What did kai write in the snow queen. The Snow Queen. You can't throw out words from a fairy tale
Roses are blooming.
Beauty, beauty!
Soon we will see
baby Christ!
Hans Christian Andersen
(the last line in the fairy tale "The Snow Queen")
FOREWORD
You can't throw out words from a fairy tale
We all read the fairy tale "The Snow Queen", but not everyone thought that something was missing in the fairy tale. Little Gerda made a very difficult and difficult journey to find Kai, shed a few tears on him in order to disenchant him from the evil cold spells of the Snow Queen. Don't you think that this deliverance was too easy for Kai? The climax of the fairy tale always seemed to me somehow blurred and not entirely clear. And it turned out that not in vain.
In Soviet times, almost all the fairy tales of the famous Danish writer were severely censored due to the presence of an anti-Soviet theme in them - faith in God, which is present in almost every fairy tale by Andersen. Some of them are purposefully created in the spirit of biblical parables, are theological in nature and, of course, were completely unknown to us: “Garden of Eden”, “Angel”, “Dream”, “Something”, “Bell” and many others. They were written to teach children and adults goodness and bring them closer to God.
It was this "Divine Principle" that Soviet book editors carefully stopped, which is why the meaning of the tale changed dramatically. For example, the fairy tale "The Snow Queen" in the original is thoroughly saturated with religious meaning, angels are among the permanent characters.
The Troll's mirror breaks not just because of the awkwardness of his students, but because they decided to rise with a crooked mirror to the sky, "to laugh at the angels and the Lord God."
In Soviet publications, Gerda fought the guards of the Snow Queen like this: "However, Gerda boldly walked on and on and finally reached the halls of the Snow Queen." Quite in the spirit of the unbending builders of a bright future. At best, in the edited editions, formidable angels turned into "little men."
But it turns out that when Gerda was fighting the guards, she said the prayer “Our Father” out of fatigue, angels descended from heaven to help her, and she safely reached her intended goal.
“Gerda began to read the Our Father. It was so cold that her breath instantly turned into a thick mist. This fog was getting thicker and thicker; but little bright angels began to appear in it, which, having stepped on the ground, grew and turned into big angels ... There were more and more of them, and when Gerda finished reading the prayer, she was surrounded by a whole legion of angels. They pierced the snow monsters with spears, and the flakes scattered into thousands of snowflakes. Now Gerda could boldly go forward; the angels stroked the girl's arms and legs, and she felt warmer. Finally, she reached the halls of the Snow Queen.
Psalms about Jesus Christ help Gerda to disenchant Cain. Andersen's fairy tale ends with a long-awaited reunion with his grandmother, whom the children found sitting in the sun and reading the Gospel out loud.
Andersen in Danish
Andersen, like most Danes, believed deeply in God. But philologists conclude that his faith did not correspond to Lutheranism traditional for Denmark. The storyteller had his own ideas about the world order, the mercy and wrath of God. “Vogo to please the prince. To have legs, not a mermaid tail (a mermaid in the church sense is devilish, the Little Mermaid asked, “do they live forever?” “Not at all!” the old woman answered. “They also die. And their age is even shorter than ours. But even though we live three hundred years and when the end comes to us, only sea foam remains of us, and we do not have the graves of our loved ones, we are not gifted with an immortal soul, and our mermaid life ends with the death of the body.But people have a soul that lives forever, it lives and after the body turns to dust, and then flies away into a transparent height, to the sparkling stars." "Oh, why don't we have an immortal soul! - the Little Mermaid said sadly. - I would give all my hundreds of years for one day of human life, then to taste heavenly bliss.
The "Wild Swans" were also subjected to a thorough anti-religious purge. The pious Andersen could not have put such a heavy torment on a person: only the support of God helped Eliza endure the test and save her brothers.
By the way, such a deep religious concept as, is also a common actor in fairy tales.
Death was not mentioned in Soviet publications. The first poem that brought Andersen literary fame was called "Dead Child". Defying the author's intention, the theme of death was also deleted from other equally well-known fairy tales. But it turned out to be impossible to remove this from some stories, since the fairy tales were completely devoted to a different life. For example, "The Girl with Matches", "Flowers of Little Ida", "The Girl Who Stepped on Bread", Soviet compilers did not include them in the collections at all. And in vain, say modern child psychologists. These tales can serve as a good guide for answering the inevitable questions about death that begin to worry children as young as five years old. They do not injure the psyche, as they are told in beautiful language.
In Andersen's fairy tale "The Bog King's Daughter", the life of the main character Helga changed after meeting with a priest who told her about God's love, and the evil spell fell from her when she herself uttered the name of Jesus Christ. Everything is logical. In the modern retelling, instead of a priest, there is a “beautiful young man”, and Helga is freed from the spell ... it is not known why, due to a nervous shock, probably.
In general, all the heroes of Andersen are invariably connected by faith in God and hope in Him. Believing little Gerda, Eliza from the fairy tale "Wild Swans", who was not only the most beautiful, but also the most pious in the country, the Little Mermaid, who wanted not only to achieve the Prince's love, but also to receive an immortal soul. What unites them is selfless love, which makes them, fragile and weak, so steadfast, determined and courageous. Andersen knew that this love cannot be separated from its source, God. This is how Christ himself loved and taught others this.
Finally, I would like to recall the fairy tale "The Happy Family", where snails imagined themselves to be the most important in the world, not suspecting that there was something higher than them. “No one contradicted them, which means that it was so. And now the rain drummed on the burdock to amuse the snails, and the sun shone to make their burdock green, and they were happy, happy! How often our attitude to life is similar to the philosophy of snails.
THE MIRROR AND ITS SHARDS
Let's start! When we reach the end of our history, we will know more than we do now. So, once upon a time there was a troll, feisty-preslying; it was the devil himself. Once he was in a particularly good mood: he made such a mirror in which everything good and beautiful was utterly reduced, everything worthless and ugly, on the contrary, appeared even brighter, it seemed even worse. The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach in it, and the best of people looked like freaks, or it seemed that they were standing upside down, but they had no bellies at all! Faces were distorted to the point that it was impossible to recognize them; if someone had a freckle or a mole on his face, it spread all over his face.
The devil was terribly amused by all this. A kind, pious human thought was reflected in the mirror with an unimaginable grimace, so that the troll could not help laughing, rejoicing at his invention. All the students of the troll - he had his own school - talked about the mirror as if it were some kind of miracle.
“Now only,” they said, “you can see the whole world and people in their true light!
And so they ran with the mirror everywhere; soon there was not a single country, not a single person who would not be reflected in it in a distorted form. Finally, they wanted to get to Heaven in order to laugh at the angels and the Creator himself. The higher they climbed, the more the mirror grimaced and writhed from grimaces; they could barely hold it in their hands. But then they got up again, and suddenly the mirror was so skewed that it escaped from their hands, flew to the ground and shattered.
Millions, billions of its fragments, however, have done even more trouble than the mirror itself. Some of them were no more than a grain of sand, scattered around the wide world, fell, it happened, into people's eyes, and so they remained there. A person with such a splinter in his eye began to see everything upside down or to notice only the bad side in every thing - after all, each shard retained the property that distinguished the mirror itself.
For some people, the fragments hit right in the heart, and this was the worst: the heart turned into a piece of ice. There were large ones between these fragments, such that they could be inserted into window frames, but it was not worth looking at your good friends through these windows. Finally, there were also such fragments that went on glasses, only the trouble was if people put them on in order to look at things and judge them more correctly! And the evil troll laughed to the point of colic, the success of this invention tickled him so pleasantly. But many more fragments of the mirror flew around the world. Let's hear about them.
BOY AND GIRL
In a big city, where there are so many houses and people that not everyone and everyone manages to fence off at least a small place for a garden, and where, therefore, most of the inhabitants have to be content with indoor flowers in pots, there lived two poor children, but they had a larger garden flower pot. They were not related, but they loved each other like brother and sister. Their parents lived in the attics of adjacent houses. The roofs of the houses almost converged, and under the ledges of the roofs there was a gutter that fell just under the window of each attic. It was worth, therefore, to step out of some window onto the gutter, and you could find yourself at the window of the neighbors.
The parents had a lot wooden box; roots grew in them and small bushes of roses, one in each, showered with wonderful flowers. It occurred to the parents to put these boxes at the bottom of the gutters; thus, from one window to another stretched like two flower beds. Peas descended from the boxes in green garlands, rose bushes peeped through the windows and intertwined branches; something like a triumphal gate of greenery and flowers was formed. Since the boxes were very high and the children knew for sure that they were not allowed to climb on them, the parents often allowed the boy and girl to visit each other on the roof and sit on a bench under roses. And what fun games they played here!
In winter, this pleasure ceased, the windows were often covered with ice patterns. But the children heated copper coins on the stove and applied them to the frozen panes - a wonderful round hole immediately thawed, and a cheerful, affectionate eye peered into it - each looked out of his window, a boy and a girl, Kai and Gerda. In the summer they could find themselves visiting each other with one jump, and in the winter they had to first go down many, many steps down, and then go up the same amount. There was snow in the yard.
- It's white bees swarming! said the old grandmother.
“Do they also have a queen?” the boy asked; he knew real bees had one.
- Eat! Grandma answered. - Snowflakes surround her in a dense swarm, but she is larger than all of them and never remains on the ground - she always rushes on a black cloud.
Often at night she flies through the city streets and looks into the windows; that's why they are covered with ice patterns, like flowers!
- Seen, seen! - the children said and believed that all this was the absolute truth.
"Can't the Snow Queen come in here?" the girl asked once.
- Let him try! the boy said. - I'll put her on a warm stove, so she will melt!
But the grandmother patted him on the head and started talking about something else.
