Fairy tale The Snow Queen read:

Mirror and its fragments

Let's start! When we reach the end of our story, we will know more than we do now. So, once upon a time there lived a troll, furious and despising; it was the devil himself. Once he was in a particularly good mood: he made a mirror in which everything that was good and beautiful was completely diminished, while everything that was worthless and ugly, on the contrary, stood out even brighter and 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 and had no bellies at all! The faces were distorted to the point that it was impossible to recognize them; If anyone had a freckle or mole on their face, it would spread all over their 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 but laugh, rejoicing at his invention. All the troll's students - 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 around with the mirror; soon there was not a single country, not a single person left that would not be reflected in him in a distorted form. Finally, they wanted to reach heaven in order to laugh at the angels and the Creator himself. The higher they rose, the more the mirror twisted and writhed from grimaces; they could barely hold it in their hands. But then they got up again, and suddenly the mirror became so distorted that it tore out of their hands, flew to the ground and broke into pieces. Millions, billions of its fragments caused, however, even more trouble than the mirror itself.

Some of them were no larger than a grain of sand, scattered throughout the world, sometimes fell into people’s eyes and remained there. A person with such a splinter in his eye began to see everything inside out or notice only the bad sides in every thing - after all, each splinter retained a property that distinguished the mirror itself. For some people, shrapnel went straight to the heart, and that was the worst thing: the heart turned into a piece of ice. Among these fragments there were also large ones, such that they could be inserted into window frames, but it was not worth looking through these windows at your good friends. Finally, there were also fragments that were used for glasses, only the trouble was if people put them on in order to look at things and judge them more accurately! And the evil troll laughed until he felt colic, the success of this invention tickled him so pleasantly. But many more fragments of the mirror were flying 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 can carve out even a small space for a garden, and where most residents therefore have to be content with indoor flowers in pots, there lived two poor children, but they had a garden larger than a 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 met, and under the ledges of the roofs there was a drainage gutter, located just under the window of each attic. Thus, as soon as you stepped out of some window onto the gutter, you could find yourself at your neighbors’ window.

The parents each had a large wooden box; roots and small rose bushes grew in them - one in each - showered with wonderful flowers. It occurred to the parents to place these boxes at the bottom of the gutters; thus, from one window to another stretched like two flower beds. Peas hung from the boxes in green garlands, rose bushes peered into the windows and intertwined their branches; something like a triumphal gate of greenery and flowers was formed. Since the boxes were very high and the children firmly knew 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 the roses. And what fun games they played here!

In winter, this pleasure ceased; the windows were often covered with icy patterns. But the children heated copper coins on the stove and applied them to the frozen glass - immediately a wonderful round hole thawed, and a cheerful, affectionate peephole looked out into it - each of them watched from his own window, a boy and a girl, Kai and Gerda. In the summer they could find themselves visiting each other in one leap, but in the winter they had to first go down many, many steps, and then go up the same number. A snowball was fluttering in the yard.

- These are white bees swarming! - said the old grandmother.

- Do they also have a queen? - the boy asked; he knew that real bees had one.

- Eat! - answered the grandmother. “Snowflakes surround her in a thick swarm, but she is larger than all of them and never remains on the ground - she always floats 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!

- We saw it, we saw it! - the children said and believed that all this was true.

- Can’t the Snow Queen come here? - the girl asked once.

- Let him try! - said the boy. “I’ll put her on a warm stove, and she’ll melt!”

But grandma patted him on the head and started talking about something else.

In the evening, when Kai was already at home and almost completely undressed, getting ready to go to bed, he climbed onto a chair by the window and looked into the small circle that had thawed on the window glass. Snowflakes fluttered outside the window; one of them, a larger one, fell on the edge of the flower box and began to grow, grow, until it finally turned into a woman wrapped in the finest white tulle, woven, it seemed, from millions of snow stars. She was so lovely, so tender, all made of 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 boy got scared 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 making nests under the roof, the windows were opened, and the children could again sit in their little garden on the roof.

The roses bloomed delightfully all summer. The girl learned a psalm, which also spoke about 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 nice it was under the bushes of fragrant roses, which seemed to be blooming forever!

Kai and Gerda sat and looked at a book with pictures of animals and birds; The big tower clock struck five.

- Ay! - the boy suddenly screamed. “I was stabbed right in the heart, and something got into my eye!”

The girl wrapped her little arm around his neck, he blinked, but there seemed to be nothing in his eye.

- It must have jumped out! - he said.

But the fact of the matter is, no. Two fragments of the devil’s mirror hit him in the heart and in the eye, in which, as we, of course, remember, everything great and good seemed insignificant and disgusting, and the evil and bad were reflected even brighter, the bad sides of each thing stood out even more sharply. Poor Kai! Now his heart had to turn into a piece of ice! The pain in the eye and in the heart has already passed, but the very fragments remain in them.

-What are you crying about? - he asked Gerda. - Ugh! How ugly you are now! It doesn't hurt me at all! Ugh! - he suddenly shouted. - This rose is being eaten away by a worm! And that one is completely crooked! What ugly roses! No better than the boxes they stick out in!

And he pushed the box with his foot and pulled out two roses.

- Kai, what are you doing? - the girl screamed, and he, seeing her fear, snatched another one and ran away from cute little Gerda out of his window.

After that, if the girl brought him a book with pictures, he said that these pictures were only good for infants; If the old grandmother told anything, he found fault with the words. Yes, if only this! And then he went so far as to imitate her gait, put on her glasses and imitate her voice! It turned out very similar and made people laugh. Soon the boy learned to imitate all his neighbors - he was excellent at flaunting all their oddities and shortcomings - and people said:

- What kind of head does this boy have!

And the reason for everything was the fragments of the mirror that got into his eye and heart. That is why he even imitated cute little Gerda, who loved him with all her heart.

And his fun has now become completely different, so sophisticated. Once in winter, when it was snowing, he appeared with a large burning glass and placed the hem of his blue jacket under the snow.

- Look at the glass, Gerda! - he said. Each snowflake seemed much larger under the glass than it actually was, and looked like a luxurious flower or a decagonal star. What a miracle!

- See how skillfully it’s done! - Kai said. - These are much more interesting than real flowers! And what accuracy! Not a single wrong line! Oh, if only they didn’t melt!

A little later, Kai appeared in big mittens, with a sled behind his back, and shouted in Gerda’s ear:

- They allowed me to ride in a large area with other boys! - And running.

There were a lot of children skating around the square. Those who were bolder tied their sleighs to peasant sleighs and thus rode quite far. The fun was in full swing.

At the height of it, large sleighs painted white appeared on the square. There was a man sitting in them, all dressed in a white fur coat and the same hat. The sleigh drove around the square twice: Kai quickly tied his sleigh to it and rolled off. The large sleigh rushed faster and then turned out of the square into an alley. The man sitting in them turned around and nodded in a friendly manner to Kai, as if he were an acquaintance. Kai tried several times to untie his sled, but the man in the fur coat nodded to him, and he rode on. So they left the city gates. Snow suddenly fell in flakes, it became so dark that you couldn’t see anything around. The boy hastily let go of the rope, which had caught on the large sleigh, but his sleigh seemed to have grown to the large sleigh and continued to rush like a whirlwind. Kai screamed loudly - no one heard him! The snow was falling, the sleds were racing, diving in the snowdrifts, jumping over hedges and ditches. Kai was trembling all over, he wanted to read “Our Father,” but only the multiplication table was spinning in his mind.

The snow flakes kept growing and eventually turned into large white chickens. Suddenly they scattered to the sides, the large sleigh stopped, and the man sitting in it stood up. She was a tall, slender, dazzlingly white woman - the Snow Queen; both the fur coat and the hat she was wearing were made of snow.

- We had a nice ride! - she said. - But are you completely cold? Get into my fur coat!

And, placing the boy in her sleigh, she wrapped him in her fur coat; Kai seemed to have sunk into a snowdrift.

—Are you still freezing? - she asked and kissed his forehead.

Uh! Her kiss was colder than ice, pierced him with coldness right through and reached his very heart, and it was already half icy. For one 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 sled! Don't forget my sled! - he caught himself.

And the sleigh was tied to the back of one of the white hens, who flew with them after the big sleigh. The Snow Queen kissed Kai again, and he forgot Gerda, his grandmother, and everyone at home.

“I won’t kiss you again!” - she said. - Otherwise I’ll kiss you to death!

Kai looked at her; she was so good! He could not imagine a more intelligent, charming face. Now she didn’t seem icy to him, like that time when she sat outside the window and nodded her head at 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 there were in each country, and she only smiled in response. And then it seemed to him that he really knew little, and he fixed his gaze on the endless air space. At the same moment, the Snow Queen soared with him onto a dark lead cloud, and they rushed forward. The storm howled and moaned, as if singing ancient songs; they flew over forests and lakes, over seas and solid land; Cold winds blew beneath them, wolves howled, snow sparkled, black crows flew screaming, and above them a large clear moon shone. Kai looked at him all the long, long winter night - during the day he slept at the feet of the Snow Queen.

Flower garden of a woman who knew how to cast magic

What happened to Gerda when Kai didn’t return? Where did he go? No one knew this, no one could say anything about him. The boys only said that they saw him tie his sled to a large, magnificent sleigh, which then turned into an alley and drove out of the city gates. Nobody knew where he went. Many tears were shed for him; Gerda cried 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 died and will never come back! - said Gerda.

- I do not believe! - answered the sunlight.

- He died and will never come back! - she repeated to the swallows.

- We don’t believe it! - they answered.

In the end, Gerda herself stopped believing it.

- Let me put on my new red shoes. “Kai has never seen them before,” 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 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 the girl felt that the waves were nodding at her in a strange way; then she took off her red shoes, her first treasure, and threw them into the river. But they fell just near 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 it could not return Kaya to her. The girl 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 her shoes into the water. The boat was not tied down and pushed off from the shore. The girl wanted to jump onto land as quickly as possible, but while she was making her way from the stern to the bow, the boat had already moved a whole yard away from the beret and was quickly rushing along with the current.

Gerda was terribly frightened and began to cry and scream, but no one except the sparrows heard her screams; the sparrows could not carry her to land and only flew after her along the shore and chirped, as if wanting 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 where sheep and cows grazed, but nowhere was a single human soul to be seen.

“Maybe the river is carrying me to Kai?” - Gerda thought, cheered up, stood on her bow and admired the beautiful green shores for a long, long time. But then she sailed to a large cherry orchard, in which nestled 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 shouted to them - she took them for alive - but they, of course, did not answer her. So she swam even closer to them, the boat came almost to the very shore, and the girl screamed even louder. An old, old woman in a large straw hat, painted with wonderful flowers, came out of the house, leaning on a stick.

- Oh, you poor baby! - said the old lady. - How did you end up on such a big fast river and climb so far?

With these words, the old woman entered the water, hooked the boat with her hook, pulled it to the shore and landed Gerda.

Gerda was very happy that she finally found herself on land, although she was afraid of the strange old woman.

- Well, let's go, tell me who you are and how you got here? - said the old lady.

Gerda began to tell her about everything, and the old woman shook her head and repeated: “Hm! Hm!” But then the girl finished and asked the old woman if she had seen Kai. She replied that he had not passed here yet, but that he would probably pass, so the girl had nothing to grieve about yet - she would rather try the 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.

The windows were high from the floor and all made of multi-colored - red, blue and yellow - pieces of glass; because of this, the room itself was illuminated with some amazing bright, rainbow light. There was a basket of ripe cherries on the table, and Gerda could eat them to her heart's content; While she was eating, the old woman combed her hair with a golden comb. The hair curled and the curls surrounded the girl’s fresh, round, rose-like face with a golden glow.

- I have long wanted to have such a cute girl! - said the old lady. “You’ll see how well we’ll live with you!”

And she continued to comb the girl’s curls, and the longer she combed, the more Gerda forgot her sworn brother Kai - the old woman knew how to cast magic. She was not an evil witch and cast spells only occasionally, for her own pleasure; now she really wanted to keep Gerda with her. And so she went into the garden, touched all the rose bushes with her stick, and as they stood in full bloom, they all went deep, deep into the ground, and there was no trace of them left. The old woman was afraid that when Gerda saw her roses she would remember her own, and then about Kai, and would 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 varieties, all seasons. What beauty, what fragrance! In all the world you couldn’t find a more colorful and beautiful picture book than this flower garden. Gerda jumped for joy and played among the flowers until the sun set 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 had dreams such as only a queen sees on her wedding day.

The next day Gerda was again allowed to play in the sun. Many days passed like this. Gerda knew every flower in the garden, but no matter how many there were, it still seemed to her that one was missing, but which one? One day 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 wipe it off. This is what absent-mindedness means!

- How! Are there any roses here? - said Gerda and immediately ran to look for them, but the whole garden - there was not a single one!

Then the girl sank to the ground and began to cry. Warm tears fell exactly on the place where one of the rose bushes had previously stood, and as soon as they wet the ground, the bush instantly grew out of it, as fresh and blooming as before. Gerda wrapped her arms around him, began to kiss the roses and remembered those wonderful roses that bloomed in her house, and at the same time about Kai.

- How I hesitated! - said the girl. - 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! - said the roses. “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 about 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 fire lily tell her?

- Do you hear the drum beating? Boom! Boom! The sounds are very monotonous: boom, boom! Listen to the mournful singing of women! Listen to the screams of the priests!.. An Indian widow stands on the fire in a long red robe. The flame is about to engulf her and the body of her dead husband, but she thinks about the living one - about the one who is standing here, about the one whose gaze burns her heart stronger than the flame that is now going to incinerate her body. How can the flame of the heart go out in the flame of a fire?

- I don’t understand anything! - said Gerda.

- This is my fairy tale! - answered the fiery lily.

What did the bindweed say?

— A narrow mountain path leads to an ancient knight’s castle proudly rising on a rock. The old brick walls are thickly covered with ivy. Its leaves cling to the balcony, and a lovely girl is standing on the balcony; she leans over the railing and looks at the road. The girl is fresher than a rose, airier than an apple tree flower swayed by the wind. How her silk dress rustles! “Will he really not come?”

-Are you talking about Kai? - asked Gerda.

- I tell my fairy tale, my dreams! - answered the bindweed.

What did little snowdrop say?

— A long board is swinging between the trees—it’s a swing. Two little girls are sitting on the board; their dresses are white as snow, and long green silk ribbons flutter on their hats. The older brother is kneeling behind the sisters, leaning on the ropes; in one hand he has a small cup of soapy water, in the other a clay tube. He blows bubbles, the board shakes, the bubbles fly through the air, shimmering in the sun with all the colors of the rainbow. Here is one hanging at the end of a tube and swaying in the wind. A little black dog, light as a soap bubble, stands on its hind legs and places its front legs on the board, but the board flies up, the little dog falls, yapping and angry. The children tease her, the bubbles burst... The board shakes, the foam scatters - that's my song!

“She may be good, but you say all this in such a sad tone!” And again, not a word about Kai! What will the hyacinths say?

— Once upon a time there were two slender, ethereal beauties, sisters. One was wearing a red dress, another was blue, and the third was completely white. They danced hand in hand in the clear moonlight by the quiet lake. They weren't elves, but real girls. A sweet aroma filled the air, and the girls disappeared into the forest. Now the aroma became even stronger, even sweeter - three coffins floated out of the thicket of the forest; The beautiful sisters lay in them, and fireflies fluttered around them like living lights. Are the girls sleeping or dead? The scent of flowers says they are dead. The evening bell rings for the dead!

- You made me sad! - said Gerda. “Your bells smell so strong too!.. Now I can’t get the dead girls out of my head!” Oh, is Kai really dead too? But the roses were underground and they say that he is not there!

- Ding-dang! — the hyacinth bells rang. - We are not calling over Kai! We don't even know him! We ring our own little song; we don't know the other one!

And Gerda went to the golden dandelion, shining in the shiny green grass.

- You, little clear sun! - Gerda told him. - Tell me, do you know where I can look for my sworn brother?

Dandelion shone even brighter and looked at the girl. What song did he sing to her? Alas! And this song didn’t say a word about Kai!

- Early spring; The clear sun shines welcomingly on the small courtyard. Swallows hover near the white wall adjacent to the neighbors' yard. The first yellow flowers peek out from the green grass, sparkling in the sun like gold. An old grandmother came out to sit in the yard; Here her granddaughter, a poor servant, came from among the guests and kissed the old woman deeply. A girl's kiss is more valuable than gold - it comes straight from the heart. Gold on her lips, gold in her heart. That's all! - said the dandelion.

- My poor grandmother! - Gerda sighed. - How she misses me, how she grieves! No less than I grieved for Kai! But I'll be back soon and bring him with me. There is no point in asking the flowers anymore - you won’t get anything from them, they only know their songs!

And she tied her skirt higher to make it easier to run, but when she wanted to jump over the daffodil, it hit her on the legs. Gerda stopped, looked at the long flower and asked:

“Perhaps you know something?”

And she leaned towards him, waiting for an answer. What did the narcissist say?

- I see myself! I see myself! Oh, how I smell!.. High, high in a small closet, right under the roof, stands a half-dressed dancer. She either balances on one leg, then again stands firmly on both and tramples the whole world with them - she is, after all, just an optical illusion. Here she is pouring water from a kettle onto some white piece of material 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 a kettle and dried on the roof! Here the girl gets dressed and ties a bright yellow scarf around her neck, setting off the whiteness of the dress even more sharply. Again one leg flies into the air! Look how straight she stands on the other, like a flower on its stem! I see myself, I see myself!

- Yes, I don’t care much about this! - said Gerda. - There’s nothing to tell me about this!

And she ran out of the garden.

