*****
There once was a peaceful land full of life and warmth as any good spring. The land was ruled by a good but proud king. Certainly the king had much to proud of, for he ruled wisely and well. But he often boasted far too much of his accomplishments, and this angered the gods. So they cursed him with deep magic such that when he breathed his breath would turn to ice. When he spoke the temperature would drop, by several degrees! Whatever he touched would immediately turn to ice. He had become the King of the Cold. The land he ruled over became all ice and frozen, but he remained a wise and good king and ruled over it as kind as any king could, given the situation! He lived alone, with his servants of course, in his now Crystal Ice Palace at the top of the snow covered mountain.
One day, as he was traveling in his ice sleigh to the lands below, he saw a beautiful and fair maiden. Her hair was flaming red, like that of fire, and skin brilliantly fair, with eyes piercing blue. She shone with a radiance. The king was immediately struck by her beauty and wished to make her his queen. He ordered the sleigh to a stop and invited her to his palace, where he treated her and wooed her with all he could: frozen delights of all kinds, took her to a splendorous icycle cavern below the mountains, showed her the meticulous ice carvings made by the master ice sculptors in his beautiful frozen garden where the snow was clean and fresh fallen and had never been stepped on by anyone. But this was all to no avail. For as fair the maiden was, she had a frozen heart. And try as the king might, he could not unfreeze her heart, for he was after all, the cursed King of the Cold.
*****
Now most fairy tales need a happy ending. Actually I learned that the original Brother's Grimm tales didn't necessarily have happy, good endings. Most of the versions we know today were made happy by the likes of Disney and others. But anyways, here's the happy ending to this story.
*****
The king was heartbroken. Standing alone in his ice garden, he wondered what it would take to end this coldness, to break the curse, and he shed a warm tear. And behold, something magical and wondrous occurred. For the tear droplet fell on the ground, and the snow and ice at that spot began to melt. In it's place, grew a single red Rose, so beautiful and bright and full of life. It's stem was a vibrant green. It was the loveliest object to ever come about in the history of the entire land. The king gasped. For he was at once both afraid and overjoyed---afraid that his touch may freeze and destroy the Rose, and overjoyed as this was the first time since the curse anything nonfrozen had come into the land. He cautiously reached for the Rose, held back in a moment of indecision, and then touched a petal. It did not freeze! For the spell had been broken as the king had been humbled. And with this, the cold came to an end.
There once was a peaceful land full of life and warmth as any good spring. The land was ruled by a good but proud king. Certainly the king had much to proud of, for he ruled wisely and well. But he often boasted far too much of his accomplishments, and this angered the gods. So they cursed him with deep magic such that when he breathed his breath would turn to ice. When he spoke the temperature would drop, by several degrees! Whatever he touched would immediately turn to ice. He had become the King of the Cold. The land he ruled over became all ice and frozen, but he remained a wise and good king and ruled over it as kind as any king could, given the situation! He lived alone, with his servants of course, in his now Crystal Ice Palace at the top of the snow covered mountain.
One day, as he was traveling in his ice sleigh to the lands below, he saw a beautiful and fair maiden. Her hair was flaming red, like that of fire, and skin brilliantly fair, with eyes piercing blue. She shone with a radiance. The king was immediately struck by her beauty and wished to make her his queen. He ordered the sleigh to a stop and invited her to his palace, where he treated her and wooed her with all he could: frozen delights of all kinds, took her to a splendorous icycle cavern below the mountains, showed her the meticulous ice carvings made by the master ice sculptors in his beautiful frozen garden where the snow was clean and fresh fallen and had never been stepped on by anyone. But this was all to no avail. For as fair the maiden was, she had a frozen heart. And try as the king might, he could not unfreeze her heart, for he was after all, the cursed King of the Cold.
*****
Now most fairy tales need a happy ending. Actually I learned that the original Brother's Grimm tales didn't necessarily have happy, good endings. Most of the versions we know today were made happy by the likes of Disney and others. But anyways, here's the happy ending to this story.
*****
The king was heartbroken. Standing alone in his ice garden, he wondered what it would take to end this coldness, to break the curse, and he shed a warm tear. And behold, something magical and wondrous occurred. For the tear droplet fell on the ground, and the snow and ice at that spot began to melt. In it's place, grew a single red Rose, so beautiful and bright and full of life. It's stem was a vibrant green. It was the loveliest object to ever come about in the history of the entire land. The king gasped. For he was at once both afraid and overjoyed---afraid that his touch may freeze and destroy the Rose, and overjoyed as this was the first time since the curse anything nonfrozen had come into the land. He cautiously reached for the Rose, held back in a moment of indecision, and then touched a petal. It did not freeze! For the spell had been broken as the king had been humbled. And with this, the cold came to an end.
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