The Snowball

Two boys were on a hillside, playing in the snow. They were having fun making snow angels, full of excitement to see the impressions of their bodies in the snow. Then one boy said to the other, "my snow angel is bigger than yours."

"Yeah," said the other boy, "that's because you're bigger than me."

"I'll bet that I can make a bigger snowball than you too," the first boy challenged.

"No you can't."

So the first boy stretched out his foot and dragged it along the ground. "You stay on that side of the line and make your snowball over there. I'll make mine on this side."

"Fine," said the smaller boy. He turned to get to work.

Now the two boys were very good friends, but every time they played together, the innocent playtime would become a game, and the bigger boy would always defeat the smaller, weaker boy. Thinking that he would easily win once again, the boy with the bigger snow angel kneeled down upon his hands and knees. He reached out his hands as wide as he could to gather in as much snow as possible. "My arms are longer," he thought to himself, "and I will be able to lift more snow than him." When he scooped together all the snow in front of him, he began to gather together all of the snow in other places and push it into his pile. And when he thought he had enough snow, he fell back on his knees and put his arms around the pile of snow. But when he tried to lift it, the mass of snow merely crumbled in his arms. It would not stay together.

Meanwhile, the other boy, the smaller of the two, went to work on his side of the line. Starting with a small formation of snow, he began to push it all around. As he rolled it farther and farther, the ball of snow grew larger and larger. Everything in the path of the snowball was slowly accumulated into it. "Surely I am going to win," thought the boy as he rolled.

After a few minutes, the boy who had been trying to gather the snow in his arms looked across the line and saw that the smaller boy was creating a much larger snowball than his own messy pile. Seeing no way of winning, the bigger boy told his smaller friend, "That snowball is nothing compared to what I am going to build. I am going down my side of the hill to go gather all of the snow at the bottom. Mine will be twice as big as yours." And the boy walked down the hill and into his home, out of sight from the smaller boy.

Left unawares, the smaller boy continued to roll his snowball. "I better keep making mine bigger," he thought to himself, afraid lest he should lose yet another game due to his smaller stature. The day wore on, and the weather outside was getting colder and colder, but still the boy continued to roll his snowball. with every inch of ground that the boy rolled, the envy in his heart grew likewise bigger and uglier. Before long, the ball of snow was taller than the boy, and very heavy. It was getting harder and harder to move. And when the boy had systematically gathered all of the snow on his side of the line, his bigger friend had still not returned. The smaller boy briefly contemplated crossing the line and gathering the snow on the other side, but he worried that his friend would return with a bigger ball and catch him cheating.

By this time it was getting dark outside, and extremely cold. Determined to finally win a game, the smaller boy decided that he would have to roll his ball down the side of the hill and gather the snow at the bottom like his friend. But he could not easily push it toward the slope of the hill. With all his might he forced and forced, but the ball would not budge. "I hate him!" shouted the smaller boy as he ran into the ball with a final burst of energy and momentum. The ball moved forward. "I hate him!" screamed the boy once more. The ball moved forward again. "I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!" the smaller boy screamed again and again. And with each bitter exclamation, the giant ball of snow moved closer and closer to the the slope of the hill, until it finally began to move of its own accord. As it rolled it continued to accumulate the snow in front of it. But the snowball was now moving faster than the boy could move. Running and sliding as fast as he could, he watched as the ball rolled faster and faster. He watched with a mixture of terror and glee as the snowball got bigger and bigger. And when it reached the bottom, it did not immediately stop, but continued to roll all the way into the line of trees, where it collided and broke apart.

With the last remaining light of the day, the boy had seen the entire catastrophe from the middle of the hillside. His heart sank into a mire of grief and despair. He ran as fast as possible to the place where his giant snowball had broken apart. Like his friend before him, he resorted to gathering the mess of snow into his arms. But they were too small to gather it all up. Knowing that he was not as strong as his bigger friend, the boy decided that he would never be able to push his giant ball all the way back up the hill. "He tricked me!" thought the boy to himself. "He knew he would be able to roll more snow up the hill than me!" But the boy was determined not to lose the game. And taking up as much snow as he could carry into his arms. He climbed his way to the top of the hill. As it was dark, the boy stumbled many times. And with each trip, he would drop some snow. Nearing the top of the hill, the slope became steeper. The boy slipped again, but this time he lost all control and began to roll down the hill. On one particular tumble, the boy felt a sharp pain in his right leg. He cried in agony for several moments more until he reached the bottom of the hill.

The boy tried to get up and was prevented by the pain of his right leg. Mustering his strength, he tried two more times and failed to get up. It was dark and freezing. The boy was scared and alone. He cried out for his friend who had long ago run to the shelter of his home. Would the bigger boy remember his friend? Would he think to go looking for him when he realized he was not on the top of the hill? Would he be strong enough to pick up his smaller friend's crippled body and carry him home? The cold entered deeper into the boy's body, and he fell asleep.