Page 39 - СКАЗКИ СНЕЖНОГО ЭЛЬФА

body here, but he was of great fantasy. Well, you want to
come or don’t you?’
‘Of course, I do. Ten minutes and here am I,’ I said en-
thusiastically, still wrapping up in the blanket.
‘I see. It’ll take an hour,’ grumbled Snezhik and dis-
persed down the cornice.
I gazed at the orphan pane still keeping the frosty
round print of Snezhik’s nose and reached for my clothes.
The sun was going up, but it looked kind of fluffy,
as if hoarfrosted. Snezhik and I were walking towards
the river. To be more exact, it was me who was walking;
Snezhik rested a kitten in my hands and didn’t cease
chattering. ‘Today I’ve been to the Snow Council.’ Snezhik
sounded excited. ‘ The snow issue is outstanding.’
‘And what is wrong? Is it going to snow this year? Or
else not a cloud in sight. The sky is clear blue, like in
spring. It looks so strange.’ I sighed, my eyes squinted in
the brightness of the spring- like sunshine.
‘All the stock of snowflakes got ready for winter is ve-
toed and decided to be annihilated. Nowadays they are
hastily stocking up on another batch.’
‘Vetoed? But why?’
‘Do you know how snowflakes are born?’
‘Well, water evaporates, then freezes and crystallizes,’
I muttered, recalling my lessons of physics at school.
‘The point is not a physicochemical process.’ Snezhik
made an angry twitch with his ears. ‘ I mean magical birth’.
‘Then I don’t. Do you mean snowflakes have magical
birth?’

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