The door was only locked; Gerda pulled the rusty bolt, it gave way, the door opened, and the girl, barefooted, began to run along the road! She looked back three times, but no one was chasing her. Finally she got tired, sat down on a stone and looked around: summer had already passed, it was late autumn in the yard, but 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 hesitated! After all, autumn is just around the corner! There's no time for rest here! - 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 turned completely yellow, the fog settled on them in large drops and flowed down to the ground; the leaves were falling down. One thorn tree stood covered with astringent, tart berries. How gray and dull the whole white world seemed!

Prince and Princess

Gerda had to sit down to rest again. A large raven was jumping in the snow right 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 humanly could not pronounce anything clearer than this, but apparently he wished the girl well and asked her where she was wandering around the world alone? Gerda understood the words “alone” perfectly and immediately felt their full meaning. Having told the raven her whole 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 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? - asked Gerda.

- But listen! - said the raven. “But it’s terribly difficult for me to speak your way!” Now, if you understood crow, I would tell you about everything much better.

- No, they didn’t teach me this! - said Gerda. - Grandma understands! It would be nice for me to know how too!

- That is OK! - said the raven. “I’ll tell you as best 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 read all the newspapers in the world and already forgot everything she read - what a clever girl! One day she was sitting on the throne—and there’s not much fun in that, as people say—and she was humming a song: “Why shouldn’t I get married?” “But really!” - she thought, and she wanted to get married. But she wanted to choose a man for her husband who would be able to answer when they spoke to him, and not someone who could only put on airs - that’s so boring! And so they called all the courtiers with a drumbeat and announced to them the will of the princess. They were all very pleased and said: “We like this! We recently thought about this ourselves!” All this is true! - added the raven. “I have a bride at my court, she’s tame, she walks around the palace, and I know all this from her.”

His bride was a crow - after all, everyone is looking for a wife to match themselves.

“The next day all the newspapers came out with a border of hearts and with the princess’s monograms.” It was announced in the newspapers that every young man of pleasant appearance could come to the palace and talk with the princess: the one who behaves completely freely, like at home, and turns out to be the most eloquent of all, the princess will choose as her husband! Yes Yes! - repeated the raven. “All this is as true as the fact that I am sitting here in front of you!” 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 well, but as soon as they crossed the palace threshold, saw the guards all in silver, and the footmen in gold, and entered the huge, light-filled halls, they were taken aback. They will approach the throne where the princess sits, and they will only repeat her last words, but this is not what she needed at all! Really, they were all definitely doped with dope! But upon leaving the gate, they again acquired the gift of speech. A long, long tail of grooms stretched from the very gates to the doors of the palace. I was there and saw it myself! The grooms were hungry and thirsty, but they were not even allowed a glass of water from the palace. True, those who were smarter stocked up on sandwiches, but the thrifty ones no longer shared with their neighbors, thinking to themselves: “Let them starve and become emaciated - the princess won’t take them!”

- Well, what about Kai, Kai? - asked Gerda. - When did he appear? And he came to get married?

- Wait! Wait! Now we have just reached it! On the third day, a small man appeared, not in a carriage, not on horseback, but simply on foot, and directly entered the palace. His eyes sparkled like yours; His hair was long, but he was poorly dressed.

- It's Kai! - Gerda was delighted. - So I found him! - and she clapped her hands.

- He had a knapsack behind his back! - continued the raven.

- No, it was probably his sleigh! - said Gerda. - He left the house with the sled!

- Very possible! - said the raven. “I didn’t get a good look.” So, my bride told me that, entering the palace gates and seeing the guards in silver, and the footmen in gold on the stairs, he was not the least bit 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; nobles walked around without boots, delivering golden dishes - it couldn’t have been more solemn! And his boots creaked, but he wasn’t embarrassed by that either.

- This is probably 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 quite a bit! - continued the raven. “But he boldly approached the princess; she sat on a pearl the size of a spinning wheel, and around stood the ladies of the court and gentlemen with their maids, maids' maids, valets, valets' servants and valets' servants. The farther someone stood from the princess and closer to the doors, the more important and arrogant he behaved. It was impossible to look at the servant of the valets, standing right at the door, without fear, he was so important!

- That's fear! - said Gerda. - Did Kai still marry the princess?

“If I weren’t a raven, I would marry her myself, even though I’m engaged.” He entered into a conversation with the princess and spoke as well as I do when I speak crow - at least that’s what my bride told me. He generally behaved very freely and sweetly and declared that he had not come to get married, but only to listen to the princess’s clever speeches. Well, he liked her, and she liked him too!

- Yes, yes, it’s Kai! - said Gerda. - He's so smart! He knew all four operations of arithmetic, and even with fractions! Oh, take me to the palace!

“It’s easy to say,” answered the raven, “but how to do it?” Wait, I’ll talk to my fiancée, she’ll come up with something and advise us. Do you think that they will let you into the palace just like that? Why, they don’t really let girls like that in!

- They'll let me in! - said Gerda. - If only Kai heard that I was here, he would come running after me now!

- Wait for me here, at the bars! - 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 of bread. 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 footmen in gold will never let you through. But don't cry, you will still get there. My bride knows how to get into the princess's bedroom from the back door, and she knows where to get the key.

And so they entered the garden, walked along long alleys 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, but she only wanted to find out if her Kai was here! Yes, yes, he's probably 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 to take for his sake, learns how everyone at home grieved for him! Oh, she was just beside herself with fear and joy.

But here they are on the landing of the stairs; a lamp was burning on the closet, and a tame crow was sitting on the floor and looking around. Gerda sat down and bowed, as her grandmother taught her.

- My fiancé told me so many good things about you, miss! - said the tame crow. - Your vita - as they say - is also very touching! Would you like to take the lamp, and I will go ahead? We will go straight, we won’t meet anyone here!

- It seems to me that someone is coming after us! - said Gerda, and at that very moment some shadows rushed past her with a slight noise: horses with flowing manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback.

- These are dreams! - said the tame crow. “They come here so that the thoughts of high-ranking people can go hunting.” So much the better for us - it will be more convenient to see the sleeping people! I hope, however, that by entering in honor you will show that you have a grateful heart!

- There is something to talk about here! It goes without saying! - said the forest raven.

Then they entered the first hall, all covered in pink satin woven with flowers. Dreams flashed past the girl again, but so quickly that she did not even have time to see the riders. One hall was more magnificent than the other - it simply took one's breath away. Finally they reached the bedroom: the ceiling resembled the top of a huge palm tree with precious crystal leaves; From the middle of it descended a thick golden stem, on which hung two beds in the shape 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 the dark blond back of her head. It's Kai! She called him by name loudly and brought the lamp right up to his face. The dreams noisily rushed away: the prince woke up and turned his head... Ah, it was not Kai!

The prince resembled him only from the back of his head, but was just as young and handsome. The princess looked out of the white lily and asked what happened. Gerda began to cry and told her whole story, mentioning what the crows did for her.

- Oh, you poor thing! - said the prince and princess, praised the crows, declared that they were not at all angry with them - just let them not do this in the future - and even wanted to reward them.

- Do you want to be free birds? - asked the princess. - Or do you want to take the position of court crows, fully supported from kitchen scraps?

The raven and the crow bowed and asked for a position at court - they thought about old age and said:

- It’s good to have a faithful piece of bread in your old age!

The prince stood up and gave up his bed to Gerda; There was nothing more he could do for her yet. 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 were carrying Kai on a small sleigh, who nodded his head to Gerda. Alas! All this was just a dream and disappeared as soon as the girl woke up.

The next day they dressed her from head to toe in silk and velvet and allowed her to stay in the palace as long as she wished. The girl could have lived happily ever after, but she only stayed for a few days and began to ask to be given a cart with a horse and a pair of shoes - she again wanted to go looking for her sworn brother around the world.

She was given shoes, a muff, and a wonderful dress, and when she said goodbye to everyone, a golden carriage with the coats of arms of the prince and princess shining like stars drove up to the gate; the coachman, footmen and postilions—she was also given postilions—had small gold crowns on their heads. The prince and princess themselves seated Gerda in the carriage and wished her a happy journey. The forest raven, who had already gotten 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 been suffering from headaches since she received a position at court and ate too much. The carriage was chock full of sugar pretzels, and the box under the seat was filled with fruit and gingerbread.

- Goodbye! Goodbye! - the prince and princess shouted.

Gerda began to cry, and so did the crow. So they drove the first three miles. Here the raven said goodbye to the girl. It was a hard parting! The raven flew up a tree and flapped its black wings until the carriage, shining like the sun, disappeared from sight.

Little robber

So Gerda drove into the 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, coachman and servants, and pulled Gerda out of the carriage.

- Look, what a nice, fat little thing. Fattened with nuts! - said the old robber woman with a long, stiff beard and shaggy, overhanging eyebrows. - Fat as your lamb! Well, what will it taste like?

And she pulled out a sharp, sparkling knife. What a horror!

- Ay! - she suddenly screamed: she was bitten on the ear by her own daughter, who was sitting behind her and was so unbridled and willful that it was funny!

- 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 will sleep with me in my bed.”

And the girl again bit her mother so hard that she jumped and spun around in one place. The robbers laughed:

- Look how he jumps with his girl!

- I want to get into the carriage! - shouted the little robber and insisted on her own - she was terribly spoiled and stubborn.

They got into the carriage with Gerda and rushed over stumps and hummocks into the thicket of the forest. The little robber was as tall as Gerda, 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!” You're a princess, right?

- 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’m angry with you, I’d rather kill you myself!”

And she wiped away Gerda’s tears, and then hid both hands in her pretty, soft and warm muff.

The carriage stopped: they entered the courtyard of a robber's castle. It was covered in huge cracks; crows and ravens flew out of them; Huge bulldogs jumped out from somewhere and looked so fiercely, as if they wanted to eat everyone, but they did not bark - this was forbidden.

In the middle of a huge hall, with dilapidated, soot-covered walls and a stone floor, a fire was blazing; 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 spits.

“You will sleep with me right here, next to my little menagerie!” - the little robber said to Gerda.

The girls were fed and watered, and they went to their corner, where straw was laid out and covered with carpets. Higher up there were more than a hundred pigeons sitting on perches; they all seemed to be asleep, but when the girls approached, they stirred slightly.

All mine! - said the little robber, grabbed one of the pigeons by the legs and shook it so much that it beat its wings. - Here, kiss him! - she shouted, poking the dove right in Gerda’s face. - And here the forest rogues are sitting! - she continued, pointing to two pigeons sitting in a small recess in the wall, behind a wooden lattice. - These two are forest rogues! They must be kept locked up, otherwise they will fly away quickly! And here is my dear old man! - And the girl pulled the antlers of a reindeer tied to the wall in a shiny copper collar. - He also needs to 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 a long knife from a crevice in the wall and ran it across the deer’s neck. The poor animal kicked, and the girl laughed and dragged Gerda to the bed.

- Do you sleep with a knife? - Gerda asked her, glancing sideways at the sharp knife.

- Always! - answered the little robber. - Who knows what might happen! But tell me again about Kai and how you set off to wander the world!

Gerda told. Wood pigeons in the cage cooed quietly; the other pigeons were already sleeping; 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 leave her alive. The robbers sat around the fire, sang songs and drank, and the old robber woman tumbled. It was scary for the poor girl to look at it.

Suddenly the forest pigeons cooed:

- Kurr! Kurr! We saw Kai! The white hen carried his sleigh on her back, and he sat in the Snow Queen's sleigh. They flew over the forest when we, the chicks, were still lying in the nest; she breathed on us, and everyone died except the two of us! Kurr! Kurr!

- What are you saying? - Gerda exclaimed. -Where did the Snow Queen fly to?

“She probably flew to Lapland, because there is eternal snow and ice there!” Ask the reindeer what's tied up here!

- Yes, there is eternal snow and ice there, it’s amazing how good it is! - said the reindeer. - There you jump in freedom across endless sparkling icy plains! The Snow Queen's summer tent will be pitched there, and her permanent palaces are at the North Pole, on the island of Spitsbergen!

- Oh Kai, my dear Kai! - Gerda sighed.

- Lie still! - said the little robber. - Otherwise I’ll stab you with a knife!

In the morning Gerda told her what she had heard from the wood pigeons. The little robber 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 would know if not me! - answered the deer, and his eyes sparkled. “That’s where I was born and raised, that’s where I jumped across the snowy plains!”

- So listen! - the little robber said to Gerda. “You see, all our people are gone; one mother at home; a little later she will take a sip from the big 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 her mother hit her on the nose, the girl’s nose turned red and blue, but all this was done with love.

Then, when the old woman took a sip from her bottle and began to snore, the little robber approached the reindeer and said:

“We could still make fun of you for a long, long time!” You can be really funny when they tickle you 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 palace of the Snow Queen - her sworn brother is there. You, of course, heard what she was saying? She spoke quite loudly, and your ears are always on top of your head.

The reindeer jumped for joy. The little robber placed Gerda on it, 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!” I’ll keep the muff for myself, it’s too good! But I won’t let you freeze; Here are my mother’s huge mittens, they will reach your very elbows! Put your hands in them! Well, now you have hands like my ugly mother!

Gerda cried with joy.

“I can’t stand it when they whine!” - said the little robber. - Now you need to look fun! Here's two more loaves of bread 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, lively! Look after the girl!

Gerda extended both hands in huge mittens to the little robber and said goodbye to her. The reindeer set off at full speed through stumps and hummocks, through the forest, through swamps and steppes. The wolves howled, the crows cawed, and the sky suddenly began to roar and throw out pillars of fire.

- Here is my native northern lights! - said the deer. - Look how it burns!

Lapland and Finnish

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. There was an old Laplander woman at home, 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 much more important to him. Gerda was so numb from the cold that she could not speak.

- Oh, you poor things! - said the Laplander. - You still have a long way to go! You'll have to walk more than a hundred miles until 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 don’t have paper - and you will take it to the Finnish woman who lives in those places and will be able to teach you better than me what to do.

When Gerda had warmed up, eaten and drunk, the Laplander wrote a few words on the dried cod, told Gerda to take good care of it, then tied the girl to the back of the deer, and it rushed off again. The sky exploded again and threw out pillars of wonderful blue flame. So the deer and Gerda ran to Finnmark and knocked on the Finnish woman’s chimney - she didn’t even have a door.

Well, it was hot in her home! The Finnish woman herself, a short, dirty woman, walked around half naked. She quickly pulled off Gerda's entire dress, mittens and boots - otherwise the girl would have been too hot - 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 word by word three times until she had it memorized, and then she put the cod in the cauldron - after all, the fish was good for food, and the Finnish woman did not waste anything.

Here the deer first told his story, and then the story of Gerda. The Finnish girl blinked her smart eyes, but didn’t say a word.

- You are such a wise woman! - said the deer. “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 gets worse, and unties the third and fourth, such a storm arises that it breaks the trees into splinters. Would you make a drink for the girl that would give her the strength of twelve heroes? Then she would defeat the Snow Queen!

- The strength of twelve heroes! - said the Finnish woman. - Yes, there is a lot of sense in this!

With these words, she took a large leather scroll from the shelf and unfolded it: there were some amazing writings on it; The Finnish woman began to read them and read them until she broke out in a sweat.

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 actually with the Snow Queen, but he is quite happy and thinks that he couldn’t 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 human and the Snow Queen will retain her power over him.

“But won’t you help Gerda somehow destroy this power?”

“I can’t make her stronger than she is.” 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 up to us to borrow her power! The strength is in her sweet, innocent childish heart. If she herself cannot penetrate the palace of the Snow Queen and remove the fragments from Kai’s heart, then we will certainly not help her! Two miles from here the Snow Queen's garden begins. Take the girl there, drop her off near a large bush covered with red berries, and come back without hesitation!

With these words, the Finnish woman lifted Gerda onto the back of the deer, and he began to run as fast as he could.

- Oh, I’m without warm boots! Hey, I'm not wearing gloves! - Gerda shouted, finding herself in the cold.

But the deer did not dare to stop until it reached a bush with red berries; Then he lowered the girl, kissed her right on the lips, and large shiny 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 was rushing towards her, but they did not fall from the sky - the sky was completely clear, and the northern lights were glowing on it - no, they ran along the ground straight towards Gerda and, as they approached, they became larger and larger. Gerda remembered the large beautiful flakes under the burning glass, but these were much larger, more terrible, of the most amazing types and shapes, and all of them were alive. These were the vanguard 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 equally with whiteness, they were all living snow flakes.

Gerda began to read the “Our Father”; it was so cold that the girl’s breath immediately turned into a thick fog. This fog kept getting thicker and thicker, but small, bright angels began to stand out from it, who, 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 growing, and when Gerda finished her prayer, a whole legion had already formed around her. The angels took the snow monsters onto their spears, and they crumbled into thousands of snowflakes. Gerda could now boldly move forward; the angels stroked her arms and legs, and she no longer felt so cold. Finally, the girl reached the palace of the Snow Queen.

Let's see what Kai was doing at this time. He didn’t even 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 next

The walls of the Snow Queen's palace were covered in a blizzard, the windows and doors were damaged by violent winds. Hundreds of huge halls illuminated by the northern lights stretched one after another; the largest extended for many, many miles. How cold, how deserted it was in these white, brightly sparkling palaces! Fun never came here! If only on rare occasions there would be a bear party here with dancing to the music of the storm, in which polar bears could distinguish themselves by their grace and ability to walk on their hind legs, or a game of cards with quarrels and fights, or, finally, they would agree to talk over a cup of coffee little white chanterelles - no, this never happened! Cold, deserted, dead! The northern lights flashed and burned so regularly that it was possible to accurately calculate at what minute the light would intensify and at what moment it would weaken. In the middle of the largest deserted snowy hall there was a frozen lake. The ice cracked on it into thousands of pieces, marvelously even and regular. In the middle of the lake stood the throne of the Snow Queen; She sat on it when she was at home, saying that she sat on the mirror of the mind; in her opinion, it was the only and best mirror in the world.

