"The Snow Queen" - touching good fairy tale-parable. The girl Gerda is looking for her adopted brother Kai. The boy was carried away by the Snow Queen. After difficult ordeals, Gerda finds her brother in the Queen's palace. With her tears, Gerda manages to melt the ice of Kai's heart, he becomes the same again. As adults, Kai and Gerda return home - this is the plot.
This whole “fairytale” story has a serious religious background. In The Snow Queen, a Protestant duel with a Gnostic myth unfolds.
Occultism flourished in Europe in the first half of the 19th century. Theosophical circles appeared everywhere, interest in spiritualism and alchemy was fueled. One after another, various esoteric treatises, both genuine and counterfeit, poured into print. In a word, everything that was the intellectual entertainment of the ruling class in the Middle Ages became the property of bourgeois mass culture with an inevitable touch of “tabloidism.” Society has revived interest in the religious brotherhoods of the Templars and Rosicrucians, Cathars and other heretical orders that allegedly exist to this day, to secret knowledge, which she “sheltered for centuries” Christian church. Occultism at that time did not yet have a social (for example, racist) vector and was an artistic phenomenon. Everyday Gnosticism became a kind of aesthetic pose, an intellectual protest, like nihilism and atheism.
The Gnostic myth, with minor deviations and variations, stated the following: the creator of the existing world “Demiurge” is mistaken, thinking that he is the only God and there is no other besides him. He himself is deprived of knowledge about his highest parents: the Inexpressible Beginning - the Father, Silence - the mother, about the higher worlds-eons - Mind and Truth, Logos and Life (twelve eons in total). The Demiurge is the fruit of the fear of his mother Sophia (or Wisdom), who once left the Pleroma (the world of the Higher Minds, Completeness). This explains the misery of the earthly world - its creator himself is imperfect, he is the fruit of fear, passions and sadness. The Devil, or Archon, created by the Demiurge, appears among the Gnostics as an enlightener - he himself is the creation of the Demiurge, and he has access to the “knowledge” that the Demiurge is not “alpha and omega.”
All these heresies of Irenaeus, Hippolytus, Carpocrates and other Gnostic schools were successfully defeated at the dawn of Christianity. European centers of relapse in the form of the Cathar, Bogomil and other sects were also eliminated. But in the 19th humanistic century, the Church could no longer use the previous punitive methods. As at the dawn of Christianity, it was necessary to enter into controversy.
The beginning of the fairy tale about the Snow Queen is a backstory about the main Troll, or the Devil, who created a mirror, “in which everything good and beautiful was diminished to the utmost, yet the worthless and ugly, on the contrary, stood out even brighter, seemed even worse. A kind, pious human thought was reflected in the mirror with an unimaginable grimace.” But this is how, according to the trolls, you can see the whole world and people in their true light. Wanting to laugh at the Creator and his angels, the trolls decided to reach the sky with their Mirror, but the blasphemy failed, the Mirror broke into billions of fragments. Each fragment retained the property of a mirror - to distort, disfigure. The person who got a splinter in the eye began to “see everything inside out or notice only the bad sides in every thing. Some people got shrapnel right into their hearts, and that was the worst thing: the heart turned into a piece of ice.”
To debunk the Gnostic myth, Andersen creates his own fairy-tale version of the emergence of the ideas of Gnosticism. The imperfection of the world is explained by the “optical” machinations of the Devil. Kai is affected by two human optics - mental (eyes) and spiritual (heart). From the believing boy who sang along to Gerda the psalm about roses: “Roses are blooming, beauty, beauty! Soon we will see the baby Christ,” he turns into a Gnostic - he leaves the world of feelings and Faith into the icy region of Knowledge. This explains his extreme rationality. He is no longer interested in roses (Andersen’s “rose” is a symbol of Christ), Gerda, grandmother, people in general - everything causes contempt and ridicule. After all, everything is absurd in comparison with the “world revolution,” that is, Gnosis. According to Andersen, the knowledge of a gnostic is simply the devil's ability to see the world as ugly.
