Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
The Snow Queen
The tale of Gerda, who saved her friend with a warm heart
Also in: Snežna kraljica (Slovenian) · Snehová kráľovná (Slovak)
Long ago, a wicked goblin made a magic mirror. Everything beautiful looked ugly in it, and everything good looked tiny. Laughing, the goblin carried it high into the sky — but there it slipped from his hands, fell, and shattered into a thousand splinters. The splinters scattered across the whole world — and woe to anyone who got one in the eye, or in the heart.
1
In a big city, in two little attic rooms window to window, lived Kay and Gerda. They were not brother and sister, but they loved each other as if they were. Between their windows stood a wooden box where red roses bloomed. In summer they sat beneath the flowers telling each other stories; in winter they watched the snowflakes through the frozen panes.
2
One evening something stung Kay in the eye, and then in the heart. "Ow!" he cried — but there was nothing to see. A splinter of the goblin's mirror had flown into his eye, and another had slipped straight into his heart, and his heart turned as cold as a piece of ice. "Your roses are ugly!" he told Gerda. Gerda cried, but it did not move Kay at all.
3
When the snow fell, Kay took his sled to the square. A great white sledge came gliding past, and Kay tied his little sled to it. The sledge raced out of the city, over the fields, straight into a whirl of snowflakes. In it sat the Snow Queen. She kissed his forehead, cold as ice, and Kay forgot Gerda, his grandmother and his home. She carried him far away north, to her palace of ice.
4
Spring came, but Kay did not. "Then I will go and find him myself," said Gerda. She went down to the river and offered it her red shoes: "Take them, only tell me where Kay is!" The river gave no answer, but the boat by the bank rocked loose and carried Gerda away over the water — far past willows and meadows, toward new lands.
5
The boat came to rest by the garden of an old woman who knew magic. She was kind, but she wanted to keep Gerda for herself, so she cast a spell to make the girl forget Kay. Only when Gerda saw a red rose one day did she remember everything. "Kay is waiting for me!" she cried, and ran out through the garden gate. But outside, it was already autumn.
6
In the autumn wood, a crow cawed down from a branch. "Caw! Who are you looking for, little girl?" Gerda told him all about Kay. "Perhaps I know him!" said the crow. "In the castle beyond the hill lives a young prince who came from nobody knows where." Gerda's heart leapt. That night the crow led her up hidden stairs, right to the prince's room.
7
But the prince was not Kay. Gerda burst into tears and told her whole story. The prince and princess comforted her: "We will help you." They gave her warm boots, a muff for her cold hands, and a coach of pure gold. "Good luck, Gerda!" they called. The crow flew after the coach a long while, waving one black wing, until he vanished in the dusk.
8
In a dark forest, robbers stopped the coach. "Gold, all this gold!" they shouted. Among them was a little robber girl, who took Gerda by the hand: "This one will be my friend!" In the robbers' den she showed Gerda her reindeer. And when she had heard Gerda's story, in the morning she untied him: "Carry her north, to the Snow Queen. Run as fast as you can!"
9
The reindeer ran day and night, over mountains and frozen rivers, to the land where the northern lights dance. They warmed up at the Lapp woman's, and at the wise Finn woman's the reindeer begged: "Give Gerda the strength of twelve men!" She shook her head: "More strength than she has, I cannot give her. Her strength is her warm, faithful heart."
10
In the middle of the snowy plain stood a palace of ice. There sat Kay, all alone, blue with cold — though he no longer felt it at all. He shifted sharp little slabs of ice, trying to spell the word ETERNITY, for the Snow Queen had promised him: "When you manage it, you shall be free." But the word would not come out right. The Queen was far away, flown off over the warm lands.
11
Gerda stepped into the icy hall and saw him. "Kay!" She hugged him and burst into tears. Her warm tears reached his heart and melted the splinter of ice. Then Kay cried too, and with his tears the grain of mirror washed out of his eye. "Gerda! Wherever have I been so long?" For joy, even the pieces of ice danced around them — and spelled the word ETERNITY all by themselves.
12
Out of the ice palace they walked hand in hand. The reindeer was waiting outside and carried them south. The snow gave way to grass, the ice cracked on the rivers, the birds came flying home. At the edge of the forest the little robber girl met them on her horse. "So you found him after all!" she laughed, and winked at Kay. "Safe journey, you two!"
13
At home everything was as before: grandmother by the window, the old clock on the wall, the roses in their box just in bloom. Kay and Gerda sat on their little stools beneath the flowers and held hands. They had grown, yet at heart they were children still; the ice palace faded like a dream. And it was summer — warm, green, glorious summer.
14The End
