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there once was a woman that who had a husband and three sons she loved. her husband had no love for the eldest of the three, who was his stepson, and thus was always scolding him, hating him for the way he was. moreover, he used to make him get up ever so early in the morning, and gave him all the work of the farm to do. before daybreak the boy would feed the cattle and give them to drink, fetch wood and water indoors, care for the crops and fields and all the hay, mend all fences that might be broken and even herd the sheep across the valley for good forage, keeping an eye out for poisonous plants, never losing one out of his sight.
even then, his stepfather was never satisfied, but would grumble away at jaehyun, exclaiming: "what a good for nothing! why here's a bucket not in place, and there's something put wrong, and he's trailed mud inside the house, the deviant!"
the boy kept his peace, and always hid his anger and sorrow; he tried in every way to accommodate himself to his stepfather, for his mother loved him so, and to be of service for his step brothers. but they, following the example of their father, were always insulting jaehyun, quarreling with him, calling him names, and hitting him where their mother wouldn't see: that was even a pleasure to them! as for them, they lay in bed late, washed themselves in water got ready for them, dried themselves with a clean towel, and didn't go out to work till after lunch.
well, our boys grew and grew, until they grew up and were old enough to be married. the mother, who despite her age was still a beautiful woman, felt sorry for her oldest son, whom she loved because he was strong, never obstinate, always did as he was bid, and never uttered a word of contradiction. but she didn't know how she was to help him in his trouble. she was feeble, and her husband, who married her for her looks, was quick to anger; his sons, too, were as obstinate as they were indolent.
well, the old folks set to work to consider — the wife how to get her sons settled, the husband how to he could get rid of the oldest one.
one day he says to her: "i say, woman! let's get jaehyun married."
"gladly," says she, slinking off to the sleeping-place above the stove to talk to her son. but her husband called after him with his mean voice before she could: "i say, bastard! get your things together and put on clean trousers; you're going tomorrow on a visit."
poor jaehyun was put upon to hear of being sent away to marriage, when all he wanted was to be in the land his own father left them, and so he slept fitfully all night. regardless, he woke early, washed himself, put on his best things and looked something like a gentleman! a husband fit for any place whatsoever!
now it was wintertime, and out of the doors was a rattling frost. still, early in the morning, between daybreak and sunrise, jaehyun's beautiful mother harnessed the mare to the sledge and led it up to the steps. the she went indoors, sat down on the foot of his bed and said: "now, my son, i will take you there."
her husband crossed his arms and huffed at this once asked, but the knowledge that he soon would be rid of jaehyun quelled some of his ever present anger and he let his wife do as she wished: "i've looked at your aberrant son quite enough! drive jaehyun to his bridegroom, old woman. and look here, hag! drive straight along the road at first, and then turn off from the road to the right, you know, into the forest — right up to the big pine that stands on the hill, and there hand jaehyun over to father frost."
the woman opened her eyes wide, also her mouth, and jaehyun began shaking with rage and fear.
"now then, what are you hanging your chaps and pulling ugly faces about?" said the stepfather. "surely a bridegroom is to your liking! and word is he is a beauty, and a rich one at that! just see what a lot of things belong to him, the firs, the pine-tops and the birches, all in their robes of winter bark — ways and means that anyone might envy; and it is said that he himself is ever so powerful!"
with no fight left in her at her age, the woman silently made her son wear a jacket and they set off on the journey. after a time, she reached the forest, turned off from the road; and drove across the frozen snow. when she got into the depths where the trees grew too close for the sledge to fit, she stopped, made her son get out, laid his things under the tall pine, and said: "sit here, and await the bridegroom. and mind you receive him as pleasantly as you can. he has turned down wives, but he might just accept you."
she touched his face one last time, kissed his cheek, then turned her horse round and drove off homewards.
jaehyun sat and shivered. the cold had pierced him through. he could've used the last of his strength to leave, but his mother had told him to sit, and so he did. suddenly he heard a sound. not far off, frost personified was crackling away on a fir. from fir to fir was he leaping, and snapping his fingers. presently he appeared on that very pine under which jaehyun was sitting and from above him jaehyun heard: "art thou warm, boy?"
even though his limbs were stiff with cold, jaehyun jumped to his feet and bowed respectfully.
"warm, warm am i, old man winter," he replied.
frost began to descend lower, all the more crackling and snapping his fingers. he didn't look old at all. despite his hair being white and past his shoulders, he had long pale limbs and rose petal lips, and he looked the same age as jaehyun, a couple of years older, at most. he wasn't taller than him at all. to jaehyun he said: "art thou warm, brave heart? art thou warm, strong one? art thou warm, my darling?"
jaehyun by this time numb with cold, arms wrapped around himself, could scarcely draw his breath, but he had made a promise to his mother, and too made himself heard as he replied with a shaken smile: "oh! i am quite warm, thank you!"
then frost took pity on jaehyun, wrapped him up in furs, and warmed him with blankets, setting him down on the forest floor.
