THE SNOW FLOWERS



“… Then the Genie of December used his wooden staff, knocking slightly three times on the white snow. Right after that, there was a strange sound from under the ground. The sound was smooth and tender like small grains of corn crackled in the pan. To the orphan’s eyes, hundreds, no, thousands of green grass seeds popped up from the cold white snow. They grew up very fast then at the top of each appeared a bud with five petals. When a bud blossomed, the orphan saw five petals with white color and many spots as red as blood.
“They’re the snow flowers. You picked them quickly, tied them in a bunch, brought them back to your stepmother. Quickly, the weather is very cold, maybe you will catch the cold,” said the Genie of December, then he smiled.
The orphan was happy, saying thank you then he bent his back, quickly picking the snow flowers one by one. After picking a full bunch of flowers, he looked up to say good bye to the Genie of December but he disappeared already…”

– Andersen.

Bi closed the thin book, dreamedly thinking about the white snow flowers for some time and then stood up. There was a breeze. The leaves of white apricot tree fell down all over the small front yard.

“Grandpa, today the leaves fall down a lot. It’s going to be a bare tree,” she grinned and talked to her grandfather.

The old man opened half of his eyes, looking at the blue sky. “Yeah, it’s the end of autumn… Leaves must fall down in this season… Use a broom and sweep them, girl”, he said with a weak voice.

“Yes, grandpa.”

After sweeping the yard, Bi entered the small kitchen at the side of the house to cook rice soup for her grandfather. She didn’t know what desease he got but everyday he had to eat rice soup though he’d rather eat rice only. Many times Bi hid her parents, feeding him some spoons of hot rice with fish sauce, then right after that, Bi hurriedly took him to the bush full of red flowers so that he could vomit. The neighbors said that her grandfather got cancer of the esophagus, Bi didn’t know what that desease was, but it made him vomit everything after he ate…

Bi lit the fire then put a pan on it. She used a piece of carton to fan the fire to avoid the heat. Cat Mup slowly entered from outside, stepped around her, then said mieo mieo…

“What? Are you hungry, little cat?”, Bi asked.

Cat Mup opened its round eyes, looking at Bi. “Do you have cold rice and left-overs, Bi? Give me some,” it said.

Bi tore a dried fish, threw it into a cat’s small bowl. “Try to enjoy it, ok? I must cook rice soup for grandpa,” she said.

Cat Mup didn’t hasten to eat a piece of fish. “You put some fresh corn into the pan and stew them, right?,” it advised her.

“Fresh corn? Why so weird, honey?”

Cat Mup nodded its head. “Just do it, Bi. Your rice soup will have the smell of corn, it will be more delicious,” it assured. “Don’t let your grandpa keep eating rice soup, poor him.”

Following the advice of the little cat, Bi looked for a young ear of corn in a big basket, then she peeled all layers of leaves, all silks, then picked out some young kernels and threw them into the pan, too.

“Hey Bi, read the story Snow Flowers to me again,” Cat Mup began sniveling after sitting silently.

“I have read it to you twice. Don’t you feel bored?”

“Not yet. You read it once again, please!”

Bi opened the thin book, began reading louder the story to her cat. After few minutes, suddenly Bi stopped, staring at the fire and looked sad. “I am afraid that… my grandpa will die…”, she said.

“Nonsense!”

“I overheard the neighbors talked about that. They said my grandpa couldn’t celebrate this new year holidays.”

“They said crap. Listen to me. Only until the snow flowers fall down, your grandpa will die.”

“In our countryside, how do we have the snow flowers?”, she turned, looked at it and asked.

“There, I mean, your grandpa will die only when the snow flowers fall down.”

Bi understood what Cat Mup wanted to tell her. She pulled it near her and then hugged it. “Yeah, I see… In our countryside, the snow flowers fall down in your dream…”, she whispered.

After that, when Bi was hanging clothes, Dog Co ran to her very fast, panting with its tongue out. “Hey, Bi? After the orphan brought the snow flowers back to his stepmother, what was next?”, it asked, opening its eyes and looking at her.

“Ah… His stepmother thought that if she picked those herself and sold them in the market, she would have a lot of money because they didn’t have the snow flowers in winter. So she ran to the field. The Genie of December used his staff, turning her into an ice statue which stood in the middle of the white snow field.”

“Great! The wicked were always punished,” Dog Co said after licking his front paw.