The “correct” gnostic perception of the world makes the adept cold and callous. Kai is disgusted by the living emotional human life. He is fascinated by snowflakes - strict, regular forms.
The Snow Queen is an ironic image of Sophia (Wisdom). Andersen emphasizes its non-Christian essence. There is “neither warmth nor meekness” in the Queen’s beautiful eyes. Kai, who has hitched his sleigh to the Queen's sleigh, tries to read the Lord's Prayer in fear, but only the multiplication table comes to his mind, which, of course, does not help.
The Gnostic Kai, seeing the Snow Queen, is amazed at her “clever and charming face.” (The Snow Queen is immaterial and therefore beautiful. Gerda, consisting of living flesh, is ugly for Kai, like all people.)
“He was not at all afraid of her (the Snow Queen) 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 just smiled in response. And then it seemed to him that he really knew little, and he fixed his gaze on the endless air space.” Kai, as a declaration of love, lays out all his Knowledge - for Andersen it is ridiculous, like all other knowledge (it is always, to one degree or another, a “multiplication table”). Andersen is generally disgusted by any “correctness” of the world of Cold Mind, Ice Knowledge. After all, even the northern lights in the Queen’s palace have their own clear, predictable algorithm.
The world of the Snow Queen, where Kai ends up, is the world of Ice. Essentially, the place where Kai is is Hell. In Dante, the ninth circle of Hell is an icy lake where traitors are located. Lucifer himself was frozen into the middle of the lake. Kai is a traitor to the Christian faith - an apostate.
This is how Andersen describes the Snow Queen’s palace: “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.”
According to Andersen, Kai finds himself in Hell, and the Snow Queen, the Gnostic Wisdom, Sophia, appears as Death. The knowledge (ice, cold) in Kai's heart is the mark of a corpse. Kai's immortality is deep freezing, cryo-immortality, that is, a counterfeit of eternal life.
Kai is engaged in an "ice mind game", a typical alchemical task. From the primal matter of Hell - ice - he forms the word “Eternity”. This is what the Queen says to Kai: “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.” In fact, she promises Kai freedom, but the second gift - “skates”, a means of transportation in the world of ice, suggests that Kai will not get out of here; his freedom is limited by the confines of the icy hell - Kai’s devilish powers deceived him in advance.
It is no coincidence that the broken Lake - the “Mirror of the Mind” in the Snow Queen’s palace - has plot similarities with the Troll’s Crooked Mirror, which broke into fragments. “Ice” and “glass” of the Mind are equivalent substances. In essence, this is the same mirror, and it exists only in a broken version. The “Mirror of the Mind” (the space of Gnosis) cannot be whole due to its initially “false” essence. Broken into fragments, it successfully reflects the negative nuances of existence (and what else can a fragment reflect) - but it will never present a complete, objective, truthful picture of the universe. Not only is the Mirror of the Mind a devilish charm, it is not even capable of maintaining its integrity. The Mirror of Reason is doomed to be broken, and the only way out is to lay out the word “Eternity” from its fragments, as if from the fragments of a table to lay out the phrase: “a whole table.”
The representative of the Christian paradigm is Gerda. She personifies the world of human feelings, childish sincere faith. Monarchs (princess and prince), animals and birds (crows, pigeons, reindeer) bow before Gerda's Christian meekness. The tale also plays out the biblical motif of a repentant thief. For Andersen, this is the Little Robber, who helps Gerda get to Lapland.
Christian simplicity, a child's perception of Gerda's existence, defeats the icy wisdom of the Snow Queen. Kai, having acquired Knowledge, laughs at the absurdity of the world around him. Gerda readily cries for any reason (tears and sorrow are the companions of a Christian). These children's “burning” tears of Gerda are capable of melting the Ice of the Mind. The sensory world conquers Reason.
