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Details from another version

"Who is this child?" the mother asked. "Does she live near us?"

Violet laughed that her mother could not understand so clear a matter. "This is our little snow sister," she said, "whom we have just been making."

At that instant a flock of snowbirds came flitting through the air. As was very natural, they avoided Violet and Peony. But - and this looked strange - they flew at once to the white-robed child, lighted on her shoulder, and seemed to claim her as their friend.

The little snow image was as glad to see these birds, old Winter's grandchildren, as they were to see her, and she welcomed them by holding out both of her hands. They tried to all alight on her ten small fingers and thumbs, crowding one another with a great fluttering of wings.

...

[The father’s] heart was tender, but his head was as hard and impenetrable as one of the iron pots that he sold in his hardware shop. At once, though, he perceived the little white stranger, playing in the garden, like a dancing snow wraith with the flock of snowbirds fluttering around her head.

"What little girl is that," he asked, "out in such bitter weather in a flimsy white gown and those thin slippers?"

"I don't know," the mother said. "The children say she is nothing but a snow image that they have been making this afternoon."

As she said this, the mother glanced toward the spot where the children's snow image had been made. There was no trace of it—no piled-up heap of snow - nothing save the prints of little footsteps around a vacant space!

"Nonsense!" said the father in his kind, matter-of-fact way. "This little stranger must be brought in out of the snow. We will take her into the parlor, and you shall give her a supper of warm bread and milk and make her as comfortable as you can." But Violet and Peony seized their father by the hand.

"No," they cried. "This is our little snow girl, and she needs the cold west wind to breathe."

Their mother spoke, too. "There is something very strange about this," she said. "Could it be a miracle come to the children through their faith in their play?"

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Dor

by Nathalie Handal

We walk through clouds wrapped in ancient symbols We descend the hill wearing water Maybe we are dead and don’t know it Maybe we are violet flowers and those we long for love only our unmade hearts On attend, on attend Wait for Duras and Eminescu to tell us in French then Romanian light has wounds slow down— memory is misgivings Wait until the nails get rusty in the houses of our past.

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Cento Between the Ending and the End

by Cameron Awkward-Rich

Sometimes you don’t die when you’re supposed to & now I have a choice repair a world or build a new one inside my body a white door opens into a place queerly brimming gold light so velvet-gold it is like the world hasn’t happened when I call out all my friends are there everyone we love is still alive gathered at the lakeside like constellations my honeyed kin honeyed light beneath the sky a garden blue stalks white buds the moon’s marble glow the fire distant & flickering the body whole bright- winged brimming with the hours of the day beautiful nameless planet. Oh friends, my friends— bloom how you must, wild until we are free.

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Existing books which might have useful interpretive details.

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Just good images 

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Potentially relevant quote?

Dr Bierrgaard (who I don’t know anything about at this time, just something I came across)

“Remember that nature is not cruel. Being cruel implies intent to harm someone or something just to do them harm. Nature is unforgiving, harsh, and often random. But it is not cruel.”

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Possible characters

In SNOW MAIDEN

Parents, possibly two women - create the snow child

“Father Frost” - loosely - Why does he grant the parents’ wish? Is there an exchange or deal of some kind? A debt he owes them? A connection?

The Snow Maiden 

Villagers, including possibly: children, young lovers (Misgir & Coupava in the original), girls who jump over the fire

The Shepherd Boy (Lel in the original)

In SNOW QUEEN

Troll, Dwarf, or Hobgoblin - creates/breaks the mirror whose shards get caught in Kay’s eyes & heart, turning him “cold” and compelling him to go with the Snow Queen

Snow Queen - the apparent antagonist

Kay - young boy who is kidnapped by the Snow Queen

Gerda - young girl heroine who goes to save her friend

Helpers on Gerda’s journey: in the original, this includes a crow, prince/princess, robber girl, reindeer, old women

_____

Interested in having some possible animal characters (birds, perhaps) and a possible comic character or two to balance the melancholy -- could even be a designated “Fool” or jester/bard/musician

Lovely quote from “Pink Fairy Book” -- ‘But cannot you give little Gerda something so that she can have power over her?’‘I can give her no greater power than she has already; don’t you see how great it is? Don’t you see how men and beasts must help her when she wanders into the wide world with her bare feet?’

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Father Frost & the Snow Maiden

Here is an interesting and a bit scary representation of Father Frost and the Snow Maiden.

The mask does play into that less Santa-Claus-y representation that we were thinking of earlier today. It also makes me think of a greek chorus -- a possible tie-in to our idea of a choral ensemble of some sort as the representation of Father Frost.

One other thought on representing the Snow Maiden as not-quite human -- a mask, especially a mask that can come off in sections, could be interesting to play with -- more of the actor’s “human face” could be revealed as love comes into play. 

Possible ~Question~ ... Are love and nature opposing forces? (If we designate Humans as those who experience love and “nature” as the winter/turning of the seasons/etc -- will happen regardless of effect/emotion/toll)

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Interesting background

Apparently the source material is not all that old -- 19th century

In Soviet-era Russia, Christmas could not be celebrated, so the Snow Maiden was included in New Years’ celebrations instead.

Something to think about as setting is considered -- whether we want a specific time and place designated, or references to a particular holiday.

In some versions, her death upon experiencing love is what brings about the end of a [decades-] long winter.

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From Wikipedia, a snippet of some versions: 

A group of girls invite her for a walk in the woods, after which they make a small fire and take turns leaping over it; in some variants, this is on St. John's Day, and a St. John's Day tradition. When Snegurka's turn comes, she starts to jump, but only gets halfway before evaporating into a small cloud.