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Overview
In Rand’s The Ice Man, a severe winter kills most people in a riverside town. Spring carries away the snow and river ice except for one great ice mass lodged above the bank, chilling the surrounding land. A determined man breaks and pries at it until he pushes it into the current. The Ice King thanks him for the service but promises to visit again the next winter. The man anticipates that return and builds a dwelling with ample dry fuel, oil and winter clothing.
The visitor eventually enters the wigwam and sits opposite him. His body and breath nearly extinguish the fire and freeze his host. The man revives the flames with wood and oil, growing more active as the room warms. The Ice King retreats toward the wall, sweats and dwindles until he begs to leave. The victor clears a path past the fire; the departing king acknowledges two defeats and promises permanent submission. Afterwards the man experiences summer throughout the year and no longer needs protective winter garments.
Rand labels the piece a fable and appends his own explanation about resolution, foresight and material preparation making a person secure against winter. The literal transformation of the man’s experience belongs to the story; the practical moral is its printed interpretation. No individual teller is named here, and this winter figure is kept separate from the Cherokee Ice Man and other locally named cold beings.
Origins & earliest records
Silas Tertius Rand, Legends of the Micmacs, edited by Helen L. Webster (1894), tale XI. The editorial preface explains that these surviving English versions derive from Mi’kmaw tellings, with Rand’s read-back corrections and Webster’s later editing. This tale contains no individual narrator attribution.
Records & interpretation
Complete XI, The Ice Man, pp.99–100, including its explicitly designated fable form and appended moral. Distinct from other communities’ ice figures; no universal identity inferred from the English name.
In the literature
“Then he begins to sweat and grow smaller and weaker apace.”
XI, The Ice Man, printed p.100, paragraph beginning “in case of emergency” · Silas Tertius Rand; edited by Helen L. Webster
The Ice King weakens before the strengthened fire; he later asks release and acknowledges the human’s victory.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Legends of the Micmacs
Complete XI, The Ice Man, pp.99–100; prefacev–ix.
Family & connections
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Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
Legends of the Micmacs
New York and London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1894, Wellesley Philological Publications; Silas Tertius Rand’s English translations edited by Helen L. Webster. Preface dated November 1893 read completely; selected episodes independently read from retained original-volume OCR.
- The Ice King is defeated by preparation and heat, then accepts the human victor as master.
XI, The Ice Man, pp.99–100, complete fable and bracketed moral
Preface says original Mi’kmaq narrations were not preserved: Rand wrote English from memory aided by notes and read it back for corrections. Webster edited for clarity. No universal living-tradition claim, original-language collation or endorsement of colonial comparisons.
References
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- Primary textRand1894 original collectionResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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