• Story the First, Which Describes a looking-glass and the broken fragments.
• Second Stroy: A Little Boy and a Little Girl
• Third Story: The Flower Garden of the Woman Who Could Conjure
• Fourth Stroy: The Prince and Princess
• Fifth Story: Little Robber-Girl
• Sixth Story: The Lapland Woman and the Finland Woman
• Seventh Story: Of the Palace of the Snow Queen and What Happened There At Last

Story the First,

Which Describes a Looking-Glass and the Broken Fragments.

OU must attend to the commencement of this story, for when we get to the end we shall know more than we do now about a very wicked hobgoblin; he was one of the very worst, for he was a real demon. One day, when he was in a merry mood, he made a looking-glass which had the power of making everything good or beautiful that was reflected in it almost shrink to nothing, while everything that was worthless and bad looked increased in size and worse than ever. The most lovely landscapes appeared like boiled spinach, and the people became hideous, and looked as if they stood on their heads and had no bodies. Their countenances were so distorted that no one could recognize them, and even one freckle on the face appeared to spread over the whole of the nose and mouth. The demon said this was very amusing. When a good or pious thought passed through the mind of any one it was misrepresented in the glass; and then how the demon laughed at his cunning invention. All who went to the demon’s school—for he kept a school—talked everywhere of the wonders they had seen, and declared that people could now, for the first time, see what the world and mankind were really like. They carried the glass about everywhere, till at last there was not a land nor a people who had not been looked at through this distorted mirror. They wanted even to fly with it up to heaven to see the angels, but the higher they flew the more slippery the glass became, and they could scarcely hold it, till at last it slipped from their hands, fell to the earth, and was broken into millions of pieces. But now the looking-glass caused more unhappiness than ever, for some of the fragments were not so large as a grain of sand, and they flew about the world into every country. When one of these tiny atoms flew into a person’s eye, it stuck there unknown to him, and from that moment he saw everything through a distorted medium, or could see only the worst side of what he looked at, for even the smallest fragment retained the same power which had belonged to the whole mirror. Some few persons even got a fragment of the looking-glass in their hearts, and this was very terrible, for their hearts became cold like a lump of ice. A few of the pieces were so large that they could be used as window-panes; it would have been a sad thing to look at our friends through them. Other pieces were made into spectacles; this was dreadful for those who wore them, for they could see nothing either rightly or justly. At all this the wicked demon laughed till his sides shook—it tickled him so to see the mischief he had done. There were still a number of these little fragments of glass floating about in the air, and now you shall hear what happened with one of them.

Second Story:

A Little Boy and a Little Girl

N a large town, full of houses and people, there is not room for everybody to have even a little garden, therefore they are obliged to be satisfied with a few flowers in flower-pots. In one of these large towns lived two poor children who had a garden something larger and better than a few flower-pots. They were not brother and sister, but they loved each other almost as much as if they had been. Their parents lived opposite to each other in two garrets, where the roofs of neighboring houses projected out towards each other and the water-pipe ran between them. In each house was a little window, so that any one could step across the gutter from one window to the other. The parents of these children had each a large wooden box in which they cultivated kitchen herbs for their own use, and a little rose-bush in each box, which grew splendidly. Now after a while the parents decided to place these two boxes across the water-pipe, so that they reached from one window to the other and looked like two banks of flowers. Sweet-peas drooped over the boxes, and the rose-bushes shot forth long branches, which were trained round the windows and clustered together almost like a triumphal arch of leaves and flowers. The boxes were very high, and the children knew they must not climb upon them, without permission, but they were often, however, allowed to step out together and sit upon their little stools under the rose-bushes, or play quietly. In winter all this pleasure came to an end, for the windows were sometimes quite frozen over. But then they would warm copper pennies on the stove, and hold the warm pennies against the frozen pane; there would be very soon a little round hole through which they could peep, and the soft bright eyes of the little boy and girl would beam through the hole at each window as they looked at each other. Their names were Kay and Gerda. In summer they could be together with one jump from the window, but in winter they had to go up and down the long staircase, and out through the snow before they could meet.

“See there are the white bees swarming,” said Kay’s old grandmother one day when it was snowing.

“Have they a queen bee?” asked the little boy, for he knew that the real bees had a queen.

“To be sure they have,” said the grandmother. “She is flying there where the swarm is thickest. She is the largest of them all, and never remains on the earth, but flies up to the dark clouds. Often at midnight she flies through the streets of the town, and looks in at the windows, then the ice freezes on the panes into wonderful shapes, that look like flowers and castles.”

“Yes, I have seen them,” said both the children, and they knew it must be true.

“Can the Snow Queen come in here?” asked the little girl.

“Only let her come,” said the boy, “I’ll set her on the stove and then she’ll melt.”

Then the grandmother smoothed his hair and told him some more tales. One evening, when little Kay was at home, half undressed, he climbed on a chair by the window and peeped out through the little hole. A few flakes of snow were falling, and one of them, rather larger than the rest, alighted on the edge of one of the flower boxes. This snow-flake grew larger and larger, till at last it became the figure of a woman, dressed in garments of white gauze, which looked like millions of starry snow-flakes linked together. She was fair and beautiful, but made of ice—shining and glittering ice. Still she was alive and her eyes sparkled like bright stars, but there was neither peace nor rest in their glance. She nodded towards the window and waved her hand. The little boy was frightened and sprang from the chair; at the same moment it seemed as if a large bird flew by the window. On the following day there was a clear frost, and very soon came the spring. The sun shone; the young green leaves burst forth; the swallows built their nests; windows were opened, and the children sat once more in the garden on the roof, high above all the other rooms. How beautiful the roses blossomed this summer. The little girl had learnt a hymn in which roses were spoken of, and then she thought of their own roses, and she sang the hymn to the little boy, and he sang too:—

“Roses bloom and cease to be,
But we shall the Christ-child see.”

Then the little ones held each other by the hand, and kissed the roses, and looked at the bright sunshine, and spoke to it as if the Christ-child were there. Those were splendid summer days. How beautiful and fresh it was out among the rose-bushes, which seemed as if they would never leave off blooming. One day Kay and Gerda sat looking at a book full of pictures of animals and birds, and then just as the clock in the church tower struck twelve, Kay said, “Oh, something has struck my heart!” and soon after, “There is something in my eye.”

The little girl put her arm round his neck, and looked into his eye, but she could see nothing.

“I think it is gone,” he said. But it was not gone; it was one of those bits of the looking-glass—that magic mirror, of which we have spoken—the ugly glass which made everything great and good appear small and ugly, while all that was wicked and bad became more visible, and every little fault could be plainly seen. Poor little Kay had also received a small grain in his heart, which very quickly turned to a lump of ice. He felt no more pain, but the glass was there still. “Why do you cry?” said he at last; “it makes you look ugly. There is nothing the matter with me now. Oh, see!” he cried suddenly, “that rose is worm-eaten, and this one is quite crooked. After all they are ugly roses, just like the box in which they stand,” and then he kicked the boxes with his foot, and pulled off the two roses.

“Kay, what are you doing?” cried the little girl; and then, when he saw how frightened she was, he tore off another rose, and jumped through his own window away from little Gerda.

When she afterwards brought out the picture book, he said, “It was only fit for babies in long clothes,” and when grandmother told any stories, he would interrupt her with “but;” or, when he could manage it, he would get behind her chair, put on a pair of spectacles, and imitate her very cleverly, to make people laugh. By-and-by he began to mimic the speech and gait of persons in the street. All that was peculiar or disagreeable in a person he would imitate directly, and people said, “That boy will be very clever; he has a remarkable genius.” But it was the piece of glass in his eye, and the coldness in his heart, that made him act like this. He would even tease little Gerda, who loved him with all her heart. His games, too, were quite different; they were not so childish. One winter’s day, when it snowed, he brought out a burning-glass, then he held out the tail of his blue coat, and let the snow-flakes fall upon it. “Look in this glass, Gerda,” said he; and she saw how every flake of snow was magnified, and looked like a beautiful flower or a glittering star. “Is it not clever?” said Kay, “and much more interesting than looking at real flowers. There is not a single fault in it, and the snow-flakes are quite perfect till they begin to melt.”

Soon after Kay made his appearance in large thick gloves, and with his sledge at his back. He called up stairs to Gerda, “I’ve got to leave to go into the great square, where the other boys play and ride.” And away he went.

In the great square, the boldest among the boys would often tie their sledges to the country people’s carts, and go with them a good way. This was capital. But while they were all amusing themselves, and Kay with them, a great sledge came by; it was painted white, and in it sat some one wrapped in a rough white fur, and wearing a white cap. The sledge drove twice round the square, and Kay fastened his own little sledge to it, so that when it went away, he followed with it. It went faster and faster right through the next street, and then the person who drove turned round and nodded pleasantly to Kay, just as if they were acquainted with each other, but whenever Kay wished to loosen his little sledge the driver nodded again, so Kay sat still, and they drove out through the town gate. Then the snow began to fall so heavily that the little boy could not see a hand’s breadth before him, but still they drove on; then he suddenly loosened the cord so that the large sled might go on without him, but it was of no use, his little carriage held fast, and away they went like the wind. Then he called out loudly, but nobody heard him, while the snow beat upon him, and the sledge flew onwards. Every now and then it gave a jump as if it were going over hedges and ditches. The boy was frightened, and tried to say a prayer, but he could remember nothing but the multiplication table.

The snow-flakes became larger and larger, till they appeared like great white chickens. All at once they sprang on one side, the great sledge stopped, and the person who had driven it rose up. The fur and the cap, which were made entirely of snow, fell off, and he saw a lady, tall and white, it was the Snow Queen.

“We have driven well,” said she, “but why do you tremble? here, creep into my warm fur.” Then she seated him beside her in the sledge, and as she wrapped the fur round him he felt as if he were sinking into a snow drift.

“Are you still cold,” she asked, as she kissed him on the forehead. The kiss was colder than ice; it went quite through to his heart, which was already almost a lump of ice; he felt as if he were going to die, but only for a moment; he soon seemed quite well again, and did not notice the cold around him.

“My sledge! don’t forget my sledge,” was his first thought, and then he looked and saw that it was bound fast to one of the white chickens, which flew behind him with the sledge at its back. The Snow Queen kissed little Kay again, and by this time he had forgotten little Gerda, his grandmother, and all at home.

“Now you must have no more kisses,” she said, “or I should kiss you to death.”

Kay looked at her, and saw that she was so beautiful, he could not imagine a more lovely and intelligent face; she did not now seem to be made of ice, as when he had seen her through his window, and she had nodded to him. In his eyes she was perfect, and she did not feel at all afraid. He told her he could do mental arithmetic, as far as fractions, and that he knew the number of square miles and the number of inhabitants in the country. And she always smiled so that he thought he did not know enough yet, and she looked round the vast expanse as she flew higher and higher with him upon a black cloud, while the storm blew and howled as if it were singing old songs. They flew over woods and lakes, over sea and land; below them roared the wild wind; the wolves howled and the snow crackled; over them flew the black screaming crows, and above all shone the moon, clear and bright,—and so Kay passed through the long winter’s night, and by day he slept at the feet of the Snow Queen.

Third Story:

The Flower Garden of the Woman Who Could Conjure

UT how fared little Gerda during Kay’s absence? What had become of him, no one knew, nor could any one give the slightest information, excepting the boys, who said that he had tied his sledge to another very large one, which had driven through the street, and out at the town gate. Nobody knew where it went; many tears were shed for him, and little Gerda wept bitterly for a long time. She said she knew he must be dead; that he was drowned in the river which flowed close by the school. Oh, indeed those long winter days were very dreary. But at last spring came, with warm sunshine. “Kay is dead and gone,” said little Gerda.

“I don’t believe it,” said the sunshine.

“He is dead and gone,” she said to the sparrows.

“We don’t believe it,” they replied; and at last little Gerda began to doubt it herself. “I will put on my new red shoes,” she said one morning, “those that Kay has never seen, and then I will go down to the river, and ask for him.” It was quite early when she kissed her old grandmother, who was still asleep; then she put on her red shoes, and went quite alone out of the town gates toward the river. “Is it true that you have taken my little playmate away from me?” said she to the river. “I will give you my red shoes if you will give him back to me.” And it seemed as if the waves nodded to her in a strange manner. Then she took off her red shoes, which she liked better than anything else, and threw them both into the river, but they fell near the bank, and the little waves carried them back to the land, just as if the river would not take from her what she loved best, because they could not give her back little Kay. But she thought the shoes had not been thrown out far enough. Then she crept into a boat that lay among the reeds, and threw the shoes again from the farther end of the boat into the water, but it was not fastened. And her movement sent it gliding away from the land. When she saw this she hastened to reach the end of the boat, but before she could so it was more than a yard from the bank, and drifting away faster than ever. Then little Gerda was very much frightened, and began to cry, but no one heard her except the sparrows, and they could not carry her to land, but they flew along by the shore, and sang, as if to comfort her, “Here we are! Here we are!” The boat floated with the stream; little Gerda sat quite still with only her stockings on her feet; the red shoes floated after her, but she could not reach them because the boat kept so much in advance. The banks on each side of the river were very pretty. There were beautiful flowers, old trees, sloping fields, in which cows and sheep were grazing, but not a man to be seen. Perhaps the river will carry me to little Kay, thought Gerda, and then she became more cheerful, and raised her head, and looked at the beautiful green banks; and so the boat sailed on for hours. At length she came to a large cherry orchard, in which stood a small red house with strange red and blue windows. It had also a thatched roof, and outside were two wooden soldiers, that presented arms to her as she sailed past. Gerda called out to them, for she thought they were alive, but of course they did not answer; and as the boat drifted nearer to the shore, she saw what they really were. Then Gerda called still louder, and there came a very old woman out of the house, leaning on a crutch. She wore a large hat to shade her from the sun, and on it were painted all sorts of pretty flowers. “You poor little child,” said the old woman, “how did you manage to come all this distance into the wide world on such a rapid rolling stream?” And then the old woman walked in the water, seized the boat with her crutch, drew it to land, and lifted Gerda out. And Gerda was glad to feel herself on dry ground, although she was rather afraid of the strange old woman. “Come and tell me who you are,” said she, “and how came you here.”

