est man. When it had all
fallen, and the sun was shining again, the children ran out into the
street to play, and the old man and his wife sat at their window and
gazed at them. The children first made a sort of little terrace, and
stamped it hard and firm, and then they began to make a snow woman. Ivan
and Marie watched them, the while thinking about many things.

Suddenly Ivan's face brightened, and, looking at his wife, he said,
'Wife, why shouldn't we make a snow woman too?'

'Why not?' replied Marie, who happened to be in a very good temper; 'it
might amuse us a little. But there is no use making a woman. Let us make
a little snow child, and pretend it is a living one.'

'Yes, let us do that,' said Ivan, and he took down his cap and went into
the garden with his old wife.

Then the two set to work with all their might to make a doll out of
the snow. They shaped a little body and two little hands and two little
feet. On top of all they placed a ball of snow, out of which the head
was to be.

'What in the world are you doing?' asked a passer-by.

'Can't you guess?' returned Ivan.

'Making a snow-child,' replied Marie.

They had finished the nose and the chin. Two holes were left for the
eyes, and Ivan carefully shaped out the mouth. No sooner had he done so
than he felt a warm breath upon his cheek. He started back in surprise
and looked--and behold! the eyes of the child met his, and its lips,
which were as red as raspberries, smiled at him!

'What is it?' cried Ivan, crossing himself. 'Am I mad, or is the thing
bewitched?'

The snow-child bent its head as if it had been really alive. It moved
its little arms and its little legs in the snow that lay about it just
as the living children did theirs.

'Ah! Ivan, Ivan,' exclaimed Marie, trembling with joy, 'heaven has sent
us a child at last!' And she threw herself upon Snowflake (for that was
the snow-child's name) and covered her with kisses. And the loose snow
fell away from Snowflake as an egg shell does from an egg, and it was a
little girl whom Marie held in her arms.

'Oh! my darling Snowflake!' cried the old woman, and led her into the
cottage.

And Snowflake grew fast; each hour as well as each day made a
difference, and every day she became more and more beautiful. The old
couple hardly knew how to contain themselves for joy, and thought of
nothing else. The cottage was always full of village children, for they
amused Snowflake, and there was