--- title: "The Snow Queen" story_id: "d3984f55-aaa5-41b6-966a-e7ce283529db" text_id: "25404a57-a39e-48f8-b504-68be49b38a6d" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 6 part_count: 7 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen?part=6" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # The Snow Queen > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen) Version: Modernized ## Sixth story — The Sámi woman and the Finn woman. They stopped at a tiny house. It was so pitiful. The roof went right down to the ground, and the door was so low that the family had to crawl on their stomachs to get in or out. No one was home except an old Sámi woman, who was frying fish by the light of a lamp burning oil from sea animals. The reindeer told her Gerda’s whole story—but first its own, for it thought that was much more important. Gerda was so terribly cold that she couldn’t speak. ‘Oh, you poor things!’ the Sámi woman said, ‘in that case you still have a long way to go! You have to travel about 600 miles into Finnmark. There the Snow Queen has her country home, where she burns blue lights every single evening. I’ll write a few words on some dried cod, since I haven’t any paper. I’ll give it to you for the Finn woman up there; she can give you better directions than I can!’ When Gerda was warm and had something to eat and drink, the Sámi woman wrote a few words on some dried cod. She told Gerda to take good care of it, tied her to the reindeer once more, and off it leapt. ‘Whoosh! Whoosh!’ it said up in the sky. The loveliest blue northern lights gleamed all night long. Then they came to Finnmark and knocked on the Finn woman’s chimney, for she didn’t even have a door. It was so hot inside that the Finn woman went around almost naked. She was tiny, with a dull-looking complexion. She immediately loosened little Gerda’s clothes and took off her mittens and boots, for otherwise Gerda would have been too hot. She placed a piece of ice on the reindeer’s head and then read what had been written on the dried cod. She read it three times, then knew it by heart. She put the fish in the cooking pot, for it was edible and she never wasted anything. First the reindeer told its story, then little Gerda’s, and the Finn woman blinked her wise eyes, but didn’t say anything. ‘You are so wise,’ the reindeer said; ‘I know you can tie up all the winds in the world on a piece of sewing thread. If the skipper, the ship’s captain, undoes the first knot, he gets a wind that helps him sail. If he undoes the next, it blows hard. If he undoes the third and fourth, there is such a gale that the forests blow down. Won’t you give the little girl a potion, so she can have the strength of twelve men and overpower the Snow Queen?’ ‘The strength of twelve men!’ the Finn woman said; ‘Yes, that should do the trick!’ She went to a shelf, took out a large rolled-up animal skin and unrolled it. Strange letters were written on it, and the Finn woman read until sweat poured down her forehead. But the reindeer begged the woman to help Gerda yet again. Gerda looked at the Finn woman with such pleading, tear-filled eyes that the woman blinked her own once more. She drew the reindeer into a corner and whispered to it, while putting a fresh piece of ice on its head: ‘It’s true that little Kay is with the Snow Queen. He finds everything perfect there and believes it is the best place in the world. But that is because he has a shard of glass in his heart and a small speck of glass in his eye. They must be removed, or he can never become a human being again, and the Snow Queen will keep her power over him!’ ‘But can’t you find something for little Gerda that will give her power over everything?’ ‘I can’t give her greater power than she already has! Can’t you see how great that is? Can’t you see how humans and animals have to serve her? How she has managed to get so far in the world on her own bare feet? We must not tell her about her power. It is in her heart, because she is a sweet, innocent child. If she is unable on her own to get to the Snow Queen and remove the glass from little Kay, we cannot help her do so! The Snow Queen’s garden starts twelve miles from here. You can carry the little girl that far. Set her down by the large bush with red berries standing in the snow. Don’t stand there chatting—hurry back here!’ And then the Finn woman lifted little Gerda up onto the reindeer, who sped off as swiftly as it could. ‘Oh, I’ve forgotten my boots! I’ve forgotten my mittens!’ little Gerda cried out. She could feel this in the biting cold. But the reindeer didn’t dare stop. It ran until it reached the large bush with red berries. There it set Gerda down and kissed her on the lips. Large, glistening tears ran down its cheeks. Then it ran back as swiftly as it could. There stood poor Gerda, without any shoes, without any mittens, in the middle of the frightful cold of Finnmark. ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/41a689dd-903b-47a0-b7c7-4205bb4d35e6) She ran forward as fast as she could and met a whole regiment of snowflakes. But they did not fall from the sky, which was perfectly clear and gleaming with northern lights. They moved along the ground, growing larger as they came closer. Gerda remembered how large and odd they had looked through the magnifying glass. But here they were really large and frightening in a completely different way. They were alive: they were the Snow Queen’s outposts, her guards outside the palace. They had the strangest shapes: some looked like large, ugly hedgehogs, others like whole coils of snakes that stuck out their heads; and still others like small fat bears with bristling hairs: all gleaming white, all living snowflakes. Then little Gerda said the Lord’s Prayer. The cold was so severe that she could see her own breath, coming out of her mouth like a great cloud of smoke. It grew thicker and formed small, bright angels that grew larger and larger when they touched the ground. They all wore helmets and held spears and shields. More and more appeared, until a whole army stood around her when she finished the Lord’s Prayer. They jabbed at the horrible snowflakes with their spears. The snowflakes broke into a hundred pieces, and little Gerda went forward safely and cheerfully. The angels patted her feet and hands so that she felt the cold less, and walked briskly on towards the Snow Queen’s palace. But now we must first have a look at how Kay is getting on. He certainly wasn’t thinking of little Gerda, let alone imagining that she stood outside the palace. ## Modernization notes - Lapp → Sámi: Lapp is an older name for a Sámi person, now often considered offensive. The modernized version uses Sámi, the people’s own name, while keeping the original in the source view. - Lapp → Sámi: Lapp is an older name for a Sámi person, now often considered offensive. The modernized version uses Sámi, the people’s own name, while keeping the original in the source view. - Lapp → Sámi: Lapp is an older name for a Sámi person, now often considered offensive. The modernized version uses Sámi, the people’s own name, while keeping the original in the source view. - Lapp → Sámi: Lapp is an older name for a Sámi person, now often considered offensive. The modernized version uses Sámi, the people’s own name, while keeping the original in the source view. ## Parts - [1](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown) — First story (a fairy tale in seven stories) — which deals with the mirror and the shards of glass. - [2](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown&part=2) — The second story — A little boy and a little girl. - [3](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown&part=3) — Third story — The flower-garden of the woman who knew the art of sorcery - [4](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown&part=4) — Fourth story — The prince and princess. - [5](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown&part=5) — Fifth story — The little robber girl. - [6](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown&part=6) — Sixth story — The Lapp woman and the Finn woman. - [7](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown&part=7) — Seventh story — What happened in the Snow Queen’s palace, and what happened afterwards. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales and Stories, 2022, The Hans Christian Andersen Centre, University of Southern Denmark, Odense - author: Hans Christian Andersen - translator: John Irons ## Illustration [Edmund Dulac](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/41a689dd-903b-47a0-b7c7-4205bb4d35e6) — Stories from Hans Andersen, 1911, Hodder & Stoughton, New York and London ## Reading music The Four Seasons — Winter: Largo Antonio Vivaldi John Harrison (violin) Robert Turizziani (conductor) Wichita State University Chamber Players (ensemble) [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown) - [简体中文](https://www.openclassics.org/zh/stories/the-snow-queen?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. 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