Once upon a time very strong giants lived on the high mountains of the
North lands. So fairy tales of the far north say. And according to those
tales, the giants pulled up great bits of earth leaving deep hollow
places between rocky walls. Water from the sea filled those hollow
places, so arms of the sea ran far back into the land. And those giants
also tore great rocks out of the earth and tossed them at each other in
their battles. So even the tops of the mountains are rough and uneven
with the holes they tore in the earth and huge rocks lie on the ground
where they tossed them.
Visitors to that part of Norway called Jotunheim, which means the “Home
of the Giants,” might believe that those fairy tales were true. For they
see the arms of the sea running between the mountain walls and the rough
land on top of the mountains. Surely none but giants’ hands could have
torn the land into such shapes!
[Illustration: FREDRIK]
But when they go to the tops of the mountains, they see some _real
giants_ like those which, long, long ago, did cut the land of Norway and
Sweden and Denmark into strange forms. Those giants are sheets of ice.
We call them glaciers. Before travelers in the mountains get near the
large ice-sheets, they see tongues of glaciers which look like rivers of
ice running down the side of the mountain.
Fredrik is a Norwegian boy who helps many travelers see a glacier. His
father drives an automobile for a large hotel in the mountains. He takes
the guests from the hotel to see the glacier. When Fredrik is not in
school, he goes with his father. Fredrik opens the many gates. For the
car must travel through lands which belong to different farmers. The
gates must be kept shut so that the cattle will not stray away from
their own land.
Fredrik often tells the visitors what caused those rivers of ice. Snow
and sleet fell on the mountains. The cold on the high peaks kept the
snow from melting away, so year after year the snow gathered there. The
load of snow became heavier and heavier. The snow melted a little, then
froze again, until it formed a great ice sheet which we call a glacier.
Some of the ice moved slowly down the mountain side. It formed the
rivers of ice which the travelers see on the mountain slopes. But as the
rivers of ice got lower down the mountain, the ice melted, but it melted
very, very slowly. Little by little, only a few inches a year, the river
of ice has moved back. As the ice moved down the slopes it carried under
it big rocks and fine gravel. Great heaps of the rock and gravel are
left behind when the ice melts. From those rocks men can tell just how
far the ice moves back each year.
[Illustration: WALKING ON A GLACIER]
Sometimes the ice melts in such a way that a cave is formed in the ice.
As the sun shines on the thin walls around the cave the colors on the
ice are very beautiful. The ice looks green, purple, and blue instead of
white like the rest of the glacier. Some bits of the ice hang down, or
stick up, like great icicles. The icicles too are bright colors in the
sunshine.
Sometimes visitors to the glacier go into the cave or walk about on the
ice. They do not stay long, for the ice cracks and pops and makes a
great deal of noise. The visitors are always told that pieces of ice
often break off the glacier and come sliding down.
Fredrik has been up to the top where the great ice-sheet lies for miles,
and miles, and miles. You may be sure that Fredrik was not alone on the
glacier. He went with a guide who knew where all the cracks in the ice
are. Walking on a glacier is dangerous for a person who does not know
the ice. The ice is most dangerous when soft snow covers the deep cracks
in the ice. Then a traveler may step on some soft snow and drop several
feet into the ice. But travelers say that a walk on a glacier is great
sport for people who have learned how to walk there. Many travelers from
different parts of the world go to Norway to climb glaciers.
Freezing and thawing made the rocks on the mountain crack and break. So
after the glaciers passed, the low places between the mountains were cut
deeper. Water from the sea came in to fill those low places and make the
fjords.
[Illustration: A NORWEGIAN FJORD]
So the great ice sheets were the _real_ giants that made the sharp peaks
of the mountains, the waterways, and the lakes of the north land.
Of course, much of the snow which falls on the mountains does melt and
run off in streams. Sometimes the rivers flow rapidly down steep slopes.
Sometimes the water tumbles over a high rocky bank and falls hundreds of
feet to land below.
The people of the north lands have put some of the falls to work. For
years the falling water has turned wheels that have run mills to grind
grain and to saw logs. But now the water of some of the great falls has
been turned into electricity. High in the mountains are large houses
where the water is made into the new power. From the power-houses
electricity is sent for miles and miles to light homes and to run
machines in factories. Norway has no coal. The Norwegians turn the water
into heat and power such as coal makes. Sometimes people in Norway call
the waterfalls their “white coal.” So waterfalls are also mountain
giants.
People who visit Norway and its mountains are almost sure to come away
believing in giants—but not _fairy-tale giants_.