Page 67 - СКАЗКИ СНЕЖНОГО ЭЛЬФА

to grow up; its crystals got broken off and shattered into
fragments, because the Half was born out of the breath of
a crying girl who was walking through the snowfall. The
girl felt so lonely that snowflakes seemed black. The North
Wind blew her long fair hair and was about to pull off her
handkerchief, but she ignored it, walking blindly on and
on .She drew shuddering breath and it rose up to where
it gave birth to snowflakes. The North Wind saw halved
flakes that bore silent witness to sorrowful and sad part-
ing from him who the girl loved so much that she was

ready to follow to the ends of the earth. But the ends of
the earth do not have an address and he, who went away
and vanished in thin air, did not have it either. The North
Wind flew down to the girl and started blowing her hair
again, not playing with it this time but softly, trying to be
soothing. The girl turned to the local park and sat down
on a bench. She wailed again and pulled a photo of a dark
man out of her bag. Shot it a glance and put it back in her
bag. Tears renewed running a race down her pale cheeks.
‘Oh dear, or dear! It’s no good for such a beautiful
girl to cry like that.’ The North Wind thought. He swirled
around a bit, then made his mind and ---
turned into a good-looking white-headed man. His
teeth were set over a dark wooden smoking pipe. In his
blue jacket and swinging as he walked, he had a look of a
weathered sea wolf, the terror of the north seas. The North
Wind had long been into that image and it was the one he
preferred while contacting people.

‘What is it to break your heart about, darling?’ the
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