“Yes—­yes,” said the Crow, “you may believe it; it is as true as I am sitting here.  People came in crowds; there was a crush and a hurry, but no one had good luck either on the first or second day.  They could all talk well enough when they were out in the street; but as soon as they came inside the palace gates, and saw the guard richly dressed in silver, and the lackeys in gold, on the staircase, and the large lighted halls, then they were dumb; and when they stood before the throne on which the Princess was sitting, all they could do was to repeat the last word she had said, and she didn’t care to hear that again.  It was just as if the people within were under a charm, and had fallen into a trance till they came out again into the street; for then—­oh, then they could chatter enough.  There was a whole row of them from the town gates to the palace.  I was there myself to look on,” said the Crow.  “They grew hungry and thirsty; but from the palace they got not so much as a glass of water.  Some of the cleverest, it is true, had taken bread and butter with them; but none shared it with his neighbor, for each thought, ’Let him look hungry, and then the Princess won’t have him.’”

“But Kay—­little Kay,” asked Gerda, “when did he come?  Was he among the number?”

“Give me time! give me time! we are coming to him.  It was on the third day, when a little personage, without horse or carriage, came marching right boldly up to the palace; his eyes shone like yours, he had beautiful long hair, but his clothes were very shabby.”

“That was Kay,” cried Gerda, with a voice of delight.  “Oh, now I’ve found him!” and she clapped her hands.

“He had a little knapsack at his back,” said the Crow.

“No, that was certainly his sled,” said Gerda; “for he went away with his sled.”

“That may be,” said the Crow; “I did not see him close to; but I know from my tame sweetheart that when he came into the courtyard of the palace, and saw the body-guard in silver, and the lackeys on the staircase in gold, he was not in the least cast down; he nodded and said to them, ’It must be very tiresome to stand on the stairs; for my part, I shall go in.’  The halls were bright with lights.  Court people and fine folks were walking about on bare feet; it was all very solemn.  His boots creaked, too, very loudly; but still he was not at all afraid.”

“That’s Kay, for certain,” said Gerda.  “I know he had on new boots; I have heard them creaking in grandmamma’s room.”

“Yes, they creaked,” said the Crow.  “And on he went boldly up to the Princess, who was sitting on a pearl as large as a spinning-wheel.  All the ladies of the court stood about, with their maids and their maids’ maids, and all the gentlemen with their servants and their servants’ servants, who kept a boy; and the nearer they stood to the door, the prouder they looked.  The boy of the servants’ servants, who always goes in slippers, hardly looked at one, so very proudly did he stand in the doorway.”