Weezle's Snowflake

There was a time when snow wasn’t like the snow we know today. Snowflakes used to be very big, so that the children of the world could see each one clearly and marvel at the different shapes. They were so busy watching the snowflakes fall from the sky and melt they didn’t see Santa delivering presents. That’s what snow was for.

But one Christmas it all changed.

It began the day before Christmas Eve. All the elves in Santa’s toy factory were busy finishing the toys, making them ready to wrap up and put onto the sleigh. That is, all the elves except one. Weezle was too young to do the important jobs, but he still wanted to help. He went up to the Factory Master and asked, “Please can I help?”

“Yes,” said the Factory Master. “Here, make some dolls.”

Weezle was very excited. He had never made dolls before and got to work right away. But he put their heads on the wrong way round!

“I’m sorry!” Weezle wailed. “I just want to help!”

“It’s okay,” said the Factory Master. “Here, make some toy cars.”

Weezle was very excited. He had never made toy cars before and got to work right away. But the wheels went square!

“I’m sorry!” Weezle wailed. “I just want to help!”

“But you’ve been everywhere!” cried the Factory Master. “The ice cream is too hot, the water pistols are on fire, and the train won’t come out of its tunnel! There’s nowhere left for you to work.”

“But I only want to help!” Weezle wailed again.

“Maybe there’s room for you at Snowflake Design,” the Factory Master sighed.

Weezle was taken to an office at the back of the toy factory. Three other elves sat scribbling at their desks, and every so often one of them would go to a large square machine. They put their snowflake design into a thin slot and pressed a green button. then they would go back to their desks while the machine clicked and buzzed and whirred.

“You can’t go wrong in here,” Weezle was told. “Just sit at this desk and draw a snowflake. It can be any shape you can think of.”

Weezle was very excited. He had never drawn a snowflake before so he drew, and he drew, and he drew. He liked drawing snowflakes so much that he carried on long into the night when everyone else had gone to bed.

When he had finished drawing he picked out his favourite. He wanted to know what to do with it, but there was no one to ask. They had all gone to bed! Then he remembered the machine the other elves had used. “I know, I’ll put my design in with the others. That will help.”

Weezle went over to the slot and pushed his snowflake design into it. Then he turned to the control panel. There were lots of buttons. Weezle tried to remember which button the other elves had used.

“That’s the one,” he said, pushing a gleaming yellow button.

The machine went ‘FUUURRRRTT!’

“Oh dear,” said Weezle. “It shouldn’t do that. How do I stop it?” He pressed a bright red button.

The machine went ‘TSSSHHHH!’

Weezle pressed some more buttons in a panic.

The machine went ‘VVRRRRR’ and started to wobble and shake.

Weezle was worried. The machine had never been so noisy when the other elves used it. “I’ll try one more button,” he said. “This big green one. I haven’t tried that one yet.”

There was a loud ‘PARP’ and the machine stopped shaking. At the end of the machine was a basket being filled by Weezle’s snowflake design.

“What’s all this noise?”

Weezle turned around to see the Factory Master, in his pyjamas and rubbing his eyes.

“I’m sorry!” Weezle wailed. “I just wanted to help!”

The Factory Master saw the machine making Weezle’s snowflake. “What have you done?” he cried. “All the snowflakes are the same! They have to be different to keep the children interested so they don’t notice Santa delivering presents. They’ll soon get bored when they see these snowflakes. Then they will see Santa, and they will all want to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. It will take Santa days to deliver all the presents! What are we going to do?”

“What about cutting them up into different shapes?” offered Weezle.

“They’d be too small,” the Factory Master pointed out. “The children won’t be able to see the shapes. We’ll have to reset the machine.”

“But the other drawings have been deleted,” cried one of the other snowflake designers, who had also been woken up. “And there’s no time to draw another batch!”

“What can we do?” cried a third elf.

The Factory Master turned to Weezle. “It looks as though we’ll have to try your idea,” he declared.

So for the rest of the night and all Christmas Eve, all the factory elves (including Weezle) got some of Weezle’s snowflakes, a pair of scissors, and began to cut, and cut, and cut. It was hard work. They were cutting so much and the snow was so cold that their fingers started to ache terribly. Weezle went to fetch them all two pairs of gloves each, and when their hands warmed up it wasn’t so hard any more. When at last they had finished, there were many high piles of tiny, tiny snowflakes.

“There’s so much of it,” exclaimed Weezle. “How will we get it all around the world?”

“We’ll have to but the snow blower on full power,” the Factory Master said, just as Santa came in.

“Is the snow going to be ready in time, Factory Master?” Santa asked. “I’m delivering soon, and I need the children busy so I can be back on time.”

“Oh, yes,” said the Factory Master. “Don’t worry about a thing.”

Santa went away for a cup of tea and a slice of chocolate cake before it was time to put his boots on.

“Alright, everybody!” called the Factory Master. “We’d better start right away.”

Half of the elves in the factory scooped up the snow cuttings they had made and put them into bags, whilst the other half fed the bags one after another into the snow blower.

It nearly broke down twice because it was working so hard, but in all the places of the world where children were it snowed, and it snowed, and it snowed. There was so much snow that it didn’t have time to melt before the next snowflake landed, and soon snow was everywhere! It had settled in a big white fluffy blanket that covered everything.

When the children saw it they gasped in delight and rushed out to play in it. They were having so much fun that they didn’t notice that the snowflakes were different. They built snow men and snow houses, threw snow balls, and got very tired indeed. So tired they all went to bed early, even though they were all very excited it was Christmas Eve.

When Santa got back earlier than normal, he was very happy and he went to see the Factory Master.

“That was the best snow we have ever had,” Santa beamed. “All the children were fast asleep, and I didn’t have to stop for anything. It was a lot easier.”

“I’m glad you liked it, Santa,” replied the Factory Master. “But it was all Weezle’s idea.”

“Well done, Weezle!” said Santa, shaking the little elf’s hand. “For such a splendid idea I hereby declare you Head of Snowflake Design.”

“Thank you, Santa,” Weezle replied with a wide grin. “And don’t worry about delivering presents any more. I promise to make a lot of little snow flakes every year from now on.”