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The
Snow Queen
G
retold for easy reading
by JOAN COLLINS
illustrated by KATHIE LAYFIELD
Ladybird Books Loughborough
The Magic Mirror
Once there was a wicked magician who made a
wonderful magic mirror. It turned everything it
showed into something ugly.
Beautiful green fields looked like cooked
cabbage. Pretty girls’ faces were covered with
spots. Even your best friend looked horrid.
There was something wrong about everything the
mirror showed.
Some mischievous goblins thought it was
funny. They stole the big mirror and flew up into
the sky with it. But it slipped out of their hands
and broke into a thousand pieces.
The pieces fell to earth, where people picked
them up and looked through them. Some were
as big as window-panes, but some were tiny
splinters. These stabbed into people’s hearts so
that they could not feel love or kindness any
more. If a speck of mirror glass got into your
eye, you saw everything crooked.
Two Children
Down in the city lived a boy and
a girl. Their names were Kay and Gerda,
and they were poor, but very happy.
They lived opposite to each other in the top
floor attics of two tall houses. The roofs were so
close together that the children could climb
across to each other’s houses to play.
Kay and Gerda had a little window-box each,
instead of a proper garden. They had planted
two lovely rose trees, which made a flowering
arch between the two windows.
The children could sit under it in the summer
and read their books. Sometimes Grandmother
told them stories.
In the winter the snowflakes fell, like feathers
from the sky, and the wind howled. The children
could not play outside, so Grandmother told
them tales of the Snow Queen.
“She is the biggest snowflake of all,” said
Grandmother, ‘‘and she flies in the centre of the
snowstorm.
“‘When the wind dies, she goes up into the
black clouds. But on winter nights, she flies
through the streets and looks in at the windows.
“When she has gone, they are covered
with ice flowers.” }
“Yes, we’ve seen them!’’ cried Kay.
“Could she get in here?’’ asked Gerda
timidly.
“Don’t worry!’’ said Kay. ‘If she does, I’ll
put her on the stove and she’Il melt!”’
Sometimes the children would heat pennies on
the hot stove, and press them against the frozen
window-panes to make peep-holes to look
through.
One night Kay was looking out through his
peep-hole. He saw a huge snowflake settle on the
edge of the window-box. It grew and grew into a
wonderful white-coloured woman. She was
10
dressed in a cloak of star-shaped snowflakes and
her eyes glittered like icy diamonds.
She beckoned to Kay, but he was afraid and
ran back into the room. As she flew away, her
shadow passed over the window like a great
white bird.
at
Next day, when Kay and Gerda were playing in
the snow, Kay suddenly gave a cry.
**Something went into my eye!’’ he said.
“And I felt a sharp pain in my heart!’’
Some pieces of the magic mirror had fallen on
Kay.
He turned and kicked over the snowman
Gerda had been building so carefully, and she
began to cry.
“Shut up, cry-baby!”’ said Kay, spitefully.
“Stop fussing, you silly old woman!”’ he said
to Grandmother, who came to see what was the
matter. <*
Kay did not want to play with Gerda any
more. He ran out into the street with his wooden
sledge, to play in the snow.
A big white sleigh came past, drawn by a swift
horse. The driver had a white hooded cloak. Kay
could not see the face. Kay fastened his sledge to
the back, to get a free ride. The horse went faster
than the wind and they were soon in the
countryside.
Then they stopped and the driver turned
round. It was the Snow Queen!
“You must be cold, little Kay!” she said, in
an icy tinkling voice. ‘‘Come inside my coat!’’
Kay snuggled into it. It was like lying in a deep
snowdrift.
The Snow Queen gave him a cold kiss on the
forehead. It made Kay forget all about Gerda
and his home, as he fell under her spell.
The sledge raced on, high up above the clouds,
towards the Snow Queen’s palace in the frozen
north.
16
Down below, the cold wind lashed the fields
and forests like a whip. Wolves howled and
ravens croaked. The huge bright moon came out,
and Kay went to sleep, curled up at the Snow
Queen’s feet.
The Enchante wer
Kay had forgotten Gerda, but she did not
forget him. She put on her new red shoes and
went to look for him. But nobody had seen Kay.
At last Gerda came to a lovely cherry orchard
on a river bank. She saw a little house with a
thatched roof and windows of yellow, blue and
red glass.
An old lady came to the door. She wore a
wonderful hat, decorated with bright painted
18
flowers, and she carried a crooked stick.
Gerda said, ‘‘Have you seen Kay?”
“No,” said the lady. ‘‘But why don’t you
come in and have some of my cherries?’
While Gerda ate cherries from a crystal bowl,
the old lady combed her hair with a golden
comb, She was a witch but quite a nice one. She
wanted to keep Gerda to be her little girl and live
with her always.
The witch had an enchanted garden where it
was always summer. Every flower you could
think of grew in it, including some lovely roses.
The witch knew that if Gerda saw them, the
roses would remind her of Kay. So she thumped
with her stick and the rose trees disappeared
under the ground.
