The Tales of Tiptoes Lightly (9 page)

“I’m getting cold,” said Jeremy Mouse, “and tired.”

“Let’s build a snow cave,” said Pine Cone. “We can
spend the night in there.”

So they dug a hole in a snow bank, crawled inside, and
waited.

The sun went down. It colored the snow pink and
orange. Then the moon came up. She was still thin and sharp, but her light made
the snow shimmer silvery blue. They sat still and listened.

Suddenly they heard a crackling noise.

“It’s Jack Frost!” cried Tiptoes, and ran outside.

Pine Cone and Pepper Pot ran after her. Jeremy Mouse
only stuck his head out of the snow cave. He didn’t want Jack Frost to nip his
toes—and certainly not his tail!

“Jack Frost! Jack Frost!” cried Tiptoes. “We’ve come
to pay a visit.”

Jack Frost landed next to them. He was pale, icy blue,
and his arms and fingers were long and glistening. His eyes were sharp, and his
wings crackled like ice whenever he moved. He looked so fierce that Pine Cone
and Pepper Pot were afraid to open their mouths. It got so chilly they wrapped
their beards round their necks and pulled their hats over their ears.

“Afraid I might nip your noses?” crackled Jack Frost
at the gnomes.

Pine Cone and Pepper Pot clamped their hands over
their noses and shook their heads. Now they really were scared.

“Jack Frost,” asked Tiptoes in her most polite voice,
“are you a giant gnome or a giant fairy? Pepper Pot says you are a gnome
because you make crystals, and I say you’re a fairy because you fly through the
air.”

“Well, well,” said Jack Frost, “curious are you? I’ll
tell you my story and then you can tell me what I am.”

Jack Frost settled close to the ground. Every time he
breathed, clouds of ice crystals flew out of his mouth and settled over them.
Tiptoes didn’t seem to mind, but Pine Cone and Pepper Pot were soon covered with
a layer of frost.

“Once,” said Jack Frost, “there lived a Fairy Queen.
She was Queen of the Air. When she brushed her hair, breezes blew gently on the
earth. When she spoke, gusts of wind snatched people’s hats away. When she ran,
leaves and branches blew off the trees. And when she flew in the air, her
mighty wings tossed forests to the ground and terrible storms raged at sea and
sank ships.

One day the King of Ice saw her, and said: ‘You shall
be my wife.’

But the Queen of the Air refused. ‘Why should I marry
you?’ she asked. ‘You stay on the ground, and if the sun shines strongly you
melt away!’

The Ice King was angry and tried to grab her. The
Queen of the Air whirled away—but not quickly enough! The Ice King caught a
piece of her dress and tore it free.

‘That’s all you shall have of me!’ shouted the Queen
of the Air, and away she flew in a storm.

“And who is that piece of dress caught by the Ice
King?” asked Jack Frost.

“You are!” cried Pine Cone and Pepper Pot.

“Then that’s your answer,” said Jack Frost, crackling,
and he stretched his wings and leapt into the air. Down the valleys he flew
spreading white frost wherever he went. The air turned cold as ice when he
flapped his wings, and if people did not wrap up warmly, Jack Frost nipped at
their fingers and toes.

They woke up the next morning to find the snow cave
filled with blue light.

“Where’s the door,” cried Pine Cone. “It’s gone!”

“It must have snowed in the night,” said Pepper Pot.
“Now we’re snowed in and we’ll have to dig our way out.”

They dug and dug. They had to dig a long time before
they tunneled their way out. They looked around. Lots of snow had fallen, but
the sun was shining. Everything looked fresh and clean. Pepper Pot stepped
outside—and disappeared!

“Help!” he cried.

All they could see was Pepper Pot’s red cap sitting on
top of the snow. He had fallen into a snow drift up to his eyebrows.

It took a while to dig him out. He was covered with
snow from head to foot and his beard was all white.

“I think I see a way down,” said Tiptoes, flitting up
into the air. “Come over this way.”

They plunged through the snow, but soon it wasn’t so
deep.

“Our cave was covered by a snow drift,” said Tiptoes.
“See how deep it is over there.” She flitted ahead, looking for the best way to
go down.

“I wish I could fly,” complained Jeremy Mouse. “I’d
fly down the mountain in a jiffy.”

“If you had wings you’d have to be a bat,” said Pepper
Pot. “You’d lose your tail and hang upside down to sleep.”

“No, thanks,” said Jeremy Mouse. “I think I prefer to
be how I am. I would never like to loose my tail.” Jeremy Mouse was proud of
his tail.

Suddenly Pine Cone slipped. He grabbed onto Pepper
Pot, but he slipped too.

“Watch out!” cried Tiptoes. “It’s steep!”

Too late! The gnomes were already tumbling down the
mountain. They tumbled round and round, and as they tumbled they gathered snow.
Soon all Tiptoes could see were two snowballs with red caps bouncing down the
slope. Now and then an arm or leg would poke out, or she would hear an “Oooff!”
or a “Hey!”

At last the snowballs bounced off a rock and broke
apart. Pine Cone and Pepper Pot went flying through the air. They landed in the
snow head first. The only thing Jeremy Mouse could see were two pairs of legs
sticking out of the snow, kicking and kicking.

“Help! Help!” cried the gnomes. “Help!  Help!”

Jeremy Mouse ran down as quickly as he could. Tiptoes
was trying to pull Pepper Pot out by a leg when he arrived. He grabbed the
other leg and they pulled him out.

“Thank goodness,” said Pepper Pot. “I was really
stuck.”

Then they pulled Pine Cone out. He had snow
every-where: in his ears, in his nose, in his cap, and even in his boots and
down his neck.

“I’ve had enough snow to last a whole winter already,”
grumped Pine Cone, shaking out his beard.

“Me too!” said Pepper Pot.

Down Running River they drifted in their coconut boat.
Up the waves and down the waves they went. Sometimes they swirled around in the
current, and red leaves and yellow leaves swirled along with them. Tall clouds were
building in the blue sky. They looked like castles.

Jeremy Mouse leaned over the edge of the boat and
gazed into the water. He saw silvery shapes waving to and fro. Some had red
bodies and green heads with beaks like sea birds.

“Come see,” he said, and they all peered over the
side. “What are they?”