The Frost King

Not to be confused with Frost King.
"The Frost King"
Short story by Helen Keller
Original titleAutumn Leaves[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Fantasy literature
Publication
Published inPerkins annual report
Publication typeJournal
PublisherPerkins School for the Blind
Publication date1891

"The Frost King" (originally titled "Autumn Leaves"[1]) is a short story about King Jack Frost written by Helen Keller, then 11.[2] Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, had mentioned that the autumn leaves were "painted ruby, emerald, gold, crimson, and brown," and Keller, by her own account, imagined fairies doing the work. Keller wrote a story about how a cask of jewels, being transported by fairy servants, had melted in the sun and covered the leaves.[3]

As a birthday gift, Keller sent the story to Michael Anagnos, the head of the Perkins School for the Blind, who published the story in the January 1892 edition of The Mentor, the Perkins alumni magazine.[4] It was picked up by The Goodson Gazette, a journal on deaf-blind education, based in Virginia.

  1. ^ a b Sullivan, Anne. "Mis Sullivan's Account of the "Frost King"". The Story of My Life. Archived from the original on 2017-01-11. Retrieved 2007-07-28. The following extracts from a few of her published letters give evidence of how valuable this power of retaining the memory of beautiful language has been to her.
  2. ^ Bérubé, Michael. Written in Memory, The Nation. July 17, 2003.
  3. ^ "Part III, The Story of My Life". Digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  4. ^ Keller, Helen (January 1892). "The Frost King". The Mentor. 2 (1): 13–16. Retrieved 15 January 2021.