| Treasures of the Snow | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Patricia St. John |
| Illustrator | L. F. Lupton[1] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Genre(s) | Christian children's story |
| Publisher | C.S.S.M. |
| Publication date | 1950 |
| Pages | 222 |
| Dewey Decimal | 823.91[1] |
Treasures of the Snow is a children’s story book by Patricia St. John.[2] Originally published by CSSM in 1950, it has been reprinted over a dozen times by various publishers, including braille versions published by the Royal National Institute for the Blind in 1959[3] and by the Queensland Braille Writing Association in 1996.[4] The book is still in print today.[2]
Over the years it has been translated into and published in many languages, including Finnish, Danish, Chinese, German, Italian, Vietnamese, Korean, Mari, Faroese, Polish, Welsh, Serbian, Bosnian and Russian.[5] An audiobook version in English was produced by Blackstone Audiobooks in October 2005, available in CD, mp3 and audio cassette formats.[6]
Contents |
Treasures of the Snow was Patricia St. John's second book, started soon after the end of World War II. The theme was forgiveness – as she wrote in her autobiography, “The world was settling down after the war, but as the atrocities came to light there was so much anger and hatred. I remembered the boys coming back from the war to wives who had proved unfaithful. I remembered the faces of those who had seen the first photographic exhibition of the horrors of Belsen and the state of the bombed cities of Europe; the resentment of those who could not forgive others, the remorse of those who could not forgive themselves, and I knew that this generation of children needed, above all things, to learn the meaning of forgiveness.”[7]
The story is set in Switzerland, where the author spent some time as a child, and is written for children aged eight and above. The narrative is centred around three children, and explores love, hatred, death, disability, repentance, self-sacrifice, forgiveness and reconciliation.[8] Woven through the story runs a frank description of the children’s thoughts, motives, struggles, feelings and fears as well as their prayers and their developing Christian faith.
Annette Burnier lived with her father, elderly grandmother and young brother Dani in a small village in the Swiss mountains.
When she was eight years old her mother died just after Dani was born, and since the family was too poor to afford a nanny, Annette took the responsibility upon herself, arranging with the schoolmaster to study at home under her grandmother's guidance. When Dani was old enough for her to return to school, she did well and often gained top marks. On Dani's fifth Christmas, he put his slipper outside in the snow, hoping that Father Christmas would bring him a present. In the morning, to everyone's astonishment, a tiny white kitten had snuggled into the slipper. Dani called him Klaus and the two became inseparable.
Further up the mountain in the next chalet, Annette's classmate Lucien Morel lived with his elder sister Marie and their widowed mother. Lucien found schoolwork difficult and was frustrated that he was often bottom of the class. He also resented having to help around the home and farm with all the tasks that his father would have done, and his mother and sister criticised his laziness.
Conflict flared one day when Lucien was sledging down to school and accidentally collided with Annette's sledge, throwing her into a ditch full of snow. Out of resentment at her success in school, he didn't stop to help her, but sped off to school. When she arrived late, cold, wet and grazed, with torn wet books, she had to explain what had happened. Lucien was caned by the schoolmaster, and ostracised by the rest of the class. When on his way home he vented his frustration by kicking over a snowman Dani was building, Annette ran out and slapped his face and shouted angrily at him.
Lucien's increasing loneliness and festering hurt was directed at Annette and he looked for opportunities for revenge. So when he saw Dani in the meadow picking flowers for Annette's birthday, he grabbed the flowers and trampled on them. Then afraid Dani would get him into trouble, he picked up Klaus and held him out over a deep ravine, threatening (but not intending) to drop the kitten unless Dani promised not to tell. Klaus, however, scratched Lucien, and he let go. Dani rushed across and fell over the cliff into the ravine. Lucien was terrified and griefstricken, convinced that Dani was dead, and went home but couldn't face his family so hid in the barn. When the worried families found Lucien, he confessed what had happened. Dani's father used a rope to climb down the ravine and found Dani was still alive at the bottom, but with a broken leg. Dani's leg healed badly, shorter than the other leg, leaving him permanently unable to walk without crutches.
