Not Just a Fairy Tale

I was reading through a children book entitled "Snow Queen" to prepare for a story telling session at the library. Finding the fairy tale by Hans Anderson very interesting with its twists and turns I knew it has much symbolic meaning underlining the story. So I did some research and discovered to my amazement so much symbolism that is relevant even to our modern world. In other words Hans Anderson like Shakespeare observed human traits, strengths and weaknesses which are universal truths that live through time. He managed to capture in the story themes about life's journey fraught with temptations yet coloured with individual philosophy, transformation, love and charity.

Firstly the writer recognised the strength and determination in women, a tribute to women in a male-centric world. Among the various female characters, the evil Snow Queen was portrayed as one who mesmerized her victims with her dazzling beauty before turning their hearts to ice, eventually freezing to death. It is a stark reminder of spiritual death in the absence of love. In the book the main victim is a young boy called Kay who left everything behind including his warm memories and followed the Snow Queen in her shining carriage to her palace. Shafts of ice that resembled mirrors had pierced his eyes and heart. Anderson must have observed how men tend to be more obsessed with their own image and pomp ( distorted mirror vision) and in pursuit of grandeur leave their feelings and empathy behind.

The main female character is his best friend, a girl named Gerda who was determined against all odds to look for him (theme of sacrifices). She faced many hurdles and used both intellect and intuition to overcome them, often resorting to nature to lead the way and going with the flow as a last resort. In one instance she was misled by her own conviction that a young man whom a princess took as a groom was Kay, only to be utterly disappointed. This subplot  in the story illustrates how in desperation people adopt false hopes.  Along the way Gerda found support from many female characters who are portrayed with various human traits and some of them had their own agenda in helping her or expected something in return. Among the supporters was a little robber girl who finally gave in to her inherent compassion to help Gerda unconditionally. In the final leg of her search a reindeer could not bring Gerda any further in the long journey and she had to break through sheaths of ice on her own . This signifies how in life we have to accept the fact that we need our own resolves to accomplish our goals. When Kay was saved from being frozen to death by the Gerda's tears, love transformed even the coldest hardened heart. The story is realistic in that the Snow Queen was not punished  a symbol that evil still exists

Apparently Snow Queen is Anderson's most ambitious fairy tale. So much meaning and relevance to life is embedded in a fairy tale. It pays for an adult story teller to research into the symbolism so that when telling the story to children one knows how to subtly bring the messages across. It is not just a fairy tale after all.