THE SNOW QUEEN

Written by Hans Christian Andersen

First published in 1844

This adaptation by Kiwi Opa

 THE SNOW QUEEN
This is the original Hans Christian Anderson
story, the Snow Queen (1844)

which inspired
the highly successful
Disney movie
‘Frozen’ (2013)

And the very popular

C S Lewis’s
Chronicles of Narnia
‘The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe’ (1950).
 THE SNOW QUEEN
In the original story,
"the devil", creates a mirror
that turns good to evil.

He delights in using it to
distort everyone and everything;

it makes the loveliest

landscapes look like
"boiled spinach.“

The mirror fails to reflect the

good and beautiful aspects of
people and things,
but magnifies
their bad and ugly aspects.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

His demons attempt to carry

the mirror into heaven
in order to make fools
of the angels and of God,

But the higher they lift it,

the more it shakes with laughter.
It slips from their grasp
and falls back to earth,
shattering into a billion pieces,
some no larger than a grain of sand.

Two of the grains from the mirror enter Kay.

The Turkish delight in this story

comes from C S Lewis, to simplify things.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

The story begins:

Gerda
was a little girl
who lived
with her Grandma.

Her BFF
(best friend forever)
lived next door.

His name was Kay

 THE SNOW QUEEN
Between Gerda’s house
and Kay’s there was
a small walkway.

Gerda and Kay

played there everyday,
played games,
read books and talked.

They talked about

getting married,
when they grew up.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
One winter’s day
they were playing inside,
when Gerda’s grandma cried,

“Look, the Snow Queen

is gathering her bees.

See them swarm

all around her.”

Gerda and Kay

rushed to the window.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“Often at midnight,
she flies through
the streets of the town.

She looks in
the windows.

As she looks,
the ice freezes
into wonderful shapes,

shapes like
flowers and castles.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“If you warm pennies by the fire,”
Grandma continued,
“and hold them up to the frosted glass.

The warm pennies

create a peep hole
in the frost,
and you can look out.”

Kay pointed his nose

to where the Snow Queen
was and poked out
his tongue.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Later, on the roof,
Gerda asked Kay,
“Do you think she might,
come for us?”

“Only let her try,”

said Kay,

“I’ll set her

on the stove
and she’ll melt away to
a toasted marshmallow.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Gerda shivered, “Don’t say things like that,”

She rushed back inside

hoping the Snow Queen
wasn’t watching them.

“I’m not afraid,” said Kay,

“I’ll show her if she
dares come near me!”

Then he climbed back

through the window
to his own room.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
That night, Little Kay
was getting ready for bed.

Half undressed,
he climbed on a chair,
by the window
and peeped out.

A snow flake grew

larger and larger
until …
it became
the Snow Queen.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Her dress looked like millions of starry
snow-flakes linked together.

She was made of ice

shining and glittering.

Her eyes sparkled

like bright stars,

but there was

no peace, no rest in her glance.

She was evil.

 THE SNOW QUEEN
She nodded towards the window
and waved with her hand.

The little boy was frightened

and sprang from his chair.

When he looked up,

he saw the beautiful lady at the window.

She held in her hand a plate of Turkish delights.

Kay couldn’t resist. He undid the catch

and snatched a handful from the plate.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
As he shoved
them greedily
into his mouth,
the lady grabbed
his wrist and pulled
him out of the window
onto her sled.

She flicked her whip and the horses started off.

Kay should have been very frightened but

instead, with Turkish delight all around his
mouth, he held out his hand for more.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Because this wasn’t any normal sweet.

The Snow Queen had baked a powerful spell

into the Turkish delight.

It was addictive,
like a drug.

Those that ate it,

would become
her slave
forever.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The Snow Queen’s sled lifted off the ground.

“Are you cold?”

she asked.

“May I have
another sweet?”
Kay replied.

The Snow Queen smiled as her sled

flew high over the houses and away up north.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Kay had crept inside the Snow Queen’s fur coat.
She kissed him on the forehead.

The kiss was colder than ice;

it went straight to Kay’s heart
and he thought he was going to die.

‘If only
she’d give me
more Turkish delight,’
he thought,
‘then I’d be warm.’
 THE SNOW QUEEN
They arrived at the castle.

The Snow Queen

set her sled down
in the snow covered
courtyard.

She grasped
Kay’s little hand,
and dragged him
up the stairs towards
the great castle door.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
They were suddenly surrounded
by thousands of fluttering snow-flakes.

But they didn’t fall

from the sky
as normal snowflakes do,
they poured out of
the doors and windows.

They were the

Snow Queen’s guards,
and they were alive.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The Snow Queen dragged Kay
through a big hall,
then down
into the castle’s dungeon.