"why do they call you old man frost when you look the same age as me?" jaehyun asked him once frost got closer still, watching him intently.
the being before him both looked and did not look exactly like a boy. his eyes were dark as coal, like they could bring warmth, his face thin and delicate, if not for his gaze, which was endless and all seeing.
"i died here long ago," is what frost told him. "i was around your age, perhaps a year or so older."
then frost touched his face. jaehyun closed his eyes, ready for the touch to be frigid, cold enough to be scorching, but instead it was warm and dry. jaehyun opened his eyes and found that frost was touching where his dimple must have showed when he made himself smile. now jaehyun was warm and not at all afraid anymore, so he smiled again, this time genuine, feeling the tip of that finger poke on his flesh.
he smiled until a question formed in his mind and once he uttered it, his face was sad: "how did you die?"
frost frowned, because the answer should have been obvious. "i was left to freeze to death, then frost took me and frost i became." jaehyun covered the hand on his cheek with his own. frost looked at him and smiled as well. both his eyes and his smile were gentle and warm. jaehyun's heart tightened to think of such a kind creature being this lonesome.
"what's your name, truly?" jaehyun asked him.
frost did not answer for a while, he stood there thinking for a long moment.
"i was once lee taeyong, i believe."
"nice to meet you lee taeyong, i am jung jaehyun."
"you came here to wed me, jung jaehyun?"
"i was left to die, i'm afraid." jaehyun told him and frost at once looked sad and understanding. "my mother hoped for the opposite, but my stepfather surely was expecting that you would see me and turn me down as you have turned down others, leading them to their deaths."
frost, who was once called lee taeyong, held jaehyun's hands, looked into his eyes and asked: "do you wish for death? those who come to me sometimes do."
"i wish to live," jaehyun told him with a shake of his head.
"then i will let you go." frost stood on his feet in one graceful moment, his limbs crackling like a frozen lake in late winter.
"wait!" jaehyun hastened to his feet as well, finding himself at eye-level with frost, which felt wrong. such a creature should be enormous in the height of their power. "won't you be alone?"
frost nodded: "winter comes and goes on its own."
that notion made jaehyun frown and his heart throb with pain. he had always known he was different from his stepbrothers and many other men he met and, in his difference, he was taught to hate himself. however, standing here, breathing in the cold and the sureness that this was one that might accept him, jaehyun found that he could not hate himself. or he.
"could you come to love me?" jaehyun asked.
frost tilted his head in confusion, as if this, too, was a question that needn't be asked.
"i can see your brave heart," frost said, coming to touch jaehyun's chest. "i can see your strength and kindness and your truth. at once i have come to love you as surely as the seasons change. the question is—" and at this he pulled away again. "—if you could come to love me."
jaehyun stepped closer and took frost's hand in his, holding it over his own chest again. he nodded and closed his eyes once more, this time without fear, as frost brought their faces together, and touched their lips.
next morning the old woman harnessed her horse and drove off before her husband awoke. when she came to where her son was, she found he was alive and was wearing a fine, much warmer jacket, and laid next to him were a costly bridal veil and a pannier with rich gifts. she kissed her son's face, brimming with joy and mindless of the expensive things, then stowed him and them into the sledge and drove back.
they reached home just as the husband woke up, and jaehyun faced him and did not stumble when his stepfather hit him. the man was thunderstruck when he saw not only jaehyun alive, but dressed with his new, much finer jacket, and carrying the bridal veil and all the other costly things.
"ah, you whore!" he cried. "but you shan't trick me!" he took the things and locked jaehyun inside a room, to be dealt with at a later time.
well, a little later on that same day the man said to his older wife: "take my sons, too, to their bridegroom. the presents that boy got will be nothing to what father frost will give them."
well, early the next morning the old woman gave her stepsons their breakfast, told them to dress as befitted bridegrooms, and took them off on their journey. in the same way as before the old woman left the boys under the pine. she told them to be as pleasant as they could when father frost came and kissed their faces, for even though they were not her own, she always treated them as such. however they paid her no mind, as she was not a mother to them.
there the boys sat, and kept laughing and saying: "whatever is father thinking of! all of a sudden to marry both of us off? as if there were no girls in our village! some wanton woman may come, and goodness knows who she may be!"
"and to someone rich, he said! be kind and polite to them, he said!" and they both howled with laughter.
the boys were wrapped in their own good jackets, but for all that they felt the cold.
"the frost is eating me alive," the younger of the two said. "well, if our brides do not come quick, we shall be frozen to death here!"
