At the beginning of time, all things were given their color. The earth was brown, the grass green, the rose red, the sky blue and the sun golden. Only the snow had no color left. So he decided to ask the others to give him some color.

First he went to the earth. “Give me a little of your brown color!” he asked. But the earth was asleep and did not answer.

Then the snow went to the grass. “Grass, give me a little of your green color!”

But the grass pretended not to hear him and gave no answer.

Then the snow went to the rose and asked: “Please give me some of your red color!” But the rose pretended not to see him and gave no answer

 Now the snow asked the sky: “Please give me a little of your blue color”.

But the sky was so far away that it couldn't hear him.

“Dear sun,” he now called out, ”please give me a little of your golden color”

 But the sun was just setting and didn't have time to answer.

Sadly, the snow moved on. At the edge of the forest, he came across a small flower with white blossoms. The snow asked: “Can you give me some of your white color?”

The little flower nodded kindly and shared its white color with the snow.

Since then, the snow has been white, and it spares the little white flower that gave it some of its color. People call it a snowdrop.

Fassung D. Jaenike, nach: J.Vladislav, Warum die Bäume nicht mehr sprechen können, Prag 1976,  englische Fassung: Lysander Jaenike © Mutabor Märchenstiftung