0. Prologue
Gerda! Help me move the books!” urged Gerda’s mother.
“Okay! I’ll be down in a minute!” Gerda replied.
Gerda rushed quickly downstairs. Gerda and her family were moving in to Chimney Street. Gerda was a kind-hearted kid who was no more than eight years of age. Little did she know, her life was going to change when she would meet the boy next door.
“Thanks for letting me keep the books, Mum,” said Gerda as she hauled the last boxes of children’s stories.
Her mum replied with a warm smile.
Gerda was so thrilled when her parents allowed her to bring her immense collection of books. She loved to read more than anything.
“I think that’s all we can carry today. Your father and I will need to dust the floor tomorrow. Be downstairs for dinner by seven.”
“Can I go play outside? Please! Please, Mum!” pleaded Gerda.
“Okay. But be home before it gets dark.”
“Thank you, thank you!” exclaimed the happy girl. Gerda was just dashing outside when she ran into her father.
“Where are you going?” asked her father.
“To play. Mum said I could,” explained Gerda as she was putting her coat on.
Her father nodded. “Be home for dinner.”
Gerda rushed outside. She loved exploring new places like the characters in her books.
Meanwhile, a boy was curiously watching Gerda next door.
“Kai? Is someone outside?” asked Kai’s grandmother.
“Yes, Grandma. A girl. She’s playing outside.”
“Oh, she must be the daughter of the new neighbors. They moved in this afternoon. You should go say hi,” suggested Grandma Ella.
Kai was hesitant.
“Come on, now. Don’t be shy. You don’t get to have many friends your age, nowadays,” said Grandma Ella.
“Are you sure you’d be alright?” asked Kai. Kai and his grandmother were very close. Kai’s parents had left him with his grandmother when he was just four years old. Kai grew up looking up to his grandmother and took care of her.
“Off you go,” hurried Grandma Ella.
“Okay. I’ll be right outside if you need me,” assured the boy.
Kai stepped outside and breathed in the fresh air. Fall was coming. Just as he looked away from admiring the trees, his eyes met Gerda. He froze. Gerda gave him a friendly smile.
“Hi. I’m Gerda. Nice to meet you,” she said.
“I’m Kai.” He approached her bravely. Kai was a shy kid. He often played with his close friends in the neighborhood. But once he broke out of his shell, Kai was a happy, cheerful boy.
“I moved with my mum and dad today.”
“Yeah. My grandma told me.”
Silence ensued.
“Do you like books?” Gerda broke the silence.
Kai’s eyes lit up. “Yeah, I do.” Kai was a fan of books as well.
“You should come over and read some with me next time. Do you like adventure stories?” asked Gerda.
“I love them. I’ll read anything.”
“Great! My brother will be bringing the rest next week.”
“You have a brother?”
“Yeah. He’s staying with my aunt and uncle in Periwinkle.” Periwinkle was a town few hours away from Robinsville, where Gerda and Kai lived.
“He goes to school there, my old brother. He’s really smart,” explained Gerda.
“It must be nice to have a brother,” confessed Kai.
Ella showered Kai with love but if there was one thing that saddened Kai, it was being an only child. After playing with their friends outside, every kid in Chimney Street had a brother or sister to go home to.
Kai was also an orphan, and he envied the local children whose parents were still alive.
Gerda looked at Kai warmly.
“It’s okay. I’ll be your friend.”
Kai smiled.
The two met the next day. They read books, played hide-and-seek, climbed trees, and raced each other until it was time to go home. The two became best friends and no other friendships were like theirs. They loved each other like a brother and sister. They had no idea that in a matter of time, they were about to face their biggest challenge, the Snow Queen.
Chapter I: The Mirror of Reason
Gobby! Hold your end higher!” a demon shouted.
“You idiots! Put more strength into it!” Gobby shouted at the demons.
Gobby was a hobgoblin, a terrible demon who had created a looking-glass that made any reflection unpleasant and unsightly. The glass made anything beautiful and magnificent ugly and rotten. It worsened objects already unpleasant. It made people hate the reflection they saw of themselves in the looking-glass and there was no creature nor object an exception to this wicked demon’s creation. This pleased the demon, Gobby, tremendously. He and the other demons carried this glass everywhere. One day, he and other demons were carrying the looking-glass up the sky for the angels to see.
Their trip took an unexpected turn when the looking-glass slipped from their grasp. The glass broke into millions of pieces. The pieces were scattered everywhere, some tinier than a grain of sand. The pieces traveled in the air, undetected by any living creature’s eye.
Chapter II: The Lady in White
Since they had met, Gerda and Kai would play in front of the window of their homes that were closely built to support the kids going to each one’s house.
One fine morning, Gerda was at Kai’s house when they noticed some white bees outside.
“Grandma, what’s that?” asked Kai.
