A SNOWBALL once made a bad habit out of lying to cover her mischiefs. And while the other snowballs suspected her and didn’t trust her with anything, she thought her lies were harmless and no one really cared.

One day that the other snowballs were busy, she thought of playing with the snowman that they had diligently built. “What a nice and big nose, just like Pinocchio’s!”, she exclaimed as soon as she saw the carrot they had placed on the snowman and reached out to grab it. Out of her carelessness, however, she accidentally stepped on the snowman and tore it down.

“I shouldn’t tell anyone…”, she thought and picked his belongings up, leaving his body parts to melt. She, then, hid the branches, which were supposed to be his arms, under the snow. As for the carrot, the scarf and the cap, she thought that it would be best to hide them somewhere the other snowballs would have a really hard time finding. So, she took them to an empty cavern which they never approached, as it was rumored to be the hideout of a ferocious beast with big teeth.

As soon as she went back to find the other snowballs, they started interrogating her, suspecting her mischief. So ashamed did she get that she came up with one more lie about a rabbit supposedly coming by and taking the snowman down so as to eat the carrot.

“This means war!”, the leader of the snowballs exclaimed and armed the other snowballs with sticks. She, then, guided their army through the snowy forest with a plan to capture the first rabbit they find, and exchange it with the stolen stuff.

So it happened. Yet, the first rabbit they came across was not an ordinary one, but rather, a prince, whom the leader of the snowballs carried over to their camp and interrogated. As the rabbit was of noble origin, he threatened them back that his father, the King of rabbits, would surely go to war to rescue him.

As soon as the snowball realized what mess she had gotten everybody into, she ran to the cave to get the carrot back. There, however, she met the beast of the cave, that is, a big, frightening bear with sharp teeth. Much to her good luck, the bear was sound asleep, and wouldn’t hear a thing. Our good snowball approached her with as slow, quiet movements as possible and took the carrot straight from her claws. As for the scarf and the hat, she didn’t dare touch them, as the bear was sleeping on them and would definitely be disturbed.

She then went back to the camp to return the carrot, claiming that she had found it buried in the snow. “What about the other two items?”, the other snowballs asked and refused to set the rabbit free. “I have no idea…”, the snowball replied, shrugging her shoulders.

The leader of the snowballs then gathered the soldiers and announced them the big plan: they would arm themselves and the same night they would get out in the forest to find the King of the rabbits himself and force him to give the items back. As soon as our good snowball heard it, she realized her lie would get them into much bigger trouble than before and shook with fear.

So, she returned to the cave, determined to pull the scarf from the beast. While trying, the bear suddenly woke up, giving her a big, warm smile. “I’d best get out of here…”, the snowball exclaimed and ran as fast as she could to escape her luck. Quickly putting the scarf and cap on, the bear went after her to catch her.

They both ran and ran, until at some point, they found themselves at the top of a snowy mountain. The more the snowball ran, however, the more snow she gathered and equally grew in size. Until at some point, she had gotten so big she could no longer keep up with the bear’s pace.

The bear then led her to a narrow canyon, from which she would have a really hard time escaping as she would have to jump to other side. The snowball then improvised: she grabbed the trunk of a tree, and attempted to turn it into a bridge on which she could walk. Much to the bear’s amazement, her trick worked and the animal was amazed to see her walk on the trunk with steady steps. Half way through, however, the trunk started cracking, catching everyone’s attention, and the rest of the snowballs that battled with the rabbits in the canyon below, turned their eyes to see what was going on.

Τhe bear, then, made the fatal mistake, stepping her foot on the trunk so as to get closer. As they were both too heavy, the trunk broke into pieces, bringing them down. Our good snowball was lucky enough to end up in a small pond and clean herself from the snow, and the bear hanged from the branches of a short tree just above her.

“The bear has the snowman’s scarf and the cap”, the snowballs exclaimed. So did the rabbits, who shook the tree to make the bear fall.

“I think it’s time for me to explain everything”, the snowball said as soon as she walked out of the pond, at the same time that the rabbits were tying the bear to a tree. After taking the scarf and the cap from her, they gave them back to the snowballs to prove it was not their fault.

The snowball then explained what had really happened in full detail, and how a small lie had managed to get all of them into such great trouble and put her in danger. After listening carefully to what she had to say, the snowballs and rabbits granted her forgiveness under one strict condition: that she would never lie again, not even seemingly insignificant things.

Not only did she change her ways from that day on, but she also never lied again. And so they all lived happily ever after.