Belvedere, the enormous white and fluffy creature as tall and as heavy as a big car put on its end, was at home on the frozen top of Lomberstack Mountain having one of the funnest days he could remember.
Firstly, his friends Ben and Emily had come to visit - which was fun enough - but then secondly they’d suggested going outside and making snow blocks - which was Belvedere’s favourite thing to do. And thirdly Emily had brought her music player and Ben had brought his speakers, so they were all dancing as they crushed the snow into cubes.
Belvedere’s big hairy feet stomped and twisted on the snowy ground. Emily feet slid and jumped on the snowy ground. And Ben’s feet hopped and spun on the snowy ground. But in the forests half way down the mountain, the trees were shaking. And on the surface of White Star Lake, about half way up the mountain, the water was rippling.
And whose feet do you think was causing this to happen? Ben’s feet? Emily’s feet? Or… Belvedere’s feet?
It was Belvedere’s feet of course! Every time he jumped or stomped during his dance it caused the whole of Lomberstack mountain to shake - which wasn’t really his fault, was it? He was enjoying himself and everyone’s allowed to enjoy themselves whether be are big, or little, or in the middle.
But Ben, Emily and Belvedere suddenly stopped dancing when they heard a noise much louder than Ben’s speakers. It was a rumble, a bit like a storm - but the sky was clear and sunny. Emily looked down the mountain.
“Oh no…” she said.
Ben looked down the mountain.
“Uh - oh,” he said.
And Belvedere looked down the mountain.
“Avalanche! Now what’s caused that?” he said.
It was true. All the snow was falling and slipping and tumbling over itself and crashing down the mountain.
Avalanches are extremely dangerous. And here, the wall of snow was so fast and so heavy that it would wipe out anything in its path. What if it slid all the way to Horsmarlonerpool? Belvedere had already been in trouble for letting a giant snow ball roll into town before.
“Belvedere!” said Emily. “Where’s your sledge?”
“My car?” said Belvedere, and ran to grab his giant wooden sledge.
“Give us a push, Belvedere,” said Ben, who jumped in with Emily. “We should head to the side of the avalanche.”
Belvedere pushed the sledge as fast as he could before jumping on the back himself.
“Now steer towards the trees!” said Emily. The avalanche was still far beneath them, but they were picking up speed as they headed to the side of the forest.
“Grab some trees!” Emily shouted to Belvedere and he stuck out his right arm and a whole row of tall trees snapped off and he clasped them to his huge chest.
“No let’s go!” said Ben. “Fast as we can!”
The sledge hurtled down the mountain until it slipped over the top of the avalanche. They passed the lower edge of the forest, where the River Gurgleglug begins by coming out of the ground by some rocks, and continued on to the grasslands where the mountain met the fields of Gentleslope Farm.
“Now stop here!” said Emily, and Belvedere stuck out an enormous foot and dug a massive trench as he forced the sledge to a halt. Climbing out, Emily instructed Belvedere to lay the trees out in a curved line that ended at the fresh stream that was the River Gurgleglug, and then told everyone to stand back.
The avalanche hit the trees and the snow was swept over to one side, where it splashed and crashed in to the fast flowing river.
More and more snow tumbled down, hitting the trees, being swept aside into the river, and then floating harmlessly away.
“We did it,” sighed Ben.
In the centre of Horsmarlonerpool, Mayor Dubbin was taking his afternoon walk across the Twisty Bridge towards the Meadows on the south side of the river. As he stopped on the bridge to look West, with Lomberstack Mountain the far distance, he took off his glasses and squinted. “W-w-what’s that…” he muttered.
As he watched, a white carpet of snow and ice made its way up the river towards him.
“Oh my giddy pants!” he said. And rushed back to the north bank of the river.
Soon, the whole of the River Gurgleglug was no longer blue, but from bank to bank was gleaming in the sunlight with thousands of tons of snow from the top of Lomberstack mountain. And between the Twisty Bridge the Bridge of Spires further downstream it had all clogged up to form a solid lake of white.
It was turning into quite a warm day, and people soon came down to collect buckets of ice to take back home to put in their lemonade. And then, people started lacing up their ice skates and going out on the frozen surface - just wearing shorts and t-shirts - to skate the afternoon away!
In his house, Mr Bibbin the newsagent was taking a shower when the water suddenly turned icy, icy cold and he ran out screaming - but generally, everyone found the icy cold river to be a welcome, welcome treat.
After two days, all the snow and ice had drifted off downstream and into the Albion Sea. The water in the River Gurgleglug - fresh from the rocks by the bottom of the forest up Lomberstack Mountain - and warmed by the sun - was soon nice enough to swim in again.
But now, whenever the townsfolk of Horsmarlonerpool were too hot and needed something to cool them down - they had the perfect solution.
They’d ask Ben and Emily to go to the top of Lomberstack Mountain with their music player and speakers - and hope that Belvedere was in the mood for dancing.
