The Snow From Astra Yanko (2)

I am going to tell you the story "The Snow From Astra Yanko" by Teramura Teruo

(part 2)
...
Our cold-hater and softy of a king did some thinking.
"All right, if this is how things are, we need to have a wind blow that's warm, sort of like steam, and a snow come down that's as warm as cotton. There must be some good way to..."
He went to the palace library and looked around in some books. (Have you ever heard of that before? The king studying without anybody forcing him!)
He looked through a book called The Book of Snow, and there it said that snow was made in the factories of Astra Yanko, from which it was sent by means of jet pumps to the clouds.
The king called for the chief minister at once.
"Chief Minister, old chap, I am going to Astra Yanko. Prepare the rocket ship. I am going to meet the king of Astra Yanko and ask him to have warm snow fall."
"Your Majesty. It can't be done. By it's very nature snow is cold. It's sort of like tiny droplets of ice, is what it is."
"No, it should also be possible to make snow that's warm, like cotton."
"No it isn't possible! If snow became warm, the heaters would be cold. And when you put on clothes you would feel colder. Everything would be topsy-turvy."
"Who cares if it is topsy-turvy?"
"Oh, for heaven's sake!"
"Don't stand there for-heaven's-saking me, you should be preparing the rocket ship, pronto!"
The chief minister had a real job on his hands.
The rocket ship, with the king aboard, blasted off, heading for Astra Yanko.
And, surprise, surprise, luckily it arrived at the snow factories of Astra Yanko.
The king met the king of Astra Yanko.
"Greetings, Snow King. The snow you are dropping is cold. Cold is no good. I'd like you to drop something warmer, something nice and fluffy, like cotton."
"Well, well, isn't this a curious request! Unfortunately, in my factories all we make is cold snow. Besides, snow is meant to be cold, in case you didn't know."
"You can think of some way to remedy that, I'm..."
"No, I can't!"
"Maybe you could just warm up some of cold snow before..."
"You seem to like having things topsy-turvy, eh? A-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
In the end, the king's request was not granted. There was nothing the king could do but board his rocket ship and go home.
But...
As the rocket ship lifted off and the snow king of Astra Yanko waved goodbye, the rocket ship began shivering. Just the same way that our cold hating, softy king shivered.
Next, the rocket ship started spining.
"Darn! A malfunction!" shouted the pilot.
Yet after a short while the malfunction seemed to be corrected. The shivering stopped, too.
But then they noticed something strange: the rocket ship was not facing forwards as it went through space, but backwards! Also, the king's body began to get very warm. Then warmer, even warmer, until finally it even became hot. Wearing the heavy space suit grew unbearable.
"I'm going to take off this space suit," he said.
The pilot stopped him. "Your Majesty, what are you talking about? If you take your space suit off now, your body will burst into pieces."
"But I can't stand it, it's so hot!"
"Wait just a little longer. When we get close to earth it'll be safe to take is off."
"Then hurry up! Give her more speed - speed, man!!"
Unable to stand it, the king kept saying, "Still not there? Still not there?"
The pilot had something more important to worry about: the rocket ship flying back-to-front.
Despite everything, with a bit of luck the rocket ship managed to get back to the palace.
In full view of the people who came to greet him with shouts of "Welcome back, Your Majesty!" the king disembarked from the rocket ship.
When the people saw him they all gasped. They couldn't believe their eyes. There was the king, in his undershorts, coming down the stairway walking on his hands.

(to be continued...)