The Secret of the Snow is the third book of the Thea Stilton Special Edition book series. It was published on September 30, 2014.
Description[]
There's a mystery in the land of the lotus flowers!
Thea Stilton and Thea Sisters are called to help to an enchanted land! It's a world linked to the legends of Japan, and it is in danger. The realm's special lotus flowers are disappearing, and no one knows why!'
The mouselets set off on a quest to solve this mystery. They must discover the secret of the lotus flowers -- but can they trust the strange magical creatures that they meet on their way? It's a fabumouse adventure!
Plot[]
The Thea Sisters are invited to the Seven Roses Unit over their Christmas break for a course on fantasy languages taught by Will Mystery. The girls accept, are taken to the Unit, and are given an orientation on the fantasy language course. However, just as the orientation starts, the class is interrupted by the Unit's crystal elevator going off and dropping off a strangely sentient teapot in the Hall of Seven Roses. The teapot is quickly revealed to be a tanuki (a mischievous Japanese shapeshifter who typically takes the form of a raccoon) who tells the girls about the current happenings in his world, the Land of Minwa.
The tanuki explains that the magical lotus flowers in his home the Land of Minwa are disappearing, much to the detriment of all its inhabitants, and that nobody in his world knows the reason for the flowers' rapidly dwindling numbers. Will quickly prepares the girls for the new mission and asks for Thea's assistance with the mission. Thea heads to the Unit as quickly as possible, and with the group assembled, they enter the crystal elevator and soon find themselves in the snowy cherry blossom forests of the Land of Minwa.
Once in the Land of Minwa, the tanuki elaborates further on the current situation: not only does no one know for sure why the lotus flowers are disappearing, but everyone is blaming each other for the disappearances based on not much more than petty prejudices and vague details that make the accused more suspicious. Since there is no solid lead for the girls to follow, the tanuki gives them two riddles leading to a mountain and the ocean, respectively; thus prompting the group to split up and follow one riddle each. Paulina, Pam, Colette, and Will head towards the mountain on the horizon while Violet, Nicky and Thea go downhill to the coasts.
Whilst traversing to the "rounded mountain peak" mentioned in the tanuki's riddle, Will's group meets more inhabitants of the Land of Minwa and subsequently learns about the importance of the magical lotus flowers to them: The tengu in the Forest of Dancing Pines are the first they meet, and they learn that the tengu use the lotus flowers to make an infusion that allows them to fly. After listening to the tengu's alibi, the group is directed to the snow fairies who live in the Crystal River (which is mentioned in their riddle), and after a brief encounter with Orochi (an eight-headed dragon), the group find themselves captured by the snow fairies that the tengu were talking about.
The snow fairies, who captured the group because they intruded on their home the Crystal River, eventually release the group and are interrogated about the lotus flowers. The snow fairies laugh off the accusation, explain that they use an infusion of the flowers to help them carry out their job of protecting the snow, and direct the group up the river, where the kitsune lives. Upon arriving at the mouth of the Crystal River (which is at the rounded mountain peak), the group bumps into a kitsune (a fox spirit). The kitsune tells them that it's not her people who are destroying the flowers, but it is the Lord of Tides Isonade who is responsible. This leads the group to an epiphany where they realize that they'll have to meet up with Violet, Nicky and Thea, and they're helped onto a boat where they ride down the river towards the sea.
Meanwhile, Thea's group head downhill to the sea. On the way, they meet a trio of kappa (turtle-like creatures) who accuse the heartless sea monster Umibozu for the disappearance of the lotus flowers, which the kappa use to make a special sunscreen to keep their delicate skin moisturized outside the water. The three make their way to the sea, where they find a village of kijimuna (fishermen creatures). They manage to get a ride out to sea from two kijimuna, only to be ditched when the fishermen learn that they are out at sea because they're looking for Umibozu, whom the kijimuna fear. Dusk comes, and Umibozu finds the trio's boat.
Umibozu explains how he has become the monster that everyone fears: he was treated poorly simply because of his size and his threatening appearance, and because of this maltreatment Umibozu decided to exact his own revenge by embodying the monster that everyone sees in him. The girls talk some sense into him, and, gaining his trust with how nicely they've talked to him, Umibozu kindly brings them to the entrance of Isonade's cave, where Thea's group meets up with Will's.