“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 she asked Kaya to compose.” It is Christ, with whom Gerda came to Hell, that the world of Gnosis submits; with Christ, even icy fragments of “knowledge” can become real Eternity. While searching for Kai, Gerda ends up in the witch's magical garden. So that Gerda does not remember her brother, the old woman hides all the roses (the image of Christ) underground. Gerda gradually forgets about Kai, but seeing a painted rose on the old woman’s hat, Gerda suddenly realizes that there are no living roses in the garden. She cries, and a rose bush appears from the ground, the darkness passes. A garden without roses (without Christ) can only imitate Paradise. This is a place of sleep in which there is no true fullness and joy.
Gerda and Kai return home. “As they passed 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!” So they sat side by side, both already adults, but children at heart and soul, and outside it was a warm, blessed summer!
According to Andersen, true wisdom lies in a childish, and therefore enthusiastic, trusting perception of the world - God's beautiful creation. Everything else is from the evil one. Live like children and do not tempt yourself with “Knowledge”, it multiplies sorrow and leads to icy Hell - this is Andersen’s message to supporters of the Gnostic myth.
The fairy tale “The Snow Queen” is read and watched by children and adults. There are a lot of moral lessons in this work by Andersen, as in any of his other fairy tales. The author raises a serious problem when talking about the human heart, about kindness and loyalty.
The main idea and meaning of the fairy tale “The Snow Queen”
This is, at first glance, an ordinary story with fantastic elements about two children living with their grandmother. The main positive characters of the fairy tale, Kai and Gerda, are kind to each other and others. They love and appreciate each other, their grandmother, and protect nature. This makes their hearts good and their souls pure, protected from evil. But what happens when a good heart is pierced by an icy shard of evil power? Will such a heart become icy, ignorant of sympathy, compassion and kindness? And how to help good man not become a villain? The author of the tale raises all these important questions and gives answers to them. Only good will help melt the ice in the heart and drive away evil forces - the Snow Queen and her servants.
Gerda goes in search of her brother, who was taken by the Snow Queen. The girl bravely and bravely overcomes all obstacles to save her loved one. Not every adult is able to go this route.
Description of the Snow Queen
This is one of the main characters of the fairy tale, but not the central one. The tale is not about the Snow Queen, but about the struggle between good and evil. She is the pure embodiment of evil force. This even manifests itself externally:
- the queen is tall and slender, incredibly beautiful, but this is a cold beauty;
- her gaze is lifeless, and her eyes look like pieces of ice;
- The queen has pale and cold skin, which means she has no heart.
The sorceress owns magical powers, using them not for good deeds. She takes children with “hot” (kind) hearts and turns them into ice. She kidnaps children because they have pure and kind hearts. The Queen dreams of freezing the whole world, leaving no warmth and kindness in it, and turning it into her icy kingdom. All the witch has is an evil spell. The Snow Queen does not know about love and kindness, devotion, fidelity and friendship. Only these feelings can melt the ice in the heart.
Scenario for children's entertainment
"In the halls of the Snow Queen."
(done during a walk)
Tasks: arouse interest in winter topics, improve the process of developing motor abilities, develop emotional sphere child, contribute to the development of the child’s moral position: perceive beauty, preserve the beauty of nature, do good himself.
Preparatory work:
Designing a site in the style of a castle;
Experiments on freezing ice figurines;
Reading the fairy tale by H.H. Andersen “The Snow Queen;
Equipment: equipped area for winter games, attributes for children: boys - Santa Claus caps, girls - snowflake crowns; musical accompaniment: tape recorder, fragments of “The Nutcracker” by N.P. Rimsky-Korsakov, constriction for hitting the target, small balls, multi-colored ice forms (juice of carrots, beets, raspberries or cranberries, dill; infusion of saffron or bay leaf, St. John's wort)
Heroes: adult teachers in the role of Storyteller, Snow Queen, Grandfather Frost.
Introduction to the image.
The storyteller meets the children at the entrance to the kingdom.
- In order to enter the domain of the Snow Queen, you need to turn into her faithful servants.
Girls wear snowflake crowns, and boys wear caps.
And now let’s follow me along the magical path to the winter melody and find ourselves in a fairy tale.
The melody from the opera “The Nutcracker” sounds, and the children, one after another, follow the Storyteller to the castle where the Snow Queen sleeps. Arranged in a semicircle.
