The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen lives in the ice palace, just as cold as she and her heart. 

Every winter, she leaves the ice palace to travel the world, and wherever she goes, everything freezes. 

She is dazzlingly beautiful, but her heart is incredibly evil.

Once, she made an evil magic mirror that could turn the most beautiful things into the ugliest, and make ugly things even uglier. 

For example, the most beautiful person would appear hideous, and the most stunning scenery would turn ugly. 

That winter, when the Snow Queen left her ice palace to travel the world, she took this mirror with her and flew around the world, showing it to people.

When people looked into the mirror, they saw distorted and ugly versions of people and things, making them feel that the world was filled with ugliness.

The Snow Queen was very proud of her creation and laughed heartily. 

Finally, she threw the mirror into the sky. The magic mirror fell from the sky, shattering into countless pieces that scattered across the world.

Some of the shards flew into people’s eyes, making them see only an ugly world. 

Other shards lodged in people’s hearts, turning them cold and unfeeling. 

Two of these shards flew into a boy named Kay—one in his eye and one in his heart, causing him to change drastically. 

He had been a gentle and easy-going boy, but now, nothing pleased him. 

He used to love roses, but now he found them ugly and kicked their pots over, eventually pulling the roses out and throwing them into the trash. 

Even his beloved and respected grandmother began to irritate him; he no longer wanted to listen to her stories and  even deliberately played pranks by imitating her, which made everyone burst into laughter.

There was a girl named Gerda, Kay’s best friend and neighbor, who asked him with concern what was wrong. 

“I don’t know. My eyes hurt a bit, and my heart aches too,” Kay said. 

Gerda looked into his eyes but saw nothing unusual. 

How could ordinary people see the shards from the Snow Queen’s magic mirror? 

One day, when it was snowing, Kay stared blankly at the falling snowflakes and suddenly saw one flake growing larger and larger until it became a beautiful woman. 

Kay was so shocked he fell off his chair: she was made of snow, but she was alive. 

Little did he know, she was the Snow Queen. 

The Snow Queen nodded at Kay and waved, as if greeting him. 

One day, while Kay was playing with his sled, he saw her again. 

She approached him and kissed him. 

That kiss made Kay feel cold from head to toe.

“Who… who are you?” he asked.

“People call me the Snow Queen,” she replied.

Kay said, “Nice to meet you, but I need to go back. My grandmother is waiting for me at home, and I made plans with Gerda…”

Before he could finish speaking, the Snow Queen kissed him again.

This second kiss made him instantly forget his grandmother, Gerda, and everything else…

The Snow Queen took his hand, and they flew together, soaring over forests, seas, and lands…

Kay never returned home after that.

His best friend Gerda was heartbroken. She worried that something terrible had happened to him, or that he might even be dead.

Unable to rest, she decided to go find Kay.

She came to the riverbank and got into a boat.

The boat drifted with the current, but the water grew swifter, and Gerda couldn’t help but cry out for help.

An old woman heard her cries. She came to the riverbank, reached out with her cane, hooked the boat, and pulled it back to shore.

Gerda thanked the old woman.

The old woman asked, “Why are you alone on a boat, little girl?”

Gerda told her about looking for Kay.

The old woman was actually a witch, but not a bad one. She liked the beautiful and lovely Gerda very much and wanted to keep her there, forgetting about looking for Kai, so she said, “Rest here for a moment. I’ll take you to see my magical garden. I have every flower in the world, and even those that don’t exist in the world, and each one can talk! You’re sure to love it!”

The old woman didn’t want Gerda to see any roses, as that might remind her of Kay. So, she went to the garden and tapped the ground with her cane, causing all the roses to sink into the soil.

Then she brought Gerda into the garden.

Gerda was delighted. The garden was full of flowers, some she recognized, and others she didn’t. And indeed, every flower could talk!

Gerda spent the whole day in the garden, admiring and chatting with the flowers.

In the evening, the old woman prepared a delicious dinner for her and gave her a soft, comfortable bed to sleep in. Gerda felt like she was living like a queen.

Carefree days passed quickly.

Though there were many flowers in the garden, Gerda always felt like there was one kind missing but couldn’t remember what.

The days are happy, but she feels a vague sense of worry and sadness in her heart, without knowing why.

One day, she cried inexplicably, and her tears fell into the soil, seeping into the roses buried in the earth. The roses then emerged from the soil.

Gerda suddenly realized that although there were so many flowers in the garden, roses were missing!

She then remembered that roses were Kay’s favorite flowers, and she had left home to find Kay.

She ran out through the garden’s back gate. 

It was then that she noticed the plants and trees outside had withered; it had already turned to autumn. 

The blooming flowers in the magical garden had made her believe it was still summer. 

She couldn’t help but blame herself for being so enamored with the comfortable life that she had forgotten about Kay. She had wasted too much time. 

Gerda continued on her journey, but she accidentally twisted her ankle and had to sit down to rest. 

At that moment, she saw a crow and asked if it had seen Kay. 

After hearing Gerda’s story, the crow said, “Hmm, I think I’ve seen him, but he might have forgotten about you—he’s about to marry a princess.” 

