Shadow the Snow Leopard: A Christmas Story for Ickworth

By Bethan Davidson.

Once upon a Christmas, many years ago,
A curious creature came to Ickworth, bringing mayhem and snow!
He was the Snow Leopard, the magical Ounce
And a frosty flurry would follow him wherever he'd pounce!

Snow Leopards are special. Snow Leopards are rare
And this one sparkled with silver-white hair.

Shadow was the name of our mysterious friend
And he was as swift as the lightning that storm clouds send.
Shadow had come to Ickworth from a faraway place.
He had travelled from Asia in a visitor's case!
How he got in there, no one knew,
But he was clearly curious to see somewhere new!

Visitors thought Shadow was a giant white cat,
As he burst from the bag where he'd been squashed quite flat!
Someone cried, "That's an Ounce!”
As our Snow Leopard pounced.
In France, a Snow Leopard is known as an Ounce
But is still our same Shadow who loves to bounce!

The children all squeaked and let out a scream.
Everyone thought it was a crazy dream!
But even as the visitors stared wide-eyed,
Shadow escaped to the great outside.
And following behind Shadow's fluffy, long tail,
Silver snowflakes fell, frosting a slippery trail.

Shadow sped to the Stumpery full of wood.
The Ickworth animals' neighbourhood.
In the tall trees, lots of creatures hide,
And our curious Snow Leopard went to peek inside.

Even though it was winter, lots of things were still green.
It was the most magical place Shadow had been!
Fir trees and yew trees and the red-berried holly,
The conifers and mistletoe made him quite jolly.

On wandered Shadow, turning the Stumpery path white,
When he saw some Egyptian Geese landing from flight.
Shadow wanted to make friends, but the Geese were quite silly,
And went mad when they saw a Snow Leopard so icy and chilly.

"Look at that tail! Look at those claws!
Look at those teeth in those terrible jaws!"
"Some call me Snow Leopard. Some call me Ounce,
But my real name is Shadow." He tried to announce.

But the Geese were all honking, so no one could hear.
The birds all flew away in feathery fear!
"I'm friendly, I promise!" but no one would listen,
So, Shadow plodded alone, making the garden path glisten.

On went our Snow Leopard with his spotty back,
Sneaking his way down the fresh, frosted track.
Shadow soon came across a red-bellied bird.
And he crept up quietly so he wouldn’t be heard.

Robin was trying to write a Christmas card,
But with wings and no hands, it was really hard!
Shadow offered help with his big, padded paws,
But all Robin saw was his sharp, sharp claws.
"Help!" squeaked Robin. "Please don't eat me!"
And he quickly flew up to the tallest tree.
Who will finish Robin's cards this year,
Now that he has flown in fear?

Shadow wished that he could fly too
But went on through the Stumpery to where some round trees grew.

The Squirrels were playing their pinecone game
When Shadow flashed in like an icy flame.
He was just excited and wanted to play,
But his snowy storm scared all the Squirrels away.

Sad Shadow couldn’t play the game all on his own.
He crept on along the hedge, very bored and alone.

Then Shadow spied a grand temple straight ahead.
It looked super exciting, so on he sped!
But as our Snow Leopard leapt for the pillars of stone,
His pouncing paw landed on a spiky pinecone.
“OWWW!” yowled Shadow with a startled roar.
He hopped about wildly with a sore, prickled paw!

Dozy, dreaming Dormouse was fast asleep,
Hibernating under a leafy heap.
Shadow accidentally disturbed her nest,
Waking poor Dormouse from her winter-long rest.

“Eeeek!!” squeaked Dormouse. She had a terrible scare!
“My sweet dreams have turned into a complete nightmare!”
Off she raced to find a new bed.
It was too cold in winter for this sleepyhead!

Shadow didn’t see Dormouse has he jumped to and fro
And his enchanted paws covered her nest with snow.

Shadow hopped, skipped, and pounced until the path ended,
And by then his sore paw had magically mended.

The family of Foxes was planning a festive feast,
But in the winter their food supply thinned and decreased.
They were planning on scavenging up at the House
And secretly snatching Cook’s rabbit or grouse!
Shadow thought about his dream Christmas dinner,
But for him, only friends would make him a winner.

On through the Stumpery went lonely Shadow,
By now, there were many pawprints left in the snow.
"Who has walked here?" Shadow wondered.
"So many creatures at Ickworth! Maybe a hundred?"
He wished the animals wouldn't all run away.
Shadow knew they could be friends if they'd only stay!

No one believed a Snow Leopard could be nice.
Ickworth feared Shadow and his slippery ice.

The Stumpery had more new creatures to meet,
Like the Rabbits who were preparing a Christmas treat!
The Bunnies were busy wrapping presents with ribbons and bows.
But who should get what gift, do you suppose?

Shadow bounced in to help a busy Bunny,
But the little Rabbit didn’t think that was funny.
He jumped up in fright like a Christmas star,
And in the blink of an eye, the Bunnies dashed away far.

Shadow found the Stumpery a very strange place.
The tree stumps looked like aliens from space.
Shadow stopped to copy the shape of the stumps,
But didn’t have enough legs and fell with a bump!

Our Snow Leopard avoided the stumps after that.
He prowled through the trees like a sneaky cat.
As he snuck on, Shadow heard an odd sound,
So followed his ears to where fun could be found…

The sound was the Deer herd trying to be arty.
They seemed to be fussing, getting ready for a party.
They wanted to decorate their antlers to be best dressed.
An impossible task with hooves, so the Deer were quite stressed!
Shadow knew he could help and do something nice.
He decorated the antlers with sparkling snowflakes of ice!

The Deer had no clue where the magic came from,
But with glistening antlers, they were no longer glum.
The Deer herd dashed off in sparkly sprints,
Without seeing Shadow’s trail of frosty pawprints.

The path then turned smoggy. It was covered in smoke.
Shadow started to cough, and he started to choke.
The Snow Leopard stumbled and couldn’t see a thing.
Then he tripped and fell on a leathery wing.
The Stumpery Dragon snapped open his eyes.
In the dark of the woods, he had dozed in disguise.

“WHO DARES WAKE ME FROM MY SLEEP?!”
The Dragon had been dreaming long and deep.
He spat out flames with a golden glow,
And melted all Shadow’s wintery snow!

Shadow shivered; he felt so scared.
He quivered and shook as the dragon glared.
The Ickworth animals saw all and were stunned to see
That Shadow wasn’t as fierce as they thought he would be.
They felt sorry for the Ounce as he started to yell.
Perhaps Snow Leopards could feel fear as well?

The Ickworth animals all quickly gathered to help
When they heard little Shadow weep and welp.
They told Dragon off for being so grumpy.
"It's not nice to make others feel scared and jumpy!"
The animals decided to make Shadow their friend.
He was a special snowy thing who didn't mean to offend.

There was going to be a Christmas party up at the House,
And every creature was invited, even dozy Dormouse!
The animals told Shadow that he should come too.
There would be presents and dancing and mince pies to chew!

Off to the House!