Vivre Ensemble Project

A very, very long time ago, in a distant land where heat reigned supreme and the burning earth dried up the rivers, there lived a child neither very small nor very tall. Despite the blazing sun, the child felt their heart extinguished in this fiery land.

One day, the child went to the village, where a traveler from a faraway kingdom spoke of a land entirely white, covered in snow, where the stars shone brighter and where days and nights felt magical and enchanting.

A place where clouds freeze rain before it touches the ground, and where the cold wind rules as king.

A unique world the stranger called winter.

Hearing these words, the child, captivated, tried to imagine this world. Being so hot… how wonderful it would be to be there. The thought stayed with the child for the rest of the day.

That evening, the child dreamed of this place so vividly that the winter wind appeared.
“Oh you who dare call me across northern borders, know that never have I heard the voice of a child calling me from so far away. What do you want from me, little one?”

Stunned, the child replied that nothing in the world would make them happier than seeing and living the magic of winter.
The wind then said:
“I can take you to my kingdom of ice and snow. But know that if you come with me, you will never return to this land. Are you ready to leave everything behind?”

The child stood up, looked around, smiled… and agreed.
Then the winter wind lifted the child onto its back and set off toward the frozen lands.

The child, though frozen like an icicle, felt their heart ignite with warmth when they saw, in the distance, that white world. There, they learned to sculpt northern lights, tame blizzards, bring snowmen to life, and make ice crystals sing.

The child was in paradise. They had rediscovered the light within.

The next day, the villagers noticed the child’s disappearance. And suddenly, atop the most distant mountains of the warm lands, white snow appeared.

Since that day, elders tell the story of the child who left with the winter wind and now sprinkles those peaks with snowflakes, so that everyone may see, imagine, and feel the magic of winter. Some even say these flakes are fragments of the child’s joy, and that if they touch our cheeks, our hearts will remain forever gentle.