“Mother?” Little One asked.
Mother sat up on the couch and smiled, “What is it, Little One?”
Little One sat down on the couch beside her mother, “When is father going to be home?”
“Soon.” Mother said.
“Where did they go?” Little One asked.
Mother coughed; she had a cold. “Isaac, Rebekah, and Benjamin went with father to fix Mr. Smith’s roof.”
“Why?” Little One asked.
Mother smiled, “Because it needs to be fixed, and father can fix it.”
Little One sighed, “Why is Father always fixing things?”
Mother smiled even wider, “Because he’s a good man, and he likes to help people.” Mother leaned forward and kissed Little One on the head, “Can you do something for me?”
Little one perked up, she always wanted to help Mother. “What is it?” she asked.
Mother pointed to a pot of stew on the counter, “Will you take the soup to grandma’s house for me?”
Little one looked at her mother, “Why does Grandma need soup?”
“Because she is sick like me, Little One,” Mother said. “And Rebekah made the soup for her.”
Little One smiled, “Okay, I’ll take it for you mother.”
Mother smiled and stroked Little One’s hair, “Thank you Little One,” she said, “I’d do it myself, but I don’t want to give grandma another sickness.”
Little One slipped on the green cloak her sister Rebekah had given her, the mittens grandma had knitted, and her long brown scarf. Then Little One put the small pot of stew in one of mother’s baskets with a handle, and kissed mother goodbye.
“Now remember,” mother said, “stay on the path brother Isaac made and don’t stray, okay?”
Little One nodded seriously, “I understand mother,” she said, “But—can I stay with grandma and grandpa for dinner?”
Mother thought a moment, “Sure.”

Little One walked out the door into the snow, her boots making deep tracks in the two foot snow. Little One was glad for her new boots, because they came all the way up to her knees and had thick fur on the inside. They kept her legs warm and cozy while it was cold and wet outside.
The walk to Grandma’s was a nice one, and Little One liked it a lot. She liked seeing the birds and the deer, and walking on the path Isaac had made. Her brothers Isaac and Benjamin liked the woods just like Little One did, so father had put Isaac in charge of making a path to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Isaac and Benjamin spent a few weeks chopping down the trees and plants between their houses.
Now there was a nice dirt path that wound for half a mile through the woods to grandma and grandpa’s house, where Isaac, Benjamin, Rebekah, and Little one would go often to visit.
Little one stopped and looked at a pretty bush with bright red berries. “You are pretty,” she said to the berries, “I wonder if I can eat you.”
Little one plucked a berry from the bush with her mitten covered hands and inspected it. Isaac’s warning sounded in her head
“Never these Little One,” he’d said, “If you eat these you’ll die.”
Little One threw the berry on the ground and stomped it into the snow for good measure; she wasn’t hungry anyway. Little One continued onto the path and started humming a tune. She noticed that dark clouds were starting to block out the sun, but, it was winter and it seemed like it was always cloudy. After she’d gone a little further snow started to fall and stick to her face, wind started blowing and Little One began to shiver. She hugged the basket with the warm stew close under her cloak to keep warm, and tried to hurry.
But soon the snow was so thick and the wind was so strong that Little One couldn’t open her eyes. She closed her eyes and kept walking straight. She thought that she was about halfway to grandma and grandpa’s house.
Suddenly, Little One walked right into something hard.
She opened her eyes and looked up to see that she had walked right into a huge tree! Little one backed up and looked around. There were trees everywhere! Little one turned around in a circle but she couldn’t see the clear path anywhere. In the blizzard Little One couldn’t see very far, but she could see the shapes of trees all around.
Then she realized that she wasn’t on the path anymore, and she had lost her way in the woods.

Back at home, father, Isaac, Benjamin, and Rebekah were coming in from their trip to Mr. Smith’s house. They all came in the front door, and took off their coats and boots.
Father walked over to the couch were Mother was laying and kissed her head, “Where is Little One?” he asked.
“She took soup to grandma and grandpa’s house. She left a few minutes ago.”
Isaac walked over and stood next to Mother, “Mom,” he said, “it’s snowing very heavily, are you sure she’ll be okay?”
Mother sat up, she was worried. “It wasn’t snowing when she left,” she said, “how bad is it out there?”
Isaac looked worried, “I couldn’t see three feet ahead of me.”
“She could be lost!” Benjamin said.
Isaac stood up and headed for the door, “C’mon Benjamin, we’re going to make sure she’s okay.”
Rebekah spoke up, “Why don’t we call Grandma and Grandpa and see if she’s already there?”
They all agreed that this was a good idea, and Father called Grandpa. But Grandpa said that they hadn’t seen Little One all day, but that they would call if she got there.
Father said he and Rebekah would stay home and take care of mother while the boys went out to look for Little one. He gave Isaac his cell phone and told him to call if they found her.
Isaac and Benjamin put their coats on and headed outside.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Benjamin asked.
Isaac looked down, “I don’t know, but we’ll find out soon.”
“Should we look for her tracks?” Benjamin asked.
Isaac stopped and looked around in the snow. He suddenly looked very worried, “Benjamin, there aren’t any tracks. The snow has covered them up!”