Little Kay was quite

blue almost black
with cold,
but he did not feel it.

The Snow Queen

kept feeding him
Turkish delight.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The next morning when Gerda came to visit Kay
he wasn’t there. She looked everywhere for him.

She raced out

the front door
and down
to the village square.

“Have you seen Kay?

Have you seen
my friend?”
she cried.
But no-one had seen him.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
She spoke to the flowers in the fields,
“He didn’t pass this way,”

and she wept many tears.

Nobody knew where

he had gone.

“He must be dead,”

she cried,

and tears by the bucket full

poured out of her eyes.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
She returned to her house soooo sad,
that her feet
tripped over
her bottom lip.

She trudged
up the stairs
and climbed
out the window.

She began to pray,

“Don’t let my Kay be dead,
please, don’t let my Kay be dead.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN

“I don’t believe he is,” said a voice.

Gerda looked up,

and there in the garden
sat a little sparrow.

“When we’re searching

for food we sit
high on the rooftops.
We see everything.
We would have seen him unless
… he fell in the river.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
A tiny spark of hope lit up in Gerda’s heart,
“I’ll go and ask the river.”

She put on
her new red shoes
her winter coat,
her fur hat
and gloves,

“If he drowned
the river will know.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“River, river,” shouted Gerda
to the fast flowing water,

“Did my Kay
come by here?

Did he fall
in your
deep waters
and drown?”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
There was no answer.

“Is it true,
that you have taken
my little playmate
away from me?”
cried Gerda,

“I will give you

my red shoes,

if you will only give him back to me.”

 THE SNOW QUEEN
“She crept into a boat on the edge of the water,
stood in the bow and flung her red shoes
that she loved so much, into the river.

“There,” she said to the river,

“Now give me back my friend!”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Sad for Gerda, she didn’t realise
that the boat she stood in,
wasn’t tied to the bank.

Her movement
rocked the boat
loose.

Away down stream

she floated.

She was frightened but she didn’t cry.

She was determined to find Kay.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

The little boat floated

on with the stream
getting faster and faster.

Little Gerda
sat quite still.

Her red shoes floated

beside the boat,
but too far away
for her to grab.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

Then Gerda saw a small cottage.

It had strange red and blue windows,
a thatched roof and two wooden soldiers
standing guard at the door.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
An old lady
came hobbling out.

She was bent over

and carrying
a walking stick.

She wore a large

sun hat,
with all sorts of
pretty flowers
painted on it.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The old woman walked
to the edge of the river,
caught the boat
with her walking stick
and drew it in to land.

She lifted Gerda out.

Although Gerda was afraid

of this strange old woman,
she was glad to feel herself
on dry ground again.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“Come stroll with me
through the garden
and tell me
who you are.”

Gerda told her

everything,
“Have you seen my
little Kay,” she asked.

“No, but perhaps he might come by.”

The perfume of the flowers was hypnotic.

Gerda felt at peace, and safe.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
They went inside.

On the table stood a bowl of beautiful cherries.

The little old lady

told Gerda
not to be sorrowful,
but eat
some cherries.

Gerda was allowed

to eat as many
as she wanted.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
While Gerda was eating,
the old woman combed out
her long flaxen ringlets
with a golden comb,

As she combed
she whispered,
“I have longed for a
granddaughter like you,”

Gerda forgot about Kay

for the old woman
was casting a spell on her.
She wanted to keep Gerda as her own.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
For the rest of the day
they returned
to the flower garden.

‘How fragrant and beautiful

it is,’ thought Gerda!

Every flower that could be thought of,

for every season, of every year,
was here in full bloom.

Gerda jumped for joy, and played

till the sun went down.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Then she slept
in an elegant bed
with red silk pillows,
embroidered
with coloured violets.

Lulled into a dream-like state

by the flowers, the cherries,
the bed and the old woman’s spells,
Gerda dreamt a happy dream
with the old woman as her grandmother.

“I will stay here forever,” she murmured.

 THE SNOW QUEEN
But in the garden one day
Gerda noticed the roses.

They reminded her of Kay.

She asked of the roses,

“Do you know where
my dear friend Kay is?
Is he dead?”

“No,” they answered,

“We have been in the ground where all the dead lie.
Your Kay is not there.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“Kay is not dead!” “Kay is not dead!”
The knowledge broke the old woman’s spells.
Gerda raced to the garden gate.
It was locked but the latch was rusty.
She leant on it
and it gave way.
She ran till she could
run no longer.
There she sat on a great stone.
It was then she realised,
the summer had passed; it was now autumn.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

Suddenly she heard the sound of a carriage.

It stopped, “May we give you a lift?”

Inside was a Prince

and a Princess.