Psycho-gymnastics. ( children perform movements according to what they hear).
White.
Look how white everything is around -
And white snow and white house (squat and jump)
And the white bear lies here (imitate sleep)
The white mistress sleeps here. (queen image
Breathe on your mitten quickly,
You will see white frost in it. (breathe on the mitten)
Cold White color around,
And the north suddenly became closer to us. (spinning)
Blue.
- Look at the sky - height (rise on toes to the sky)
Blue is easy on the eyes,
And next to the white there is blue (they wave their hands alternately)
I was a cold color with you.
Blue.
The fields and seas are frozen, (they squat, spreading their arms to the sides)
The river is covered with blue ice,
And blue is a strict color, friends (the steam blows like frost)
It blows cold for a reason.
Frowns his eyebrows and is angry, (hands on the belt, turns the body to the sides)
He looks at the sky at night.
And if the stars flash, (arms to the sides, jump your legs on
shoulder width - asterisk)
It will be frosty here.
Violet.
The color purple is beautiful, (hands forward - scissors)
Northern lights tide.
Winter plays with colors - (pat themselves on the shoulders with their hands)
Full of “cold” flowers.
What cool colors did you remember from the Snow Queen's castle? If you pronounce it correctly, wake up the mistress of the palace.
The children name the colors and the Snow Queen wakes up.
Playing on emotions.
S.K. -Who dared to disturb me? Who walks in my frosty kingdom?
Who's laughing in my magical meadow? What kind of little gnomes have come here?
Storyteller - These are your faithful servants, His Majesty. We were passing by and decided to greet you. Friends, we must express words of admiration.
Think quickly, what do you see beautiful here? Pronounce it coldly.
(For example:What wonderful air you have - cold and clean!
What a beautiful crown you have, my queen is cold!..)
S.K.– What pleasant, cold words. Okay, I will show you my possessions, just don’t make any noise and walk gently so as not to disturb the peace in my kingdom.
Children follow the Snow Queen one after another. The waltz of snowflakes sounds.
S.K. - Here I have a casket with snowflakes, which I sprinkle on the ground, forests and fields. ( dkids imitate snowflakes)
- There are ice floes locked in a chest here for rivers, lakes and ponds. (dkidsknockingshoulders against each other)
- The wind for snowstorms and blizzards is stored in this casket. (dThe children are running as if they are being driven by the wind - in gusts)
Behind this castle are hidden stars for the winter sky. ( dChildren take the snow in their mittens and clap their hands so that the snow falls off)
And this chest is my favorite. There is frost in it - a cold nose. It is he who carries my winter supplies out of the chests. Now he must return New Year People have already run out. Shouldn't we hurry it up?
Storyteller. – Thank you for your hospitality. We will go to meet him.
S.K. - Fine. I'm tired of the noise, I need peace and cold. Farewell.
(The Snow Queen leaves, and the storyteller and the children call Santa Claus. He skis around the corner of the building and waves his mitten.)
Winter Games - relay races.
D.M. – Didn’t the Snow Queen freeze you, dear Storyteller? Isn't it cold for my kids in the winter castle? We need to warm up a little, play and compete.
1. Hit the target with a snowball. (dChildren try to hit vertical targets of different shapes with small balls)
2. “The snowdrifts move once, twice, three times. Winter animals in the forest freeze..."
3. Game “I’ll catch up, I’ll catch up”
Artistic design from ice floes.
- I gave you a lot of gifts this year. And I want you to leave me a gift as a souvenir. I have a secret bag, and in it are magic figurines. If you make a pattern out of them in the snow, you will solve the mystery.
Children make patterns from multi-colored frozen ice cubes.
Music is playing.
Well done.
We finished the job nicely, and now
Separate and turn against the sun, ( turn their backs to the sun)
The ice sparkles with amber and garnet, silver,
Nature brought these valuable colors to us.
Carrot ice is like amber, and beet ice is like pomegranate,
Strawberry ice is an amethyst, and saffron is like a yellow leaf,
Emerald - green ice, St. John's wort - fashion connoisseur
He repainted my dress in lilac color.
