— The Snow Queen was born from a shattered mirror, which reflected the whole world distortedly, turning good into evil, and evil into good.

The girl named Gerda listened enthralled to the story told by her grandmother Oda, basking in the warmth of their poor but cozy home.

— She's terrifying! Goodness, I hope I never see her, or she'll kidnap me! — the girl uttered with fright, who wasn't hearing the legend of the evil Snow Queen, who wanted to freeze the whole world, for the first time.

— Ha! You'll never see her! Listen, Gerda, I'll protect you. She's just a weak piece of ice and snow, — replied her sworn brother Kai, who was looking out the window, studying the patterns formed by the frozen snowflakes.

— Kai, I know you're a smart boy, because you love mathematics, but the Snow Queen is terrifying and strong, — answered Gerda, pressing her hands to her heart in fear. Kai, raising an eyebrow, looked at Gerda and objected:

— Nonsense! I'll grab her and drag her into the stove. There she'll melt and turn into a puddle!

Once again the young man answered her and looked out the window. Letting out a breath, he started solving imaginary math examples on the glass, but suddenly he was drawn to the snowflakes rapidly gathering into a cluster. Suddenly, from this cluster appeared long legs, then a body, arms, a head... A face of incredible beauty! Kai blushed. Goodness, what kind of beauty was standing outside the window? This couldn't be the Snow Queen, could it? She couldn't be this beautiful, the young man thought. And their eyes met. He grabbed his ushanka hat and his worn-out, hole-ridden duffle coat, quickly put them on, and shouted:

— Gerda, Grandmother Oda, I'm going out!

— Going out, Kai, but it's dark and there's a severe fr—!

Slam!

The door shut abruptly, and Kai ran towards the figure made of snow. Stopping short and breathing heavily, he froze right in front of the Snow Queen. His cheeks were slightly flushed, whether from the cold or from admiration.