The Hill All the Way to the Fence

Alice is building the biggest snow hill in the yard — one you can ride all the way to the fence. But it needs more snow than one bucket can carry before evening, and so far the hill is only knee high.

Alice hauls snow toward the fence in a bucket: the hill has to reach the fence. So far it is knee high. The yard snow runs out fast, so it means going round the corner, the mittens soak through, the bucket drags one shoulder down — and the hill hardly grows. Alice sits down on the upturned bucket and looks at the fence: it is right at the far end of the yard, and alone by evening it will not happen. Timka and Asya come past with a sledge and look at the small heap. Alice could say nothing — but the hill has to be big. "Help me, I cannot do it." Timka puts the sledge down, Asya takes a board from the wall, and the work goes three times faster. Then three more come out of the third doorway and pile in, though nobody called them. The hill grows above head height, the run leads straight to the fence, and they glaze it from a watering can. By evening there are six sledges in the yard.