WHIZZ! WHIZZ! WHIZZ!

 The elves, Butterflies, Santa and Mrs Claus shot around the frozen secret lake in Santa’s Secret City at the North Pole. Snowflakes were dancing through the air, being wafted around by the ice skaters. Countless torch flames created a romantic atmosphere at the lake’s edge. The Christmas Elves’ Philharmonic played Christmas carols on their violins.

 The electric blue fireflies and the phoenix were so drawn in by the music that they fluttered away from the bank of the lake above the ice, floating around between the skaters.

 It was such a picture of joy and happiness, not a care in the world… until the phoenix forgot to keep flying and, to everyone’s horror, landed on the ice, spinning around wildly like the star of some ice skating show.

 “Help!!!” the phoenix called out in utter panic.

 “Hey! Hey!” Martha called.

 The others looked up to see Martha pointing energetically at the madly spinning phoenix, who was causing clouds of steam to come off the melting lake every time he put a fiery foot down. Fizzzzzzzzzz…

 Too late!

 CRACKKKK, CRACKKKK! The ice began to break up.

 “Oh my goodness!”

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 The firebird leapt into the sky as soon as he noticed the ice was cracking into floes, some small, some large. Santa and Mrs Claus were right in the middle of the lake!

 The Butterflies could use their wings to carry themselves out of the danger zone, but the elves and Santa and Mrs Claus didn’t have that option and were in severe peril of falling into the freezing cold water. Oh no, who’d have thought this might happen?  Christmas was in danger!!!

 A visitor ambled to the lakeside, plumped her ample bottom down in the snow and pulled on her ice skates at a leisurely pace. The elves, butterflies and the phoenix waved frantically to her to go and get a rope, just as Mrs Claus was slithering to the other end of her ice floe. Father Christmas had caused it to sink at his end due to his weight and now Mrs Claus was sliding uncontrollably towards him, only just managing to catch hold of his legs at the last minute.  Fortunately Father Christmas’s boots had the best grip on them that any butterfly had ever seen and he didn’t budge an inch.

 The woman at the lakeside made no attempt to go and get a rope, or even a branch.

 Is she completely bonkers, thought Johnny the Macho Butterfly, looking at Darfo.  He shrugged his shoulders.  The woman was too far away for them to be able to see who she was.

 Martha leapt up and began to fly across to her as quickly as possible… and then stopped in mid-flight to wave to her.

 “Has she gone totally bonkers too?” asked Sonya, scratching her head as she saw the panic in Mrs Claus’s eyes. She wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer.

 The elves were in a sorry state and one of them had actually fallen into the water. Their floes were swaying and wobbling to and fro… when the woman, who had at last managed to get her ice skates on, finally went down to the edge of the lake and noticed that the ice was broken.

 “Tut, tut – that’s just no good at all,” she mumbled and put her index finger in her mouth. Then she held her finger up into the air.  If you’d been standing close to her, you’d have seen that her finger lit up crystal blue.

 “That’s right,” she said to her hand.  She bent over and put her magic index finger into the water.

 CRUNCH, CREAK, CRUNCH!

 A new, thick coat of ice spread out before her.

 “Phewwww!” everybody gasped, relieved. In no time at all, the whole lake was frozen back over again. Now they knew who she was!

 “Ooops!” said Santa, as his disgruntled wife slid off their floe onto the newly formed ice.

 “I’d completely forgotten that Mother Hulda was coming to visit us today!”

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