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The Snow Queen
Hans Christian Andersen
Fifth Story
The Little Robber Maiden
Previous Fourth Story: The Prince and Princess
They drove through the dark wood; but the carriage shone
like a torch, and it dazzled the eyes of the robbers, so that they could not
bear to look at it.
"'Tis gold! 'Tis gold!" they cried; and they rushed
forward, seized the horses, knocked down the little postilion, the coachman, and
the servants, and pulled little Gerda out of the carriage.
"How plump, how beautiful she is! She must have been fed
on nut-kernels," said the old female robber, who had a long, scrubby beard, and
bushy eyebrows that hung down over her eyes. "She is as good as a fatted lamb!
How nice she will be!" And then she drew out a knife, the blade of which shone
so that it was quite dreadful to behold.
"Oh!" cried the woman at the same moment. She had been
bitten in the ear by her own little daughter, who hung at her back; and who was
so wild and unmanageable, that it was quite amusing to see her. "You naughty
child!" said the mother: and now she had not time to kill Gerda.
"She shall play with me," said the little robber child.
"She shall give me her muff, and her pretty frock; she shall sleep in my bed!"
And then she gave her mother another bite, so that she jumped, and ran round
with the pain; and the Robbers laughed, and said, "Look, how she is dancing with
the little one!"
"I will go into the carriage," said the little robber
maiden; and she would have her will, for she was very spoiled and very
headstrong. She and Gerda got in; and then away they drove over the stumps of
felled trees, deeper and deeper into the woods. The little robber maiden was as
tall as Gerda, but stronger, broader-shouldered, and of dark complexion; her
eyes were quite black; they looked almost melancholy. She embraced little Gerda,
and said, "They shall not kill you as long as I am not displeased with you. You
are, doubtless, a Princess?"
"No," said little Gerda; who then related all that had
happened to her, and how much she cared about little Kay.
The little robber maiden looked at her with a serious
air, nodded her head slightly, and said, "They shall not kill you, even if I am
angry with you: then I will do it myself"; and she dried Gerda's eyes, and put
both her hands in the handsome muff, which was so soft and warm.
At length the carriage stopped. They were in the midst
of the court-yard of a robber's castle. It was full of cracks from top to
bottom; and out of the openings magpies and rooks were flying; and the great
bull-dogs, each of which looked as if he could swallow a man, jumped up, but
they did not bark, for that was forbidden.
In the midst of the large, old, smoking hall burnt a
great fire on the stone floor. The smoke disappeared under the stones, and had
to seek its own egress. In an immense caldron soup was boiling; and rabbits and
hares were being roasted on a spit.
"You shall sleep with me to-night, with all my animals,"
said the little robber maiden. They had something to eat and drink; and then
went into a corner, where straw and carpets were lying. Beside them, on laths
and perches, sat nearly a hundred pigeons, all asleep, seemingly; but yet they
moved a little when the robber maiden came. "They are all mine," said she, at
the same time seizing one that was next to her by the legs and shaking it so
that its wings fluttered. "Kiss it," cried the little girl, and flung the pigeon
in Gerda's face. "Up there is the rabble of the wood, continued she, pointing to
several laths which were fastened before a hole high up in the wall; "that's the
rabble; they would all fly away immediately, if they were not well fastened in.
And here is my dear old Bac"; and she laid hold of the horns of a reindeer, that
had a bright copper ring round its neck, and was tethered to the spot. "We are
obliged to lock this fellow in too, or he would make his escape. Every evening I
tickle his neck with my sharp knife; he is so frightened at it!" and the little
girl drew forth a long knife, from a crack in the wall, and let it glide over
the Reindeer's neck. The poor animal kicked; the girl laughed, and pulled Gerda
into bed with her.
"Do you intend to keep your knife while you sleep?"
asked Gerda; looking at it rather fearfully.
