“The Power of twelve men!” said the Finland woman; “that would be of
very little use.” But she went to a shelf and took down and unrolled a large
skin, on which were inscribed wonderful characters, and she read till the
perspiration ran down from her forehead. But the reindeer begged so hard
for little Gerda, and Gerda looked at the Finland woman with such
beseeching tearful eyes, that her own eyes began to twinkle again; so she
drew the reindeer into a corner, and whispered to him while she laid a fresh
piece of ice on his head, “Little Kay is really with the Snow Queen, but he
finds everything there so much to his taste and his liking, that he believes it
is the finest place in the world; but this is because he has a piece of broken
glass in his heart, and a little piece of glass in his eye. These must be taken
out, or he will never be a human being again, and the Snow Queen will
retain her power over him.”
“But can you not give little Gerda something to help her to conquer this
power?”
“I can give her no greater power than she has already,” said the woman;
“don’t you see how strong that is? How men and animals are obliged to
serve her, and how well she has got through the world, barefooted as she is.
She cannot receive any power from me greater than she now has, which
consists in her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot herself
obtain access to the Snow Queen, and remove the glass fragments from
little Kay, we can do nothing to help her. Two miles from here the Snow
Queen’s garden begins; you can carry the little girl so far, and set her down
by the large bush which stands in the snow, covered with red berries. Do not
