The King of Ice and Snow
There was once an honest, hardworking country man. His wife died and he was alone in his cottage with his little daughter, Marella, a lovely child with big sparkling eyes. The girl looked after the house as best as she could, washing the dishes, sweeping the floors, making the beds and doing the cooking, but there were still many things she could not do. She could not cut wood for making fire. It was hard work, for she was only small. Her father, watching her struggle sometimes, decided that he must look for another wife who would take care for them and married a widow who had two daughters. When the wife saw how pretty Marella was, she grew very jealous. Her own two daughters were both plain and spiteful, not at all like the sweet, good natured Marella.
The woman grew more and more unkind to her pretty step daughter and made her work harder and harder. She had to get up at dawn to cook breakfast, fetch sticks from the woods for fire, feed the animals and scrub and clean the house. Her stepmother's two daughters hardly did anything. They slept late and then idled all day, scolding Marella if she did not do all they asked, immediately. Marella's father, who was quiet and timid, did not know what to do. If he protested it would only make his wife more angry and then things would be even worse for his daughter. So he would simply sigh, look at the sky and hope things would get better. Whenever Marella went into the woods, she would weep and pur out her troubles to the birds and the animals, who were her friends. Even the pines and the firs listened and they rustled their branches in sympathy. Sometime passed and Marella's stepmother thought, "Time is passing quickly. My daughters should soon be married, but they are plain. My silly stepdaughter, with that pretty face of hers, will be of no help at all, for all the young men will look at her."
Finally, the wicked woman decided that she would have to get rid of her beautiful step daughter, once and for all. Winter came and the weather grew colder and colder. By January, it was so cold that just to put one's nose outside the door almost made it drop off. One day, the stepmother said to her husband, "It is time our daughters were married. A messenger came to me the other day from King White. He has seen Marella and, because she is so beautiful, he wishes to marry her. King White rules over the ice kingdom, He commands the ice, the snow and the hail. He is very rick and he has a castle, deep in the heart of the forest." Marella's father, who was kind and simple, believed all his wife told him and listened eagerly to all she had to say. "Tomorrow morning", she went on, "Take Marella into the woods and leave her there. King White will then come to claim his bride. He wishes to be seen by no one but his bride." When she was told, Marella was overjoyed at her good fortune. She took from her little wooden trunk the prettiest dress she had and a fur cap ready to put on in the morning. Then she went to bed dreaming of the White King.
Next morning, Marella and her father got into the sleigh and drove off to the woods. There, Marella's father kissed her and then he left her and drove back to the cottage. It was so cold that Marella's breath froze. Tears came to her eyes as she thought of her father returning to the warm cottage. They froze on her cheeks and looked like shining diamonds. The ice hung like lace on branches of trees and all the tiny pools in the woods had turned into crystal. Even the birds had flown away, for there was nothing for them to eat and no water to drink among the frozen lakes and pools.
Marella began to feel she too was being turned into ice. She was beginning to fell afraid when suddenly she heard a gentle voice behind her. "What are you doing here in the cold?" asked the voice. Marella was feeling too cold to turn around but she answered, "I am waiting here for the King White. He loves me and will come to claim me as his bride." "I am the King White. Yesterday, one of the ermines of the forest visited me", said the voice. "They gave me their fur for my robes and told me all about you, for they are all your friends. Your stepmother only wanted to trick you. She sent you here to die, not to be married. You are kind and beautiful. I shall take you to my palace and make you my wife, the queen of Ice and Snow. Close your eyes now. My brothers, the princes of the Eternal snows, are coming in a silver coach and they will carry you to my silver castle".
Marella did as she was told and no sooner had she closed her eyes than she fell asleep. She did not hear the silver coach draw up beside her, nor did she feel herself lifted into it. The princes were delighted when they saw her beauty. "She will make a wonderful wife for our brother, the King," they said to each other. "As for the wicked stepmother, little does she know the happiness she has brought to the stepdaughter, and even without Marella, it is unlikely that any man will ever look at her own ugly, bad tempered daughters." Marella knew nothing about the journey to the palace. Much later, when she opened her eyes and gazed around, she found she was in a room the like of which she had never seen before. It was a huge white room with furniture made of white ivory and decorated with pearls. The bed in which she lay was covered with quilt made from the white fur of the ermines.
Then she heard a voice from the foot of her bed. "Dear Marella," said the voice. "You are to be my wife. All that you see is yours." There, magnificent in a rich gown trimmed with white ermine, was the White King, the ruler of Kingdom of ice and snow. "Never again will you be made to work," he said. "My servants and all the animals of the forest, who do my bidding, will obey your slightest wish". Marella was married at once to the White King and she became the Queen of Ice and Snow.
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