"I always sleep with the knife," said the little robber
maiden. "There is no knowing what may happen. But tell me now, once more, all
about little Kay; and why you have started off in the wide world alone." And
Gerda related all, from the very beginning: the Wood-pigeons cooed above in
their cage, and the others slept. The little robber maiden wound her arm round
Gerda's neck, held the knife in the other hand, and snored so loud that
everybody could hear her; but Gerda could not close her eyes, for she did not
know whether she was to live or die. The robbers sat round the fire, sang and
drank; and the old female robber jumped about so, that it was quite dreadful for
Gerda to see her.
Then the Wood-pigeons said, "Coo! Cool We have seen
little Kay! A white hen carries his sledge; he himself sat in the carriage of
the Snow Queen, who passed here, down just over the wood, as we lay in our nest.
She blew upon us young ones; and all died except we two. Coo! Coo!"
"What is that you say up there?" cried little Gerda.
"Where did the Snow Queen go to? Do you know anything about it?"
"She is no doubt gone to Lapland; for there is always
snow and ice there. Only ask the Reindeer, who is tethered there."
"Ice and snow is there! There it is, glorious and
beautiful!" said the Reindeer. "One can spring about in the large shining
valleys! The Snow Queen has her summer-tent there; but her fixed abode is high
up towards the North Pole, on the Island called Spitzbergen."
"Oh, Kay! Poor little Kay!" sighed Gerda. "Do you choose
to be quiet?" said the robber maiden. "If you don't, I shall make you."
In the morning Gerda told her all that the Wood-pigeons
had said; and the little maiden looked very serious, but she nodded her head,
and said, "That's no matter-that's no matter. Do you know where Lapland lies!"
she asked of the Reindeer.
"Who should know better than I?" said the animal; and
his eyes rolled in his head. "I was born and bred there--there I leapt about on
the fields of snow.
"Listen," said the robber maiden to Gerda. "You see that
the men are gone; but my mother is still here, and will remain. However, towards
morning she takes a draught out of the large flask, and then she sleeps a
little: then I will do something for you." She now jumped out of bed, flew to
her mother; with her arms round her neck, and pulling her by the beard, said,
"Good morrow, my own sweet nanny-goat of a mother." And her mother took hold of
her nose, and pinched it till it was red and blue; but this was all done out of
pure love.
When the mother had taken a sup at her flask, and was
having a nap, the little robber maiden went to the Reindeer, and said, "I should
very much like to give you still many a tickling with the sharp knife, for then
you are so amusing; however, I will untether you, and help you out, so that you
may go back to Lapland. But you must make good use of your legs; and take this
little girl for me to the palace of the Snow Queen, where her playfellow is. You
have heard, I suppose, all she said; for she spoke loud enough, and you were
listening."
The Reindeer gave a bound for joy. The robber maiden
lifted up little Gerda, and took the precaution to bind her fast on the
Reindeer's back; she even gave her a small cushion to sit on. "Here are your
worsted leggins, for it will be cold; but the muff I shall keep for myself, for
it is so very pretty. But I do not wish you to be cold. Here is a pair of lined
gloves of my mother's; they just reach up to your elbow. On with them! Now you
look about the hands just like my ugly old mother!"
And Gerda wept for joy.
"I can't bear to see you fretting," said the little
robber maiden. "This is just the time when you ought to look pleased. Here are
two loaves and a ham for you, so that you won't starve." The bread and the meat
were fastened to the Reindeer's back; the little maiden opened the door, called
in all the dogs, and then with her knife cut the rope that fastened the animal,
and said to him, "Now, off with you; but take good care of the little girl!"
And Gerda stretched out her hands with the large wadded
gloves towards the robber maiden, and said, "Farewell!" and the Reindeer flew on
over bush and bramble through the great wood, over moor and heath, as fast as he
could go. "Ddsa! Ddsa!" was heard in the sky. It was just as if somebody was
sneezing.
"These are my old northern-lights," said the Reindeer,
"look how they gleam! And on he now sped still quicker--day and night on he
went: the loaves were consumed, and the ham too; and now they were in Lapland.
Next Sixth Story: The Lapland Woman and the Finland Woman
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