Mixed Fairytales and Stories

The Snow Queen Fairy Tale

The Wizard’s Mirror

ONCE THERE WAS AN EVIL WIZARD who made a mirror with his dark magic.  If anything good or beautiful were in front of this evil mirror, what showed back in the reflection only looked rotten and gray.  

The wizard laughed and laughed.  He wanted to show his evil mirror to the whole world!  He flew high up into the sky, so high the mirror started to shake.  It shook so much that he could no longer hold on to it.  The mirror dropped - down, down, down, back to earth.  It smashed into millions of tiny sharp bits of glass that flew all over the place.

From then on, if one bit of that evil glass landed in anyone’s eye, the person would see only the bad and dark in people.  No more would the person see the good.  So it was in this land for hundreds of years.

Years later, a boy named Kai and a girl named Gerda were friends.  They lived next door to each other, both in attic bedrooms.  When they opened their windows, they were so close they could talk and talk.  A roof gutter ran between the two attic windows where the families had planted a garden.  Vegetables and roses grew there, and it was like their very own garden.  Kai and Gerda’s families were poor and they had no toys to play with.  But they did not mind.  They played in the garden on the roof, and were happy.

When they opened their windows, they were so close they could easily talk.

One day, Gerda and Kai were in the garden, reading a book.  All of a sudden, a gust of wind blew a sharp bit of that evil glass into Kai’s eye.  He stood up.  Kai threw the book down on the roses.  "I will not read anymore!" he said.  Gerda picked up the book and set the broken roses right.  "Do you want to play a clapping game?" she said.  But Kai cried out “No!  I never want to play with you, Gerda.  Ever again!"  

The Snow Queen

The next day, Kai pulled his sled to town.  Ah, his sled was too slow - if only it went faster!  Then he saw a big white sleigh coming down the road.  As the sleigh passed, Kai quickly tied his sled’s rope to the back of it.  Now he could ride very fast behind it!  But what Kai did not know is that driving the sleigh was the Snow Queen herself.  

The Snow Queen, in her white fur coat, had known very well that Kai was up on the road.  She had slowed down her sleigh when she got closer to Kai to let him tie his rope on.  Then she had ridden off very fast, with Kai speeding behind her.

The one driving the sleigh was the Snow Queen herself.

After the Snow Queen drove past the town and deep into the woods, she stopped the sleigh.  She knew that by now, he must be very cold.  “With one kiss,” she said to Kai, “you will no longer feel the cold.”

So Kai let her give him a kiss on one cheek.  “And with this second kiss,” said the Snow Queen, kissing him on the other cheek, “you will forget all about Gerda and your family.”  

The Snow Queen laughed.  She said, “If I kissed you a third time on your forehead, you would die.  But I have things for you to do for me at my palace.” Then the Snow Queen got back into her sleigh and drove on.

Where was Kai?

Kai did not return home that day, or the day after that.  You can imagine how upset everyone was!  They said the boy must have died in the river!  Gerda cried and cried.  She ran to the river and called out - is it true?  But the river would not say.  Gerda took off her red shoes and held them high.  She told the river she would give throw her red shoes into its waters, if only the river would give back her friend Kai.  But the river would not let her throw in the shoes. And so Gerda knew that Kai must not be under the water.