Bi didn’t say anything, quietly shook her grandfather’s shirt and carefully hung it on the rope. She sadly caressed the sleeves because up to now he had been so weak that he couldn’t sit up, just lay down on his bed. Sometimes, Bi glanced at him furtively, saw his tears running down. Feeling sorry for him, she came near his bed, tried to read Andersen’s fairy tales to him so that he shoudn’t be sad anymore. But her father (or her mother) waved the hand, shooed her out so that the old man could have a rest.

Dog Co put its dirty front paw on Bi’s foot. It barked once. “Hey, Bi, why are you so sad? Why do you keep caressing your grandpa’s shirt?”, it asked with its concern.

Bi looked down at it. She licked her dry lips. “Uhm, I’m so sad, honey,” she answered.

“Why are you sad? Tell me!”

“I’m afraid that my grandpa would die…”

“Nonsense!”

“I think it makes sense. Cause he hasn’t eaten anything recently. He drinks milk only. You know, honey, he vomits whatever he drinks. Hic…”.

Dog Co scratched her pants with its front paw. “No “hic… hic…” anymore, ok? I see your grandpa is still fine, right? I’m sure that thing will only happen if the snow flowers fall down,” it said.

“Really, honey?”

“I never tell a lie to you,” Dog Co grinned.

Bi put her two hands on her chest. “Ok, I expect my grandpa will live with me forever, because no way there are snow flowers falling down here,” she whispered to herself.

“Cackle! Cackle! What thing is terribly white!”

The fat hen jumed down from its nest. It stepped slowly, shouting the news that it had just laid a small and cute egg. Passing by the place where Bi was sitting and peeling a few balsam-apples, it made some coddled noise as asking food. Bi took out a handful of paddy from a bag which was hung nearby then scattered them on the yard. Pecking the paddy so fast that it almost choked up, her fat hen stopped then came near Bi. She reached out her hand, the fat hen quickly stepped back and kept on pecking paddy.

Bi looked at the top of the white apricot tree up high on her head. She wondered why it was so high like that. It had to be five or six meters high. Perhaps when her grandfather grew it, he put it into a deep pit with much old rubbish therefore the tree foot was big, the tree trunk was strong and the branches, the leaves were extremely luxuriant.

Two months before, all of the leaves of the white apricot tree had fallen down, it looked like a dry skeleton. Her grandfather felt sorry for it, he made her water the tree with a lot of water. So now the leaves were luxuriant and the flowers blossomed unbelievably. The white flowers covered all of the tree. “Wow, there are countless of flowers,” whoever passed it couldn’t help saying that.

Bi read a story of the snow flowers to the fat hen again. “The weather in that winter was very cold but the stepmother still made the orphan go into the faraway mountain, pick the snow flowers, bring back to her. If he didn’t have those, she would kick him out of the house…”.

Dog Co was lying next to Bi, listening to her. “Whenever I hear this part of the story, I want to cry,” it said to itself.

“Yes, me too, honey.”

Cat Mup stroked its whiskers then it read two sentences of a popular song: “No way a rice cake has a bone, no way a stepmopther loves a stepchild.” Hearing that, the fat hen scratched dirt, making some noise to show its displeasure. “You two keep silent to listen to her, right?”, it said.

Dog Co and Cat Mup covered their mouths quickly as if they were afraid of that fat hen so much. Bi felt funny and she smiled. She intended to read the next part of the story then there was a sudden wind. Ew. The wind was very strong. It shoke the top of the white apricot tree to the left then to the right. It blew the branches full of white flowers up then it made them stoop. It stripped the white flowers off the branches, let them fall down as a rain of white snow…

“Hey, Bi, the snow flowers are falling down…”, Dog Co stood up and shouted.

“Wow, isn’t it beautiful? The snow flowers are falling down! The snow flowers are falling down!”, Cat Mup jumped up and down, cheering.

Bi looked up, anxiously caught the white flowers which were whirling in the wind like the snow ones. “But, why… why the snow flowers are falling down, honey?”, Bi asked.

Bi didn’t finish her sentence then she heard her mother’s crying from inside the house. Dog Co and Cat Mup were moveless. All of them were stunned. That was it. Bi stood there, closed her eyes, put her hands on her chest and prayed. On her head, the snow flowers kept falling down...

 
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. Updated: 08.12.2008 .