They invited Gerda

to stay in their castle
for a few days.

She told them her story.

They said, “you must hurry.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“You won’t get very far without boots,”
said the Prince.

“And you’ll go faster with a carriage,”

exclaimed the Princess.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
They not only gave her boots
and a coach made of pure gold
but also a muff, a coachman, a footman,
and riders all wearing golden crowns
on their heads.

The Prince
and the Princess
waved her off,
and wished
her every success
with her quest.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The coach drove on
through a thick forest
where robbers waited.

“It is gold! It is gold!”

they shouted,
and rushed forward,
seizing the horses.

During the battle,

the coachman,
the footman and all the riders died.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Little Gerda stepped bravely from the carriage.

“She is fat and pretty,

and she has been fed
on nuts and honey,”
said the old robber-woman

The woman
had a long beard
and eyebrows that hung
over her eyes,
“How nice she will taste!”
she cackled.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“Ow!” screamed the old woman, springing in the
air, and jumping about. All the robbers laughed.
Her ear had been bitten by her own daughter!

“She shall play

with me,” said the
little robber-girl;
“she shall give me
her muff and
her pretty dress,
and sleep with me
in my bed.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The little robber-girl,
who was about
the same size as Gerda,
wore a mournful look
on her face.

She clasped little Gerda

round the waist,
and said,

“They shall not kill you.

I will protect you.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“I suppose
you are a princess,”
she smiled at Gerda.

“No,” Gerda replied.

Gerda explained
her story.

How fond she was

of little Kay.

How she must find him.

 THE SNOW QUEEN
After they ate and drank,
they slept in a corner on straw and carpet.

Above them, more than

a hundred pigeons, who
pretended to be asleep,
watched and listened to
the little girls.

“These all belong to me,”

said the robber-girl
proudly.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“And here is my old sweetheart ‘Ba’,”
she dragged a reindeer out
by the horn.

“Why is he all tied up?”

Gerda wanted to know.

“To stop him running away.”

The little robber-girl laughed.

“I tickle his neck every night
with my knife. It makes him look so funny ”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The robber-girl had drawn her knife.

Gerda looked at it in great fright,

“Will you take that knife
to bed?”

“I always sleep with my knife,”

said the little robber-girl,
“You never know what
might happen in the night.

But now, tell me again about little Kay,

and why you’ve come searching for him.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Gerda was drifting off to sleep when one of the
wood-pigeons cooed, “We have seen little Kay.”

Gerda sat bolt upright,

“Where?”

“In the carriage of

the Snow Queen.

They drove through the woods

while we were lying in our nest.

She blew upon us and … all our young died.”

 THE SNOW QUEEN
“Where were they going?”
cried Gerda,

“Lapland!” said the reindeer,

“A place you can leap
and run about freely
on sparkling ice plains.
The Snow Queen has a castle there.”

“Kay, my little Kay!” Gerda sighed.

“Lie still,” said the robber-girl,

“or I shall run you through with my knife.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
In the morning
Gerda told the little robber-girl
what the wood-pigeons had said.

She looked serious,

nodded her head,
“I’ll help you escape,” she said.

“Our men have gone,

mother is the only one here.

At noon, she drinks out of a great bottle,

then falls asleep.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
When the mother was asleep,
the little robber-girl
went to the reindeer,
squinted her eyes
and said,

“I should
very much like
to tickle your neck
a few more times
with my knife,
for it makes you look so funny ...
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Instead, I will untie your cord.

You shall go to Lapland,

where you can
leap and run freely
on sparkling plains of ice.

But you must make good use

of your legs, run fast,
carry this little maiden
to the castle
of the Snow Queen.

Help her find her Kay.”

 THE SNOW QUEEN
The reindeer jumped for joy.

The little robber-girl lifted Gerda onto his back,

“Here are two loaves and a ham so that
you won’t starve.”

Then the
little robber-girl
gave Gerda
a really big hug;
cut the string holding
the reindeer,
and away they flew.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The reindeer flew,
over stumps and stones,

through the great forest,

up snowy mountains,

across flat plains.

Wolves howled.

Ravens screamed.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Above them lights danced across the sky.

“The Northern Lights,” explained the reindeer.

 THE SNOW QUEEN
They stopped by a little hut
where an old Lapland woman,
by the light of an oil lamp,
was cooking fish.

After Ba and Gerda had

told their stories,
the Lapland woman said,
“Oh, you poor things, you still
have a long, long way to go.

The Snow Queen lives more than

a hundred miles further North.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“I have a friend
who lives near the castle.
She can give you more
information than I.

I have no paper,
but I will write a few words
on a piece of dried fish.”

