Fairy tale · 声匠改编 · 4:27
The Snow Queen
A splinter of a troll's mirror freezes Kai's heart and the Snow Queen carries him north. Brave Gerda walks to the end of the world to bring him home.
Narrator
Gerda
Kai
Grandmother
The Snow Queen
The Crow
The Robber Girl
The ReindeerOther languages · 2 languages
About this story
The Snow Queen is a fairy tale by the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, published in 1844 and told in seven short stories. A splinter of a troll's magic mirror freezes Kai's heart, the Snow Queen carries him off to her palace in the far north, and his friend Gerda sets out alone to find him, helped by a crow, a robber girl and a reindeer. This bedtime version keeps Andersen's main journey and lets the robbers simply take the golden coach, so it stays gentle for young listeners.
What it teaches
Love and loyalty are stronger than any magic. Gerda has no spells and no sword, only a warm heart that refuses to give up on her friend, and that is enough to melt the ice.
Suits
Ages 4–9
Tips for telling it
- Make the Snow Queen calm and cool rather than shouty; still voices feel colder.
- Count Gerda's helpers on your fingers: the crow, the prince and princess, the robber girl, the reindeer and the wise woman.
- Ask your child what a mirror splinter might make them see, and what Gerda's tears washed away.
Questions people ask
- Is Frozen based on The Snow Queen?
- Disney's Frozen (2013) is credited as inspired by Andersen's The Snow Queen, but its story and characters are new. Andersen's tale is about Gerda, a girl who travels north to rescue her friend Kai from the Snow Queen's palace.
- What is the moral of The Snow Queen?
- Love, loyalty and a kind heart can overcome coldness and cruelty. The wise woman says Gerda's power lies in her own heart, and it is her tears, not magic, that free Kai.
- Who wrote The Snow Queen?
- Hans Christian Andersen, the Danish author of The Little Mermaid and The Ugly Duckling, published The Snow Queen in 1844. It is one of his longest fairy tales.
More Fairy tales
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A one-legged tin soldier loves a paper dancer, and stands firm through a fall, a paper-boat voyage, a water rat and a fish. Andersen's tale, retold warmly.
The Wild Swans
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A wicked queen turns eleven princes into swans, and their sister Elisa must knit nettle shirts in total silence to save them. Andersen's tale, retold.
Alice and the Mad Tea Party
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Alice sits down uninvited at a tea table where it is always six o'clock, riddles have no answers and the Dormouse keeps dozing off. Carroll, retold.
阿拉丁和神灯
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穷孩子阿拉丁被假伯伯关进山洞，一擦戒指、一擦旧油灯，冒出了两个精灵。他娶了公主，坏魔法师却喊着：新灯换旧灯！
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
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A poor woodcutter overhears the words Open, Sesame! and finds a robbers' cave of gold. When the forty thieves come hunting, clever Morgiana outwits them.
Snow White
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A jealous queen, a mirror that never lies, seven dwarfs and one rosy apple. A gentle bedtime retelling of the Grimms' Snow White, with a softer ending.
