A spoiled, young queen asks for the impossible during a cold winter and requests for a bouquet of Galanthus, a spring wildflower, for New Year's Day in exchange for a reward of gold. One greedy woman desires to collect the bounty and instead of sending her own daughter, readily sends her young stepdaughter, Anja, to look for the white-blossomed flowers in the deep forest during a night snowstorm despite knowing the task will be impossible. Despite refusing, Anja is cast into the blizzard by her stepmother and in the barren forest, falls unconscious from the freezing cold. Later, she is awoken and is drawn to a light in the distance from a mysterious bonfire, surrounded by spirits whom reveal themselves as the Twelve Months. Learning of her task, the twelve spirits take pity on Anja. They use their powers to temporarily bring spring to allow the flowers to grow and be collected but requests no one is to know how and where she obtained the Galanthus. A grateful Anja returns home with the requested flowers and the bouquet is presented to the queen by her stepmother and stepsister, but the dissatisfied queen wishes to see where the flowers grow for herself. The stepsister and stepmother secretly follow Anja into the forest and lead the queen there as well. The Twelve Months come to save Anja from the others and turns her stepsister and stepmother into dogs. Anja drives away in a sledge together with the queen, with whom she becomes friends.
Sung by Mari Yoshiko with The Glinka Choir, lyrics by Kimio Yabuki, music and arrangement by Vladimir Krivstov, performed by National Leningrad Philharmonic.
