Old Man Winter

It was wintertime again. The sun had moved way down on the southern horizon. It glowed small and dim with weak rays of sunshine from way down below. Still, the climate was mild and warm for this time of year. It was in the middle of the cold season and the air was still warm and pleasant for the heart of winter. A little boy walked through the meadows and fields and looked up to the sky above. 'Why are you still warm and pleasant old man winter,' he asked of the Winter God above, 'I thought that you would strike us with your bitter cold once more as you always do at this time of the year. But no, you are as mild and loving as any autumn day of sunshine and joy. You are getting mighty forgetful in your old age it seems.' The little lad just laughed to himself and kept on walking down the lane, enjoying the fresh climate while it lasted. Old Man Winter looked down at the world below and saw that it was true what the boy had said, the whole place was still warm and mild after all it seemed. 'My, I am indeed getting forgetful in my old age like they say!' he smiled to himself in bashful and shy way of the cold old heart that he always was in the middle of winter. And so, the Old Winter came down cold and icy from above once more as it started to snow on the high mountain peaks above. The ice and frost crept in on all the valleys and fields below, and the little boy had to turn up his coat to cold weather once more. 'Well, you asked for it!' he said to himself with a wry smile on his lips. And the snow and the cold set in on the whole wide world way down below as was the true nature of that Old Winter Man after all. Be careful what you wish for. Or the icy cold breath of Old Man Winter will be upon you once more. He isn't always as forgetful as he seems my dear friend.