In the evening, when Kai was already at home and had almost completely undressed, about to go to bed, he climbed onto a chair by the window and looked into the small thawed window glass circle. Snowflakes fluttered outside the window; one of them, a larger one, fell on the edge of a flower box and began to grow, grow, until at last it turned into a woman wrapped in the thinnest white tulle, woven, it seemed, from millions of snow stars. She was so lovely, so tender, all of a dazzling white ice and yet alive! Her eyes sparkled like stars, but there was neither warmth nor meekness in them. She nodded to the boy and beckoned him with her hand. The little boy was frightened and jumped off the chair; something like a large bird flashed past the window.
The next day there was a glorious frost, but then there was a thaw, and then spring came. The sun was shining, the flower boxes were all green again, the swallows were nesting under the roof, the windows were opened, and the children could again sit in their little garden on the roof.
The roses have bloomed beautifully all summer. The girl learned a psalm, which also spoke of roses; the girl sang it to the boy, thinking about her roses, and he sang along with her:
The children sang, holding hands, kissed the roses, looked at the clear sun and talked to it, it seemed to them that the infant Christ himself was looking at them from it.
What a wonderful summer it was, and how good it was under the bushes of fragrant roses, which, it seemed, were supposed to bloom forever!
Kai and Gerda sat and looked at a book with pictures - animals and birds; the big clock tower struck five.
- Ai! the boy suddenly exclaimed. “I was stabbed right in the heart, and something got into my eye!”
The girl threw her arm around his neck, he blinked, but there seemed to be nothing in his eye.
It must have jumped out! - he said.
But that's the point, it's not. Two fragments of the devil's mirror fell into his heart and into his eye, in which, as we, of course, remember, everything great and good seemed insignificant and ugly, and evil and evil was reflected even brighter, the bad sides of each thing came out even sharper. Poor Kai! Now his heart should have turned into a piece of ice! The pain in the eye and in the heart has already passed, but the fragments themselves remained in them.
- What are you crying about? he asked Gerda. — Wu! How ugly are you now! It doesn't hurt me at all! Ugh! he suddenly shouted. - This rose is sharpened by a worm! And that one is completely crooked! What ugly roses! No better than boxes in which they stick out!
And he, pushing the box with his foot, tore out two roses.
"Kai, what are you doing?" the girl screamed, and he, seeing her fright, snatched another one and ran away from pretty little Gerda through his window.
If after that the girl brought him a book with pictures, he said that these pictures are good only for babies; if the old grandmother told anything, he found fault with the words. Yes, if only this! And then he got to the point that he began to mimic her walk, put on her glasses and imitate her voice! It came out very similar and made people laugh. Soon the boy learned to imitate all the neighbors - he was very good at showing off all their oddities and shortcomings - and people said:
What a head this little boy has!
And the reason for everything was the fragments of the mirror that hit him in the eye and in the heart. That is why he even mimicked the pretty little Gerda, who loved him with all her heart.
And his amusements have now become completely different, so sophisticated. Once in the winter, when it was snowing, he came with a large burning glass and put the skirt of his blue jacket under the snow.
“Look through the glass, Gerda!” - he said. Each snowflake seemed much larger under the glass than it actually was, and looked like a magnificent flower or a ten-pointed star. What a miracle!
See how well done! Kai said. “This is much more interesting than real flowers!” And what precision! Not a single wrong line! Ah, if only they had not melted!
A little later, Kai appeared in big mittens, with a sled behind his back, shouted into Gerda's ear:
“They let me ride in the big square with the other boys!” - And running.
There were a lot of children on the square. Those who were more daring tied their sledges to the peasants' sledges and thus rode away contentedly. The fun went on and on. In the midst of it, large sleighs painted in White color. In them sat a man, all gone in a white fur coat and a similar cap. The sleigh circled the square twice: Kai quickly tied his sledge to it and drove off.
The big sledges sped faster and then turned off the square into a side street. The man sitting in them turned around and nodded to Kai, as though he were familiar. Kai several times tried to untie his sled, but the man in the fur coat nodded to him, and he rode on. Here they are outside the city gates. Snow suddenly fell in flakes, it got so dark that not a single light could be seen all around. The boy hurriedly let go of the rope, which caught on the big sledge, but his sledge seemed to stick to the big sledge and continued to fly in a whirlwind. Kai screamed loudly - no one heard him! The snow was falling, the sledges were racing, diving in snowdrifts, jumping over hedges and ditches. Kai was trembling all over, he wanted to read the Our Father, but in his mind one multiplication table was spinning.
The snowflakes kept growing and finally turned into big white hens. Suddenly they scattered to the sides, the big sledge stopped, and the man sitting in it stood up. It was a tall, slender, dazzling white woman - the Snow Queen; and her fur coat and hat were made of snow.
- Nice ride! - she said. "But are you completely cold?" Get into my coat!
And, placing the boy in her sleigh, she wrapped him in her fur coat; Kai seemed to sink into a snowdrift.
"Are you still cold?" she asked and kissed him on the forehead.
Wu! kiss her was colder than ice, pierced him with cold through and through and reached the very heart, and without that it was already half icy. For a minute it seemed to Kai that he was about to die, but no, on the contrary, it became easier, he even completely stopped feeling cold.
- My sleds! Don't forget my sled! he said.
And the sledge was tied on the back of one of the white hens, which flew with them after the big sledge. The Snow Queen kissed Kai again, and he forgot Gerda, and his grandmother, and all the household.
"I won't kiss you again!" - she said. "Or I'll kiss you to death!"
Kai looked at her; she was so good! He could not have imagined a smarter, more charming face. Now she did not seem to him icy, as she had been sitting outside the window and nodding her head to him; now she seemed perfect to him. He was not at all afraid of her and told her that he knew all four operations of arithmetic, and even with fractions, he knew how many square miles and inhabitants each country, and she only smiled in response. And then it seemed to him that he really knew little, and he fixed his eyes on the endless air space. At the same instant, the Snow Queen flew with him onto a dark lead cloud, and they rushed forward. The storm howled and groaned, as if singing old songs; they flew over forests and lakes, over seas and solid land; below them cold winds blew, wolves howled, snow sparkled, black crows flew with a cry, and above them shone a large clear moon. Kai looked at him all the long, long winter night - during the day he slept at the feet of the Snow Queen.
FLOWER BOARD OF A WOMAN WHO Knew How to Conjure
And what happened to Gerda when Kai did not return? Where did he go? No one knew this, no one could tell anything about him. The boys said only that they saw him tying his sledge to a large magnificent sledge, which then turned into an alley and drove out of the city gates. Nobody knew where he had gone. Many tears were shed for him; Gerda wept bitterly and for a long time. Finally, they decided that he had died, drowned in the river that flowed outside the city. The dark winter days dragged on for a long time.
But then spring came, the sun came out.
Kai is dead and will never come back! Gerda said.
- I do not believe! Sunlight answered.
He is dead and will never come back! she repeated to the swallows.
- We do not believe! they replied.
In the end, Gerda herself stopped believing it.
I'll put on my new red shoes. “Kai has never seen them yet,” she said one morning, “but I’ll go to the river to ask about him.”
It was still very early; she kissed her sleeping grandmother, put on her red shoes, and ran all alone out of town, straight to the river.
“Is it true that you took my sworn brother?” I'll give you my red shoes if you give it back to me!
And it seemed to the girl that the waves were somehow strangely nodding to her; then she took off her red shoes, her first jewel, and threw them into the river. But they fell right on the shore, and the waves immediately carried them to land - it was as if the river did not want to take her jewel from the girl, since she could not return Kai to her. The girl, however, thought that she had not thrown her shoes very far, climbed into the boat, which was rocking in the reeds, stood on the very edge of the stern and again threw the shoes into the water. The boat was not tied and pushed off the shore. The girl wanted to jump onto land as soon as possible, but while she was making her way from stern to bow, the boat had already moved a whole arshin from the beret and quickly rushed down the stream.
Gerda was terribly frightened and began to cry and scream, but no one except the sparrows heard her cries; the sparrows, however, could not carry her to land, and only flew after her along the shore and chirped, as if wishing to console her: “We are here! We are here!"
The banks of the river were very beautiful; everywhere one could see the most wonderful flowers, tall, spreading trees, meadows on which sheep and cows grazed, but nowhere was a single human soul to be seen.
“Maybe the river is taking me to Kai?” - thought Gerda, cheered up, stood on her nose and admired the beautiful green shores for a long, long time. But then she sailed to a large cherry orchard, in which there was a house with colored glass in the windows and a thatched roof. Two wooden soldiers stood at the door and saluted everyone who passed by with their guns.
Gerda screamed at them - she mistook them for living ones - but they, of course, did not answer her. So she swam even closer to them, the boat approached almost to the very shore, and the girl screamed even louder. Out of the house came out, leaning on a stick, an old, aged old woman in a large straw hat painted with wonderful flowers.
“Oh, you poor little one! said the old woman. “How did you get on such a big fast river and get so far?”
With these words, the old woman entered the water, hooked the boat with her stick, pulled it to the shore and landed Gerda.
Gerda was very glad that she finally found herself on dry land, although she was afraid of someone else's old woman.
“Well, let’s go, but tell me who you are and how you got here?” said the old woman.
Gerda began to tell her about everything, and the old woman shook her head and repeated: “Hm! Hm! But now the girl had finished and asked the old woman if she had seen Kai. She replied that he had not yet passed here, but, probably, he would pass, so the girl had nothing to grieve about yet - she would rather try cherries and admire the flowers that grow in the garden: they are more beautiful than those drawn in any picture book and they can tell everything fairy tales! Then the old woman took Gerda by the hand, took her to her house and locked the door with a key. The windows were high from the floor and all of multi-colored - red, blue and yellow - glass; from this the room itself was illuminated by some amazing bright, iridescent light. There was a basket of ripe cherries on the table, and Gerda could eat them as much as she liked; while she ate, the old woman combed her hair with a golden comb. Her hair was curly, and the curls surrounded the fresh, round, like a rose, face of the girl with a golden glow.
"I've wanted to have such a pretty girl for a long time!" said the old woman. “You’ll see how well we’ll live together with you!”