Then Gerda told her everything, while the old woman shook her head, and said, “Hem-hem;” and when she had finished, Gerda asked if she had not seen little Kay, and the old woman told her he had not passed by that way, but he very likely would come. So she told Gerda not to be sorrowful, but to taste the cherries and look at the flowers; they were better than any picture-book, for each of them could tell a story. Then she took Gerda by the hand and led her into the little house, and the old woman closed the door. The windows were very high, and as the panes were red, blue, and yellow, the daylight shone through them in all sorts of singular colors. On the table stood beautiful cherries, and Gerda had permission to eat as many as she would. While she was eating them the old woman combed out her long flaxen ringlets with a golden comb, and the glossy curls hung down on each side of the little round pleasant face, which looked fresh and blooming as a rose. “I have long been wishing for a dear little maiden like you,” said the old woman, “and now you must stay with me, and see how happily we shall live together.” And while she went on combing little Gerda’s hair, she thought less and less about her adopted brother Kay, for the old woman could conjure, although she was not a wicked witch; she conjured only a little for her own amusement, and now, because she wanted to keep Gerda. Therefore she went into the garden, and stretched out her crutch towards all the rose-trees, beautiful though they were; and they immediately sunk into the dark earth, so that no one could tell where they had once stood. The old woman was afraid that if little Gerda saw roses she would think of those at home, and then remember little Kay, and run away. Then she took Gerda into the flower-garden. How fragrant and beautiful it was! Every flower that could be thought of for every season of the year was here in full bloom; no picture-book could have more beautiful colors. Gerda jumped for joy, and played till the sun went down behind the tall cherry-trees; then she slept in an elegant bed with red silk pillows, embroidered with colored violets; and then she dreamed as pleasantly as a queen on her wedding day. The next day, and for many days after, Gerda played with the flowers in the warm sunshine. She knew every flower, and yet, although there were so many of them, it seemed as if one were missing, but which it was she could not tell. One day, however, as she sat looking at the old woman’s hat with the painted flowers on it, she saw that the prettiest of them all was a rose. The old woman had forgotten to take it from her hat when she made all the roses sink into the earth. But it is difficult to keep the thoughts together in everything; one little mistake upsets all our arrangements.

“What, are there no roses here?” cried Gerda; and she ran out into the garden, and examined all the beds, and searched and searched. There was not one to be found. Then she sat down and wept, and her tears fell just on the place where one of the rose-trees had sunk down. The warm tears moistened the earth, and the rose-tree sprouted up at once, as blooming as when it had sunk; and Gerda embraced it and kissed the roses, and thought of the beautiful roses at home, and, with them, of little Kay.

“Oh, how I have been detained!” said the little maiden, “I wanted to seek for little Kay. Do you know where he is?” she asked the roses; “do you think he is dead?”

And the roses answered, “No, he is not dead. We have been in the ground where all the dead lie; but Kay is not there.”

“Thank you,” said little Gerda, and then she went to the other flowers, and looked into their little cups, and asked, “Do you know where little Kay is?” But each flower, as it stood in the sunshine, dreamed only of its own little fairy tale of history. Not one knew anything of Kay. Gerda heard many stories from the flowers, as she asked them one after another about him.

And what, said the tiger-lily? “Hark, do you hear the drum?— ‘turn, turn,’—there are only two notes, always, ‘turn, turn.’ Listen to the women’s song of mourning! Hear the cry of the priest! In her long red robe stands the Hindoo widow by the funeral pile. The flames rise around her as she places herself on the dead body of her husband; but the Hindoo woman is thinking of the living one in that circle; of him, her son, who lighted those flames. Those shining eyes trouble her heart more painfully than the flames which will soon consume her body to ashes. Can the fire of the heart be extinguished in the flames of the funeral pile?”

“I don’t understand that at all,” said little Gerda.

“That is my story,” said the tiger-lily.

What, says the convolvulus? “Near yonder narrow road stands an old knight’s castle; thick ivy creeps over the old ruined walls, leaf over leaf, even to the balcony, in which stands a beautiful maiden. She bends over the balustrades, and looks up the road. No rose on its stem is fresher than she; no apple-blossom, wafted by the wind, floats more lightly than she moves. Her rich silk rustles as she bends over and exclaims, ‘Will he not come?’

“Is it Kay you mean?” asked Gerda.

“I am only speaking of a story of my dream,” replied the flower.

What, said the little snow-drop? “Between two trees a rope is hanging; there is a piece of board upon it; it is a swing. Two pretty little girls, in dresses white as snow, and with long green ribbons fluttering from their hats, are sitting upon it swinging. Their brother who is taller than they are, stands in the swing; he has one arm round the rope, to steady himself; in one hand he holds a little bowl, and in the other a clay pipe; he is blowing bubbles. As the swing goes on, the bubbles fly upward, reflecting the most beautiful varying colors. The last still hangs from the bowl of the pipe, and sways in the wind. On goes the swing; and then a little black dog comes running up. He is almost as light as the bubble, and he raises himself on his hind legs, and wants to be taken into the swing; but it does not stop, and the dog falls; then he barks and gets angry. The children stoop towards him, and the bubble bursts. A swinging plank, a light sparkling foam picture,—that is my story.”

“It may be all very pretty what you are telling me,” said little Gerda, “but you speak so mournfully, and you do not mention little Kay at all.”

What do the hyacinths say? “There were three beautiful sisters, fair and delicate. The dress of one was red, of the second blue, and of the third pure white. Hand in hand they danced in the bright moonlight, by the calm lake; but they were human beings, not fairy elves. The sweet fragrance attracted them, and they disappeared in the wood; here the fragrance became stronger. Three coffins, in which lay the three beautiful maidens, glided from the thickest part of the forest across the lake. The fire-flies flew lightly over them, like little floating torches. Do the dancing maidens sleep, or are they dead? The scent of the flower says that they are corpses. The evening bell tolls their knell.”

“You make me quite sorrowful,” said little Gerda; “your perfume is so strong, you make me think of the dead maidens. Ah! is little Kay really dead then? The roses have been in the earth, and they say no.”

“Cling, clang,” tolled the hyacinth bells. “We are not tolling for little Kay; we do not know him. We sing our song, the only one we know.”

Then Gerda went to the buttercups that were glittering amongst the bright green leaves.

“You are little bright suns,” said Gerda; “tell me if you know where I can find my play-fellow.”

And the buttercups sparkled gayly, and looked again at Gerda. What song could the buttercups sing? It was not about Kay.

“The bright warm sun shone on a little court, on the first warm day of spring. His bright beams rested on the white walls of the neighboring house; and close by bloomed the first yellow flower of the season, glittering like gold in the sun’s warm ray. An old woman sat in her arm chair at the house door, and her granddaughter, a poor and pretty servant-maid came to see her for a short visit. When she kissed her grandmother there was gold everywhere: the gold of the heart in that holy kiss; it was a golden morning; there was gold in the beaming sunlight, gold in the leaves of the lowly flower, and on the lips of the maiden. There, that is my story,” said the buttercup.

“My poor old grandmother!” sighed Gerda; “she is longing to see me, and grieving for me as she did for little Kay; but I shall soon go home now, and take little Kay with me. It is no use asking the flowers; they know only their own songs, and can give me no information.”

And then she tucked up her little dress, that she might run faster, but the narcissus caught her by the leg as she was jumping over it; so she stopped and looked at the tall yellow flower, and said, “Perhaps you may know something.”

Then she stooped down quite close to the flower, and listened; and what did he say?

“I can see myself, I can see myself,” said the narcissus. “Oh, how sweet is my perfume! Up in a little room with a bow window, stands a little dancing girl, half undressed; she stands sometimes on one leg, and sometimes on both, and looks as if she would tread the whole world under her feet. She is nothing but a delusion. She is pouring water out of a tea-pot on a piece of stuff which she holds in her hand; it is her bodice. ‘Cleanliness is a good thing,’ she says. Her white dress hangs on a peg; it has also been washed in the tea-pot, and dried on the roof. She puts it on, and ties a saffron-colored handkerchief round her neck, which makes the dress look whiter. See how she stretches out her legs, as if she were showing off on a stem. I can see myself, I can see myself.”

“What do I care for all that,” said Gerda, “you need not tell me such stuff.” And then she ran to the other end of the garden. The door was fastened, but she pressed against the rusty latch, and it gave way. The door sprang open, and little Gerda ran out with bare feet into the wide world. She looked back three times, but no one seemed to be following her. At last she could run no longer, so she sat down to rest on a great stone, and when she looked round she saw that the summer was over, and autumn very far advanced. She had known nothing of this in the beautiful garden, where the sun shone and the flowers grew all the year round.

“Oh, how I have wasted my time?” said little Gerda; “it is autumn. I must not rest any longer,” and she rose up to go on. But her little feet were wounded and sore, and everything around her looked so cold and bleak. The long willow-leaves were quite yellow. The dew-drops fell like water, leaf after leaf dropped from the trees, the sloe-thorn alone still bore fruit, but the sloes were sour, and set the teeth on edge. Oh, how dark and weary the whole world appeared!

 Fourth Story:

The Prince and Princess

ERDA was obliged to rest again, and just opposite the place where she sat, she saw a great crow come hopping across the snow toward her. He stood looking at her for some time, and then he wagged his head and said, “Caw, caw; good-day, good-day.” He pronounced the words as plainly as he could, because he meant to be kind to the little girl; and then he asked her where she was going all alone in the wide world.

The word alone Gerda understood very well, and knew how much it expressed. So then she told the crow the whole story of her life and adventures, and asked him if he had seen little Kay.

The crow nodded his head very gravely, and said, “Perhaps I have—it may be.”

“No! Do you think you have?” cried little Gerda, and she kissed the crow, and hugged him almost to death with joy.

“Gently, gently,” said the crow. “I believe I know. I think it may be little Kay; but he has certainly forgotten you by this time for the princess.”

“Does he live with a princess?” asked Gerda.

“Yes, listen,” replied the crow, “but it is so difficult to speak your language. If you understand the crows’ language¹ then I can explain it better. Do you?”

“No, I have never learnt it,” said Gerda, “but my grandmother understands it, and used to speak it to me. I wish I had learnt it.”

“It does not matter,” answered the crow; “I will explain as well as I can, although it will be very badly done;” and he told her what he had heard. “In this kingdom where we now are,” said he, “there lives a princess, who is so wonderfully clever that she has read all the newspapers in the world, and forgotten them too, although she is so clever. A short time ago, as she was sitting on her throne, which people say is not such an agreeable seat as is often supposed, she began to sing a song which commences in these words:

‘Why should I not be married?’

‘Why not indeed?’ said she, and so she determined to marry if she could find a husband who knew what to say when he was spoken to, and not one who could only look grand, for that was so tiresome. Then she assembled all her court ladies together at the beat of the drum, and when they heard of her intentions they were very much pleased. ‘We are so glad to hear it,’ said they, ‘we were talking about it ourselves the other day.’ You may believe that every word I tell you is true,” said the crow, “for I have a tame sweetheart who goes freely about the palace, and she told me all this.”

Of course his sweetheart was a crow, for “birds of a feather flock together,” and one crow always chooses another crow.

“Newspapers were published immediately, with a border of hearts, and the initials of the princess among them. They gave notice that every young man who was handsome was free to visit the castle and speak with the princess; and those who could reply loud enough to be heard when spoken to, were to make themselves quite at home at the palace; but the one who spoke best would be chosen as a husband for the princess. Yes, yes, you may believe me, it is all as true as I sit here,” said the crow. “The people came in crowds. There was a great deal of crushing and running about, but no one succeeded either on the first or second day. They could all speak very well while they were outside in the streets, but when they entered the palace gates, and saw the guards in silver uniforms, and the footmen in their golden livery on the staircase, and the great halls lighted up, they became quite confused. And when they stood before the throne on which the princess sat, they could do nothing but repeat the last words she had said; and she had no particular wish to hear her own words over again. It was just as if they had all taken something to make them sleepy while they were in the palace, for they did not recover themselves nor speak till they got back again into the street. There was quite a long line of them reaching from the town-gate to the palace. I went myself to see them,” said the crow. “They were hungry and thirsty, for at the palace they did not get even a glass of water. Some of the wisest had taken a few slices of bread and butter with them, but they did not share it with their neighbors; they thought if they went in to the princess looking hungry, there would be a better chance for themselves.”

“But Kay! tell me about little Kay!” said Gerda, “was he amongst the crowd?”

“Stop a bit, we are just coming to him. It was on the third day, there came marching cheerfully along to the palace a little personage, without horses or carriage, his eyes sparkling like yours; he had beautiful long hair, but his clothes were very poor.”

“That was Kay!” said Gerda joyfully. “Oh, then I have found him;” and she clapped her hands.

“He had a little knapsack on his back,” added the crow.

“No, it must have been his sledge,” said Gerda; “for he went away with it.”

“It may have been so,” said the crow; “I did not look at it very closely. But I know from my tame sweetheart that he passed through the palace gates, saw the guards in their silver uniform, and the servants in their liveries of gold on the stairs, but he was not in the least embarrassed. ‘It must be very tiresome to stand on the stairs,’ he said. ‘I prefer to go in.’ The rooms were blazing with light. Councillors and ambassadors walked about with bare feet, carrying golden vessels; it was enough to make any one feel serious. His boots creaked loudly as he walked, and yet he was not at all uneasy.”

“It must be Kay,” said Gerda, “I know he had new boots on, I have heard them creak in grandmother’s room.”

“They really did creak,” said the crow, “yet he went boldly up to the princess herself, who was sitting on a pearl as large as a spinning wheel, and all the ladies of the court were present with their maids, and all the cavaliers with their servants; and each of the maids had another maid to wait upon her, and the cavaliers’ servants had their own servants, as well as a page each. They all stood in circles round the princess, and the nearer they stood to the door, the prouder they looked. The servants’ pages, who always wore slippers, could hardly be looked at, they held themselves up so proudly by the door.”

“It must be quite awful,” said little Gerda, “but did Kay win the princess?”

“If I had not been a crow,” said he, “I would have married her myself, although I am engaged. He spoke just as well as I do, when I speak the crows’ language, so I heard from my tame sweetheart. He was quite free and agreeable and said he had not come to woo the princess, but to hear her wisdom; and he was as pleased with her as she was with him.”

“Oh, certainly that was Kay,” said Gerda, “he was so clever; he could work mental arithmetic and fractions. Oh, will you take me to the palace?”

