CRASH! Right in front of them a huge tree hit the road with the loudest noise either of them ever heard, and such a swirl of blinding, white snow! Of course, Mr. Neigh! stopped immediately, He had stopped so fast that he almost fell over!and the thought struck him, "Wow! I'm glad we weren't in the Green Hornet for that! We'd have been helpless to stop in time!
When the swirling snow cleared just enough to see the road ahead, he saw the road was blocked! The enormous tree completely blocked their way! Up above where the tree had stood all its many years, the bank was very steep; below the tree, where its trunk led down the mountain side, it was much too steep to walk!
Know what? Almost before she knew she wasn't Miss Riding Wolffe wasn't afraid anymore! (But she sure was when the tree fell!) She whispered, "Father (She liked to talk with Creator like a father, for He was a real father, anyway), we've got a problem! A little tree fell across the road, and do you suppose that you could help us?"
Now, I don't know about you, but it's awfully hard for us fathers of sweet little girls, who love their children, to not say, "OK, my little one, I'll do what you need!" (I know, 'cause I have a precious little daughter!) Well, I think that Creator must also feel that way. Not a day passed for Red Riding Wolffe but that she had something to ask Creator for His help with.
No sooner did she finish the request than the huge, broken tree began to move! And, so did the road! In a moment, nearly before they could realize what was going on right before their eyes, there was no road left! Quickly, Mr. Neigh! backed up, and just in time! Where he had stood almost touching the huge tree trunk with his nose, there was no road left! It had simply disappeared down in the steep canyon below.
[Picture of the broken road, with just a narrow pathway left]
Old Mr. Neigh just stood there, frozen in his footprints, snow piling up around him. "Oh! Look!," exclaimed his little rider, "There's a little path over by the bank!"
Sure enough, the inner edge of the road still clung to the mountain, but it was barely wide enough for Mr. Neigh! to walk. If he was very, very careful, and the broken road held up, Mr. Neigh! could cross over to the other side of the broken road.
He said, "We've got to be very cautious, my little friend. One slip, and we will join the rest of the road, and the tree, way down there!"
[Picture of the road, a view past the overhanging ledge, and across the broken place, on the Right half of this page. Text on the inside half]
"Oh! I know we'll make it! Creator cleared the tree for us - I asked Him to! And, He stopped the boat for the Salmon Family, and He sent Blue Jay. I know we'll be OK," his little friend said with a very confident voice.
"Then, let's go!" He was off with a very careful step, and another, another, and more slow, careful steps. But, just before they reached the whole road again, another section of road fell away down the mountain! Had he stepped on it, they would have plunged down with it! The narrow ledge was even longer now!
Riding Wolffe was too scared to look down the steep mountain side below, but she dared peek anyway. "EEEE!" she squeaked. She sucked her breath in fast. The distance down the almost straight down mountain side was much farther than she expected!
[Picture of Mr. Neigh! with Riding Wolffe on his back, going over the narrow path, covering the bottom of two facing pages]
In fact, it was so far that she couldn't see the bottom! "Don't look! Just hold tight to my mane, and sit still! If you shake me, we just might fall!" By now, they were almost to the other side. "One more step, little friend . . . We're across!" said Mr. Neigh! "We made it to safety!"
"Oh, look!" cried Riding Wolffe, "the snow's awfully deep!" Sure enough, it was. "I must work very hard to get us to Grandma's, now," said Mr. Neigh!. We still have a long way ahead."
Page 26
"Can I help?," his little friend asked. "Will you be OK?" "Just be calm, little one. If you can sing, that will help me to work harder, and to feel better, 'cause I know Creator has come to help."
"OK, I'll sing!" (She always loves to sing, and she especially loves to when her friends join in singing! Actually, she just whispered to me, as I write this, "Do you want to ask Cindy, Melissa, and Eriel to sing this with me? I think we all can be comforted together to sing this song!) I told her I would write her request into this story, so now here she is singing . . .
[Oh! I just remembered. Miss Riding Wolffe lived in a time before the name for Creator in His Human form, "Y'shuah, was changed to a name some pagans liked better, which is "Jesus." The pagans liked it better, because it was made up of two names for their highest pagan idols, Ieputer, and Sus, also called Jupiter and Zeus, today. Miss Wolffe uses "Y'shuah, so we will too! In fact, it fits perfectly with the other words . . .]
"Y'shuah loves me!, This I know, because the Living Word tells me so. Little ones to Him belong(Grandpas and grandpas too!), this I know, because He gave me this song!"
"Ohhh! Black and Yellow, Red and White, all the little children are loved in His sight!; And they are safe in His might!"
[Picture of Miss Riding Wolffe, Cinthia Joy, Melissa Joy, Eriel, Mr. Neigh!, Grandma wolffe, and Blue Jay, singing at Christmas in Grandma's little tree-cabin]
"Oh! What fun it is to sing with my friends!, exclaimed Miss Red Riding Wolffe. "Can we do it again?"
"Of course! Maybe, if you ask them, they know a new song to teach you, my little friend," Mr. Neigh! said. His spirits, and strength, had perked up with all the cheery singing. "Why don't you ask them?," he said.
Well, it wasn't very long at all till Mr. Neigh stopped right next to Grandma's door! He gave a very loud snort (To let Grandma know they had arrived, and extra loud, because she couldn't hear so well), and Grandma opened the door!
"Oh my! Just look at all the snow!, she cried. "I've been very busy making a warm supper for the two of you."
"When Blue stopped by hours ago, it was just starting to snow, so I carried extra firewood in for the fire, and began to fix supper.
[Picture of Grandma and her guests sitting at the table for their Christmas supper]
"You have come at just the right time! I just finished supper!"
So, with Mr. Neigh! right by her at the little, old-fashioned table, and Grandma right next to her on her other side, Little Riding Wolffe was cozy warm - and full of Grandma's wonderful-good food!
"Oh Joy!" she said, her eyes twinkling. But, no sooner did she say "Oh joy!" , than there was a very loud Crash, right outside Grandma's front door!
[Picture of the huge bear crashing the door]
"What's next!," exclaimed Mr. Neigh! What he wanted now more than anything else was a warm, comfy bed of hay, and a looonnnggg nap! he was very, very tired. "Well, I better go see."
But, before he could even get up, the little door almost flew off its hinges! There, bigger than the doorway, stood the biggest, THE BIGGEST . . .
Uh, uhm . . . what was it?! It was too big to see all of it!
Grandma's mouth fell open, and she had to push it shut with one paw. She had just started to say, "This apple pie is what I used to make for Grandpa, because it's his, or was, his very most favorite," but all she got out was "This appl . . ." and the door burst open!
[Picture of Mr. Neigh!'s kick on Mrs. Brown Bear's nose]
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