And she continued to comb the girl's curls, and the longer she combed, the more Gerda forgot her named brother Kai - the old woman knew how to conjure. She was not an evil sorceress and conjured only occasionally, for her own pleasure; now she really wanted to keep Gerda. And so she went into the garden, touched with her stick all the rose bushes, and as they stood in full bloom, they all went deep, deep into the ground, and there was no trace of them. The old woman was afraid that Gerda, at the sight of her roses, would remember her own, and then Kai, and run away.
Having done her job, the old woman took Gerda to the flower garden. The girl's eyes widened: there were flowers of all kinds, all seasons. What a beauty, what a fragrance! In all the world one could not find more colorful picture books, more beautiful than this flower garden. Gerda jumped for joy and played among the flowers until the sun went down behind the tall cherry trees. Then they put her in a wonderful bed with red silk feather beds stuffed with blue violets; the girl fell asleep, and she had such dreams as only a queen sees on her wedding day.
The next day Gerda was again allowed to play in the sun. So many days passed. Gerda knew every flower in the garden, but no matter how many there were, it still seemed to her that something was missing, but which one? Once she sat and looked at the old woman's straw hat, painted with flowers; the most beautiful of them was just a rose - the old woman forgot to erase it. That's what distraction means!
- How! Are there any roses here? - said Gerda and immediately ran to look for them all over the garden - there is not one!
Then the girl sank to the ground and wept. Warm tears fell right on the spot where one of the rose bushes used to stand, and as soon as they wet the ground, the bush instantly grew out of it, just as fresh, blooming as before. Gerda wrapped her arms around him, began to kiss the roses and remembered those wonderful roses that bloomed at her house, and at the same time about Kai.
- How I hesitated! the girl said. “I have to look for Kai! Do you know where he is?” she asked the roses. Do you believe that he died and will not return again?
He didn't die! the roses said. “We were underground, where all the dead lie, but Kai was not among them.
- Thank you! - said Gerda and went to other flowers, looked into their cups and asked: - Do you know where Kai is?
But each flower basked in the sun and thought only of its own fairy tale or story; Gerda heard a lot of them, but not one of the flowers said a word about Kai.
What did the fiery lily tell her?
Do you hear the drum beat? Boom! Boom! The sounds are very monotonous: boom, boom! Listen to the mournful singing of women! Listen to the cries of the priests!.. An Indian widow is standing at the stake in a long red robe. The flames are about to engulf her and the body of her dead husband, but she thinks about the living - about the one who is standing here, about the one whose eyes burn her heart more than the flame that will now incinerate her body. Can the flame of the heart be extinguished in the flame of a fire!
- I don't understand anything! Gerda said.
This is my fairy tale! replied the fiery lily.
What did the bindweed say?
- A narrow mountain path leads to an ancient knight's castle proudly towering on a rock. The old brick walls are thickly covered with ivy. Its leaves cling to the balcony, and on the balcony stands a lovely girl; she leaned over the railing and looked at the road. The girl is fresher than a rose, more airy than an apple-tree flower swayed by the wind. How her silk dress rustles! "Won't he come?"
Are you talking about Kai? Gerda asked.
“I tell my fairy tale, my dreams!” - answered the bindweed.
“My poor grandmother! Gerda sighed. How she misses me, how she grieves! No less than she grieved for Kai! But I'll be back soon and bring him with me. There is nothing more to ask the flowers - you will not achieve anything from them, they only know their songs!
And she tied her skirt up to make it easier to run, but when she wanted to jump over the narcissus, he whipped her legs. Gerda stopped, looked at the long flower and asked:
- Do you know anything?
And she leaned towards him, waiting for an answer. What did the narcissist say?
- I see myself! I see myself! Oh, how fragrant I am! .. High, high in a small closet, under the very roof, there is a half-dressed dancer. She now balances on one leg, then again stands firmly on both and tramples the whole world with them - she is, after all, a mere optical illusion. Here she is pouring water from a teapot onto some white piece of matter that she is holding in her hands. This is her corsage. Cleanliness is the best beauty! A white skirt hangs on a nail driven into the wall; the skirt was also washed with water from the kettle and dried on the roof! Here the girl is dressing and tying a bright yellow handkerchief around her neck, which sets off the whiteness of the dress even more sharply. Again one leg soars into the air! Look how straight it stands on the other, like a flower on its stalk! I see myself, I see myself!
- Yes, I have little to do with this! Gerda said. “There is nothing for me to tell about it!
And she ran out of the garden.
The door was locked only with a latch; Gerda pulled the rusty bolt, it gave way, the door opened, and the girl, barefooted, started running along the road! She looked back three times, but no one pursued her. Finally she got tired, sat down on a stone and looked around: the summer had already passed, it was late autumn in the yard, and in the old woman’s wonderful garden, where the sun always shone and flowers of all seasons bloomed, this was not noticeable!
- God! How I lingered! After all, autumn is in the yard! There is no time for rest! said Gerda, and set off again.
Oh, how her poor, tired legs hurt! How cold and damp it was in the air! The leaves on the willows were completely yellowed, the fog settled on them in large drops and flowed down to the ground; the leaves fell off like that. One blackthorn stood all covered with astringent, tart berries. How gray and dreary the whole world seemed!
PRINCE AND PRINCESS
Gerda had to sit down again to rest. A large raven jumped in the snow in front of her; he looked at the girl for a long, long time, nodding his head to her, and finally spoke:
- Kar-kar! Hello!
He could not pronounce it more humanly than this, but, apparently, he wished the girl well and asked her where she was wandering in the wide world all alone? Gerda understood the words "alone and alone" perfectly and immediately felt all their meaning. Having told the raven all her life, the girl asked if he had seen Kai?
Raven shook his head thoughtfully and said:
- May be!
- How? Is it true? the girl exclaimed, and almost strangled the raven with her kisses.
- Quiet, quiet! said the raven. “I think it was your Kai!” But now he must have forgotten you and his princess!
Does he live with the princess? Gerda asked.
- But listen! said the raven. - It's just too hard for me to talk.
In your! Now, if you understood like a crow, I would tell you about everything much better.
No, they didn't teach me that! Gerda said. - Grandma - she understands! It would be nice if I could too!
- That is OK! said the raven. “I’ll tell you what I can, even if it’s bad.
And he told about everything that only he knew.
“In the kingdom where you and I are, there is a princess who is so smart that it’s impossible to say! She has read all the newspapers in the world and has already forgotten everything she has read - what a clever girl! Once she was sitting on the throne - and there's not much fun in it, as people say - and she sang a song: "Why shouldn't I get married?" “But indeed!” she thought, and she wanted to get married. But for her husband she wanted to choose a man who would be able to answer when spoken to, and not someone who would only know how to put on airs - it's so boring! And so they called together all the courtiers with a drumbeat and announced to them the will of the princess. They were all very pleased and said: “This is what we like! We’ve been thinking about this ourselves recently!” All this is true! added the raven. - I have a bride at court, she is tame, walks around the palace - I know all this from her.
His bride was a crow - after all, everyone is looking for a wife to match.
- The next day all the newspapers came out with a border of hearts and with the monograms of the princess. It was announced in the newspapers that every young man of good appearance could come to the palace and talk with the princess: the same one who would behave quite freely, as at home, and turn out to be more eloquent than everyone else, the princess would choose her husband!
Yes Yes! repeated the raven. “All this is as true as the fact that I am sitting here in front of you!” The people poured into the palace in droves, there was a stampede and a crush, but nothing came of it either on the first or on the second day. On the street, all the suitors spoke perfectly, but as soon as they stepped over the palace threshold, saw the guards all in silver, and the lackeys in gold, and entered the huge, light-filled halls, they were dumbfounded. They will approach the throne where the princess sits, and they only repeat her last words, but she didn’t need that at all! It’s true, they were all definitely drugged with dope! But when they left the gate, they again acquired the gift of speech. From the very gates to the doors of the palace stretched a long, long tail of suitors. I have been there and seen it! The suitors wanted to eat and drink, but even a glass of water was not taken out of the palace. True, those who were smarter stocked up on sandwiches, but the thrifty no longer shared with their neighbors, thinking to themselves: “Let them starve, grow thin - the princess will not take them!”
- Well, what about Kai, Kai? Gerda asked. - When did he come? And he came to marry? ‘
— Wait! Wait! Now we just got to it! On the third day, a little man appeared, not in a carriage, not on horseback, but simply on foot, and entered the palace directly. His eyes shone like yours; his hair was long, but he was poorly dressed.
It's Kai! Gerda rejoiced. So I found him! and she clapped her hands.
He had a bag on his back! continued the raven.
— No, it must have been his sleigh! Gerda said. - He left home with a sled!
- Very possible! said the raven. - I didn't get a good look. So, my fiancee told me that, entering the palace gates and seeing the guards in silver, and on the stairs the lackeys in gold, he was not at all embarrassed, nodded his head and said:
“It must be boring to stand here on the stairs, I’d better go into the rooms!” The halls were all flooded with light; noblemen walked about without boots, carrying golden dishes - it could not have been more solemn! And his boots creaked, but he was not embarrassed by this either.
It must be Kai! exclaimed Gerda. “I know he was wearing new boots!” I myself heard how they creaked when he came to his grandmother!
- Yes, they did creak in order! continued the raven. But he boldly approached the princess; she sat on a pearl the size of a spinning wheel, and all around stood the ladies of the court and gentlemen with their maids, the maids of the maids, the valets, the servants of the valets and the servant of the valet servants. The farther one stood from the princess and closer to the doors, the more important, haughty he kept himself. It was impossible even to look at the servant of the valet servants, who was standing at the very door, without fear, he was so important!
- That's fear! Gerda said. Did Kai marry the princess after all?