“It is very easy to ask that,” replied the crow, “but how are we to manage it? However, I will speak about it to my tame sweetheart, and ask her advice; for I must tell you it will be very difficult to gain permission for a little girl like you to enter the palace.”

“Oh, yes; but I shall gain permission easily,” said Gerda, “for when Kay hears that I am here, he will come out and fetch me in immediately.”

“Wait for me here by the palings,” said the crow, wagging his head as he flew away.

It was late in the evening before the crow returned. “Caw, caw,” he said, “she sends you greeting, and here is a little roll which she took from the kitchen for you; there is plenty of bread there, and she thinks you must be hungry. It is not possible for you to enter the palace by the front entrance. The guards in silver uniform and the servants in gold livery would not allow it. But do not cry, we will manage to get you in; my sweetheart knows a little back-staircase that leads to the sleeping apartments, and she knows where to find the key.”

Then they went into the garden through the great avenue, where the leaves were falling one after another, and they could see the light in the palace being put out in the same manner. And the crow led little Gerda to the back door, which stood ajar. Oh! how little Gerda’s heart beat with anxiety and longing; it was just as if she were going to do something wrong, and yet she only wanted to know where little Kay was. “It must be he,” she thought, “with those clear eyes, and that long hair.” She could fancy she saw him smiling at her, as he used to at home, when they sat among the roses. He would certainly be glad to see her, and to hear what a long distance she had come for his sake, and to know how sorry they had been at home because he did not come back. Oh what joy and yet fear she felt! They were now on the stairs, and in a small closet at the top a lamp was burning. In the middle of the floor stood the tame crow, turning her head from side to side, and gazing at Gerda, who curtseyed as her grandmother had taught her to do.

“My betrothed has spoken so very highly of you, my little lady,” said the tame crow, “your life-history, Vita, as it may be called, is very touching. If you will take the lamp I will walk before you. We will go straight along this way, then we shall meet no one.”

“It seems to me as if somebody were behind us,” said Gerda, as something rushed by her like a shadow on the wall, and then horses with flying manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback, glided by her, like shadows on the wall.

“They are only dreams,” said the crow, “they are coming to fetch the thoughts of the great people out hunting.”

“All the better, for we shall be able to look at them in their beds more safely. I hope that when you rise to honor and favor, you will show a grateful heart.”

“You may be quite sure of that,” said the crow from the forest.

They now came into the first hall, the walls of which were hung with rose-colored satin, embroidered with artificial flowers. Here the dreams again flitted by them but so quickly that Gerda could not distinguish the royal persons. Each hall appeared more splendid than the last, it was enought to bewilder any one. At length they reached a bedroom. The ceiling was like a great palm-tree, with glass leaves of the most costly crystal, and over the centre of the floor two beds, each resembling a lily, hung from a stem of gold. One, in which the princess lay, was white, the other was red; and in this Gerda had to seek for little Kay. She pushed one of the red leaves aside, and saw a little brown neck. Oh, that must be Kay! She called his name out quite loud, and held the lamp over him. The dreams rushed back into the room on horseback. He woke, and turned his head round, it was not little Kay! The prince was only like him in the neck, still he was young and pretty. Then the princess peeped out of her white-lily bed, and asked what was the matter. Then little Gerda wept and told her story, and all that the crows had done to help her.

“You poor child,” said the prince and princess; then they praised the crows, and said they were not angry for what they had done, but that it must not happen again, and this time they should be rewarded.

“Would you like to have your freedom?” asked the princess, “or would you prefer to be raised to the position of court crows, with all that is left in the kitchen for yourselves?”

Then both the crows bowed, and begged to have a fixed appointment, for they thought of their old age, and said it would be so comfortable to feel that they had provision for their old days, as they called it. And then the prince got out of his bed, and gave it up to Gerda,—he could do no more; and she lay down. She folded her little hands, and thought, “How good everyone is to me, men and animals too;” then she closed her eyes and fell into a sweet sleep. All the dreams came flying back again to her, and they looked like angels, and one of them drew a little sledge, on which sat Kay, and nodded to her. But all this was only a dream, and vanished as soon as she awoke.

The following day she was dressed from head to foot in silk and velvet, and they invited her to stay at the palace for a few days, and enjoy herself, but she only begged for a pair of boots, and a little carriage, and a horse to draw it, so that she might go into the wide world to seek for Kay. And she obtained, not only boots, but also a muff, and she was neatly dressed; and when she was ready to go, there, at the door, she found a coach made of pure gold, with the coat-of-arms of the prince and princess shining upon it like a star, and the coachman, footman, and outriders all wearing golden crowns on their heads. The prince and princess themselves helped her into the coach, and wished her success. The forest crow, who was now married, accompanied her for the first three miles; he sat by Gerda’s side, as he could not bear riding backwards. The tame crow stood in the door-way flapping her wings. She could not go with them, because she had been suffering from headache ever since the new appointment, no doubt from eating too much. The coach was well stored with sweet cakes, and under the seat were fruit and gingerbread nuts. “Farewell, farewell,” cried the prince and princess, and little Gerda wept, and the crow wept; and then, after a few miles, the crow also said “Farewell,” and this was the saddest parting. However, he flew to a tree, and stood flapping his black wings as long as he could see the coach, which glittered in the bright sunshine.

Fifth Story:

Little Robber-Girl

HE coach drove on through a thick forest, where it lighted up the way like a torch, and dazzled the eyes of some robbers, who could not bear to let it pass them unmolested.

“It is gold! it is gold!” cried they, rushing forward, and seizing the horses. Then they struck the little jockeys, the coachman, and the footman dead, and pulled little Gerda out of the carriage.

“She is fat and pretty, and she has been fed with the kernels of nuts,” said the old robber-woman, who had a long beard and eyebrows that hung over her eyes. “She is as good as a little lamb; hownice she will taste!” and as she said this, she drew forth a shining knife, that glittered horribly. “Oh!” screamed the old woman the same moment; for her own daughter, who held her back, had bitten her in the ear. She was a wild and naughty girl, and the mother called her an ugly thing, and had not time to kill Gerda.

“She shall play with me,” said the little robber-girl; “she shall give me her muff and her pretty dress, and sleep with me in my bed.” And then she bit her mother again, and made her spring in the air, and jump about; and all the robbers laughed, and said, “See how she is dancing with her young cub.”

“I will have a ride in the coach,” said the little robber-girl; and she would have her own way; for she was so self-willed and obstinate.

She and Gerda seated themselves in the coach, and drove away, over stumps and stones, into the depths of the forest. The little robber-girl was about the same size as Gerda, but stronger; she had broader shoulders and a darker skin; her eyes were quite black, and she had a mournful look. She clasped little Gerda round the waist, and said,—

“They shall not kill you as long as you don’t make us vexed with you. I suppose you are a princess.”

“No,” said Gerda; and then she told her all her history, and how fond she was of little Kay.

The robber-girl looked earnestly at her, nodded her head slightly, and said, “They sha’nt kill you, even if I do get angry with you; for I will do it myself.” And then she wiped Gerda’s eyes, and stuck her own hands in the beautiful muff which was so soft and warm.

The coach stopped in the courtyard of a robber’s castle, the walls of which were cracked from top to bottom. Ravens and crows flew in and out of the holes and crevices, while great bulldogs, either of which looked as if it could swallow a man, were jumping about; but they were not allowed to bark. In the large and smoky hall a bright fire was burning on the stone floor. There was no chimney; so the smoke went up to the ceiling, and found a way out for itself. Soup was boiling in a large cauldron, and hares and rabbits were roasting on the spit.

“You shall sleep with me and all my little animals to-night,” said the robber-girl, after they had had something to eat and drink. So she took Gerda to a corner of the hall, where some straw and carpets were laid down. Above them, on laths and perches, were more than a hundred pigeons, who all seemed to be asleep, although they moved slightly when the two little girls came near them. “These all belong to me,” said the robber-girl; and she seized the nearest to her, held it by the feet, and shook it till it flapped its wings. “Kiss it,” cried she, flapping it in Gerda’s face. “There sit the wood-pigeons,” continued she, pointing to a number of laths and a cage which had been fixed into the walls, near one of the openings. “Both rascals would fly away directly, if they were not closely locked up. And here is my old sweetheart ‘Ba;’” and she dragged out a reindeer by the horn; he wore a bright copper ring round his neck, and was tied up. “We are obliged to hold him tight too, or else he would run away from us also. I tickle his neck every evening with my sharp knife, which frightens him very much.” And then the robber-girl drew a long knife from a chink in the wall, and let it slide gently over the reindeer’s neck. The poor animal began to kick, and the little robber-girl laughed, and pulled down Gerda into bed with her.

“Will you have that knife with you while you are asleep?” asked Gerda, looking at it in great fright.

“I always sleep with the knife by me,” said the robber-girl. “No one knows what may happen. But now tell me again all about little Kay, and why you went out into the world.”

Then Gerda repeated her story over again, while the wood-pigeons in the cage over her cooed, and the other pigeons slept. The little robber-girl put one arm across Gerda’s neck, and held the knife in the other, and was soon fast asleep and snoring. But Gerda could not close her eyes at all; she knew not whether she was to live or die. The robbers sat round the fire, singing and drinking, and the old woman stumbled about. It was a terrible sight for a little girl to witness.

Then the wood-pigeons said, “Coo, coo; we have seen little Kay. A white fowl carried his sledge, and he sat in the carriage of the Snow Queen, which drove through the wood while we were lying in our nest. She blew upon us, and all the young ones died excepting us two. Coo, coo.”

“What are you saying up there?” cried Gerda. “Where was the Snow Queen going? Do you know anything about it?”

“She was most likely travelling to Lapland, where there is always snow and ice. Ask the reindeer that is fastened up there with a rope.”

“Yes, there is always snow and ice,” said the reindeer; “and it is a glorious place; you can leap and run about freely on the sparkling ice plains. The Snow Queen has her summer tent there, but her strong castle is at the North Pole, on an island called Spitzbergen.”

“Oh, Kay, little Kay!” sighed Gerda.

“Lie still,” said the robber-girl, “or I shall run my knife into your body.”

In the morning Gerda told her all that the wood-pigeons had said; and the little robber-girl looked quite serious, and nodded her head, and said, “That is all talk, that is all talk. Do you know where Lapland is?” she asked the reindeer.

“Who should know better than I do?” said the animal, while his eyes sparkled. “I was born and brought up there, and used to run about the snow-covered plains.”

“Now listen,” said the robber-girl; “all our men are gone away,— only mother is here, and here she will stay; but at noon she always drinks out of a great bottle, and afterwards sleeps for a little while; and then, I’ll do something for you.” Then she jumped out of bed, clasped her mother round the neck, and pulled her by the beard, crying, “My own little nanny goat, good morning.” Then her mother filliped her nose till it was quite red; yet she did it all for love.

When the mother had drunk out of the bottle, and was gone to sleep, the little robber-maiden went to the reindeer, and said, “I should like very much to tickle your neck a few times more with my knife, for it makes you look so funny; but never mind,—I will untie your cord, and set you free, so that you may run away to Lapland; but you must make good use of your legs, and carry this little maiden to the castle of the Snow Queen, where her play-fellow is. You have heard what she told me, for she spoke loud enough, and you were listening.”

Then the reindeer jumped for joy; and the little robber-girl lifted Gerda on his back, and had the forethought to tie her on, and even to give her her own little cushion to sit on.

“Here are your fur boots for you,” said she; “for it will be very cold; but I must keep the muff; it is so pretty. However, you shall not be frozen for the want of it; here are my mother’s large warm mittens; they will reach up to your elbows. Let me put them on. There, now your hands look just like my mother’s.”

But Gerda wept for joy.

“I don’t like to see you fret,” said the little robber-girl; “you ought to look quite happy now; and here are two loaves and a ham, so that you need not starve.” These were fastened on the reindeer, and then the little robber-maiden opened the door, coaxed in all the great dogs, and then cut the string with which the reindeer was fastened, with her sharp knife, and said, “Now run, but mind you take good care of the little girl.” And then Gerda stretched out her hand, with the great mitten on it, towards the little robber-girl, and said, “Farewell,” and away flew the reindeer, over stumps and stones, through the great forest, over marshes and plains, as quickly as he could. The wolves howled, and the ravens screamed; while up in the sky quivered red lights like flames of fire. “There are my old northern lights,” said the reindeer; “see how they flash.” And he ran on day and night still faster and faster, but the loaves and the ham were all eaten by the time they reached Lapland.

Sixth Story:

The Lapland Woman and the Finland Woman

HEY stopped at a little hut; it was very mean looking; the roof sloped nearly down to the ground, and the door was so low that the family had to creep in on their hands and knees, when they went in and out. There was no one at home but an old Lapland woman, who was cooking fish by the light of a train-oil lamp. The reindeer told her all about Gerda’s story, after having first told his own, which seemed to him the most important, but Gerda was so pinched with the cold that she could not speak. “Oh, you poor things,” said the Lapland woman, “you have a long way to go yet. You must travel more than a hundred miles farther, to Finland. The Snow Queen lives there now, and she burns Bengal lights every evening. I will write a few words on a dried stock-fish, for I have no paper, and you can take it from me to the Finland woman who lives there; she can give you better information than I can.” So when Gerda was warmed, and had taken something to eat and drink, the woman wrote a few words on the dried fish, and told Gerda to take great care of it. Then she tied her again on the reindeer, and he set off at full speed. Flash, flash, went the beautiful blue northern lights in the air the whole night long. And at length they reached Finland, and knocked at the chimney of the Finland woman’s hut, for it had no door above the ground. They crept in, but it was so terribly hot inside that that woman wore scarcely any clothes; she was small and very dirty looking. She loosened little Gerda’s dress, and took off the fur boots and the mittens, or Gerda would have been unable to bear the heat; and then she placed a piece of ice on the reindeer’s head, and read what was written on the dried fish. After she had read it three times, she knew it by heart, so she popped the fish into the soup saucepan, as she knew it was good to eat, and she never wasted anything. The reindeer told his own story first, and then little Gerda’s, and the Finlander twinkled with her clever eyes, but she said nothing. “You are so clever,” said the reindeer; “I know you can tie all the winds of the world with a piece of twine. If a sailor unties one knot, he has a fair wind; when he unties the second, it blows hard; but if the third and fourth are loosened, then comes a storm, which will root up whole forests. Cannot you give this little maiden something which will make her as strong as twelve men, to overcome the Snow Queen?”

