MySpace Christmas Bulletins | Morozko (King Frost)

Once there lived an old widower and his daughter. After a time, the man remarried a woman who had her own daughter. The woman doted on her own daughter (even though the girl was selfish and prideful), praising her at every opportunity, and despised her stepdaughter (even though this girl was unselfish and good-hearted). She found fault with everything the girl did and made her work long and hard all day long. One day the old woman made up her mind to get rid of the stepdaughter once and for all.

She ordered her husband, "Take her somewhere so that my eyes no longer be plagued to see her, so that my ears are no longer plagued to hear her. And don't take her to some relative's house. Take her deep into the forest and leave her there to freeze."

The old man pleaded with his new wife, but she would have none of it, so, grieved though he was, he permitted his wife to have her way. He placed his daughter in a sleigh, not permitting her even a horse-blanket to keep herself warm with, and drove her out as deep into the forest as the sleigh would go, where he kissed her and left her, driving home as fast as he could, for he could not bear to watch her freeze to death.

Abandoned by her father, the poor girl sat down amid the tress and began to weep silently. After awhile she heard a sound approaching, like the crackling and groan of tree branches heavy with frost, and knew it was Morozko. Soon he stood beside her, looking at her lovely face.

"All hail to you, good father," the trembling girl said in a gentle, trembling voice as she stood and curtsied, and very gracefully too, though she was very cold.

"Well, maiden," he snapped, "do you know who I am?"

"Yes, your majesty," said the girl in awe. "You are King Frost."

"And are you warm?" he asked.

"Yes, thank-you," she replied courteously, though her nose was red with cold and her fingers were quite numb.

At first, Morozko had wanted to freeze her with his icy grip, but he admired the young girl's good manners, so he gave her a fine downy quilt and went on his way.

After awhile he returned, and found the lovely girl still sitting where he had left her. He found himself a little vexed that she had not the good sense to go home, so he sent a biting wind before him, and soon he was at her side again.

"Welcome, dear Morozko," the girl greeted him.

"Maiden, tell me, do you find the night warm enough?"

And though her breath was white in the air before her, and she felt chilled to the very bone, she answered politely, "Yes, the night is beautiful and warm, sir."

Morozko was pleased she answered without complaining, so he brought a box for her to sit on, and gave her a warm mantle, stitched with silver and lined with fur.

"Thank-you for your kindness, your majesty," she said before he went.

In awhile Morozko returned to check on the girl again.

"Are you certain that you are warm enough?" he asked.

"Welcome again, my dear Morozko. Yes, I am very warm," she said.

Morozko was very pleased with her answer stoicism and her gentle manners, so he put her in his sleigh, pulled by six snow-white horses. Then he wrapped her in furs and put diamonds around her neck, and she looked even more beautiful than before. Then he gave her a silver box crusted with diamonds and crystals, and inside were jewels.

In the meantime her wicked step-mother was making pancakes to celebrate the girl's death, grinning the whole time, while the idiotic man wept silently for his poor daughter.

The woman was thinking how good it was to have the girl gone when in she walked, looking radiant, wearing furs and jewels and carrying the silver box. Everyone was stunned to see her there, alive and healthy, and now rich as well.

"Ready the sleigh, you useless man," the woman ordered her husband, "and take my daughter to the same place you left your brat. If your daughter could get these from Morozko, my daughter will surely get more."

So the man did as he was bid and drove his wife's daughter into the forest and left her where he had left his daughter.

The girl was shivering and feeling quite sorry for herself when Morozko came by. As he did with the old man's daughter, he asked the girl if she was warm.

"Are you blind, you old fool?" she replied. "Just give me my jewels and take me home!" she demanded.

King Frost grew angry at her lack of manners and greed, but decided to give her another chance, for he was in a good mood after his encounter with her step-sister. So he asked again if she was warm.

"Can't you see that my hands and feet are nearly frozen?"

In anger he growled, and the blast of his breath turned her hands and lips almost blue. Still, he thought to give her a third and final chance to learn some manners, and asked again if she was warm.

"Of course I'm not warm, you crazy old man," the girl shrieked. "You are quite the stupidest man I've ever met. Now give me what I came for. I want more jewels than my step-sister, and more furs too. And a sleigh with eight horses to carry me home. Well, hurry up, I'm waiting."

Morozko cracked his fingers, and gnashed his teeth. Her greed and rudeness infuriated him, so he froze her solid on the spot.

Dawn came and the woman told her husband to fetch her daughter home, thinking that the chest of jewels and furs her daughter had been given was too much for the daughter to bring home.

After awhile the husband's sleigh returned and the woman ran out to greet her daughter. She pulled back the horse blanket to see her daughter's frozen body, and in despair embraced her, and froze to death immediately herself (many say her already frozen heart made this so, though some say it was the Frost King punishing her for her treatment of her step-daughter).