‘It may be so,’ said the crow; ’I did not look very particularly; but I know from my sweetheart, that when he entered the Palace gates, and saw the life-guards in their silver uniforms, and the lackeys on the stairs in their gold-laced liveries, he was not the least bit abashed.  He just nodded to them and said, “It must be very tiresome to stand upon the stairs.  I am going inside!” The rooms were blazing with lights.  Privy councillors and excellencies without number were walking about barefoot carrying golden vessels; it was enough to make you solemn!  His boots creaked fearfully too, but he wasn’t a bit upset.’

‘Oh, I am sure that was Kay!’ said Gerda; ’I know he had a pair of new boots, I heard them creaking in grandmother’s room.’

‘Yes, indeed they did creak!’ said the crow.  ’But nothing daunted, he went straight up to the Princess, who was sitting on a pearl as big as a spinning-wheel.  Poor, simple boy! all the court ladies and their attendants; the courtiers, and their gentlemen, each attended by a page, were standing round.  The nearer the door they stood, so much the greater was their haughtiness; till the footman’s boy, who always wore slippers and stood in the doorway, was almost too proud even to be looked at.’

‘It must be awful!’ said little Gerda, ’and yet Kay has won the Princess!’

’If I had not been a crow, I should have taken her myself, notwithstanding that I am engaged.  They say he spoke as well as I could have done myself, when I speak crow-language; at least so my sweetheart says.  He was a picture of good looks and gallantry, and then, he had not come with any idea of wooing the Princess, but simply to hear her wisdom.  He admired her just as much as she admired him!’

‘Indeed it was Kay then,’ said Gerda; ’he was so clever he could do mental arithmetic up to fractions.  Oh, won’t you take me to the Palace?’

‘It’s easy enough to talk,’ said the crow; ’but how are we to manage it?  I will talk to my tame sweetheart about it; she will have some advice to give us I daresay, but I am bound to tell you that a little girl like you will never be admitted!’

‘Oh, indeed I shall,’ said Gerda; ’when Kay hears that I am here, he will come out at once to fetch me.’

‘Wait here for me by the stile,’ said the crow, then he wagged his head and flew off.

The evening had darkened in before he came back.  ‘Caw, caw,’ he said, ’she sends you greeting.  And here is a little roll for you; she got it out of the kitchen where there is bread enough, and I daresay you are hungry!  It is not possible for you to get into the Palace; you have bare feet; the guards in silver and the lackeys in gold would never allow you to pass.  But don’t cry, we shall get you in somehow; my sweetheart knows a little back staircase which leads up to the bedroom, and she knows where the key is kept.’

Then they went into the garden, into the great avenue where the leaves were dropping, softly one by one; and when the Palace lights went out, one after the other, the crow led little Gerda to the back door, which was ajar.