Kai turned completely blue, almost blackened from the cold, but did not notice it - the kisses of the Snow Queen made him insensitive to the cold, and his very heart became a piece of ice. Kai tinkered with the flat, pointed ice floes, arranging them in all sorts of ways. There is such a game - folding figures from wooden planks, which is called “Chinese puzzle”. Kai also made various intricate figures from ice floes, and this was called “ice mind games.” In his eyes, these figures were a miracle of art, and folding them was an activity of the first importance. This happened because there was a piece of a magic mirror in his eye! He put whole words together from ice floes, but he could not put together what he especially wanted - the word “eternity.” The Snow Queen told him: “If you put this word together, you will be your own master, and I will give you the whole world and a pair of new skates.” But he couldn't put it together.

- Now I’ll fly to warmer lands! - said the Snow Queen. - I’ll look into the black cauldrons!

She called the craters of the fire-breathing mountains Vesuvius and Etna cauldrons.

And she flew away, and Kai was left alone in the vast deserted hall, looking at the ice floes and thinking and thinking, so that his head was cracking. He sat in one place - so pale, motionless, as if lifeless. You would have thought he was frozen.

At that time, Gerda entered the huge gate, made by violent winds. She read the evening prayer, and the winds subsided, as if they had fallen 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 as motionless and cold. Then Gerda began to cry; Her hot tears fell on his chest, penetrated his heart, melted his icy crust and melted the fragment. Kai looked at Gerda, and she sang:

Roses are blooming... Beauty, beauty!

Soon we will see the baby Christ.

Kai suddenly burst into tears and cried so long and so hard that the shard flowed out of his eye along with the 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 and deserted it is here!

And he pressed himself tightly to Gerda. She laughed and cried with joy. Yes, there was such joy that even the ice floes began to dance, and when they were tired, they lay down and composed the very word that the Snow Queen asked Kaya to compose; having folded it, he could become his own master, and even receive from her the gift of the whole world and a pair of new skates.

Gerda kissed Kai on both cheeks, and they bloomed like roses again, kissed his eyes, and they sparkled like her eyes; She kissed his hands and feet, and he again became vigorous and healthy.

The Snow Queen could return at any time - his freedom letter lay here, written in shiny icy letters.

Kai and Gerda walked out of the deserted icy palaces hand in hand; They walked and talked about their grandmother, about their roses, and on their way the violent winds died down and the sun peeked through. When they reached a bush with red berries, a reindeer was already waiting for them. He brought with him a young female deer, her udder was full of milk; she gave it to Kai and Gerda and kissed them right on the lips. Then Kai and Gerda went first to the Finnish woman, warmed up with her and found out the way home, and then to the Laplander; she sewed them a new dress, repaired her sleigh and went to see them off.

The reindeer couple also accompanied the young travelers right up to the very border of Lapland, where the first greenery was already breaking through. Here Kai and Gerda said goodbye to the deer and the Laplander.

- Bon Voyage! - the guides shouted to them.

Here is the forest in front of them. The first birds began to sing, the trees were covered with green buds. A young girl in a bright red cap 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. She was a little robber; she was bored with living at home, and she wanted to visit the north, and if she didn’t like it there, she wanted to go to other places. She also recognized Gerda. What a joy!

- Look, you're a tramp! - she said to Kai. “I would like to know if you are worth having people run after you to the ends of the earth!”

But Gerda patted her on the cheek and asked about the prince and princess.

- They left for foreign lands! - answered the young robber.

- And the raven and the crow? - asked Gerda.

— The forest raven died; The tame crow remains a widow, walks around with black fur on its leg and complains about its fate. But all this is nonsense, but tell me better what happened to you and how you found him.

Gerda and Kai told her everything.

- Well, that’s the end of the fairy tale! - said the young robber, shook their hands and promised to visit them if she ever came to their city. Then she went her way, and Kai and Gerda went theirs. They walked, and spring flowers bloomed on their road and the grass turned green. Then the bells rang, and they recognized the bell towers of their hometown. They climbed the familiar stairs and entered a room where everything was as before: the clock ticked in the same way, the hour hand moved in 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 from the roof through the open window; their children's chairs stood right there. Kai and Gerda each sat down on their own and took each other's hands. The cold, deserted splendor of the Snow Queen's palace was forgotten by them like a heavy dream. Grandmother sat in the sun and read the Gospel loudly: “If you do not become 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!

Soon we will see the baby Christ.

So they sat side by side, both already adults, but children at heart and soul, and outside it was a warm, blessed summer!

Andersen G.H.

The Snow Queen is one of Hans Christian Andersen's most famous fairy tales about love, which can overcome any challenge and melt even an icy heart!

Snow Queen read

The first story, which tells about the mirror and its fragments

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 lived a troll, an evil, despicable, real devil. One day he was in a particularly good mood: he made a mirror in which everything good and beautiful was shrinking further, and everything bad and ugly was sticking out, becoming even nastier. The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach in it, and the best of people looked like freaks, or it seemed as if they were standing upside down and had no bellies at all! Their faces were so distorted that they were unrecognizable, and if anyone had a freckle, rest assured, it spread to both the nose and lips. And if a person had a good thought, it was reflected in the mirror with such a grimace that the troll burst into laughter, rejoicing at his cunning invention.

The troll's students - and he had his own school - told everyone that a miracle had happened: now, they said, only now can one see the whole world and people in their true light. They ran everywhere with the mirror, and soon there was not a single country, not a single person left. which would not be reflected in it in a distorted form.

Finally, they wanted to reach the sky. The higher they rose, the more the mirror curved, so that they could barely hold it in their hands. But they flew up very high, when suddenly the mirror was so distorted by grimaces that it tore out of their hands, flew to the ground and broke into millions, billions of fragments, and therefore even more troubles happened.

Some fragments, the size of a grain of sand, scattered throughout the world, fell into people's eyes, and remained there. And a person with such a splinter in his eye began to see everything inside out or notice only the bad in every thing - after all, each splinter retained the properties of the entire mirror. For some people, the fragments fell directly into the heart, and this was the worst thing: the heart became like a piece of ice. There were also large fragments among the fragments - they were inserted into window frames, and it was not worth looking at your good friends through these windows. Finally, there were also fragments that went into glasses, and it was bad if such glasses were worn in order to see better and judge things correctly.
The evil troll was bursting with laughter - this idea amused him so much. And many more fragments flew around the world. Let's hear about them!

Story two - Boy and girl

In a big city, where there are so many houses and people that not everyone has enough space for even a small garden, and therefore most residents have to be content with indoor flowers in pots, there lived two poor children, and their garden was slightly larger than a flower pot. They were not brother and sister, but they loved each other like brother and sister.

Their parents lived in closets under the roof in two neighboring houses. The roofs of the houses converged, and a drainage gutter ran between them. It was here that the attic windows from each house looked at each other. You just had to step over the gutter and you could get from one window to another.

The parents each had a large wooden box. they contained herbs for seasoning and small rose bushes - one in each box, growing luxuriantly. It occurred to the parents to place these boxes across the gutter, so that from one window to the other they stretched like two flower beds. Peas hung like green garlands from boxes, rose bushes peeked through the windows and intertwined their branches. The parents allowed the boy and girl to visit each other on the roof and sit on a bench under the roses. How wonderfully they played here!

And in winter these joys ended. The windows were often completely frozen, but the children heated copper coins on the stove, applied them to the frozen glass, and immediately a wonderful round hole thawed, and a cheerful, affectionate peephole looked out into it - each of them watched from his own window, a boy and a girl, Kai and Gerda. In the summer they could find themselves visiting each other in one leap, but in the winter they had to first go down many, many steps, and then go up the same number. A snowball was fluttering in the yard.

These are white bees swarming! - said the old grandmother.

Do they also have a queen? - the boy asked. He knew that real bees had one.

Eat! - answered the grandmother. - Snowflakes surround her in a thick swarm, but she is larger than all of them and never sits on the ground, she always floats in a black cloud. Often at night she flies through the city streets and looks into the windows, which is why they are covered with frosty patterns, like flowers.

We saw it, we saw it! - the children said and believed that all this was true.

Can't the Snow Queen come here? - the girl asked.

Just let him try! - answered the boy. “I’ll put her on a warm stove, so she’ll melt.”

But the grandmother stroked his head and started talking about something else.

In the evening, when Kai was at home and almost completely undressed, getting ready to go to bed, he climbed onto a chair by the window and looked into the thawed circle on the window glass. Snowflakes fluttered outside the window. One of them, a larger one, fell on the edge of the flower box and began to grow, grow, until finally it turned into a woman, wrapped in the thinnest white tulle, it seemed woven. from millions of snow stars. She was so lovely and tender, but made of ice, made of dazzlingly sparkling ice, and yet alive! Her eyes shone like two clear stars, but there was neither warmth nor peace in them. She nodded to the boy and beckoned him with her hand. Kai got scared and jumped off the chair. And something like a large bird flashed past the window.

The next day it was clear to frosty, but then a thaw came, and then spring came. The sun shone, greenery appeared, swallows were building nests. The windows were opened, and the children could again sit in their garden in the gutter above all the floors.

That summer the roses bloomed more magnificently than ever. The children sang, holding hands, kissed roses and rejoiced in the sun. Oh, what a wonderful summer it was, how nice it was under the rose bushes, which seemed to bloom and bloom forever!

One day Kai and Gerda were sitting and looking at a book with pictures of animals and birds. The big tower clock struck five.

Ay! - Kai suddenly screamed. “I was stabbed right in the heart, and something got into my eye!”

The girl wrapped her little arm around his neck, he blinked frequently, but it was as if there was nothing in his eye.

It must have jumped out,” he said. But that was not the case. These were just the fragments of that devilish mirror that we talked about at the beginning.

Poor Kai! Now his heart had to become like a piece of ice. The pain went away, but the fragments remained.

What are you crying about? - he asked Gerda. - It doesn’t hurt me at all! Ugh, how ugly you are! - he suddenly shouted. - There's a worm eating away at that rose. And that one is completely crooked. What ugly roses! No better than the boxes they stick out in.

And he kicked the box and tore off both roses.

Kai, what are you doing! - Gerda screamed, and he, seeing her fear, picked another rose and ran away from sweet little Gerda out of his window.

Will Gerda now bring him a book with pictures, he will say that these pictures are only good for infants: if the old grandmother tells him something, he will find fault with her words. And then he will even go so far as to begin to imitate her walk, put on her glasses, and speak in her voice. It turned out very similar, and people laughed. Soon Kai learned to imitate all his neighbors. He was great at showing off all their quirks and flaws, and people would say:

Amazingly capable little boy! And the reason for it all was the fragments that got into his eye and heart. That’s why he even mimicked sweet little Gerda, but she loved him with all her heart.

And his amusements have now become completely different, so sophisticated. Once in winter, when it was snowing, he appeared with a large magnifying glass and placed the hem 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 luxurious flower or a decagonal star. It was so beautiful!

See how cleverly it’s done! - Kai said. - Much more interesting than real flowers! And what accuracy! Not a single wrong line! Oh, if only they didn’t melt!

A little later, Kai appeared in large mittens, with a sled behind his back, and shouted in Gerda’s ear: “They allowed me to ride in a large area with other boys!” - And running.

There were a lot of children skating around the square. Those who were braver tied their sleds to peasant sleighs and rolled far, far away. It was a lot of fun. At the height of the fun, a large sleigh, painted white, appeared on the square. In them sat someone wrapped in a white fur coat and a matching hat. The sleigh drove around the square twice. Kai quickly tied his sled to them and drove off. The large sleigh rushed faster, then turned from the square into an alley. The man sitting in them turned around and nodded welcomingly to Kai, as if he were an acquaintance. Kai tried several times to untie his sled, but the man in the fur coat kept nodding to him, and he continued to follow him.

So they got out of the city gates. Snow suddenly fell in flakes, and it became dark as if to poke out your eyes. The boy hastily let go of the rope, which had caught him on the large sleigh, but his sleigh seemed to have grown to them and continued to rush like a whirlwind. Kai shouted loudly - no one heard him. The snow was falling, the sleds were racing, diving into snowdrifts, jumping over hedges and ditches. Kai was shaking all over.

The snow flakes kept growing and eventually turned into large white chickens. Suddenly they scattered to the sides, the large sleigh stopped, and the man sitting in it stood up. She was a tall, slender, dazzlingly white woman - the Snow Queen; both the fur coat and the hat she was wearing were made of snow.

We had a great ride! - she said. - But you’re completely cold - get into my fur coat!

She put the boy in the sleigh and wrapped him in her bear fur coat. Kai seemed to sink into a snowdrift.

Still freezing? - she asked and kissed his forehead.

Uh! Her kiss was colder than ice, it pierced right through him and reached his very heart, which was already half icy. It seemed to Kai that a little more and he would die... But only for a minute, and then, on the contrary, he felt so good that he even stopped feeling cold altogether.

My sled! Don't forget my sled! - he realized.

The sled was tied to the back of one of the white chickens, and she flew with it after the large sleigh. The Snow Queen kissed Kai again, and he forgot Gerda, his grandmother, and everyone at home.

“I won’t kiss you again,” she said. - Otherwise I’ll kiss you to death.

Kai looked at her. How good she was! He could not imagine a smarter and more charming face. Now she doesn't. seemed icy to him, like that time when she sat outside the window and nodded 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 there were in each country, and she only smiled in response. And then it seemed to him that he actually knew very little.

At the same moment, the Snow Queen soared with him onto a black cloud. The storm howled and moaned, as if singing ancient songs; they flew over forests and lakes, over seas and land; icy winds blew beneath them, wolves howled, snow sparkled, black crows flew screaming, and a large clear moon shone above them. Kai looked at him all the long, long winter night, and during the day he fell asleep at the feet of the Snow Queen.

Story three - Flower garden of a woman who knew how to cast magic

What happened to Gerda when Kai didn’t return? Where did he go? No one knew this, no one could give an answer.

The boys only said that they saw him tie his sled to a large, magnificent sleigh, which then turned into an alley and drove out of the city gates.

Many tears were shed for him, Gerda cried bitterly and for a long time. Finally they decided that Kai 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! - said Gerda.

I do not believe! - answered the sunlight.

He died and won't come back! - she repeated to the swallows.

We don't believe it! - they answered.

In the end, Gerda herself stopped believing it.

Let me put on my new red shoes (Kai has never seen them before), she said one morning, and I’ll go and ask about him by the river.

It was still very early. She kissed her sleeping grandmother, put on her red shoes and ran alone out of town, straight to the river.

Is it true that you took my sworn brother? - asked Gerda. - I will give you my red shoes if you return it to me!

And the girl felt that the waves were nodding at her in a strange way. Then she took off her red shoes - the most precious thing she had - and threw them into the river. But they fell near the shore, and the waves immediately carried them back - it was as if the river did not want to take her jewel from the girl, since it could not return Kaya to her. The girl thought that she had not thrown her shoes far enough, climbed into the boat, which was rocking in the reeds, stood on the very edge of the stern and again threw her shoes into the water. The boat was not tied and moved away from the shore due to its push. The girl wanted to jump ashore as quickly as possible, but while she was making her way from the stern to the bow, the boat had already completely sailed away and was quickly rushing along with the current.

Gerda was terribly frightened and began to cry and scream, but no one except the sparrows heard her. The sparrows could not carry her to land and only flew after her along the shore and chirped, as if wanting to console her:

We are here! We are here!

“Maybe the river is carrying me to Kai?” - thought Gerda, cheered up, stood up 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 under a thatched roof, with red and blue glass in the windows. Two wooden soldiers stood at the door and saluted everyone who passed by. Gerda shouted to them - she took them for alive - but they, of course, did not answer her. So she swam even closer to them, the boat came almost to the very shore, and the girl screamed even louder. An old, old woman came out of the house with a stick, wearing a large straw hat painted with wonderful flowers.

Oh you poor child! - said the old lady. - And how did you end up on such a big fast river and climb so far?

With these words, the old woman entered the water, hooked the boat with a stick, pulled it to the shore and landed Gerda.

Gerda was very glad that she finally found herself on land, although she was afraid of the unfamiliar old woman.

Well, let’s go, 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!” When the girl finished, she asked the old woman if she had seen Kai. She replied that he had not passed here yet, but he would probably pass, so there was nothing to grieve about yet, let Gerda better taste the cherries and admire the flowers that grow in the garden: they are more beautiful than in any picture book, and that’s all they know how to tell stories. Then the old woman took Gerda by the hand, took her to her house and locked the door.

The windows were high from the floor and all made of multi-colored glass - red, blue and yellow; because of this, the room itself was illuminated with some amazing rainbow light. There was a basket of wonderful cherries on the table, and Gerda could eat as many of them as she wanted. While she was eating, the old woman combed her hair with a golden comb. The hair curled in curls and surrounded the girl’s sweet, friendly, round, like a rose, face with a golden glow.

I have long wanted to have such a cute girl! - said the old lady. - You'll see how well you and I will get along!

And she continued to comb the girl’s curls, and the longer she combed, the more Gerda forgot her sworn brother Kai - the old woman knew how to cast magic. Only she was not an evil witch and cast spells only occasionally, for her own pleasure; now she really wanted to keep Gerda with her. And so she went into the garden, touched all the rose bushes with her stick, and as they stood in full bloom, they all went deep into the ground, and there was no trace of them left. The old woman was afraid that at the sight of these roses Gerda would remember her own, and then about Kay, and run away from her.

Then the old woman took Gerda to the flower garden. Oh, what a scent there was, what beauty: a variety of flowers, and for every season! In all the world there would not have been a more colorful and beautiful picture book than this flower garden. Gerda jumped for joy and played among the flowers until the sun set behind the tall cherry trees. Then she was put into a wonderful bed with red silk feather beds stuffed with blue violets. The girl fell asleep and had dreams such as only a queen sees on her wedding day.

