THE LAST DAYS OF THE SUN.--BEGINNING OF THE LONG NIGHT.--A MIGHTY WALL
OF ICE.--THE LONG NIGHT'S WARNING VOICE.--THE AURORA BOREALIS AND
ITS MAGNIFICENCE.
The day I left Pajala 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 indeed has been the loss of life among those who have tried to
reach the pole, but the ingenuity of man is great, and in spite of the
ice barrier thou hast built around it we have not lost hope that man by
some device of his own may yet be able to reach the pole."
After uttering these words I imagined I heard, again coming from the far
north, another laugh of the "Long Night." It seemed like a laugh of
defiance in response to what I had said.
Near me was a forest of tall fir trees; looking up I saw the great blue
of heaven studded all over with brilliant stars shining down upon the
snow-covered land where I was.
The next day the sun did not appear. I was now in "The Land of the Long
Night." It was strange now to see stars all the time, and the moon in
the place of the sun. The great pines and fir trees of the forest
contrasted strongly with the snow of the land.
The sun had disappeared below the horizon, but in clear days its glow
could be seen. I could not tell the hour of the day, for the stars set
and rose in continuous succession in this kingdom of the "Long Night." I
did not know when it was morning or when it was evening, but in fine
weather the glow over the horizon told me when it was about noon. It was
indeed a strange land; but the Lapps could tell from the stars whether
it was night or day, for they were accustomed to gauge time by them
according to their height above the horizon, just as we do at home with
the sun. I had my watch, but could not look at it often, for it was
under my garments.
For many days the land was illuminated for a while every night by the
aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. Sometimes the aurora seemed to
imitate the waves of the sea and moved like big heavy swells, changing
colors, bluish, white, violet, green, orange. These colors seemed to
blend together. Then the heaving mass would become gradually intensely
red. This red mass broke into fragments which scattered themselves all
over the blue sky. It gave its reflection to the snow. It was the end of
the aurora or electric storm. They were never twice alike; they varied
in forms and colors. The auroras are like everything in creation: on our
earth there not two men or women exactly alike, there are not two leaves
alike, two blades of grass, two trees, two stones alike, neither two
waves, for the sea is ever changing in its ripples.