‘She is fat, and she is pretty; she has been fattened on nuts!’ said the old robber woman, who had a long beard, and eyebrows that hung down over her eyes.  ‘She is as good as a fat lamb, and how nice she will taste!’ She drew out her sharp knife as she said this; it glittered horribly.  ‘Oh!’ screamed the old woman at the same moment, for her little daughter had come up behind her, and she was biting her ear.  She hung on her back, as wild and as savage a little animal as you could wish to find.  ‘You bad, wicked child!’ said her mother, but she was prevented from killing Gerda on this occasion.

‘She shall play with me,’ said the little robber girl; ’she shall give me her muff, and her pretty dress, and she shall sleep in my bed.’  Then she bit her mother again and made her dance.  All the robbers laughed and said, ‘Look at her dancing with her cub!’

‘I want to get into the carriage,’ said the little robber girl, and she always had her own way because she was so spoilt and stubborn.  She and Gerda got into the carriage, and then they drove over stubble and stones further and further into the wood.  The little robber girl was as big as Gerda, but much stronger; she had broader shoulders, and darker skin, her eyes were quite black, with almost a melancholy expression.  She put her arm round Gerda’s waist and said—­

’They shan’t kill you as long as I don’t get angry with you; you must surely be a Princess!’

‘No,’ said little Gerda, and then she told her all her adventures, and how fond she was of Kay.

The robber girl looked earnestly at her, gave a little nod, and said, ‘They shan’t kill you even if I am angry with you.  I will do it myself.’  Then she dried Gerda’s eyes, and stuck her own hands into the pretty muff, which was so soft and warm.

At last the chariot stopped:  they were in the courtyard of a robber’s castle, the walls of which were cracked from top to bottom.  Ravens and crows flew in and out of every hole, and big bulldogs, which each looked ready to devour somebody, jumped about as high as they could, but they did not bark, for it was not allowed.  A big fire was burning in the middle of the stone floor of the smoky old hall.  The smoke all went up to the ceiling, where it had to find a way out for itself.  Soup was boiling in a big caldron over the fire, and hares and rabbits were roasting on the spits.

‘You shall sleep with me and all my little pets to-night,’ said the robber girl.

When they had something to eat and drink they went along to one corner which was spread with straw and rugs.  There were nearly a hundred pigeons roosting overhead on the rafters and beams.  They seemed to be asleep, but they fluttered about a little when the children came in.