Little Kay was quite blue with cold—­indeed, almost black! but he did not notice it, for she had kissed the cold shudderings away from him, and his heart was like a lump of ice.  He dragged a few sharp, flat pieces of ice to and fro, joining them together in all kinds of ways, for he wanted to achieve something with them.  It was just like when we have little tablets of wood, and lay them together to form figures—­what we call the Chinese game.  Kay also went and laid figures, and, indeed, very artistic ones.  That was the icy game of Reason.  In his eyes these figures were very remarkable and of the highest importance; that was because of the fragment of glass sticking in his eye.  He laid out the figures so that they formed a word—­but he could never manage to lay down the word as he wished to have it—­the word eternity.  The Snow Queen had said: 

“If you can find out this figure, you shall be your own master, and I will give you the whole world and a pair of new skates.”

But he could not.

“Now I’ll hasten away to the warm lands,” said the Snow Queen.  “I will go and look into the black spots.”  These were the volcanoes, Etna and Vesuvius, as they are called.  “I shall whiten them a little!  That’s necessary; that will do the grapes and lemons good.”

And the Snow Queen flew away, and Kay sat quite alone in the great icy hall that was miles in extent, and looked at his pieces of ice, and thought so deeply that cracks were heard inside him; one would have thought that he was frozen.

Then it happened that little Gerda stepped through the great gate into the wide hall.  Here reigned cutting winds, but she prayed a prayer, and the winds lay down as if they would have gone to sleep; and she stepped into the great, empty, cold halls, and beheld Kay; she knew him, and flew to him, and embraced him, and held him fast, and called out: 

“Kay, dear little Kay!  I have found you!”

But he sat quite still, stiff and cold.  Then little Gerda wept hot tears, that fell upon his breast; they penetrated into his heart, they thawed the lump of ice, and consumed the little piece of glass in it.  He looked at her, and she sang: 

“The roses will fade and pass away,
 But we the Christ-child shall see one day.”

Then Kay burst into tears; he wept so that the splinter of glass came out of his eye.  Now he recognized her, and cried rejoicingly: 

“Gerda, dear Gerda! where have you been all this time?  And where have I been?” And he looked all around him.  “How cold it is here!  How large and void!”

And he clung to Gerda, and she laughed and wept for joy.  It was so glorious that even the pieces of ice round about danced for joy; and when they were tired and lay down, they formed themselves into just the letters of which the Snow Queen had said that if he found them out he should be his own master, and she would give him the whole world and a new pair of skates.