They drove through the dark, dark forest. The carriage shone like a torch, and unfortunately its brightness attracted the eyes of the robbers who lived in the shadows of the forest.
"That is gold!" they cried. They rushed forward, seized the horses, stabbed the outriders, coachman, and footman, and dragged Gerda out of the carriage.
"She is plump, she is pretty," said the old robber-wife, who had a long, bristly beard and eyebrows hanging like bushes over her eyes. "She is like a fat little lamb, and how smartly she is dressed!" And she drew out her dagger, which glittered most terribly.
"Oh, oh!" cried the woman for, the very moment she had lifted her dagger to stab Gerda, her own wild and willful daughter had jumped on her back and bitten her ear violently. "You naughty child!" said the mother.
"She shall play with me," said the young robber-maiden. "She shall give me her muff and pretty frock, and sleep with me in my bed. " Then she bit her mother again, till the robber-wife sprang up and shrieked with pain, while the robbers all laughed, saying, "Look at her playing with her daughter."
So spoiled was the robber-maiden that she always got her own way, and she and Gerda sat together in the carriage and drove farther into the wood. The robber-maiden was about as tall as Gerda but much stronger. She had broad shoulders and very dark skin; her eyes were quite black and had an almost melancholy expression. She put her arm around Gerda's waist and said, "She shan't kill you so long as I love you. Aren't you a princess?"
"No," said Gerda. And then she told her all that had happened to her and how much she loved Kay.
The robber-maiden looked earnestly in her face, shook her head, and said, "She shall not kill you even if I do quarrel with you. Indeed, I would rather do it myself!" And she dried Gerda's tears and put both her hands into the pretty muff that was so soft and warm.
The carriage stopped at last in the middle of the courtyard of the robbers' castle. This castle was half ruined. Crows and ravens flew out of the openings, and some fearfully large bulldogs, looking as if they could devour a man in a moment, jumped round the carriage. They were forbidden to bark.
Gerda and the robber-maiden entered a large, smokey hall, where a tremendous fire was blazing on the stone floor. A huge cauldron full of soup was boiling on the fire, while hares and rabbits were roasting on the spit.
"You shall sleep with me and my little pets tonight," said the robber-maiden. Then they had some food and afterward went to the comer, where there was some straw and a piece of carpet. Nearly a hundred pigeons were perched around them. They were asleep but woke when the two young maidens approached.
"These all
belong to me, " said Gerda's companion, and seizing hold of one of the nearest,
she held the poor bird by the feet and swung it round. "Kiss it," she said,
flapping it into Gerda's face. "The rabble from the wood sit up there," she
continued, pointing to a number of sticks fastened across a hole in the wall.
"Those are wood-pigeons. They would fly away if I didn't keep them shut up.
And here is my old favorite!" She pulled forward a reindeer who wore a bright
copper ring round his neck, by which he was fastened to a large stone. "We
have to chain him up or he would run away from us. Every evening I tickle
his neck with my sharp dagger. It makes him so frightened of me!" And the
robber-maiden drew out a long dagger from a gap in the wall and ran it down
the reindeer's throat. The poor animal struggled and kicked, but the girl
laughed, and then she pulled Gerda into bed with her.
'Are you going to keep the dagger in your hand while you sleep?" asked Gerda, looking timidly at the dangerous weapon.
"I always sleep with my dagger by my side," replied the robber-maiden. "One never knows what may happen. But now tell me all over again what you told me before about Kay and the reason for your coming into the wide world all by yourself."
So Gerda told her story again and the imprisoned wood-pigeons listened, but the others were fast asleep. The robber-maiden threw one arm round Gerda's neck and, holding the dagger with the other, was also soon asleep. But Gerda could not close her eyes throughout the night. She didn't know what would become of her or whether she would even be allowed to live. The robbers sat round the fire drinking and singing. Oh, it was a dreadful night for poor Gerda!
Then the wood-pigeons spoke, "Coo, coo, coo -we have seen Kay. A white bird carried his sled. He was in the Snow Queen's sleigh, which passed through the wood whilst we sat in our nest. She breathed on us young ones, and all died of her icy breath except for us two - coo, coo, coo!"
"What are you saying?" cried Gerda. "Where was the Snow Queen going? Do you know anything about where she lives?"
"She traveled most probably to Lapland, where there are ice and snow all year round. Ask the reindeer."
"Yes, ice and snow are there all through the year. It is a glorious land," said the reindeer. "There, free and happy, one can roam through the wide sparkling valleys. There the Snow Queen has her summer tent. Her strong castle is a long way off, near the North Pole on an island called Spitzbergen."
"Oh, Kay, dear Kay!" sighed Gerda.
When morning came Gerda told the robber-maiden what the wood pigeons had said, and the robber-maiden looked serious for a moment. Then she nodded her head. "Do you know where Lapland is?" she asked the reindeer.
"Who should know better than I!" returned the animal, his eyes sparkling. "Lapland is where I was bom. How often have I run over the wild icy plains there!"
"Listen to me!" said the robber-maiden to Gerda. "You see all the men are going out now, but my mother will stay behind. Toward noon she will drink a little out of the great jug, and after that she will sleep. Then I will do something for you."
When her
mother was fast asleep, the robber-maiden went up to the reindeer and said,
"I should have great pleasure in stroking you a few more times with my sharp
dagger, for you look so comic. But never mind; I will undo your chain and
help you to escape on condition that you run as fast as you can to Lapland
and take this young girl to the castle of the Snow Queen, where her playfellow
is. You must have heard her story, for she speaks loudly enough and you're
good at eavesdropping!"
The reindeer bounded with joy, and the robber-maiden lifted Gerda on his back, taking care to bind her on firmly as well as to give her a little cushion to sit on. 'And here," she said, "are your fur boots. You will need them in that cold country. The muff I will keep for myself; it is too pretty to part with. But you won't be frozen. Here are my mother's huge gloves. They reach up to the elbow. Put them on now your hands - now your hands look as clumsy as my old mother's!"
Gerda shed tears of joy.
"I cannot bear to see you crying," said the robber-maiden. "You ought to look glad. See, here are two loaves and a piece of bacon for you, so you're not hungry on the way."
She fastened this food on the reindeer's back as well, opened the door, called away the great dogs, and then, cutting the reindeer's rope with her dagger, shouted to him, "Now then, run! But take good care of Gerda."
Gerda stretched out her hands to the robber-maiden and said good-bye, and the reindeer bounded through the forest, over mud and stone, over desert and heath, over meadow and moor.
The wolves howled and the ravens shrieked. There was a noise in the sky - tcho, tcho, -and a red light flashed. It was almost as though the sky were sneezing.
"Those are my dear old northern lights," said the reindeer. "Look at them, aren't they beautiful?" And he ran faster than ever, night and day. They ate the loaves and the bacon and then, at last, they were in Lapland.