“If I weren’t a raven, I would have married her myself, even though I’m engaged. He entered into conversation with the princess, and spoke as well as I do when I speak like a crow—at least that's what my fiancee told me. In general, he behaved very freely and nicely and declared that he had not come to woo, but only to listen to the smart speeches of the princess. Well, now, he liked her, she liked him too!
Yes, yes, it's Kai! Gerda said. - He's so smart! He knew all four operations of arithmetic, and even with fractions! Oh, take me to the palace!
“Easy to say,” replied the raven, “but how to do it?” Wait, I'll talk to my fiancee, she'll come up with something and advise us. Do you think that they will let you into the palace right away? Why, they don't let girls like that in!
- They'll let me in! Gerda said. “If only Kai would hear that I’m here, he would come running after me now!”
“Wait for me here, by the grate!” - said the raven, shook his head and flew away.
He returned quite late in the evening and croaked:
- Kar, Kar! My bride sends you a thousand bows and this little loaf. She stole it in the kitchen - there are a lot of them, and you must be hungry! .. Well, you won’t get into the palace: you’re barefoot - the guards in silver and the lackeys in gold will never let you through. But don't cry, you'll still get there. My fiancee knows how to get into the princess's bedroom from the back door, and knows where to get the key.
And so they entered the garden, went along the long avenues strewn with yellowed autumn leaves, and when all the lights in the palace windows went out one by one, the raven led the girl through a small half-open door.
Oh, how Gerda's heart beat with fear and joyful impatience! She was definitely going to do something bad, and she only wanted to know if her Kai was here! Yes, yes, he is right here! She so vividly imagined his intelligent eyes, long hair, smile ... How he smiled at her when they used to sit side by side under the rose bushes! And how happy he will be now when he sees her, hears what a long journey she decided on for him, learns how all the household grieved for him! Ah, she was just beside herself with fear and joy.
But here they are on the landing of the stairs; a lamp burned on the closet, and a tame crow sat on the floor and looked around. Gerda sat down and bowed, as her grandmother taught.
“My fiancé has told me so many good things about you, Freken!” said the tame crow.
- Your vita - as they say - is also very touching! Would you like to take a lamp, and I will go ahead. We'll go straight ahead, we won't meet anyone here!
“But I think someone is following us!” - said Gerda, and at the same moment some shadows rushed past her with a slight noise: horses with flying manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback.
- These are dreams! said the tame crow. “They come here to let the minds of high people go hunting. So much the better for us - it will be more convenient to consider the sleeping ones! I hope, however, that by entering in honor you will show that you have a grateful heart!
- There is something to talk about here! Needless to say! said the forest raven.
Then they entered the first room, all covered with pink satin, woven with flowers. Dreams flashed past the girl again, but so quickly that she did not even have time to look at the riders. One room was more magnificent than the other - just taken aback. Finally they reached the bedroom: the ceiling looked like the top of a huge palm tree with precious crystal leaves; from the middle of it descended a thick golden stalk, on which hung two beds in the form of lilies. One was white, the princess slept in it, the other was red, and Gerda hoped to find Kai in it. The girl slightly bent one of the red petals and saw a dark blond nape. It's Kai! She called him by name loudly and held the lamp close to his face. Dreams rushed away with a noise: the prince woke up and turned his head ... Ah, it was not Kai!
The prince looked like him only from the back of his head, but he was just as young and handsome. A princess looked out of a white lily and asked what happened. Gerda wept and told her whole history, mentioning what the ravens had done for her.
- Oh, you poor thing! - said the prince and princess, praised the ravens, announced that they were not at all angry with them - only let them not do this in the future - and even wanted to reward them.
Do you want to be free birds? the princess asked. “Or would you like to take the position of court ravens, on full content from kitchen scraps?
The raven and the raven bowed and asked for a position at the court - they thought about old age and said:
“It’s good to have a sure piece of bread in old age!”
The prince got up and gave his bed to Gerda; there was nothing more he could do for her. And she folded her little hands and thought: “How kind all people and animals are!” She closed her eyes and fell asleep sweetly. The dreams again flew into the bedroom, but now they looked like God's angels and carried Kai on a small sledge, who nodded his head to Gerda. Alas! All this was only in a dream and disappeared as soon as the girl woke up. The next day she was dressed from head to toe in silk and velvet and allowed to remain in the palace as long as she wished. The girl could live and live happily ever after, but she stayed only a few days and began to ask that they give her a cart with a horse and a pair of shoes - she again wanted to set off in search of her named brother in the wide world.
They gave her shoes, and a muff, and a wonderful dress, and when she said goodbye to everyone, a golden carriage drove up to the gate with the coats of arms of the prince and princess shining like stars; the coachman, footmen, and postilions—she was given postilions too—were wearing small gold crowns on their heads. The prince and princess themselves put Gerda into the carriage and wished her a happy journey. The forest raven, who had already managed to get married, accompanied the girl for the first three miles and sat in the carriage next to her - he could not ride with his back to the horses. A tame crow sat on the gate and flapped its wings. She did not go to see Gerda off because she had suffered from headaches ever since she got a position at court and ate too much. The carriage was crammed full of sugar pretzels, and the box under the seat was full of fruit and gingerbread.
- Goodbye! Goodbye! shouted the prince and princess.
Gerda began to cry, and so did the crow. So they rode the first three miles. Then the raven said goodbye to the girl. It was a hard parting! The raven flew up into a tree and flapped its black wings until the carriage, shining like the sun,
LITTLE Rogue
Here Gerda drove into a dark forest, but the carriage shone like the sun, and immediately caught the eye of the robbers. They could not stand it and flew at her, shouting: “Gold! Gold!" They grabbed the horses by the bridle, killed the little postilions, the coachman and the servants, and pulled Gerda out of the carriage.
- Look, what a nice, fat little one. Nuts fed! - said the old robber woman with a long stiff beard and shaggy, hanging eyebrows. - Fatty, what is your lamb! Well, what will it taste like?
And she drew a sharp, shining knife. Here is the horror!
- Ai! she suddenly shouted: she was bitten on the ear by her own daughter, who was sitting behind her and was so unbridled and self-willed that it was a pleasure!
"Oh, you mean girl! the mother screamed, but did not have time to kill Gerda.
She will play with me! said the little robber. “She will give me her muff, her pretty dress, and sleep with me in my bed.
And the girl again bit her mother so much that she jumped and spun in one place. The robbers laughed.
- Look how he rides with his girl!
- I want to get in the carriage! cried the little robber girl, and insisted on her own - she was terribly spoiled and stubborn.
They got into the carriage with Gerda and rushed over the stumps and over the bumps into the thicket of the forest. The little robber was as tall as Gerdu, but stronger, broader in the shoulders and much darker. Her eyes were completely black, but somehow sad. She hugged Gerda and said:
"They won't kill you until I'm angry with you!" Are you a princess?
- No! - the girl answered and told what she had to experience and how she loves Kai.
The little robber looked at her seriously, nodded her head slightly, and said:
“They won’t kill you even if I get angry with you—I’d rather kill you myself!” And she wiped away Gerda's tears, and then hid both her hands in her pretty, soft and warm muff.
Here the carriage stopped: they drove into the courtyard of the robber's castle. He was covered in huge cracks; crows and crows flew out of them; huge bulldogs jumped out from somewhere and looked so fiercely, as if they wanted to eat everyone, but they didn’t bark - it was forbidden.
In the middle of a huge hall, with dilapidated, soot-covered walls and a stone floor, a fire was burning; the smoke rose to the ceiling and had to find its own way out; soup was boiling in a huge cauldron over the fire, and hares and rabbits were roasting on skewers.
“You will sleep with me right here, near my little menagerie!” said the little robber girl to Gerda. The girls were fed and watered, and they went to their corner, where straw was laid out, covered with carpets. More than a hundred pigeons sat on perches higher up; they all seemed to be asleep, but when the girls approached they stirred slightly.
- All mine! said the little robber girl, seizing one of the pigeons by the legs and shaking it so that it fluttered its wings. - Kiss him! she shouted, poking the dove in Gerda's face. - And here sit the forest rascals! she went on, pointing to two pigeons perched in a small depression in the wall behind wooden lattice. “These two are woodland crooks!” They must be kept locked up, otherwise they will fly away quickly! And here is my dear old man! And the girl pulled by the horns of a reindeer tied to the wall in a shiny copper collar. “He, too, must be kept on a leash, otherwise he will run away!” Every evening I tickle him under the neck with my sharp knife - he is afraid of death!
With these words, the little robber pulled out of a crevice in the wall long knife and passed them along the deer's neck. The poor animal bucked, and the girl laughed and dragged Gerda to the bed. — Do you sleep with a knife? Gerda asked her, glancing at the sharp knife.
- Always! answered the little robber. “How do you know what might happen!” But tell me again about Kai and how you set out to wander the wide world!
Gerda told. Wood pigeons in a cage quietly cooed; the other doves were already asleep; the little robber wrapped one arm around Gerda's neck - she had a knife in the other - and began to snore, but Gerda could not close her eyes, not knowing whether they would kill her or let her live. The robbers sat around the fire, sang songs and drank, and the old robber woman tumbled. It was terrible to look at this poor girl.
Suddenly the wood pigeons cooed:
— Kurr! Kurr! We saw Kai! A white hen carried his sled on her back, and he sat in the Snow Queen's sleigh. They flew over the forest when we chicks were still in the nest; she breathed on us, and everyone died, except for the two of us! Kurr! Kurr!
- What are you saying? exclaimed Gerda. Where did the Snow Queen go?
- She flew, probably, to Lapland - there is eternal snow and ice! Ask the reindeer what is leashed here!
- Yes, there is eternal snow and ice, it's a miracle how good it is! said the reindeer. - There you jump at will on the endless sparkling icy plains! The Snow Queen's summer tent will be spread there, and her permanent palaces will be at North Pole, on the island of Svalbard!
— Oh Kai, my dear Kai! Gerda sighed.
- Lie still! said the little robber. "Or I'll stab you with a knife!"
