30TH BIRTHDAY POST - MICRO SNOW QUEEN

THE SNOW QUEEN - BY CASSANDRA SOLON PARRY

A mirror splintered and a little boy's heart was turned to ice. Poor Kai, the Snow Queen has him now. She sits enthroned at the centre of a frozen lake whose name is Reason. Childhood cannot live here; nor can love.

Brave little Gerda, only she can find him now. How far will she go to bring her friend home? From the garden of childhood, to the castle of dreams, through the wild woods, and under Northern Lights, across the lands of snow and ice. She goes barefoot, the better to feel her way. On the back of a reindeer she rides. With only her child-heart to guide her, she enters the Snow Queen's domain.

Little Gerda's frozen breath forms an army of angels; her tears melt the ice in her dear friend's heart. Then, at last, he cries. Reflected in each other's eyes, they see that Springtime has come.

Even now that they have both grown up, the sweet song of childhood still plays in their hearts.

31st of January MMXXII - Sandra Dermark turns 30. Milestone birthday, but still childhood heart like Gerda and Kai...

Illustration by yours truly - Sandra Dermark. Done for Mab's Drawloween Club 2021, it hangs in a picture frame in my bedroom, above my bed. Everyone in the human/oid cast of the tale is here except the goblins and the angels: the springtime witch (in her flowered hat) and Gerda from the garden of childhood, the clever well-read prince and princess from the castle of dreams (my favourite characters from the tale!), the robber maiden and her leader mother from the wild woods (yes, that tall virago, in spite of her facial hair and broad shoulders, is female), as well as Kai and the Snow Queen with her icy crown and heart.

ON THE SNOW QUEEN FOURTH STORY WITH A FAIRYTALE AUTHOR

SANDRA DERMARK: My favourite part of the tale got only a tiny line (in Cassandra Solon Parry's micro-retelling): "to the castle of dreams," Guess who are my favourite characters? (Hint: they're human).

CASSANDRA SOLON PARRY: Ah, your favourite characters must be the little Prince and Princess in the castle. My favourite section in the tale is the night in the robber's den, and the little robber girl and her mother, but I have to make some ruthless decisions to make the tales so short. Thank you very much for reading and commenting, Sandra. Apologies for the delay in reply. It is because I am living (and writing when I can) with chronic illness so everything is slower. This is also the reason that I am putting the little energy I have into tiny tales! I am glad you have enjoyed them. 

SANDRA:  You got it right!!! I love the Prince and Princess in The Snow Queen, and they're my favourite Snow Queen characters, because they're both so intelligent and well-read and they contrived to find one another as intellectual equals and kindred spirits. I LOVE to read and know many languages and cultures myself, and I have been an ivory tower kind of nerd. So it has never been hard for me to see these characters' subplot as a wish fulfillment!

CASSANDRA: that is a beautiful reason to love them. Such good aspirations 

 May we all find that kind of connection and friendship 

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ON THE MANDSDRAGT WITH A FAIRYTALE AUTHOR

 CASSANDRA SOLON PARRY (the fairytale author): 'The Little Mermaid' is, of course, a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen which first appeared in print in 1837.

There are any number of interpretations of the original tale. The one I find most compelling is that the story expresses a love the author had for his friend, a man named Edvard Collin. Andersen's love was unrequited but he did (like The Little Mermaid) take the risk of expressing it.

'I languish for you as for a pretty Calabrian wench...' he wrote in a letter to his friend, 'My sentiments for you are those of a woman. The femininity of my nature and our friendship must remain a mystery."

Collin later wrote in his memoir, "I found myself unable to respond to this love, and this caused the author much suffering."
...

I'd love to hear if any part of the fairy tale resonates with you. What moment in the many versions of the tale of 'The Little Mermaid ' touches your heart?

SANDRA DERMARK: The fact that the prince had breeches sewn for her so she could ride on horseback like him and follow him mountaineering is my favourite part/moment. Male critics like Jacob Bøggild say he is doing it to protect himself as a betrothed straight male from sexual temptation (seeing her as a boy means friendzoning), while female feminists like Maria Tatar and yours truly focus on the freedom that this gender transgression gives the little maid in page's breeches when horseback riding and mountaineering. What is your humble opinion on this aspect of the tale?

CASSANDRA: Thanks for this interesting question. I actually see this moment in the story as signalling both of these things: the little mermaid's expanded personal freedom and the Prince's refusal to treat her as a romantic interest (similar to the earlier moment where he allows her to sleep on a silk pillow outside his doorstep). It's interesting to me because it also relates to the story's theme of transformation, hinting at a gender fluidity which has been noted as part of the story's subtext - a fluidity which was appealing to the author but would not have been accepted by the readers of the time if put in more explicit terms. Without writing an essay on the subject, that is my take. 

SANDRA: thanks for you seeing both sides of the story across the binary and even the gender fluidity/queering. Also if we take the Little Mermaid to be an avatar for bisexual Andersen himself and the Human Prince as a counterpart to his patron's son and unrequited love Edward Collin, who married a society girl for power and friendzoned Andersen, this detail of the breeches in the Little Mermaid original tale can be understood even through a queer lens!