But the witch had forgotten she had a red rose
20
painted on her hat. One day Gerda saw it and
remembered about Kay.
So she ran away from the old witch and the
beautiful garden, where it was always summer.
In the world outside, it was autumn.
The yellow leaves were falling, and it was cold.
“Oh, dear!”’ said Gerda. ‘* What a lot of time
1
I have wasted
The Prince and Princess
Gerda struggled on through the snow, for soon
it was winter again.
Suddenly she saw a big black crow, which
flapped its wings and cawed at her. ‘‘ What are
you doing, little girl, all alone in the snow?”’
“Tm looking for Kay,’’ said Gerda. ‘‘ Have
you seen him?’”
“Caw, caw! Hum, haw!”’ croaked the crow
hoarsely. “‘Is he a boy with bright eyes like
yours, and golden hair?’’
“Yes! Yes!’’ cried Gerda, and she gave the
crow a kiss on his shiny beak.
“Caw! Caw! Wait a bit!’’ said the crow.
“The boy I’m talking about has just married our
princess. He’s a poor boy who walked up to the
palace one day, and the princess fell in love with
him.”
“That must be Kay,’’ said Gerda. ‘‘Every-
body loves him. Won’t you take me to him?”
22
“My wife works at the palace,”’ said the crow.
“She will smuggle us into the royal bedroom.”’
The two birds took Gerda up the back stairs of
the palace, into a wonderful room. The prince
23
and princess lay asleep in two beds, the shape of
lilies. The princess’s bed was white, and the
prince’s bed was red.
Gerda peeped over the edge of the red bed, and
the prince woke up. He was a handsome little
boy, but he was not Kay!
Gerda was so disappointed she began to cry,
24
and then the princess woke up too. «
When they heard her story, they gave Gerda a
dress of silk and velvet, some fur boots and a big
warm muff. They lent her a golden coach, witha
coachman to drive it, and four white horses. It
was filled with sweets and fruit to eat on the
journey.
The crows flew to the top of the tallest tree to
wave goodbye to Gerda. She promised to come
back and see them all when she had found Kay.
a ff. 7 j > ae
The Robber Girl
The golden coach drove on through a great
dane forest where robbers were hiding. When
they saw it flash past, they rushed out of the
trees, shouting ‘‘Gold! Gold!”’
They killed the coachman and grabbed the
horses. Then they dragged Gerda out of the
coach.
“*She’s lovely and plump! I’ll eat her for
breakfast!’’ cried a fat robber woman with
bushy eyebrows and a beard on her chin.
But her little daughter, who was riding on her
mother’s back, gave the woman a great bite on
her ear. She was a naughty, wild child.
“T want her to play with!”’ said the Robber
Girl. ‘‘She must give me her dress and her muff
and sleep in my bed!”
And she gave her mother another bite. She was
a very strong little girl, with black hair, white
26
teeth and brown skin, and she always got her
own way.
She told Gerda, ‘‘ You will be quite safe, if you
do everything I tell you.’’ They drove off
together in the coach to the robbers’ castle.
27
The castle was a ruin, with broken windows
and holes in the walls. Ugly black birds flew
around it and huge fierce dogs ran about the
courtyard. A smoky fire was burning in the
middle of the great hall, and some robbers
snored round the table. Rabbits and hares were
being roasted on spits, for the robbers’ supper.
The Robber Girl dragged Gerda over to one
end of the hall, to show her her pets. These were
a flock of woodpigeons and doves perched up on
the beams. A reindeer was tied up next to her
bed.
“He would run away if I didn’t tie him up!””
she laughed, and tickled his furry throat with her
sharp knife.
When they went to bed, under a pile of furs,
Gerda told her story. The Robber Girl listened,
but soon went to sleep, and snored.
One of the woodpigeons, who had overheard,
spoke to Gerda.
‘We have seen little Kay in the Snow Queen’s
sleigh! Coo, coo!”’
‘‘What are you saying?’’ cried Gerda.
“‘Where was the Snow Queen going?”’
“Coo, coo! Ask the reindeer!’’ said the
pigeon.
“‘Oh, yes, the Snow Queen lives in my
country,”’ nodded the reindeer.
“Where is that?’
“Tt is a lovely place called Lapland, covered
30
with snow and ice. You can run for miles over
the frozen plains,’’ said the reindeer, his eyes
shining. ‘‘She has a summer palace there. Her
winter palace is near the North Pole.”
“‘Keep quiet or I’ll tickle you with my knife!’’
said the little Robber Girl sleepily.
31
In the morning Gerda told the Robber Girl
what the woodpigeon had said.
“The reindeer shall take you to find Kay,’’ the
Robber Girl decided. She gave Gerda back her
fur boots, but kept the muff. Instead she gave
Gerda a huge pair of woolly gloves. She tied her
on the reindeer’s back, so that she would not fall
off.
82
“*Here is a loaf of bread and some ham, so you
will not be hungry on the way! Now, be off with
you, before I change my mind!’’ she said
fiercely.
Gerda and the reindeer set off across the
snowy countryside. Wolves howled and ravens
croaked and the Northern Lights were flashing in
the sky.
