Niveous Adventures of the Hardy Mr. Seal


The first proper snowfall of the winter!



Nikolay the Tiger stares out the window. The snow makes him a little homesick.



After a while your friend and mine, the inimitable Mr. Seal, joins him. Mr. Seal does not have memories of life in a far-away country, but something about cold weather makes him wistful.

Arkady thinks they are crazy. You wouldn't understand, they tell him.



No, thinks Arkady, he does not understand.



Mr. Seal decides to venture outside, decked out in his dapperest scarf (Arkady is not the only one who can be dapper).



Nikolay is more interested in climbing things. He decides to climb the tree in the yard.



Mr. Seal is a little concerned at what a tall tree it is, but tigers are better tree-climbers than seals.

What do you see? he asks Nikolay.



The taiga! says Nikolay. Frosted pines and larches, and the ghosts of cloudberries, and the tracks of little white hares!

Actually he sees cars and houses and streets. But it feels good to pretend, if only for a moment or two.