In Ndrek Gjini’s playful fable, the year is imagined as an old man whose hair turns gray and white as he ages. The Wind acts as a barber, taking giant scissors and shearing off that pale hair. That, the speaker insists, is what snow really is: the white wool of the old year’s shorn locks covering the earth in winter. The speaker’s tone is warm and teasing, like a parent or grandparent retelling a favorite story to a child—“as I told you many times before” keeps the joke alive. Rather than making winter feel bleak, the image turns snowfall into something gentle and almost cozy, as if the world is being tucked in under the old year’s whitened hair. The mood is whimsical and affectionate, full of make-believe wonder.
A Tale for Children About Snow — Summary
When Year grows old its hair grows gray and white. Then Wind picks up its giant scissors and begins to shear it off.
So, as I told you many times before, the white wool which during the winter covers everything is not snow - it's the shorn white hair of the old year.