Ella turned to see what Kai was pointing at.
“Oh, they must be white bees,” replied Ella.
“Do they have a queen bee?” asked Kai.
“Why of course! The queen bee is the leader of them of the all. She flies from home to home, and when she looks into the windows, the ice freezes the panes.”
“That sounds amazing! Can the Snow Queen come inside?” asked Gerda.
“She wouldn’t! I’ll melt her by turning on the stove,” said Kai.
A few nights later, Kai found himself sitting in front of a window gazing at the snowflakes. One snowflake, larger than the others, caught Kai’s attention. Strangely, the snowflake grew larger in size until it transformed into the figure of a woman dressed in white from head to toe. She was the most beautiful women Kai had ever seen. She had a commanding presence about her which frightened Kai.
She waved at Kai and he ran away, fearing that something might happen. Kai turned back and saw that the mysterious woman was gone.
Kai forgot about the strange occurrence after some time. He was playing with Gerda one afternoon when he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
“Ouch! Something’s in my chest! I think it’s my heart!”
Gerda turned to Kai with a concerned face.
“Owww! Now my eyes! It hurts!”
“Let me see!” Gerda insisted.
Gerda couldn’t find anything wrong with Kai. Soon, the pain subsided.
“I’m alright now. I’ll be fine,” Kai assured her.
“Are you sure? We can ask your grandmother,” said Gerda.
Kai was quiet. But Gerda noticed that he seemed different in a way.
“Kai? Are you okay?”
Kai gave Gerda a cold stare.
“I’m fine. I said I was fine,” said Kai in a stern manner.
Then he kicked a box and pulled two roses planted there.
“Kai! What’s gotten into you?” cried Gerda.
An atom of the looking-glass had struck Kai in his eye and blinded him from seeing what was true and pierced his heart from any warmth. Kai had immediately changed. Everything looked hideous to him and he became another victim to the looking-glass’s power.
After that day, the old Kai was gone. He would treat everyone around him with disrespect. He would mock his grandmother and Gerda. One thing that pleased him was snowflakes.
“Snowflakes are cool. They’re the only interesting thing in this town,” sighed Kai.
“You look cold, my dear. Come. Sit beside me,” said the Snow Queen.
Kai climbed up and found himself in the comfort of the magnificent queen. She warmed him with her coat.
“You will come with me, my dear boy. I think you’ll come to like my home,” said the queen. She kissed the boy on the forehead. The kiss pierced his heart and made the lump of ice in his heart harden more. He turned around to look for his sledge. The queen kissed him once more. Kai forgot all about his grandmother, Gerda, friends, and Robinsville.
“No more kisses. Or it would be your last kiss,” said the Snow Queen.
The two sledded their way through the clouds and continued their journey until they reached her palace.
Kai found himself in awe of the Snow Queen, captured by the ice that possessed his heart.
Chapter III: The Flower Garden
“Oh Kai, where are you?” sighed Gerda. Spring had come to Robinsville and Kai was still missing. Gerda cried for what seemed like hours.
“What if he’s drowned? Would the river know?” she asked.
One morning, Gerda decided to go down to the river.
“River, did you take Kai? Can you tell me where he is? If you can tell me where he is, I will give you my favorite pair of shoes,” pleaded Gerda.
She took her red shoes and threw them into the river. But the river couldn’t give Gerda her precious friend and drifted them back to her. Gerda thought that she didn’t toss them far enough. She stepped into a boat and threw the shoes from one end of the boat just as the boat started to drift away from the shore. Gerda had realized what she had done and was terribly frightened.
The boat carried her for hours far along the river until she reached land planted with a beautiful cherry orchard and home to a little red house. Two wooden soldiers stood at guard in front of the charming house. Gerda called out to them, unable to realize that the soldiers were not real. Just as Gerda was shouting, an old woman came out of the house. She was carrying a crutch and wearing a hat painted with a wide variety of flowers.
“You poor girl. How did you end up here?” the old woman assured her.
She helped Gerda off the boat, but Gerda was scared of the stranger.
“Don’t be frightened. Tell me where you came from,” assured the old woman.
Gerda told her about Kai and everything that had happened. The old woman led Gerda into her home.
“Feel free to eat as many cherries as you wish,” said the woman.
She brushed Gerda’s hair and soon, Gerda forgot about her home and Kai. The old woman had conjured a spell that allowed Gerda to forget her situation. The woman wasn’t a wicked witch, but she wanted a girl like Gerda to herself.
The old woman conjured all her roses into the earth, making sure Gerda would never see them, fearing that the roses would remind Gerda of her home and Kai. Gerda played in the garden that bloomed with all sorts of flowers but roses. She spent many days in the garden. Gerda had become familiar with all the flowers until one day, she noticed a flower was missing.