The next day Gerda was again allowed to play in the wonderful flower garden in the sun. Many days passed like this. Gerda now knew every flower in the garden, but no matter how many there were, it still seemed to her that one was missing, but which one? And then one day she sat and looked at the old woman’s straw hat, painted with flowers, and the most beautiful of them was a rose - the old woman forgot to erase it when she sent the living roses underground. This is what absent-mindedness means!

How! Are there any roses here? - said Gerda and immediately ran into the garden, looked for them, looked for them, but never found them.

Then the girl sank to the ground and began to cry. Warm tears fell exactly on the spot where one of the rose bushes had previously stood, and as soon as they moistened the ground, the bush instantly grew out of it, just as blooming as before.

Gerda wrapped her arms around him, began to kiss the roses and remembered those wonderful roses that bloomed in her house, and at the same time about Kai.

How I hesitated! - said the girl. - I have to look for Kai!.. You don’t know where he is? - she asked the roses. - Is it true that he died and will not return again?

He didn't die! - answered the roses. - 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 about its own fairy tale or story. Gerda heard a lot of them, but not one said a word about Kai.

Then Gerda went to the dandelion, which shone in the shiny green grass.

You, little clear sun! - Gerda told him. - Tell me, do you know where I can look for my sworn brother?

Dandelion shone even brighter and looked at the girl. What song did he sing to her? Alas! And this song didn’t say a word about Kai!

It was the first spring day, the sun was warm and shining so welcomingly on the small courtyard. Its rays slid along the white wall of the neighboring house, and the first yellow flower appeared near the wall; it sparkled in the sun like gold. An old grandmother came out to sit in the yard. So her granddaughter, a poor servant, came from among the guests and kissed the old woman. A girl's kiss is more valuable than gold - it comes straight from the heart. Gold on her lips, gold in her heart, gold in the sky in the morning! That's all! - said the dandelion.

My poor grandmother! - Gerda sighed. - That’s right, she misses me and grieves, just as she grieved for Kai. But I'll be back soon and I'll bring him with me. There’s no point in asking the flowers any more - you won’t get any sense from them, they just keep saying their own thing! - And she ran to the end of the garden.

The door was locked, but Gerda wobbled the rusty bolt for so long that it gave way, the door opened, and the girl, barefooted, began to run along the road. She looked back three times, but no one was chasing her.

Finally she got tired, sat down on a stone and looked around: summer had already passed, it was late autumn outside. Only 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 hesitated! After all, autumn is just around the corner! There's no time for rest here! - said Gerda and set off again.

Oh, how her poor tired legs ached! How cold and damp it was all around! The long leaves on the willows turned completely yellow, the fog settled on them in large drops and flowed down to the ground; the leaves were falling down. Only the thorn tree stood covered with astringent, tart berries. How gray and dull the whole world seemed!

Story Four - Prince and Princess

Gerda had to sit down to rest again. A large raven was jumping in the snow right in front of her. He looked at the girl for a long time, nodding his head to her, and finally said:

Kar-kar! Hello!

He couldn’t speak more clearly as a human being, but he wished the girl well and asked her where she was wandering around the world alone. Gerda knew very well what “alone” meant; she had experienced it herself. Having told the raven her whole life, the girl asked if he had seen Kai.

Raven shook his head thoughtfully and said:

May be! May be!

How? Is it true? - the girl exclaimed and almost strangled the raven - she kissed him so hard.

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? - asked Gerda.

“But listen,” said the raven. - It’s just terribly difficult for me to speak your way. Now, if you understood crow, I would tell you about everything much better.

No, they didn’t teach me that,” said Gerda. - What a pity!

Well, nothing,” said the raven. - I’ll tell you as best I can, even if it’s bad. And he told everything he knew.

In the kingdom where you and I are, there is a princess who is so smart that it’s impossible to say! I read all the newspapers in the world and forgot everything I read in them - what a clever girl! One day she was sitting on the throne - and it’s not as much fun as people say - and humming a song: “Why don’t I get married?” “But really!” - she thought, and she wanted to get married. But she wanted to choose a man as her husband who would know how to respond when they spoke to him, and not someone who could only put on airs - that’s so boring! And then, with the beating of drums, they call all the court ladies and announce to them the will of the princess. They were all so happy! “This is what we like! - They say. “We ourselves recently thought about this!” All this is true! - added the raven. “I have a bride at court - a tame crow, and I know all this from her.”

The next day all the newspapers came out with a border of hearts and with the princess’s monograms. It was announced in the newspapers that every young man of pleasant appearance could come to the palace and talk with the princess; The princess will choose the one who behaves at ease, like at home, and turns out to be the most eloquent of all, as her husband. Yes Yes! - repeated the raven. - All this is as true as the fact that I am sitting here in front of you. People poured into the palace in droves, there was a stampede and a crush, but everything was of no use either on the first or on the second day. On the street, all the suitors speak well, but as soon as they cross the palace threshold, see the guards in silver and footmen in gold and enter the huge, light-filled halls, they are taken aback. They will approach the throne where the princess sits and repeat her words after her, but this is not what she needed at all. Well, it’s as if they were being damaged, doped with dope! And when they leave the gate, they will again find the gift of speech. A long, long tail of grooms stretched from the very gate to the door. I was there and saw it myself.

Well, what about Kai, Kai? - asked Gerda. - When did he appear? And he came to make a match?

Wait! Wait! Now we have reached it! On the third day, a small man appeared, not in a carriage, not on horseback, but simply on foot, and straight into the palace. His eyes sparkle like yours, his hair is long, but he’s dressed poorly.

- ‘This is Kai! - Gerda was delighted. - I found him! - And she clapped her hands.

He had a knapsack behind his back,” the raven continued.

No, it was probably his sled! - said Gerda. - He left home with the sled.

It may very well be! - said the raven. - I didn’t look too closely. So, my bride told me how he entered the palace gates and saw guards in silver, and along the entire staircase footmen in gold, he was not the least bit embarrassed, he just nodded his head and said: “It must be boring to stand here on the stairs, I’ll come in.” “I better go to my room!” And all the halls are filled with light. Privy councilors and their excellencies walk around without boots, handing out golden dishes - it couldn’t be more solemn! His boots squeak terribly, but he doesn’t care.

It's probably Kai! - Gerda exclaimed. - I know he was wearing new boots. I myself heard how they creaked when he came to his grandmother.

Yes, they did creak quite a bit,” continued the raven. - But he boldly approached the princess. She sat on a pearl the size of a spinning wheel, and around stood the ladies of the court with their maids and maids of maids and gentlemen with servants and servants of servants, and those again had servants. The closer someone stood to the doors, the higher their nose turned up. It was impossible to look at the servant's servant, serving the servant and standing right at the door, without trembling - he was so important!

That's fear! - said Gerda. - Did Kai still marry the princess?

If I weren't a raven, I would marry her myself, even though I'm engaged. He started a conversation with the princess and spoke no worse than I do in crow - at least that’s what my tame bride told me. He behaved very freely and sweetly and declared that he had not come to make a match, but only to listen to the clever speeches of the princess. Well, he liked her, and she liked him too.

Yes, yes, it's Kai! - said Gerda. - He's so smart! He knew all four operations of arithmetic, and even with fractions! Oh, take me to the palace!

“Easy to say,” answered the raven, “difficult to do.” 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 just like that? Why, they don’t really let girls like that in!

They'll let me in! - said Gerda. - When Kai hears that I’m here, he’ll immediately run after me.

“Wait for me here by the bars,” 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 bread. 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 footmen in gold will never let you through. But don't cry, you will still get there. My bride knows how to get into the princess's bedroom from the back door and where to get the key.

And so they entered the garden, walked along long alleys, where autumn leaves fell one after another, and when the lights in the palace went out, the raven led the girl through the half-open door.

Oh, how Gerda’s heart beat with fear and impatience! It was as if she was going to do something bad, but she only wanted to find out if her Kai was here! Yes, yes, he's probably here! Gerda so vividly imagined his intelligent eyes, long hair, and 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 to take for his sake, learns how everyone at home grieved for him! Oh, she was simply beside herself with fear and joy!

But here they are on the landing of the stairs. A lamp was burning on the closet, and a tame crow was sitting on the floor and looking around. Gerda sat down and bowed, as her grandmother taught her.

My fiance told me so many good things about you, young lady! - said the tame crow. - And your life is also very touching! Would you like to take the lamp, and I will go ahead? We will go straight, we will not meet anyone here.

“But it seems to me that someone is following us,” said Gerda, and at that very moment some shadows rushed past her with a slight noise: horses with flowing manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback.

These are dreams! - said the tame crow. - They come here so that the thoughts of high-ranking people are carried away to the hunt. All the better for us, it will be more convenient to see the sleeping people.

Then they entered the first hall, where the walls were covered with pink satin woven with flowers. Dreams flashed past the girl again, but so quickly that she did not have time to see the riders. One hall was more magnificent than the other, so there was something to be confused about. Finally they reached the bedroom. The ceiling resembled the top of a huge palm tree with precious crystal leaves; From the middle of it descended a thick golden stem, on which hung two beds in the shape 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 the dark blond back of her head. It's Kai! She called him by name loudly and brought the lamp right up to his face. The dreams rushed away noisily; The prince woke up and turned his head... Ah, it wasn’t Kai!

The prince resembled him only from the back of his head, but was just as young and handsome. The princess looked out of the white lily and asked what happened. Gerda began to cry and told her whole story, mentioning what the crows had done for her.

Oh, you poor thing! - said the prince and princess, praised the crows, declared that they were not at all angry with them - just let them not do this in the future - and even wanted to reward them.

Do you want to be free birds? - asked the princess. - Or do you want to take the position of court crows, fully supported from kitchen scraps?

The raven and crow bowed and asked for a position at court. They thought about old age and said:

It’s good to have a faithful piece of bread in your old age!

The prince stood up and gave up his bed to Gerda - there was nothing more he could do for her yet. And she folded her arms and thought: “How kind all people and animals are!” - closed her eyes and fell asleep sweetly. The dreams again flew into the bedroom, but now they were carrying Kai on a small sleigh, 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 they dressed her from head to toe in silk and velvet and allowed her to remain in the palace as long as she wished.

The girl could have lived happily ever after, but she only stayed for a few days and began to ask to be given a cart with a horse and a pair of shoes - she again wanted to go looking for her sworn brother around the world.

They gave her shoes, and a muff, and a wonderful dress, and when she said goodbye to everyone, a carriage made of pure gold drove up to the gate, with the coats of arms of the prince and princess shining like stars: the coachman, footmen, postilions - they gave her postilions too - small golden crowns adorned their heads.

The prince and princess themselves seated Gerda in the carriage and wished her a happy journey.

The forest raven, who had already gotten 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 been suffering from headaches since she received a position at court and ate too much. The carriage was chock full of sugar pretzels, and the box under the seat was filled with fruit and gingerbread.

Goodbye! Goodbye! - the prince and princess shouted.

Gerda began to cry, and so did the crow. Three miles later I said goodbye to the girl and the crow. It was a hard parting! The raven flew up a tree and flapped its black wings until the carriage, shining like the sun, disappeared from sight.

Story five - Little robber

So Gerda rode into a dark forest in which robbers lived; the carriage burned like heat, it hurt the robbers' eyes, and they simply could not stand it.

Gold! Gold! - they shouted, grabbing the horses by the bridles, killing the little postilions, coachman and servants and dragging Gerda out of the carriage.

Look, what a nice, fat little thing! Fattened with nuts! - said the old robber woman with a long, rough beard and shaggy, overhanging eyebrows. - Fatty, like your lamb! Well, what will it taste like?

And she pulled out a sharp sparkling knife. Horrible!

Ay! - she suddenly cried out: she was bitten on the ear by her own daughter, who was sitting behind her and was so unbridled and willful that it was simply pleasant. - 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 will sleep with me in my bed.

And the girl again bit her mother so hard that she jumped and spun around in place. The robbers laughed.

Look how he dances with his girl!

I want to go to the carriage! - shouted the little robber and insisted on her own - she was terribly spoiled and stubborn.

They got into the carriage with Gerda and rushed over stumps and hummocks into the thicket of the forest.

The little robber was as tall as Gerda, 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 unless I'm angry with you. You're a princess, right?

“No,” the girl answered and told what she had to experience and how she loves Kai.

The little robber looked at her seriously, nodded 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 hands in her pretty, soft, warm muff.

The carriage stopped: they entered the courtyard of a robber's castle.

It was covered in huge cracks; crows and ravens flew out of them. Huge bulldogs jumped out from somewhere, it seemed that each of them was in no mood to swallow a person, but they only jumped high and did not even bark - this was forbidden. In the middle of a huge hall with dilapidated, soot-covered walls and a stone floor, a fire was blazing. 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 spits.

“You will sleep with me here, near my little menagerie,” the little robber said to Gerda.

The girls were fed and watered, and they went to their corner, where straw was laid out and covered with carpets. Higher up there were more than a hundred pigeons sitting on perches. They all seemed to be asleep, but when the girls approached, they stirred slightly.

All mine! - said the little robber, grabbed one of the pigeons by the legs and shook it so much that it beat its wings. - Here, kiss him! - she shouted and poked the dove right in Gerda’s face. “And here are the forest rogues sitting,” she continued, pointing to two pigeons sitting in a small recess in the wall, behind a wooden lattice. - These two are forest rogues. They must be kept locked up, otherwise they will fly away quickly! And here is my dear old man! - And the girl pulled the antlers of a reindeer tied to the wall in a shiny copper collar. - He also needs to be kept on a leash, otherwise he will run away! Every evening I tickle him under the neck with my sharp knife - he is scared to death of it.

With these words, the little robber pulled out a long knife from a crevice in the wall and ran it across the deer’s neck. The poor animal kicked, and the girl laughed and dragged Gerda to the bed.

Do you really sleep with a knife? - Gerda asked her.

Always! - answered the little robber. - You never know what can happen! Well, tell me again about Kai and how you set off to wander the world.

Gerda told. The wood pigeons in the cage cooed softly; the other pigeons were already sleeping. 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 leave her alive. Suddenly the forest pigeons cooed:

Kurr! Kurr! We saw Kai! The white hen carried his sleigh on her back, and he sat in the Snow Queen's sleigh. They flew over the forest when we, the chicks, were still lying in the nest. She breathed on us, and everyone died except the two of us. Kurr! Kurr!

What. you speak! - Gerda exclaimed. -Where did the Snow Queen fly to? Do you know?

Probably to Lapland - after all, there is eternal snow and ice there. Ask the reindeer what's tied up here.

Yes, there is eternal snow and ice. Miracle how good! - said the reindeer. - There you jump in freedom across huge sparkling plains. The Snow Queen's summer tent is pitched there, and her permanent palaces are at the North Pole, on the island of Spitsbergen.

Oh Kai, my dear Kai! - Gerda sighed.

“Lie still,” said the little robber. - Otherwise I’ll stab you with a knife!

In the morning Gerda told her what she had heard from the wood pigeons. The little robber 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 would know if not me! - answered the deer, and his eyes sparkled. “That’s where I was born and raised, where I jumped across the snowy plains.”

“So listen,” the little robber told Gerda. - You see, all our people are gone, there’s only one mother at home;

a little later she will take a sip from the big bottle and take a nap, then I will do something for you.

And so the old woman took a sip from her bottle and began to snore, and the little robber approached the reindeer and said:

We could still make fun of you for a long time! You're really funny when they tickle you with a sharp knife. Well, so be it! I will untie you and set you free. You can run to your Lapland, but for this you must take this girl to the palace of the Snow Queen - her sworn brother is there. You, of course, heard what she was saying? She spoke loudly, and your ears are always on top of your head.

The reindeer jumped for joy. And the little robber put Gerda on it, tied her tightly to be sure, and even slipped a soft pillow under her so that she could sit more comfortably.

So be it,” she then said, “take back your fur boots - it will be cold!” But I’ll keep the muff, it’s too good. But I won’t let you freeze: here are my mother’s huge mittens, they will reach your very elbows. Put your hands in them! Well, now you have hands like my ugly mother.

Gerda cried with joy.

I can't stand it when they whine! - said the little robber. - Now you should be happy. Here's two more loaves of bread and a ham so you don't have to starve.

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, it's alive! Yes, take care of the girl. Gerda extended both hands in huge mittens to the little robber and said goodbye to her. The reindeer set off at full speed through stumps and hummocks through the forest, through swamps and steppes. Wolves howled, crows cawed.

Ugh! Ugh! - was suddenly heard from the sky, and it seemed to sneeze like fire.

Here is my native northern lights! - said the deer. - Look how it burns.
And he ran on, not stopping either day or night. The bread was eaten, the ham too, and now they found themselves in Lapland.

Story six - Lapland and Finn

The deer stopped at a miserable shack. The roof went down to the ground, and the door was so low that people had to crawl through it on all fours.

There was an old Laplander woman at home, 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 much more important to him.

Gerda was so numb from the cold that she could not speak.

Oh you poor things! - said the Laplander. - You still have a long way to go! You'll have to travel more than a hundred miles until you get to Finland, 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 a message to the Finnish woman who lives in those places and will be able to teach you better than me what to do.

When Gerda had warmed up, eaten and drunk, the Laplander wrote a few words on the dried cod, told Gerda to take good care of it, then tied the girl to the back of the deer, and it rushed off again.

Ugh! Ugh! - it was heard again from the sky, and it began to throw out columns of wonderful blue flame. So the deer ran with Gerda to Finland and knocked on the Finnish woman’s chimney - she didn’t even have a door.

Well, it was hot in her home! The Finnish woman herself, a short, fat woman, walked around half naked. She quickly pulled off Gerda's dress, mittens and boots, otherwise the girl would have been hot, 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 had it memorized, and then she put the cod in the cauldron - after all, the fish was good for food, and the Finnish woman did not waste anything.

Here the deer first told his story, and then the story of Gerda. The Finnish woman blinked her intelligent eyes, but did not say a word.

