At first the gentle snowfall pleased the aged wizard, who had rarely seen the fluffy white stuff, but as day after day passed, the constant storm worsened and the wind soon became a gale, lashing the now stinging snow across the landscape to such an extent the wizard was no longer able to see his way. Having no other option open to him, Chricrin plodded on through the freezing storm, growing steadily weaker, until he could go no farther and finally collapsed to the frozen ground.

"Hey, look, he's waking up," Chricrin heard someone say. He tried to open his eyes and see where the voice was coming from. Once his vision cleared, he found himself laid out on a comfortable bed, in the middle of a small, cozy cottage, surrounded by several tiny people.

"Are you all right?" one of the little people asked.

"Um, yes, I believe so," Chricrin replied, utterly baffled by what had happened to him. "Where am I?" he asked, as a little person placed another warm blanket over his legs.

"You're at the North Pole," one of the little people said. "We found you lying nearly covered over by the snow and brought you in."

"The North Pole?" the wizard said quietly, then shouted out, "I MADE IT! I found the northlands!" This outburst frightened the little people and they all jumped back from the bed.

"Uh, no mister," one of the little people said, after gathering the courage to approach the bed once again. "This is the 'North Pole'. You passed by the last of the northern villages a couple of days ago."

"You must have missed it in the storm," another of them volunteered.

"Oh," muttered Chricrin, surprised that he had managed to travel even farther than he had intended, despite the raging snowstorm. "Well, then, thank you all very much for rescuing me," he said.

The little people all smiled and dropped their heads, apparently somewhat shy and embarrassed.

"So," the wizard said to the closest little guy. "What would your name be, child?"

This question was greeted with general laughter by all those present and one of them finally said, "Heavens, mister, we're not children. We're Elves!"