The Snow Child

In mid-February, the book from Mabel’s sister Ada arrives. Although it is in Russian, Mabel delights in the illustrations of the snow maiden surrounded by forest animals. Ada’s letter provides additional information about the fairy tale from a professor cataloguing their father’s library. The tale, whatever the telling, ends in tragedy with the maiden returning to the wild and the couple left devastated. Ada closes her letter by suggesting perhaps people should write their own endings and “choose joy over sorrow” (129).

As winter drags on, food starts to run out. The couple slaughters their chickens and scours the woods for fruit. Jack notices how Mabel has become attached to the child and thinks he ought to tell her about the girl’s father. But he promised the girl he wouldn’t. As the couple plucks two of Mabel’s chickens for their meager dinner, they confirm their love for each other, asserting that whatever happens they are together, through both “success and the failures” (133). Mabel takes one of the chickens uncooked to the woods not for the girl but for her fox. Jack, who does not know the fairy tale, wonders if Mabel is slipping into madness.

When Esther visits, Mabel updates her about the child. Sensing Esther’s doubts, she tells Jack to confirm that he also saw the child. But again, Jack does not. When Esther leaves, Mabel confronts Jack. Rather than acknowledging his doubts, Jack dances awkwardly with Mabel while humming a tune. They kiss. They move toward the bedroom and make love.

It is late February. During a visit, Faina tells Mabel about the fox who always accompanies her, how they hunt together and keep each other company. Later, Mabel hears laughter outside and finds Jack and the girl making “lovely, crazy” (146) snow angels. Mabel realizes that the angel impressions would surely prove the girl is real. But days later when she shows a visiting Esther the spot, new snow and wind have obscured the imprint.

When Garrett Benson stops by while Jack is out splitting firewood, the boy shows Jack a silver fox that he had trapped. As the two talk, Garrett opens up about his hopes to not work his father’s farm but rather to live alone in the wilds and trap furs. Later, when Jack tells Mabel about the visit, Mabel panics, but Jack assures her the dead animal could not have been Faina’s fox.

The next morning Mabel frets that a hunter might kill Faina’s fox. When she dozes off by the woodstove, she is awakened by Faina, who urgently wants her to come outside with her sketchpad. Faina isolates a single snowflake on her tiny hand and challenges Mabel to draw it, to capture its beauty. Even as Mabel clumsily sketches the snowflake, its elegance escapes her. Faina squeezes her hand and says “Goodbye” before disappearing into the woods. The snow turns to dreary rain. Spring has returned.