The Giant Leaf Of Autumn

Once upon a time, two little children, a little boy and girl called Jev and Vitaliya were wandering through the forest when, on the ground, they found a giant golden Maple leaf.
"Wow", said Jev, "It must be as big as a house from side to side".
"But how did it get there?", asked Vitaliya, "Did it fall from a tree?".
"No. There are no trees in our forest with leaves as large as that", said Jev, "It must have blown here on the wind from some land of giant trees".
And, wanting to examine the giant leaf further, Jev and Vitaliya crawled onto it.
But as they were crawling across the leaf, suddenly there was a powerful gust of wind and it blew the giant gold maple leaf high up into the air with Jev and Vitaliya still upon it.
Both the children were very frightened but also very excited to be flying high up into the air and racing upon the wind, then they saw the bright golden man in the sun smiling to them and he reached out the beams that are his golden hands and stroked both their heads with his warm glow.
Then he offered them the white clouds to eat which they realized were made of whipped marsmallow cream and, scooping up clouds with their hands they ate lots and lots.
"Mmm", said Vitaliya, wiping cream from her mouth and smiling, "These clouds are delicious"
But then, suddenly, another strong gust of wind took hold of the leaf and this one blew them for miles, high over the mountains and when the leaf came softly to earth again it was in a strange land of ice and snow.
"Oh its so cold", said Vitaliya, holding herself in her arms and shivering, "I preferred it up near the sun where it was nice and warm".
Fortunately, the man in the sun was watching them and taking two clouds from the sky he turned them into white bed blankets and threw them down to the children and they wrapped themselves up in the blankets to keep warm.
But then, as they were thanking the sun for his warmth and generosity, suddenly they saw an old Nun coming through the snow who was wearing a long white habit.
"Oh, little children", she said to them, "I love little children. They are so pure and innocent just like the winter of white. Come with me children and I'll take you to my house".
So they followed the old woman, who said her name was Inessa, to her house.
Strangely, however, it was colder inside the Nuns house than it was outside.
"Why is it so cold in your house?", asked the little boy Jev.
"Well you know that the cold keeps things fresh; it keeps them from going bad", said the Nun, "Thats what my house does. Everything in my house keeps the same way for ever".
But Jev didn't like it.
"We can't stay here", he said to Vitaliya, "If we stay here we'll freeze to death".
And, taking hold of Vitaliyas hand, he was going to lead her out of the Nuns house but then the Nun gave the little girl a sparkling angel of ice.
"Look", she said to Vitaliya, "Isn't she pretty? See how she sparkles, just like a diamond. Thats because she's an angel and angels are pure".
And looking at the sparkling doll, Vitaliya was mesmerized.
"It is pretty", she said.
But Jev seized hold of the angel and threw it to the ground, smashing it.
"Forget about that", he said, "She's trying to trick you. She wants to freeze us".
And grabbing Vitaliyas hand again he pulled her towards the door of the house but then, horrified, the two children saw that the door was frozen over with a block of ice.
"You can't get out", said the Nun, "You have to stay in my house where you will keep forever".
But through the ice, Vasilya and Jev could see the light of the sun shining.
"Oh please", Vasilya cried out to the sun beyond, "Please sun, help us".
Then both the children started to hammer upon the door of ice, calling to the sun for help and, hearing them, the sun reached down from the sky with his golden rod and started to batter upon the door with it.
"No! Stop it", cried the Nun, "I don't want your sunbeam in my house. No!".
But the sun didn't listen. It kept hammering with its golden rod until it broke through the door of ice and then, taking hold of the childrens hands with its warm hands of gold it led them out of the house.
"Run children", shouted the Man in the Sun, "Run as fast as you can. Run to the land of Spring and Summer".
But then the Nun put on a pair of ice skates and she started to skate after the children.
"You naughty children", she said, "Come back here so I can keep you forever".
And the Nun moved so fast upon her ice skates that before long she had almost caught up with the children and reaching out her hands towards them, she made her fingers grow as long as icicles to grab hold of them
But then, fortunately, the sun saw that the ice below her feet was rather thin and, reaching out and touching the ice with his warm golden fingers, the sun melted the ice until, suddenly, it gave way beneath the Nuns feet and she went crashing downwards into icy cold water.
Sadly, however, the Nun was so cold inside that the icy water didn't chill her at all and, still determined to get hold of the children, she swam under the ice.
And as the children were running they could see the evil  Nun, through the ice, swimming under their feet.
"Oh no", said Jev, "She's underneath us. She's going to catch us".
"Don't worry about her", said the Man in the Sun, "Just keep running. Look the land of Spring and Summer lies beyond. You're almost there".
And, looking ahead of them, Jev and Vitaliya could see that what the sun was saying was true because, in the distance they could both see a land that was green like the spring and summer, full of flowers and fruit and singing birds.
But then, just as they were about to cross into that bright, warm, beautiful land; suddenly, up through the ice, infront of them burst the Nun. Her face and hands blue with frostbite.
"Stop right where you are", she roared at the children, "You're not going there".
"Let us past you evil old woman", said Jev, "We don't want to stay in your frozen house".
"But my little angels", said the Nun, "The Land of Spring and Summer is no place for children. If you go there, you'll start to spoil; you'll go bad; get rotten".
"But thats where life is", said Vitaliya in a pleading voice, "In your house there's only death".
"But after death", said the Nun, smiling, her fingers becoming long like icicles again, reaching out to them, "You become angels".
Suddenly however, the man in the sun picked up a golden rams horn and blew upon it and when he did, all the Nymphs and Satyrs that lived in the kingdom of Spring and Summer heard it and came galloping and one of them, lowering his head that had a long golden horn on it, charged into the Nun from behind.
Shrieking with surprise as the horn pricked her bottom, the Nun ran away in fear, then the Satyrs called out to the children.
"Come children", they said, "Come into the land of Spring and Summer. The white Nun can't follow you here. Her land is the winter".
Then the children crossed over into that green land and it was warm and full of life and joy.
But something else started to happen aswell for, looking down, they noticed that their feet were starting to turn into hooves and hair grow upon their legs.
"Whats happening to us?", asked Vitaliya.
"Don't be afraid", said one of the Nymphs, "You are just becoming a Nymph and the boy is becoming a Satyr like us and like us you will run and play and have fun in the warmth of Spring and Summer".
Then, one of the Satyrs taking both Jev and Vitalia by the hand they galloped off together into the land of Spring and Summer where the two children lived happily for the rest of their days.