Snow Daughter?

[author_by_night]

So it's snowing in Maryland, and it made me think of this story I recall reading but can't name. I wondered if you would be able to? I'm pretty sure that it was a fairy tale of sorts written in the 1800s or 1900s.

The premise of the story, to the best of my recollection, is that a couple (elderly/childless perhaps?) adopts a snow girl as their child. They adore her until one day, she either melts or retreats into the snow.

Does anyone know what story I'm thinking of? Or is this something I completely made up in my head? 

ETA: I think I found it, but it appears to be a modern children's book - is this also a fairy tale? Because while the story i heard was definitely for kids, I don't remember it being in a book, unless someone just put an old story into a children's book. Or I'm crazy, that's also a possibility. ;)

Comments

[ehnel.livejournal.com]

What gileonnen said - Snegurochka - though I would never have remembered the snow girl's name on my own. It is definitely a fairy tale of some sort - I can remember reading it from an old book of Russian fairy tales when I was little.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snegurochka has a little more information. :) I never knew the version where she grew up to love a shepherd, though - just the version where she melted in the spring.

[gileonnen.livejournal.com]

It helps that 'sneg' is Russian for 'snow.' ^_~