Some princes and princesses were at a coronation one night. There was a snow graveyard down the street, and they were talking about how scary it was.
"Don't ever stand on a snow grave after dark," one of the princes said. "The snowman inside will give you a warm hug. He'll pull you under."
"That's not true," a Duke said. "It's just a superstition."
"I'll give you an Arendollar if you stand on a snow grave," said a princess. "A snow grave doesn't scare me," said the Duke. "I'll do it right now."
The princess handed him her mitten. "Stick this mitten on one of the snow graves," she said. "Then we'll know you were there."
The snow graveyard was filled with shadows and was as cold as winter. "There is nothing to be scared of," the Duke told himself, but he was scared anyway.
He picked out a snow grave and stood on it. Then quickly he bent over and stuck the blue mitten onto the ice, and he started to leave. But he couldn't get away. Something was holding him back! He tried a second time to leave, but he couldn't move. He was filled with terror.
"Something has hugged me!" he screamed, and he fell to the ground.
When he didn't come back, the others went to look for him. They found his body sprawled across the snow grave.
Without realizing it, he had wrapped the blue mitten around himself and had pinned himself to the ground. It was only the glove that held him. He had died of a frozen heart.