“The Power of twelve men!” said the Finland woman; “that would be of very little use.” But she went to a shelf and took down and unrolled a large skin, on which were inscribed wonderful characters, and she read till the perspiration ran down from her forehead. But the reindeer begged so hard for little Gerda, and Gerda looked at the Finland woman with such beseeching tearful eyes, that her own eyes began to twinkle again; so she drew the reindeer into a corner, and whispered to him while she laid a fresh piece of ice on his head, “Little Kay is really with the Snow Queen, but he finds everything there so much to his taste and his liking, that he believes it is the finest place in the world; but this is because he has a piece of broken glass in his heart, and a little piece of glass in his eye. These must be taken out, or he will never be a human being again, and the Snow Queen will retain her power over him.”

“But can you not give little Gerda something to help her to conquer this power?”

“I can give her no greater power than she has already,” said the woman; “don’t you see how strong that is? How men and animals are obliged to serve her, and how well she has got through the world, barefooted as she is. She cannot receive any power from me greater than she now has, which consists in her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot herself obtain access to the Snow Queen, and remove the glass fragments from little Kay, we can do nothing to help her. Two miles from here the Snow Queen’s garden begins; you can carry the little girl so far, and set her down by the large bush which stands in the snow, covered with red berries. Do not stay gossiping, but come back here as quickly as you can.” Then the Finland woman lifted little Gerda upon the reindeer, and he ran away with her as quickly as he could.

“Oh, I have forgotten my boots and my mittens,” cried little Gerda, as soon as she felt the cutting cold, but the reindeer dared not stop, so he ran on till he reached the bush with the red berries; here he set Gerda down, and he kissed her, and the great bright tears trickled over the animal’s cheeks; then he left her and ran back as fast as he could.

There stood poor Gerda, without shoes, without gloves, in the midst of cold, dreary, ice-bound Finland. She ran forwards as quickly as she could, when a whole regiment of snow-flakes came round her; they did not, however, fall from the sky, which was quite clear and glittering with the northern lights. The snow-flakes ran along the ground, and the nearer they came to her, the larger they appeared. Gerda remembered how large and beautiful they looked through the burning-glass. But these were really larger, and much more terrible, for they were alive, and were the guards of the Snow Queen, and had the strangest shapes. Some were like great porcupines, others like twisted serpents with their heads stretching out, and some few were like little fat bears with their hair bristled; but all were dazzlingly white, and all were living snow-flakes. Then little Gerda repeated the Lord’s Prayer, and the cold was so great that she could see her own breath come out of her mouth like steam as she uttered the words. The steam appeared to increase, as she continued her prayer, till it took the shape of little angels who grew larger the moment they touched the earth. They all wore helmets on their heads, and carried spears and shields. Their number continued to increase more and more; and by the time Gerda had finished her prayers, a whole legion stood round her. They thrust their spears into the terrible snow-flakes, so that they shivered into a hundred pieces, and little Gerda could go forward with courage and safety. The angels stroked her hands and feet, so that she felt the cold less, and she hastened on to the Snow Queen’s castle.

But now we must see what Kay is doing. In truth he thought not of little Gerda, and never supposed she could be standing in the front of the palace.

Seventh Story:

Of the Palace of the Snow Queen and What Happened There At Last

HE walls of the palace were formed of drifted snow, and the windows and doors of the cutting winds. There were more than a hundred rooms in it, all as if they had been formed with snow blown together. The largest of them extended for several miles; they were all lighted up by the vivid light of the aurora, and they were so large and empty, so icy cold and glittering! There were no amusements here, not even a little bear’s ball, when the storm might have been the music, and the bears could have danced on their hind legs, and shown their good manners. There were no pleasant games of snap-dragon, or touch, or even a gossip over the tea-table, for the young-lady foxes. Empty, vast, and cold were the halls of the Snow Queen. Theflickering flame of the northern lights could be plainly seen, whether they rose high or low in the heavens, from every part of the castle. In the midst of its empty, endless hall of snow was a frozen lake, broken on its surface into a thousand forms; each piece resembled another, from being in itself perfect as a work of art, and in the centre of this lake sat the Snow Queen, when she was at home. She called the lake “The Mirror of Reason,” and said that it was the best, and indeed the only one in the world.

Little Kay was quite blue with cold, indeed almost black, but he did not feel it; for the Snow Queen had kissed away the icy shiverings, and his heart was already a lump of ice. He dragged some sharp, flat pieces of ice to and fro, and placed them together in all kinds of positions, as if he wished to make something out of them; just as we try to form various figures with little tablets of wood which we call “a Chinese puzzle.” Kay’s fingers were very artistic; it was the icy game of reason at which he played, and in his eyes the figures were very remarkable, and of the highest importance; this opinion was owing to the piece of glass still sticking in his eye. He composed many complete figures, forming different words, but there was one word he never could manage to form, although he wished it very much. It was the word “Eternity.” The Snow Queen had said to him, “When you can find out this, you shall be your own master, and I will give you the whole world and a new pair of skates.” But he could not accomplish it.

“Now I must hasten away to warmer countries,” said the Snow Queen. “I will go and look into the black craters of the tops of the burning mountains, Etna and Vesuvius, as they are called,—I shall make them look white, which will be good for them, and for the lemons and the grapes.” And away flew the Snow Queen, leaving little Kay quite alone in the great hall which was so many miles in length; so he sat and looked at his pieces of ice, and was thinking so deeply, and sat so still, that any one might have supposed he was frozen.

Just at this moment it happened that little Gerda came through the great door of the castle. Cutting winds were raging around her, but she offered up a prayer and the winds sank down as if they were going to sleep; and she went on till she came to the large empty hall, and caught sight of Kay; she knew him directly; she flew to him and threw her arms round his neck, and held him fast, while she exclaimed, “Kay, dear little Kay, I have found you at last.”

But he sat quite still, stiff and cold.

Then little Gerda wept hot tears, which fell on his breast, and penetrated into his heart, and thawed the lump of ice, and washed away the little piece of glass which had stuck there. Then he looked at her, and she sang—

“Roses bloom and cease to be,
But we shall the Christ-child see.”

Then Kay burst into tears, and he wept so that the splinter of glass swam out of his eye. Then he recognized Gerda, and said, joyfully, “Gerda, dear little Gerda, where have you been all this time, and where have I been?” And he looked all around him, and said, “How cold it is, and how large and empty it all looks,” and he clung to Gerda, and she laughed and wept for joy. It was so pleasing to see them that the pieces of ice even danced about; and when they were tired and went to lie down, they formed themselves into the letters of the word which the Snow Queen had said he must find out before he could be his own master, and have the whole world and a pair of new skates. Then Gerda kissed his cheeks, and they became blooming; and she kissed his eyes, and they shone like her own; she kissed his hands and his feet, and then he became quite healthy and cheerful. The Snow Queen might come home now when she pleased, for there stood his certainty of freedom, in the word she wanted, written in shining letters of ice.

Then they took each other by the hand, and went forth from the great palace of ice. They spoke of the grandmother, and of the roses on the roof, and as they went on the winds were at rest, and the sun burst forth. When they arrived at the bush with red berries, there stood the reindeer waiting for them, and he had brought another young reindeer with him, whose udders were full, and the children drank her warm milk and kissed her on the mouth. Then they carried Kay and Gerda first to the Finland woman, where they warmed themselves thoroughly in the hot room, and she gave them directions about their journey home. Next they went to the Lapland woman, who had made some new clothes for them, and put their sleighs in order. Both the reindeer ran by their side, and followed them as far as the boundaries of the country, where the first green leaves were budding. And here they took leave of the two reindeer and the Lapland woman, and all said—Farewell. Then the birds began to twitter, and the forest too was full of green young leaves; and out of it came a beautiful horse, which Gerda remembered, for it was one which had drawn the golden coach. A young girl was riding upon it, with a shining red cap on her head, and pistols in her belt. It was the little robber-maiden, who had got tired of staying at home; she was going first to the north, and if that did not suit her, she meant to try some other part of the world. She knew Gerda directly, and Gerda remembered her: it was a joyful meeting.

“You are a fine fellow to go gadding about in this way,” said she to little Kay, “I should like to know whether you deserve that any one should go to the end of the world to find you.”

But Gerda patted her cheeks, and asked after the prince and princess.

“They are gone to foreign countries,” said the robber-girl.

“And the crow?” asked Gerda.

“Oh, the crow is dead,” she replied; “his tame sweetheart is now a widow, and wears a bit of black worsted round her leg. She mourns very pitifully, but it is all stuff. But now tell me how you managed to get him back.”

Then Gerda and Kay told her all about it.

“Snip, snap, snare! it’s all right at last,” said the robber-girl.

Then she took both their hands, and promised that if ever she should pass through the town, she would call and pay them a visit. And then she rode away into the wide world. But Gerda and Kay went hand-in-hand towards home; and as they advanced, spring appeared more lovely with its green verdure and its beautiful flowers. Very soon they recognized the large town where they lived, and the tall steeples of the churches, in which the sweet bells were ringing a merry peal as they entered it, and found their way to their grandmother’s door. They went upstairs into the little room, where all looked just as it used to do. The old clock was going “tick, tick,” and the hands pointed to the time of day, but as they passed through the door into the room they perceived that they were both grown up, and become a man and woman. The roses out on the roof were in full bloom, and peeped in at the window; and there stood the little chairs, on which they had sat when children; and Kay and Gerda seated themselves each on their own chair, and held each other by the hand, while the cold empty grandeur of the Snow Queen’s palace vanished from their memories like a painful dream. The grandmother sat in God’s bright sunshine, and she read aloud from the Bible, “Except ye become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God.” And Kay and Gerda looked into each other’s eyes, and all at once understood the words of the old song,

“Roses bloom and cease to be,
But we shall the Christ-child see.”

And they both sat there, grown up, yet children at heart; and it was summer,—warm, beautiful summer.

1. Children have a kind of a language, or gibberish, which is sometimes called “crow’s language;” it is formed by adding letters or syllables to every word.

 

• 故事首先，它描述了一個鏡子和破碎的片段。
• 第二STROY：一個小男孩和一個小女孩
• 第三個故事：女人誰能夠召喚的花卉園
• 第四STROY：王子和公主
• 第五個故事：小強盜女孩
• 第六個故事：拉普蘭女人和芬蘭女人
• 第七個故事：的雪之女王的宮殿和那裡發生的事情在最後

故事的第一，

它描述了一個看玻璃和破碎的片段。

歐必須參加到這個故事的開始，因為當我們到了年底，我們就知道比我們現在做的一個很邪惡的妖怪; 他是最糟糕的，因為他是一個真正的魔鬼。有一天，當他在一個快樂的心情，他做了一個鏡子其中有讓一切好還是美麗的反映在它的權力幾乎縮小到什麼都沒有，而這一切是毫無價值的，壞的神情增加尺寸和更壞比以往任何時候。最可愛的風景出現了像煮爛了的菠 ​​菜，人民變得猙獰，看上去就好像他們站在他們的頭上，也沒有屍體。他們的面容是如此扭曲，沒有人能認識他們，甚至一雀斑的臉似乎遍布整個鼻子和嘴。妖說，這是非常有趣的。當一個好還是虔誠的思想在任何一個有人誤傳在玻璃頭腦; 再怎麼妖嘲笑他的狡猾發明。所有誰去惡魔的學校為他保留一所學校，到處都談過，他們已經看到了奇蹟，並宣稱，人們現在可以，第一次，看到什麼樣的世界和人類真的喜歡。他們攜帶的玻璃無處不在，直到最後沒有了土地，也不是一個人誰沒有被看著通過這個扭曲的鏡子。他們希望即使它飛到天上看到天使，但較高，他們飛到了更滑的玻璃變得和他們幾乎無法容納它，直到最後它從他們的手中滑落，掉到了地上，並且是斷成百萬件。但現在的鏡子造成比以往更加不快，一些碎片就沒有這麼大的一粒沙子，於是就飛奔關於世界到每一個國家。當這些微小的原子中的一個飛進一個人的眼睛，它卡在那裡未知的他，從那個時候起，他所看到的一切，通過一個扭曲的媒介，或能看到什麼，他看著只有最壞的一面，即使保留了最小的片段同樣的權力，原本屬於全鏡面。有些少數人甚至得到了鏡子在他們心中的片段，這是非常可怕的，因為他們的心變得冷像冰疙瘩。件的幾個是如此之大，他們可以作為玻璃窗; 這本來是一件悲傷的事情，通過他們看看我們的朋友。其他片製成的眼鏡; 這是可怕的為那些誰穿他們，因為他們既可以正確地或公正地什麼也看不見。在這一切的邪惡的惡魔笑了起來，直到他的兩側搖晃，它胳肢他，所以看到的惡作劇，他做了。但仍有一些玻璃這些小碎片漂浮在空中一下，現在你將要聽到發生了什麼事，其中一人。

 

第二個故事：

一個小男孩和一個小女孩

Ñ ​​一個大鎮，滿座和人民，沒有空間供大家甚至有一個小花園，因此他們有責任滿足於幾個鮮花花盆。在這些大型的城鎮之一住著誰了花園的東西比幾個花盆更大和更好的兩個可憐的孩子。他們不是兄妹，但他們彼此深愛著對方幾乎一樣多，如果他們已經。他們的父母住彼此相反的兩個閣樓，其中相鄰房屋的屋頂上投射出對彼此和它們之間的水管跑。在每一個房子是一個小窗口，使任何人能橫跨排水溝步驟從一個窗口到另一個。這些孩子的父母在他們的廚房栽培藥材供自己使用每一個大木箱裡，一點點玫瑰灌木在每一個方塊，它的前身出色。現在，一段時間後，父母決定把這兩盒一水之隔管，讓他們從一個窗口達到對另看起來像鮮花兩家銀行。甜豌豆垂在箱子和玫瑰灌木拍出來長長的枝條，這是訓練有素的圓形窗戶，聚集在一起，幾乎像葉子和花朵織成的凱旋門。因為匣子放得很高，孩子們知道在他們身上，他們不能爬，未經許可，但是他們的時候，不過，讓其走出在一起，並在他們的小凳子坐在下的玫瑰灌木，或安安靜靜地玩耍。在冬季，這一切的快感落下帷幕，為windows有時很凍結了。但隨後，他們將在溫暖的火爐銅便士，並保持對凍結窗格中的溫暖便士; 會有很快一個小圓孔，通過它們可以窺視，並且柔和明亮的眼睛的小男孩和女孩將光束通過小孔在每個窗口，因為他們看著對方。他們的名字是格爾達和加伊。在夏天，他們可以從一個窗口跳在一起，但在冬天，他們不得不去向上和向下的長樓梯，並通過雪才可以見面。

