Read the excerpt from “The Snow-Queen.”

Kay and Gerda were looking at one of their picture-books—the clock in the great church-tower had just struck five, when Kay exclaimed, “Oh! something has stung my heart, and I've got something in my eye!”

The little girl threw her arms round his neck; he winked hard with both his eyes; no, she could see nothing in them.

“I think it is gone now,” said he; but it had not gone. It was one of the tiny splinters of the glass of the magic mirror which we have heard about, that turned everything great and good reflected in it small and ugly. And poor Kay had also a splinter in his heart, and it began to change into a lump of ice. It did not hurt him at all, but the splinter was there all the same.

What element of an allegory is found in this excerpt?

A. characters are pleased.

B. characters are unhappy.

C. characters live in the past.

D. characters represent ideas.