In the morning Gerda told her what she had heard from wood pigeons. The little robber girl looked seriously at Gerda, nodded her head and said:
- Well, so be it! .. Do you know where Lapland is? she then asked the reindeer.
“Who knows if not me!” - answered the deer, and his eyes sparkled. - There I was born and raised, there I jumped on the snowy plains!
- So listen! said the little robber girl to Gerda. “You see, all of us have left; one mother at home; after a while she will take a sip from a large bottle and take a nap - then I will do something for you!
Then the girl jumped out of bed, hugged her mother, pulled her beard and said:
Hello my little goat!
And the mother gave her clicks on the nose, the girl's nose turned red and blue, but all this was done lovingly.
Then, when the old woman took a sip from her bottle and began to snore, the little robber went up to the reindeer and said:
“We could still make fun of you for a long, long time!” Painfully, you can be hilarious when you are tickled with a sharp knife! Well, so be it! I will untie you and set you free. You can run away to your Lapland, but for this you must take this girl to the Snow Queen's palace - her named brother is there. Surely you heard what she said? She spoke quite loudly, and you always have ears on top of your head.
The reindeer jumped for joy. The little robber put Gerda on him, tied her tightly, for the sake of caution, and slipped a soft pillow under her to make it more comfortable for her to sit.
“So be it,” she then said, “take back your fur boots—it will be cold!” And I’ll keep the clutch for myself, it hurts so good! But I will not let you freeze; here are my mother's huge mittens, they will reach you to the very elbows! Put your hands in them! Well, now you have hands like my ugly mother!
Gerda wept for joy.
"I can't stand it when they whine!" said the little robber. “Now you have to have fun!” Here's two more loaves and a ham for you! What? You won't go hungry!
Both were tied to a deer. Then the little robber opened the door, lured the dogs into the house, cut the rope with which the deer was tied with her sharp knife, and said to him:
- Well, live! Look at the girl!
Gerda held out both hands to the little robber in huge mittens and said goodbye to her. The reindeer set off at full speed through stumps and bumps, through the forest, through swamps and steppes. The wolves howled, the crows croaked, and the sky suddenly zafukala and threw out pillars of fire.
- Here is my native northern lights! the deer said. - Look how it's burning!
And he ran on, not stopping day or night. The bread was eaten, the ham too, and now Gerda found herself in Lapland.
LAPLAND AND FINCA
The deer stopped at a miserable hut; the roof went down to the ground, and the door was so low that people had to crawl through it on all fours. At home there was an old Lapland woman who was frying fish by the light of a fat lamp. The reindeer told the Laplander the whole story of Gerda, but first he told his own - it seemed to him much more important. Gerda was so numb from the cold that she could not speak.
“Oh, you poor fellows! said the Laplander. “You still have a long way to go!” You'll have to travel over a hundred miles before you get to Finnmark, where the Snow Queen lives in her country house and lights blue sparklers every evening. I will write a few words on dried cod - I have no paper - and you will take it down to a Finnish woman who lives in those parts and will be able to teach you what to do better than I can.
When Gerda warmed up, ate and drank, the Lapland woman wrote a few words on dried cod, ordered Gerda to take good care of her, then tied the girl to the back of a deer, and he rushed off again. The sky again fukalo and threw out pillars of wonderful blue flame. So the deer ran with Gerda to Finnmark and knocked on the door. chimney Finns - she didn’t even have doors -
Well, the heat was in her home! The Finn herself, a short, dirty woman, went about half-naked. She quickly pulled off all the dress, mittens and boots from Gerda - otherwise the girl would be too hot - she put a piece of ice on the deer's head and then began to read what was written on the dried cod. She read everything from word to word three times, until she memorized it, and then she put the cod into the cauldron - after all, the fish was good for food, and nothing was wasted with the Finn.
Then the deer told first his story, and then the story of Gerda. Finka blinked her intelligent eyes, but did not say a word.
You are such a wise woman! the deer said. “I know that you can tie all four winds with one thread; when the skipper unties one knot, a fair wind blows, unties another, the weather breaks out, and unties the third and fourth, such a storm rises that it breaks the trees to pieces. Will you prepare for the girl such a drink that would give her the strength of twelve heroes? Then she would have defeated the Snow Queen!
- The strength of twelve heroes! Finn said. Yes, that makes a lot of sense!
With these words, she took a large leather scroll from the shelf and unfolded it: on it stood some amazing writing; The Finnish woman began to read them and read them until her sweat broke out.
The deer again began to ask for Gerda, and Gerda herself looked at the Finn with such pleading eyes full of tears that she blinked again, took the deer aside and, changing the ice on his head, whispered:
- Kai is indeed with the Snow Queen, but he is quite satisfied and thinks that he cannot be better anywhere. The reason for everything is the fragments of the mirror that sit in his heart and in his eye. They must be removed, otherwise he will never be a man and the Snow Queen will retain her power over him.
“But won’t you help Gerda somehow destroy this power?”
- Stronger than it is, I can not make it. Don't you see how great her power is? Don't you see that both people and animals serve her? After all, she walked around half the world barefoot! It's not for us to borrow her strength! The strength is in her sweet, innocent baby heart. If she herself cannot penetrate into the halls of the Snow Queen and extract the fragments from Kai's heart, then we will not help her even more! Two miles from here begins the Snow Queen's garden. Take the girl there, let her down by a large bush covered with red berries, and, without delay, come back!
With these words, the Finn planted Gerda on the back of a deer, and he rushed to run as fast as he could.
- Oh, I'm without warm boots! Hey, I'm not wearing gloves! cried Gerda, finding herself in the cold. But the deer did not dare to stop until he ran to a bush with red berries; then he let the girl down, kissed her on the very lips, and large brilliant tears rolled from his eyes. Then he shot back like an arrow. The poor girl was left alone, in the bitter cold, without shoes, without mittens.
She ran forward as fast as she could; a whole regiment of snow flakes rushed towards her, but they did not fall from the sky - the sky was completely clear, and the northern lights were blazing on it - no, they ran along the ground straight at Gerda and, as they approached, became larger and larger. Gerda remembered the big beautiful flakes under the burning glass, but these were much larger, scarier, of the most amazing shapes and forms, and all alive. These were the advance detachments of the Snow Queen's army. Some resembled large ugly hedgehogs, others - hundred-headed snakes, others - fat bear cubs with tousled hair. But they all sparkled with the same whiteness, they were all living snowflakes.
Gerda began to read "Our Father"; it was so cold that the girl's breath immediately turned into a thick fog. This fog thickened and thickened, but then small, bright angels began to stand out from it, which, having stepped on the ground, grew into large formidable angels with helmets on their heads and spears and shields in their hands. Their number kept increasing, and when Gerda finished her prayer, a whole legion formed around her. The angels took the snow monsters on spears, and they crumbled into thousands of snowflakes. Gerda could now boldly go forward; the angels stroked her arms and legs, and she was no longer so cold. Finally, the girl reached the halls of the Snow Queen.
Let's see what Kai was doing at that time. He did not think about Gerda, and least of all about the fact that she was standing in front of the castle.
WHAT HAPPENED IN THE HALLS OF THE SNOW QUEEN AND WHAT HAPPENED THEN
The walls of the halls of the Snow Queen were swept by a blizzard, the windows and doors were done by violent winds. Hundreds of huge, aurora-lit halls stretched one after another; the largest stretched for many, many miles. How cold, how deserted it was in those white, brightly shining halls! Fun never came here! At least once a bear party would be held here with dances to the music of the storm, in which polar bears could distinguish themselves with grace and the ability to walk on their hind legs, or a party of cards with quarrels and a fight would be made, or, finally, they would agree to a conversation over a cup of coffee little white chanterelle gossips - no, that never happened!
Cold, deserted, dead! The northern lights flashed and burned so regularly that it was possible to calculate with accuracy at what minute the light would increase and at what time it would weaken. In the middle of the largest desert hall of snow was a frozen lake. The ice cracked on it into a thousand pieces, even and marvelously regular. In the middle of the lake stood the throne of the Snow Queen; on it she sat when she was at home, saying that she was sitting on the mirror of the mind; in her opinion, it was the only and best mirror in the world.
Kai turned completely blue, almost turned black from the cold, but did not notice this - the kisses of the Snow Queen made him insensitive to the cold, and his very heart became a piece of ice. Kai fiddled with flat, pointed ice floes, laying them in all sorts of frets. After all, there is such a game - folding figures from wooden planks, which is called the "Chinese puzzle". Kai also folded various intricate figures from ice floes, and this was called the "ice game of the mind." In his eyes, these figures were a miracle of art, and folding them was an occupation of the first importance. This was because he had a shard of a magic mirror in his eye! He put together whole words from ice floes, but he could not put together what he especially wanted - the word "eternity". The Snow Queen said to him: "If you add this word, you will be your own master, and I will give you all the world and a pair of new skates."
But he couldn't put it down.
Now I'm off to warmer climes! The Snow Queen said. - I'll look into the black cauldrons!
Cauldrons she called the craters of the fire-breathing mountains - Vesuvius and Etna.
And she flew away, and Kai was left alone in the boundless deserted hall, looking at the ice floes and thinking, thinking, so that his head was cracking. He sat in one place - so pale, motionless, as if inanimate. You might think he was cold.
Gerda. She recited the evening prayer, and the winds subsided as if asleep. She freely entered the huge deserted ice hall and saw Kai. The girl immediately recognized him, threw herself on his neck, hugged him tightly and exclaimed:
— Kai, my dear Kai! Finally I found you!
But he sat still the same motionless and cold. Then Gerda wept; her hot tears fell on his chest, penetrated into his heart, melted his icy crust and melted the fragment. Kai looked at Gerda, and she sang:
Roses are blooming... Beauty, beauty!
We will soon see the Christ child.
Kai suddenly burst into tears and cried so long and so hard that the shard flowed out of his eye along with his tears. Then he recognized Gerda and was very happy.
