Then the Wood-pigeons said, “Coo!  Coo!  We have seen little Kay!  A white hen carries his sledge; he himself sat in the carriage of the Snow Queen, who passed here, down just over the wood, as we lay in our nest.  She blew upon us young ones; and all died except we two.  Coo!  Coo!”

“What is that you say up there?” cried little Gerda.  “Where did the Snow Queen go to?  Do you know anything about it?”

“She is no doubt gone to Lapland; for there is always snow and ice there.  Only ask the Reindeer, who is tethered there.”

“Ice and snow is there!  There it is, glorious and beautiful!” said the Reindeer.  “One can spring about in the large shining valleys!  The Snow Queen has her summer-tent there; but her fixed abode is high up towards the North Pole, on the Island called Spitzbergen.”

“Oh, Kay!  Poor little Kay!” sighed Gerda.

“Do you choose to be quiet?” said the robber maiden.  “If you don’t, I shall make you.”

In the morning Gerda told her all that the Wood-pigeons had said; and the little maiden looked very serious, but she nodded her head, and said, “That’s no matter—­that’s no matter.  Do you know where Lapland lies!” she asked of the Reindeer.

“Who should know better than I?” said the animal; and his eyes rolled in his head.  “I was born and bred there—­there I leapt about on the fields of snow.”

“Listen,” said the robber maiden to Gerda.  “You see that the men are gone; but my mother is still here, and will remain.  However, towards morning she takes a draught out of the large flask, and then she sleeps a little:  then I will do something for you.”  She now jumped out of bed, flew to her mother; with her arms round her neck, and pulling her by the beard, said, “Good morrow, my own sweet nanny-goat of a mother.”  And her mother took hold of her nose, and pinched it till it was red and blue; but this was all done out of pure love.

When the mother had taken a sup at her flask, and was having a nap, the little robber maiden went to the Reindeer, and said, “I should very much like to give you still many a tickling with the sharp knife, for then you are so amusing; however, I will untether you, and help you out, so that you may go back to Lapland.  But you must make good use of your legs; and take this little girl for me to the palace of the Snow Queen, where her playfellow is.  You have heard, I suppose, all she said; for she spoke loud enough, and you were listening.”

The Reindeer gave a bound for joy.  The robber maiden lifted up little Gerda, and took the precaution to bind her fast on the Reindeer’s back; she even gave her a small cushion to sit on.  “Here are your worsted leggins, for it will be cold; but the muff I shall keep for myself, for it is so very pretty.  But I do not wish you to be cold.  Here is a pair of lined gloves of my mother’s; they just reach up to your elbow.  On with them!  Now you look about the hands just like my ugly old mother!”