nd 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