The Snow Man by Mark Antony Raine

 

 

The Snow Man by Mark Antony Raines 

Once upon a time and long time ago  a freshly made snowman who was just made by the children was thinking to himself. 

"It is very cold in this field and wind is making  my whole body crackle.I wonder what that round yellow thing is surrounded by white bits of fluff ."

The snowman began  to feel very odd as he was beginning to realise  he was alive 

The snowman had two pieces of coal for eyes;a carrot for a nose ;his month was made out of a broken rake :his arms were old broom handles but he had no feet.

As he his existence came known all the children shouted and laughed  with joy and in the distance could be heard the ringing and jingling of sleigh bells. 

A nearby stray dog barked in a very hoarse voice "Away Away with you "

The Snowman looked at him with a child like curiosity and asked.

"Why dog do you say away to me"

The dog just replied that had seen his predecessor last winter and when the sun goes stronger in the sky he was gone;and nd so was his friend "

At this news the snowman became really sad and wondered how he could escape this fate as he too would miss his new friends. 

The dog replied  .

"You better  hurry as I my hairs are beginning to molt a sign of this cold weather conditions changing soon"

I don't understand you  my new friend I find most  disagreeable :the yellow round circle  in the sky surely could not hurt me so"

Again the dog repeats to the snowman to go away then he turns around three times and runs off.

The weather  did change for the next morning and thick fog covered the field and a keen wind arose that was so cold it seemed to freeze one's bones. 

The fog broke to reveal the yellow round object in the sky which the snowman now knew was called the  sun as his children's friends had told him. 

Trees were covered with frost and the forest in the distance looked like white coral. 

And where the sun shone, how everything glittered and sparkled, as if diamond dust had been strewn about; while the snowy carpet of the earth appeared as if covered with diamonds, from which countless lights gleamed, whiter than even the snow itself.

The snowman told a young girl  how beautiful this thing she called winter  was but she replied she much preferred the Summer. 

The little girls  brother said it would not be possible to have such a jolly snowman in the summer to play with. 

The girl laughed, and nodded at the Snow Man, and then tripped away over the snow with her friend. The snow creaked and crackled beneath her feet, as if she had been treading on starch.

Later the girl and boy had to go home to have some tea so the snowman was  beginning to feel lonely. 

The dog who had told him to go away early  came back to say he was sorry for being rude. It was just that he missed his old snowman friend. 

The snowman said that it was ok and perhaps he could be the dogs new friend. 

The snowman and dog had a really good chat until the snowman man realized the cold was delightful and the dog became very  sad.

The snowman asked him what was wrong; the dog then told the snowman his story. 

"When I was younger, much prettier than I am now, I used to live in a house and lie in a velvet-covered chair and sit in my mistress' lap.

She would  kiss my nose and cuddle me and if my paws were wet or muddy she would  wipe them with her handkerchief. 

I received good meal and plenty of walks oh how I miss it"

The dog replied. 

"I was obliged," 

"They turned me out of doors, and chained me up here. I had bitten the youngest of my master's sons in the leg, because he kicked away the bone I was gnawing. 'Bone for bone,' I thought; but they were so angry, and from that time I have been fastened with a chain, and lost my bone. Don't you hear how hoarse I am. Away, away! I can't talk anymore like other dogs. Away, away, that is the end of it all."

What a strange crackling I feel within me," he said. "Shall I ever get in there?thought the snowman who was feeling sorry for his new friend the dog.

"How can I help you my new friend  "asked the snowman to the dog.

The dog replied that the snowman could use his magic time to get him back into the house so he could say to his family he was really sorry for what he did and the snowman would be a great plaything for his family's boy and girl.

The snowman agreed to help. 

So in a puff of a shower  of snow and glittering frost both the dog and the snowman were outside the dogs  previous home. 

The dog was very nervous and full of dread and so went ahead back into the fields  when the snowman rang the bell with one of his broom stick arms .

A little girl answered the door :screaming with delight :followed by her brother then there  mum and dad who had missed the dog terribly as the boy had felt guilty about making the dog angry enough to bite him ;Mum and Dad were sorry to have treated the dog so badly. 

What any of them  could understand they could have sworn that they saw a snowman standing beside the dog but the next  minute it was gone. 

Sitting in the field was the snowman :the sun was getting hotter and he was beginning to melt but this time he was not afraid as he knew if he was needed he would come back again to help. 

The sun got hotter, all the snow was gone lying on the green grass of the field were two pieces of coal;all old rake;a rotting carrot and two old broom handles formerly known as the Snow Man. 

"Come from your fragrant home, green thyme;

Stretch your soft branches, willow-tree;

The months are bringing the sweet spring-time,

When the lark in the sky sings joyfully.

Come gentle sun, while the cuckoo sings,

And I'll mock his note in my wanderings."

And nobody thought any more of the Snow Man.