy and the Seal
.
Table of Contents
The Great Flying Competition and into the Blue
Hairy Spiders and Poisonous Insects