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a subsidiary of VEMAG Verlags- und Medien
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Stories written by Annette Huber, Doris Jäckle, Sabine Streufert
Translation from German: Allison Heinen
Complete production: Schwager & Steinlein Verlag GmbH
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-3-8155-8796-6
Too Cold for Adelie
Annette Huber
A Test of Courage for Little Wolf
Sabine Streufert
The Ghost and the Mermaid
Doris Jäckle
Old Maria and the Clever Crows
Annette Huber
The Monster in the Kitchen
Sabine Streufert
The Jealous Broomstick
Doris Jäckle
Mr Grey and Squawk the Parrot
Annette Huber
Flocky’s Circus Adventure
Sabine Streufert
The Sad Princess
Doris Jäckle
Kiki Keck Wants Peace and Quiet
Annette Huber
Star Fairies and Space Mice
Sabine Streufert
Lilly in the Land of Dreams
Doris Jäckle
The Secret Queen
Annette Huber
Authors
Illustrator
At the edge of the Antarctic, where the land tails off into a sea of icebergs, there lived a penguin colony, home to a couple of thousand birds. In the southernmost part of the world it is so cold that the snow never melts, instead it becomes hard pack ice which slowly forms into mountains. It’s so cold that there’s no soil, and no trees, just rocks and ice, ice, and more ice. And the wild Polar Wind sweeps relentlessly over the never-ending plains.
In October, just as spring had finally come to the South Pole, a mother penguin laid an egg. She and the father penguin brooded over it patiently, keeping it warm under the thick, cosy feathers of their tummies. In summer, when it finally hatched, out came a little fluffy penguin girl!
“Hello! There you are, at last!” squawked the penguin parents with joy, and they named their baby, Adelie. The parents fed Adelie several times a day with little fish and crabs.
“Eat child, so that you’re big and strong by the time Winter comes,” said her mother.
“What is Winter?” asked Adelie, cuddling up against her mother’s warm tummy.
“Winter is a long, dark time of year, when the sun doesn’t shine and there isn’t much to eat. It’s when the wind howls so dreadfully, and snow falls continually from the sky.”
“That sounds horrible,” said Adelie. “I’m freezing cold already!”
“Penguins can’t freeze,” said her father, firmly. “Come on Adelie, it’s time for you to learn to swim. You’ll like it, it’s warmer in the water than out here!”
It was surprisingly pleasant in the water. Adelie learnt to dive and caught her first fish. But as soon as she came out the water and climbed back onto land, she started to feel terribly cold again.
Then, in March, the days started getting shorter again. Before long, the sun only came out for a few hours a day, and its rays were weak and unable to give out much warmth anymore. Snow started falling in big fat flakes and the wind howled.
Poor Adelie. Her beak shivered and shook, and she hopped from one flipper to the other.
“What’s wrong with the poor child?” her parents asked themselves.
All the other penguins in the colony started gossiping about her. “See that girl there, she’s freezing! What a disgrace!”
One day, as Adelie was standing on a cliff, looking sadly out to sea, she suddenly caught sight of something big and white coming towards her. It was all lit up, as if covered in lots of tiny little suns.
“Caw-caw!” A seagull landed near Adelie.
“What’s that thing?” Adelie asked the seagull.
“That’s a ship,” said the seagull. “With people on it. They have a colony on the other side of the mountain that they call a Research Station. Twice a year the ship arrives with new crates and people, and then it goes again, taking the old ones away with it.”
“Where do they go?”
“To their home, up in the North.”
“What’s it like there, in the North?”
“Awful, if you ask me! There’s no ice, it’s unbearably warm, and the fish taste weird!” Then the seagull flew off out over the sea, leaving Adelie all alone. A land in the North, where it’s always warm? No snow, no polar wind? It must be heavenly to live there!
She stood for a while on the cliff thinking things over. Then, she made a very difficult decision. She went to her parents and said in a firm and steady voice,
“I’m very sorry, but it’s just too cold for me here. I want to go with the people-ship to the North where it’s warm. Please don’t be cross with me!”
Adelie’s parents were very sad to hear that. They tried to talk Adelie into staying, but she had made up her mind, and so there was nothing left for them to do, but to let her go with heavy hearts. They accompanied her part of the way up the mountain, then waved with their short little wings, until they couldn’t see her anymore.
Adelie walked all night long. Around midday, she saw the Research Station with the big white ship docked nearby. The Station consisted of a pair of huts with big aerials on the roofs. Men in thick anoraks walked back and forth between the Station and the ship, pulling sledges which carried crates and barrels over the ice. Adelie looked very carefully around her, and then ran as fast as she could to a crate, cleverly lifting up the lid with her beak, and jumped in head first. Ooff!
After a while, she heard voices. The crate was moved somewhere else, and then everything went quiet again. Exhausted, Adelie fell asleep. When she awoke, she peeked very carefully through a crack in the lid of the crate. She was on the ship, and the ship was sailing North! She had done it! Reassured that all was well, she went back to sleep.
Adelie travelled for many days and nights. Luckily, the extra layer of fat she had stored for winter kept her from starving. One morning, upon waking, she sensed that the ship was no longer moving. She lifted the lid off the crate. How warm the air felt! In front of her was a coastline without snow, and she could see a town with little white houses and lots of green trees. Adelie had never seen anything so pretty in her entire life. She had to screw up her eyes because the colours were so bright that they blinded her momentarily. The sun shone down and warmed her feathers. Happily, she stretched out her limbs, which were stiff from being cramped inside the crate, and for the first time in her life, she didn’t feel cold. She had reached the end of her quest!
Adelie didn’t waste a minute. She climbed out of the crate, waddled up to the railings, and let herself plunge overboard. Splash!
When she surfaced, she found herself looking into the face of another penguin who was laughing mischievously.
“Whoops! Where did you come from?” he asked her, amused.
“From that ship over there,” said Adelie, pointing with her wing out over the water. “Well, actually, to be precise, from the South Pole!”
“The South Pole? Brrrr! It’s supposed to be dreadfully cold down there. Weren’t you freezing all the time there? Well then, welcome to Capetown! Come on, I’ll show you where to catch the best fish, shall I?”
“Oh yes!” said Adelie, “That would be really nice of you!”
And they swam off together, diving and twirling under the water.
Little Wolf sat high up on the rocks and looked down over the wide river that flowed lazily beneath him. The hunters from his tribe were out in their canoes, fishing. Little Wolf watched them skillfully stabbing at the water with their spears. The light from the setting sun sparkled on the floundering fish as they loaded them into their canoes.