The Snowman Who Stayed

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The story

A small girl builds a snowman with a carrot nose and a scarf, and it waves at her from the garden every morning after that. Grandmother explains how the snowman was made from the last of the village snow, and that it gets a little taller each time someone forgets to say thank you.

How it begins

Now then, sweetheart, pull the blanket up to your chin and listen. This happened in a village where the snow fell so thick that the church bells sounded muffled, as if they were wearing mittens. There was a girl called Ilse, who was seven and a half, which she would tell you herself if you let her. One grey morning before Christmas she went out into the garden with a bucket and a carrot she had sneaked from the kitchen. She built a snowman. It was a lumpy, lopsided thing, but she gave it a fine round belly, two coal eyes, and a carrot for a nose. Then she wrapped…