 

“看到有白色的蜜蜂蜂擁而至，說：”當它下雪凱的老祖母一天。

“他們有一個蜂王？”問小男孩，因為他知道，真正的蜜蜂有女王。

“可以肯定的是他們有，”奶奶說。“她是飛在那裡有群最厚。她是其中最大的是，從不仍然在地球上，但蒼蠅最多的烏雲。經常半夜她飛過城市的街道，並期待在在窗口的話，冰凍結的窗格成美妙的形狀，看起來像花和城堡。“

“是的，我已經看到他們，說：”這兩個孩子，他們知道它必須是真實的。

“雪後能到這裡來？”問小女孩。

 

“只有讓她來，”男孩說，“我會設置了爐子上，然後她就會融化。”

然後，奶奶平滑他的頭髮，告訴他一些更多的故事。一天晚上，當小小的加伊在家裡，半脫了衣服，他就爬到椅子上的窗口並露出了穿過小洞。的幾片雪花在下降，而其中一人，而不是休養較大，在下車的花箱之一的邊緣。這雪片狀越下越大，直到最後它變成了一個女人，穿著服裝的白紗，這看上去就像數以百萬計的繁星點點雪花連接在一起的身影。她是公平的，美麗的，但做的冰閃耀著晶瑩的冰。還是她還活著，她的眼睛閃閃發光像明亮的星星，但有沒有和平與安息在他們一眼。她點了點頭向窗口，並揮動她的手。小男孩被嚇得從椅子上竄出; 在同一時刻，它彷彿一隻大鳥飛過窗口。在接下來的一天有很明顯的霜凍，很快來到了春天。太陽照; 年輕的綠葉迸發; 燕子築起巢; 窗戶也敞開了，孩子們在花園裡坐一次在屋頂上，高高在上的所有其他房間。多麼美麗的玫瑰綻放在今年夏天。這個小女孩已經學會在玫瑰花所說的一首讚美詩，然後她以為自己的玫瑰，她唱了讚歌的小男孩，和他唱了： -

 

“玫瑰綻放，並不再，
但是我們應當以基督為孩子看到。“

接著小傢伙舉行了對方的手，吻著玫瑰花，望著明媚的陽光，並採訪了它，好像基督孩子在那裡。這些都是燦爛的夏日。多麼美麗和新鮮的是出了玫瑰灌木叢，這彷彿他們從來沒有離開過綻放之中。有一天，加伊和格爾達坐著看一書的全部動物和鳥類的圖片，然後就像在教堂鐘樓的鐘敲了十二下，凱說，“哦，事情已經刺入了我的心臟！”不久後，“有東西在我的眼睛。“

小女孩把她摟著他的脖子，看著他的眼睛，但她什麼也看不見。

“我認為這是走了，”他說。但它並沒有消失; 這是其中一個鏡子，這照妖鏡那些位，其中我們已經說過的最醜陋的玻璃，使一切偉大的和良好出現小又醜，而所有的這是邪惡的，壞的變得更明顯，而且每個小故障可以清楚地看到。可憐的小凱也接受了小顆粒在他的心臟，它很快變成冰疙瘩。他覺得不再有痛苦，但玻璃在那裡不動。？“你為什麼哭說：”他最後; “它讓你看起來醜陋。沒有什麼與我的事了。哦，看！“他突然喊道，”那玫瑰是蟲蝕，而這一次是長歪了。畢竟，他們是醜陋的玫瑰，就像他們站在箱子，“然後他踢了箱子了一腳，並脫下了兩朵玫瑰花。

“凱，你在幹什麼？”哭的小女孩; 然後，當他看到她有多害怕，他撕下了另一棵玫瑰，並通過自己的窗口躍出從小小的格爾達。

當她後來帶出的圖畫書，他說，“這是唯一適合嬰兒的長衣，”當奶奶告訴任何故事，他會打斷她“，但是，”或者，他可以管理它，他會得到她的椅子後面，擺出了一副眼鏡，模仿她的非常巧妙，讓人發笑。由 - 和 - 由他開始模仿在大街上的人的言論和步態。所有這一切是特殊的或討厭的一個人，他會直接模仿，有人說，“那個男孩會很聰明; 他有一個了不起的天才。“但是，這是一塊玻璃在他的眼睛，並在他的心臟的冷漠，使他像這樣。他甚至會挑逗小小的格爾達，誰愛他，她所有的心臟。他的比賽，也有很大的差異; 他們不是那麼孩子氣。有一年冬天的一天，當下雪時，他帶出了一支燃燒的玻璃，然後他伸出他的藍色外套的尾巴，讓雪花落在它。“你看這個玻璃，格爾達，”他說。她看到了如何的雪每片被放大，並且看起來像一個美麗的花或一個閃閃發光的明星。“是不是不聰明？”凱說，“比看真正的花兒要有趣得多。沒有一個單一的故障在裡面，和雪花都相當完美，直到他們開始融化。“

不久後，凱的面目出現在寬大厚實的手套，並與他的雪橇在他的背部。他叫了起來樓梯格爾達，“我得離開去到大廣場，在那裡其他男孩玩，坐。”而離開他去了。

在大廣場上，男生中最大膽的經常配合他們的雪橇到全國人民的車，並與他們走的好方法。這是資本。不過，雖然他們都會哄自己，而凱他們，一個偉大的雪橇走過來; 它被漆成白色，並在它坐在某一個包裹在粗糙的白色皮毛，和身穿白色帽子。雪橇駕駛兩次圓廣場，和凱固定自己的小雪橇吧，這樣，當它走了，他注視著它。它接著速度越來越快的權利，通過下街，然後誰開車轉身的人愉快點頭凱，就像他們熟悉彼此，但每當凱希望鬆開他的小雪橇司機又點了點頭，於是凱坐著不動，而且他們趕出去穿鎮而過大門。然後，雪開始下降如此嚴重的小男孩看不到手的廣度在他面前，但他們仍然繼續駛往; 然後他突然鬆開了繩子，這樣大的雪橇可能會去上沒有他，但它是沒有用的，他的小馬車緊緊抱住，並遠離他們就像風一樣。然後，他叫了一聲，但沒有人聽到他，而雪後，他擊敗，和雪橇飛奔向前。每一個現在，然後它給了一個跳躍，就好像它要過籬笆和溝渠。男孩被嚇壞了，並試圖做一個禱告，但他卻什麼都不記得了，但乘法表。

在雪花越來越大，直到他們出現了像巨大的白雞。突然間，他們撲去在一邊，大雪橇停了下來，誰曾駕駛它的人站起來。毛皮和帽，雪這完全是做，摔了下來，他看見一個老太太，又高又白，那是雪之女王。

 

“我們已經驅動好了，”她說，“但是你為什麼發抖？在這裡，潛入我的溫暖的皮毛。“然後，她坐在他她旁邊的雪橇，和她裹著皮草圍著他，他覺得好像他陷入雪堆。

“你還感到冷，”她問，她吻了他的額頭。吻比冰還冷; 它去比較，通過他的心臟，這已經是冰幾乎有腫塊; 他覺得好像他就要死了，但只是片刻; 他很快就顯得相當好了，並沒有注意到他周圍的寒冷。

“我的雪橇！不要忘記我的雪橇，“是他的第一個念​​頭，然後他看了看，只見這是必然快於白雞，它飛到他身後的雪橇在其後面的一個。冰雪女王吻了小小的加伊一遍，這個時候，他已經忘記了小小的格爾達，他奶奶的，都在家裡。

“現在你必須有沒有更多的吻，”她說，“或者我應該吻你到死。”

凱看著她，覺得她長得那麼漂亮，他無法想像一個更可愛和聰明的面孔; 她沒有現在似乎是冰做的，因為當他通過他的窗口看見她，她已經向他點點頭。在他眼裡，她是完美的，她並沒有感到害怕！他告訴她，他可以做心算，盡量分數，而且他知道平方英里的數量和居民在該國的數量。她總是笑著讓他以為他不知道還不夠，她環顧四周白茫茫一片，因為她在一個烏雲飛了越來越高的他，而風暴吹和嚎叫，就好像它是在唱老歌。他們飛過樹林和湖泊，飛過大海和陸地; 他們下面大吼野外風; 狼群嚎叫著雪花在發出閃光; 對他們立馬黑烏鴉的尖叫，和高於一切照月亮，皎潔明亮，和因此凱經過漫長的冬天的夜晚，白天，他在雪後的腳下睡著了。

 

第三個故事：

的女人誰能夠召喚的花卉園

UT斯達康如何在凱的缺席表現小小的格爾達？什麼已經成為了他，沒有人知道，也沒有任何一個可以給半點信息，除男生，誰表示，他已經追平了他的雪橇到另一個非常大的一個，這已通路燈驅動，在出鎮門。沒有人知道它在哪裡就去; 許多流下眼淚的他，小小的格爾達痛哭了很久。她說，她知道他一定是死了; 他被淹死在由學校緊密流入河流。呵呵，確實是那些漫長的冬天日子非常沉悶。但在去年春天帶著溫暖的陽光。“加伊死了，不見了，”小小的格爾達說。

“我不相信，說：”陽光。

“他已經死了，”她對麻雀說。

“我們不相信它，”他們回答說; 最後，小格爾達就開始懷疑自己。“我會穿上我的新紅舞鞋”，她說有一天早晨，“那些凱從來沒有見過，然後我會去到河邊，並要求他，”這是相當早的時候，她吻了她的老祖母，誰是還在睡覺; 然後她把她的那雙紅鞋，走了很孤單出城往城門河。“這是真的，你把我的小玩伴離我而去？”說，她到河邊。“我會給你我的紅色的鞋子，如果你能給他還給我。”它彷彿海浪向她點了點頭在一個陌生的方式。然後她脫下紅舞鞋，她很喜歡比什麼都好，並把他們倆到河裡，但他們在銀行附近回落，而小浪攜帶他們回到土地，就像河水不會採取從她什麼，她最喜歡吃的，因為他們不能夠給她帶回小小的加伊。但她認為鞋子沒有被拋出遠遠不夠。然後，她悄悄潛入一條船，在蘆葦叢中躺著，並從船上入水那遙遠的盡頭再扔鞋，但它沒有固定。和她的運動把它滑翔從土地上趕走。當她看到這個她趕緊到達船的結束，但在此之前，她可能是它更比從銀行的院子，還有漸行漸遠比以往更快。小小的格爾達是很害怕，哭了起來，但除了麻雀沒有人聽說過她，他們扛不住她的土地，但他們在海邊沿著飛，唱著歌，好像在安慰她，“在這裡我們來了！在這裡，我們是“船漂與流！; 小小的格爾達坐著一動不動，只有她在她的腳絲襪; 浮動後，她的紅舞鞋，但她無法達到他們因為船保持這麼多的進步。在河的兩邊銀行都非常漂亮。有美麗的花朵，古樹，坡地，其中牛，羊是吃草的，但不是一個人待觀察。可能這條河會把我送到小加伊，想到格爾達，然後她變得更加開朗，抬起頭，看著美麗的綠色銀行; 等船航行了幾個小時。最後她來到了大櫻桃果園，在裡面放著一個紅色的小房子，有奇怪的紅色和藍色的窗戶。它也有一個茅草屋頂，外面是兩個木頭士兵，即呈現雙臂把她當她航行了過去。格爾達喊他們，因為她以為他們還活著，但他們當然沒有回答; 而作為漂流船靠近岸邊時，她看到了什麼，他們真的是。然後格爾達稱為仍然高漲，並且出現了一個很老的女人趕出家門，拄著拐杖。她戴著一頂大帽遮陽她來自太陽，並在其上被塗上各種漂亮的花。“你這個小可憐的孩子，”老太婆說，“你是怎麼設法來到此地距離這個廣大的世界上這樣一個快速滾動流？”，然後在水中的老婦人走了，抓住了船與她的拐杖，把它降落，並取消格爾達了。格爾達很高興覺得自己在幹地上，雖然她有點害怕這位陌生的老太婆。“來吧，告訴我你是誰，”她說，“怎麼到這裡來你。”

然後格爾達告訴她一切，而老婦人搖搖頭，說：“下擺下擺，”當她說完了，格爾達問，如果她沒有看到過小加伊，和老女人告訴她，他不通過這種方式，但他很可能會來。於是她告訴格爾達不要憂愁，但品嚐櫻桃，看花; 他們比任何圖畫書更好，為他們每個人都能講一個故事。然後，她牽著格爾達的手，把她領進了小房子，和老女人關上了門。窗子開得很高，而隨著窗格是紅，藍，黃，日光通過他們的各種奇異的色彩照耀。桌子上放著美麗的櫻桃。格爾達不得不吃很多，因為她會同意。當她正在吃他們的老女人梳理她長長的亞麻色的捲髮用金色的梳子，並有光澤的捲髮垂在小圓可人的一面，這看起來新鮮和盛開的玫瑰的每一面。“我早就希望一個親愛的小姑娘喜歡你，”老太太說，“現在你必須留在我身邊，看看我們多麼幸福就共同生活。”雖然她接著梳理小小的格爾達的頭髮，她想到越來越少約她收養的兄弟凱，對於老女人能想像，雖然她不是一個邪惡的巫婆; 只是她編造了一點她自己的娛樂，而現在，因為她想保持格爾達。因此，她走進花園，並伸出她對所有的玫瑰樹拐杖，美麗雖然他們; 他們立即陷入黑暗大地，所以沒有人能告訴他們在那裡曾經站立。老婦人很害怕，如果小小的格爾達看見了玫瑰花，她會認為那些在家中，然後記得小小的加伊，並逃跑。然後，她牽著格爾達進花的花園。它是如何又香又漂亮了！可能在今年每一個季節被認為是每朵花都在這裡盛開; 沒有圖畫書可以有更多美麗的顏色。格爾達高興得跳了起來，並且演奏，直到太陽下山在高高的櫻桃樹後面; 然後，她睡在一個優雅的床上有紅色絲綢枕頭，繡有彩色紫羅蘭; 然後她夢想的愉快的在她的婚禮當天女王。接下來的日子，並為以後許多天，格爾達在溫暖的陽光打了花。她知道每一朵花，然而，儘管有這麼多的人，它似乎，如果一個人失踪，但它是她不能告訴。然而有一天，當她坐在看著老女人的帽子就可以了畫花，她看到他們所有的最漂亮的是玫瑰。老婦人已經忘了把它從她的帽子時，她做了一切玫瑰沉入大地。但它是很難保持的想法一起在一切; 一個小小的失誤打亂所有的安排。

