The Frost King

Infobox Short story
name = The Frost King
title_orig = Autumn Leavescite web |last=Sullivan |first=Anne |authorlink=Anne Sullivan |title=Mis Sullivan's Account of the "Frost King" |work=The Story of My Life |url=http://www.afb.org/mylife/book.asp?ch=P3Ch5 |format=html |accessdate=2007-07-28 |date= |quote=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.]
translator = Anne Sullivan
author = Helen Keller
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Fantasy literature
published_in = Perkins annual report
publication_type = journal
publisher = Perkins School for the Blind
media_type =
pub_date = 1892
english_pub_date =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Frost King" was a short story about King Jack Frostcitation |last1= [http://www.michaelberube.com/ Bérubé] |first1=Michael |url=http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030804/berube |format=html |accessdate=2008-07-28 |title=Written in Memory |magazine=The Nation |page= |date=August 04, 2003 |year=] written by 12-year-old Helen Keller. Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, had mentioned that the autumn leaves were "painted ruby, emerald, gold, crimson, and brown", and Keller supposedly imagined fairies doing the work. Keller wrote a story about how a cask of jewels being transporting by fairy servants had melted in the sun and covered the leaves. [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/part-III.html#Style] . As a birthday gift, Keller sent the story to Michael Anagnos, head of the Perkins School for the Blind, who published the story. The story was also published in Keller's 1903 biography. [http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/hst/biography/StoryofMyLife/chap44.html] References to King Frost in popular culture include the temporal "The reign of King Frost had begun" in a 1920s dime romance novel.cite book |last=Clay |first=Bertha M |year=1923 |title=Thorns and Orange Blossoms |url=http://www.bookfinder4u.com/search/Thorns_and_Orange_Blossoms.html |format=html |accessdate=2007-07-28 |location=New York |publisher=J. H. Sears & Co |isbn=B000GSXUDA]

Controversy

A reader wrote in that Keller's story was a reproduction of " [http://www.afb.org/mylife/book.asp?ch=P3Ch5app2 Frost Fairies] ", from Margaret Canby's book "Birdie and His Fairy Friends". Keller insisted that she had no memory of having read the book or having had it read to her, but passages in her letters from the period, which she describes as "dreams", strongly resemble other episodes in the book [http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/keller/life/part-III.html#Style] . It was declaredwho that in 1888, while Sullivan was on vacation, her mentor Sophia Hopkins had charge of the then eight-year-old Keller, and had read the book to her through finger spelling. Keller stated that she remembered nothing of this and that she was devastated that people she had loved and trusted would accuse her of lying.fact|date=June 2008

Similar stories
"Father Frost"
Jack Frost folklore
"Old Man Winter"

A storm of outrage swept through the school, apparently headed by the teachers. Some suggest that they were also incensed by the fact that Sullivan and Keller used the facilities although they were neither employed by nor officially registered with the school. An in-house "trial" ensued to determine whether or not Sullivan had deliberately falsified Keller's abilities; eight teachers interrogated the twelve-year-old child for two hours and fought the issue to a draw, the tie-breaking vote being cast by Anagnos in Keller's favor. Although Sullivan protested that "all use of language is imitative, and one's style is made up of all other styles that one has met," and even Canby came forward to say that Keller's version was superior to her own ["What a wonderfully active and retentive mind that gifted child must have! If she had remembered and written down accurately, a short story, and that soon after hearing it, it would have been a marvel; but to have heard the story once, three years ago, and in such a way that neither her parents nor teacher could ever allude to it or refresh her memory about it, and then to have been able to reproduce it so vividly, even adding some touches of her own in perfect keeping with the rest, which really improve the original, is something that very few girls of riper age, and with every advantage of sight, hearing, and even great talents for composition, could have done as well, if at all." Margaret Canby, quoted by John A. Macy, in [http://www.afb.org/mylife/book.asp?ch=P3Ch5 Literary Style] , supplemental chapter to Keller's "Story of My Life", entire text online and found 2008-03-07] , Anagnos never regained his faith in Sullivan or Keller and described them years later as "a living lie". Keller had a nervous breakdown over the incident, and never wrote fiction again.

"Miss Sullivan's Methods",Clarifyme an analysis of Sullivan and Keller letterscite book |last=Lash |first Joseph P |title=Helen and Teacher ] written by around the time of the Frost King incident, identifies that many of the letters contain paraphrases of Canby's writing, as well as verbatim passages. Keller and Sullivan cited some of these in their own explanation of what happened, and Sullivan stated several times that Keller's writings at that time often contained extensive paraphrases of what she'd read or had read to her.

Lash believes that the author of the document was trying to prove that Sullivan, not Mrs. Hopkins, had read "Birdie and his fairy friends" to Keller, and had done so that same autumn, not four years previously. He concludes that if this was the case:

* Keller wrote "The Frost King" as another one of her paraphrased stories, similar to what she'd been writing in her letters of the period.
* Sullivan, who always checked Keller's writings before allowing them to be mailed, would have recognized "The Frost King" as a paraphrase, but considering it to be sufficiently original, passed it on as Keller's own work.
* Sullivan may not have understood what plagiarism is.
* When Keller was accused, Sullivan attempted a coverup, denying she had read the "Birdie" stories and impressing upon Keller the importance of stating that Mrs. Hopkins had read her the stories years before.In 1903, Mark Twain described the controversy as "owlishly idiotic and grotesque was that "plagiarism" farce!"cite web |last=Twain |first=Mark |authorlink=Mark Twain |title=Helen's writing |url=http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=1&TopicID=193&SubTopicID=22 |format=html |accessdate=2007-07-28 |date=St. Patrick's Day, 1903 |quote=Oh, dear me, how unspeakably funny and owlishly idiotic and grotesque was that "plagiarism" farce! ]

Notes and references

* [http://www.newyorker.com/critics/atlarge/?030616crat_atlarge What Helen Saw] "New Yorker" article discussing Helen's life and accusations of plagiarism and coaching throughout her life.