"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."
Well, today we move to Japan and we meet a particular yōkai, the Yuki-onna (雪女) or "snow woman". I found this particular story in a beautiful collection of Japanese tales illustrated by Kotaro Chiba. This particular story is the one narrated by Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, also...
One of my favourite episodes from the Winnie The Pooh first book (which is called just like that) is set in winter and I like it because it's extremely silly but also extremely wise, like our favourite bear: it's a tale about how often we...
We're almost there and so is Gerda, so we sneak into the Snow Queen's castle to see how things look from the inside. And they don't look very good, one might say. There was never any real joy here, not so much as a little dance for...
Well, we're riding with Gerda on a reindeer and we're headed to Lapland because a dove said the Snow Queen lives there. Eventually, the girl and the animal arrive in front of a hovel, when they find an old Lapp woman frying fish over a whale-oil...
Did you bring a gun? Yesterday we left the Prince and Princess’ castle in Andersen’s Snow Queen: we were with little Gerda and we were on a rather conspicuous carriage, made of gold and shining like the sun. [caption id="attachment_13881" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Illustration by A. Duncan...
Well, Gerda is running away from the old woman's house and winter is coming again. Eventually she finds herself conversing with a crow, although she's having a little trouble understanding him. There seems to be a difference between crows and sparrows, when it comes to...
Well, do you remember where we left our poor dear Kai? I think the illustrator who mostly nailed the creepy situation is William Heath Robinson, with a bare-breasted Snow Queen on her throne and the boy sleeping at her feet. The main concept is revolving...
Well, yesterday we saw the first part of this long and complex tale, and it involved a magic mirror whose splinter can turn someone’s heart to ice. And if you’re thinking you already saw that in a cartoon, you’re right: it’ one of the very...
As much as you might think that I loathe Hans Christian Andersen (especially those of you who have read my Little Mermaid lengthy piece), there's one tale that I absolutely adore and it's The Snow Queen. It's his longest tale and was originally published on...
Another series I was extremely fond of as a kid was the one authored by Tony Wolf. I always thought he was from the Outer Rim, like Richard Scarry and Rien Poortvliet (I believed both to be Dutch and can you guess which one is...
