Folk Tales/Snow Child

“Snow Child” is a folk tale heard on Whitney's path in the game Secret Paths in the Forest. The male narrator is uncredited. The story serves to illustrate for Whitney that even when she is apart from her mother, all the special memories she has of her mom can be cherished forever.

According to the Aarne-Thompson-Uther (ATU) Index, this story falls under the category of 703: The Snow Maiden. It can be Russian or Slavic in origin.

The Story
Snow Child

An old couple, Tatiana and Alexander, had wanted a child for a very long time. Sadly, they’d never had one. The couple lived next to a beautiful forest, and one day to cheer themselves up they decided to go on a picnic; this would be a very special picnic because it would be in the snow.

Even though it was cold and the ground was covered with snow, it was a glorious day. The sky was bright blue and the birds were singing.

The couple decided to make a snow child. They knelt together in the snow, gathering a big ball for the head and smaller ones for hands and feet, with tiny little pieces for ears. Soon they had a beautiful snow child whom they pretended was their daughter. She was lovely.

Tatiana leaned over, gave her a kiss, and said, “Here, my little one, put on my babushka to keep you warm.” Then with another hug and cuddle from each, they said goodnight and went back to their cottage at the edge of the forest.

Later that evening, there was a knock on the door. It was their snow daughter! They named her Snegurochka, snow maiden, and welcomed her into their family. All winter they had a wonderful time together and had many special picnics in the snow.

One day when the snow had almost disappeared, Snegurochka said, “I remember where I come from and must return. But even though I won’t be here, I will always love you.”

“We will miss you, but we will always love you too,” replied her parents.

Tatiana and Alexander were very sad to lose their precious daughter. “Snegurochka made our lives so special and every day a happy day,” Tatiana said. “We must find some way to cheer ourselves up.” So they drifted sadly around their newly silent home trying to find a way out of their sadness.

Soon they found a beautiful box. “Snegurochka must have left this for us,” Tatiana exclaimed. When they looked inside the box, they saw it was filled with memories. The couple rejoiced saying, “Snegurochka will be with us forever.”