[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-40326-en":3,"doc-seo-40326-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},40326,8796095462418,"Noah","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/80000253c1241d02b47?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1778826106357471780",1,"Story & Novel","His Dark Materials 0 His Dark Materials Once Upon a Time in the North","This excerpt from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials opens with a battered cargo balloon landing in the Arctic over the White Sea. A pilot, Lee, struggles with a stuck gas-valve using a revolver, causing the balloon to crash near the Barents Sea Company Depot. Surrounded by workers and clerks, Lee stands his ground, assesses the damaged gondola, and makes the balloon safe while his daemon Hester—small, sardonic, and quick—joins him. The passage also frames Lee’s backstory and his arrival on Novy Odense.","ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE NORTH  \nHis Dark Materials by Philip Pullman THE GOLDEN COMPASS THE SUBTLE KNIFE THE AMBER SPYGLASS  \nLYRA’S OXFORD  \nTHIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or  \ndead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.  \nText copyright © 2008 by Philip Pullman  \nIllustrations copyright © 2008 by John Lawrence  \nDesign copyright © 2008 by Together Design Limited  \nbased on a concept by Trickett & Webb Limited  \nAll rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Great Britain by David Fickling Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.  \nVisit us on the Web! [www.randomhouse.com/teens](www.randomhouse.com/teens)[ ](www.randomhouse.com/teens)Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at  \n[www.randomhouse.com/teachers](www.randomhouse.com/teachers)  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.  \nISBN: 978-0-375-84510-9  \nMANUFACTURED IN MALAYSIA  \nApril 2008  \n10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  \nFirst American Edition  \nRandom House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to  \nread.  \nThe battered cargo balloon came in out of a rainstorm over the White Sea, losing height rapidly and swaying in the strong northwest wind as the pilot trimmed the vanes and tried to adjust the gas-valve. The pilot was a lean young man with a large hat, a laconic disposition, and a thin mustache, and at present he was making for the Barents Sea Company Depot, whose location was marked on a torn scrap of paper pinned to the binnacle of the gondola. He could see the depot spread out around the little harbor ahead—a cluster of administrative buildings, a hangar, a warehouse, workshops, gas storage tanks, and the associated machinery; it was all approaching fast, and he had to make quick adjustments to everything he could control in order to avoid the hangar roof and make for the open space beyond the warehouse.  \nThe gas-valve was stuck. It needed a wrench, but the only tool to hand was a dirty old revolver, which the pilot hauled from the holster at his waist and used to bang the valve till it loosened all at once, releasing more gas than he really wanted. The balloon sagged and drooped suddenly, and plunged downwards, scattering a group of men clustered around a broken tractor. The gondola smashed into the hard ground, and bounced and dragged behind the emptying balloon across the open space until it finally came to rest only feet away from a gas storage tank.  \nThe pilot gingerly untangled his fingers from the rope he’d been holding on to, worked out which way up he was, shifted the toolbox off his legs, wiped the oily water out of his eyes, and hauled himself upright.  \n“Well, Hester, looks like we’re getting the hang of this,” he said. His daemon, who looked like a small sardonic jackrabbit, flicked her  \nears as she clambered out of the tangle of tools, cold-weather clothing, broken instruments, and rope. Everything was saturated.  \n“My feelings are too deep to express, Lee,” she said.  \nLee found his hat and emptied the rainwater out of it before settling it on his head. Then he became aware of the audience: the men by the tractor; two workers at the gas plant, one clasping his hands to his head after the near escape; and a shirtsleeved clerk from the administrative building, gaping in the open doorway.  \nLee gave them a cheerful wave and turned back to make the balloon safe. He was proud of this balloon. He’d won it in a poker game six months before, in Texas. He was twenty-four, ready for adventure, and happy to go wherever the winds took ","cbCaieiU6eoHjYnk","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieiU6eoHjYnk","pdf",5870123,3,94,"English","en",105,"# Once Upon a Time in the North\n## Balloon crash at the White Sea\n## Lee and Hester’s immediate aftermath\n## Lee’s background and arrival at Novy Odense","[{\"question\":\"What causes the balloon’s crash in the excerpt?\",\"answer\":\"The gas-valve is stuck and the pilot uses a revolver as the only makeshift tool, releasing more gas than intended, which makes the balloon sag and plunge downward.\"},{\"question\":\"Who is Hester, and how does she appear in the scene?\",\"answer\":\"Hester is Lee’s daemon, described as looking like a small jackrabbit. She clambers out from the tangle of gear as Lee regains control after the landing.\"},{\"question\":\"Where does Lee plan to go when the balloon arrives at the depot area?\",\"answer\":\"Lee is making for the Barents Sea Company Depot, marked on a torn scrap of paper pinned to the gondola’s binnacle.\"}]",1783310449,145,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"his-dark-materials-0-his-dark-materials-once-upon-a-time-in-the-north","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/his-dark-materials-0-his-dark-materials-once-upon-a-time-in-the-north/40326/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-17","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What causes the balloon’s crash in the excerpt?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"The gas-valve is stuck and the pilot uses a revolver as the only makeshift tool, releasing more gas than intended, which makes the balloon sag and plunge downward.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"Who is Hester, and how does she appear in the scene?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Hester is Lee’s daemon, described as looking like a small jackrabbit. 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