Once upon a time, a peasant woman had a daughter and a step-daughter. The daughter was spoiled, but the step-daughter, though kind and unselfish, was constantly blamed and mistreated by her step-mother.
The wicked step-mother was determined to be rid of the girl. She ordered her husband, "Send her out into the fields, and let the cutting frost do for her." The old father, though weeping, dared not gainsay her. He placed his daughter in a sledge without warm clothes, drove her to an open field, kissed her, and left her to her fate.
Deserted, the girl sat under a fir-tree and wept. Suddenly, she heard a faint sound: King Frost, springing from tree to tree. He landed beside her with a crisp crackle.
"Well, maiden," he snapped, "do you know who I am? I am King Frost."
"All hail to you, great King!" she answered gently. "Have you come to take me?"
"Are you warm, maiden?" he asked.
"Quite warm, King Frost," she replied, though she shivered as she spoke.
King Frost bent over her, and the air grew colder, full of icy darts. He asked again, "Maiden, are you warm?"
Though her breath froze, she whispered, "Quite warm, King Frost."
A third time, with his teeth gnashing, he asked, "Maiden, are you still warm?"
The girl, now stiff and numb, could just gasp, "Still warm, O King!"
Her courteous and uncomplaining answers touched King Frost. He pitied her, wrapped her in furs, and gave her a chest containing a beautiful robe embroidered with gold and silver. Dressed in splendor, she rode away with him in his sledge drawn by six white horses.
Meanwhile, the step-mother, preparing a funeral feast, sent her husband to find the girl's body. As he left, the little dog under the table barked:
"YOUR daughter shall live to be your delight; HER daughter shall die this very night."
"Hold your tongue!" scolded the woman, offering the dog a pancake. "Say: 'HER daughter shall have silver and gold; HIS daughter is frozen stiff and cold.'"
The dog ate the pancake but barked again:
"His daughter shall wear a crown; Her daughter shall die unwooed, unwed."
The woman tried to coax and threaten the dog, but it kept repeating the prophecy. Suddenly, the door flew open. In came the step-daughter, radiant in her glittering dress, followed by a great chest of treasure.
Blinded by greed, the step-mother ordered her husband, "Yoke the horses! Take my daughter to the same spot!"
The old man left his own daughter under the same tree. Soon, King Frost arrived.
"Are you warm, maiden?" he asked.
"What a blind old fool!" she answered angrily. "Can't you see I'm nearly frozen?"
King Frost questioned her again, but received only rude replies. Enraged, he cracked his fingers, gnashed his teeth, and froze her to death.
Back home, her impatient mother told her husband, "Go fetch her, and be careful with the chest!"
The little dog barked:
"Your daughter is frozen stiff and cold, and shall never have a chest full of gold."
"Don't tell such lies!" the woman cried. "Here's a cake. Now say: 'HER daughter shall marry a mighty King.'"
At that moment, the door flew open. She rushed out, embraced her daughter's frozen body, and was herself chilled to death.