to the pretty
muff, which was so soft and warm.

At last the chariot stopped: they were 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 every hole, and big bulldogs, which each looked
ready to devour somebody, jumped about as high as they could, but they
did not bark, for it was not allowed. A big fire was burning in the
middle of the stone floor of the smoky old hall. The smoke all went up
to the ceiling, where it had to find a way out for itself. Soup was
boiling in a big caldron over the fire, and hares and rabbits were
roasting on the spits.

'You shall sleep with me and all my little pets to-night,' said the
robber girl.

When they had something to eat and drink they went along to one corner
which was spread with straw and rugs. There were nearly a hundred
pigeons roosting overhead on the rafters and beams. They seemed to be
asleep, but they fluttered about a little when the children came in.

'They are all mine,' said the little robber girl, seizing one of the
nearest. She held it by the legs and shook it till it flapped its wings.
'Kiss it,' she cried, dashing it at Gerda's face. 'Those are the wood
pigeons,' she added, pointing to some laths fixed across a big hole high
up on the walls; 'they are a regular rabble; they would fly away
directly if they were not locked in. And here is my old sweetheart Be,'
dragging forward a reindeer by the horn; it was tied up, and it had a
bright copper ring round its neck. 'We have to keep him close too, or he
would run off. Every single night I tickle his neck with my bright
knife, he is so frightened of it.' The little girl produced a long knife
out of a hole in the wall and drew it across the reindeer's neck. The
poor animal laughed and kicked, and the robber girl laughed and pulled
Gerda down into the bed with her.

'Do you have that knife by you while you are asleep?' asked Gerda,
looking rather frightened.

'I always sleep with a knife,' said the little robber girl. 'You never
know what will happen. But now tell me again what you told me before
about little Kay, and why you went out into the world.' So Gerda told
her all about it again, and the wood pigeons cooed up in their cage
above them; the other pigeons were asleep. The little robber girl put
her arm round Gerda's neck and went to sleep with the knife in her other
hand, and she was soon snoring. But Gerda would not close her eyes;