“什麼，有沒有玫瑰在這裡？”格爾達哭; 她跑出去到花園，並檢查了所有的病床，並找啊找。有沒有一個被發現。然後，她坐在地上哭，她的眼淚正好落在那裡的玫瑰樹中的一個已經沉沒下來的地方。溫暖的眼淚浸濕了大地，玫瑰樹發芽了一次，而綻放，當它已經沉沒; 格爾達擁抱它，親吻玫瑰，並認為美麗的玫瑰花在家裡，並與他們，小小的加伊。

“哦，我是如何被拘留！”小姑娘說，“我想尋找小小的加伊。？你知道他在哪裡“，她問那些玫瑰花; “你認為他是死了嗎？”

和玫瑰回答：“不，他沒有死。我們一直在地上，所有的死者的謊言; 但凱是不存在。“

“謝謝你，說：”小小的格爾達，然後她去了其他的花，看著他們的小杯子，問道：“你知道小小的加伊是？”但是每朵花，因為它在陽光下站著，夢見只有歷史自己的小童話。沒有人知道凱的任何東西。格爾達聽到花很多故事，因為她關切地詢問他的一個又一個。

什麼，說老虎百合？“徐克，你聽到的鼓 - ”轉，轉，'只有兩個音符，總是，'轉，轉。“ 聽女人的歌哀悼！聽到牧師的叫聲！在她長長的紅色長袍站在印度人寡婦的火葬柴堆。火焰上升在她身邊，她放在她丈夫的屍體; 但印度人的女人是思想在那個圈子裡的生活之一; 他，她的兒子，誰點燃的火焰。那些閃亮的眼睛麻煩她的心臟比將很快消耗她的身體燒成灰燼的火焰更加痛苦。可心臟的火葬禮樁的火焰熄滅？“

“我不明白，在所有”小小的格爾達說。

“這是我的故事，說：”老虎百合。

什麼，說，空心菜？“那邊附近狹窄的道路代表了老騎士的城堡; 厚藤野怪過老城牆廢墟，葉在葉，甚至到了陽台上，中矗立著一個美麗的少女。她彎腰的欄杆，看起來了道路。沒有玫瑰的莖比她更新鮮; 沒有蘋果花，被風飄蕩，花車更輕輕比她移動。她豐富的絲綢沙沙作響，她彎腰和感嘆，“他會不會來？”

“難道是凱你的意思呢？”格爾達。

“我只是講我的夢想的故事，”回答的花。

什麼，說的少雪降？“介於兩棵樹一根繩子掛; 有在它一塊板; 它是一個鞦韆。兩個漂亮的小女孩，衣服潔白如雪，並與長綠絲帶的帽子飄飄，坐在在它擺動。他們的兄弟是誰個子比他們，矗立在搖擺; 他有一個胳膊摟住繩，穩定自己; 在一方面，他擁有一個小碗裡，並在其他粘土管; 他在吹泡泡。隨著鞦韆的推移，泡沫飛揚，反映最美麗的不同的顏色。最後還是從碗管道掛起，和搖擺在風中。雲上的擺動; 然後一個小黑狗來跑了。他幾乎是輕如泡沫，他提出了自己對他的後腿，並希望被納入擺動; 但它不會停止，和狗跌倒; 然後他咆哮和生氣。孩子們彎腰向著他，泡沫破裂。一擺動板，光閃耀的泡沫圖片， - 這是我的故事。“

“這可能是所有非常漂亮的你告訴我，說：”小小的格爾達，“但你說那麼淒然，而你不提小小的加伊都沒有。”

風信子說？“有三個漂亮的姐妹，公平和細膩。之一的禮服是藍色的第二和第三純白色的，紅色的，。手拉手跳起他們在明亮的月光下，在平靜的湖面; 但他們是人，不是神仙精靈。甜美的香味吸引了他們，他們在樹林消失; 這裡的香味變得更強。三口棺材，其中打好三個漂亮的姑娘，來自全國各地的湖泊森林最厚的部分下滑。火蒼蠅飛過輕滑過他們，像小浮火把。這些跳舞的姑娘們在睡覺，或者是他們死了嗎？花的香氣說她們死。傍晚鐘聲的喪鐘。“

“你讓我很悲哀，”小小的格爾達說; “你的香水是如此強烈，你讓我想起了死去的少女。啊！是小小的加伊真的死了呢？這些玫瑰花已經在地球上，他們說沒有。“

“保鮮，鐺，”敲響了風信子的鐘聲。“我們不是敲響為小小的加伊 我們不認識他。我們唱我們的歌，我們所知道的唯一的一個。“

然後格爾達走到那都閃閃發光躋身明亮的綠色葉子的毛茛。

“你是小亮的太陽，”格爾達說; “告訴我，如果你知道我在哪裡可以找到我的播放老鄉。”

和毛茛閃閃發光愉快地答道，又看了看格爾達。什麼歌可以在毛茛唱歌嗎？這是不是凱。

“明亮溫暖的陽光照在一個小法庭，在春天的第一天溫暖。他明亮的光束休息鄰近房子的白色牆壁上; 和附近的開花季節的第一個黃色的花，像金子一樣閃閃發光的太陽的溫暖光芒。一個老女人在她的胳膊椅子在房子門口坐著，和她的孫女，一個貧窮和漂亮的僕人，侍女來看望她進行了短暫的訪問。當她吻了她的祖母有黃金比比皆是：心臟在那聖潔的吻金; 這是一個金色的早晨; 有黃金在喜氣洋洋的陽光，金色的弱旅花的葉子，並在少女的嘴唇。在那裡，那是我的故事，說：“毛茛。

！“我可憐的老祖母”嘆了口氣格爾達; “她是渴望能看到我，悲傷的我，因為她在為小小的加伊 但我很快就會回家了，並採取小小的加伊和我在一起。這是沒有用的，詢問的花朵; 他們只知道自己的歌曲，並且可以給我任何信息。“

然後，她捲起她的小禮服，她可能運行得更快，但水仙抓住了她的腿，因為她跳了它; 所以她停下來，看著高高的黃色的花，說：“也許你會知道的東西。”

然後，她彎下腰相當接近的花，並聽取; 和他說了什麼？

“我能看到我自己，我可以看到自己，說：”水仙。“哦，多麼甜蜜是我的香水！在一個小房間，一個弓形窗，站在一個小女孩跳舞，半脫了衣服; 有時她站在一條腿，有時兩個，而且看起來好像她會踩在她的腳整個世界。她只不過是一個錯覺。她倒水出一塊東西，她認為在她的手茶壺; 這是她的胸衣。“清潔是一件好事，”她說。她的白色禮服掛在掛鉤; 它也被洗的茶壺，並在屋頂上曬乾。她把它放在和領帶藏紅花顏色的手絹在脖子上，這使得衣服看起來更白。看她是如何伸出她的腿，就好像她是一個幹炫耀。我能看到我自己，我能看到我自己。“

“我怎麼關心這一切，”格爾達說，“你不用告訴我，這樣的東西。”然後她跑到花園的另一端。在門上了鎖，但她對生鏽的鎖按下，它讓路。門一下子就彈開，小小的格爾達跑出赤腳進入廣闊的世界。她回頭一看三次，但似乎沒有人會跟隨她。最後她跑不動了，所以她下來坐在休息的一塊大石頭，而當她回過頭，她看到那個夏天結束了，秋天很遠先進。她在美麗的花園，那裡的陽光照，花兒生長常年一無所知了這一點。

“哦，怎麼我已經浪費了我的時間”小小的格爾達說; “這是秋天。我不能再休息了，“她起身去。但她的小腳丫受傷和疼痛，而她周圍的一切看上去是那麼寒冷和淒涼。長柳樹葉已經黃了。該露珠落在像水，葉後葉從樹上跳了下來，單靠斯盧刺還是結出了果實，但sloes是酸，並設置齒邊。哦，多麼黑暗和疲倦整個世界出現了！

 

第四個故事：

王子和公主

ERDA不得不再次休息，對面就是她坐的地方，她看到了一個巨大的烏鴉遇到的跳雪朝她。他站在那裡看著她一段時間，然後他搖搖頭說，“呱，啼; 。好天，好天“他發音的話顯然，他可以，因為他的意思是那種小女孩; 然後他問她她要去哪裡獨自在廣闊的世界。

單單這個詞格爾達非常理解，並且知道多少表示。所以後來她告訴烏鴉她的生活和冒險的原委，並問他是否曾看到過小加伊。

烏鴉點了點頭很嚴肅地說，“也許我 - 它可能是。”

“不！你認為你有嗎？“小小的格爾達叫著，她吻了烏鴉，就抱住了他幾乎死了喜悅。

“輕輕地，輕輕地，說：”烏鴉。“我相信我知道。我想這可能是小小的加伊; 但他肯定這個時候的公主遺忘你。“

“他住同一個公主呢？”格爾達。

“是的，聽著，回答說：”烏鴉“，但它是如此難以說你的語言。如果你理解了烏鴉的語文¹然後我就可以更好地解釋它。你呢？“

“不，我從來沒有學過，”格爾達說，“但我的祖母懂得它，並用它來跟我說話。我想我已經學會了。“

“沒關係，”那烏​​鴉; “我將解釋以及我所能，雖然這將是非常糟糕完成，”他告訴她，他所聽到的。“在這個國度，我們現在，”他說，“有生命的公主，是誰這麼奇妙聰明了，她讀過世界上所有的報紙，並把他們遺忘了，雖然她是那麼的聰明。不久之前，她正坐在她的寶座，這人說是不是這樣一個令人愉快的座位往往假定，她開始唱了這首歌開始在這些話：

“我為什麼不能結婚呢？'

“為什麼不呢？” 她說，於是她決定嫁給如果她能找到一個丈夫，誰知道該說些什麼，當他說話，而不是一個誰只能看盛大，因為這是很煩人的。然後，她組裝她所有的宮女一起在鼓的節拍，當他們聽說過她的意圖，他們非常高興。“我們很高興聽到它，'他們說，'我們有一天都在談論它自己。” 您可能會認為，每一個字我告訴你是真的，說：“烏鴉，”因為我有一個馴服的愛人誰去縱論宮殿，她告訴我這一切。“

當然，他的心上人是一隻烏鴉，為“物以類聚，人以群分”，有一個烏鴉總是選擇另一個烏鴉。

“報紙被立即公佈，他們的心靈的邊界，以及它們之間的公主的縮寫。他們給了通知，每一個年輕男子誰是帥是免費參觀城堡和公主說話; 而那些發言的時候誰可以回答響亮到足以被聽到，都讓自己相當在家在宮殿; 但誰說話最好的人會被選擇作為一個丈夫的公主。是的，是的，你可以相信我，它是所有真格的，我坐在這裡，說：“烏鴉。“人們來到人群。有一個很大的破碎和運行有關，但沒有人成功無論是在第一或第二天。他們都說非常好，而他們在外面的街道上，但是當他們進入了宮門，看到衛兵在銀色制服，並在他們的黃金號衣上的樓梯，和偉大的大廳的侍衛點燃了，他們成了相當困惑。而當他們在其上的公主坐在寶座前站著，他們只能無奈地重複最後一句話，她說; 她有沒有特別想聽到她自己的話說了一遍。這只是因為，如果他們都採取了一件讓他們昏昏欲睡，而他們在宮中，因為他們沒有恢復自己也不說話，直到他們回來再次到街上。那裡是他們中的相當長的線從鎮門到達皇宮。我自己去看看他們，說：“烏鴉。“他們又飢又渴，為在宮殿裡，他們沒有得到水連一杯。一些最明智的採取了麵包，黃油與他們幾片，但他們並沒有與他們的鄰居分享; 他們認為，如果他們去了公主看著餓了，會有自己一個更好的機會。“

“但是加伊！告訴我關於加伊！“格爾達說，”是他在人群之中？“

“別了一下，我們只是向他走來。這是在第三天，才出現了踏著愉快地沿著皇宮一點點的人物，沒有馬匹或馬車，他的眼睛閃閃發光像你這樣的; 他有美麗的長頭髮，但他的衣服是很可憐的。“

“這就是加伊！”格爾達高興地說。“哦，那我已經找到了他，”她拍了拍手。

“他在他的背上背著一個小行囊，補充說：”烏鴉。

“不，那一定是他的雪橇，”格爾達說; “因為他走了吧。”

“這可能是這麼說，”烏鴉; “我沒有看它很密切。但我知道從我的，他通過了宮門，只見衛兵在他們的銀色制服馴服的愛人，並在黃金上樓梯的號衣的僕人，但他絲毫沒有不好意思。“這一定是非常煩人的站在樓梯口，”他說。“我更喜歡去了。' 房間被熾烈的光。議員和大使走了大約赤腳，背著金器皿; 這是足以讓任何人感到嚴重。他的靴子大聲作響，他走了，但他一點都不自在。“

“一定是凱，”格爾達說，“我知道他對我聽見他們在奶奶的房間裡吱吱新靴子。”

“他們真的做到了吱吱，說：”烏鴉“，但他勇敢地一直走到​​公主自己，誰坐在一顆珍珠大如紡車，和院子裡所有的女士出席他們的女傭，以及所有與他們的僕人騎士; 而各女傭有另一個女僕侍候她，騎士的僕人有自己的僕人，以及每個頁面。他們都站在圓圈圓公主，他們站得離門口越近，自豪的看著他們。僕人的頁面，誰總是穿著拖鞋，很難被看著，他們舉行了自己那麼驕傲地在門口。“