We were able to please Santa Claus. I will remember you whole year until the next one. And don’t forget me, don’t get sick, toughen up!
And now it's time for you to return home. Goodbye, Storyteller.
(dThe children say goodbye to Santa Claus, and the Storyteller takes them out of the castle and takes off their head attributes.Having returned from a walk, independent activities are organized in creative centers: design, fine arts and theater)
The final stage of the project is thinking about the results and internal impressions of the work done. This time, the teacher suggested an interview with the family on the main questions: What did you find out? What did you like most? What was not done for the project and can be done in the next one?
This form of work can also be carried out with a teacher-psychologist in small subgroups.
On spring break I watched the Voronezh cartoon “The Snow Queen”. The plot is cool, they really reconsidered the personalities of Gerda, the troll (in the cartoon his name is Orm), Kai, the flower-flower witch, the prince and princess, the little robber and her mother, and the Snow Queen herself. In the hottest (for the Snow Queen - icy) moment, Gerda, with the help of her father's mirror (what does the mirror have to do with it?) finds out the terrible secret of the Snow Queen...
What do you think about when I say “The Snow Queen”? Do you think and characterize her as beautiful, slender, tall, with silver hair, blue (sometimes lilac) eyes, white eyelashes, pale (sometimes blue) skin, but with a cold heart and gloomy look (don’t you think this description is similar to the description of the White Witch from The Chronicles of Narnia?). Early versions of her image were as follows: she dresses in polar bear fur, a high crown, and a white dress.
Then they began to decorate her with dark cornflower blue hair (rarely black) with blue tips with a metallic sheen. The hair is decorated with diamonds and diamonds, the teeth of the crown look like icicles. The queen herself became slimmer, more beautiful (even more seductive), and her gaze became arrogant.
She is often depicted with a retinue of polar bears and reindeer, as well as flying in a sleigh drawn by white horses with Kai.
Hans Christian Andersen “settled” the Snow Queen on the island of Spitsbergen. The story “What happened in the halls of the Snow Queen and what happened then” (the last part of the fairy tale) begins with a description of her palace:
“The walls of the Snow Queen’s palace were swept by a blizzard, the windows and doors were damaged
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 It was deserted in these white, brightly sparkling palaces! Fun is neverlooked here! If only once in a while there would be a bear party here.with dancing to the music of the storm, in which they could distinguish themselves with grace and skillgo to hind legs polar bears, or a game of cards was formed withquarrels and fights, or finally agreed to talk over a cup of coffee little whiteGodmother foxes - no, this never happened!
Cold, deserted, dead! The northern lights flashed and burned like thisit is correct that it was possible to accurately calculate at what minute the lightwill strengthen and weaken. In the middle of the largest desert snowy hallthere was a frozen lake. The ice cracked on it into thousands of pieces, even andwonderfully correct. In the middle of the lake stood the throne of the Snow Queen; she's wearing itsat when she was at home, saying that she sat on the mirror of the mind; according to her “in my opinion, it was the only and best mirror in the world.”
Our generation is accustomed to looking at this woman as a cruel, people-hating mistress of ice and snow. However, those who read Andersen's fairy tales rarely remember a character similar to the Snow Queen - the Maiden of Ice, who lives in the mountains, herding wild goats, and passionately dreamed of completely capturing Rudy (in infancy, Rudy captured his spirit, then under the guise of Annette - his soul, and then, before Babette's eyes, his body ). This is a symbol of deceit. The image of a tough people-hater and murderer, whose weapon is cold and cold, has become firmly entrenched in our consciousness; The Snow Queen can really kill birds with her icy breath, and freeze them with a kiss. evil heart, or spoiled, in Kai's case.
But this is slander.
In films about the Snow Queen you can often see that she is the owner of an evil mirror, which then broke and the fragments different sizes scattered all over the world. But this is not true: the creator of the mirror is an evil troll. In the cartoon "The Snow Queen" 2012-2013. the mirror, on the contrary, is not evil, but has the function of an “elixir of truth.” The troll Orm did not create it, it was made by the father of Kai and Gerda - master of mirror crafts Vegart (or simply - master Vegart). Lapland says: “If you put it at the right angle, you will see what they want to hide from your eyes.”