The helpful crow managed to sneak her into the princess’s palace to find Kay. 

But it turned out that it wasn’t Kay; it was a prince from a faraway land who had come to propose to the princess. 

The princess and the prince, after hearing Gerda’s story, didn’t blame her for sneaking into the palace. Instead, they admired and sympathized with her. 

They asked a doctor to heal Gerda’s injured ankle, and when she left, they gave her a carriage filled with food, clothes, and many other supplies. 

However, it wasn’t long before Gerda encountered a band of robbers. 

They stole her carriage and everything in it. 

When an old robber woman raised a knife to kill Gerda, her robber daughter bit her, saving Gerda’s life. 

The robber girl said she wanted to keep Gerda as a companion. 

She took Gerda to the robbers’ castle and threatened her not to leave. 

The robber girl had many animals. After the robber girl fell into a deep sleep at night, Gerda asked the pigeons if they had seen Kay. 

The pigeons said, “We saw him with the Snow Queen. When they passed by, the Snow Queen blew on us, and all the birds froze to death, except for the two of us.” 

“Where are they going?”

At that moment, the reindeer said, “They are heading to the Arctic, a land of eternal ice and snow. That’s where the Snow Queen’s ice palace and domain are located.”

The next day, Gerda told the robber girl what the pigeons and the reindeer had said, and she begged her to let her leave to find Kay. 

Gerda hadn’t expected the robber girl to let her go, but to her surprise, the girl was moved by Gerda’s determination to find Kay. 

She cut the reindeer’s ropes and said, “I’m setting you free, but you must take her to the Snow Queen’s palace.”

The reindeer was overjoyed. It had thought it would never have the chance to return home in its lifetime.

It said, “Don’t worry, the Snow Queen’s ice palace is in the Arctic, and the Arctic is my hometown. I know the way very well.”

With Gerda on its back, the reindeer dashed off toward the Arctic.

They didn’t know how long they traveled, but the weather grew colder and colder, so cold that Gerda began to shiver. 

The reindeer said, “That’s because we’re getting closer to the Snow Queen’s palace.”

After traveling for an unknown amount of time, they arrived in front of a house. 

The reindeer said, “A woman with magic lives here. Maybe she can help us.”

They knocked on the door, and a woman opened it and invited them inside. 

Strangely, although it was freezing outside, the house was warm inside. 

Gerda had to take off her thick clothes, or she would have started sweating.

After hearing Gerda’s story, the woman remained silent. 

The reindeer couldn’t help but speak, “I know you have magic—you can control all the winds of the world with a single rope. You’re so powerful, surely you can help Gerda, maybe give her the strength of twelve men to defeat the Snow Queen?”

“Twelve men’s strength? Do you think twelve men could defeat the Snow Queen?” she replied. 

She lowered her voice and said to the reindeer, “I’ll be honest with you, Kay is indeed in the Snow Queen’s ice palace and under her control, but he is staying there willingly. That’s because shards of the Snow Queen’s magic mirror have entered his eyes and heart, blinding him. To make him human again, the shards must be removed.”

She continued, “I can’t give Gerda strength; she already has all the power she needs. Her purity and innocence are her greatest strengths. Without that, how could she have traveled the world to find Kay? The rest of the journey, she must complete on her own. And listen to me—this is for her own good—don’t be soft-hearted. Take her near the Snow Queen’s palace and then come straight back.”

As she spoke, the woman lifted Gerda onto the reindeer’s back. 

The reindeer immediately ran toward the ice palace. 

When they reached the outside of the palace, the reindeer set Gerda down, kissed her, and then ran off. 

It heard Gerda calling after it, and tears welled up in its eyes, but it didn’t dare look back. Since the magical woman had said so, it had to harden its heart. 

By this time, Gerda was shivering with cold and realized she hadn’t put on the thick clothes she had taken off earlier. After all, this was the Arctic. 

She soon found herself surrounded by snowflakes, but they weren’t falling from the sky; they were coming toward her from the ground, encircling her. 

These snowflakes were enormous and terrifying, and they were alive—like people—because they were the Snow Queen’s guards. 

Gerda sat down and began to pray. The steam from her breath grew larger and larger, transforming into little angels. 

The angels fell to the ground, becoming bigger, and their numbers kept increasing. 

They held spears and struck the snowflakes that surrounded Gerda, shattering them instantly. 

Then the angels took Gerda’s hands, and she no longer felt the cold. 

She made her way toward the Snow Queen’s ice palace. 

The Ice Palace is made of ice and snow, both inside and out, with over a hundred rooms, making it terribly vast.

As Gerda approached the palace doors, a fierce wind blew her back several steps. 

The wind, too, was part of the Snow Queen’s guard, trying to prevent Gerda from entering the palace. 

Gerda prayed again, and the wind stopped, as though it had fallen asleep. 

She continued walking inside and finally saw Kay. 

She ran to him, excitedly exclaiming, “Kay, I’ve finally found you!” 