The two boats venture into Isonade's cave, and after much provoking, Isonade finally tells them what he knows: His former friend and now-nemesis Namazu the giant catfish is responsible for hoarding the lotus flowers, causing violent earthquakes with his thrashing and devouring hundreds upon hundreds of pounds of lotus flowers for no other reason besides pure rage. Isonade sends them to the outskirts of the Swamp of Lost Dreams (with a massive wave conjured up with his massive three tails), and soon the group awakens to find themselves near Namazu's swamp.
A baku (a dream-eating creature) residing in that area takes the group to see Namazu, who admits to his crime and explains why he eats so many lotus flowers: someone had stolen the stone on Namazu's head that bestows to the owner longevity and serenity, and Namazu is eating the lotus flowers as a substitute, lest he die. However, the more flowers he eats, the more he needs to sustain himself, resulting in the alarming decrease of lotus flowers throughout all of the land of Minwa.
The baku gives the group a tip about a sea nymph and a wizard and suggests they go to the Tree of Fairies, which contains most if not all information about Minwa. Upon arriving at the tree, they soon learn that the wizard and the nymph are named Hikoboshi of the Musk Mountains and Orihime respectively, and that Hikoboshi's house isn't too far. One failed civil conversation with Hikoboshi later, the group follows Hikoboshi to Orihime's house, where they explain the situation to the oblivious Orihime.
Apparently Orihime and Hikoboshi met when Orihime wound up in the Musk Mountains and Hikoboshi offered to help her get home. The two fell in love during the return trip, but Orihime's father violently refused to consent to Hikoboshi wanting to marry his daughter, even to the point of threatening to destroy the bridge connecting their home to the mainland if it means that Orihime will stay with him. Seeking a solution to this predicament, Hikoboshi stole Namazu's stone and gave it to Orihime's father in the guise of a peacemaking gift, resulting in the events leading up to the present. Upon learning about the true nature of the stone and its true owner, Orihime immediately gives the group the stone to return to Namazu.
The stone is quickly returned, and Namazu is initially very angry at what Hikoboshi had done, but upon hearing of the wizard's feelings for his beloved, Namazu starts to feel some sympathy for Hikoboshi and orders his stone be cut in half so Orihime and Hikoboshi can have their happy ending. The group thanks Namazu for his kindness and sympathy and goes to return half of the stone to Orihime's father.
Before the girls could explain to Orihime's father what's been going on behind his back the entire time, Hikoboshi arrives, throws the other half of Namazu's stone over the bridge, and takes full responsibilty for his actions, much to everyone's surprise. Impressed by Hikoboshi's courage and honesty, Orihime's father decides to give Hikoboshi a chance; and grateful for what the Thea Sisters, Will and Thea have done, Orihime invites the group to stay for the night.
Come morning, the group returns to the sakura forest to summon the Crystal Elevator, which fails for some reason. An old man (which is quickly revealed to be the tanuki in disguise) approaches them, brings them to a snowy plain, and tells them "to find things with your heart instead of your eyes" and to "lose yourself in [the lotus flowers'] scent and beauty". Heeding the tanuki's advice, the group discovers the link between Minwa and their world: Mount Fuji.
As Will is about to return to the Unit, the girls remind Will about the map they'd been drawing this entire journey, only to realize that because of a prank by the tanuki, the map they'd drawn disappeared from the paper. Will asks if the Thea Sisters would help him redraw the map after their Christmas party in Mouseford Academy. The Thea Sisters accept the invite and say goodbye to Will for now.
Trivia[]
- The creatures of the Land of Minwa are based off of multiple creatures from Japanese folk tales called mukashi banashi.
- The tanuki, kitsune, Orochi, kappa, kijimuna, Isonade, baku, Namazu, Orihime and Hikoboshi are all creatures and figures in Japanese mythology, with a handful of differences from the original mythological figures.
- Mukashi banashi is also the Land of Minwa's name in the original Italian translation.
- The legend of Orihime and Hikoboshi was portrayed as a forbidden love between a mountain wizard and a sea nymph.
- There is an error in the book where, during the scene in the tengu village, Violet makes a suggestion to Colette about a poem ingrained into her head with the Seven Roses Unit's accelerated learning course, when in that scene Violet is not with Colette's group-- rather, she is on the other side of the land of Minwa with Nicky and Thea.