Branches Book

BRANCHES

Katiana Duffour

THE SNOW QUEEN By: Hans Christian Andersen Translated by: Katiana Duffour

Chapter 1: About a Mirror Once upon a time, there lived a powerful troll that was evil beyond evil. This troll fashioned himself a magical mirror in which everything good would disappear and leave only the bad to be seen. The great troll had students that would take this mirror with them everywhere to see what would be reflected in it. In no time, they had seen the entire world through the mirror and became bored. The students realized that they had yet to see the sun’s reflection, so they decided to bring it up to the sky. On their way, however, the mirror slipped through their fingers and fell down to the Earth, shattering into a thousand little pieces. Unfortunately for the people down below, a single sliver had the ability to turn a person’s life upside down by making everything they love appear ugly and repulsive if the sliver made its way into their eye. Chapter 2: About a Boy and a Girl In a small town there lived a boy and a girl: Kay and Gerda. Every spring, Kay and Gerda would go to the roof of their house and grow vegetables and flowers in the big wooden boxes they kept there. One particular year, two roses grew exceptionally brilliant. When the cold weather came, the two roses were taken inside the house. The roses continued to bloom on the windowsill while white snowflakes flew and danced outside in the winter sky. “Those are white fluffy bees!” said Grandma. “Do they have a queen?” asked Kay. “Yes, they have the Snow Queen. At night, she flies around the town and watches everyone through their windows.” “Can the Snow Queen come into our house?” frightfully asked Gerda. “Let her try! I’ll sit her down on the hot stovetop!” exclaimed the boy. Eventually the cold melted and gave way to spring. All the windows opened, and the roses were taken back to the roof. One day, Kay and Gerda were looking at pictures in a particular book, but were suddenly interrupted as Kay screamed: “Ah! Something landed in my eye! It’s pricked my heart!”

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