“一定是相當可怕的，說：”小小的格爾達，“但沒凱贏得了公主？”

“如果我不是一個烏鴉，”他說，“我會娶她自己，雖然我從事。他說話一樣好，我做的，當我講烏鴉'的語言，所以我從我馴服的愛人聽到。他是相當自由和和氣氣，說他還沒有來向公主求婚，但聽到她的智慧; 和他一樣高興與她，她與他同在。“

“哦，當然，這是凱，”格爾達說，“他是那麼聰明; 他可以工作心算和分數。哦，你會帶我去宮裡？“

“這是很容易問，回答說：”烏鴉“，但我們如何來管理呢？不過，我會講一下我馴服的愛人，問她的意見; 因為我必須告訴你，這將是非常困難的獲得許可的一個小女孩像你入宮。“

“哦，是的; 但我會得到許可容易，“格爾達說，”因為當凱聽說我在這裡，他會出來，馬上給我拿的。“

“在這裡等我的圍籬，說：”烏鴉，搖他的頭，他就飛走了。

這是在深夜烏鴉回來之前。“呱，啼，”他說，“她送你的問候，這裡是一個小卷，她從廚房給你拿了; 有大量的麵包那裡，她會認為你一定餓了。這是不可能讓你由前門進入皇宮。在銀色制服和金號衣的僕人衛兵不會允許它。但是，不要哭，我們會設法讓你的; 我的愛人知道一點點背樓梯通向公寓睡覺，她知道在哪裡可以找到問題的關鍵。“

然後他們走進花園穿過這條大街，那裡的葉子紛紛飄落，他們可以看到光明在被放出來以同樣的方式宮殿。和烏鴉導致小小的格爾達後門，裡面放著半開著。哦！如何小小的格爾達的心臟跳動焦慮和渴望; 它只是好像她打算做錯事，但她只是想知道小小的加伊。“一定是他，”她想，“那些清澈的眼睛，那長長的頭髮。”她可能看上她看到他微笑著她，因為他曾經在家裡，當他們在玫瑰中坐。他肯定會很高興看到她，聽到很長一段距離，她來為他著想，要知道他們是如何對不起一直在家，因為他沒有回來。哦，多麼快樂，但怕她覺得！他們現在都在樓梯上，並在一個小衣櫃頂部一盞燈被燒毀。在地板的中間放著馴服的烏鴉，把她的頭從一邊到另一邊，並凝視著格爾達，誰curtseyed作為她的祖母教給她做。

“我的未婚夫一直這麼說很看得起你，我的小夫人”之稱的馴服的烏鴉，“你的生活史，維塔，因為它可能被調用，非常感人。如果你把燈拿起來，我會在你走。我們將沿著這條道路筆直，那麼我們不會碰到任何人。“

“在我看來，就好像是有人在我們身後，”格爾達說，因為東西衝到她就像牆上的影子，然後用馬鬃毛飛揚，瘦腿，獵人們，女士們和先生們騎著馬，被她的下滑，像在牆壁上的陰影。

“他們只是夢想，說：”烏鴉，“他們是來取偉大的人民出去打獵的想法。”

“所有的更好，因為我們將能夠看著他們在他們的床更安全。我希望當你上升到尊敬和青睞，你會告訴一顆感恩的心臟。“

“你可能是相當肯定的，說：”從森林的烏鴉。

他們現在走進第一個大廳，牆壁當中掛著玫瑰色緞，繡有假花。在這裡，夢想被他們再次掠過，但如此之快，格爾達無法區分皇室的人。每個大廳似乎比過去更加出色，它被足夠多，以迷惑的任何一個。終於，他們來到一間臥室。天花板就像一個巨大的棕櫚樹，用最昂貴的水晶玻璃葉子，滿地兩張床的中心，每一個形似百合，掛金莖。一，在公主躺著，呈白色，另一個是紅色; 並在此格爾達不得不尋求小小的加伊。她把紅色的樹葉之一一旁，看見一個小棕頸。哦，那一定是凱！她叫了他的名字很響亮，並舉行了燈在他身上。夢想衝回進了房間在馬背上。他醒來，轉過頭圓，這卻不是小小的加伊！王子只喜歡他的脖子，他仍然很年輕，漂亮。然後，公主露出了她的白色百合床上，問發生了什麼事。小小的格爾達哭起來，並告訴她的故事，和所有的烏鴉做了幫她。

“你可憐的孩子，說：”王子和公主; 然後他們稱讚了烏鴉，說他們不是生氣他們所做的一切，但它絕不能再次發生，這一次，他們應該得到回報。

“你願意讓你的自由？”公主問，“還是你寧願提高到法院烏鴉的位置，以及所有留在廚房裡為自己？”

那麼無論是烏鴉鞠了一躬，並懇求有一個固定的約會，因為他們認為他們的晚年，並表示這將是很舒服的感覺，他們已經準備為他們的過去，他們把它稱為。然後王子離開了他的床，並放棄了對格爾達， - 他實在無能為力了; 她放下。她折了她的小手，心裡想，“怎麼好每個人都是我的，人和動物太，”然後，她閉上了眼睛，陷入了甜蜜的睡眠。所有的夢想來到她又飛回來了，他們看起來像天使，其中一人拖著一個小雪橇，上面坐著凱，並且向她點了點頭。但是，這一切只是一個夢，而當她醒來不見了。

第二天她全身穿上了絲綢和天鵝絨，他們邀請她在宮裡住了好幾天，並享受自己，但她只乞求一雙靴子，和一個小馬車，和馬畫它，這樣她可能會去到外面廣闊的世界尋求凱。而她得到的，不僅是靴子，又是一個暖手筒，並且她穿著整齊; 而當她準備去，在那裡，在門口，她發現純金做成的教練，與大衣的武器王子與公主閃亮後，它像一個明星，和車夫，腳夫和企業聯合的都穿著金色的花冠在他們的頭上。王子和公主自己幫她到教練，並預祝她的成功。森林烏鴉，誰是現在結婚了，陪著她的前三個哩; 他坐在格爾達的身旁，因為他捨不得騎倒退。溫順的烏鴉站在門口路拍打翅膀。她不能跟他們一起去，因為她已經患上了頭痛自從新的任命，無疑吃太多。該教練以及存儲與甜美的蛋糕，並座下是水果和薑餅堅果。“再見，再見，”哭的王子和公主，小小的格爾達哭起來，烏鴉哭了; 然後，經過幾英里，烏鴉也說“再見”，這是最悲哀的離別。然而，他飛到一棵樹，站拍打他的黑色翅膀，只要他能看到教練，這閃閃發光的明亮的陽光。

 

第五個故事：

小強盜女孩

何教練驅車通過茂密的森林，在那裡點燃了像火炬的方式，以及眼花繚亂的一些強盜，誰捨不得讓它通過他們不受干擾的眼睛。

“這是金！它是金！“他們喊道，嘩嘩向前，抓住馬。然後，他們打小騎手，車夫和僕人死了，拉著小小的格爾達下馬車。

“她又胖又漂亮，而且她一直餵食堅果仁，說：”老強盜的女人，誰曾長鬍子和眉毛掛在她的眼睛。“她是一個很好的小羊羔; 怎麼她會好味道！“當她說這話時，她畫了出來一把明晃晃的菜刀，那閃閃發光的可怕。“哦”尖叫的老婦人在同一時刻; 對於她自己的女兒，誰拉著她的背，咬了她的耳朵。她是一個野性和頑皮的女孩，母親叫她一個醜陋的東西，就沒有時間來殺掉格爾達了。

“要她跟我一起玩，說：”小強盜女孩; “她應該給我她的暖手筒和她漂亮的衣服，和我一起睡在我的床上。”然後她又咬了她的母親，並在空中做了她的春天，和跳一下; 和所有的強盜笑了，說：“你看她是如何跳舞與她年輕的幼崽。”

“我將有一搭在教練，說：”小強盜女孩; 她會有她自己的方式; 因為她是如此的任性和固執。

她和格爾達坐在自己的教練，並開走了，過樹樁和石頭，進入森林深處。小強盜女孩是差不多大小的格爾達，但更強;她有更廣闊的肩膀和較深的皮膚; 她的眼睛很黑，她有一個悲傷的樣子。她緊握著小小的格爾達的腰，說： -

“他們不會殺死你的，只要你不要讓我們困擾你。我想你是一個公主。“

“不，”格爾達說; 然後她告訴她所有的歷史，以及如何喜歡她小小的加伊。

強盜女孩認真地看著她，輕輕地點了點頭，說：“他們sha'nt殺了你，就算我生氣你; 因為我會做我自己。“然後她擦乾格爾達的眼睛，並在美麗的暖手筒，這是如此柔軟和溫暖堅持她自己的手。

教練在強盜的城堡的庭院停了下來，其中的牆壁裂開從上到下。烏鴉和烏鴉飛到進出的洞和裂縫，而巨大的牛頭犬，其中任何一個看上去好像能吞掉一個人，跳了約; 但他們都不准吠叫。在大和排放黑煙的大廳明亮的火燃燒在石地板上。沒有煙囪; 所以煙霧上升到天花板，並找到了出路本身。湯是在一個大的大鍋沸騰了，野兔和家兔焙燒就吐。

“你要帶我和我所有的小動物到晚上睡覺，說：”強盜女孩，他們已經吃了點東西，喝後。於是，她把格爾達大廳，那裡的一些稻草和地毯鋪開了一個角落。以上這些，對板條和棲息，是一百多鴿子，誰似乎都睡著了，雖然他們稍微移動時，兩個小女孩走近他們。“這些都屬於我，說：”強盜女孩; 她抓住了最近的她，由腳持有，搖了搖它，直到它拍打著翅膀。“親吻它，”她哭了，它撲在格爾達的臉上。“有坐木鴿子，”繼續她指著一些板條和其中已固定到牆壁附近的開口中的一個籠子。“這兩個流氓會飛走直接，如果他們不密切鎖定。這裡是我的舊情人的巴;'“，她拖出一隻馴鹿的角; 他穿的是光亮的銅圈輪他的脖子，被捆綁起來。“我們有責任把他握緊了，要不然他會跑離我們而去也。我每天晚上脖子上搔搔癢用一把尖刀，這嚇壞了他非常多。“然後強盜女孩從牆上的縫隙畫了一個長的刀，並讓它在馴鹿的脖子上輕輕地滑動。這只可憐的動物就開始踢，和小強盜女孩笑了，推倒格爾達拖進床裡去。

“請問你有刀與你，而你是睡著了嗎？”格爾達問，看著它在很大的驚嚇。

“與刀由我，我總是睡不著，說：”強盜女孩。“沒有人知道會發生什麼。但現在又告訴我所有關於小加伊，為什麼你去外面的世界。“

然後格爾達重複她的故事一遍，而木鴿子籠在她的叫喚，和其他鴿子睡。小強盜女孩把一隻胳膊穿過格爾達的脖子，而在其他拿著刀子，並很快就快睡著了，鼾聲。不過格爾達無論如何也合她的眼睛在所有; 她不知道她是否是死是活。強盜們圍著火堆，唱歌，喝酒，和老女人迷迷糊糊的。這是一個可怕的景象的一個小女孩見證。

然後，木鴿說，“咕，咕; 我們已經看到過小加伊。白雞帶著他的雪橇，他在雪之女王，它通過木開車當我們躺在我們的窩的馬車坐。她自爆在我們身上，而所有年輕的死亡除外了我們兩個。咕咕，咕咕。“

“你說什麼了嗎？”格爾達哭了。“哪裡是白雪皇後去？你是否知道呢？“

“她是最有可能前往拉普蘭地區，那裡總有雪和冰。請問這是固定在那裡用繩子馴鹿。“

“是的，總是有雪和冰”之稱的馴鹿; “，這是一個光榮的地方; 您可以飛躍和波光粼粼的冰平原運行約自如。雪之女王有她的夏天帳棚，但她的堅固的城堡是在北極，就叫做斯匹次卑爾根島。“

“哦，凱，小加伊！”格爾達嘆了口氣。

“躺著不動，說：”強盜女孩，“不然我就執行我的刀進入你的身體。”

在上午的格爾達告訴她所有的木鴿曾說過; 和小強盜女孩看上去很嚴肅，點了點頭，說：“這是所有的談話，那就是一切都是空談。你知道拉普蘭是？“她問馴鹿。

“誰應該比我更清楚嗎？”之稱的動物，而他的眼睛閃閃發光。“我出生和長大那裡，用來運行一下冰雪覆蓋的平原。”

“現在聽著，說：”強盜女孩; “我們所有的人都走了， - 只有母親是在這裡，在這裡她將留; 但中午她總是喝了一瓶大的，事後睡一小會兒; 然後，我會做東西給你。“接著，她從床上跳下來，緊握她的母親一輪的脖子，把她的鬍子，哭泣，”我自己的小保姆山羊，早上好。“於是她媽媽filliped她的鼻子，直到它是很紅; 但她這樣做是為了愛。

當母親喝了一瓶，並進入了夢鄉，小強盜女孩走到馴鹿，說：“我應該非常喜歡逗弄你的脖子幾遍我的刀，它使你看起來很滑稽; 不過沒關係，我會解開你的繩子，並設置你自由，讓你可以逃跑到拉普蘭; 但你必須好好利用你的腿，並進行這個小少女的雪之女王，她的戲，是老鄉的城堡。你聽說過什麼，她告訴我，因為她說話的聲音很小，你在聽。“

然後，馴鹿無不歡呼雀躍; 和小強盜女孩抬起格爾達在他的背上，並有深謀遠慮，以配合她，甚至給她自己的小墊子作為座位。

“這裡是為你，你的毛皮靴子，”她說; “它會很冷; 但我必須保持套管; 它是那麼漂亮。但是，您不得凍結其欠缺; 這裡是我母親的大溫暖手套; 他們將達到你的手肘。讓我穿上。還有，現在你的手看起來就像我的母親。“