You are such a wise woman... - said the deer. “Will you make a drink for the girl that would give her the strength of twelve heroes?” Then she would have defeated the Snow Queen!

The strength of twelve heroes! - said the Finnish woman. - But what good is that?

With these words, she took a large leather scroll from the shelf and unfolded it: it was covered with some amazing writing.

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 actually with the Snow Queen, but he is quite happy and thinks that he couldn’t 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 the Snow Queen will retain her power over him.

Can't you give Gerda something that will make her stronger than everyone else?

I can't make her stronger than she is. 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 is not us who should borrow her strength, her strength is in her heart, in the fact that she is an innocent, sweet child. If she herself cannot penetrate the palace of the Snow Queen and remove the fragment from Kai’s heart, then we will certainly not help her! Two miles from here the Snow Queen's garden begins. Take the girl there, drop her off near a large bush sprinkled with red berries, and come back without hesitation.

With these words, the Finnish woman put Gerda on the back of the deer, and he began to run as fast as he could.

Hey, I'm without warm boots! Hey, I'm not wearing gloves! - Gerda shouted, finding herself in the cold.

But the deer did not dare to stop until it reached a bush with red berries. Then he lowered the girl, kissed her on the lips, and large shiny tears rolled down his cheeks. 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 was rushing towards her, but they did not fall from the sky - the sky was completely clear, and the northern lights were blazing in it - no, they ran along the ground straight towards Gerda and became larger and larger.

Gerda remembered the big beautiful flakes under the magnifying glass, but these were much bigger, scarier, and all alive.

These were the advance patrol troops of the Snow Queen.

Some resembled large ugly hedgehogs, others - hundred-headed snakes, others - fat bear cubs with tousled fur. But they all sparkled equally with whiteness, they were all living snow flakes.

However, Gerda boldly walked forward and forward and finally reached the palace of the Snow Queen.
Let's see what happened to Kai at that time. He didn’t even think about Gerda, and least of all about the fact that she was so close to him.

Story seven - What happened in the halls of the Snow Queen and what happened then

The walls of the palaces were blizzards, the windows and doors were violent winds. More than a hundred halls stretched here one after another as the blizzard swept them. All of them were illuminated by the northern lights, and the largest one extended for many, many miles. How cold, how deserted it was in these white, brightly sparkling palaces! Fun never came here. Bear balls with dances to the music of the storm have never been held here, at which polar bears could distinguish themselves by their grace and ability to walk on their hind legs; Card games with quarrels and fights were never drawn up, and little white vixen gossips never met to talk over a cup of coffee.

Cold, deserted, grandiose! The northern lights flashed and burned so correctly that it was possible to accurately calculate at what minute the light would intensify and at what moment it would darken. In the middle of the largest deserted snowy hall there was a frozen lake. The ice cracked on him into thousands of pieces, so identical and regular that it seemed like some kind of trick. The Snow Queen sat in the middle of the lake when she was at home, saying that she sat on the mirror of the mind; in her opinion, it was the only and best mirror in the world.

Kai turned completely blue, almost blackened from the cold, but did not notice it - the kisses of the Snow Queen made him insensitive to the cold, and his very heart was like a piece of ice. Kai tinkered with the flat, pointed ice floes, arranging them in all sorts of ways. There is such a game - folding figures from wooden planks - which is called Chinese puzzle. So Kai also put together various intricate figures, only from ice floes, and this was called an ice mind game. In his eyes, these figures were a miracle of art, and folding them was an activity of paramount importance. This happened because there was a piece of a magic mirror in his eye.

He also put together figures from which whole words were obtained, but he could not put together what he especially wanted - the word “eternity”. The Snow Queen told him: “If you put this word together, you will be your own master, and I will give you the whole world and a pair of new skates.” But he couldn't put it together.

Now I’ll fly to warmer lands,” said the Snow Queen. - I'll look into the black cauldrons.

This is what she called the craters of the fire-breathing mountains - Etna and Vesuvius.

I'll whiten them a little. It's good for lemons and grapes.

She flew away, and Kai was left alone in the vast deserted hall, looking at the ice floes and thinking and thinking, so that his head was cracking. He sat in place, so pale, motionless, as if lifeless. You would have thought that he was completely frozen.

At that time, Gerda entered the huge gate, which was filled with violent winds. And before her the winds subsided, as if they had fallen asleep. She entered a huge deserted ice hall and saw Kai. She 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 as motionless and cold. And then Gerda began to cry; Her hot tears fell on his chest, penetrated his heart, melted the icy crust, melted the fragment. Kai looked at Gerda and suddenly burst into tears and cried so hard that the splinter flowed out of his eye along with the tears. Then he recognized Gerda and was delighted:

Gerda! Dear Gerda!.. Where have you been for so long? Where was I myself? - And he looked around. - How cold and deserted it is here!

And he pressed himself tightly to Gerda. And she laughed and cried with joy. And it was so wonderful that even the ice floes began to dance, and when they were tired, they lay down and composed the very word that the Snow Queen asked Kaya to compose. By folding it, he could become his own master and even receive from her the gift of the whole world and a pair of new skates.

Gerda kissed Kai on both cheeks, and they again began to glow like roses; she kissed his eyes and they sparkled; She kissed his hands and feet, and he again became vigorous and healthy.

The Snow Queen could return at any time - his vacation pay lay here, written in shiny icy letters.

Kai and Gerda walked out of the icy palaces hand in hand. They walked and talked about their grandmother, about the roses that bloomed in their garden, and in front of them the violent winds died down and the sun peeked through. And when they reached a bush with red berries, a reindeer was already waiting for them.

Kai and Gerda went first to the Finnish woman, warmed up with her and found out the way home, and then to the Laplander woman. She sewed them a new dress, repaired her sleigh and went to see them off.

The deer also accompanied the young travelers right up to the very border of Lapland, where the first greenery was already breaking through. Then Kai and Gerda said goodbye to him and the Laplander.

Here is the forest in front of them. The first birds began to sing, the trees were covered with green buds. A young girl in a bright red cap with pistols 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 also recognized Gerda. What a joy!

Look, you tramp! - she said to Kai. “I would like to know whether you are worth having people run after you to the ends of the earth?”

But Gerda patted her on the cheek and asked about the prince and princess.

“They left for foreign lands,” answered the young robber.

And the raven? - asked Gerda.

The forest raven died; The tame crow was left a widow, walks around with black hair on her leg and complains about her fate. But all this is nonsense, but tell me better what happened to you and how you found him.

Gerda and Kai told her everything.

Well, that's the end of the fairy tale! - said the young robber, shook their hands and promised to visit them if she ever came to their city.

Then she went her way, and Kai and Gerda went theirs.

They walked, and on their way spring flowers bloomed and the grass turned green. Then the bells rang, and they recognized the bell towers of their hometown. They climbed the familiar stairs and entered a room where everything was as before: the clock said “tick-tock”, the hands moved along the dial. But, passing through the low door, they noticed that they had become quite adults. Blooming rose bushes peered from the roof through the open window; their children's chairs stood right there. Kai and Gerda each sat down on their own, took each other's hands, and the cold, deserted splendor of the Snow Queen's palace was forgotten like a heavy dream.

Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber - Russian folk tale

The tale of how the glorious hero Ilya Muromets caught the Nightingale the Robber and brought him to Prince Vladimir in the city of Kyiv... Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber read Ilya Muromets gallops at full speed. His horse...

Andersen's tales

Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is one of the best and most famous fairy tales of all time. The plot of this fairy tale formed the basis of many animated and feature films and performances. The name “Snow Queen” itself has long become a household name. The fairy tale about Kai, Gerda and the Snow Queen is very popular. It tells about the adventures of two little children who were friends, their names were Kai and Gerda. An evil troll created a magic mirror that distorted everything good into something incredibly bad. At first the troll looked at the reflections of all the people in this mirror and laughed evilly, and then he thought of looking at the sky in this mirror. But the mirror crashed at a high altitude and scattered a huge number of fragments all over the world. Whoever got this devilish fragment into his eye or heart immediately began to see and feel everything distorted and very negatively. Little Kai received 2 fragments from this mirror - in his eye and heart. And then Kai was kidnapped by the Snow Queen and taken to her castle in Lapland. His friend Gerda walked half the world in search of her beloved Kai, going through many different tests and adventures. Still, Gerda managed to find the Snow Queen’s castle and drag Kai away from there, pitying him with their common favorite song. Kai shed tears, washed away the fragment of the devil's mirror with tears, and he and Gerda fled from the Snow Queen's castle.

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Story one.

Which talks about the mirror and its fragments

Let's start! When we get to the end of our story, we will know more than we do now.

So, once upon a time there lived a troll, an evil, despicable one - it was the devil himself. One day he was in a great mood: he made a mirror that had an amazing property. Everything good and beautiful, reflected in him, almost disappeared, but everything insignificant and disgusting was especially striking and became even uglier. Wonderful landscapes seemed like boiled spinach in this mirror, and the best of people looked like freaks; it seemed as if they were standing upside down, without bellies, and their faces were so distorted that they could not be recognized.

If someone had a single freckle on their face, that person could be sure that in the mirror it would blur all over their nose or mouth. The devil was terribly amused by all this. When a good, pious thought came into a person’s head, the mirror immediately made a face, and the troll laughed, rejoicing at his funny invention. All the troll's students - and he had his own school - said that a miracle had happened.

“Only now,” they said, “can you see the world and people as they really are.”

They carried the mirror everywhere, and in the end there was not a single country and not a single person left that would not be reflected in it in a distorted form. And so they wanted to get to heaven to laugh at the angels and at the Lord God. The higher they rose, the more the mirror grimaced and distorted; It was difficult for them to hold him: they flew higher and higher, closer and closer to God and the angels; but suddenly the mirror became so warped and trembled that it tore out of their hands and flew to the ground, where it shattered. Millions, billions, countless fragments did much more damage than the mirror itself. Some of them, the size of a grain of sand, scattered throughout the world and sometimes got into people’s eyes; they remained there, and from then on people saw everything topsy-turvy or noticed only the bad sides in everything: the fact is that each tiny fragment had the same power as a mirror. For some people, the fragments went straight to the heart - this was the worst thing - the heart turned into a piece of ice. There were also fragments so large that they could be inserted into the window frame, but it was not worth looking through these windows at your friends. Some fragments were inserted into glasses, but as soon as people put them on to take a good look at everything and make a fair judgment, trouble happened. And the evil troll laughed until his stomach hurt, as if he was being tickled. And many fragments of the mirror were still flying around the world. Let's listen to what happened next!

Story two

Boy and girl

In a big city, where there are so many people and houses that not everyone manages to set up a small garden and where therefore many have to be content with indoor flowers, there lived two poor children whose garden was slightly larger than a flower pot. They were not brother and sister, but they loved each other like family. Their parents lived next door, right under the roof - in the attics of two adjacent houses. The roofs of the houses almost touched, and under the ledges there was a drainage gutter - that’s where the windows of both rooms looked out. All you had to do was step over the gutter and you could immediately get through the window to your neighbors.

My parents had a large wooden box under their windows; In them they grew greens and roots, and in each box there was a small rose bush, these bushes grew wonderfully. So the parents came up with the idea to place the boxes across the groove; they stretched from one window to another, like two flower beds. Pea tendrils hung from the boxes like green garlands; More and more shoots appeared on the rose bushes: they framed the windows and intertwined - it all looked like a triumphal arch of leaves and flowers.

The boxes were very high, and the children knew very well that they could not climb on them, so their parents often allowed them to visit each other along the gutter and sit on a bench under the roses. How fun they played there!

But in winter the children were deprived of this pleasure. The windows were often completely frozen, but the kids heated copper coins on the stove and applied them to the frozen glass - the ice quickly thawed, and they got a wonderful window, so round, round - a cheerful, affectionate eye was shown in it, this was a boy and a girl looking out of their windows . His name was Kai, and hers was Gerda. In the summer they could find themselves at each other's side in one jump, but in the winter they had to first go down many steps and then climb up the same number of steps! And a blizzard was raging outside.

“It’s white bees swarming,” said the old grandmother.

Do they have a queen? - asked the boy, because he knew that real bees have it.

“Yes,” answered the grandmother. - The queen flies where the snow swarm is thickest; she is larger than all the snowflakes and never lies on the ground for a long time, but again flies away with a black cloud. Sometimes at midnight she flies through the streets of the city and looks into the windows - then they are covered with wonderful ice patterns, like flowers.

“We saw, we saw,” the children said and believed that all this was true.

Maybe the Snow Queen will come to us? - asked the girl.

Just let him try! - said the boy. “I’ll put her on a hot stove and she’ll melt.”

But the grandmother stroked his head and started talking about something else.

In the evening, when Kai returned home and was almost undressed, preparing to go to bed, he climbed onto a bench by the window and looked into the round hole in the place where the ice had thawed. Snowflakes fluttered outside the window; one of them, the largest, sank to the edge of the flower box. The snowflake grew and grew until, finally, she turned into a tall woman, wrapped in the thinnest white blanket; it seemed to be woven from millions of snow stars. This woman, so beautiful and majestic, was all made of ice, made of dazzling, sparkling ice - and yet alive; her eyes shone like two clear stars, but there was neither warmth nor peace in them. She leaned towards the window, nodded to the boy and beckoned him with her hand. The boy got scared and jumped off the bench, and something like a huge bird flashed past the window.

The next day there was a glorious frost, but then a thaw began, and then spring came. The sun was shining, the first greenery was peeking through, swallows were building nests under the roof, the windows were wide open, and the children were again sitting in their tiny garden by the gutter high above the ground.

The roses bloomed especially magnificently that summer; the girl learned a psalm that spoke of roses, and while humming it, she thought about her roses. She sang this psalm to the boy, and he began to sing along with her:

Roses are blooming in the valleys. . . Beauty!
Soon we will see the baby Christ.

Holding hands, the children sang, kissed the roses, looked at the clear glare of the sun and talked to them - in this radiance they imagined the baby Christ himself. How beautiful these summer days were, how nice it was to sit next to each other under the bushes of fragrant roses - it seemed that they would never stop blooming.

Kai and Gerda sat and looked at a book with pictures - various animals and birds. And suddenly, just as the tower clock struck five, Kai cried out:

-I was stabbed right in the heart! And now there's something in my eye! The girl wrapped her arms around his neck. Kai blinked his eyes; no, nothing was visible.

“It probably jumped out,” he said; but that's the point, it didn't pop up. It was just a tiny fragment of the devil's mirror; after all, we, of course, remember this terrible glass, reflected in which everything great and good seemed insignificant and disgusting, and the evil and bad stood out even more sharply, and every flaw immediately caught the eye. A tiny fragment hit Kai right in the heart. Now it had to "turn into a piece of ice. The pain went away, but the fragment remained.

-Why are you whining? - asked Kai. - How ugly you are now! It doesn't hurt me at all! . . . Ugh! - he suddenly shouted. - This rose is being eaten away by a worm! Look, she’s completely crooked! What ugly roses! No better than the boxes they stick out in!

And suddenly he pushed the box with his foot and tore off both roses.

Kai! What are you doing? - the girl screamed.

Seeing how scared she was, Kai broke another branch and ran away from sweet little Gerda out his window.

After that, if the girl brought him a book with pictures, he said that these pictures were only good for babies; every time my grandmother said something, he interrupted her and found fault with her words; and sometimes it came over him that he would imitate her gait, put on glasses and imitate her voice. It turned out very similar, and people roared with laughter. Soon the boy learned to imitate all his neighbors. He so cleverly exposed all their oddities and shortcomings that people were amazed:

-What kind of head does this little boy have!

And the reason for everything was a fragment of a mirror that hit him in the eye, and then in the heart. That is why he even imitated little Gerda, who loved him with all her soul.

And now Kai played completely differently - too intricately. One day in winter, when it was snowing, he came with a large magnifying glass and held the hem of his blue coat under the falling snow.

-Look into the glass, Ger yes! - he said. Each snowflake magnified many times under the glass and looked like a luxurious flower or a ten-pointed star. It was very beautiful.

-Look how skillfully it’s done! - Kai said. - This is much more interesting than real flowers. And what accuracy! Not a single crooked line. Oh, if only they didn't melt!

A little later Kai came in with big mittens, with a sled on his back, and shouted in Gerda’s ear:

I was allowed to ride in a large area with other boys! - And running.

There were a lot of children skating in the square. The bravest boys tied their sleds to peasant sleighs and rode quite far. The fun was in full swing. At its height, large white sleighs appeared on the square; sitting in them was a man wrapped in a fluffy, white fur coat, with the same hat on his head. The sleigh drove around the square twice, Kai quickly tied his small sled to it and rolled off. The large sleigh rushed faster and soon turned out of the square into lane. The one who was sitting in them turned around and nodded welcomingly to Kai, as if they had known each other for a long time. Every time Kai wanted to untie the sled, the rider in the white fur coat nodded to him, and the boy drove on. Suddenly thick flakes fell down, so that the boy could not see anything one step ahead of him, and the sleigh kept rushing and rushing.

The boy tried to throw off the rope that he had caught on the large sled. This did not help: his sled seemed to have grown to the sleigh and was still rushing like a whirlwind. Kai shouted loudly, but no one heard him. The snowstorm was raging, and the sleigh was still racing, diving in the snowdrifts; they seemed to jump over hedges and ditches. Kai was trembling with fear, he wanted to read “Our Father,” but only the multiplication table was spinning in his mind.

The snow flakes grew and grew, and finally they turned into large white chickens. Suddenly the chickens scattered in all directions, the large sleigh stopped, and the man sitting in it stood up. She was a tall, slender, dazzlingly white woman - the Snow Queen; both the fur coat and the hat she was wearing were made of snow.

-Nice ride! - she said. - Wow, what a frost! Come on, crawl under my bear fur coat!

She placed the boy next to her on a large sleigh and wrapped him in her fur coat; Kai seemed to have fallen into a snowdrift.