Kay was trying to form the word “eternity” with ice blocks  because the Snow Queen had told him that if he could form this word, she would grant him his freedom, let him return to himself, and even give him the whole world. 

But when Kay looked at the excited Gerda, his face remained expressionless—he didn’t recognize her at all. 

Seeing that he couldn’t recognize her, Gerda burst into tears. 

Her warm tears fell onto Kay’s chest, washing away the shard of the Snow Queen’s evil mirror lodged in his heart, taking his coldness with it. 

Kay began to cry, and the shard in his eyes flowed out with his tears.

He finally recognized Kay and remembered everything from before: Gerda, Grandma, the roses… 

Kay said, “We must leave immediately. If the Snow Queen returns, we won’t be able to escape…” 

Before he could finish speaking, a cold laugh echoed, “Trying to escape? Dream on!” 

They turned to see the Snow Queen standing at the door. 

The Snow Queen walked up to Gerda, examining her, and said, “A little girl like you actually managed to find my ice palace, defeat my snow and wind guards, remove the magic mirror shards from Kay’s eyes and heart, and now you want to take him away, Do you think I will just let you go?” 

Kay said, “You promised that if I could form the word ‘eternity,’ you would let me go.”  

“Yes, but you’ve never been able to form it, have you? Do you think I make promises without certainty?” 

Gerda said to Kay, “We’ll do it together, we can form it!”

They turned to gather the ice blocks, but to their surprise, the word “eternity” was already formed out. 

It turned out that when the shards of the mirror were removed from Kay, the ice blocks had automatically moved to form the word “eternity.” 

They were overjoyed. Kay said to the Snow Queen, “The word is formed. You can’t break your promise, or you’ll face punishment from the heavens.” 

The Snow Queen watched helplessly as they walked out of the ice palace hand in hand. 

When they stepped out of the ice palace, the reindeer was already waiting there, along with its companion.

The reindeer had not forgotten Gerda, and together with its companion, they carried Gerda and Kay out of the Arctic.

When Gerda and Kay returned home, they found they had grown into adults. 

But their hearts remained pure and innocent like children, even as they grew old.

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👉Very Short Story

The Snow Queen lives in a cold ice palace in the Arctic. Every winter, she sets out from her palace to travel the world, with snowflakes and cold winds as her guards. Everywhere she goes, the land is left frozen.

The Snow Queen is dazzlingly beautiful, but also unspeakably evil.

She created an evil mirror that turns beauty into ugliness, makes ugly things even uglier, and shows people a world that looks twisted and hideous, causing their hearts to grow cold and unfeeling.

In the end, the Snow Queen threw the mirror into the air, and it shattered into countless fragments, scattering across the world.

One shard landed in the eye of a boy named Kay, and another pierced his heart, transforming the once kind boy into someone cold and cruel.

The Snow Queen took advantage of this, taking Kay away to her ice palace.

A little girl named Gerda, Kay’s best friend and neighbor, grew worried about him and decided to go find him.

She passed through a magical garden owned by a witch. The witch was very fond of the beautiful and lovely Gerda, and wanted to keep her there. She gave Gerda everything best she could offer, hoping to make her forget about finding Kay.

The magical garden contained every flower in the world, and each flower could speak!

Gerda spent her days playing in the garden, eating the most delicious food, and sleeping on the softest bed, living like a princess. She did indeed forget about Kay for a time.

But one day, she noticed a hidden rose—the kind that Kay loved most—and suddenly remembered him.

Ashamed of how she had become lost in comfort, Gerda left the magical garden to continue her search.

Later, she encountered a band of robbers and was nearly killed, but a robber’s daughter saved her.

The reindeer raised by the robber’s daughter told Gerda that he had seen Little Kay being taken to the Ice Palace by the Snow Queen.

Gerda pleaded with the robber’s daughter to let her go to the palace to rescue Kay, and, moved by Gerda’s love, the robber’s daughter allowed the reindeer to take Gerda to the Snow Queen’s palace.

Along the way, they stopped at a wise woman’s house, where the reindeer begged her to give Gerda the strength to defeat the Snow Queen.

The wise woman shook her head and said, “No number of people could defeat the Snow Queen. Gerda’s purity and love are the greatest powers of all.”

She told the reindeer that the Snow Queen happened to be away, so for Gerda’s sake, he should take her to the entrance of the Ice Palace and then return.

The reindeer, with tears in his eyes, did as she said.

Gerda began walking toward the palace, but the Snow Queen’s snowflake and wind guards repeatedly knocked her back, blowing her farther and farther away.

But every time, Gerda got up and moved forward again.

After many attempts, the snowflakes and winds realized they could no longer stop her. She seemed to possess a greater power, one that ignored their attacks, allowing her to walk calmly into the ice palace.

At last, Gerda found Kay. But Kay had forgotten everything about the past and didn’t recognize her.

Gerda began to cry, and her tears fell onto Kay’s chest and eyes, washing away the mirror shards lodged in his heart and eye.

Kay finally remembered everything and recognized Gerda.

They returned home together. By then, they had grown up, but the purity and love in their hearts remained unchanged and eternal, lasting until they grew old together.