"don't go talking nonsense; as if a lady turned up in the afternoon. why it's hardly dinner-time yet!"
"but i say! if only one comes, which of us will she take?"
"not you, you stupid fool!"
"then it will be you, i suppose!"
"of course it will be me!"
meanwhile, frost had numbed the boys' hands, so they had folded them inside their sleeves, and then went on quarreling as before.
"you, indeed! there now, have done talking stuff and treating people like fools!"
"and what is it you know? why, nothing at all except to go out to talk to loose girls and lick your lips there. we'll soon see which she'll take first!"
while the boys went on scolding like that, they began to freeze in downright earnest. suddenly, they both cried at once. "whyever is she so slow coming? do you know, you've turned quite blue.
now, a good way off, frost had begun crackling, snapping his fingers and leaping from fir to fir. to the boys it sounded as if someone was coming.
"listen!" the oldest of the two said. "she's coming at last, and with bells, too!"
"get along with you! i won't listen; my skin is peeling with cold."
"and yet, you're still expecting to get married!"
then they began blowing on their fingers.
nearer and nearer came frost. at length he appeared on the pine, above the head of the boys, long white hair and his long, all-seeing stare, and said to them: "are ye warm, young hearts? are ye warm, loud ones? are ye warm, my darlings?"
"whoever are you calling darling?" the youngest of the two said, and cried the second: "old man frost! we're freezing our asses! we're utterly perished! we're expecting a bride, but the stupid lass has disappeared."
neither of them stood to bow to him as frost slid lower down the tree, crackled away more, snapped his fingers oftener than before:
"are ye warm, foolish boys? are ye warm, loud ones?"
"get along with you! are you blind that you can't see our hands and feet are quite dead?"
still lower descended frost, still more put forth his might, and said: "are ye warm, boys?"
"into the bottomless pit with you! out of sight, accursed one!" cried the boys — and became lifeless forms.
next morning the husband said to his wife: "old hag, go and get the sledge harnessed; put an armful of hay in it, and take some sheepskin wraps. i dare say the boys are half-dead with cold. make sure to bring back all of their things! and, mind you, old fool, do it quickly!"
before the old woman could manage to get a bite she was out of the doors and on her way. when she came to where the boys were, she found them dead. while crying and mourning, she lifted her stepsons on to the sledge with great efforts, noticing they had nothing on them but their own good jackets and clothes, so she wrapped them on the sheepskin.
the husband saw her from afar, ran out to meet her, and called ever so loud: "where are my boys?"
"in the sledge," she said, heartbroken and afraid.
the man lifted the sheepskin and found the boys both dead.
then, like a thunderstorm, he broke out against his older wife, abusing her saying: "what have you done, you old wretch? you have destroyed my sons, the children of my own flesh and blood and our future! i will trash you with tongs; i will give it you with the stove-rake."
and jaehyun, who had been watching, not knowing how his dear frost would treat his step brothers, jumped between them just as his mother yelled: "that's enough! you flattered yourself you were going to get riches when you expected my own son would be dead when you sent him out! how was i to blame? your sons were too stiff-necked. it was you yourself would have it."
jaehyun turned to his old mother in shock, though she was in her later years in life, she was very beautiful even when she wept. he was shocked as she was weeping for him, gathering him in her arms and profusely apologizing, saying she had been a bad mother and saying she loved him so.
seeing this, the husband grew mad with rage and pulled them apart, raising his fist to strike jaehyun's mother, making her flinch. seeing his mother cower like this, jaehyun realised it must not the first time this must have happened, as she had made herself tight and small, the way someone used to beatings would. hating this man even more than he ever did, jaehyun raised his own fist, and struck him down.
his stepfather fell to the mud and snow, for once shocked into silence and with blood pouring from his broken nose.
"you are dead." jaehyun told him. "my mother is a widow now, and i better never see you again around these parts, for i swear i will kill you."
seeing in his eyes the anger and strength, the man, who as of now was no longer a husband much less a stepfather, got up and ran off never to be seen again. for when he looked at jaehyun and saw all that anger and strength, the man felt a chill down to his bones. he remembered at once who jaehyun was married to, and feared jaehyun had also come to possess the same dark magic the man was sure had killed both his sons off, thus he ran away to not face the same fate.
after they were rid of that waste of space of a man, jaehyun and his mother traded some of the wedding gifts jaehyun received for money and improved things at their farm, living together peaceably and thriving. then, every year when winter came, jaehyun would leave for days on end to be with his husband, who he called lee taeyong and whom was known as father frost, and whom he loved so.
years later, once his mother was buried having lived long and happy, when winter came as it always did jaehyun left to be with his husband, never to be seen again.