sometimes allows herself to be carried by the keen wind to the lofty snow-
fields, where she stretches herself in the sunshine on the soft snowy-
cushions. From thence she throws her far-seeing glance into the deep valley
beneath, where human beings are busily moving about like ants on a stone
in the sun. “Spirits of strength, as the children of the sun call you,” cried the
Ice Maiden, “ye are but worms! Let but a snow-ball roll, and you and your
houses and your towns are crushed and swept away.” And she raised her
proud head, and looked around her with eyes that flashed death from their
glance. From the valley came a rumbling sound; men were busily at work
blasting the rocks to form tunnels, and laying down roads for the railway.
“They are playing at work underground, like moles,” said she. “They are
digging passages beneath the earth, and the noise is like the reports of
cannons. I shall throw down my palaces, for the clamor is louder than the
roar of thunder.” Then there ascended from the valley a thick vapor, which
waved itself in the air like a fluttering veil. It rose, as a plume of feathers,
from a steam engine, to which, on the lately-opened railway, a string of
carriages was linked, carriage to carriage, looking like a winding serpent.
The train shot past with the speed of an arrow. “They play at being masters
down there, those spirits of strength!” exclaimed the Ice Maiden; “but the
powers of nature are still the rulers.” And she laughed and sang till her
voice sounded through the valley, and people said it was the rolling of an
avalanche. But the children of the sun sang in louder strains in praise of the
mind of man, which can span the sea as with a yoke, can level mountains,
and fill up valleys. It is the power of thought which gives man the mastery
over nature.
Just at this moment there came across the snow-field, where the Ice
Maiden sat, a party of travellers. They had bound themselves fast to each
other, so that they looked like one large body on the slippery plains of ice
encircling the deep abyss.
“Worms!” exclaimed the Ice Maiden. “You, the lords of the powers of
nature!” And she turned away and looked maliciously at the deep valley
where the railway train was rushing by. “There they sit, these thoughts!” she