-Are you still cold? - she asked and kissed his forehead. Uh! Her kiss was colder than ice, it pierced right through him and reached his very heart, and it was already half icy. For a moment it seemed to Kai that he was about to die, but then he felt good and no longer felt the cold.

-My sled! Don't forget about my sled! - the boy caught himself. The sled was tied to the back of one of the white hens, and she flew with it after the large sleigh. The Snow Queen kissed Kai again, and he forgot both little Gerda and grandmother, everyone who was left at home.

“I won’t kiss you again,” she said. - Otherwise I’ll kiss you to death!

Kai looked at her, she was so pretty! He could not imagine a more intelligent, more charming face. Now she didn’t seem icy to him, like that time when she sat outside the window and nodded to him. In his eyes, she was perfection. Kai no longer felt fear and told her that he could count in his head and even knew fractions, and also knew how many square miles and inhabitants there were in each country... And the Snow Queen just smiled. And it seemed to Kai that he, in fact, knew so little, and he fixed his gaze on the endless airy space. The Snow Queen picked up the boy and soared with him onto the black cloud.

The storm cried and moaned, as if singing ancient songs. Kai and the Snow Queen flew over forests and lakes, over seas and land. Cold winds whistled beneath them, wolves howled, snow sparkled, and black crows circled screaming overhead; but high above there 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.

Story three

Flower garden of a woman who knew how to cast magic

What happened to little Gerda after Kai did not return? Where did he go? No one knew this, no one could tell anything about him. The boys only said that they saw him tie his sled to a large, magnificent sleigh, which then turned into another street and sped out of the city gates. Nobody knew where he went. Many tears were shed: little Gerda cried bitterly and for a long time. Finally, everyone decided that Kai was no longer alive: maybe he drowned in the river that flowed near the city. Oh, how these dark winter days dragged on! But then spring came, the sun shone.

“Kai is dead, he won’t come back again,” said little Gerda.

I don't believe it! - objected the sunlight.

He died and won't come back! - she said to the swallows.

We don't believe it! - they answered, and, finally, Gerda herself stopped believing it.

“Let me put on my new red shoes,” she said one morning. - Kai has never seen them before. And then I’ll go down to the river and ask about him.

It was still very early. The girl kissed her sleeping grandmother, put on her red shoes, walked out the gate alone and went down to the river:

-Is it true that you took my little friend? I'll give you my red shoes if you return it to me.

And the girl felt as if the waves were nodding at her in a strange way; then she took off her red shoes - the most expensive thing she had - and threw them into the river; but she could not throw them far, and the waves immediately carried the shoes back to the shore - apparently, the river did not want to take her treasure, since she did not have little Kai. But Gerda thought that she had thrown her shoes too close, so she jumped into the boat, which was lying on a sandbank, walked to the very edge of the stern and threw the shoes into the water. The boat was not tied down and slid into the water due to a sharp push. Gerda noticed this and decided to quickly get ashore, but while she was making her way back to the bow, the boat sailed a fathom from the shore and rushed downstream. Gerda was very frightened and began to cry, but no one except the sparrows heard her; and the sparrows could not carry her to land, but they flew along the shore and chirped, as if they wanted to console her:

-We are here! We are here!

The stream carried the boat further and further, Gerda sat very quietly in only her stockings - her red shoes floated behind the boat, but they could not catch up with her: the boat was sailing much faster.

The banks of the river were very beautiful: ancient trees grew everywhere, wonderful flowers were colorful, sheep and cows grazed on the slopes, but no people were visible anywhere.

“Perhaps the river is carrying me straight to Kai?” - thought Gerda. She became cheerful, stood up and admired the picturesque green shores for a long, long time; the boat sailed to a large cherry orchard, in which a small house with wonderful red and blue windows and a thatched roof stood in front of the house and gave away. guns to everyone who sailed past. Gerda thought that they were alive and called out to them, but the soldiers, of course, did not answer her; the boat sailed even closer - it came almost close to the shore.

The girl screamed even louder, and then a decrepit, pre-decrepit old woman in a wide-brimmed straw hat, painted with wonderful flowers, came out of the house, leaning on a stick.

-Oh, you poor thing! - said the old lady. - How did you end up on such a big, fast river, and even swim so far?

Then the old woman entered the water, picked up the boat with her hook, pulled it to the shore and landed Gerda.

The girl was very happy that she had finally made it to the shore, although she was a little afraid of the unfamiliar old woman.

Well, let's go; “tell me who you are and how you got here,” said the old woman.

Gerda began to talk about everything that had happened to her, and the old woman shook her head and said: “Hm! Hm!” But then Gerda finished and asked her if she had seen little Kai. The old woman replied that he had not passed here yet, but that he would probably come here soon, so the girl had no need to grieve - let him taste her cherries and look at the flowers that were growing. in the garden; these flowers are more beautiful than any picture books, and each flower tells its own story. Then the old woman took Gerda by the hand, took her to her house and locked the door.

The windows in the house were high from the floor and all made of different glasses: red, blue and yellow - so the whole room was illuminated with some amazing rainbow light. There were wonderful cherries on the table, and the old woman allowed Gerda to eat as much as she liked. And while the girl was eating, the old woman combed her hair with a golden comb; it shone like gold and curled so wonderfully around her tender face, round and rosy, like a rose.

-I have long wanted to have such a cute girl! - said the old lady. - You'll see how nicely you and I will live!

And the longer she combed Gerda’s hair, the faster Gerda forgot her sworn brother Kai: after all, this old woman knew how to cast spells. But she was not an evil sorceress and cast spells only occasionally, for her own pleasure; and now she really wanted little Gerda to stay with her. And so she went into the garden, waved her stick over each rose bush, and as they stood in bloom, they all sank deep into the ground - and there was no trace of them left. The old woman was afraid that when Gerda saw the roses, she would remember her own, and then Kai’s, and run away.

Having done her job, the old woman took Gerda to the flower garden. Oh, how beautiful it was there, how fragrant the flowers were! All the flowers in the world, from all seasons, bloomed magnificently in this garden; no picture book could be more colorful and beautiful than this flower garden. Gerda jumped for joy and played among the flowers until the sun disappeared behind the tall cherry trees. Then they put her in a wonderful bed with red silk feather-beds, and those feather-beds were stuffed with blue violets; the girl fell asleep and had such wonderful dreams that only the queen sees on her wedding day.

The next day Gerda was again allowed to play in the sun in the wonderful flower garden. Many days passed like this. Gerda now knew every flower, but even though there were so many of them, it still seemed to her that some flower was missing; just which one? One day she sat and looked at an old woman’s straw hat, painted with flowers, and among them the most beautiful was a rose. The old woman forgot to wipe it off her hat when she enchanted the living roses and hid them underground. This is what absent-mindedness can lead to!

-How! Are there any roses here? - Gerda exclaimed and ran to look for them in the flowerbeds. I searched and searched, but never found it.

Then the girl sank to the ground and began to cry. But her hot tears fell exactly on the place where the rose bush was hidden, and as soon as they wet the ground, it instantly appeared in the flowerbed as blooming as before. Gerda wrapped her arms around him and began to kiss the roses; Then she remembered those wonderful roses that bloomed at home, and then about Kai.

-How I hesitated! - said the girl. - After all, I need to look for Kai! You don't know where he is? - she asked the roses. - Do you believe that he is not alive?

-No, he didn't die! - answered the roses. - We visited the underground, where all the dead lie, but Kai is not among them.

Thank you! - said Gerda and went to other flowers. She looked into their cups and asked:

Do you know where Kai is?

But each flower basked in the sun and dreamed only of its own fairy tale or story; Gerda listened to a lot of them, but none of the flowers said a word about Kai.

What did the fire lily tell her?

Can you hear the drum beating? "Boom Boom!". The sounds are very monotonous, only two tones: “Boom!”, “Boom!”. Listen to the mournful singing of women! Listen to the screams of the priests... In a long scarlet robe, an Indian widow stands at the stake. Tongues of flame engulf her and the body of her deceased husband, but the woman thinks about the living person who is standing right there - about the one whose eyes burn brighter than the flame, whose gaze burns the heart hotter than the fire that is about to incinerate her body. Can the flame of the heart go out in the flames of the fire!

-I don’t understand anything! - said Gerda.

This is my fairy tale,” explained the fire lily. What did the bindweed say?

An ancient knight's castle rises above the rocks. A narrow mountain path leads to it. The old red walls are covered with thick ivy, its leaves cling to each other, the ivy wraps around the balcony; A lovely girl is standing on the balcony. She leans over the railing and looks down at the path: not a single rose can compare with her in freshness; and the blossom of the apple tree, plucked by a gust of wind, does not tremble as she does. How her marvelous silk dress rustles! “Won’t he really come?”

-Are you talking about Kai? - asked Gerda.

I talk about my dreams! “This is my fairy tale,” answered the bindweed. What did the little snowdrop say?

Between the trees there is a long board hanging on thick ropes - this is a swing. There are two little girls standing on them; their dresses are white as snow, and their hats have long green silk ribbons that flutter in the wind. A little brother, older than them, is standing on a swing, with his hand wrapped around the rope so as not to fall; in one hand he has a cup of water, and in the other a straw - he blows soap bubbles; the swing swings, bubbles fly through the air and shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. The last bubble still hangs at the end of the tube and sways in the wind. A black dog, as light as a soap bubble, stands up on its hind legs and wants to jump onto the swing: but the swing flies up, the little dog falls, gets angry and yelps: the children tease her, the bubbles burst... A rocking board, soap foam flying through the air - there my song!

-Well, she is very sweet, but you say all this in such a sad voice! And again, not a word about Kai! What did the hyacinths say?

-Once upon a time there lived three sisters, slender, ethereal beauties. One was wearing a red dress, another was blue, and the third was completely white. Holding hands, they danced by the quiet lake in the clear moonlight. These were not elves, but real living girls. A sweet aroma filled the air, and the girls disappeared into the forest. But then the smell was even stronger, even sweeter - three coffins floated out of the forest onto the lake. There were girls lying in them; fireflies circled in the air like tiny flickering lights. Are the young dancers sleeping or dead? The scent of flowers says they are dead. The evening bell rings for the dead!

“You really upset me,” said Gerda. - You smell so strong too. Now I can't get the dead girls out of my head! Is Kai really dead too? But the roses have been underground, and they say that he is not there.

-Ding-dong! - the hyacinth bells rang. - We didn’t call over Kai. We don't even know him. We sing our own song.

Gerda approached the buttercup, which was sitting among the shiny green leaves.

Little clear sun! - said Gerda. - Tell me, do you know where I can look for my little friend?

Dandelion beamed even brighter and looked at Gerda. What song did the buttercup sing? But in this song there was not a word about Kai!

-It was the first spring day, the sun was shining welcomingly on the small courtyard and warming the earth. Its rays slid along the white wall of the neighboring house. The first yellow flowers bloomed near the wall, as if they were golden in the sun; the old grandmother was sitting in her chair in the yard;Her granddaughter, the poor, lovely maid, returned home from visiting. She kissed her grandmother; kissing her is pure gold, it comes straight from the heart. Gold on the lips, gold in the heart, gold in the sky in the morning. Here it is, my little story! - said buttercup.

-My poor grandmother! - Gerda sighed. - She, of course, yearns and suffers because of me; how she grieved for Kai! But I will return home soon with Kai. There is no need to ask the flowers any more, they know nothing except their own songs - anyway, they will not advise me anything.

And she tied her dress higher to make it easier to run. But when Gerda wanted to jump over the daffodil, he hit her on the leg. The girl stopped, looked at the long yellow flower and asked:

-Maybe you know something?

And she leaned over the daffodil, waiting for an answer.

What did the narcissist say?

I see myself! I see myself! Oh, how I smell! High under the roof, in a small closet, stands a half-dressed dancer. She sometimes stands on one leg, sometimes on both, she tramples the whole world - after all, she is just an optical illusion. Here she is pouring water from a kettle onto a piece of cloth she is holding in her hands. This is her corsage. Cleanliness is the best beauty! A white dress hangs on a nail driven into the wall; it was also washed with water from the kettle and dried on the roof. Here the girl gets dressed and ties a bright yellow scarf around her neck, and it sets off the whiteness of the dress even more sharply. One foot in the air again! Look how straight she hangs on the other, like a flower on its stem! I see myself in her! I see myself in her!

-What do I care about all this! - said Gerda. - There’s nothing to tell me about this!

And she ran to the end of the garden. The gate was locked, but Gerda loosened the rusty bolt for so long that it gave in, the gate swung open, and the girl ran barefoot along the road. She looked around three times, but no one was chasing her. Finally, she got tired, sat down on a large stone and looked around: summer had already passed, late autumn had arrived. This was not noticeable to the old woman in the magic garden, because the sun was shining there all the time and flowers of all seasons were blooming.

-God! “How I hesitated!” said Gerda. - It’s already autumn! No, I can't rest!

Oh, how her tired legs ached! How unfriendly and cold it was around! The long leaves on the willows had completely turned yellow, and dew was dripping from them in large drops. The leaves fell to the ground one after another. There were only berries left on the thorn bushes, but they were so astringent and tart.

Oh, how gray and dull the whole world seemed!

Fourth story

Prince and Princess

Gerda had to sit down and rest again. A large raven was jumping in the snow right in front of her; He looked at the girl for a long, long time, nodding his head, and finally said:

-Karr-karr! Good afternoon!

The raven couldn’t speak better, but with all his heart he wished the girl well and asked her where she was wandering around the world alone. Gerda understood the word “alone” well, she felt what it meant. So she told the raven about her life and asked if he had seen Kai.

The raven shook his head thoughtfully and croaked:

Very likely! Very likely!

How? Is it true? - the girl exclaimed; She showered the raven with kisses and hugged him so tightly that she almost strangled him.

-Be reasonable, be reasonable! - said the raven. - I think it was Kai! But he probably completely forgot about you because of his princess!

-Does he live with the princess? - asked Gerda.

Yes, listen! - said the raven. - It’s just terribly difficult for me to speak human language. Now, if you understood crow, I would tell you everything much better!
“No, I didn’t learn that,” Gerda sighed. - But grandma understood, she even knew the “secret” language*. So I should learn too!

“Well, nothing,” said the raven. - I’ll tell you as best I can, even if it’s bad. And he told about everything he knew.

In the kingdom where you and I are, there lives a princess - she’s so smart that it’s impossible to say! She read all the newspapers in the world, and immediately forgot what was written in them - what a clever girl! Once recently she was sitting on the throne - and people say that this is mortal boredom! - and suddenly she started humming this song: “So that I don’t get married! So that I don’t get married!” “Why not!” - she thought, and she wanted to get married. But she wanted to take as a husband a man who would be able to answer if they spoke to him, and not one who only knows how to put on airs - because that’s so boring. She ordered the drummers to beat the drums and call all the ladies of the court; and when the ladies of the court assembled and learned of the princess's intentions, they were very happy.

-That's good! - they said. - We ourselves thought about this quite recently. . .

Believe that everything I tell you is the truth! - said the raven. I have a bride at my court, she is tame, and she can walk around the castle. So she told me everything.

His bride was also a crow: after all, everyone is looking for a wife to match themselves.

Wait, wait! Now we just got to it! On the third day a little man came - neither in a carriage nor on horseback, but simply on foot and bravely walked straight into the palace; his eyes shone like yours, he had beautiful long hair, but he was dressed very poorly.

-It's Kai! - Gerda was delighted. - Finally, I found him! She clapped her hands with joy.

He had a knapsack behind his back,” said the raven.

No, it was a sled! - Gerda objected. - He left home with the sled.

Or maybe a sled,” the raven agreed. I didn't get a good look. But my bride, a tame crow, told me that when he entered the palace and saw the guards in uniforms embroidered with silver, and on the stairs footmen in golden liveries, he was not the least embarrassed, but only nodded to them friendly and said: “It must be It’s boring to stand on the stairs! I’d better go to the rooms!” The halls were flooded with light; the Privy Councilors and their Excellencies walked around without boots and served golden dishes - after all, one must behave with dignity!

And the boy’s boots creaked terribly, but this did not bother him at all.

It must have been Kai! - said Gerda. “I remember he had new boots, I heard them creaking in my grandmother’s room!”

“Yes, they creaked quite a bit,” continued the raven. - But the boy boldly approached the princess, who was sitting on a pearl the size of a spinning wheel. Around stood all the ladies of the court with their maids and with their maids' maids and all the gentlemen with their valets, their valets' servants and their valets' servants' servants; and the closer to the door they stood, the more arrogantly they behaved. It was impossible to look at the servant of the valets, who always wears shoes, without trepidation, he stood so importantly at the threshold!

-Oh, it must have been very scary! - said Gerda. - Well, so did Kai marry the princess?

If I weren't a raven, I would marry her myself, even though I'm engaged! He began to talk with the princess and spoke as well as I do when I speak crow. So said my dear bride, the tame crow. The boy was very brave and at the same time sweet; he stated that he did not come to the palace to get married - he just wanted to talk with the smart princess; Well, so, he liked her, and she liked him.

-Yes, of course, it's Kai! - said Gerda. - He's terribly smart! He could do math in his head, and he also knew fractions! Oh, please take me to the palace!

-Easy to say! - answered the raven, - How to do this? I will talk about this with my dear bride, the tame crow; maybe she will advise something; I must tell you that a little girl like you will never be allowed into the palace!

-They'll let me in! - said Gerda. - As soon as Kai hears that I am here, he will immediately come for me.

Wait for me at the bars! - the raven croaked, shook his head and flew away. He returned only late in the evening.

Karr! Karr! - he shouted. - My bride sends you best wishes and a piece of bread. She stole it from the kitchen - there is a lot of bread there, and you are probably hungry. You won't be able to get into the palace because you're barefoot. Guards in silver uniforms and footmen in golden liveries will never let you through. But don't cry, you'll get there after all! My fiancée knows a small back staircase that leads directly to the bedroom, and she can get the key.

