OLD WINTER LONG BEARD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 684, 8 June 1929, Page 31

OLD WINTER LONG BEARD

Old Winter Long Beard looked out of his windoty. “Ho, ho!” said he. “It is time for me to get to work. See, Mother Winter, the day is cold and blue and frosty. But look. Mother Winter! Can you see a bit of snow anywhere?” “No,” said Mother Winter, “not a bit, not a bit, on the ground, in the air; no snow anywhere.” “But I shall fix it,” said old Winter Long Beard. “I must hurry out into the day.” Old Winter Long Beard put on his great fur coat and his great fur cap. He wrapped his great muffler about his throat and went out into the cold blue day with an empty bag over his shoulder. He walked across the valley. He walked till lie came to a mountain. He walked till he climbed the mountain up to its very top. “And so, hero you are!” said old Winter Long Beard. “Hero you are, my sleepy snowflakes! you wait for mo to tell you that it is no longer summer? Did you wait for me to wake you from your long summer nap ?” There on top of the mountain, were millions of sleeping snowflakes. “Wake up,” said Old Winter Long Beard. “The village is waiting for you. The children are waiting for you. Wake up my sleepy snowflakes! Wake up, and get to work!” Up jumped millions of little snowflakes, dancing and skipping. “We obey you, ‘Winter Long Beard. - ’ And off they danced down the sides of the mountain. And off they danced over the valley. And off they danced right into the village. Old Winter Long Beard looked abuot him. There were still some snowflakes asleep on the mountain. He gathered them gently in his great hand and put i hem gently into his great bag. . “I shall need you later,” said old Winter Long Beard. “I shall need you for rr.y work in the village tonight.” Then old Winter Long Beard eamc down from the mountain. He walked into the village. He found it covered with snow. He left his bag on the doorstep and went in to eat his supper.

“Welcome home!” said Mother Winter. “I see that you have done a good clay’s work.” “And I shall do a good night’s work, too,” said old "Winter Long Beard. “1 must work all night or the children will be disappointed.” As soon as it was dark, old Winter Long Beard went into the village. He took hi« bag of snowflakes. He walked to a little hill where the children liked to slide. There, with his great hards, he patted the hillside smooth and smoother. He stroked it with his great fingers. He made a sliding track. Then, from out of his bag, he shook more snowflakes on to the hillside, patting them down and making them firm, and stroking in the sliding tracks with the tips of his great fingers. “There,” he said, “that track ought to last all the winter.” ' And he went home to his warm bed to "fcleep.