inmark, for the
Snow Queen is paying a country visit there, and she burns blue lights
every night. I will write a few words on a dried stock-fish, for I have
no paper. I will give it to you to take to the Finn woman up there. She
will be better able to direct you than I can.'

So when Gerda was warmed, and had eaten and drunk something, the Lapp
woman wrote a few words on a dried stock-fish and gave it to her,
bidding her take good care of it. Then she tied her on to the reindeer
again, and off they flew. Flicker, flicker, went the beautiful blue
northern lights up in the sky all night long;--at last they came to
Finmark, and knocked on the Finn woman's chimney, for she had no door at
all.

There was such a heat inside that the Finn woman went about almost
naked; she was little and very grubby. She at once loosened Gerda's
things, and took off the mittens and the boots, or she would have been
too hot. Then she put a piece of ice on the reindeer's head, and after
that she read what was written on the stock-fish. She read it three
times, and then she knew it by heart, and put the fish into the pot for
dinner; there was no reason why it should not be eaten, and she never
wasted anything.

Again the reindeer told his own story first, and then little Gerda's.
The Finn woman blinked with her wise eyes, but she said nothing.

'You are so clever,' said the reindeer, 'I know you can bind all the
winds of the world with a bit of sewing cotton. When a skipper unties
one knot he gets a good wind, when he unties two it blows hard, and if
he undoes the third and the fourth he brings a storm about his head wild
enough to blow down the forest trees. Won't you give the little girl a
drink, so that she may have the strength of twelve men to overcome the
Snow Queen?'

'The strength of twelve men,' said the Finn woman. 'Yes, that will be
about enough.'

She went along to a shelf and took down a big folded skin, which she
unrolled. There were curious characters written on it, and the Finn
woman read till the perspiration poured down her forehead.

But the reindeer again implored her to give Gerda something, and Gerda
looked at her with such beseeching eyes, full of tears, that the Finn
woman began blinking again, and drew the reindeer along into a corner,
where she whispered to it, at the same time putting fresh ice on its
head.

'Little Kay is certainly with the Snow Queen, and he is delighted with
everything there. He thinks it