The friend in the water



There once was a boy who was so lonely that he tried to befriend his own reflection in the water. He sat by a pond staring at the surface. "Hi you," he said and waved. He then saw the friend in the water wave back. "Shall we play?" the lonely boy asked, and jumped into the water.

But then his friend disappeared. The boy went ashore, wet and just as lonely as before. Nobody wants to play with me, he thought. Not even my own reflection. He intended to go home without saying goodbye, but he gave a quick glance over his shoulder. Then he saw his friend in the water do the same. The lonely boy waved his arm and his friend waved back, smiling.

The lonely boy came back as often as he could. The autumn came and it became colder every day. He sat talking to his friend as usual, when his friend suddenly became stiff. He had frozen in to the ice that was thickening over the pond. When the lonely boy rose, his friend still sat frozen in the ice. "You are my only friend," the lonely boy exclaimed. "And now you are as stiff as if you were dead."

With his eyes filled with tears he bent over and broke off the piece of ice where his friend lay frozen. He then took the piece under his arm and hurried home.

He brought the ice in to his room and put it in a bucket. The ice melted while the lonely boy stared at his friend, After a while his hair became visible. When the eyes were above the ice, they winked at him. The arms loosened from the ice and waved. When all the ice was melted the friend from the water jumped out on to the floor and smiled at the lonely boy. "Hi," he said. "Shall we play?"

© Martin Nygaard - Illustration Victoria Dahr