08 - Cruise of the Noah's Ark by David Cory

Marjorie boards a fantastical Noah’s Ark filled with talking animals and sets off on delightful and perilous adventures in this whimsical tale of imagination. Discover hundreds of ad-free audiobooks, soothing sounds for sleep and meditation, and more—unwind and learn at www.adfreebooks.com!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Or The Crews of the Nosark by David Cory. The
Iceberg jingle bells, jingle bells as getting cold as ice.
Put your furs and mittens on, Wrap up, warm and nice.
Marjorie awoke with a start. My how cold it was.
The porthole glass was covered with a network of frosty lace,

(00:23):
and the little dove who slept in Marcher's cabin pulled
her head out from under her wing and shivered. What
has happened? Asked Marjorie, sitting up in bed and looking
about her. Perhaps she expected to see Jack Frost sitting
in the rocking chair. Quickly pulling on her slippers, she
ran to the porthole to ask her good friend the

(00:44):
weathercock the reason for this sudden drop in the temperature.
She found him, as usual, perched on the flag pole.
His comb was very red, as if Jack Frost had
given it a nip. And now and then he raised
one leg to his breast, warm his toes in the
fluffy feathers. Good morning, said Marjorie. Isn't it freezing? Do

(01:07):
you wonder? Answered the weather cock, pointing to a large
iceberg close at hand. She turned to look, and sure enough,
just a few feet away was a great mountain of ice.
We're ground on an iceberg, went on the weather Cock.
We ran into an ice floe last night, and the
ark sleppt upon the ledge of the iceberg and grounded.

(01:29):
Goodness gracious, cried Marjorie. What are we ever going to do?
I'm sure I don't know, answered the weather Cock. I'll
have to get some woolen socks and a pair of
felt shoes, or my toes will be frostedten Perhaps Missus
Noah will nitch you a pair, said Marjorie. I'm going
down to breakfast now and I'll speak to her about it.

(01:51):
Thank you, replied the weather Cock, and tell her I
wouldn't mind having a worsted muffler too. Down below, matters
were even worse, for the fresh water had frozen during
the night, so that it was impossible to give the
animals a drink. Missus Noah had been forced to melt
a piece of ice and a pan over the fire
in order to have water with which to make the coffee. Phew,

(02:15):
exclaimed Captain Noah, coming in from deck and closing the
door as quickly as possible. My hands are almost frozen.
This is as bad as a trip to the North
Pole perhaps worse, for we are totally unprepared for this
kind of weather. Just then, mister Jonah and the boys
came in, rubbing their hands and stamping their feet to

(02:36):
keep warm. Merry Christmas, laughed Anne. The scathing's find that
on the ice floe, how Sholly, cried Marjorie. Let's go
skating after breakfast, No, sir ee, said Captain Noah. The
boys must help me float the ark. One of the
rubber tired wheels is crushed and it will take a
lot of hard work to get her off. We'd better

(02:59):
set about it as soon as possible, said mister Jonah,
after Captain Noah had made an inspection. Some of the
animals are nearly perishing with the cold. The monkeys are
rolled up so tight you'd think they were ferbaals. Only
the polar bears seem to enjoy life, and they are
just crazy to take a run on the ice. Let

(03:19):
them wait, said Captain Noah. We have more serious things
to attend to than pleasure for the moment. Well, come
and get a good hot breakfast first, said Missus Noah,
bringing in the steaming coffee pot and a plate of
hot corn. Muffins after breakfast, you'll all feel differently. This
was indeed good advice, and when breakfast was over, Captain

(03:42):
Noah said, get the crowbar and the wooden rollers to fath.
We'll see if we can start the old ark moving.
Maybe she's stuck too deep in the ice, but we'll
try it at any rate. Here, my little girl, said
kind missus Noah to Marjorie, put on this muffler if
you're going out. It's pretty cold. So Marjorie tied the

(04:02):
warm muffler around her neck and stepped out on deck.
A beautiful sight met her eyes. Towering high above was
a mountain of glittering ice, while as far as the
eye could reach was a field of ice and snow.
Under the wreys of the morning sun, parts of the
great bird glittered like a rainbow. It was so cold

(04:23):
that Marjorie had to jump up and down to keep
her toes from freezing down on the ice. Close to
the ark, Captain Noah and his crew were busily at work.
One of the auto wheels had sunk deep into the
ice and acted like an anchor. The other wheels also
were embedded in the ice, so that the ark was
held as if in a vice. Guess we'll have to

(04:45):
give it up, exclaimed Captain Noah, after an hour's hard work,
during which time the ark had not moved an inch.
We'd better make up our minds to winter here until
the iceberg close into a warmer climate and either melts
or breaks apart. That's cheerful, said mister Jonah. I've nothing,
but some are flannels and a macintosh with me. What

(05:07):
about some of the poor animals who are used to
the torrid zone, replied Captain Noah, shouldering the crowbar and
climbing up the rope ladder to the deck. Mister Jonah
did not reply, but turned up his coat collar and
stamped upon his feet to warm them. The hairless Mexican
dog will surely die if we don't do something for him,
said am. I think I'll ask mother if she won't

(05:30):
let him stay in the kitchen. But Missus Noah did
not seem very pleased over this suggestion. Gracious me, she said,
shim already has two parrots, a marmoset, and a little
green steak in the kitchen. I don't suppose one more
animal would make much difference, if it will only keep
from under my feet. I nearly stepped on one of

(05:51):
the steaks this morning, and the kitchen is none too
large anyway. Don't you boys worry your mother anymore, said
Captain Noah sternly. The animals have got to make the
best of it. Any One who travels by sea undergoes
some risk, and I'm sure I'm as careful a captain
as a man could be. It's lucky we didn't go
down to the bottom of the sea when we struck

(06:14):
the berg, instead of running up on it safely. After dinner,
Captain Noah and mister Jonah held a consultation as to
what was the best thing to do under the circumstances.
Of course, some of the animals, like the polar bears
and the seals, will enjoy a vacation on the ice.
The penguins too will be glad to have a little change.

(06:36):
We can let them out and the rest of the
Arctic passengers. But how to keep the other animals warm
puzzles me. We haven't call enough to keep the furnaces
going for very long. Mister Jonah stroked his chin reflectively.
We might dig a channel from the ark to the
edge of the berg and then float the Ark, he said,
after a pause. That's a pretty good scheme, said Captain Noah.

(07:00):
We'll get to work at once. Here, you boys, get
the pick axes and come with me. By evening the
canal was finished. Now when the tide rises, said Captain Noah,
resting on the handle of his pickaxe, perhaps the old
tube will float. It was now quite dark, so all
hands returned to the ark. The animals which had been

(07:22):
allowed to play on the ice had all returned, except
the two polar bears, who begged Captain Noah to let
them stay out all night, as they wished to see
the northern mice from the top of the iceberg. It
was a very tired family that gathered around the supper
table that evening. But after the meal was over, the
weather cock began to sing. It's time for bed, and

(07:44):
all the ark should soon be snoring in the dark.
The elephant and kangaroo, the lion and the curled horn
neew have gone to bed, and so should you. So
good night. Coc the Doo Doo and of chapter eight
reread by Nancy Cochrane Gergen Gilbert Arizona, August nineteen, twenty

(08:07):
twenty three.