The Snowman Goes Visiting [SHORT STORY]

Age group: 0 to 7 years.

For many centuries Yadred had lived in the mountains. The snow covered landscape had always been his home. He roamed freely feeding off the occasional sheep or yak that strayed across his path. From a distance, Yadred looked like a giant covered with white hair. He was friendly, but no one really wanted to be friends with him. Probably because of the icy winds and snow that accompanied him wherever he went.

Yadred was the only snowman left on this part of the Earth. He was three thousand years old. When he was a mere baby his father and uncle had moved from the Arctic zones to the Himalayas with their families. The change in altitude had taken its toll on all members of his family, except him and his uncle’s daughter, whom he had later married. Five hundred years ago his wife had died in an avalanche, leaving him with no children.

Initially, he had enjoyed his freedom, but now he felt lonely. The animals that inhabited the mountains were scared of him. Occasionally he had tried to visit the humans that camped in the mountains. But his size and appearance would scare everyone away. Most of them mistook him for a giant bear, and run away screaming, “Yeti! Yeti!”

He assumed Yeti was the human word for ‘run’.

Yadred never understood why. He looked similar to the humans, except that he was a lot hairier and was taller than them by two heads. His face looked nothing like a bear. He knew it because he had seen himself in the big lake one summer.

Yadred often wondered where these humans came from. They traveled in groups, so he knew there were many more of them. One day he decided to follow their tracks and see where they came from. He came to a village. There were many small houses in the village. It was dark, and he could see lights at the windows. He walked up to the house closest to him and peered inside. There were two humans sitting at a table.

“Honey, it’s really windy outside. Could you please shut the windows and pull the curtains.” said the woman inside.

“The weather is really taking a turn for the worse.” replied the man. “Wonder how long this will continue.”  The man closed the windows and pulled the curtains shut blocking out Yadred’s view.

Yadred walked a little distance down the road where he saw a small boy playing in the snow.

“Hi. Will you let me play with you?” Yadred asked the boy.

“Sure. I am building a snowman, and you can help me make it bigger ‘coz you are so tall.” replied the boy.

“Dhiman, come inside. It’s getting colder outside.” A woman called from the inside the house. The boy quickly ran into the house.

Yadred felt bad. He decided to go to another village. But the same fate met him there as well. He went to a third village and a fourth. But wherever he went, people would lock themselves up in their houses.  The one or two people who saw him on the road would either stare at him or run away from him, scared.

Soon his sadness changed to anger. He was a nice person and all he wanted was to be friends with these people. As he got angrier the wind around him became colder, and it started snowing. This was a problem because he had reached the plains where it never snowed.

Depressed, he sat down on the banks of a wide river. Cold winds howled around him and it was snowing heavily. The water in the river had turned to ice. Across the river, a small pup was playing in the snow. All alone, it was jumping up and down trying to catch the snowflakes drifting to earth, yapping merrily. Yadred watched the play. The sight of the pup made Yadred smile. After a while, another dog came and nudged the pup, and both of them ran away together.

Realization struck Yadred. He would go back to the rest of his people in the Arctic. That was where he belonged. He had finished ‘playing’ in the Himalayas. It was time for him to go back home.