The Snow Queen read by Joanna Lumley [Audiobook] - Bedtime stories for kids.

Once upon a time there were two children who lived next door to each other in a big city crowded with houses and people. They shared a tiny garden made of a window box where a rosebush bloomed until winter froze it away. Not far away there was an evil hobgoblin who had a magic mirror. Everything beautiful that it reflected looked ugly while hideous things looked wonderful. The hobgoblin flew into the sky with his mirror but it slipped from his hands and smashed into millions of sharp splinters. They fell on the earth below. One wintry night the boy Kay looked out of his window. Amid the whirling snow he saw a tall woman graceful and beautiful who beckoned to him but she was made of shining glittering ice. He was frightened and hid under his warm blankets. Next summer the rosebush bloomed again and the girl Gerda sang a song beside it. When roses bloom so sweetly in the veil the snow queen's evil power at last will fail. As Kay played nearby he suddenly cried out in pain Oh something hurt my heart and there's something in my eye. Gerda tried to comfort him. They did not know that the splinters of the evil mirror had pierced him and would soon turn his heart to ice. As time passed Kay grew cruel and rude and shunned his former playmate. One day he was riding his sled when he saw a magnificent white sleigh arrive. That will go much faster than my sled he thought and jumped on the back. But the sleigh took off faster and faster flying through the snow. Kay was terrified. Finally it stopped and the driver stood up and turned to him. A tall figure wearing a white fur coat and a cap made of snow. It was the snow queen. Are you trembling from cold? she asked him. She kissed his forehead and for a moment he felt as though he was dying. Then he felt comfortable and realized he no longer felt the cold. The snow queen kissed him again and he forgot Gerda, his parents and his home. They flew away over forests and lakes over many a land and sea. Below them the wind blew cold and wolves howled but up above the moon shone bright and large and Kay fixed his eyes on it throughout the long winter night. By day he slept at the feet of the snow queen. Back home Gerda searched everywhere for Kay. The snow melted and spring came but there was no sign of him. So Gerda set off from her home to find him. Her journey first took her to a witch who lived in an enchanted flower garden. The witch wanted to keep Gerda and cast a spell of forgetfulness. But the witch was worried that her roses might remind the girl of Kay. So she pointed her crooked stick and they sank down into the black earth. Held under a spell Gerda stayed there but one day a sadness came into her heart and her tears fell onto the earth awakening the rosebush. As it bloomed before her Gerda suddenly remembered everything. Kay isn't dead the roses told her. We have been down in the earth where the dead people are but Kay is not there. A crow flew into the garden. I think I have seen Kay he said. He's now a prince married to a princess in this very kingdom. Gerda went to visit the royal palace but although the prince looked like Kay it was not him. The princess was moved by Gerda's plight and gave her a golden carriage to help her with her journey. The carriage rolled on into a dark forest where it was soon surrounded by robbers. They seized the horses and killed the coachman and dragged poor Gerda out. How tender she looks they cried. What a dainty dish she will be. They kept her to fatten her up for but a young robber girl took pity on her. Her name was Bay and she had a pet reindeer. That night while the robbers danced around their fire some wood pigeons flew by. We have seen Kay they told Gerda. He flew away with the snow queen to Lapland. Bay's reindeer spoke the snow queen only lives in Lapland in summer. Her stronghold is a castle near the north pole on the island called Spitsbergen. So Gerda traveled north on the reindeer's back. First she came to the hut of the lap woman who was cooking fish over a whale oil lamp. The snow queen is hundreds of miles to the north the lap woman told her. Gerda traveled on to the hut of the fin woman who had mystical knowledge. While Gerda slept the fin woman spoke to the reindeer. Little Kay has splinters of glass in his heart and his eye. He will not be human until they are removed she said. Can't you give Gerda a magic spell to give her more power than the snow queen the reindeer asked. No power that I could give her could be as great as the innocence of her own heart. Don't you see how wise men and beasts are compelled to serve her and how far she has come the wise old fin woman said. Gerda and the reindeer rode on to the snow queen's castle. It was defended by monstrous soldiers formed of snowflakes. They looked like snakes bears and porcupines. But Gerda said a prayer and her frozen breath turned into angels who melted the snowflakes away. The walls of the castle were made of snow drifts and its vast empty halls were lit by the flair of the northern lights. In the center was a frozen lake where the snow queen sat with Kay at her feet. Kay was nearly blue with the cold though he did not feel it as his heart had nearly turned to ice. I am going to visit volcanoes in the hot countries the snow queen told him and flew away. Gerda found Kay there alone stiff and still nearly frozen to death. She threw her arms around him and her warm tears fell over him going straight to his heart. They burned away the icy splinter there. When roses bloom so sweetly in the veil the snow queen's evil power at last will fail Gerda sang. Kay cried out in happiness. My beloved Gerda where have you been for so long and where have I been how cold and empty it is here. Hand in hand they left the wintry castle as they journeyed south the bitter wind died down and the sun shone out. Green buds were all around them in the forest and birds sang. As Kay and Gerda reached home they had forgotten the snow queen as though she was nothing but a bad dream. Everything seemed just as it was but when they entered the door they realized they were no longer children but grown up. So they sat by their rose bush grown up but still children at heart and it was summer warm glorious summer.