Lilly was dressing up warm. It was the first day of the Christmas Holiday and Jack Frost had been about. He had left no footprints on the new carpet of snow that covered the ground. But each window pane had frosted to his touch, and the wind seemed keen to rush indoors; you can always tell when Jack Frost has been about.
But something else was strange. Through the frosty windows Lilly could see someone sitting on the garden bench. It seemed a cold place to sit on a winter’s day. “It could be old Jack himself sitting there”, thought Lilly, “waiting to laugh as I slip on the ice and snow.” When she opened the door a crack to peep out into the frozen garden she saw it was just a snowman sitting on the bench, and he looked kind.
Dressed now in good warm clothes, Lilly plodded outside to greet the snowman. The snowman was so intent on reading a book that he didn’t notice Lilly. She looked up into his coal-black eyes and wondered what a snowman might read. Something about Santa Claus and a land of snow she thought; A Christmas Carol or A Winter’s Tale.
The chilly wind turned a page of the snowman’s book. Lilly was a little afraid and surprised to hear the snowman speak. “This book is about Spring”, he said.
“But”, said Lilly, “but why do you read about Spring? When the sun comes you will melt away.”
“Spring made me”, said the snowman, “and I will return with wintry times. Shall I read to you?” And he began…
“The seasons have always run to order. Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn each rule part of the year. Jack Frost served Winter, for he could only roam on Winter’s dark, cold days. Knowing how Spring loved to look at her own beauty, Jack Frost trapped her in a mirror of ice. Without Spring, he mused, the year would be forever cold. Old Jack gave the mirror to Winter, for a price. He thought that Winter would never set Spring free. But Winter was overcome by Spring’s beauty. He promised to set her free every year if she returned to brighten his cold world. Winter promised too that flowers should bloom during his rule as a sign that Spring would follow.
This made Jack Frost angry. He sulked a chill and drew all the warmth from the earth. No flower would grow. So Spring wished for flowers made of ice. Winter was so amused by her wish that he let an infinite number of ice flowers fall from the sky. That was the first snowfall.”
At these words, in a swirl of wind, the snowman disappeared; he became a million fantastic blooms of ice; he became snowflakes. But Lilly still has the book he was reading.
Written and illustrated by Alan Marks
This illustration (also on the blog header) is from the Usborne Fairytale Treasury: East of the Sun West of the Moon. Illustrated by Alan Marks.
It also featured on Illustration Rally recently.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Click on the illustration to enlarge the image.
