ined 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 or history. Not one knew anything of Kay. Gerda
heard many stories from the flowers, as she asked them one after another
about him.

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 around 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 to go on. But her little feet
were wounded and sore, and everything around her looked cold and bleak.
The long willow leaves were quite yellow, the dewdrops 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

Gerda was obliged to rest again, and just opposite the place where she
sat she saw a great crow come hopping toward her across the snow. 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 k