Here it is, the second installment of the Grimm' Fairy Tales. I had this story planned before I wrote the first one, so let's get this one started and see if it proves just as successful as the first.

Grimm II

Once upon a time...

There was a young, poor woman who had lost her home, and had been abandoned to the wilderness. Her only family was her young child, who she had just given birth to.

But the woman harbored a special secret, one she treasured deeply. For the woman held possession over a magical, ancient mirror. Whoever held the mirror would be able to see whatever he or she asked for.

Cast off in the bitter winter, and desperate to save herself and her child from certain death, the woman used the mirror to show her a place of shelter. With the mirror's help, the woman was led to the doorstep of a shining castle, where there lived a young, handsome prince. With nowhere else to go, the woman begged and pleaded to be let inside to spare herself and her child from the bitter cold.

But the prince was cold and heartless human being. Repulsed by the peasant woman, he refused and cast her off. Desperate, the woman tried to bargain by offering him her magic mirror. Though she treasured the mirror, for it had been her only possession, the woman was willing to do anything to save her child from death.

But the prince was unmoved, and he had his guards cast the woman off the steps of his castle, and back into the unforgiving wilderness, to certain death.

With her only hope of survival gone, the woman struggled to at least save her child until the winter storm passed. She covered the baby with her clothing and used her own embrace to keep her warm. Even as the hours passed and the storm showed no sign of passing, the woman continued her struggle to protect her child.

But alas, she could not last forever. The freezing cold overwhelmed the woman, and when her strength had diminished, she could not hold onto her child any longer. She let go of the baby, and the winter winds picked the child up and carried it off into the storm.

Having lost everything, the woman gave up all hope. She ceased her struggle and prepared herself to accept Death's cold embrace, for she had nothing left to live for. And as she lost the will to live, her heart turned to ice.

But, as fate would have it, the woman did not die that day.

Instead, the winter winds transformed her. Her skin turned pale, her hair turned white, and her eyes an icy blue. Her heart had been frozen cold inside, so she had been cursed outside to become what she was within.

On that stormy night, the ruler of ice and snow was born.

She became known as the Snow Queen.

In this new form, the winter winds could not harm her. Her grief for her lost child was instead replaced with anger. Lusting for vengeance against the one who doomed her and her child, the Snow Queen returned to the prince's domain to exact her revenge.

When he saw the fury in the woman's heart, the prince immediately broke down and begged for forgiveness. But the Snow Queen was unforgiving. He had showed her no mercy in her time of need, so he would receive none in return.

Wielding the magic mirror, the Snow Queen used it to curse the prince. She commanded that he become outside what he was on the inside. Instantly, his beauty melted away, and the prince became a hideous beast.

Horrified by his ugliness, the prince begged to be changed back, and the Snow Queen told him that there was only one way: if he could learn to love another human being, and earn her love in return, the curse would be reversed. However, as the prince had no love in his heart, and the Snow Queen no longer understood love herself, he despaired.

And in his grief, the prince took the Snow Queen's mirror and shattered it into a million pieces. These mirror shards were carried off by the winter winds and blown all across the world, out of the Snow Queen's reach.

Afterwards, the Snow Queen and the prince parted ways. While the cursed prince locked himself away in his castle, lost in his own grief, the Snow Queen forged a castle made of ice and snow in the wilderness. This would be her new home.

"And legend has it that the Snow Queen is still out there, searching for the pieces of her lost mirror," An elderly woman was saying, sitting in a rocking chair by the fireplace and knitting a piece of clothing. Sitting before her were several village children, entranced by the woman's story.

At that point, a man entered the room. "Mother, stop telling the children such tall tales," He said to her with an exasperated look on his face.

"Quiet, dad," A boy in the group said, turning to shush him. "Grandma's about to finish her story."

A young girl raised her arm. "Why does the Snow Queen want the pieces of her mirror?" She asked.

"I was getting to that," The woman told her. "The Snow Queen wants to collect all the mirror shards, for when she does, she will be able to find her lost child. And whenever she finds a child who possesses a mirror shard, she will take him or her away, hoping that child is the one." With that, she finished her story.

"Wow," The children all said in unison, awed by the tale. The man, on the other hand, merely rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Now go home to your parents, and remember to love them dearly," The old woman said to the children. "For you don't want your own heart to become as frozen as the Snow Queen's own."

"Okay!" The children said in unison once more. They got up and began to leave the house, all of them chatting among each other about the woman's story.

As the children exited the door, the boy walked up and grabbed his friend, a girl his age, by the arm to get her attention.

"My grandmother tells such great stories," He said to her. "Doesn't she, Gerda?"

"Yes, Kai," The girl, Gerda replied, twirling her hair around her finger.

The man walked up to the door. "But that is all they are," He reminded them sternly. "Stories. Nothing more."

"Uh-huh," Gerda said. Turning back to the boy, she said, "Goodbye, Kai." With that, she turned and left to her own house.

The man huffed before slamming the door shut. Turning to the boy's grandmother, he said, "Mother, you need to stop filling these children's heads with such tall tales! I don't want any child going to sleep scared that some ice woman is going to come get them in the night!"

"It is not a tall tale," The woman said calmly. "It is as real as you and I."

The man grumbled, shaking his head. Turning to Kai, he said, "Don't believe her! I'm telling you, there is no Snow Queen!" With that, he stormed upstairs to his room.

Kai was about to go upstairs himself when his grandmother got out of his chair. "Kai?" She asked, hobbling towards the fireplace. "Do you believe me? Do you think the Snow Queen is real?"

Kai bit his lip, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know," He said, scratching his black hair. "But if she is, do you think she would come for me?"

The boy's grandmother paused for a moment. She looked like she was thinking of any words of comfort to tell her grandson.

Instead, she merely said, "Anything can happen in the Kingdom of Grimm. But it's best not to lose sleep over it." With that, she blew out the fire, and began to hobble towards the stairs.

"Go to bed," She said to him. With that, she hobbled up the stairs and towards her room, leaving Kai alone in the darkness.

The moment his grandmother left, Kai couldn't help but feel a chill come over the room. Shivering slightly, he turned towards the window to see if it was open.

The window was closed. But something caught Kai's eye.

Far off, barely visible through the frosted mirror, Kai thought he saw a pale woman standing in the cold by herself. He didn't get a good enough look at her, but for a second, he thought he saw her looking right at him.

Then, the woman vanished.

Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world.