In a small average town by the sea,

two children sit carelessly in their living room.

Two kids by the name of Billie and Jo. Billie stares outside the window, watching as sailboats cruised through the water while his little sister happily plays with her toy train.

Billie let out a loud sigh. ¨Why does winter have to go away? I wish it could rain all year round instead of having sunny days.¨

Jo rubs her chin thoughtfully. ¨Why do we have seasons in the first place?¨ she asks.

¨Let´s go ask mom! She´ll know.¨ Billie suggests, a hint of curiosity in his eyes.

Jo claps excitedly. ¨Good idea!¨

The two siblings venture out of the living room and towards their Mother´s bedroom.

Billie knocks on the wooden door, pressing his ear against to listen for his mother´s voice.

“Come in, “ their mother replies, knowing it was her two children outside.

Billie slowly opens the door, peaking his head through and sees his mother lounging on her chair with a book in hand.

 “Hi, mom.“ the siblings said in unison.

 Their mother put her book down and looked to her kids. “Is there something wrong? “

Jo walked up to her and pointed to the shelves of books that stood behind her mother.  “We were wondering if you had a story to tell us why we have seasons. “

 “Of course!“ her mother laughed, pulling out a thin book from her collection.

There was once an old man, who lived by himself in a cozy little cottage. Although he was far from any other civilization, he did not mind. One day, the man went out to the forest, with a basket in hand, looking for berries. He walked and walked, making sure he did not pick anything poisonous. He stops in his tracks as soon as he heard a loud cry. 

Almost dropping his basket, the man ran to where he assumed the cry came from. His eyes widened in shock as he saw a white blanket, neatly wrapped around a small body. The old man approached the infant cautiously. He picked him up and rocked the baby to soothe him.

The old man brought the young infant home. Feeling sympathy for the orphan, the old man decided to take care of the child himself.

So, the man raised the boy by himself. Feeding and nurturing him as best as he could. The old man watched proudly as his son grew to be a very healthy boy. He taught him as much as he could, dusting off old books from his library. The young boy, named Odysseus by the old man, showed to be outgoing and adventurous.

But one day, Odysseus grew drastically ill. His father attended to his son´s sickness as best as he could, but the medicine he made did not prove to be good enough. Feeling desperate, the old man prepared himself as he planned to leave and go to find a cure elsewhere.

Eventually, after many towns and cities, the old man found himself at a dead end. He sat himself on the floor with lost hope. How could he save his son now? As the man sat there, lost in thought, a booming voice spoke above him.

”Do not fret, old father.”

The old man looked up to see a blinding light.

”I shall cure your son, but in return, your son will eternally work for me and the rest of the world. Do we have a deal?”

The old man, filled with gratitude, nodded his head eagerly and ran off back to his home.

As soon as the old man reached his home, he was shocked to see that his son was already outside, playing with his toy truck. His son looked as fit as a fiddle and the old man could not help but smile and laugh. What the bright light said was true, and his son was now back to normal.

But the old man soon learned for this to be untrue as he watched his son age significantly. He was no longer the young boy who recovered from his illness just a few days before. Now he looked to be a teen, approaching adulthood. His father worried but said nothing to his son for he knew what this meant for both of them.

As predicted, the light came to visit the old man and his son´s humble cottage to retrieve the father´s end of the bargain. The old man had already packed his son´s luggage when it arrived. After a tearful goodbye from his father and many questions asked by his son, Odysseus was sent away with the light.

So with the light´s guidance, Odysseus was able to learn how to obtain an unimaginable power. He was now given a great responsibility by the light to control the four seasons.

Winter,