In the 7th tale about the Snow Queen by G.H. Andersen (The fairy tale “The Snow Queen” is divided into 7 tales), the reader learns that the Snow Queen gave Kai a task: to assemble the word “Eternity” from ice floes using the Chinese puzzle method. Also says:
“Now I’ll fly to warmer lands,” said the Snow Queen. “I’ll look into the black cauldrons.”
She called Vesuvius and Etna “black cauldrons.”
You are shocked - it turns out that the Snow Queen can not only send blizzards and blizzards, but also decorate window glass with frosty patterns! She travels to warm places like the Mediterranean and can look into the craters of volcanoes. This is obvious - she cools their ardor! And also, for completing the task, she promises Kai a reward: “to be his own master” (that is, she sets him free) and a pair of skates to boot. And when Gerda came, and in her absence Kai was disenchanted, and together they put together the word “Eternity”, “Kai was not afraid of meeting the Snow Queen,” and she kept her word - she gave him freedom and a pair of skates. In films, this moment and gift were often missed, as if the Snow Queen, like the Ice Maiden, says about Kai: “Mine! Will not give it back! My!".
Let's return to the Snow Queen from the same cartoon. Surely, each of you asked yourself the question: “Why does the Snow Queen hate creatively talented people, especially the father of Kai and Gerda - Vegart, a master of mirror crafts?” This is what the Laplander told Gerda (and this story was very useful to her)...
Once upon a time in Lapland there lived a girl Irma, the daughter of a sorcerer. Well, it’s clear who she took after with her superpowers. Her kindness and love for nature and animals made her the most powerful witch in the area. But many people perceived it from the side that they instilled in their children, pushing hatred towards the sorcerer’s daughter. But she didn't deserve it! - you say. Irma, feeling that her abilities had verbally become a curse for those around her, took offense at everyone with all her childish resentment, and cursed them, not realizing that the curse was directed against her. “...And the cold of the cave lake captured her mind...”, the Laplander ends the story.
...And so Gerda looked at the mirror at the “right angle”, and we see that the Snow Queen is none other than Irma with a blue and embittered face, whitened hair, and a “frozen” mind and heart. In the arms of Gerda, Irma returns to her former appearance and commits her first good deed in many years of existence under the name of the Snow Queen - she unfreezes the heart of the half-dead Kai.
After much thought, I came to the conclusion that I had made a new discovery concerning the human soul: the Snow Queen is not a monster at all. The Snow Queen, according to the story of Irma (the same cartoon we are talking about), is a woman who wants people to see her as she really is (and this is little Irma). It makes her angry when creatively gifted people, who are able to see the world a little wider than other people (it has been scientifically proven that an artist can see 3 more colors than an ordinary person - about 150 colors), people portray her as an angry and cruel bitch , waiting for any minor vulnerability to the cold to freeze a person to death. Kai, by the way, is no exception either... Remember his portrait of the queen (although according to the fairy tale, Kai, when fragments of an evil mirror got into his eye and heart, became interested in the patterns of snowflakes). That’s why she kidnapped people who, while moving, with the exception of Kai, turned into ice statues. I also discovered a character trait that is constantly forgotten - the Snow Queen true to her word. She fulfilled her promise when Kai (with the help of Gerda) collected the word "Eternity".
It's really greatest discoveries, which researchers of Andersen’s work and folklore should consider as needed. In our timeThe possessions of the mistress of ice and snow are becoming smaller and smaller. I ask you, people: do not offend the Snow Queen! Who knows our cartoon, do not offend Irma!
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.
- 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; kissed his hands and feet, and he again became cheerful and healthy
The Snow Queen could return at any time - his vacation note 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 Lappish 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.
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 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? - Gerda asked.
— The forest raven died; The tame crow was left a widow, walks around with black fur 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.
artist B. Chupov
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.So they sat side by side, both already adults, but children at heart and soul, and it was summer outside, a warm, blessed summer.
