MAY 9: The Spring Snow-storm
“Well,” said the great big stone, “this is fine.” The big stone was big enough so that quite a number of children could get on it at one time. It was away off in the woods, quite far from the nearest village, and it was a fine place to have a picnic.
Some children had decided to give a picnic there and they had asked their daddy to let them have two of the horses and the wagon to take them all to the big stone.
The stone was in some woods which belonged to a family in a neighboring farmhouse. They were not very well off, so they made a little money by charging people who wanted to go through their land a small amount to see the stone and have a picnic there.
And the most important thing about the stone has not yet been told. It was a rocky stone. Yes, that great big stone actually rocked when one touched it, just as a rocking-chair will rock.
All the children who were going to the picnic, went in the wagon and there were five children in all.
They reached the road which was a private one, and they stopped to pay to be allowed to go through to the part where the rocking stone was.
“How much is it?” they asked of the neighboring farmer’s little boy.
“It’s five cents apiece for children,” he said. “And that lets you look at the stone and stay there as long as you want.”
“How much will it cost to let the team go through?” the children asked, for they thought it would cost more with the wagon and horses.
The little boy thought for a moment and then he said: “There won’t be any charge for them, because I don’t suppose they will look at the stone much!”
They all laughed, and the children went through to the rocking stone. And it was then the stone said to itself: “This is fine.” How wonderful it seemed! The stone was so big that they had to climb up a ladder in order to reach the top where they were going to have their picnic, and yet they could stand by it and move it so it actually rocked, not using more than one hand.
“Let’s eat right away,” some one suggested.
And it was such a good suggestion that they started in to eat at once. And such good things as they had! They had cocoa which was piping hot, because it had been heated in a kettle on a bonfire which they had made as soon as they had arrived.
They had sandwiches of all kinds, and cakes and bananas and oranges and all sorts of other goodies. And they had a box with hard candies in it which they all had decided was the best kind.
They had not been eating long when one of the children said: “I do believe I feel a drop of rain—no—it is a flake of snow. Yes, it is snowing!”
“It can’t be,” the other children said, “for the spring has come.”
“But look, there are really snowflakes falling now. And such great big flakes, too!”
And, true enough, even though it was rather far north and though the spring had come, huge snowflakes fell upon the children as they ate their picnic lunch on top of the big rocking stone.
And they laughed and said: “Well, this is a real picnic and everything is very wonderful.”
“Yes,” said another child, “and it is so interesting as everything is a little different from usual. It is not usual to have a picnic on top of a huge stone upon which we have to climb by a ladder if we want to reach the top, and yet which will rock when we touch it, just as though it were a rocking chair. And now the snow is falling though it is spring.”
The jolly old King Snow laughed as he heard this and said: “I like to give them a surprise in the spring when they think I’ve left them for good. And I’m glad I’ve given the children a good surprise, for it makes their picnic party all the more fun, for they like me, they do.” And old King Snow chuckled and went to bed for the summer months feeling very happy indeed.