不過格爾達喜極而泣。

“我不喜歡看你煩惱，說：”小強盜女孩; “你應該現在看起來很幸福; 這裡有兩塊麵包和一塊火腿，讓你不必挨餓。“這些都被系在馴鹿，然後將小強盜，強盜女孩把門打開，哄著在所有偉大的狗，然後切串與該馴鹿被固定，與她鋒利的刀，說：“現在運行的，但你要知道拿的小女孩照顧好。”然後格爾達伸出她的手，與它的大手套，朝著小強盜女孩，並說，“別了，”客場飛去的馴鹿，在樹樁和石頭，穿過大森林，過沼澤和平原，以最快的速度，他可以。狼嗥叫，和烏鴉尖叫; 而在天空顫抖紅燈如火焰。“還有我的老北極光”之稱的馴鹿; “看他們如何閃爍。”他跑了一天一夜還快，但麵包和火腿當他們到達了拉普蘭的時間都吃掉。

第六個故事：

拉普蘭女人和芬蘭女人

嘿停在了一座小屋; 它是非常期待的意思; 屋頂坡度幾乎倒在地上，而門是那麼矮，家裡只好爬在他們的手和膝蓋，當他們走進去了。有沒有人在家，但一個老拉普蘭女人，誰是由列車油燈的光烹魚。馴鹿告訴她所有關於格爾達的故事，有後第一次告訴自己，在他看來最重要的，但格爾達是如此捏了一與冷，她說不出話來。“哦，你可憐的東西，說：“拉普蘭女人，”你還有很長的路要走。您必須行駛超過一百英里遠，芬蘭。雪之女王住在這裡了，和她燒傷孟加拉燈每天晚上。我會寫幾個字就在一條幹股票的魚，因為我沒有紙，你可以把它從我到芬蘭女人誰住在這裡; 她可以給你比我更好的信息。“所以，當格爾達加熱，並採取了一些吃的喝的，女人的魚乾寫了幾個字，並且告訴格爾達好好拿著它非常謹慎。然後，她再次把她綁在馴鹿，他掀起了全速。閃光燈，閃光燈，去了美麗的藍色的北極光在空中了整整一夜長。而在它們的長度達到芬蘭，敲了敲芬蘭女人的小屋的煙囪，因為它有高於地面沒有門。他們躡手躡腳的，但它是如此可怕熱內的那個女人幾乎沒有穿任何衣服; 她個子小小的，非常臟兮兮的。她鬆開小小的格爾達的衣服，脫下的毛皮靴子和手套，或格爾達就無法承受的熱量; 然後她放置在馴鹿的頭上一塊冰，和讀什麼寫在了魚乾。之後她已經讀了三遍，她知道這通過心臟，所以她突然出現魚放入鍋裡的湯，因為她知道這是很好吃，而且她從不浪費任何東西。馴鹿告訴他自己的故事，然後再小小的格爾達的，而芬蘭人與她巧妙的眨了眨眼睛，但她什麼也沒說。“你這麼聰明，說：”馴鹿; “我知道你可以配合世界上所有的風用一塊麻線。如果一個水手解開一浬，他有一個公平的風; 當他解開第二，它吹硬; 但如果第三和第四鬆動，然後是一場風暴，這將剷除了整個森林。你能不能給這個小姑娘的東西，這將使她堅強如十二個人，要克服冰雪女王？“

！“12個人的力量”之稱的芬蘭女人; “那將是非常少用的。”但她去了一個架子，把下來，展開一個大型的皮膚，其上分別刻著精彩的人物，和她讀，直到汗水跑了從她的額頭了。但馴鹿央求這麼難小小的格爾達和格爾達看著芬蘭女人這樣懇求含淚的眼睛，她的眼睛又開始閃爍; 所以她畫了馴鹿到一個角落裡，並低聲對他，而她把一塊新鮮的冰在他的頭上，“小凱是真正與雪之女王，但他發現一切有這麼多他的品味和他的胃口，那他認為這是世界上最優秀的地方; 但這是因為他有一塊碎玻璃在他的心臟，和一小片玻璃在他的眼睛的。這些都必須取出來，不然他將永遠是一個人又和雪之女王將保留她的力量在他身上。“

“但是，你能不能給小小的格爾達的東西來幫助她征服這個權力？”

“我可以給她沒有更大的權力比她已經有了，”女人說; “你沒看見那是多麼強大？如何人和動物有責任為她的，以及效果如何，她已經通過了世界，光著腳，因為她是。她不能接受我的任何功率大於她現在有，其中包括在自己的純潔和心臟的清白。如果她無法自己獲得進入雪之女王，並從小小的加伊取出玻璃碎片，我們也沒有辦法幫助她。從兩英里這裡的雪之女王的花園開始; 你可以隨身攜帶的小女孩，到目前為止，並設置她下來的大灌木林矗立在雪地上，覆蓋著紅色的漿果。不留閒話，但回來這裡盡可能快，你可以​​。“那麼，芬蘭女人後的馴鹿把小小的格爾達，他與她以最快的速度，他可以跑了。

“哦，我忘記了我的靴子，我的手套，”小小的格爾達叫著，只要她覺得冷切割，但馴鹿不敢停下來，讓他跑了，直到他達到了與紅色漿果的灌木; 他在這裡設置格爾達下來，他吻了她，和偉大的光明的淚水流淌在動物的臉頰; 然後他離開了她，跑前跑後盡可能快，因為他可以。

站在那裡可憐的格爾達，不穿鞋，不戴手套，在寒冷，沉悶，冰封芬蘭之中。她向前跑越快，她可以，當雪花一整團來圍繞著她; 他們沒有，但是，從天上掉下來，這是很清楚，並與北極光閃閃發光。雪雪花是沿著地面，接近他們來到她的，更大的，他們出現了。格爾達記起他們是如何大而美麗的期待通過燃燒玻璃。但這些真的大，更可怕的，因為他們還活著，並且是雪女王的衛兵，並有奇怪的形狀。有些人喜歡大豪豬，其他如蛇扭曲他們的頭伸出，少數人喜歡的小胖子熊與​​自己的頭髮豎起; 但所有令人眩目的白色，所有居住雪花。小小的格爾達重複主禱文，冷是如此之大，她可以看到自己呼出的氣出來她的嘴像蒸汽作為她說出的話。蒸汽出現增加，當她繼續她的禱告，直到花了小天使的形狀誰越積越多，他們一接觸到地面的那一刻。他們都戴在他們頭上的頭盔，並進行長矛和盾牌。他們的人數不斷增加越來越多; 和格爾達念完了她的禱告的時候，整個軍團正圍著她。他們推力把槍打成可怕的雪花，讓他們顫抖著成百件，小小的格爾達可以用勇氣和安全前進。天使撫摸著她的手和腳，讓她覺得寒冷少了，她趕緊到雪女王的城堡。

但現在我們必須看到凱在做什麼。事實上，他認為小小的格爾達的不是，也絕不應該她可以站在宮殿的前面。

第七個故事：

什麼的雪之女王的宮殿和那裡發生的事情在最後

賀宮殿的牆壁的漂流雪和切割風的門窗形成。有超過一百間客房，通通好像他們已經形成了雪吹起來。其中最大擴展數英里; 他們都被點燃了生動的光的極光，他們是如此之大而空，就是冰冷和閃閃發光的！目前還沒有在這裡娛樂，甚至沒有一點點熊的球，當風暴可能是音樂，而空頭可能已經跳起他們的後腿，並顯示他們的禮貌。有金魚草龍，或觸摸，甚至是八卦在茶桌不愉快的遊戲，為年輕的女士狐狸。空的，廣闊的，冷是白雪皇後的大廳。在北極光閃爍的火焰可以清楚地看出，無論他們漲高或低在天上，從城堡的每一個部分。在雪裡面是空的，無盡的大廳中間是一個冰湖，打破在其表面成無數的形式; 每件另一種相似，即從自身完美的藝術作品，在這湖心坐在雪之女王，當時她在家裡。她叫湖“理性之鏡”，並說這是最好的，而且確實是唯一一個在世界上。

小小的加伊凍得發青冷，確實幾乎是黑色的，但他並沒有感覺到它; 為雪之女王曾吻過了冰冷的shiverings，他的心臟已經像一塊冰塊。他拖著有些尖銳，平片冰來來回回，把他們一起在各種位置，如果他希望讓一些事情呢; “中國的難題”，就像我們試圖形成與木材的小片我們稱之為各種數字凱的手指非常美觀; 這是原因，就是他扮演的冰冷的遊戲，而在他的眼中，這些圖案是非常顯著的最為重要和; 這個意見是由於一塊玻璃仍堅持在他的眼睛。他創作了許多完整的人物，形成不同的詞，但有他無法管理，形成一個字，雖然他是願意的非常多。這是單詞“永恆”雪之女王對他說，“當你可以找到這個人，你要成為你自己的主人，而且我會給你整個世界和一雙新冰鞋。”但他沒有完成它。

“現在，我必須趕緊離開，以溫暖的國家，”白雪皇後說。“我會去看看到的燃燒山，埃特納火山和維蘇威火山頂部的黑色隕石坑，因為他們是所謂的，我必使他們看起來白，這將是對他們有好處，並為檸檬和葡萄。 “客場飛到雪之女王，頗有只留下小小的加伊在人民大會堂這是這麼多英里長; 於是他坐下來，看著他的冰塊，並在想這麼深，坐在靜得，任何一個有可能本來他被凍結。

而就在這一刻發生了它那小小的格爾達來通過城堡的大門口。刺骨的寒風都在她身邊洶湧，但她提出了一個禱告，風沉了下來，好像他們是去睡覺; 她繼續說，直到她來到了大空的大廳，瞥見凱; 她知道他的直接; 她立馬給他扔她雙手摟著他的脖子，並舉行了他速度快，而她感嘆道，“凱，親愛的小加伊，我已經找到你了。”

不過他坐著一動不動，僵硬和冰冷。

小小的格爾達哭了熱淚，這落在他的胸前，並滲透到他的心臟，並解凍的冰疙瘩，並沖走的小片玻璃這已經卡在那裡。然後，他看著她，和她唱 -

“玫瑰綻放，並不再，
但是我們應當以基督為孩子看到。“

那麼凱淚流滿面，他痛哭不止，使玻璃的碎片遊出了他的眼睛。然後，他就認出了格爾達，說，快樂，“格爾達，親愛的格爾達，你去哪裡了這麼長的時間，並在我這？”他看著周圍的一切，說：“怎麼感冒了，怎麼大而空的這一切看起來，“他抱著格爾達，她笑了，喜極而泣。它是如此高興地看到他們，冰的碎片甚至跳舞有關; 而當他們累了，去睡，他們形成了自己融入其中白雪皇後就說，他必須找出之前，他可能是自己的主人，並擁有整個世界和一雙新冰鞋的單詞的字母。然後格爾達吻著他的臉頰，和他們成為綻放; 她吻了他的眼睛，他們喜歡照自己; 她吻他的手和他的腳，然後他變得很健康，精神愉快。雪後可能出現現在的家時，她高興，因為有站在他的自由的肯定，在她想，寫在閃亮的冰字母的單詞。

然後他們把對方的手，出去冰的偉大宮殿。他們談到了奶奶，並在屋頂上的玫瑰花，和他們去的風是在休息，和太陽迸發。當他們來到紅色漿果的灌木，還有站在馴鹿等著他們，他也帶來了​​另一個年輕的馴鹿和他在一起，其乳房爆滿，和孩子們喝了她溫暖的牛奶，吻了她的嘴。然後，他們把加伊和格爾達先芬蘭女人，他們徹底地在炎熱的房間烤火，她給了他們關於他們的回家之旅的方向。接著，他們就到拉普蘭女人，誰取得了他們一些新衣服，並把他們的雪橇秩序。無論是馴鹿跑到自己身邊，並且按照他們盡可能的國家，其中第一個綠色的葉子萌芽的界限。在這裡，他們帶著兩個馴鹿和拉普蘭女人的許可，並都表示，告別。然後，鳥兒就開始嘰嘰喳喳，森林也充滿了綠色的嫩葉;和在它外面來了一個漂亮的馬，這格爾達記起，因為它是其中一個已提取的金教練。一位年輕的女孩騎著它，用在她的頭上一顆閃亮的紅色帽子，在她帶手槍。這就是那個小強盜少女，誰厭倦了呆在家裡; 她打算先向北，如果這不適合她，她的意思是，試圖在世界的其他部分。她知道格爾達直接和格爾達記起了她：這是一個歡樂的會議。

“你是個不錯的人走在這樣gadding一下，說：”她對小小的加伊，“我想知道你是否值得，任何一個應該去世界的盡頭找你。”

不過格爾達摸著她的面頰，王子和公主之後問道。

“他們都去了國外，說：”強盜女孩。

“和烏鴉呢？”格爾達。

“哦，烏鴉已經死了，”她回答說; “他馴服的愛人現在是一個寡婦，穿著一件黑絨她的腿。她哀悼很可憐，但它是所有的東西。但是，現在告訴我你是怎麼設法讓他回來。“

然後格爾達和凱告訴她這一切。

“喀嚓，捕捉，網羅！它的所有權利，最後說，“強盜女孩。

然後，她把兩個手，並承諾如果她要穿過小鎮，她會打電話和拜訪他們。然後她揚長而去這個廣大的世界。不過格爾達和凱去手牽手往家; 和他們先進的，春天似乎更可愛以其綠色翠綠和美麗的花朵。很快他們認識到大城鎮，他們住，和教堂，其中的甜蜜鐘聲響起歡快的隆隆聲，因為他們進入它，和高大的尖塔發現他們的方式到他們的祖母的大門。他們上樓進了小房間，在那裡都看了，就像它曾經做。老鐘打算“嘀，嘀”，並雙手指著天的時間，但是當他們穿過門進入房間就看出他們都長大了，成為一個男人和女人。玫瑰了在屋頂上正在盛開，並在偷看的窗口; 還有站在小椅子上，他們已經坐的兒童在; 加伊和格爾達坐在自己各在自己的椅子上，舉行了對方的手，而雪之女王的宮殿的冷空宏偉從他們的記憶像一個痛苦的夢消失了。祖母坐在上帝的明媚的陽光，而她從聖經朗讀，“你們若不變成小孩子，你們萬不可進入神的國。”加伊和格爾達看著對方的眼睛，和所有在一旦了解老歌曲的話，

“玫瑰綻放，並不再，
但是我們應當以基督為孩子看到。“

他們都坐在那裡，長大了，但在心臟的兒童; 它是夏天，溫暖，美麗的夏天。

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1. 兒童有一種語言，或胡言亂語，有時也稱為“烏鴉的語言，”它是通過添加字母或音節的每一個字組成。