Branches Book

BRANCHES

Unfortunately, the object that landed in his eye just so happened to be a broken shard of the Troll’s mirror. Poor Kay! “Ew, how ugly you are!” Kay yelled at Gerda. “And what are these disgusting flowers? Filth!” Kay flipped over the flower box and destroyed the brilliant roses. Day after day and month after month, Kay grew progressively meaner because of the cursed mirror. It wasn’t long before winter came once more. One day, as the snow was falling, Kay scrutinized the snowflakes on his coat with a magnifying glass. “Look, Gerda! How beautiful these snowflakes are, unlike you and your roses! If only they could never melt!” said Kay. The next day, Kay set out to ride his sled on the playground. Soon after he had arrived at the playground, a huge white sleigh appeared out of nowhere. A person was seated inside wearing what appeared to be a white fur coat and snow white hat. Strangely, Kay felt compelled to tie himself to the sleigh. After doing so, Kay and the stranger rode off together to the town gates. Upon reaching the gates, they stopped. From the stagnant sleigh emerged a beautiful, blindingly white woman. It was the Snow Queen. She invited Kay to sit in her sleigh. He agreed, and they flew off right into the frozen sky. Chapter 3: About an Old Enchantress and Her Flowers Gerda waited for Kay to return but he never did. Most of the people in the town speculated that he drowned in the river, but some of the neighborhood boys were claiming they saw him being taken away by a huge sleigh. “That’s not true!” answered the sun. Hearing this, Gerda decided to put on her new red shoes and go to the river to ask if it knows anything about Kay. “Is it true that you took my beloved brother Kay?” she asked the river. The river answered by gently pushing her boat with soft waves. In hopes of getting a response, Gerda offered the river her new shoes by throwing them into the water. The current seemed to reject them and brought them back up to the shore. It appeared to not want such a generous gift. The girl believed that she did not throw the shoes far enough, so she stood up on the boat and threw them once more, this time further into the river. Gerda did not have time to jump out before the boat floated away from the shore and quickly down the stream. The girl was not afraid to sail in an unknown direction because she knew the river was taking her to Kay. Once again, spring arrived, and the sun warmed the land. “Kay probably died. I will never see him again!” said Gerda.

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