As they went further north, it grew colder and
colder. They had eaten all the bread and ham
when at last they came to Lapland.
The Lapp Woman
and the Finnish Woman
They stopped near a little cottage with a low
roof. It was very dark and smelly inside. A
greasy-faced old Lapp woman was cooking fish
over an oil lamp.
They asked her the way to the Snow Queen’s
palace. ‘‘Oh, you poor souls!” cried the old
woman.
“You have more than a hundred miles to go! I
had better give you a letter to the Finnish
Woman who lives up there. She knows more
about it than I do! Now, what can I write on? I
haven’t any paper.”
So she took a dried codfish. ‘‘This will do
nicely,’’ she said, and scratched a few words on
the skin.
So off they set again. The Northern Lights still
flashed and flickered in the sky. They were the
Snow Queen’s fireworks.
a5
When they got to the Finnish Woman’s house,
they had to knock on the chimney. They could
not see the door, it was so small and low.
Inside, it was so hot and steamy the fat Finnish
Woman was walking about with hardly any
clothes on. Gerda had to take off her boots and
gloves.
The Finnish Woman read the letter and then
put the dried codfish in the pot to cook. She
never wasted anything!
“Please help us!’’ said the reindeer. ‘‘We
know you are a very wise woman and know all
sorts of magic spells.’’
“Little Kay is in the Snow Queen’s palace,”’
said the Finnish Woman, ‘“‘but he likes it there.
That is because he has a piece of glass in his heart
and some dust in his eye, from the Magic Mirror.
He has forgotten Gerda and his old home.”’
37
“‘Can’t you give Gerda a magic spell to cure
him?” asked the reindeer.
‘“‘Gerda already has her own sort of magic,”
said the Finnish Woman. ‘Look how all the
birds, animals and humans have helped her. She
can get into the Snow Queen’s palace herself and
rescue Kay, because she has the magic power of
love.
‘All you have to do, reindeer, is to carry
Gerda to the edge of the Snow Queen’s garden.
Put her down by the big bush with red berries on
it, and leave her there.””
And she began to eat her piece of codfish.
The reindeer did as he was told, so quickly that
Gerda had no time to put on her boots and
gloves. The reindeer licked her face with his
rough tongue, and tears ran down his nose. Then
he turned round and scampered off.
There was poor Gerda in the snow, with bare
feet. She ran towards the Snow Queen’s palace.
An army of ugly shaped snowflakes was coming
towards her. They were the Snow Queen’s
soldiers. Some were like hedgehogs, some like
small bears, some like bunches of snakes. They
were all evil.
40
Gerda did not know what to do. She said a
little prayer. Her breath came out of her mouth
like white mist. It shaped itself into shining
snowflakes, like little white angels, who lined up
to protect her. The ugly snowflakes vanished,
and she could go safely on. She felt quite warm
all of a sudden and she was no longer frightened.
4l
What happened in the
Snow Queen’s palace afterwards
Kay had no idea Gerda was outside. The
palace was a huge, empty place, made out of
piled up snowdrifts. The windows and doors
were holes blown by the biting wind. There were
hundreds of halls, opening out of each other,
some many miles long.
They were all bitterly cold and lighted by the
regular flashing of the Northern Lights. No one
had ever held a party in this palace —
not even a dance for polar bears!
In the centre of the largest hall was the Snow
Queen sitting on her throne, in the middle of a
frozen lake of ice. It had cracked into a thousand
When Gerda found her way into the palace,
the Snow Queen had gone. She saw Kay sitting
on the steps of the throne, shivering. He was blue
with cold but could not feel it, for the Snow
Queen had turned his heart to a lump of ice.
He sat playing with pieces of ice and trying to
. make them into a word. If he could make them
spell ETERNITY, the Snow Queen had said she
would let him go home. But he had never been
able to do it. Gerda ran up to him and put her
arms around him.
45
But Kay was stiff and cold and did not know
her. Gerda began to cry. Her warm loving tears
ran down Kay’s face and on to his chest. The ice
in his heart melted and the splinter of glass came
out!
Then Kay began to cry too, and the glass dust
in his eye was washed away.
When the children looked down, the pieces of
ice were dancing about. Then they spelled out a
word — ETERNITY!
Kay was free!
‘How cold and empty this place is!’’ he said. |
‘How long have I been here?”’ |
Gerda kissed his face. The pink came back into
his cheeks. His eyes shone. Hand in hand, the
two children ran out of the icy palace, over the |
snow, to the bush with red berries.
The reindeer was waiting for them. He
whisked them away to the house of the Finnish
Woman. There they got warm again and had
something to eat.
Then they went to the Lapp Woman’s home.
She had made them new clothes and lent them
her sledge for the rest of the journey.
Winter was left far behind, and
the sun came out.
Gerda and Kay found their way back to their
own rooftop homes in the city. Grandmother
was sitting, reading her Bible, in her old place.
Gerda and Kay were almost grown up now,
but they felt as happy again as little children, as
they ran together up the attic stairs.
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