Sasha and The Snow Deer

One very cold but very white Christmas, a long time ago, a little girl called Sasha, who liked making things, made a reindeer out of snow; a Snow Deer.

 

It had two small tree branches for its antlers; two black coat buttons for its eyes and a lump of coal for its black shiny nose and, round its neck, was tied a warm woolly scarf with pictures of reindeers on.

 

It was really a work of art, Sasha thought, and her mum and dad and even her neighbours who saw it over the garden fence agreed.

 

But then, on Christmas Eve, Sasha peered out of her window to see if Santa was passing overhead when she noticed, to her amazement, that her Snow deer had gone.

 

“Well, perhaps it’s just melted”, said her father when she told him, “Snow does that”.

 

But Sasha didn’t think that her deer could have melted because it wasn’t even hot enough for snow to melt; not to mention that, when her father went out to take a look, there was no sign of the Snow deer’s antlers; its button eyes; its coal lump nose or its woollen scarf.

 

“Well that certainly is odd”, said her dad, scratching his head as he looked around the snow covered garden, “Perhaps some ones stolen it although what they would want with a reindeer made of snow I can’t think”.

 

Sasha was very sad that her Snow deer had gone missing but then, the next morning, when Sasha looked out of her window, to her amazement she saw that the Snow deer had reappeared.

 

Hurriedly putting on her warm winter clothes, Sasha ran downstairs and out into the garden to see if it really was the same deer.

 

It certainly had the same antlers made of tree branches; the same button eyes; the same nose and scarf but then, when Sasha looked more closely at its branch antlers she noticed a note wrapped round one of the twigs and, unrolling it, she read what was written upon the note.

 

“Dear Sasha, I hope you don’t mind but I had to borrow your snow deer.

 

One of my reindeers; Blitzen, came down with a terrible cold you see; his nose is redder than Rudolph’s and, sadly he wasn’t well enough to pull the sleigh.

 

Santa Clause (PS, I hope you like your Christmas present)”, it said.

 

Running back into the house, Sasha looked under the tree to see what Santa had left and there, wrapped in a red silk ribbon, she saw a pretty red and gold saddle.

 

Immediately, Sasha guessed what to do with it.

 

Removing the red ribbon, she took the saddle back out into the garden and placed it onto the back of her Snow deer and then, the moment that she fastened the brass buckle which held the saddle in place, the reindeer, amazingly, came to life.

 

Winking one of its button eyes, the deer began to run and leap around the garden and then it called out to her, “Climb on my back, Sasha and I’ll take you for a ride”.

 

Then, eagerly, Sasha climbed up onto the red and golden Saddle and held on tightly to the deer’s antlers as if they were the handlebars of a bike and, suddenly, the snow deer took a gigantic leap.

 

It leapt right up into the blue December sky and, the next thing that Sasha knew, they were galloping upon the clouds as if it were snow covered ground and the Snow deer even jumped from cloud to cloud as if they were stepping stones in the sky and passing birds, stopping to rest upon its antlers laughed and were amazed to see a reindeer that could fly.

 

However, just then Sasha started to feel very hot and, looking up and shielding her eyes, she saw that the Snow deer was flying dangerously close to the Sun and that the Sun’s hot beams were making the Snow deer start to melt.

 

“Oh no!”, she called out to the deer, “Go down again, quickly or you’ll melt away”.

 

But it was too late; suddenly she felt the Snow deer crumble underneath her; its antlers coming away in her hands.

 

Desperately, she tried to flap the tree branch antlers like wings but it was no good and then she felt gravity yank her downwards; the snowy ground rushing up towards her as she tumbled round and round through the air.

 

“Oh help! Help!”, she called out as she fell.

 

But just then Sasha woke up, wrapped up in the warm and cosy duvet of her bed.

 

Opening her eyes, she blinked and looked around.

 

“Oh”, she said giving a disappointed yawn, “It was all a dream. Still at least I didn’t really fall out of the sky”.

 

She went over to her window and looked out and saw that the snow deer was still there as it had been when she first made it.

 

“Perhaps I dreamed of it going missing as well”, she thought.

 

But then, running down stairs, to her astonishment, underneath the Christmas tree, Sasha saw a…she couldn’t believe it…a red and gold saddle.

 

“Merry Christmas”, said her father and mother, entering the living room.

 

“Is this the magic saddle of a flying Snow deer?”, she asked, stunned but excited.

 

“Flying Snow deer?”, asked her father, laughing, “No it’s the saddle to go on your Christmas Present…look”.

 

He showed Sasha a picture of a snow white pony with a long flowing silken mane, the one they had bought her for Christmas.

 

“We just have to go to the stable and pick it up”, said her mother, “Do you like it? You did say that you wanted a pony, darling”.

 

“Well”, said Sasha, giggling happily, “It’s not a flying snow deer but it will do”.