Icy and Glowing

An allusion to the story by Viktor Dragunsky: "He's alive and glowing."
It's about truly matters things.

If you climb high into the mountains, moving away from the caves of the Ancient Rickes, following ornate and dangerous paths, you can get stuck in the "white beauty" up to your knees. And those who are shorter in height risk falling waist-deep.

The "white beauty" here extends along the entire ridge, and footprints are almost absent in this place. I said "almost" because here and there, you can find strange, chaotic paths, as if drawn with a double dotted line. And it's not at all surprising that the reason for their appearance is called Chaos.

Chaos wears a warm, fluffy coat. From that fur coat sticks out thin bare legs with feet like snowshoes. Chaos runs across the "white beauty" and doesn't fall in. He only laughs cheerfully and loudly. His laugh is so sharp that it cuts off entire avalanches from the crests of mountains. Avalanches rush down with incredible speed and scatter bright and wet dust over the caves of the Ancient Rickes. The Ancient Rickes grumble and draw the curtains at the entrances. They don't love the "white beauty" as much as Chaos loves it. However, Chaos doesn't love the Rickes. So, I think they're even.

Chaos has friends: Death and the Lighthouse Keeper. Death visits Chaos every time she wanders among the Rickes. Chaos prepares iced tea for her, and they sit for a long time in a snowdrift, talking about the eternal. Or rather, Death talks about the eternal things, while Chaos moulds white balls and throws them down to where the Ancient Ricks live.

The Lighthouse Keeper, unlike Death, doesn't like iced tea. He loves to lie on his back and look at the sky and is usually not in the mood for conversation. But he's not angry if Chaos buries him up to his ears in the "white beauty". It doesn't disturb him because the Lighthouse Keeper's ears are immense.

One day, an Eagle descends from the top of the highest mountain. He looks for a long time at Chaos, floundering in the "white beauty", then catches him by the fur coat and shakes him, throwing him into a snowdrift. Chaos shakes himself off and rises. He starts to throw pre-prepared ice balls at Eagle indignantly.

The Eagle snorts and covers himself with his wing. When the snowballs run out, Eagle apologizes and talks about his son, who has a cold. He asks if Chaos would exchange his fur coat for a gift from the Dark Forest. Chaos agrees.

Nex day, Death and the Lighthouse Keeper watch in bewilderment as Chaos, without a fur coat, jumps around an enormous blue spruce. "It's icy and glowing." That's all his explanation. The Lighthouse Keeper sighs, takes a paper lantern out of his pocket and hangs it on a branch. Chaos claps his hands and laughs boisterously, and somewhere below, the Ancient Rickes grumble displeasedly.