— Gerda! My dear Gerda! Where have you been for so long? Where was I myself? And he looked around. How cold it is here, deserted!
And he clung tightly to Gerda. She laughed and cried with joy. Yes, the joy was such that even the ice floes began to dance, and when they got tired, they lay down and made up the very word that the Snow Queen asked Kai to compose; having folded it, he could become his own master, and even receive from her as a gift the whole world and a pair of new skates. Gerda kissed Kai on both cheeks, and they again bloomed with roses, kissed him on the eyes, and they shone like her eyes; kissed his hands and feet, and he again became vigorous and healthy.
The Snow Queen could return at any time - his freestyle lay there, written in shiny ice letters.
Kai and Gerda, hand in hand, walked out of the deserted ice halls; they walked and talked about their grandmother, about their roses, and violent winds subsided on their way, the sun peeped through.
When they reached a bush with red berries, the reindeer was already waiting for them. He brought with him a young deer mother, her udder was full of milk; she made Kai and Gerda drunk with them and kissed them right on the lips. Then Kai and Gerda went first to the Finn, warmed up with her and found out the way home, and then to the Lapland; she sewed them a new dress, repaired her sleigh and went to see them off.
the borders of Lapland, where the first greenery was already breaking through. Here Kai and Gerda said goodbye to the reindeer and the Lapland girl.
- Bon Voyage! the escorts called out to them.
Here is the forest in front of them. The first birds sang, the trees were covered with green buds. A young girl in a bright red hat and with a pistol in her belt rode out of the forest to meet the travelers on a magnificent horse. Gerda immediately recognized both the horse - it had once been harnessed to a golden carriage - and the girl. It was a little robber; she was tired of living at home, and she wanted to go to the north, and if she didn’t like it, to other places. She also recognized Gerda. That was joy!
- Look, you're a tramp! she said to Kai. “I would like to know if you are worth being chased to the ends of the earth!”
Well, that's the end of the story! - said the young robber, shook hands with them and promised to visit them if she ever came to their city. Then she went on her way, and Kai and Gerda went on theirs. They walked, and blossomed on their way spring flowers green grass. Then the bells rang out, and they recognized the bell towers of their native town. They climbed the familiar stairs and entered the room, where everything was the same as before: the clock ticked the same way, the hour hand moved the same way. But, passing through the low door, they noticed that during this time they had managed to become adults.
Blooming rose bushes peered through the open window from the roof; right there were their highchairs. Kai and Gerda each sat down on their own and took each other's hands. The cold, desert splendor of the Snow Queen's halls was forgotten by them, like a heavy dream. Grandmother sat in the sun and read the Gospel out loud: “Unless you are like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven!”
Kai and Gerda looked at each other and only then understood the meaning of the old psalm:
Roses are blooming... Beauty, beauty!
We will soon see the Christ child.
So they sat side by side, both already adults, but children in heart and soul, and outside it was a warm, fertile summer!
The fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is read and watched by children and adults. There are a lot of moral lessons in this work of Andersen, as in any of his other fairy tales. The author raises a serious problem, speaking about the human heart, about kindness and fidelity.
The main idea and meaning of the fairy tale "The Snow Queen"
This is, at first glance, an ordinary story with fantastic elements about two children living with their grandmother. The main positive characters of the tale, Kai and Gerda, are kind to each other and to those around them. They love and appreciate each other, their grandmother, protect nature. This makes their hearts kind, and their souls pure, protected from evil. But what happens when a good heart pierces an icy shard of evil power? Will such a heart become icy, not knowing sympathy, compassion and kindness? And how to help a good person not to become a villain? All these important questions are raised by the author of the fairy tale and give answers to them. Only kindness will help melt the ice in the heart and drive away the evil forces - the Snow Queen and her servants.
Gerda goes in search of her brother, who was taken by the Snow Queen. The girl boldly and bravely overcomes all obstacles for the sake of saving her loved one. Not every adult is able to go this way.
Description of the Snow Queen
This is one of the main characters of the tale, but not central. The tale is not about the Snow Queen, but about the struggle between good and evil. She is the pure embodiment of evil power. It even shows up outwardly.
- the queen is tall and slender, incredibly beautiful, but this is a cold beauty;
- her gaze is lifeless, and her eyes are like ice floes;
- the queen has pale and cold skin, which means that she has no heart.
The sorceress owns magical powers using them not for good deeds. She takes children with "hot" (kind) hearts and turns them into ice. She kidnaps children because they have pure and kind hearts. The queen dreams of freezing the whole world, leaving no warmth and kindness in it, and turning it into her ice kingdom. All that the sorceress has is evil spells. The Snow Queen does not know about love and kindness, devotion, fidelity and friendship. Only these feelings can melt the ice in the heart.
I like to read fairy tales according to the season. In winter - with winter landscapes, frost, bells, troikas rushing along the snowy road into the distance, in spring - with blossoming foliage and rejuvenation of nature, in summer with an abundance of fruits and flowers, evening tea parties and mosquitoes, in autumn with a dull mood and loneliness. This is my emotional nature.
As for fairy tales, I associate summer with such as “ The Scarlet Flower”,“ Tiny Khavroshechka ”,“ Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf ”,“ Mistress of the Copper Mountain ”. Spring with "The Snow Maiden", "Zayushkina's hut", autumn with Pushkin's poems, and the fairy tale of Mamin-Sibiryak "The Gray Neck", "The Ugly Duckling". And I associate winter with fairy tales, and, of course, with the Snow Queen. That's what I propose to talk about in this article. Why about her? Winter, plus I recently conducted a survey in my group "Healing Emotional Trauma" on the topic: “Analysis of which fairy tale would you be interested in reading?” What would you think, the fairy tales of H.K. Andersen among readers came out on top! And it is not surprising, because in the USSR it was the most published foreign writer. And not only in the USSR.
The Swedish writer and playwright August Strindberg said of him: “In Sweden we just say Andersen. No initials. For we know only one Andersen. He belongs to us and our parents, he is our childhood and our maturity. As well as our old age.
Andersen's genius
All Andersen's fairy tales bear the stamp of the psychopathology of the author himself. If you did not know, he had a difficult fate, and the period of ascent to glory was by no means strewn with roses.
Hans Christian was born into a very poor family. They lived in such a cramped closet that when they laid it out wooden bed then it was impossible to get through. His father was a simple shoemaker, his mother was a laundress, later she died in an almshouse from delirium tremens. Despite the low origin, his father was an artistic nature - he sang a lot, told fairy tales to his son, played with him theatrical performances from dolls made with his own hands. It is no wonder that Hans Christian from childhood loved to fantasize and very early he began to compose poems and plays. For this, his peers ridiculed him: “Out, the writer of comedies is running!” they shouted. Such a reaction of the boys to the depths of his soul hurt the young writer, he was from childhood very sensitive, receptive and extremely superstitious, and remained so until old age.
Maternal grandmother worked in a lunatic asylum, where Andersen spent a lot of time as a boy, listening to the sick. In the memoirs of the writer, the grandmother is a supportive figure for him, she loved and spoiled her grandson very much. His grandfather was kind, made interesting wooden figures, sold them, and at the same time everyone knew that he had a mental disorder. “... sometimes attacks of violent fun were found on him. He decorated his sagging hat and shabby frock coat with flowers and colorful rags and, loudly singing something incoherent, ran through the streets ”(Muravyova, 1959) Evil boys teased the dreamer Andersen as crazy and predicted his grandfather’s fate, Hans Christian suffered greatly from this comparison! Although at the end of his life he wrote: "I was made a writer of my father's songs and the speeches of the insane."
When Andersen was 11, his father died, it was a major shock in his life. Since his mother constantly went to the laundry, he remained at home left to himself. At this time, he continued to play in his theater, he sewed clothes for his dolls and composed, composed, composed.
At 14, he was preparing for confirmation. On this occasion, the first leather boots were bought for him, which creaked when walking, which Hans Christian was very proud of. Before that, he was content with wooden shoes.
Everything seemed to go on as usual, but the dream to go to Copenhagen and become famous there, thanks to his talent, did not leave him. He talked about it to his mother all the time. And by this time he managed to accumulate 13 dalers, which he decided to use for moving. The mother loved her child very much, and out of great love, she predicted the fate of a tailor for him, she did not understand her son at all and did not want to let him go God knows where. Here is how he himself describes his desire to go towards fate in the book “The Tale of My Life”: “I was seized by some kind of incomprehensible passion, I cried, asked, and my mother finally gave in to my requests; before she made up her mind, however, she sent for a medicine woman and made her tell me fortunes on cards and on coffee grounds.
“Your son will be a great man! said the old woman. “The day will come when his native city of Odense will light an illumination in honor of him.” Hearing this, my mother began to cry and no longer resisted my departure.
He always believed in his lucky star and knew for sure that he would be able to become famous. And so it happened, but it was a very difficult path from an extra in the theater to the world-famous Storyteller. At the age of 20, he was still an overgrown student at the gymnasium. At 23, he was lucky enough to enter the university, and it was unspeakable luck for the son of a shoemaker in those days. He is constantly writing something - poetry, short plays, travel notes. Some of them even appeared in magazines. Only at 30 Andersen received recognition, and his work was played in the theater, and until then, how much he had to beg, sit without a piece of bread, eat with friends, how many ridicule and humiliation he had to endure!
It is important to note that he did not write for the sake of earning money, but this was his life.
What details of Andersen's biography are reflected in his fairy tales?
I'll tell you just a few.
Hans Christian had a non-standard appearance. This is how his contemporaries describe him: “clumsy, with big hands and giant legs, as if inserted into a suit, all this strange appearance along with a long nose and small eyes should have been conspicuous. "Our foreign gorilla," said the Danes. The name is coarse, but true” (Bomans, 1963) yet “He was tall, thin and extremely peculiar in posture and movements. His arms and legs were disproportionately long and thin, his hands were broad and flat, and his feet were so huge that he probably never had to worry that someone would replace his galoshes. His nose was of the so-called Roman shape, but also disproportionately large and somehow especially protruded forward ... But his high open forehead and unusually thinly defined lips were very beautiful.
