The Polar Bear Queen
A Fairy Tale: Chapter 2
Anette threw herself on the couch and sobbed until she had no tears remaining. Then she stood and washed her face and dressed. She saddled a horse and rode out to the West.
She would find this sorcerer and she would get her polar bear queen back.
Anette journeyed for days through snow and storms until she finally crossed the border into the distant land of the West. Sharp craggy cliffs and sheer rock faces rose all around her, harsh and naked without the soft blankets of snow she had grown accustomed to.
Anette rode over scree and rock, through holt and thicket, until the daylight had passed and she was too tired to continue. She stopped for the night in a thicket. When she woke again, her horse had gone and she nearly despaired, but then she thought of Sigrid, and she lifted her head and began to walk.
At nearly midday, and feeling faint from hunger, Anette found a cabin in the woods. In front of the cabin an old woman sat in a rocker with a quilt of many colours laid over her. As Anette approached, the old woman called out, “Ahoy there! Have you traveled far? You must be tired and hungry. Join me in a meal.”
She swept the cloth off herself and laid it out on the ground with a flick of…
