Neva and the Ice Dragon

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a brave and wise princess named Neva who lived in a castle with her family on the Norwegian island of Jan Mayen. This beautiful island had been formed by the eruption of a volcano long ago before anyone in the castle could remember, and even before their grandparents’ grandparents could remember. The island now was covered in rich fertile soil and Neva’s family and friends who lived in the castle made a living farming the rich soil and selling their produce to fishermen and explorers who stopped at the island to replenish their food stores. They were especially renowned for a special fruit called Song Fruit that grew only on Jan Mayen. It tasted a little like strawberry and a little like vanilla but it was shaped like an orange and had a fuzzy skin like a kiwi. It was called song fruit because when it was ripe and ready to pick the fruit would hum a little song like this ::insert Maked Up intro music::. After it was picked the song would fade away until someone took a bite, and then that person would hear the song playing again inside their head. 

Unlike most castles that are made of stone, the castle on Jan Mayen was made of wood from a special tree that also grew only on Jan Mayen. The special thing about this tree, aside from it being stunningly beautiful, was that it would continue growing even after it had been cut down and sawed up. If you burned the special wood in a fireplace, the fire would last forever until it was put out because even as it burned the tree would continue to grow and feed the fire. Buildings made from the special wood would also continue to grow. In fact, the castle that Neva lived in had started many many years ago as a humble one room cottage. As the wood continued to grow it formed more rooms, corridors, and ornate towers in unusual shapes that could never have been made from regular non-growing wood and were a wonder to behold. As Neva’s family grew the castle grew with them, forming rooms for new children that would be born or for friends who came to visit and often never left because they were so comfortable in the beautiful growing castle. 

Life in the castle and on Jan Mayen was joyous and almost free from care, and the people lived there happily together in the castle build from the special wood, warmed by its everlasting fires and eating the special fruits which brought a song to their hearts. They passed their days in merriment chatting with one another, eating delicious food, greeting the visitors who came to trade and taste the special fruit, playing games and telling real and made up stories about their lives and the world around them. But I said their life was almost free from care - there was one thing that worried them a little bit, and that was the ice dragon that was rumored to live in a certain crystal cave at the very peak of Jan Mayen. Their stories told them that the ice dragon was jealous of the crystals in the cave and would turn anyone who dared to enter into ice. So although the people of Jan Mayen admired the beautiful crystals they could see from the entrance of the cave no one ever dared to venture inside because to do so would certainly incur the wrath of the ice dragon. 

One day, all of that changed. The day started much like any other. Neva enjoyed breakfast as usual at the extremely long table that the castle had created to seat all of its residents. As usual, each person living in the castle had cooked a special food to share over breakfast and Neva had made a pie out of the special fruit. Each time someone cut a piece of the pie the song of the fruit could be faintly heard. Her best friend Doria had made a hot chocolate that warmed you from the top of your head to the very tips of your toes on the first sip. And her mother had made boiled eggs that when you opened them had gooey honey where the yolk should be. After a delicious feast, Neva and Doria filled their knapsacks with snacks and took off for a hike up to the top of the sleepy old volcano that had formed Jan Mayen so many years ago. The hike to the top of the mountain was long and steep but with delicious snacks to fuel their journey and conversation and the lively birds forest creatures of Jan Mayen to entertain them they hardly noticed and soon found themselves at the summit of the mountain, looking down into the heart of the sleeping volcano. Although it was a chilly day the air up here was pleasantly warm, and after a picnic lunch they laid down to nap. 

They were awakened from their naps by a slight earthquake, which didn’t scare them because earthquakes were common on the island. But as they were gazing down into the crater of the volcano they realized that it had woken up too - steam was coming up from the ground and as they watched red lava began to appear as well. They knew they must go back to the castle and warn the others, because surely their parents would know what to do. As they hurried down though, they saw that lava was beginning to make its way down the hill toward them and they decided they would need to find shelter. The problem is that the only shelter available on that part of the mountain was the crystal cave, and although they had never seen the ice dragon the stories had taught them to fear the ice dragon. But Neva, being both brave and wise, knew that it would be far better to go into the crystal cave that for all they knew was only scary because of a made up story, than to face the lava, so in they went. As soon as they entered the cave they were entranced by the beautiful glow of the crystals and strangely they began to hear the same song that they knew so well as the song of the special fruit. Encouraged, they ventured further into the cave. Perhaps there would be another way out that would allow them to safely return to the castle. 

