Page 12 - СКАЗКИ СНЕЖНОГО ЭЛЬФА

resembled a large hailstone. His strong hands clutched my
thumb, his thick legs were hanging down from my hand.
The creature was cute and funny, but I felt out of ease any-
way. I screwed up my eyes, counted to ten, but the man
was still there.
‘Why screw up your eyes? We haven’t met before, have
we? I’m Snezhik. Have you heard about me?’
‘Sounds like the symbol of the town of Snezhinsk’, I
smiled.
‘What do you mean by the symbol of the town? It has
nothing to do with that. I am a real Ever Snezhik. I live in
snow.’
‘Yeah, right. Where is it, that snow, Snezhik? There isn’t
any.’
‘Hmm, not yet. But it’s going to be. Just about. We ‘re
under crisis, you know. Not enough snow for everybody
here, one must adapt. Snow is to be delivered soon. It was
me who’d come too soon. I miss my snowflakes, no one
to play with. As for you, I like you, really. So happy you
were to see me. You gave me a kiss, I even felt I was one of
your family. I go for you, I do. I took you for a snow maiden
first, but now I see I was confused, you’re a girl. No matter
who you are, I like you anyway. Do you mind making new
friends?’
‘No’, I hesitated. ‘But who are you?’
‘Hey, are you hard of hearing? I am Snezhik, Sne-zhik. A
snow elf. I told you so.’
‘An elf? A snow elf?’ I was shocked. ‘Where do you
come from?’

9