The SnowQueen by Dulac
"A
few flakes of snow were falling, and one of them, rather larger than the
rest, alighted on the edge of one of the flower boxes. This snow-flake
grew larger and larger, till at last it became the figure of a woman, dressed
in garments of white gauze, which looked like millions of starry snow-flakes
linked together. She was fair and beautiful, but made of ice; shining and
glittering ice. Still she was alive and her eyes sparkled like bright stars,
but there was neither peace nor rest in their glance. She nodded towards
the window and waved her hand. The little boy was frightened and sprang
from the chair; at the same moment it seemed as if a large bird flew by
the window."
Even
as child, I loved the SnowQueen best of the characters in the story.
I felt sad for her, living all alone in her palace of ice. So alone,
that she has to kidnap Kay. Was this her attempt at finding love?
Hans Christian Anderson did not write about what happened after Kay and
Gerda left the ice palace. How did the Queen feel when she returned
and found that Kay was gone? I often wondered. Gerda had so
many friends and so many creatures who loved her and the Queen had only
Kay. What do you think?
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