They entered the garden and walked along a long alley where autumn leaves fell from the trees one after another. And when the lights went out in the windows, the raven led Gerda to the back door, which was slightly open.

Oh, how the girl’s heart beat with fear and impatience! It was as if she was going to do something bad, but she just wanted to make sure it was Kai! Yes, yes, of course he is here! She so vividly imagined his intelligent eyes and long hair. The girl clearly saw him smiling at her, as if in those days when they sat next to each other under the roses. He, of course, will be happy as soon as he sees her and finds out what a long journey she went on because of him and how all her relatives and friends grieved for him. She was not herself with fear and joy!

But here they are on the landing of the stairs. A small lamp was burning on the closet. A tame crow stood on the floor in the middle of the landing; it turned its head in all directions and looked at Gerda. The girl sat down and bowed to the crow, as her grandmother taught her.

“My fiancé told me so many good things about you, dear young lady,” said the tame crow. -Your “vita”**, as they say, is also very touching. Would you like to take the lamp, and I’ll go ahead. We’ll go straight, we won’t meet a soul here.

“It seems to me that someone is following us,” said Gerda, and at that moment some shadows rushed past her with a slight noise: horses on slender legs, with flowing manes, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback.

-These are dreams! - said the crow. - They came to take away the thoughts of high-ranking people to hunt. So much the better for us, at least no one will stop you from taking a closer look at the sleeping people. But I hope that, having taken a high position at court, you will show your best side and will not forget us!

-There is something to talk about! “That goes without saying,” said the forest raven. Here they entered the first hall. Its walls were covered with satin, and on that satin were woven wonderful flowers; and then dreams flashed past the girl again, but they flew so fast that Gerda could not see the noble horsemen. One hall was more magnificent than the other; Gerda was completely blinded by this luxury. Finally they entered the bedroom; its ceiling resembled a huge palm tree with leaves made of precious crystal; from the middle of the floor a thick golden trunk rose to the ceiling, and on it hung two beds in the shape of lilies; one was white - the princess was lying in it, and the other was red - in it Gerda hoped to find Kai. She pulled one of the red petals aside and saw the blond back of her head. Oh, it's Kai! She called out to him loudly and brought the lamp right up to his face - the dreams noisily rushed away; The prince woke up and turned his head. . . Oh, it wasn't Kai!

The prince resembled Kai only from the back of his head, but he was also young and handsome. The princess looked out of the white lily and asked what happened. Gerda burst into tears and told about everything that had happened to her, she also mentioned what the raven and his bride had done for her.

-Oh, you poor thing! - the prince and princess took pity on the girl; They praised the crows and said that they were not angry with them at all - but just let them not do this in the future! And for this act they even decided to reward them.

-Do you want to be free birds? - asked the princess. - Or do you want to take the position of court crows fully paid from kitchen scraps?

The raven and crow bowed and asked permission to remain at court. They thought about old age and said:

-It’s good to have a faithful piece of bread in your old age!

The prince stood up and gave up his bed to Gerda until he could do nothing more for her. And the girl folded her hands and thought: “How kind people and animals are!” Then she closed her eyes and fell asleep sweetly. The dreams came again, but now they looked like God’s angels and were carrying a small sleigh on which Kai was sitting and nodded. Alas, it was just a dream, and as soon as the girl woke up, everything disappeared.

The next day, Gerda was dressed from head to toe in silk and velvet; she was offered to stay in the palace and live for her own pleasure; but Gerda only asked for a horse with a cart and boots - she wanted to immediately go in search of Kai.

She was given boots, a muff, and an elegant dress, and when she said goodbye to everyone, a new carriage made of pure gold drove up to the palace gates: the coat of arms of the prince and princess shone on it like a star. The coachman, servants and postilions - yes, there were even postilions - sat in their places, and on their heads there were small golden crowns. The prince and princess themselves seated Gerda in the carriage and wished her happiness. The forest raven - now he was already married - accompanied the girl for the first three miles; he sat next to her because he could not stand driving backwards. A tame crow sat on the gate and flapped its wings; she did not go with them: since she was granted a position at court, she suffered from headaches from gluttony The carriage was filled with sugar pretzels, and the box under the seat was filled with fruit and gingerbread.

-Bye Bye! - the prince and princess shouted. Gerda began to cry, and so did the crow. So they drove three miles, then the raven also said goodbye to her. It was hard for them to part. The raven flew up a tree and flapped its black wings until the carriage, sparkling like the sun, disappeared from sight.

Story five

Little robber

They rode through a dark forest, the carriage burned like a flame, the light hurt the robbers' eyes: they did not tolerate this.

Gold! Gold! - they shouted, jumped out onto the road, grabbed the horses by the bridles, killed the little postilions, coachman and servants, and pulled Gerda out of the carriage.

- Look, she’s so plump! Fattened with nuts! - said the old robber with a long, rough beard and shaggy, overhanging eyebrows.

-Like a fattened lamb! Let's see what it tastes like? And she pulled out her sharp knife; it sparkled so much that it was scary to look at it.

-Ay! - the robber suddenly shouted: it was her own daughter, who was sitting behind her, who bit her on the ear. She was so capricious and mischievous that it was a pleasure to watch.

-Oh, you mean girl! - the mother screamed, but she did not have time to kill Gerda.

Let her play with me! - said the little robber. - Let her give me her muff and her pretty dress, and she will sleep with me in my bed!

Then she bit the robber again, so much so that she jumped in pain and spun around in one place.

The robbers laughed and said:

Look how she dances with her girl!

I want to go to the carriage! - said the little robber and insisted on her own, - she was so spoiled and stubborn.

The little robber and Gerda got into the carriage and rushed over snags and stones, straight into the thicket of the forest. The little robber was as tall as Gerda, but stronger, broader in the shoulders and much darker; Her hair was dark, and her eyes were completely black and sad. She hugged Gerda and said:

“They won’t dare kill you until I’m angry with you myself.” You must be a princess?

“No,” Gerda answered and told her about everything that she had to go through and how much she loves Kai.

The little robber looked at her seriously and said:

They won’t dare kill you, even if I’m angry with you - I’d rather kill you myself!

She wiped Gerda's tears and put her hands in her beautiful, soft and warm muff.

The carriage stopped; They drove into the courtyard of the robber's castle. The castle was cracked from top to bottom; crows and ravens flew out of the cracks. Huge bulldogs, so ferocious, as if they were impatient to swallow a man, were jumping around the yard; but they did not bark - it was forbidden.

In the middle of a huge, old hall, blackened by smoke, a fire was blazing right on the stone floor. The smoke rose to the ceiling and had to find its own way out; the stew was cooked in a large cauldron, and hares and rabbits were roasted on spits.

“This night you will sleep with me, next to my little animals,” said the little robber.

The girls were fed and watered, and they went to their corner, where there was straw covered with carpets. Above this bed there were about a hundred pigeons sitting on perches and poles: it seemed that they were all asleep, but when the girls approached, the pigeons stirred slightly.

-They're all mine! - said the little robber. She grabbed the one that was sitting closer, took him by the paw and shook him so hard that he fluttered his wings.

-Here, kiss him! - she shouted, poking the dove right in Gerda’s face. - And there are forest scoundrels sitting there! - she continued, “These are wild pigeons, vityutni, those two!” - and pointed to the wooden grate that covered the recess in the wall. - They need to be kept locked up, otherwise they will fly away. And here is my favorite, old deer! - And the girl pulled the antlers of a reindeer in a shiny copper collar; he was tied to the wall. - He also needs to be kept on a leash, otherwise he will run away in an instant. Every evening I tickle his neck with my sharp knife. Wow, how he is afraid of him!

And the little robber pulled out a long knife from the crevice in the wall and ran it across the deer’s neck; the poor animal began to kick, and the little robber laughed and dragged Gerda to the bed.

-What, do you sleep with a knife? - Gerda asked and looked sideways in fear at the sharp knife.

I always sleep with a knife! - answered the little robber. - You never know what can happen? Now tell me again about Kai and how you traveled around the world.

Gerda told everything from the very beginning. Wood pigeons cooed quietly behind bars, and the rest were already asleep. The little robber hugged Gerda's neck with one hand - she had a knife in the other - and began to snore; but Gerda could not close her eyes: the girl did not know whether they would kill her or leave her alive. The robbers sat around the fire, drank wine and sang songs, and the old robber woman tumbled. The girl looked at them in horror.

Suddenly wild pigeons cooed:

Kurr! Kurr! We saw Kai! The white hen carried his sleigh on her back, and he himself sat next to the Snow Queen in her sleigh; they rushed over the forest while we were still lying in the nest; she breathed on us, and all the chicks, except me and my brother, died. Kurr! Kurr!

-What are you saying? - Gerda exclaimed. -Where did the Snow Queen rush off to? Do you know anything else?

Apparently she flew to Lapland, because there is eternal snow and ice there. Ask the reindeer what's tied up here.

Yes, there is ice and snow! Yes, it's wonderful there! - said the deer. “It’s good there!” Ride free across the vast sparkling snowy plains! There the Snow Queen pitched her summer tent, and her permanent palaces are at the North Pole on the island of Spitsbergen!

-Oh Kai, my dear Kai! - Gerda sighed.

Lie still! - muttered the little robber. - Otherwise I’ll stab you with a knife!

In the morning Gerda told her everything that the forest pigeons had said. The little robber looked at her seriously and said:

-Okay, okay... Do you know where Lapland is? - she asked the reindeer.

Who should know this if not me! - the deer answered, and his eyes sparkled. - There I was born and raised, there I galloped across the snowy plains!

-Listen! - the little robber said to Gerda. - You see, all our people left, only mother remained at home; but after a while she will take a sip from a large bottle and take a nap, - then I will do something for you.

Then she jumped out of bed, hugged her mother, pulled her beard and said:

Hello, my cute little goat!

And her mother pinched her nose, so that it turned red and blue - they were caressing each other, lovingly.

Then, when the mother took a sip from her bottle and dozed off, the little robber approached the deer and said:

I would tickle you with this sharp knife more than once! You're shaking so funny. Anyway! I will untie you and set you free! You can go to your Lapland. Just run as fast as you can and take this girl to the Snow Queen’s palace to her dear friend. You heard what she was saying, right? She spoke quite loudly, and you are always eavesdropping!

The reindeer jumped for joy. The little robber put Gerda on it, tied her tightly just in case, and even slipped a soft pillow under her so that she could sit comfortably.

“So be it,” she said, “take your fur boots, because you will be cold, and I won’t give up my muff, I really like it!” But I don't want you to feel cold. Here are my mother's mittens. They are huge, right up to the elbows. Put your hands in them! Well, now you have hands like my ugly mother!

Gerda cried with joy.

“I can’t stand it when they roar,” said the little robber. - You should be happy now! Here are two loaves of bread and a ham for you; so you don't go hungry.

The little robber tied all this on the deer's back, opened the gate, lured the dogs into the house, cut the rope with her sharp knife and said to the deer:

-Well, run! Look, take care of the girl!

Gerda extended both hands in huge mittens to the little robber and said goodbye to her. The deer set off at full speed through stumps and bushes, through forests, through swamps, across steppes. Wolves howled, crows cawed. "Fuck! Fuck!" - it was suddenly heard from above. It seemed that the entire sky was engulfed in a scarlet glow.

-Here it is, my native northern lights! - said the deer. - Look how it burns!

And he ran even faster, not stopping day or night. A lot of time has passed. The bread was eaten, and the ham too. And here they are in Lapland.

Story six

Lapland and Finnish

They stopped at a miserable shack; the roof almost touched the ground, and the door was terribly low: to enter or exit the hut, people had to crawl on all fours. There was only an old Laplander at home, frying fish by the light of a smokehouse in which blubber was burning. The reindeer told the Laplander the story of Gerda, but first he told his own - it seemed much more important to him. And Gerda was so chilled that she could not even speak.

-Oh, you poor things! - said the Laplander. - You still have a long way to go; you need to run more than a hundred miles, then you will get to Finnmark; there is the Snow Queen's dacha, every evening she lights blue sparklers. I will write a few words on dried cod - I don’t have paper - and you take it to a Finnish woman who lives in those places. She will teach you better than me what to do.

When Gerda had warmed up, eaten and drunk, the Laplander wrote a few words on the dried cod, told Gerda to take good care of it, tied the girl to the back of the deer, and he rushed off again at full speed. "Fuck! Fuck!" - something crackled above, and the sky was illuminated all night by the wonderful blue flame of the northern lights.

So they got to Finnmark and knocked on the chimney of the Finnish woman’s shack - it didn’t even have a door.

It was so hot in the shack that the Finnish woman walked around half naked; she was a small, gloomy woman. She quickly undressed Gerda, pulled off her fur boots and mittens so that the girl would not be too hot, and put a piece of ice on the deer’s head and only then began to read what was written on the dried cod. She read the letter three times and memorized it, and threw the cod into the cauldron of soup: after all, the cod could be eaten - the Finnish woman did not waste anything.

Here the deer first told his story, and then the story of Gerda. The Finn listened to him silently and only blinked with her intelligent eyes.

“You are a wise woman,” said the reindeer. - I know you can tie all the winds in the world with one thread; If a sailor unties one knot, a fair wind will blow; if another unties it, the wind will become stronger; If the third and fourth are unleashed, such a storm will break out that the trees will fall down. Could you give the girl such a drink that she would gain the strength of a dozen heroes and defeat the Snow Queen?

-The strength of a dozen heroes? - the Finnish woman repeated. - Yes, that would help her! The Finnish woman went up to some drawer, took out a large leather scroll from it and unrolled it; There were some strange writings written on it. The Finn began to take them apart and took them apart so diligently that sweat appeared on her forehead.

The deer again began to ask for little Gerda, and the girl looked at the Finn with such pleading eyes, full of tears, that she blinked again and took the deer into the corner. Placing a new piece of ice on his head, she whispered:

-Kai is really with the Snow Queen. He is happy with everything and is sure that this is the best place on earth. And the reason for everything is the fragments of the magic mirror that sit in his eye and heart. They need to be taken out, otherwise Kai will never be a real person, and the Snow Queen will retain her power over him!

-Can you give Gerda something to help her cope with this evil force?

I can't make her stronger than she is. Don't you see how great her power is? Don't you see how people and animals serve her? After all, she walked around half the world barefoot! She should not think that we gave her strength: this strength is in her heart, her strength is that she is a sweet, innocent child. If she herself cannot penetrate the palace of the Snow Queen and remove the fragments from Kai’s heart and eye, we will not be able to help her. Two miles from here the Snow Queen's garden begins; tu yes you can carry the girl. You plant it near a bush with red berries that stands in the snow. Don't waste time talking, but come back immediately.

With these words, the Finnish woman put Gerda on the deer and he ran as fast as he could.

Oh, I forgot my boots and mittens! - Gerda screamed: she was burned by the cold. But the deer did not dare to stop until it reached a bush with red berries. There he lowered the girl, kissed her on the lips, and large shiny tears rolled down his cheeks. Then he ran back like an arrow. Poor Gerda stood without boots or gloves in the middle of a terrible icy desert.

She ran forward as fast as she could; A whole regiment of snow flakes was rushing towards her, but they did not fall from the sky - the sky was completely clear, illuminated by the northern lights. No, snow flakes were rushing along the ground, and the closer they flew, the larger they became. Here Gerda remembered the big beautiful snowflakes that she had seen under a magnifying glass, but these were much larger, scarier, and all alive. These were the vanguard of the Snow Queen's army. Their appearance was outlandish: some resembled large ugly hedgehogs, others - balls of snakes, others - fat bear cubs with tousled hair; but they all sparkled with whiteness, they were all living snow flakes.

Gerda began to read “Our Father,” and the cold was such that her breath immediately turned into a thick fog. This fog thickened and thickened, and suddenly small bright angels began to stand out from it, which, touching the ground, grew into large, formidable angels with with helmets on their heads; they were all armed with shields and spears. There were more and more angels, and when Gerda finished reading the prayer, a whole legion of angels pierced her with spears, and they crumbled into hundreds of pieces, and now Gerda boldly walked forward. She had reliable protection; the angels stroked her arms and legs, and the girl almost did not feel the cold.

She was quickly approaching the palace of the Snow Queen.

Well, what was Kai doing at this time? Of course, he wasn't thinking about Gerda; where could he have guessed that she was standing in front of the palace.

Story seven

What happened in the halls of the snow queen and what happened next

The walls of the palace were covered with snowstorms, and the windows and doors were damaged by violent winds. The palace had more than a hundred halls; they were scattered haphazardly, at the whim of the blizzards; the largest hall extended for many, many miles. The entire palace was illuminated by the bright northern lights. How cold, how deserted it was in these dazzling white halls!

Fun never came here! Bear balls have never been held here to the music of the storm, balls at which polar bears would walk on their hind legs, showing their grace and graceful manners; Not once has society gathered here to play blind man's buff or forfeits; Even the little white fox godmothers never came here to chat over a cup of coffee. It was cold and deserted in the huge halls of the Snow Queen. The northern lights shone so regularly that it was possible to calculate when they would flare up with a bright flame and when they would completely weaken.

In the middle of the largest deserted hall lay a frozen lake. The ice on it cracked and broke into thousands of pieces; all the pieces were exactly the same and correct - a real work of art! When the Snow Queen was at home, she sat in the middle of this lake and later said that she was sitting on the mirror of the mind: in her opinion, it was the one and only mirror, the best in the world.

