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The Snow Queen
Hans Christian Andersen
Sixth Story
The Lapland Woman and the Finland Woman
Previous Fifth Story: The Little Robber Maiden
Suddenly they stopped before a little house, which
looked very miserable. The roof reached to the ground; and the door was so low,
that the family were obliged to creep upon their stomachs when they went in or
out. Nobody was at home except an old Lapland woman, who was dressing fish by
the light of an oil lamp. And the Reindeer told her the whole of Gerda's
history, but first of all his own; for that seemed to him of much greater
importance. Gerda was so chilled that she could not speak.
"Poor thing," said the Lapland woman, "you have far to
run still. You have more than a hundred miles to go before you get to Finland;
there the Snow Queen has her country-house, and burns blue lights every evening.
I will give you a few words from me, which I will write on a dried haberdine,
for paper I have none; this you can take with you to the Finland woman, and she
will be able to give you more information than I can."
When Gerda had warmed herself, and had eaten and drunk,
the Lapland woman wrote a few words on a dried haberdine, begged Gerda to take
care of them, put her on the Reindeer, bound her fast, and away sprang the
animal. "Ddsa! Ddsa!" was again heard in the air; the most charming blue lights
burned the whole night in the sky, and at last they came to Finland. They
knocked at the chimney of the Finland woman; for as to a door, she had none.
There was such a heat inside that the Finland woman
herself went about almost naked. She was diminutive and dirty. She immediately
loosened little Gerda's clothes, pulled off her thick gloves and boots; for
otherwise the heat would have been too great--and after laying a piece of ice on
the Reindeer's head, read what was written on the fish-skin. She read it three
times: she then knew it by heart; so she put the fish into the cupboard --for it
might very well be eaten, and she never threw anything away.
Then the Reindeer related his own story first, and
afterwards that of little Gerda; and the Finland woman winked her eyes, but said
nothing.
"You are so clever," said the Reindeer; "you can, I
know, twist all the winds of the world together in a knot. If the seaman loosens
one knot, then he has a good wind; if a second, then it blows pretty stiffly; if
he undoes the third and fourth, then it rages so that the forests are upturned.
Will you give the little maiden a potion, that she may possess the strength of
twelve men, and vanquish the Snow Queen?"
"The strength of twelve men!" said the Finland woman.
"Much good that would be!" Then she went to a cupboard, and drew out a large
skin rolled up. When she had unrolled it, strange characters were to be seen
written thereon; and the Finland woman read at such a rate that the perspiration
trickled down her forehead.
But the Reindeer begged so hard for little Gerda, and
Gerda looked so imploringly with tearful eyes at the Finland woman, that she
winked, and drew the Reindeer aside into a corner, where they whispered
together, while the animal got some fresh ice put on his head.
"'Tis true little Kay is at the Snow Queen's, and finds
everything there quite to his taste; and he thinks it the very best place in the
world; but the reason of that is, he has a splinter of glass in his eye, and in
his heart. These must be got out first; otherwise he will never go back to
mankind, and the Snow Queen will retain her power over him."
"But can you give little Gerda nothing to take which
will endue her with power over the whole?"
"I can give her no more power than what she has already.
"Don't you see how great it is? Don't you see how men and animals are forced to
serve her; how well she gets through the world barefooted? She must not hear of
her power from us; that power lies in her heart, because she is a sweet and
innocent child! If she cannot get to the Snow Queen by herself, and rid little
Kay of the glass, we cannot help her. Two miles hence the garden of the Snow
Queen begins; thither you may carry the little girl. Set her down by the large
bush with red berries, standing in the snow; don't stay talking, but hasten back
as fast as possible." And now the Finland woman placed little Gerda on the
Reindeer's back, and off he ran with all imaginable speed.
"Oh! I have not got my boots! I have not brought my
gloves!" cried little Gerda. She remarked she was without them from the cutting
frost; but the Reindeer dared not stand still; on he ran till he came to the
great bush with the red berries, and there he set Gerda down, kissed her mouth,
while large bright tears flowed from the animal's eyes, and then back he went as
fast as possible. There stood poor Gerda now, without shoes or gloves, in the
very middle of dreadful icy Finland.
She ran on as fast as she could. There then came a whole
regiment of snow-flakes, but they did not fall from above, and they were quite
bright and shining from the Aurora Borealis. The flakes ran along the ground,
and the nearer they came the larger they grew. Gerda well remembered how large
and strange the snow-flakes appeared when she once saw them through a
magnifying-glass; but now they were large and terrific in another manner--they
were all alive. They were the outposts of the Snow Queen. They had the most
wondrous shapes; some looked like large ugly porcupines; others like snakes
knotted together, with their heads sticking out; and others, again, like small
fat bears, with the hair standing on end: all were of dazzling whiteness--all
were living snow-flakes.
Little Gerda repeated the Lord's Prayer. The cold was so
intense that she could see her own breath, which came like smoke out of her
mouth. It grew thicker and thicker, and took the form of little angels, that
grew more and more when they touched the earth. All had helms on their heads,
and lances and shields in their hands; they increased in numbers; and when Gerda
had finished the Lord's Prayer, she was surrounded by a whole legion. They
thrust at the horrid snow-flakes with their spears, so that they flew into a
thousand pieces; and little Gerda walked on bravely and in security. The angels
patted her hands and feet; and then she felt the cold less, and went on quickly
towards the palace of the Snow Queen.
But now we shall see how Kay fared. He never thought of
Gerda, and least of all that she was standing before the palace.
Next Seventh Story: What Took Place in the Palace of the
Snow Queen, and what Happened Afterward
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