'Attention, please, we're going to begin. When we've got to the end of the story we shall know more than we do now '. But before we get to the end of the story, we shall have heard no fewer than seven separate tales. First there is the tale of the distorting mirror made by the Sorcerer, and how it was smashed, and what happened to the pieces. And then there is the tale of the little boy named Kay and the little girl named Gerda. And after that five other tales telling of Gerda's adventures when she went in search of her playmate, stolen by the Snow Queen : the story of the Flower Garden of the Old Woman who knew magic, the story of the Princess who advertised for a husband, the story of the Robber Girl, the story of the Lapp Woman and the Finn Woman, and the story of what happened in the Snow Queen's Palace-and of what happened after that..... Well, attention, please !