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Once upon a time in a tiny cabin
Deep in the forest
There lived a girl named Sophie who was honest, kind, and hard working
She lived with her lazy spoiled stepsister
And her greedy wicked stepmother
She loved her daughter but left all of the hard work and chores for her step daughter
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One frigid day in January, it was her step sisters birthday
The mother asks her daughter what she would like
“I desire fresh snow drop to brighten up this dreadful shack” she says with her nose in the sir
the step mother commands Sophie to go into the woods to fetch them
“but it’s the dead of winter!” Sophie protests “snow drops wont be growing for another 2 months!”
“Do as I say!” bellows the step mother “Don’t come back without them!”
Sophie reluctantly takes her cloak and basket
And walks into the frozen forest
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She wanders deeper and deeper into the dark woods on her search snow falling around her
She’s starting to become very scared and knows she’ll never find them, its getting cold and dark
Just then she sees a group of people gathered in a clearing up ahead
She makes her way to them asking politely to stand around their fire
She sees that they’re not mere travelers or peasants like herself, but 12 distinguished old men dressed in strange finely made clothes of different colors
They welcome her beside their fire and ask why she is out alone in the snowstorm
She tells them she has been sent to gather snowdrops for her step sisters birthday and must not return without them or she’ll surly be beaten by her step mother
Taking pity on her a man named January in an Indigo robe stands and hits the ground with his staff saying a few magic words
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To Sophie’s amazement all the cold weather of January passed within seconds and January passes his cane along to a man in a deep burgundy coat
His name is February he taps the cane on the ground in a different rhythm says a quick chant and the same thing occurs
Sophie stares on astounded at the melting snow and steadily warming weather
February passes the cane to March dressed in robes of saffron
March stands and strikes the cane on the ground and flowers and all the glory of spring shoot up around him
Sophie looks around at the spectacle and sees snow drops growing at her feet
“Thank you! Thank you all very much! “Sophie says with sincerity
she gathers up the flowers she needs in her basket
and thanking the men profusely again she skips back home
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at the cabin her step sister and step mother are amazed by the arm full’s of fresh spring flowers Sophie has brought
“Where on earth did you find these?” Her stepmother demanded
Sophie’s tells them the story of the kind old men in rich clothes she met
“I think they were spirits!” “It was incredible” Sophie says excitedly re-playing the strange encounter in her mind
“well if they have the power to conjure seasons….” The stepmother says stroking her beard as she inspects the bare cupboard
“I can think of a few other things we need!” she says with a wicked laugh scribbling a list
The next day the step mother sends her daughter out to ask the old men for fresh summer berries, cucumbers, mushrooms, apples and other seasonal treats for the two of them to eat all winter
The stepsister begrudgingly stomps out the door
She trudges through the forest complaining as she goes
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she spots the men gathered up ahead
and loudly crashes into the clearing rudely greeting the spirits
they look at her in confusion and ask why she in wandering through the forest making such a ruckus
“Well since you asked, I need you guys to help me out with a few things”
“I’ll take a bushel of apples, a pound of raspberries, a few mushrooms, and about a dozen cucumbers”
They look at her incredulous and clearly offended
“well don’t just stand there, hurry up with the magic!” “its freezing out here!”
The other men look to January
He stand strikes his cane on the ground
and the stepsister is buried in snow within seconds
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The next day passes back at the cabin and the stepmother becomes worried, thinking her daughter would return shortly with plenty of rich food for them she’ eaten all of the remaining potatoes and winter rations
Leaving Sophie to clean up the mess she gathers her things
and leaves to bring her daughter back from the forest where she was clearly sleeping off the feast she was supposed to bring back
We see her walking through the cold woods in a huff
She spots the clearing and storms up to the men seated around a fire
She lists her demands
and being ignored makes a move to grab the staff from one of the men
January snatches it from her
We see her buried in under thick snow in the deserted clearing
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Sophie grows up and lives simply but comfortably in the cabin
She cheerfully dose house work around the empty home, its spring time
She is well liked and her neighbors always remark on how fresh her apples taste even the ones preserved all winter
And the sweet summer berries and fresh salads she has in abundance every summer
And her many strange friends who periodically come to visit her, a new one every month!
A shot of two stone graves in the back yard with spring flowers growing around them/ She is very blessed indeed
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