Ooo! Ooo! Insight!

[pegkerr]

Was looking at and thinking about King Frost again. Here's the critical excerpt:

. . .she saw King Frost springing from one tree to another. 'When he reached the fir-tree he jumped down beside her with a bound. Snapping his fingers in her lovely face, he asked:

"Do you know who I am? I will tell you. I am King Frost."

"Hail to you, great King!" smiled the maiden."Have you come for me ?"

"Are you warm, fair maiden ?" he asked in answer.

"Yes, quite warm, King Frost," the maiden replied, although she was shivering.

King Frost bent over her and snapped his fingers about her, until the air seemed full of needles. Again he asked, "Are you still warm, dear maiden?"

Her lips could scarcely move to utter the words, "Quite warm, King Frost."

He snapped his teeth and cracked his fingers, till all the air was filled with stinging things. His eyes glistened and for the last time he asked, "Are you warm, now, beautiful maiden? Are you still warm, my dear?"

She was now scarcely able to speak, but managed to gasp, "Still warm, King Frost."

The gentle girl's patience and uncomplaining endurance caused King Frost to take pity on her suffering. He arrayed her in a robe, embroidered in silver and gold, and decked her with sparkling diamonds. She glittered and shone, and was dazzling to behold. Then placing her in his sleigh, he wrapped her in furs; and six white horses bore them swiftly away.

I had always despised the girl for (as I had always read this tale) lying to please the Frost King, acting against her own interests, even against her own need for survival. "This is the sort of story which teaches women to never complain," I reasoned.

But I suddenly thought just now, what if I've been reading it incorrectly? What if what the girl is being honored for is, in fact, her resiliency in the face of adversity? She is "still warm" even when the cold winds blow. In other words, despite everything, she keeps her (warm) heart of flesh instead of succumbing to the heart of stone (i.e., stone=ice: the wicked sister is often described at the end of the story as "frozen" or "stark stiff" in the various translations.)

Huh. A whole new interpretation.

And one which fits right into the theme I'd hoped to have in my next book.

Hmm . . . .

Cheers,
Peg

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I kind of like this idea. Can I get you another placemat?

B

Yeah . . .

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I do seem to have a very viable idea here. I'm going to take it and run with it for the time being. . . .

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I think she's lying through her teeth to prove that =she= decides when she's cold, that she will not give him the power of believing he controls this. In the end, it's obvious, even to him, that this is what she is doing. He falls in love with her indomitable spirit and her refusal to give in to his selfish needs, and offers what she truly needs (represented by warm clothes and symbols of prosperity) -- and the robes of an equal. Of course, my interpretations of such things are usually suspect: I had to take the poetry section of Paracollege freshman seminar three times, because I always got into towering rows with the professors about what the poems meant.

I'm in the endgame of my current book right now, and one of the things I think it's about is someone's ability to do the best with her current situation, to find joy within the constraints of life.