The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen is one of my favorite fairy tales of all times.  There are elements in the story which TOTALLY show up in C.S. Lewis' The Witch the Lion and the Wardrobe.  The White Witch is modeled after the Snow Queen, and the Snow Queen captures a boy ( in her sleigh nonetheless)  and turns his heart to ice, taking him away to her palace in the icy north.  The boy's friend who is an innocent little girl searches and searches, and after some adventures finds him and in a most incredible way is able to melt his heart of ice.  The Snow Queen is one of the best villains ever.
It is a tale of true innocent love and the battle against evil and untruth. 

Here is the part of the beginning of the tale, I cut out and summarized a bit in parenthesis.
 It begins with a magic mirror which distorts every image that it reflects.  It is broken and the tiny shards get stuck in people's eyes and hearts, making them ice.  

Once upon a time there was a wicked sprite, indeed he was the most mischievous of all sprites. One day he was in a very good humor, for he had made a mirror with the power of causing all that was good and beautiful when it was reflected therein, to look poor and mean; but that which was good-for-nothing and looked ugly was shown magnified and increased in ugliness. In this mirror the most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach, and the best persons were turned into frights, or appeared to stand on their heads; their faces were so distorted that they were not to be recognised; and if anyone had a mole, you might be sure that it would be magnified and spread over both nose and mouth.

"That's glorious fun!" said the sprite. If a good thought passed through a man's mind, then a grin was seen in the mirror, and the sprite laughed heartily at his clever discovery. (His sprites then take the mirror and have fun, flying up high and eventually dropping and breaking it.  The mirror breaks into millions of tiny shards.) And now it worked much more evil than before; for some of these pieces were hardly so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about in the wide world, and when they got into people's eyes, there they stayed; and then people saw everything perverted, or only had an eye for that which was evil. This happened because the very smallest bit had the same power which the whole mirror had possessed. Some persons even got a splinter in their heart, and then it made one shudder, for their heart became like a lump of ice. Some of the broken pieces were so large that they were used for windowpanes, through which one could not see one's friends. Other pieces were put in spectacles; and that was a sad affair when people put on their glasses to see well and rightly. Then the wicked sprite laughed till he almost choked, for all this tickled his fancy. The fine splinters still flew about in the air: and now we shall hear what happened next.
I encourage you to read the rest, it is really a beautiful tale.  SNOW QUEEN HERE

I have not seen a good movie which translates all of the beauty of the story properly.  However, after reading the story a few years ago, I realized there is a song which HAD to be inspired by it!
Once again, I draw upon the great influence that Robert Smith of the Cure has had on me...

"Cold"

Scarred
Your back was turned
Curled like an embryo
Take another face
You will be kissed again
I was cold as I mouthed the words
And crawled across the mirror
I wait
Await the next breath
Your name
Like ice into my heart

A shallow grave
A monument to the ruined age
Ice in my eyes
And eyes like ice don't move
Screaming at the moon
Another past time
Your name
Like ice into my heart

Everything as cold as life
Can no one save you?
Everything
As cold as silence
And you never say a word

Your name
Like ice into my heart
Your name
Like ice into my heart