Fangs of stone stretch across the Antarctic desert, where ice once majestically towered above small igloos. Instead of a carpet of snow across Penguin City, there are many skeletons of mysterious beasts: some of them have short arms and massive jaws, while others have massive manes and multiple horns. The harsh winds carry a song of fear:
‘Antarctica is shrinking,
Ice is melting,
Pillars have fallen
And ice caves forbidden!
God of Snow and Ice,
We are trapped like mice.
Help us! Help us!
This is not marvellous…’
These desperate pleas are coming from the penguins. In the centre of their old city, their emperor, an emperor penguin, is trying to make a speech.
‘Settle—’
‘Antarctica is shrinking!’ sing the worried birds.
‘—down,’ says Emperor Snow. Then, he begins to sing, catching the attention of his people:
‘Antarctica may be melting and shrinking,
But an audience with God of Snow and Ice we must be seeking.
To the god, I shall send a team of pluck,
Who will not go cluck.’
‘Now,’ says Emperor Snow, ‘you need to decide if you want to go. If you do, meet me here at dawn and I will give you instructions.’
The next day, a group of five penguins appears and the emperor tells them to go to the South Pole, where they will find a cave that the God of Snow and Ice calls home. He also says that to reach the cave, the Cave of Snow, they need to pass through Polar Kingdom, the home of polar beasts.
The five set out and the oldest, Soap, begins to sing a song of hope. The rest join in.
‘We are Mop, Pot, Hope,
Tomato and Soap.
We are skipping like antelope
To the Cave of Snow.
Ho, ho, ho!’
The explorers definitely become antelope as they start their mission of hope. Sorry, I guess those penguins are rubbing off on me and forcing me to rhyme! By dusk, they reach the Wild, where nothing survives apart from the lichen, who are now facing an alien phenomenon called evaporation. The five doze off and become sloth-like penguins. When they wake, they see no snow or ice, only water and rock. The previous day, there had been small patches of snow and ice, not none! This makes the penguins panic: Tomato starts to roll around, Mop brushes dust off everything, Pot pretends he’s a pot, Soap flaps his wings and Hope is…calm?
Unlike the others, Hope remembers the emperor’s song. Now, he makes a new one:
‘Emperor Snow sent a team of pluck,
But look at us:
We are a team of cluck.
Success will be how?
No fear,
And a brave penguin spear!’
At this, the others settle down: Tomato stops rolling, tall Mop stops cleaning, Pot becomes a penguin and not a pot, and Soap stops flapping his wings. The penguins eventually reach the top of a smooth hill. Tomato lies down and rolls down the hill; the others soon follow by sliding. They have reached the edge of Polar Kingdom and decide to rest.
The next day, the penguins march through Polar Kingdom and tell any aggressive beasts about their mission. Their mission nearly over, the group reach the spruce forest containing the Cave of Snow. Soap insists they clean before entering the forest. After they clean and Soap inspects everyone, the group enters the forest. However, they find that the cave is blocked.
‘Oh no!
A massive rock
Blocks the Cave of Snow
Like a massive lock!’ sings Soap.
Hope counters with his own song:
‘Antarctica may not have tusked elephants
Or charging rhinos,
But she has massive,
Clawing polar beasts!’
The group sends Pot and Soap to ask King Polar, the king of the polar beasts, for help. An hour later, the two return with King Polar and two other polar beasts. Around their heads, they have frozen spiky fur sticking out. Each using sharp claws and two long, curved fangs, the beasts dig a slope for the boulder. Then, the beasts and penguins push the rock down the slope. When the rock moves, Tomato rolls, slides and tumbles down the hill. The penguins thank the beasts and go to enter the cave.
However, a massive dragon flies out. The icy-blue creature has frozen wingtips and a transparent layer of ice over its eyes. The dragon begins to speak: ‘Thank you, penguins. Now my magic can come out of the cave, Antarctica is safe. Would you like a ride home?’
‘Yes please, God of Ice and Snow.
To that we won’t say no.
Ho, ho, ho!’
The dragon lets out a loud laugh as the elf-like penguins climb aboard. As the dragon flies into the sky, it roars, summoning the southern lights, snow and a cold breeze. The creature flies the penguins home, the red, green and purple of the aurora australis reflecting in its frozen spikes.