In a large, crowded town, two poor children named Kay and Gerda lived in neighboring attic rooms. Their families had built a shared rooftop garden by placing wooden boxes across a gutter between their windows. Sweet peas and rose bushes grew splendidly, creating a green haven high above the streets. The children were inseparable, playing under the roses in summer. In winter, when frost covered the windows, they would warm copper pennies to melt peepholes and gaze at each other through the glass.
One snowy evening, Kay's grandmother spoke of the "Snow Queen," who ruled the snowflakes and painted frost flowers on the windowpanes. That night, Kay saw a large snowflake transform into a beautiful, icy woman who nodded to him before vanishing.
The following summer, as Kay and Gerda looked at a picture book, a shard from a cursed magic mirror struck Kay's eye and heart. It distorted his vision and froze his feelings. He became cruel, tearing their beloved roses and mocking Gerda. His games turned cold and intellectual; he admired the perfect, magnified beauty of snowflakes over real, imperfect flowers.
One winter day, Kay took his sled to the town square. A magnificent white sled, driven by a figure in white fur, appeared. Kay tied his sled to it, and they sped out of town into a blinding snowstorm. The driver was the Snow Queen. She took Kay into her sled, kissed his forehead (a kiss colder than ice that numbed his heart completely), and carried him away to her icy palace. As they flew over lands and seas on a black cloud, Kay forgot Gerda, his grandmother, and his home, enthralled by the Snow Queen's cold perfection.