Do you recognize the fairy tale? Of course, it's "Ugly (in the original ugly) duckling", his autobiography. Who among us did not cry about the difficult fate of the ugly duckling and did not rejoice when he turned into a beautiful swan?
Another interesting episode. Once, as a boy, while in an almshouse, he heard a beautiful song performed by a crazy woman. He was all alone. Suddenly, the madwoman took off, tore out the window through which food was passed to her, and began to rush towards him. The watchman who came later found Hans Christian half-conscious on the floor, the boy could not move from fear. And for a very long time I felt the touch of this insane one. Subsequently, Andersen was very afraid of women, even remained, according to him, a virgin, and took revenge on them as best he could: in many of his fairy tales, he killed them - “The Little Match Girl”, “The Little Mermaid”, chopped their legs “Red Shoes”, mocked, forcing stomp on nettles with bare feet "Wild swans", etc.
The "Snow Queen" in this sense is also not without interesting things. “From the kitchen there was a passage to the attic; under the attic window, on the gutter that ran between our house and the neighboring house, there was a box full of earth, onions and parsley grew in it; it was my mother's garden. It still blooms in my fairy tale "The Snow Queen" by H.K. Andersen. The house with the front garden of the old woman Leto, described in the fairy tale, is the dream of the writer's father that never came true.
And the very image of the Snow Queen appeared in a fairy tale for a reason. About a year before his father's death, he showed his son a figure of a woman on an icy window, adding that it was the Ice Maiden who came for him. “On the third day in the evening, my father died. His body was left lying in bed, and my mother and I lay down on the floor. The cricket sang all night. “He's already dead! his mother told him. “You don’t need to call him, the ice maiden took him!” And I understood what my mother wanted to say by this ... and her words sunk deep into my soul. Andersen in his fairy tale turned the Ice Maiden into the Snow Queen.
The stuffy closets in which he had to huddle, then vividly described in his works.
Andersen wrote 200 fairy tales in his lifetime! They have been translated into 150 languages. He was very offended when he was called a children's writer. Yes, this is not true, he did not write for children. These are stories about life, filled with deep meaning. Today we turn to one of them - "Snow Queen". You have a wonderful opportunity to touch the holy of holies - the secrets of this fairy tale, you will find out what is hidden behind the famous lines, you will see the whole depth of history, as I see it.
Imagine that all the events described in the fairy tale take place inside the personality, where Kai is the Animus, the inner man with a narcissistic injury, Gerda is the Anima, the immature inner female part, there are 2 opposite states of the Great Mother Archetype - the Snow Queen, the negative aspect and the Grandmother is a positive aspect. This is the inner structure of this person.
Crooked mirror, the beginning of all beginnings
The fairy tale begins with a story about a crooked mirror created by an evil troll. The mirror is not simple, in it all the best is reflected in the bad, and the bad is even worse. And if a fragment hits the heart, then such a heart freezes, and the person becomes insensible. A very symbolic beginning, isn't it?
What is it about in real life? About the distortion of the image of oneself, the world and the lack of basic trust in the world. In psychoanalytic terms, the child receives an early narcissistic trauma. Here's how it happens: when a child is born, he has no idea about himself or about the world as a whole. His world is his mother, who is nearby, because the mother's breast is closer to him than his own legs. If the mother is kind to the baby, then he concludes that the world is good and you can live. And this is the best start ever! If it rejects the most close person, a conviction is born in the mind that the whole world is against it. In the future, for such people, the whole meaning of life is in the struggle, in conquest, in proving one's own significance.
Neither Gucci clothes, nor fashion photo shoots, nor early development, but maternal kindness, patience and acceptance - this is the foundation of one of the most basic principles that a person then follows all his life: to live well or badly, you can trust or not, enjoy life or constantly fight.
Life without love
There are people whose coldness symbolizes love. And not surprisingly, their own mother treated them that way. What is the heart of a mother who throws her own baby in the trash? And what is the heart of a mother who tells her child that she does not love and has never loved, and why is she better? A person born and raised outside of love will remain traumatized forever.
There are mothers who, in a fit of truth, tell their child that they wanted to have an abortion, and then for some reason left him, and now he lives. There are those who “bravely” told a terrible secret - dad wanted to leave us, and he had to give birth to you / brother / sister in order to save the family. There are mothers who gave birth to a child and handed over "for a while", until they arrange their personal lives, in an orphanage. Or round the clock kindergarten 5 times per week. There are mothers who did not bodily touch, did not hug their children, considering it a whim. For a short-term satisfaction of the bodily needs of the child, they came up with a massage for 15 minutes a day. But the best massage for a baby is to be in the arms of a mother!
There are mothers who replace love with care, but tasty breakfast and an ironed shirt will never replace sincerity and cordiality! After all, they can be condemned for an unwashed collar - a slovenly mother, but not for a lack of empathy. You can’t feel empathy, you can’t take it in your hands, this object from the non-material world.
All these and other stories are from the same series, where the mother is dominated by the negative aspect of the Great Mother archetype. She is the Snow Queen.
Every time when a child is born in order to: get an apartment or a mother's certificate, to hold the family together, not to remain childless or confirm your status as a woman, to be like everyone else, to make the dream of an ideal family come true and “in old age to gather on Sundays for a family dinner ", so that the child becomes an assistant and support, to keep the revelant husband, not to have an abortion, so that later he can be proud of him, for joy. Or in order to have a pillow man nearby for beating and hugging. All this hurts children. For there is no good reason other than to give birth to a child for its own sake.
And if this trauma is inside a person, then it does not disappear anywhere and will manifest itself every time when approaching an object (or playing this role). This process can be compared to the process of kindling a fire with a magnifying glass. Where is the magnifying glass - people who will constantly update the internal.
The shard remained
Let's go back to the mirror metaphor. The child is not able to evaluate himself, he has no knowledge, no experience. Therefore, it is logical that he sees himself through the prism of the views of him and the opinions of significant people about him. But we know that we can’t see our face in any way, only with the help of a mirror. It's good if the mirror reflects the essence: "I'm good, since my mother loves me" "I deserve the best in this life." And if it's crooked, like in a fairy tale? And if the comparison is not in favor of the child? “I’m bad, because my mother says so about me”, “I’m always unlucky”, “Grandma, I’m stupid, so my mother said”, “What about Tanya on the control?”. In a similar manner, the image of the I of a person is formed. If mother/father is loved, praised, then what is left for him to do, how to love and accept himself as he is? And it's wonderful. But according to my observations, this happens in about 2% of families.
In our culture, and I see this all the time, it is customary to educate not only through the prism of one's personal views, but with the help of the outdated views of one's parents and public morality. If the child is frisky, then he must be immediately calmed down, if he is talkative, then they will shut his mouth, if he is cheerful, then “why are you so amused? not good”, etc. Such parents do not truly love their children. They need children to confirm their own worth - narcissistic expansion. That is, the meta-message is clearly read in the words: “I will love you if you are the way I want!” And the main task of such a child is to be convenient for parents and society. In the future, this is a source of pride for parents and, Oh, Gods!, envy from others: “my daughter is a famous actress”, “my son was supposed to become a famous athlete, because I invested so much in him, and it happened!” Simple excuses why a woman is unsuccessful in life: "I did not make a career because of the children, I gave them all of myself." And all this, of course, is not about a conscious choice, but about “it happened” and about “mistakes of youth”. Often such mothers themselves were brought up in an environment devoid of love, it is difficult to love and give when one has a huge hole in her soul, it is impossible to respect another when you despise yourself.
And the mirror, of course, played its defining role. Kai began to see everything in a bad light, laugh at what he had previously loved, mock at those closest to him, his perception has changed dramatically. Moreover, he unknowingly goes to the Snow Queen's penates.
“A lot of children were riding on the square. Those who were more daring tied their sledges to the peasants' sledges and traveled quite far in this way. In the midst of it, large sledges painted white appeared on the square. In them sat a man, all gone in a white fur coat and a similar cap. The sleigh circled the square twice: Kai quickly tied his sledge to it and drove off. The big sledges sped faster and then turned off the square into a side street. Kai several times tried to untie his sled, but the man in the fur coat nodded to him as if to a friend, and he rode on. A large sleigh stopped in them was a tall, slender, dazzling white woman - the Snow Queen; and her fur coat and hat were made of snow.
Nice ride! - she said. But are you completely cold? Get into my coat!
And, placing the boy in her sleigh, she wrapped him in her fur coat; Kai seemed to sink into a snowdrift.”
What choice does he have? After all, the Snow Queen is his own mother.
Captured by the villain
Alas, it is very easy to be fascinated by this woman!
“This woman, so beautiful and majestic, was all of ice, of dazzling, sparkling ice, and yet alive; her eyes shone like two clear stars, but there was neither warmth nor peace in them. It cost nothing for the Snow Queen to seduce Kai, and he, without noticing it, found himself in her power. “Kai looked at her; she was so good! He could not have imagined a smarter, more charming face. She seemed perfect to him." We are talking about a person whose soul is bewitched by the Snow Queen - the negative aspect of the archetype of the Great Mother.
Snow Queen illustration by Angela Barrett
In fairy tales and myths different peoples and epics, this archetype is embodied in female images. All of them shine with cold beauty and are very attractive!
This is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, which, unlike others female goddesses, dressed in men's armor, holding a spear in her hands, she was called "gray-eyed and fair-haired." And it was she, according to Cicero, who invented war!
Athena
Mistress of Copper Mountain. This is how Stepan saw her: “He looks, and in front of him, on a pile of ore, near a large stone, a woman is sitting. Back to the guy, and on the braid you can see - a girl. The scythe is black and does not dangle like our girls, but evenly stuck to the back. At the end of the ribbon is either red or green. They shine through and tinkle so thinly, like sheet copper. …. A girl of small stature, good-looking and such a cool wheel - she won’t sit still. He leans forward, looks exactly under his feet, then leans back again, bends on that side, on the other. He jumps to his feet, waves his arms, then bends down again. In a word, Artut-girl. Hearing - muttering something, but in what way - it is not known, and with whom he speaks - it is not visible. All just a laugh. It's fun, apparently.
