The Snow Queen

In an old story, a wicked goblin made a magic mirror. Good things looked ugly in it, and ugly things looked worse.One day the mirror broke into a million tiny pieces, and the pieces flew across the world.A tiny piece of glass could fly into a person’s eye, or straight into their heart, and turn it as cold as ice.

In a small town lived two children, Kai and Gerda. They were best friends, close as brother and sister.One winter day, a piece of the magic glass flew into Kai’s eye, and another flew into his heart.From that moment, Kai was not kind anymore. He teased Gerda and said the flowers in their garden were ugly.

One snowy evening, Kai tied his sled to a big white sleigh, and it carried him away, faster and faster, out of the town.The sleigh belonged to the Snow Queen — tall, beautiful, and cold as ice. She wrapped Kai in her fur coat and kissed his forehead, and he forgot Gerda completely.Kai did not come home. All winter Gerda waited, and when spring came, she set out alone to find him.

Gerda asked the river, the flowers, and the birds if they had seen Kai, but no one could tell her where he had gone.She crossed cold rivers and dark forests. An old crow led her to a palace, but the prince there was not Kai.At last, a wise old woman who lived among the reindeer told Gerda the way to the Snow Queen’s palace of ice.

Gerda walked on through the snow with bare feet. The cold cut like knives, but she did not turn back.At last Gerda found Kai. He was sitting alone on a great frozen lake, trying to spell the word “eternity” out of sharp pieces of ice.

Gerda ran to him and burst into tears. Her warm tears fell on his chest and melted the glass in his heart.Kai looked at her and suddenly remembered everything. He cried too, and the piece of glass washed out of his eye with his tears.Hand in hand, Kai and Gerda walked home together. They were not children anymore, but their hearts were still warm and young.