They followed
the Snow Man's wife into her grand parlor.
"Come right over here by the north window where it is cooler," said
she, "and the children shall bring you some fans."
The Snow Children floated up with fans--all the Snow Man's family
had a lovely floating gait--and the scholars took them with feeble
curtesies, and began fanning. A stiff north wind blew in at the
windows. The forest was all creaking and snapping with the cold. The
poor children, fanning themselves, on an ice divan, would certainly
have frozen if the Snow Man's wife had not suggested that they all
have a little game of "puss-in-the-corner," to while away the time
before dinner. That warmed them up a little, for they had to run very
fast indeed to play with the Snow Children who seemed to fairly blow
in the north wind from corner to corner.
But the Snow Man's wife stopped the play a little before dinner was
announced; she said the guests looked so warm that she was alarmed,
and was afraid they might melt.
[Illustration: PUSS-IN-THE-CORNER.]
A whistle, that sounded just like the whistle of the north wind in
the chimney, blew for dinner, and Dame Penny's scholars thought with
delight that now they would have something warm. But every dish on the
Snow Man's table was cold and frozen, and the Snow Man's wife kept
urging them to eat this and that, because it was so nice and cooling,
and they looked so warm.
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