World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
The Snow Queen
冰雪女王
The Snow Queen (冰雪女王, Bīngxuě nǚwáng) is a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, retold in simple Mandarin as a 6-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 1 (Beginner).
Retold from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale: a splinter of a troll's mirror turns Kai cold, and brave Gerda crosses the snow to bring him home with her warm tears.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — The warm storyteller of the tale.
- Troll · 坏人 — The wicked troll who makes the mirror that makes good things ugly.
- Kai · 凯 — A cheerful boy who turns cold when a mirror splinter enters his eye and heart.
- Gerda · 格尔达 — Kai's brave, warm-hearted friend who searches the world for him.
- Snow Queen · 冰雪女王 — A distant, cold queen in a white sleigh who takes Kai north.
- Flower Woman · 花园奶奶 — A sugary old woman whose garden charms visitors into forgetting.
- Rose · 玫瑰 — The roses that speak softly from under the ground.
- Crow · 乌鸦 — A proud, chatty crow who thinks he is the smartest bird around.
- Princess · 公主 — A kind princess who gives Gerda warm clothes.
- Prince · 王子 — A gentle prince who helps Gerda with his golden carriage.
- Robber · 强盗 — A rough robber who wants the carriage's gold.
- Robber Girl · 强盗女孩 — A wild, bossy girl with a big knife and a soft heart.
- Dove · 鸽子 — The doves who saw Kai ride north with the Snow Queen.
- Reindeer · 驯鹿 — A tired, dry-humored reindeer from the far north who knows the way.
- Lapp Woman · 北方奶奶 — A cheerful old woman who writes a letter on a dried fish.
- Finn Woman · 智慧奶奶 — A wise old woman who knows Gerda's heart is her power.
- Grandmother · 奶奶 — Kai's loving grandmother, who waits for the children.
6 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Broken Mirror
镜子碎了
A troll's magic mirror shatters, and one tiny splinter changes Kai forever. Then a white sleigh pulls up in the snow.
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Chapter 2: The Flower Garden
花园里的玫瑰
Gerda drifts down a river into a sweet old woman's garden, where every rose has been hidden. One rose on a hat brings her memory back.
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Chapter 3: The Crow and the Palace
乌鸦和公主
A talking crow leads Gerda to a palace, where a prince and princess give her a golden carriage. In the dark forest, the carriage stops.
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Chapter 4: The Robber Girl
强盗女孩
A wild robber girl keeps Gerda by her side, teases her reindeer, and hears the doves' news. The reindeer knows the way north.
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Chapter 5: The Two Wise Women
鱼上的信
A Lapp woman writes a letter on a fish, and a Finn woman says Gerda's heart is her power. Alone in the snow, Gerda faces the Queen's guards.
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Chapter 6: Warm Tears
热热的眼泪
In the palace of ice, Gerda finds a cold, forgetful Kai. Can a girl's warm tears reach a frozen heart?
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Key words in The Snow Queen
Behind the story
This story comes from the Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen, who published it in 1844. The original is told in seven parts; here it is retold in six short chapters. It is one of his longest and best-loved fairy tales, about a friendship strong enough to cross a whole winter world.
Chinese readers know the tale as 冰雪女王, and many first meet it in children's story collections. Its heart is a gentle idea: a warm heart can melt what cold cleverness cannot. That is why it works so well for beginners, since the same simple words about cold, friends and home keep coming back.
Did you know?
- Hans Christian Andersen was born in Denmark in 1805 and wrote more than one hundred and fifty fairy tales.
- Reindeer really do pull sleds in the far north of Europe, where the Sámi people have herded them for centuries.
- In the original tale the shattered mirror splinters are so small that some of them become tiny bits of glass in people's windows and eyes.