The White Bear East of the Sun and West of the Moon

The White Bear East of the Sun and West of the Moon Bibliographic information - Title: The Blue Fairy Book. Volume 1 of Andrew Lang. Editor: Andrew Lang Illustrated by: Henry Justice Ford, George Percy Jacomb-Hood. Publisher: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1889. Original from: Harvard University. Digitized: Apr 22, 2008. Length: 390 pages. +sookie tex

White Bear came to fetch her. She seated herself on his back with her bundle, and thus they departed. When they had gone a great part of the way, the White Bear said: 'Are you afraid?' 'No, that I am not,' said she. 'Keep tight hold of my fur, and then there is no danger,' said he. And thus she rode far, far away, until they came to a great mountain.

Then the White Bear knocked on it, and a door opened, and they went into a castle where there were many brilliantly lighted rooms which shone with gold and silver, likewise a large hall in which there was a well-spread table, and it was so magnificent that it would be hard to make anyone understand how splendid it was. The White Bear gave her a silver bell, and told her that when she needed anything she had but to ring this bell, and what she wanted would appear.

So after she had eaten, and night was drawing near, she grew sleepy after her journey, and thought she would like to go to bed. She rang the bell, and scarcely had she touched it before she found herself in a chamber where a bed stood ready made for her, which was as pretty as anyone could wish to sleep in. It had pillows of silk, and curtains of silk fringed with gold, and everything that was in the room was of gold or silver.

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because it's copyright has expired. This applies to the United States, where Works published prior to 1978 were copyright protected for a maximum of 75 years. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF. Works published before 1923, in this case 1889, are now in the public domain.

This image is also in the public domain in countries that figure copyright from the date of death of the artist (post mortem auctoris), in this case, Henry Justice Ford (1860–1941), and that most commonly runs for a period of 50 to 70 years from the last day of that year.