white
lady nodded to him, and waved her hand, and as he jumped from his chair,
he fancied she flew past the window. "It must be the Snow Queen." Would
he ever see her again?

At last the white winter melted away and green spring burst upon the
earth. Then once more summer--warm, bright, beautiful summer.

It was at five o'clock, one sunny afternoon, that Kay and Gerda sat
together on their little stools in the balcony, looking at a
picture-book.

"Oh!" cried Kay suddenly, "oh, there is something sharp in my eye, and I
have such a pain in my heart!"

Gerda put her arms round Kay's neck and looked into his eye.

"I can see nothing, Kay dear."

"Oh! it is gone now," said the boy, and they turned again to the
picture-book.

But something had flown into Kay's eye, and it was not gone; a little
bit had reached his heart, and it was still there. Listen, and I will
tell you what had happened.

There was about this time a most marvelous mirror in the world. It
belonged to the worst hobgoblin that ever lived, and had been made by
his wicked little demons.

Those who looked into this mirror saw reflected there all the mean and
ugly people and things in the world, and not one beautiful sight could
they see. And the thoughts of those who looked into this mirror became
as mean and ugly as the people and things they saw.

This delighted the hobgoblin, who ordered his little demons to carry the
mirror all over the world and to do as much mischief with it as they
could.

But one day, when they had traveled far, the mirror slipped from the
hands of the little imps, and fell to earth, shivered into hundreds of
thousands of millions of bits. Then it did more harm than ever, for
the tiny pieces, some no bigger than a grain of sand, were blown all
over the world, and often flew in people's eyes, and sometimes even
found their way into their hearts.

[Illustration: "THEY FLEW UP AND UP ON A DARK CLOUD"]

And when a big person or a child had a little bit of this magic mirror
in his eye, he saw only what was mean and ugly; and if the tiniest grain
of the glass reached his heart, alas! alas! it froze all the kindness
and gentleness and love that was there, and the heart became like a lump
of ice.

This is what had happened to poor little Kay. One tiny bit of the magic
mirror had flown into his eye; another had entered his heart.

"How horrid you look, Gerda. Why are you crying? And oh, see the worm in
that rose. Roses are u