In a grassy¹ valley next to a deep fjord, the castle of Arendelle lay silent in the night. The bright luster² of the northern lights danced across the windows, waking a small girl. She sat up and grinned to see the wonderful green light.

 

The girl jumped out of bed and tiptoed across the room to wake her older sister. "Elsa, Elsa!" she said urgently. "Wake up!"

 

Elsa, who was eight years old, grumbled³ and ducked under the covers. "Anna, go back to sleep."

 

But Anna wouldn't give up. "I just can't. The sky's awake, so I'm awake, and so we have to play," she said. "Do you want to build a snowman?"

 

Elsa's eyes popped open. That got her attention. The girls were the daughters of Arendelle's king and queen, and the best of friends. Elsa couldn't resist Anna's begging. The sisters ran down the hallway in their nightgowns, laughing as they hurried along. Entering the Great Hall, where all the royal balls were held, they turned to each other.

 

"Are you ready?" Elsa asked, smiling.

 

"Yes, yes!" Anna cried, reaching out to tickle⁴ her sister.

 

Elsa giggled⁵, and suddenly, snowflakes seemed to burst in a flurry from her hands!

 

Anna clapped happily. She knew that her sister had a very special talent: she could create snow and ice, even in the middle of summer!

 

With a twirl and a wave of her hands, Elsa magically summoned her icy powers. Quickly, she filled the Great Hall with mounds⁶ of fluffy⁷ snow, turning it into a winter playground. Then she stomped⁸ her feet and ice swept across the floor. She laughed to see little Anna hopping⁹ around joyfully¹⁰.

 

Together, they went to work building their snowman. Anna did her best to roll out the snowman's body. Then she ran to get a carrot for the nose. "Snowman!" she exclaimed proudly.

 

Elsa laughed at the lopsided snowman. "Hi, I'm Olaf," she said in a deep voice, pretending to be the snowman. "And I like warm hugs."

 

The girls danced around their funny snowman. Then Elsa gathered her icy magic and made a swooping¹¹ ice slide. Anna squealed¹² with delight. She climbed to the top of the slide, then zoomed¹³ down and soared up again along the icy curve. Elsa quickly created another slide to catch Anna as she came down. The little girl gained speed and was tossed upward again. Elsa had to work fast to keep pace with Anna. She kept making more slides so her sister could stay aloft as she flew around the room.

 

"Anna, slow down," Elsa said, starting to get worried. "It's too high!"

 

But Anna was having fun. The little princess was fearless, jumping and sliding to each new slide as quickly as Elsa made it. Elsa raised her hand to create the next slide, but suddenly, her foot slipped. As she stumbled, her magic went awry¹⁴. Her frozen blast caught the side of Anna's head, right through her curls.

 

Anna gasped¹⁵ and fell to the ground, unconscious. "Anna!" Elsa shouted, running to her sister. She lifted Anna up and felt her cold, shivering body. A lock of Anna's hair had turned pure white where the magic had hit it. "Mama! Papa!" Elsa cried desperately¹⁶.

 

As she called for help and her worry increased, icicles formed on the ceiling, and frozen spikes¹⁷ grew tall around the girls.

 

The king and queen burst into the Great Hall to find their daughters huddled¹⁸ in a frozen landscape. They knew that Elsa had a special ability to create ice, but this was more than they'd ever seen. "Elsa," the king cried. "This is getting out of hand!"

 

"I'm sorry," Elsa replied in distress¹⁹. "I didn't mean it!"

 

"Anna!" the queen gasped, and ran toward her little girl.