As they rounded a corner lit by gorgeous glowing purple crystals, the girls were surprised to come across the most beautiful creature they had ever seen. It was very big and covered in sparkly feathers. It had large fluffy eyebrows, droopy ears and a long snout with flared nostrils at the end. It looked at them quizzically then smiled, cleared its throat, and then to their surprise said “oh hello! Please pardon my rudeness as I was not expecting visitors. Can I offer you some tea? I’m Ilara” The girls just stared the creature in confusion - they had never seen an animal like this before but everyone knows animals can’t talk. The creature said, “You’re terribly quiet - are you quite well?” At this Neva recovered her manners and said, “sorry - we are just a bit startled. We thought only the ice dragon lived in this cave.” The creature smiled warmly and said, “But you silly, I am the ice dragon Ilara. Look!” and she unfurled the most beautiful wings the girls had ever seen. They were very delicate - almost see-through, and luminous like they had been sprinkled with glitter. 

The girls had been worried about encountering the ice dragon in their stories and were relieved to have now met the real ice dragon and seen that she was nice. Neva explained the confusion and the ice dragon began to appear concerned. “Oh dear,” she said. “The last time someone had a visitor had a terrible cold and sneezed a column of ice right around his feet. It was really so rude of me but I couldn’t help it. I apologized but he left in a hurry. I must have frightened him. Have I been sleeping long?” “Sleeping?” Neva asked? The dragon explained that ice dragons are very social but terribly sleepy creatures and can sleep for hundreds or even thousands of years if they have no visitors. “I need visitors you see,” said the ice dragon, “because without them I could sleep right through my duties and then where would we be?” “Your duties?” asked Neva. “You really don’t know much about ice dragons do you!” said Ilara. “It’s my job to keep the volcano asleep!”

With this the girls, who had been momentarily distracted by this strange and unexpected encounter with an ice dragon who was entirely different from what they had learned to expect, remembered the danger that had driven them to brave the crystal cave in the first place. “The volcano!” Doria exclaimed. “It’s awake already!” Neva added. Ilaria’s brow furrowed. “Then we have no time to waste. Quick, onto my back.”

Neva and Doria climbed onto Ilara’s back, holding on tightly, and the ice dragon moved quickly and deftly out of the cave, ducking low in the narrow places to ensure the girls were safe on his back. Once out of the cave they could see how quickly the lava had progressed and that if it went much further it would even threaten the castle. Ilara wasted no time, swooping up and down the slope of the volcano emitting icy breaths that froze the lava in its tracks and turning it from red molten rock to beautiful sparkly white ice and snow. It was hard work but soon the lava had been stopped and the volcano was quiet again. Ilara flew down to the castle where Neva and Doria’s families were waiting, relieved to see that the girls had escaped the eruption unscathed. Neva explained the misunderstanding and that the community’s longstanding fear of the crystal cave and the ice dragon was the result of a simple misunderstanding. The community prepared a giant feast and celebrated the taming of the volcano with winter games like skiing, luge and ice hockey. The castle, sensing the importance of the event, grew a wooden ice dragon statue over its grand entrance surrounded with yellow roses symbolizing the lasting friendship between the ice dragon and the castle dwellers of Jan Mayen. From that day and ever onward, on the first day of winter it became the tradition of that community to send its children up to the crystal cave to wake the ice dragon to ensure that the volcano remains forever sleeping. As a result, visitors to Jan Mayen today will see that the summit is perpetually covered in a thick layer of snow and ice. This coating is the result of the hard work of the ice dragon with the support of the castled dwellers who together ensure that he will never oversleep again.