Little One looked back the way she’d come—at least—the way she thought she came from. Maybe…if she could just follow her tracks back home, Father or Isaac could drive her to Grandma and Grandpa’s. She didn’t think it was a good idea to keep going in the storm, she’d already lost the path and she didn’t know which way she was headed. She didn’t even know which way was north or south.
Isaac had told her that thick green moss grows on the north side of trees, but when she tried looking the snow blinded her eyes.
Little One shivered, and held the basket of stew closer. The stew wasn’t going to be warm for much longer, and if she didn’t find her way soon it wouldn’t keep her warm anymore. She looked down at the ground but saw that the snow had covered her tracks right up. “What am I going to do?” she said.
Little One tried to think of a way she could either get back to her house, or to Grandma and Grandpa’s. But she knew she shouldn’t go anywhere unless she knew where she was.
Little One stood up straight and frowned, “What would Isaac do?” she asked. She puzzled it over in her mind until she came up with an answer. If she could find a nice pine tree, she could crawl in underneath where the snow couldn’t reach and that’s just what she had to do.
Little one walked a little ways back the way she thought she’d come and looked around; she thought she could make out the triangle shape of a pine tree a ways ahead of her. She walked a little further, but the snow was starting to pour in over the top of her boots and making her legs tired and stiff.
She took a few more steps, then a few more. When she took another step she slipped and fell down into a deep whole. The basket with the stew landed next to Little One on the snow covered ground but she set it right to keep the stew from spilling out. She stood up and brushed dirt and snow from her cloak, but fresh snow falling from the sky caked onto her cloak again.
Little one looked around and saw that she was in a huge hole in the ground. Thick pointy spikes of ice were pointing down at her.
She thought about trying to climb out of the pit, but she realized there was nothing to hold onto to pull herself out. The only thing she could even reach was ice.
Little One sat down in a corner with her basket and started to cry; what was she going to do? Mother had told her she could stay at Grandma and Grandpa’s for dinner, so no one would expect her back until late. But Grandma and Grandpa knew she was coming over, didn’t they? Surely they would call mother when she never came over. But what would happen if no one found her in time? She would freeze to death and be covered up with snow!
She didn’t want that to happen.
Little One held the stew close, but it wasn’t warm anymore so she set it back down. Maybe…if Father, Isaac, or Benjamin were looking for her, she could call out and they could find her by the sound of her voice.
Little One called out as loudly as she could until her throat got sore, but no one came or replied. Finally she sat back down and huddled close in her cloak, but it wasn’t keeping her warm anymore. Snow was starting to fill the pit and soak into her clothes.
Little one suddenly had an idea. If this snow was wet and sticky, she could make herself a ramp to get out! She dug her mittens into the snow and made a snowball, and it was sticky!
Little one started packing snow into huge snowballs and stacking them in a pile near the shortest wall of the pit. With all the fresh snow falling she didn’t have to worry about running out of snow, and the effort of carrying the snowballs back and forth was helping to keep her warm.
Soon she had to start climbing up the ramp to stack more of the snowballs up on top, but before long she was close to the top.
“Just a few more feet!” Little One said. She climbed back down the pile and made a few more snowballs for the top. She was so close now! When Little One stood on her tip toes at the top, she could just reach the top of the pit.
She stacked more and more snowballs on top until she could peek her head over the top. She climbed back down and brought up the basket of mother’s stew, and pushed it up out of the pit.  “I’ll get this stew to grandma and grandpa yet!” she said. She pushed the basket as far as she could then climbed back down; she just needed to build the mound up a little more, and then she could climb out.
She packed down the last snowball and stood on her tip toes, then swung her arms up and reached for something to hold onto.
Suddenly two hands reached down and grabbed Little One’s hands, and pulled her free of the pit.
“I’ve got her!” Isaac said.
Little One threw her arms around her brother and held on tight, “I was so scared!” she said, “How did you find me?”
Isaac smiled as Benjamin came running over, “We heard you yelling,” Isaac said, “then when we got close I could hear you talking to yourself.”
Benjamin took Little One in his arms and hugged her tight. “I’m glad we found you,” he said, “we were all so worried.”
Isaac looked down at the pit, “How did you get out?”
Little One smiled, “I stacked snowballs.”
Isaac and Benjamin both laughed, “Well, you can tell us what happened on the way home.” Isaac swung her up into his arms and wrapped his coat around her, “C’mon, let’s go home.”

The End