The guy was about to say a word, when he suddenly got hit on the back of the head.
“You are my mother, but this is the Mistress herself! Her clothes are. How did I not notice right away? She averted her eyes with her scythe.
And the clothes are truly such that you will not find another in the world. From a silk, you hear, malachite dress. This kind happens. A stone, but on the eye like silk, at least stroke it with your hand.
"Stepan and the Mistress of the Copper Mountain" Artist Vyacheslav Nazaruk
Shamakhan queen. Remember Pushkin's "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel"?
“Suddenly the tent opened wide… and the maiden, the Queen of Shamakhan,
All shining like the dawn, Quietly met the king.
"The Tale of the Golden Cockerel" Illustration by V.M. Konashevich
And, of course, the first seductress, Lilith, whose tears give life, but kisses bring death.
John Maler Collier "Lilith"
Pay attention, and here Andersen writes about deadly kisses: “Her kiss was colder than ice, penetrated it with cold through and through and reached the very heart, and it was already half icy. For a minute it seemed to Kai that he was about to die, but no, on the contrary, it became easier, he even completely stopped feeling cold. The Snow Queen kissed Kai again, and he forgot Gerda, and his grandmother, and all the household.
I won't kiss you again! - she said. "Or I'll kiss you to death!"
Such an image that is both charming, magical, and devoid of lively sensuality. Fatal beauty. None of the heroines seeks to build relationships with a partner, they do not need it.
Frozen heart
“How cold, how deserted it was in these white, brightly sparkling halls! Fun never came here! ...Cold, deserted, dead and grandiose! ... Kai turned completely blue, almost turned black from the cold, but did not notice this - the kisses of the Snow Queen made him insensitive to the cold, and his very heart became a piece of ice.
What is it about in real life?
Without giving love, the mother rejects her child. What should a child do in this situation? After all, he is completely dependent on the object (mother)! Here the system of psychological defenses works: he becomes comfortable, rejects a part of himself and his little heart freezes. Like a local anesthetic. Growing up in such conditions, a person begins to keep a distance from the object of love. When Kai approaches the person he could theoretically fall in love with, who looks like a mother/father, his heart begins to slowly thaw, and at the same time he experiences such pain! The pain of love. He already felt it then, in childhood, when with a pure heart he clung to his mother: “Give me love!”, And she fled from him like hell from incense! These are hellish torments, as if all universal sadness descended on fragile shoulders common man. And at this moment, a person understands that he has the right to be loved simply by birthright, feels this cruel injustice, but knows for sure that he cannot do anything about it. To experience it again and again - to choose cold partners - is the destiny of a masochist. After all, Kai unconsciously always chooses a partner with whom it is impossible to build a close trusting relationship - not free, immature, alienating, or vice versa stuck, thereby confirming his childhood theory that there is no love. Or it must be earned. Therefore, a person makes a logical conclusion that it is better to be alone and not show feelings - not everyone chooses the path of self-development, it is very painful and long.
Kai is not real
Not showing feelings is being held captive by the archetype of the negative mother. And this means acting in accordance with its interests, which is what our hero does. Kai is calm, in control, and spends his days doing pointless work to get "the whole world and a pair of skates." At the same time, he is under the illusion that he is doing something archival.
Unfortunately, there are a dime a dozen such kai in real life, and it's not just about men. These are people who are not interested in emotional connection, they do not want to burden themselves with pointless, in their opinion, clarification of relationships, (yes, these are human relationships, they cannot be set up once and for all, they need to invest as much work as in work where you have constant duties, there's nothing to be done), saliva, kids and family dinners. They only do what is convenient for them. Now the problem of narcissism in our society has come to the fore, when hysteria flourished during the years of Z. Freud's work. Pathological narcissism captures more and more large quantity people, and with such a person it is impossible to build a relationship. Why? Because it's not about relationships. Maybe about money, fame, power or a good job. He is very rational, cold, busy with a purely material world. In a fairy tale, this is described as follows: “Once in the winter, when it was snowing, he appeared with a large incendiary glass and substituted the floor of his blue jacket under the snow. - Look in the glass, Gerda! - he said. - See how well done! This is much more interesting than real flowers! And what precision! Not a single wrong line! Ah, if only they had not melted!”
Sometimes devilishly cruel. The culture of our time sings odes to this type of personality. So, in the film Duhless, the image of such a man is shown. They were before, the husband of the same Anna Karenina, for example.
Kai's biggest problem is coldness. Winter is the penates of death, deep sadness, grief, loneliness have long been associated with it. If you want to ruin any relationship, then freeze it, don't take part in it, don't invest your soul in it, be afraid to be yourself next to your partner, and you won't have a relationship. Next to Kai, you will not feel anything, because this is not a person, this is his facade, a mask. In the famous song of Aria there are these words:
"Look at this world -
Many here have a dead soul,
They're dead inside!"
Indeed, he is like a lifeless doll, a robot acting according to a given program. Kai from childhood does not feel his body, does not know his desires. He is afraid of his feelings. He thinks that he feels, that is, feelings are strictly controlled by him and skillfully suppressed. Head, reason, accuracy, intellect, will, money - these are the main attributes of his life.
Please note that the Snow Queen and Kai are in very close contact, side by side. But there is NOTHING between them! You know this state when you are next to an insensitive person, and you want to run away from this insensibility without looking back! It seems that everything is within the social framework - he gave the ring, and everything seems to be fine, but there is no life in this, there is no warmth and sincerity.
It also happens that a person seems to be sincere next to you, but he does not support further communication, he does not go towards rapprochement. For him, love is cold, he fears that he will be used, like a mother in childhood, he runs away from any deep contacts. You need to know that this is his problem, although a little bit yours, because for some reason you chose him, Kai, from all of them.
Kai is cut off from his own anima - sensuality, emotionality, he is not whole. In the fairy tale, the anima is symbolized by Gerda. It never occurs to him that the manifestation of feelings will have a beneficial effect on himself, the winter in his soul will end and the birds will sing. You just need to overcome fear and pain. 2 words, but how much spiritual work, how many tears must be shed in order to melt the heart and finish the job without fear of difficulties. One Kai can not cope. But help is fast. Gerda is on her way.
Prologue
Rocky area.
The trolls assemble a mirror from fragments, which they call the mirror of evil.
Act I
Introduction
The lamplighter, who will accompany us through this story, tells that once the orphan Kai was sheltered by Grandmother, and since then he has had Gerda and a good home in the glorious city of Odense.
Painting 1
Odense.
Citizens are waiting for spring, which will drive away the blizzard and winter cold.
Kai and Gerda are passionate about the game, and Grandmother can't call them home.
Trolls appear. They are annoyed by cheerful townspeople, and especially by laughing Kai. The trolls want to spoil everyone's mood, but the townspeople drive them away. The trolls are plotting revenge.
Picture 2
House of Kai and Gerda.
Kai is reading a book, his fantasy is playing out: he dreams of long journeys, the walls of a small house have become cramped for him.
Gerda lights a fireplace and candles. Kai swears allegiance to her and says that he will never leave her alone.
Grandma comes. Kai jokingly tells Gerda the story of the Snow Queen. Gerda laughs, but immediately notices a shadow in the window: someone was watching them.
Kai realizes that he seriously scared Gerda, and starts a game of blind man's blind. While playing, they do not notice the appearance of the troll.
The troll pricks Kai's heart with an ice pointer. Kai starts teasing, mocking Grandma and Gerda. Ice patterns on the glass form words for him, he hears the voice of the Snow Queen. She wants to take Kai, but Gerda does not let him go.
Interlude
The lamplighter is sad about the winter that overtakes the hearts of people.
The trolls discuss their trick and look forward to the arrival of the Snow Queen.
Scene 3
Square in Odense.
The townspeople are entertained by a troupe of itinerant artists. Gerda tries to cheer up Kai, but Kai speaks disdainfully and condescendingly about the holiday, offends the Lamplighter and the townspeople.
The Snow Queen appears and calls Kai to her ice palace. He follows her and they disappear into a whirlwind of snow.
Gerda goes in search of her lover.
Act II
Scene 4
Forest. Twilight.
Gerda makes her way through the thicket.
Suddenly, the forest comes to life: robbers flee from the cold in hollows. They are tired, hungry and unhappy that they wandered so far.
The Atamansha returns with booty. Rogues praise her and their craft.
Gerda falls into an ambush of robbers. Since it is not possible to rob her, the robbers want to kill the girl, but the Atamansha orders her to be tied up and left until the morning.
The Little Robber appears, daughter of the Atamansha. Gerda tells about Kai, and this story touches the heart of the Little Robber. She decides to help Gerda, but doesn't know how.
The reindeer, who lives at the Little Robber, intervenes in the conversation: he saw how the Snow Queen took Kai away, and knows where to look for him.
The little robber lets Gerda and Deer go.
Gerda rushes on a deer to Lapland.
Interlude
The lamplighter reflects that the saddest and most dangerous thing in the world is dislike.
Scene 5
Palace of the Snow Queen.
The captive children, frozen by the Snow Queen, collect the word "eternity" from the ice.
Among them is Kai. He can't seem to get the word out. The Snow Queen appears. Feeling Kai's heart begin to thaw, she cools him down again and leaves while he continues his work.
Gerda appears. With a song she and Kai used to sing together, she melts his heart. The hot love of Kai and Gerda destroys the Snow Queen.
Epilogue
Kai and Gerda hurry to Odense, where the townspeople, the Lamplighter, the Little Robber and their beloved Grandmother are waiting for them. Everyone is getting ready to meet the long-awaited spring.
