Glenda the Wendle Chapter 5 part 2

    Glenda looked carefully at the creature in front of her. It was about half her height, covered in long white hair. It had long arms and very large feet.

    “What on earth are you?” she asked. Then she blushed. “Sorry,” she said. “That was very rude of me.”

    The creature laughed and bowed. “I am Stanley Schneewhomper. Who are you?”

    “I am Glenda the Wendle,” said Glenda.

    “Good morning Glenda,” said Stanley.

    “Good morning Stanley,” said Glenda. “I thought I knew everyone in Feggy Wood, but I have never seen you before.”

    “And I have never seen you before either,” said Stanley.  “You must be one of the winter sleepers. I sleep all summer when it is too hot and I would melt away.”

    “When I am awake you are asleep and when you are awake, I am asleep,” said Glenda thoughtfully. “If you do not mind me asking, where do you sleep?”

    Stanley plucked at the fur on his chest. “This is mainly snow,” he said. “And when the snow melts so does most of me. What is left of me sleeps in a deep dark cave in the deepest darkest part of the Wood where it is cold all the time.”

    Glenda nodded. “For a long time, I thought I was the only Wendle in Feggy Wood. I hope you have friends.”

    Stanley laughed. “Oh, yes certainly.  They are not as friendly as I am, but if you are very lucky you might see Sally Schneewhomper if you go to the north end of Feggy Wood. Simon Schneewhomper prefers the west side, Steven Schneewhomper plays in the east and as you know I like the middle.”

    Glenda noticed that he had not mentioned the south. “Who has the south side?” she asked.

    Stanley drew in a sharp breath and sniffed. “That's where Brian hangs out, but we don't talk about him.”

    “And you all sleep in the cave together?”

    Stanley nodded. “Now that's enough talking,” he went on. “Let's have some fun.” He thought for a moment. “I know,” he cried. “We'll go slide down a hill. Come on!”

    With that he ran off through Feggy Wood. Glenda noticed that because of his big feet he could run on top of the snow. She plodded after him sinking up to her knees in the deep snow.

   She followed his footprints to the edge of Feggy Wood. There were no trees here, just a snow covered hillside.

 

 

 

Stanley slid down the hill.

Stanley had somehow managed to find two pieces of wood. He gave one to Glenda. “This is what you do,” he said and lay on the wood and slid down the hillside. At the bottom of the slope, he rolled off and lay in the snow giggling.

    “Your turn,” he gurgled.

    Glenda lay on the piece of wood and slid down the hillside.  Stanley was right, it was fun. At the bottom of the hill she fell off into the snow and giggled with Stanley.

    “Again,” he said and ran back up to the top. Glenda tottered after him.

    They slid down the hill until Stanley said, “Fed up now, let's do something else.”         

    He looked around. “The snow here is just right. We will build a snow monster.” 

    “How?” asked a very puzzled Glenda.

    “Make a snowball and roll it across the ground until it gets big,” ordered Stanley.

    He showed her what to do and soon between them they had made a huge ball of snow.

    “Now we need a smaller one for its head and some sticks and things for its arms,” he said.

    “You make the snowball, I'll go and get some twigs,” said Glenda, “My hands are frozen.” She stopped and looked at the hairy creature. “Don't you feel the cold?” she asked.

    “Not in the least,” replied Stanley, busy rolling up another lot of snow. “But then as I said, I am mostly snow myself.”

    Glenda waded through the snow to the edge of Feggy Wood. She found two nice branches which just looked like arms with hands on the end. She also found three pine cones. “Eyes” she thought. “And nose.” She found a place under a tree where the snow had not fallen. There was a big patch of brown moss. “Hair,” she thought. Nearby was a Holly tree, its leaves still dark green and shiny. She collected a handful carefully. “Teeth.” she thought.

    She took her finds back to Stanley.

    “Help me lift this on top,” he ordered.

    Together they placed the second ball of snow on top of the first. “What next?” asked Glenda.

    “Add more snow to make it stick together, then a smaller ball for the head,” said Stanley.

    Very soon the snow monster was finished. It looked very good with brown hair, sticking out eyes and nose and sharp green teeth. As a final touch Stanley added some red berries. “Now it looks as if it has just eaten something,” he said and had a fit of the giggles.

 

 

The Snow Monster.

    “That was fun,” said Glenda.

    “Bored now,” said Stanley. “Need something else to do.”

    He thought for a moment. “I know. We can slide on the ice.”

    Without waiting for Glenda, he raced away, back into Feggy Wood. She slogged through the snow after him. She caught up with him next to the path. He was stood on what looked like water, jumping up and down.

    Glenda was rather puzzled. She was sure that you could not jump up and down on water, leastways without sinking.

    “The ice is really thick, the snow must have melted here and then frozen,” shouted Stanley. “Come on!” With that he somehow pushed with one foot and slid along the ice.

    Carefully Glenda tested the water with one foot. The water was solid. She stood on it with two feet. She did not sink. However, when she tried to move, one foot went one way and the other went another and she fell over.

    Stanley came sliding up, laughing wildly. “Ooops-a-daisy.” he chortled. “Try again.”

    Glenda tried again, and again and again. Each time she tried to stand her feet slid from under her. Stanley was no help. He could hardly breathe for giggling.

 

 

Glenda slid on her bottom.

 

    In the end Glenda managed to slide on her bottom along the strip of ice and pull herself up on a bush. She suddenly realised that she felt very cold. The sun had begun to go down over the edge of Feggy Wood.

    “Whoops,” said Stanley. “It is getting dark and bushy tailed Rufus hunts at night. He likes to eat Schneewhompers. I need to go and hide.” With that he walked off into Feggy Wood and disappeared.

    “How very odd,” said Glenda to the trees. “He did not even say 'Goodbye'.”

    She trudged through the snow, through Feggy Wood back to her home. Carefully she closed the door behind her to keep out the cold. She helped herself to a few roots, a handful of dried berries and a large mushroom. When she had eaten and got dry she gave a great big yawn and curled up next to the still sleeping Glen. She pulled the leaves and dried grass over her and settled down to sleep.

    “Your feet are freezing cold,” said Glen without waking up, but Glenda did not hear, she was already asleep.