In the center of the old town is the plaza
where the young boys go with their sledges in the slippery snow.
We begin our little tale of woe with the sledge
all red and trusty, of a plucky little boy called K--
who hooked onto any passing sleigh, till one led him very far away.
'Twas the Snow Queen, iwis, who had taken him hold.
When she gave him a kiss, he no longer felt cold.
She was tall and white with beauty, and she wrapped him in her bearskin coat.
He discovered they could simply float on the air
as if upon a boat.
They abandoned the sleigh as they took to the wing.
With her second kiss, K--
could remember nothing.
And she said to him then, with her icicle breath:
"If I kissed you again, I should kiss you to death."