snow queen storybook

8/6/2019 Snow Queen Storybook

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The Snow Queenby Hans Christian Andersen

A fairy tale in seven stories –

a summary of the adaptation

by Teresa Ludovico

Illustrations by Francesco Manenti



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1. The magic mirror and its many fragments

And so we begin. When we arrive at the end of this tale, we will

know more than we know now.

nce upon a time, a wicked Demon creates a giant mirror with

special magic powers. Everything it reflects is transformed into

ugliness, everything good is turned to evil. But the Demon’s

servants drop the mirror, which falls and breaks into a hundred million

billion fragments. Some fragments fall into the hearts of men, and their

hearts are frozen. And some fragments continue to fly on and onaround the world, even to this day.

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2. Where Kay and Gerda’s lives are changed forever

elow the world of the demons and splinters of broken mirror live

two children called Kay and Gerda. They live in houses so close

to each other, they can almost touch hands when they reach out

of their windows.

Kay and Gerda are best friends. Their garden is their joy and the

wonderful place where they play happily. Their love for each other is

strong, connecting them in a very special way, like two butterflies

attached by a red thread reaching all the way up to the moon. Their

grandmother told them that when a baby boy and a baby girl are

ready to be born, the moon orders its silkworms to weave a red thread

joining the boy’s little foot to the girl’s, so that they can live happily

together for ever.

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n the evenings, Kay and Gerda love to listen to their grandparents

telling stories that fill their imagination with wonder. One of these

stories is about the beautiful but icy Snow Queen, who slips

through the streets at night, turning everything to ice.

One night Kay goes to sleep by the window, but is woken by the

appearance of the Snow Queen. Suddenly, he feels a sharp pain.Two splinters from the magic mirror have pierced his eye and his

heart, freezing his emotions and transforming him into an angry,

spiteful boy. Kay makes fun of Gerda, hurting her feelings. He then

runs into the garden outside and destroys their beautiful roses that

they cherished together.

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ne cold night, without warning, the Snow Queen bursts into

their world and captures Kay. She takes him far away to her icy

castle at the ends of the earth. “I’m cold”, he shivers. The Snow

Queen takes him under her cloak and kisses him on the forehead and

on the mouth and he forgets everything and everyone at home.

“Soon you will no longer feel anything”, she says in her chilling voice,

“Neither joy, nor sadness. And now I must give you no more kisses,

or else you will be kissed to death.” And off they fly into the long

winter night.

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3. Where Gerda sets out on her adventure and enters an

enchanted garden

fter Kay has disappeared, everyone tells Gerda he must be

dead. But Gerda is convinced he is alive and bravely sets out

to find her friend, even though he was horrible to her and

stamped on the roses.

She offers her red shoes, her most precious possession, to the river

in return for help.

Eventually Gerda reaches an enchanted and richly perfumed garden

full of flowers. A tall woman with special magic powers orders her

flowers to exercise and to dance and then to disappear underground.

But as soon as she sees Gerda she entices her into her skirts and soon

Gerda and the flowers are spellbound and fall into a deep sleep.

When the old woman herself falls asleep, Gerda is woken by the roses.

She immediately remembers Kay and breaks free of the powerful spell,

running away to continue her journey.

4. Where Gerda makes friends with a crow and meets

a Prince and Princess

t’s winter again and word has spread throughout the land aboutKay’s disappearance and Gerda’s journey to find him.

Gerda comes across a couple of old crows who are bickering at home.

When she asks them for help and tells them what Kay looks like, they

reply that he could be the unknown but very intelligent prince who

has just arrived at the castle to marry the princess.

The two crows kindly offer to take Gerda to that castle, warning her

that she may see the strange dreams of the Prince and Princess which

are both beautiful and dangerous.

In the castle Gerda is bewitched by these dreams as the Prince and

Princess move and tumble in the air, like strange creatures, dropping

the red rose that symbolised their love. However when the dream is

over, she sees that the prince is not Kay. Disappointed, Gerda tells the

prince and princess about her journey. They give her exotic royal

garments to help her on her way, and one of the crows accompanies

her from the castle.

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5. Where Gerda meets a band of robbers

owever, poor Gerda gets lost in the woods. As the night creepsin, she is surprised and attacked by a band of robbers who

steal her new royal clothes and make her a prisoner, the chief

robber woman threatening to fry her eyes in boiling oil and roast her

hands and feet with potatoes, onions and rosemary.

Thankfully, her daughter the robber girl intervenes as she wants Gerda

as her play thing. Gerda is tied up and joined by a friendly dove and

a sentimental reindeer and they are ordered to perform and entertain

the robber girl who squeals with pleasure at their ridiculous attemptsto obey her commands.

Luckily, the reindeer and dove know what has happened to Kay –

he has been taken to Lapland by the Snow Queen and is being held

prisoner in her frozen palace. Gerda begins to cry for her missing

friend Kay. Her tears and her obvious love for Kay soften the robber

girl’s heart and she decides to let all three go. But the dove can see

that the robber girl is left all alone and in a tender moment nudges

up to the robber girl: “coo coo, if you like, I’ll stay here with you…

coo coo….” Meanwhile Kay is still a prisoner of the Snow Queen,

lost at the ends of the earth….

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6. Where Gerda and the reindeer meet the Laplanders and

the Finland woman

erda and the reindeer leave the robbers behind, racing through

the cold snow towards Lapland, the reindeer’s home country,

and the Snow Queen’s palace.G



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hey come across three happy little Laplanders who are fishing

and having fun in the snow. They rejoice at seeing the return

of the reindeer. When Gerda asks for their help they tell her

to go to the Finland woman who knows all the most secret secrets

in the world.

Gerda is really hopeful that the Finland woman will give her something

special and magical to rescue Kay from the clutches of the icy Queen.

But the Finland woman says there is no magic potion to break the

spell of the Snow Queen. She turns to Gerda, “I can’t give you any

more power than you have already. Your strength is in your heart.

You must go alone to the Queen’s palace.”

Gerda and the reindeer race on until they reach the garden of the

Snow Queen’s palace. Here Gerda’s precious friend the reindeer sadlysays goodbye but reminds Gerda that whenever she looks up at the

stars she will always see a reindeer with a small girl on his back.

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7. In the palace of the Snow Queen

erda’s heart beats hard and fast as, alone, she bravely entersthe palace. It is dark and freezing cold… and then there she is,

the incredible and terrifying force of the Snow Queen herself.

The Snow Queen screeches, “how dare you enter my kingdom” and

turns all her incredible icy power on Gerda. Gerda reaches for the

small box of matches in her pocket and manages to strike up a single

flame. Suddenly, in this small flash of heat the mighty power of the

Snow Queen is nothing, and she dissolves away. Gerda’s enemy is

gone forever.

But what about Kay?

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erda finds Kay hidden in the darkness of the palace, shivering

and frozen. He doesn’t recognise his friend. Is it too late to save

him? Gerda’s heart is broken and her tears begin to fall. But

what’s this? Her warm tears land in Kay’s eye and heart, melting away

the splinters from the magic mirror. Kay slowly wakes up…he’s alive!

The two children are filled with joy and happiness at their reunion andthey race each other back to their distant childhood garden with “first

one there gets a big kiss!” They may have grown older but in their

hearts they are still children.

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