The Twelve Months

The queen issues an impossible winter quest during a botany lesson at the palace. She declares that whoever brings a basket of Snowdrops will receive gold and a fur coat, ignoring that Snowdrops bloom in spring. The decree sets the plot in motion as greedy hands reach for the forbidden flowers.

A poor country stepmother and her daughter fix their minds on the reward and hatch a plan to secure it through the stepdaughter. They send the girl back to the wood to gather brushwood so she can fulfill the royal decree. Their dream of wealth motivates deceit and risk.

In a frosty glade a fire burns and twelve brother Months sit nearby. The girl pleads for help and April grants her an hour to gather snowdrops. She returns home with the flowers and a magic ring that will summon the Months in danger, a lifeline for later.

While the stepdaughter sleeps, the stepsister steals the magic ring. The stepmother and daughter deliver the snowdrops to the queen and weave a tale of a magical winter place to explain their find. The queen accepts the flowers and prepares to reward them.

The queen challenges the two women and demands the truth about where the snowdrops came from. They invent a tale of a wonderful place where winter blooms, mushrooms, and berries grow. The queen decides to accompany them into the woods to verify their tale.

In the forest the stepdaughter reveals the ring was stolen and refuses to reveal the location of the snowdrops. The queen orders guards to seize the stepdaughter, strip her fur coat, and threaten execution, and she discards the magic ring into an ice-hole. The stepdaughter recites the magic words and escapes as the ice seals over.

The spring and summer arrive, followed by autumn, and then winter. The court grows dry and warm, but the season's reversal triggers a brutal blizzard. The fur coats are blown away by the storm, and the queen's power falters as winter fully takes hold.

An old man in a white fur coat, January, offers each of them a single wish. The queen wishes to return home, while the stepmother and daughter request fur coats, but greed leads to their transformation into dogs harnessed to a sledge. They fail to get far, trapped by their vanity.

The soldier comes to the warmth of the brother months' fire and meets the stepdaughter, now in new furs with a team of snowy horses. He suggests borrowing the horses to return home, and the queen demands payment, but the stepdaughter refuses the bribe and offers kindness instead. The soldier explains that courtesy wins the day, and the stepdaughter lends the horses when asked politely.

With the soldier's guidance, they head back to the castle on the borrowed horses and warm coats. The queen learns that power comes from courtesy and kindness, not coercion. They all go home, leaving the months behind at a New Year’s fire, and the perilous quest ends in a safe return.