Kai turned blue and almost blackened from the cold, but did not notice it, because the Snow Queen’s kiss made him insensitive to the cold, and his heart had long ago turned into a piece of ice. He was fiddling with the pointed flat pieces of ice, arranging them in all sorts of ways - Kai wanted to make something out of them. It was reminiscent of a game called “Chinese puzzle”; it consists of putting together various figures from wooden planks. And Kai also put together figures, one more intricate than the other. This game was called “ice puzzle”. In his eyes, these figures were a miracle of art, and folding them was an activity of paramount importance. And all because he had a piece of a magic mirror in his eye. He put together whole words from ice floes, but could not make up what he so wanted - the word “eternity.” And the Snow Queen told him: “Fold this word, and you will be your own master, and I will give you the whole world and new skates.” But he couldn't put it together.

-Now I’ll fly to warmer lands! - said the Snow Queen. - I’ll look into the black cauldrons!

She called the craters of the fire-breathing mountains, Vesuvius and Etna, cauldrons.

I'll whiten them a little. That's how it should be. It's good for lemons and grapes! The Snow Queen flew away, and Kai was left alone in an empty ice hall that stretched for several miles. He looked at the ice floes and thought and thought, until his head was pounding. The numb boy sat motionless. You would have thought he was frozen.

Meanwhile, Gerda entered the huge gates, where fierce winds were blowing. But she read the evening prayer, and the winds died down, as if they had fallen asleep. Gerda entered the vast deserted ice hall, saw Kai and immediately recognized him. The girl threw herself on his neck, hugged him tightly and exclaimed:

-Kai, my dear Kai! Finally I found you!

But Kai didn’t even move: he sat still calm and cold. And then Gerda burst into tears: hot tears fell onto Kai’s chest and penetrated into his very heart; they melted the ice and melted a fragment of the mirror. Kai looked at Gerda, and she sang:

-Roses are blooming in the valleys... Beauty!
Soon we will see the Christ child.

Kai suddenly burst into tears and cried so hard that a second piece of glass rolled out of his eye. He recognized Gerda and joyfully exclaimed:

-Gerda! Dear Gerda! Where have you been? And where was I myself? - And he looked around. - How cold it is here! How deserted these huge halls are!

He hugged Gerda tightly, and she laughed and cried with joy. Yes, her joy was so great that even the ice floes began to dance, and when they were tired, they lay down so that they formed the very word that the Snow Queen ordered Kaya to compose. For this word, she promised to give him freedom, the whole world and new skates.

Gerda kissed Kai on both cheeks, and they turned pink again; she kissed her eyes - and they shone like hers; kissed his hands and feet - and he became cheerful and healthy again. Let the Snow Queen return whenever she pleases - after all, his vacation note, written in shiny icy letters, lay here.

Kai and Gerda held hands and left the palace. They talked about grandmother and the roses that grew at home under the very roof. And everywhere they walked, the violent winds died down, and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. A reindeer was waiting for them near a bush with red berries; he brought with him a young doe, her udder was full of milk. She gave the children warm milk and kissed them on the lips. Then she and the reindeer took Kai and Gerda first to Finka. They warmed up with her and learned the way home, and then went to the Laplander; she sewed them new clothes and repaired Kai's sled.

The deer and doe ran side by side and accompanied them to the very border of Lapland, where the first greenery was already breaking through. Here Kai and Gerda parted with the deer and the Laplander.

-Farewell! Farewell! - they said to each other.

The first birds were chirping, the trees were covered with green buds. A young girl wearing a bright red cap and holding a pistol rode out of the forest on a magnificent horse. Gerda immediately recognized the horse; it had once been harnessed to a golden carriage. She was a little robber; she was tired of sitting at home and wanted to visit the north, and if she didn’t like it there, then other parts of the world.

She and Gerda immediately recognized each other. What a joy!

-What a tramp you are! - she said to Kai. - I would like to know if you are worth having people run after you to the ends of the earth!

But Gerda stroked her cheek and asked about the prince and princess.

“They left for foreign lands,” answered the robber girl.

And the raven? - asked Gerda.

Raven died; The tame crow is widowed, now she wears black wool on her leg as a sign of mourning and complains about her fate. But all this is nonsense! Tell us better what happened to you and how you found him?

Kai and Gerda told her everything.

That's the end of the fairy tale! - said the robber, shook their hands, promised to visit them if she ever had a chance to visit their city. Then she went to travel around the world. Kai and Gerda, holding hands, went their way. Spring greeted them everywhere: flowers bloomed, grass turned green.

The sound of bells was heard, and they recognized the high towers of their hometown. Kai and Gerda entered the city where their grandmother lived; then they climbed the stairs and entered the room, where everything was as before: the clock was ticking: “tick-tock”, and the hands were still moving. But as they passed through the door, they noticed that they had grown and become adults. Roses bloomed on gutter and looked into the open windows.

Their children's benches stood right there. Kai and Gerda sat down on them and held hands. They forgot the cold, deserted splendor of the Snow Queen’s palace, like a heavy dream. Grandmother sat in the sun and read the gospel aloud: “If you are not 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 in the valleys... Beauty!
Soon we will see the baby Christ!

So they sat side by side, both already adults, but children at heart and soul, and outside it was a warm, blessed summer!

The children's storyteller knew how to intrigue both children and their parents, although it is worth noting that he positioned himself as an adult writer. His fantastic fairy tale “The Snow Queen” makes you empathize with every hero, because initially it is unknown whether the girl will find her friend and whether she will be able to free her friend from the icy palaces of the mistress of winter.

Surprisingly, Andersen put philosophical motives into his magical stories, and many of the characters have real prototypes. For example, the Snow Queen is Hans's lover, opera singer Jenny Lind.

History of creation

The tale of the Snow Queen was published in the winter of December 21, 1844; it was included in the collection “New Fairy Tales. Volume one." The non-trivial story about a woman with an icy heart began to be popular among bookstore regulars, and parents read lines from Andersen’s work to their children before bed. However, few people realized that the plot was not based on a joyful motive, which stemmed from the writer’s personal experience.

If we look at the biography of Hans Christian Andersen, there was nothing remarkable in his life, unlike other writers. For example, he managed to play the role of a gold digger and have an affair with more than one woman. The same can be said about the adventurous one, which was popular among representatives of the fair half of humanity.

But the storyteller, who came up with stories about and, never managed to experience carnal love; researchers believe that Andersen did not have serious relationships with either women or men. Contemporaries testified that sometimes the literary genius appeared in the “red light district,” but instead of coming to that seedy place for his intended purpose, the writer had long small conversations with young ladies of easy virtue.

Once the author of the stories managed to truly fall in love, but this experience turned out to be sad. A spark flashed in his heart when Hans saw the young opera singer Jenny Lind. The girl, known for her soprano solo performances throughout Europe, was 14 years younger than Andersen, but still addressed him as “brother” or “child.” Jenny accepted gifts and courtship from Andersen, but her heart belonged to another person. Therefore, the writer had to be content with the relationship of “brother and sister.”

Andersen was a modest man, but still dared to send a fiery message to the object of his desire. The writer's letter remained unanswered. Therefore, the woman who doomed Hans to suffering became the prototype of the cold Snow Queen. And the writer himself felt like Kai, who had found himself in an icy kingdom - the city of Copenhagen, where the ill-fated acquaintance took place.

The master of the pen decided to put a story from his own life on book pages, seasoning the plot with fantasy and magical characters. By the way, “The Snow Queen” broke the author’s personal record and became his longest fairy tale.

Image and plot

The main character of the work appears in the plot less often than Gerda, but plays a significant role in the plot. The story begins with a certain evil troll who made a mirror where everything good seemed bad, and everything bad seemed even worse.

The creator of the magical attribute liked to play with the mirror, and his students ran everywhere with this object. At one point, the little trolls climbed up to the very sky with a mirror in order to laugh at the Creator. The higher the pranksters climbed, the more the mirror tried to escape from their hands.

Ultimately, it slipped out and broke on the ground into small fragments that scattered throughout the world. Small, sharp diamonds hit people in the eyes or chest. In the first case, the person saw all the worst, and in the second his heart became cold as ice.

The boy Kai was the least fortunate of all, because by coincidence, the fragments hit the boy both in the eye and in the heart: the hero of the work immediately began to be rude to adults and imitate his own friend Gerda.

When winter came, Kai went sledding. Then the boy met a dazzling woman in a white robe riding on a large sleigh. She charmed Kai with just one look, so, without realizing it, the young man found himself in the arms of the Snow Queen and in the icy kingdom. The Snow Queen taught the boy that the world is ruled by selfishness. However, Gerda's love helped the prisoner overcome obstacles.

Film adaptations

The work, invented by Hans Christian Andersen, migrated to cinema. Directors and animators presented quite a lot of works, so let’s look at the most popular ones.

"The Snow Queen" (cartoon, 1957)

This cartoon was probably seen by all Soviet children, because “The Snow Queen” is one of the most famous animated films created in those years. Little spectators learned from the dwarf wizard about the mistress of winter, the kidnapped Kaya and the brave Gerda.

It is worth saying that the main character is different from other drawn characters. The fact is that the Snow Queen was created using rotoscoping techniques. And the ice maiden was voiced by actress Maria Babanova.

"The Snow Queen" (film, 1966)

In 1966, Gennady Kazansky presented to television viewers a color film with animation elements. It is noteworthy that the script was written by a writer who came up with his own story, based on Andersen's original motives.

In the story, the Snow Queen kidnaps Kai, takes him to the winter kingdom and turns the boy’s heart into a piece of ice. The role of the insidious beauty went to, who worked on the same set with, Vyacheslav Tsyupa and.

"The Secret of the Snow Queen" (1986)

Filmmaker Nikolai Alexandrovich pleased those who spend their leisure time watching TV screens with his own vision of a fairy tale. The film takes place much later than the events described in the original text. Kai and Gerda have already grown up, so the characters talk about how hard it is to say goodbye to childhood.

The Snow Queen again lures the young man into her own kingdom, and the devoted Gerda goes on a search. It is noteworthy that the director shrouded the film in a certain mystery, which is hidden by the mistress of the ice throne. The main roles were played by Yan Puzyrevsky, Nina Gomiashvili and.

"The Snow Queen" (2002)

David Wu presented avid film fans with a fantasy fairy tale with a dash of action, where he meticulously worked out the characterization of the characters. Andersen's original fairy tale appears only fleetingly in the film, because the director invented a new concept that develops in the modern world.

Thus, Gerda appears as the daughter of the owner of the Polar Bear hostel, Kai acts as a messenger, and the castle of the Snow Queen, which she played, is strikingly similar to a hotel shrouded in frost and snow.

"The Snow Queen" (cartoon, 2012)

Russian animators surprised viewers with an unusual concept, because according to the plot, the Snow Queen rids the world of representatives of creative professions, be it an artist or a musician.

Brave Gerda, the daughter of a mirror maker, sets off on a journey to find her friend Kai, but getting to the winter castle is not so easy. The roles were duplicated by Russian cinema stars, which included, and.

"Frozen" (cartoon, 2015)

This time, leisure lovers were pleased by the Disney company, which released the animated film “Frozen”. The plot revolves around a young princess with magical powers: the heroine can summon snow and turn objects into ice.

This girl becomes the cause of the eternal winter that reigns in the kingdom. To bring back spring and summer, Princess Anna, Kristoff and the reindeer Sven go to the mountains to find the sorceress. The main characters were voiced by: Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff and other Hollywood stars.

• Soviet readers read and loved the abridged version of The Snow Queen because censorship removed Christian motifs from the fairy tale. So, in the original source there are mentions and prayers of “Our Father”.
• Andersen was far from the first to come up with the image of the ruler of the ice throne. Hans probably turned to Scandinavian folklore, which talks about the personification of winter and death - the Ice Maiden. However, the writer’s track record includes a work of the same name, where this heroine is mentioned. Andersen's The Ice Maiden, which was published in 1861, can be called a later variation of The Snow Queen, but in a more realistic manner.

The writer Hans Christian Andersen did not position himself as a children's storyteller, because his stories often contain philosophical motives. Therefore, the literary genius declared that he writes not for little boys and girls, but for adults.

The manuscripts of this talented man are known by heart almost all over the world, because it was he who came up with “,” “,” “,” “Wild Swans” and “The Princess and the Pea.” And the tale about the cold-hearted ruler, about the brave one, and about Kai, who found himself in the palace, became the writer’s longest work.

History of creation

The work appeared in bookstores in the winter of December 21, 1844 and was included in the collection “New Fairy Tales. Volume one." Anderson's creation instantly became popular among lovers of book pages, but few knew that the writer put into the plot far from joyful motives stemming from his personal experience. As the biographers of the storyteller say, Andersen never knew love in his life: he did not propose marriage to the lady he liked and was not even in a romantic relationship.

A spark flared up in the heart of the literary genius when he was in love with the opera singer Jenny Lind, who accepted the writer's gifts and courtship, but gave her heart to another person. Jenny was 14 years younger than her admirer, but still addressed him as “brother” or “child.” Andersen understood that a relationship like a brother and sister was still better than nothing.

This woman, who gave Andersen unrequited love, became the prototype of the cold and callous Snow Queen. The singer received a fiery confession of her feelings from Hans, but never responded to the letter from the lover, who could not find a place for himself as a writer.

When Lind became engaged to the young pianist Otto Holschmidt, the author of fairy tales had the courage to look his rival in the eyes. After this incident, Andersen no longer met with Jenny, but he felt like Kai, associating the city of Copenhagen, where the ill-fated acquaintance with the artist took place, with a boundless cold kingdom.

The tale of the Snow Queen is popular among adults and young readers. But the guys who grew up in the Soviet Union saw the abridged manuscript because Andersen’s story contains religious motives: due to the politics of those years, mentioning biblical stories was considered unacceptable.

Therefore, Soviet editors removed from the story the scene where Gerda reads the Lord's Prayer to save herself from the icy winds. There was also a mention in the original fairy tale. Some researchers believe that with the help of the Snow Queen and Gerda, Andersen wanted to show the struggle between science and the Christian faith.

It is noteworthy that, despite censorship, the fairy tale gained crowds of fans, and famous directors borrowed the plot to create films that pleased film fans with the actors and their roles. In the 1966 film of the same name, Vyacheslav Tsyupa also played the roles, and in the film “Secrets of the Snow Queen” (1986), Nina Gomiashvili and Yan Puzyrevsky played the main characters.

Biography and plot

Kai is the main character in the fairy tale “The Snow Queen”. Thanks to this character, the plot of the work develops. Kai grew up in a big city, where there are many houses and people (the author does not indicate where exactly Kai and Gerda lived). The boy grew up and was brought up in a poor family. Kai's mom and dad loved to garden, so in their attic there was a wooden box in which onions, peas, and rose bushes grew. The boy adored these beautiful but prickly flowers.

However, it was not only the plants that brought joy: next door, in another attic, lived the girl Gerda, whom Kai loved like his own sister. The children often visited each other and watered the roses together. And in winter, when the plants went into hibernation, the children sat at home and listened to the tales of their old grandmother. Sometimes Kai and Gerda heated up iron coins and placed them on a window decorated with winter patterns.

Kai had good character traits and was a sympathetic boy, always ready to lend a helping hand. But, unfortunately, one day he became a victim of witchcraft. The fact is that an evil troll made a devilish mirror that distorts reality. Thanks to this magical object, everything good seemed evil, and everything evil acquired new frightening colors.

The mountain troll's disciples decided to play around with the mirror, and eventually their fun went to extremes: they took to the skies "to laugh at the angels and the Creator himself." But the magical attribute could not control itself, so it escaped from the hands of the kidnappers and fell to the ground.

The mirror broke into millions of pieces, and the wind carried these small diamonds all over the world. Those unfortunate people who got hit in the eye by a shrapnel saw the bad sides of life. If a piece of the mirror rushes into the very heart, it will turn into a piece of ice.

Little Kai was the least fortunate of all: when he was sitting near the bushes with roses, something got into his eye and stabbed him in the heart. Since then, the boy's character has undergone changes: he begins to laugh at his grandmother and mock Gerda. The main character no longer admires flowers, but is attracted by the beauty of snowflakes, which have an ideal geometric shape.

One winter, Kai went to the square to go sledding. Suddenly the main character saw a beauty in a snow-white suit - the Snow Queen, who chose the boy because the fragments had bewitched his heart. Kai was fascinated by the stranger and clung to her sleigh, and the queen wrapped the child in a fur coat, then kissed him and disappeared. While in the arms of the owner of the ice throne, the child forgot about his parents and Gerda, who believed that her friend was alive and went in search.

The girl had to go through fire, water and copper pipes to find Kai. Meanwhile, Kai, blue from the cold, who did not feel the frost due to the kiss of the Snow Queen, folded various figures from ice floes. The boy wanted to form the word “eternity”, then the kidnapper would give him gifts. The girl melted the ice in Kai's soul with the help of tears and her favorite psalm: the boy began to cry and a fragment fell out of his eye. When Kai and Gerda returned home, it turned out that the main characters had noticeably matured.

• The fact that book characters are used as psychological types is no longer news. For example, there is a psychotype in the works of researchers, and even Kai has become the center of scientific works. It is said that a person who has the type of boy from a fairy tale is afraid of feelings and does not believe in his own happiness.
• In the animated Soviet film, which was released in 1957, the drawing of the Snow Queen is different from other characters. This feature is explained by the fact that the heroine was created using the “rotoscoping” technique, which in Russia was called “eclair”.

• The musical “The Snow Queen” delighted the audience on December 31, 2003. The main roles went to Quotes

  “A tiny fragment hit Kai right in the heart. Now it was supposed to turn into a piece of ice. The pain went away, but the fragment remained.”

  “The Snow Queen kissed Kai again, and he forgot Gerda, his grandmother, and everyone at home.”

  “This rose is being eaten away by a worm!”

  “Look at the glass, Gerda,” he said.
  Each snowflake seemed much larger under the glass than it actually was, and looked like a luxurious flower or a decagonal star. It was so beautiful!
  - See how cleverly it’s done! - Kai said. - Much more interesting than real flowers! And what accuracy! Not a single wrong line! Oh, if only they didn’t melt!”

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