She came across the woman’s hat and realized that a rose was missing.
“That’s it! It was a rose!” exclaimed Gerda.
She returned to the garden in search of a rose only to find herself exhausted, sitting on top of the soil where the old woman’s roses once had stood. Gerda broke into tears. Magically, a rose bloomed from where her tears had dropped in front of Gerda’s eyes.
“Oh Kai! How could I forget?” Gerda was relieved to remember everything.
“Rose, do you know where my dear Kai is?” asked Gerda.
“No, but the other flowers may,” replied the rose.
Gerda went on to ask the tiger lily, convolvulus (moonflowers), snow-drop, hyacinth, buttercups, and narcissus about Kai, but they all didn’t seem to know.
Gerda ran out of the woman’s home, finding herself in the cold, for autumn had come.
Chapter IV: The Clever Princess
Gerda sat in the cold and found herself in the company of a crow that hopped to her in the snow. The crow stood in the snow for a minute until he broke the silence.
“Caw-caw. Good day. Caw-caw,” said the crow. “Where are you from?”
Gerda told the crow everything.
“Have you seen him?” asked Gerda.
“I may have.”
“Really? Where?” Gerda was overjoyed.
“Before I do, I must tell you a story. Where I come from, there lives a princess who was looking for a suitor who could match her knowledge. She wanted to marry a boy who was able to carry an intelligent conversation. One day, news spread that she was looking for a compatible prince. Hundreds of men came to our palace, but they all failed to meet her expectations. All of them disappointed her until a boy wearing a new pair of boots and carrying a knapsack came to the palace.
“That must be Kai! He had a knapsack! And he had just gotten new boots!” exclaimed Gerda.
“I see. Well, this boy was different from the other men. He had wooed her with his extraordinary intelligence,” said the crow. “They were both pleased with each other. I believe he is with her right now.”
“Can you take me there?” asked Gerda.
“Yes, but my bride-to-be will have to take us there.”
The following night, the crow returned with the female crow. She took them into the princess’s chamber. Her room was magnificently decorated and there were two beds where Gerda found a boy sleeping in one.
“Kai! Kai! It’s me, Gerda!” Gerda shook the sleeping boy.
Alarmed, the boy and the princess woke up. To Gerda’s disappointment, the boy was not Kai. Gerda started to cry.
“Who’s Kai?” asked the boy. Gerda told them everything.
“You poor girl. Let us help you,” said the princess. The prince and the princess treated Gerda with generosity and provided Gerda with food and beautiful clothes for her journey the next day.
Gerda bid farewell to the prince and princess and female crow. The prince and the princess had provided her with a magnificent coach, coachman, footman, and outriders. Gerda sat inside the splendid coach and they were off to find Kai. The crow kept Gerda company for the first few miles and time had come for him to leave.
“Goodbye, crow. Thank you for everything,” cried Gerda.
“Goodbye, little girl. I truly hope you find your friend,” said the crow.
The crow took off as Gerda watched her friend grew smaller and smaller until he became a tiny speck in the distance.
Chapter V: The Robber Girl
Not long after Gerda had set out in the coach, she was raided by a group of robbers. They killed Gerda’s little jockeys, coachman, and the footman. She was terrified when she heard the chaos. They seized Gerda.
“She looks perfect for dinner. She’s been well fed and she’ll taste delicious!” cried a woman with a beard. She approached Gerda.
“Oww!” cried the woman. For her own daughter had bit her in the ear.
“Do not touch her! She’s my toy,” said the robber girl.
The girl was quite spoiled and stubborn and got everything her way. She rode in the coach with Gerda to the robbers’ home. The girl was around Gerda’s age. She had a tan skin with black eyes. She noticed that Gerda was distraught.
“You know, they’re not gonna do anything unless you bother them. Are you a princess? asked the robber girl.
Gerda told her everything including Kai. The girl was silent.
“I won’t let them touch you. I will be the one to kill you if it comes to it,” said the robber girl as she wiped the tears off of Gerda and put her hands inside Gerda’s muff.
They soon came to a halt and Gerda and the robber girl jumped out of the cart. They were at a courtyard with terrifying dogs, big enough to swallow people. They arrived at a castle with many damages and holes.
“You’re coming with me, “ the robber girl instructed. “I hope you don’t mind animals.”
That night, Gerda found herself surrounded by a hundred pigeons on laths and perches.
“They are my collection. And that’s not all,” explained the girl. She brought out a poor reindeer who was another victim confined in the castle. The robber girl drew a knife to the reindeer. The reindeer became distressed. The girl liked to tease the poor reindeer by drawing the knife to his neck. Soon, the girl and Gerda lay down for bed.
“Tell me that story again about that friend,” said the girl.
Gerda told her the story once more as the robber girl fell asleep. Gerda couldn’t fall asleep, however.