Gerda accepted
the message,
and the pair set off
for the Snow Queen’s palace.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
They found the woman’s hut.
She lived in an igloo
which had no door.

The entrance
was so low,
Gerda and Ba had to
crawl in on their
hands and knees.

Outside was terribly cold,

but inside was as hot as summer,
the woman wore nothing but shorts and a tee-shirt.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

She loosened little Gerda’s dress,

and took off her fur boots and mittens,
otherwise Gerda might have melted
like butter on hot toast.

Then she placed

a piece of ice
on the reindeer’s head.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
The woman
read what was written
on the dried fish.

She read it three times

until she knew it by heart.

Then,
she popped the dried fish
into her soup pot.

She knew it was good to eat,

and never wasted anything.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

“You are so clever,” said the reindeer.

“Can you give little Gerda something

to make her stronger.

Perhaps as strong
as twelve men.

She needs to
overcome
the Snow Queen?”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
“The power of twelve men,”
said the woman,
“that would be
of very little use,”

She looked at little Gerda.

“Dear, you have everything

you need to overcome
the Snow Queen,
your purity, your innocence of heart.

Go with God, and the Angels will protect you.”

 THE SNOW QUEEN
“Two miles from here is
the Snow Queen’s castle.

Stop by the large bush,

which stands in the snow,
covered with red berries.”

Gerda and Ba rode on

through the forest.

Gerda felt the cold,

“Oh, I have forgotten
my boots and mittens!” she cried.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

But the reindeer

dared not stop.

They were too close

to the Snow Queen’s
palace.

“She has guards.

She can sense
our presence,”

and he was afraid.

 THE SNOW QUEEN
He ran on until he reached
the bush with the red berries.

There he set Gerda down,

kissed her with
a sloppy wet kiss,
great bright tears
trickled down his cheeks,

“You must go on alone from here,” he said,

“I will be here when you come back.
I will make sure you and your little friend,
if you find him, get home safely.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN

Gerda stood there,

no shoes, no gloves,
outside the
tall ice walls
of the
Snow Queen’s
palace.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
She was suddenly surrounded by thousands of
snow-flakes that fluttered about her.

They didn’t fall

from the sky as
normal snowflakes do
but poured out of
the doors and windows
of the castle.

She suddenly realised they were alive.

They were the Snow Queen’s guards.

 THE SNOW QUEEN
Gerda prayed.

The cold was so great she could

see her own breath. It came
like steam from her mouth.

As she continued to pray

the steam appeared to increase,
until it took the shape
of little angels.

They all wore helmets and carried

shields and spears. They grew in size
the moment they touched the earth.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
By the time Gerda had finished her prayers,
a whole legion stood round her.

They thrust their spears

into the terrifying snowflakes
who shattered into
a hundred pieces.
The angels stroked
her hands and feet.
She felt warm, both inside and out.

Warm, full of courage, feeling safe,

Gerda hastened on to the Snow Queen’s castle.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Winds raged around her,
cutting into her like a knife.

But she offered up a prayer

and the winds
sank down,
as if they were
going to sleep.

Little Gerda
forced open
the great
castle door.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

Gerda found Kay, deep in the castle

beside a frozen lake.

She flew to him,

threw her arms
round his neck,
and held him fast,

“Kay, dear little Kay,

I have found you
at last.”
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Little Kay was quite blue with cold,
indeed almost black,

but he had become

so addicted
to Turkish delight,
he no longer felt it.

All this time

the Snow Queen
had fed him
that sweet with
the powerful spell.
 THE SNOW QUEEN

Gerda wept hot tears

that fell on his breast
and penetrated
his heart.

They melted the ice

and washed away
all desire
that Kay had
for Turkish delight.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Warmth returned to his body.

He recognized Gerda
and cried joyfully,

“Gerda?

Where have you been

all this time?”

They clung together,

laughing
and weeping for joy.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
Ba was waiting
when the children got
to the large bush
covered with red berries.

He knelt down in the snow.

The two children

climbed on his back.

Away he flew,
hoofs kicking up snow as he went,
the children holding on tightly.
 THE SNOW QUEEN
He took them to the river.

The river was overjoyed

when it saw Gerda
had found her Kay.

Happy they rode home

in the little boat
and arrived just in time for supper.

Grandma made them a

steaming hot cup of chocolate
and they slept for three whole days!
 THE SNOW QUEEN

THE END
 THE SNOW QUEEN
This is the original Hans Christian Anderson
story, the Snow Queen (1844)

Which inspired
the highly successful
Disney movie
‘Frozen’ (2013)

And the very popular

C S Lewis’s
Chronicles of Narnia
‘The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe’ (1950).
 ALREADY IN THE SERIES

Puss in Boots The little tin soldier