The whole village knew what Lucien had done, and he became even more of an outcast, very lonely and unhappy. Working hard around the home and farm helped him stop brooding for a while, and his mother praised him for this, and his sister was kinder to him. But his real solace was to climb to the woods and spend time alone, carving little figures out of wood. He found he had a real talent for this. It was here that he made friends with an old man who lived alone in a tiny chalet high above the village, whose only income came from selling his own woodcarvings. He taught Lucien, and let him use his woodcarving tools. He also confided in Lucien his life story. As a young man he had been happily married with two young sons and a good job in a bank, but then got into bad company and became addicted to alcohol and gambling. Eventually to pay the family's debts he stole from the bank and finished up in prison. His wife died, but his sons were adopted by their grandparents and were very successful. When he came out of prison, he did not want his sons' futures jeopardised by being associated with a criminal, so let them assume he was dead. He had lived alone on the mountain for many years and saved a lot of money from the beautiful woodcarvings he sold, and his great hope was that he might be able to use the money to help someone in need.
Lucien was constantly burdened by the guilt of what he had done to Dani, but Annette's hatred towards him made it impossible to do anything for the little boy. He did carve a Noah's Ark full of little animals for Dani, but Annette simply threw it on the woodpile. Lucien also decided to enter one of his carvings for the hand-craft competition at school, but shortly before the competition Annette secretly smashed the carved horse out of spite, and won the competition herself. Neither Annette nor Lucien could find peace of mind or happiness.
Then one night Annette went out for a walk alone, slipped on ice and sprained her ankle very badly. Unable to walk, she was in danger of freezing to death. She struggled to the nearest chalet but the people were away. Then to her relief someone came skiing down the path; it was Lucien, on his way home from visiting his old friend. She called for help, and he gave her his cloak, went home to get the sledge. When he returned, Annette confessed to him about breaking his carved horse, but instead of being angry Lucien forgave her and felt relieved that he was not the only person to have done hurtful things out of spite. He took her on the sledge to her chalet, where he was invited in. Later Annette confessed to the schoolmaster, and they agreed that he should present her prize to Lucien.
The enmity was over, but Lucien still felt troubled with guilt about Dani's disability and pain. One evening Lucien's sister, who commuted by train to work in a hotel in the nearest town, came home with a generous tip from a famous orthopaedic surgeon, Monsieur Givet, who was staying at the hotel. Lucien asked excitedly whether he could make Dani better, but was told the doctor was leaving the hotel for home early the next morning, and anyway his fees would be far too expensive. Nevertheless, Lucien crept out of the house that night in a blizzard and went to talk with his friend the old man, telling him about Monsieur Givet and that he might be able to cure Dani. The old man gave Lucien a sock full of banknotes to pay for the treatment, but made him promise not to tell the doctor anything about him. "Just tell him that it is the payment of a debt," he said. Then Lucien attempted to climb and ski to the town, which involved crossing a high mountain pass. Despite the atrocious weather he reached the hotel about 5 am. Monsieur Givet went with Lucien to visit Dani, and offered to treat him in his hospital. But before he left the village, he asked Lucien's sister where the old man lived that Lucien knew, and went to visit. He recognised the old man as his father, told him how much he had missed him, and invited him to come home.
Dani went with Annette to stay in the hospital. His fractured leg was re-broken and set properly, and Dani returned home able to walk and run like any little boy.
A film Treasures of the Snow, written and directed by Mike Pritchard and based on the book was filmed in Switzerland and released in 1980.[9]
A Japanese anime series, based on the book and entitled Story of the Alps: My Annette (アルプス物語 わたしのアンネット), was produced in 1983 by Kōzō Kusuha at Nippon Animation and has been broadcast in 48 weekly episodes in Japan, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland and the Philippines.
A stage version, adapted by Barbara Solly, was published in Bristol around 1980.[10]