Stories 
The Little Snow Girl
A Russian Folklore
by Sunitichandra Mishra

Long ago, near the snow-clad Siberian region in Russia there lived an old man and his wife. They had a small farmhouse and a poultry farm., and they had a dog named Zhuchka whose duty was to protect the old couple and their chickens from wild animals.

The life of the old couple was going on smoothly but at times they were very sad because they had no children. Whenever they would see children of their neighbors playing with snowballs, their sadness would increase.

One day the old man brought a snowball and said to his wife: “How nice, how soft this snow is! How passionately I desire if God would have blessed us with a child as pretty as this snowball!” They wept for long and then put the snowball in a glass jar and slept.

The Sun rose in the morning and its rays fell on the glass jar. The snow melted and, to their surprise, the old couple saw a pretty little girl there in the jar. They took her out. How beautiful, like a blue crystal, her eyes were! How chubby and sweet were her cheeks! How silky and dark was her hair! How beautiful she was! The old man asked, “Who are you?” And the little snow girl smiled and sang:

“I’m a little snow girl
Soft like a dew-pearl
My mother is the spring of delight,
My father is the sun of bright light”

Extremely happy were the old couple now and the little snow girl lived in their house since then. The old man would bring sweetest fruits for her from the forest and the old lady would spend whole day preparing wonderful dresses for her.

Zhuchka, the faithful dog of the family was also very fond of the little snow girl and would spend hours playing with her. Once while he was busy playing with the snow girl, a fox came and killed many of the chickens in the poultry farm. The old man was very angry. He beat Zhuchka and expelled the poor dog out.

Time passed by and the summer came. Beautiful flowers bloomed in the nearby forest. The berries ripened. Once the children of the neighborhood came to the old couple requesting them to let the little snow girl go with them to the nearby forest for picking berries. The old couple agreed but they warned them to take care of her and never let her be alone as there were many wild animals in the forest.

The little snow girl walked hand in hand with the children. As soon as they came to the forest, they were excited to see all the trees so profusely laden with ripe and sweet smelling berries. All the children scattered here and there and the little snow girl was left alone. She wandered in the forest but could find no way to come out. It became dark. She started weeping and, afraid of wild animals, climbed up a tree. As she was weeping there on the tree, a bear passed by and asked: “Who are you, pretty little girl? Why are you weeping?” She said:

“I’m a little snow girl
Soft like a dew-pearl
My mother is the spring of delight,
My father is the sun of bright light.
But now I am here all alone,
And I weep ‘cause I lost my home.”

The bear said: “Weep not, come sit on my back and I’ll take you back your home”. “No”, answered the snow girl, “I can’t trust a bear like you”. So the bear went away.

Then came a wolf and asked: “Who are you, sweet baby! And why are you weeping?” Again she said:

“I’m a little snow girl
Soft like a dew-pearl
My mother is the spring of delight,
My father is the sun of bright light.
But now I am here all alone,
And I weep ‘cause I lost my home.”

The wolf said: “Don’t worry, come sit on my back and I will take you home”, but the snow girl replied: “Who can trust you, O bloody fox! Go, I can’t come with you.” So the wolf also went away.

Then came a fox and asked: “Oh, lovely, charming girl! Who are you and why are you weeping?” And the girl said:

“I’m little snow girl
Soft like a dew-pearl
My mother is the spring of delight,
My father is the sun of bright light.
But now I am here all alone
And I weep ‘cause I lost my home.”

“No problem”, the fox smiled: “Come down and I will take you safely home”, but the snow girl said: “Go away, O cunning fox! Who can trust a cheater like you? I am better here than dead.” So the fox also went away.

Suddenly, the little snow girl heard a barking voice. She felt it was Zhuchka. She shouted aloud: “Zhuchka! Zhuchka!” And the dog heard her voice. He came under the tree and wagged his tail. The little snow girl came down and said: “I can’t trust a bear, I can’t trust a wolf, and I can’t trust a fox but I trust you, dear Zhuchka! Please take me home.” She sat on the dog’s back and within an hour Zhuchka brought her home. The old man and his wife were in tears and after seeing the little snow girl they wept more bitterly. But now these were the tears of delight. Zhuchka got his job back and all were happy.

June 18, 2006

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