“We know where your friend is,” said the wood-pigeons. “He is with the Snow Queen. She killed our family when we were in our nest. They all died except the two of us. Coo-coo.”
“What? Is that true?” asked Gerda.
“We believe she’s on her way to Lapland,” replied the pigeons.
“Lapland is her summer home. Her grand castle is at the North Pole on the island of Spitzbergen,” jumped in the reindeer.
They were interrupted by the robber girl threatening to hurt Gerda if they continued. The next morning, Gerda told the robber girl what the pigeons had said. After a long hesitation, the girl decided to let Gerda go. She gave Gerda her reindeer and some food for the journey.
“Goodbye,” said Gerda as the reindeer took off.
Chapter VI: The Wise Women
The reindeer and Gerda found a little hut to warm themselves. Inside, there was a Lapland woman cooking fish. They told her all about their story. The Lapland woman was generous. She gave Gerda some food and instructed them to travel down to Finnmark, where her friend would help them further.
“I’m afraid you still have a hundred miles to go, my dear,” said the Lapland woman.
The woman wrote something for her friend on the back of a dried fish, for she did not have a paper.
The reindeer and Gerda took off once more, this time to Finnmark.
They arrived at the home of the Finnmark woman and found themselves hot inside. The Finnmark woman helped Gerda take her fur boots and mittens off. The woman read the dried fish three times until she knew it by heart. The reindeer and Gerda told the woman their story but she remained silent.
“You must help the little girl,” pleaded the reindeer.
The woman was reluctant. Gerda looked at the woman with teary eyes. The woman brought the reindeer into a corner.
“I’m afraid the Snow Queen has Kai now. He loves it there and won’t leave because of the broken glass in his heart and eye. If he is to escape, the glass in his eye and heart must be removed,” said the woman.
“Can you do anything to help the girl?” asked the reindeer.
“She already has the power. She’s got the purity and innocence to perhaps bring her friend back. I can do nothing. Here’s what you must do: Drop her off at the Snow Queen’s garden a few miles from here. You must take her to the bush with red berries. Return as soon as you’ve done so,” the woman instructed.
The reindeer dropped off Gerda as instructed. He kissed her and returned to the Finnmark woman with tears streaming down his face. Gerda stood in the cold without shoes and gloves, for she had been in a hurry when the reindeer decided to transport her. She began her journey towards the Snow Queen’s castle when she saw peculiar snowflakes approaching her. They were rather large in all sorts of terrible shapes.
Gerda realized that the snowflakes were the Snow Queen’s guards. She was terrified and recited a prayer. As she repeated the prayer, she noticed the weather producing visible air coming out of her breath. Steam arose from her breath. Like magic, the steam transformed into little angels and grew. Soon, they touched the ground, wearing armor and carrying spears and shields, ready to protect Gerda.
They multiplied and charged at the snowflakes so Gerda could continue. The angels caressed the girl’s hands and feet. They instilled courage and warmth inside Gerda as she stepped inside the Snow Queen’s castle.
VII: What happened in the Snow Queen’s Throne Room, and what happened afterwards
The Snow Queen’s castle was covered in snow and ice with hundreds of rooms. There stood a frozen lake in the middle of the hall where the throne of the Snow Queen sat. The lake was given the name “The Mirror of Reason” by the Snow Queen.
It was, actually, the same Mirror of Reason which the goblins had made, and the Queen had decided to reconstruct it. She only needed the shards inside Kai to finish her creation.
Kai was playing a game with the queen, trying to form a word that he couldn’t quite come to accomplish. The word was “eternity” and the Snow Queen had promised him “the whole world and a pair of new shoes” if Kai spelled the word. She had left Kai in the empty castle to visit some places.
Gerda entered the room and saw her dearest, long-missed friend from the distance.
“Kai! Kai! Oh Kai, I’ve missed you!” exclaimed Gerda and she bolted towards him.
She hugged him tight.
“Kai, I’ll never let anything come between us ever again.”
Kai sat still, indifferent.
Gerda’s tears reached his heart and melted the lump of ice. Gerda sang him a song and Kai started to cry as well. His tears washed the glass away in his eyes.
“Gerda! Oh Gerda! I’m so sorry!” cried Kai.
The two embraced and cried in ecstatic happiness. She kissed his cheeks and they sprang to life. The pieces of ice formed “eternity” on its own.
She kissed his eyes, hands, and feet until he was healthy and well. They left the castle hand in hand.
They reached the home of the Finnmark woman and then the Lapland woman with the help of the reindeer once more--this time, with another reindeer. They ran into the robber girl who was happy to hear the news. She told them that the prince and princess were on honeymoon through foreign countries, the male crow had passed away, and the female crow was in mourning.
Delightful illustrations.
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