Danna looked out the frost-laced widow. She was tired of sitting inside just because it was cold. She was going outside. There was nothing but snow outside, and when she opened the door it felt like a piece of the storm flew into the cabin. She quickly closed the door after jumping out. It was cold. Very cold. The wind took her breath away. She ran to the nearest clump of fir trees and ducked under the needles. It was a little better under the trees and she thought she could feel the wind and snow slowing down. She looked into the forest. It was frankly quite beautiful. Snow was everywhere and the sun was starting to break through the grey clouds making the snow look  as if it had tiny diamonds all over it. The trees were calling her so she started running into the forest. A Snowshoe hare darted out of some underbrush. She stopped and took a deep breath and let it out. She could see her breath through the crisp air. This was where she liked to be. Out in the wilderness. She started to walk and than began to run again. Suddenly she felt herself falling into space and then hitting hard, cold ground. She was dazed for a second then slowly lifted her head. She stopped as she felt a splitting headache. Her eyes darted around and she discovered she was in a deep ditch. A cold gust of wind blew past her and she hugged her fur coat closer. She looked around again. The ditch was about 7 feet deep and the walls were nearly vertical and very slippery. For a moment she felt a wave of panic sweep over her. How was she going to get out? Then she calmed herself down. It would do no good to panic and do something stupid, although she could think of nothing stupid to do. She stood up and looked for a way out. There were none. Then she heard a sound of something trotting towards the ditch. The something stopped and a head peered down at her. Danna caught her breath. It was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. The head that was looking down at her was a horse's head, but not just any horse's head. This one had big brown gentle eyes, and the most striking color. It had a very red mane and tail and the body was a reddish grey. The face had a very dished profile and wide nostrils.  Plumes of steam came from it's nostrils as it snorted at her. She slowly walked towards it all the while speaking softly, "Well aren't you the most beautiful horse. I wish I had a horse like you." And other things you tend to say when you're talking to a horse. The horse backed away a little bit, for it was an Arabian and as we all know Arabians are quite high-strung. Danna stopped and began walking backwards and since the horse was very curious, as soon as she started walking back the horse followed, from a safe distance above the ditch. Danna started thinking about how she was going to get out. She thought she just might have an idea. She dug into her pockets and took out the apple she had put in there for a snack. She walked towards the horse slowly with the apple flat on her palm. "Here horsey. Come get the nice juicy apple". The horse reached down to get it but could not reach it. It started walking around the ditch trying to find a lower part were it could get the apple. It was almost impossible to find apples or any other fruit in the winter so the horse decided to take a chance. Danna moved as far away as she could from the horse and waited. The horse went to the far side of the ditch and jumped. It hit the ground with a thud. It was a little bit shaken but unharmed. Danna stretched out the hand with the apple and spoke softly to the horse. Little by little the horse walked towards her very warily. Eventually it stood right in front of Danna. She hardly dared to breath as the soft velvet nose reached out and grabbed the apple. Danna slowly reached out and touched the horse on the forehead. The horse flinched, but didn't back away a lot. Danna started petting it and the horse didn't seem to mind at all. She walked to it's side and gently put pressure on it's back. The horse darted and Danna fell on her side. She got up and dusted herself off. "This is going to be just as hard as I thought", she said to herself.

Danna smiled with triumph. She was sitting on the back of Ivy, which is what she had named the  horse. She grabbed Ivy's mane and walked her towards the side of the ditch. Danna slowly stood up on her and reached for the top of the ditch. She grabbed a root and started pulling herself up. She finally scrambled up onto ordinary ground. Ivy looked up at her as if waiting for Danna to pull her up too. "Don't worry", Danna said "I'll be back in a jiffy". Danna started running as fast as she possibly could towards the cabin. She felt the cold wind starting up again and ran even faster (which she did not know was possible). As soon as she got there she went immediately to her storeroom. There she pulled back some burlap sacks and took out a ramp about six and a half feet long with a hook on each corner. She had made it for the front of the house but had never used it. She took it out of the storeroom and pulled it as fast as she could towards the ditch. It took her awhile and she felt uneasy because more and more snowflakes were coming down and the wind was picking up. Finally she got to the ditch and she could see Ivy trotting back and forth just like a person pacing. When she saw Danna she nickered and came to her. "No worries girl", Danna said, "You knew I would come back." She started lowering the ramp into the ditch very slowly. Ivy of course was quite alarmed at this long, greyish thing slowly moving towards her. When Danna had lowered the ramp to the ground it was very close to the top and she pushed the hooks into the side of the ditch. She had brought another apple and showed it to the horse. Ivy cautiously walked towards the ramp and when it didn't move she walked up. She came over the top and walked towards the apple. Danna and Ivy had gotten out. As a reward Danna gave the horse the apple and rubbed her forehead. Then she quickly jumped on her back and they galloped to the cabin. By the time they got in the shed there was a full storm blowing. Danna got down and said to Ivy, "Thank you for getting me out. If you don't mind I will keep you." It seemed Ivy quite liked this agreement and Danna did keep her. Danna always wondered where that horse came from on that cold winter day and she always personally thought Ivy had a touch of magic.

                                                                                       THE END