Snegurochka

SNEGUROCHKA, the Russian Snow Maiden is the daughter of Father Frost and Mother Spring. The legend tells that she became more beautiful with each day she grew, and her parents realised that she was becoming a young woman who they could not keep secluded from the world for ever.

Snegurochka is allowed to explore the world and comes to meet new people and young men who fall in love with her. However, as long as she remains in the forest, its spirit protects her from Yarilo, the sun god, and her suitors cannot find her. Eventually, Mother Spring gives her a Love Wreath made from flowers, knowing with both sadness and delight that it would warm up her cold heart. Snegurochka is then able to fall in love and spends one happy evening with her sweetheart, singing and dancing. But she knows that with the first rays of the sun god in the morning she will melt away and be gone.

Illustration: drypoint etching