East of the Sun and West of the Moon

–He too Saw the Image in the Water
One of Kay Nielsen’s gorgeous illustrations from East of the Sun and West of the Moon. The story is the Norwegian version of an old Scandinavian fairy tale.

Oh the snowy climes of the north!
These next illustrations by Nielsen: She Held Tight to the White Bear, make me curious as to if Philip Pullman either read East of the Sun and West of the Moon, or perhaps saw Nielsen’s illustrations of it since in The Golden Compass (Northern Lights) the first book in Pullman’s incredble trilogy His Dark Materials, young Lyra befriends the great white bear Iorek Byrnison who belongs to the race of sentient, armored bears also known as Panserbjorne. If East of the Sun and West of the Moon did inspire Pullman to create Lyra and the bear and their adventures in the North, that’s excellent — I love this tale, and Nielsen’s illustrations are enchanting.

Care to see more of Nielsen’s illustrations from this tale?: www.artsycraftsy.com/nielsen_prints.html