Snow Dragon

When I was stuck in America, I asked my sister for some scraps to make something. I needed to do something "normal."

So, she had some white on white fabrics and as you may guess, being somewhat obsessed by the snow at that time, I knew there had to be a little snow dragon in there somewhere.

At first I thought he was standing there begging to come inside because he was cold. And my son and nephew (who were impressed with the stories and my being able to "find" the little dragon in the pattern of the fabric) suggested he was sad because he was stuck in another country away from his mum. However, when I got to stitching him, I had to stop because he was very busy building a 'made-of-snow-dragon' which had to go in the quilt. and as you know, then the story started to develop.

So, here is the baby Snow Dragon and a story for you.

Reported sightings of strange things have been told by those who have experienced snow blindness. Many speak of being disoriented or of seeing things which are not really there - as with a mirage.

In truth, more weight should be given to reports of small winged creatures playing in the snow. Some diaries discovered in subsequent years have even recorded such unusual activities as the snowblind sufferer playing with these creatures!

To be honest, the reason why such stories are not common knowledge is due to the reluctance of the diarist to tell friends at the time for fear of ridicule. Later generations discovering the diaries have also chosen to keep such "mental aberations" quiet.

But to set the record straight, these occasions are truly encounters with snow dragons. In most cases, it is just a baby snow dragon out playing in the snow!

If you should ever encounter one, do join in the play! You will find it great fun. You might even have a good deed done for you by the Mama lurking nearby!

The purpose of these writings being to clarify and expose some of the little known stories of dragons, I will set down the facts of one encounter found in the diary of Peddler Bill.

---
Peddler Bill, having been delayed returning home for Christmas by a broken wheel on his handcart, had left the cart to set out the few miles to the village. The snow had been falling for a while before the wheel broke, but it wasn't till he was trudging along through it that the full brunt of the snowstorm hit.

Soon he was turned about by the wind and disoriented by the snow. Thinking to at least shelter from the wind, he saw movement ahead as he headed to what he hoped were the trees. Before he knew it, he was tumbling down a slope.

Somehow the wind had reduced. It seemed he was in a shallow bowl in the snow. Ahead of him was what looked like a snow-covered creature flapping in the wind.

Bill blinked his snowcrusted eyes. The creature looked like it had wings! As he watched, it came nearer. Bill tried to move backwards in the snow, but the creature came closer and took his arm.

Bill was really afraid now. He closed his eyes. "It is just that snow blind disorientation lark," he said to himself. " I sure hope it isn't a Snow Angel come to earth to take me!...(Funny shape for a Snow Angel)."

And yet, he felt himself being pulled up out of the snow and tugged forward.

He opened his eyes slowly and looked down.
If he wasn't mistaken, it was a snow-covered Dragon. Or...maybe not snow covered, as none fell from him as he moved. ???
A Snow Dragon?

He felt a whisper in his head.
"Playing?"

The Snow Dragon placed a lump of snow in his mittened hands and led him to a pile in the snow.

Bill blinked again and saw it was a shape. Something like a snowman. Something like a snow-dragon.

"Oh!"
He thought of his little boy back home and how he liked making snowmen. He wished he was at home making snowmen with his boy...or at least sitting in front of the fire talking about making snowmen with his boy.

He felt the whisper again.
"Making?"

The wind really was not so bad here and visibility had cleared. Oh, why not? A bit of movement would warm him and he had no idea where he was now anyway. So it would be pointless to head towards the village. He didn't know where it was!

So, he bent down and looked at the shape the Snow Dragon had started in the snow. For the next few minutes, he was kept busy by the little Snow Dragon adding bits of snow here and there to the 'made-of-snow-dragon'. The wings were a bit tricky. But eventually they worked out a way to make them so they wouldn't fall off by packing the snow around some of the goods he carried in his sack. He was quite pleased with the results.

The Snow Dragon seemed to be pleased as well, as he kept clapping his hands. (Paws? Claws?)

But Bill had been in the cold quite a while now. Before too long, he began to feel sleepy. He patted the little dragon on the head.

The whisper in his head said.
"Resting?"

So he sat down. It was dangerous, he knew. You couldn't stop in the snow or you would freeze. But it was so...so... ...

Bill nodded off to sleep.

In his sleep, he seemed to think he was picked up by big hands and carried. The little Snow Dragon tagged along beside.

The dream was so realistic, he thought he was back at his handcart. It seemed the large hand carrying him touched the broken wheel. And just like that, it was back on. Not broken at all!

It was hard to remember the next bit of the dream, but somehow he had offered a blue and white scarf from his peddler's cart to the little Snow Dragon. It would keep his neck warm. (Did Snow Dragons need their necks kept warm?)

The next thing Bill knew, he was waking. The snow had stopped and the world glittered brightly. The houses sparkled in the sunshine. He shaded his eyes from a reflection flashed from the windows of his own familiar house.

Wait! The houses? His OWN house?

He looked around and there he was, sheltered under the hand cart with his tarp draped over it, just like he did when he sheltered from the rain!

Bill shook his head. He got up and walked towards the outbuilding at the side of his house to begin putting the cart away.

"I must have got here in the snowstorm not realising it. I really was snowblinded to have set up camp and gone to sleep right in front of my own home!" He mused. "But what a strange dream!"
He stopped short. There...in the clearing behind the house...next to the cherry tree... near where his wife made the veg patch... There stood a snowdragon. A 'made-of-snow-dragon'!

He quickly shut down the thoughts which started to flood his mind and went on about his business.

---
Years later, his family found his diary with the story recorded. His son remarked, "I remember the story Da used to tell me on winter nights! What an imagination! I wonder why he wasn't known for telling any other stories like that?"

But then we know, don't we?