f to signify that he was to stay, so Kay sat
still, and they drove out through the town gate.

Then the snow began to fall so heavily that the little boy could not see
a hand's breadth before him, but still they drove on. He suddenly
loosened the cord so that the large sledge might go on without him, but
it was of no use; his little carriage held fast, and away they went like
the wind. Then he called out loudly, but nobody heard him, while the
snow beat upon him, and the sledge flew onward. Every now and then it
gave a jump, as if they were going over hedges and ditches. The boy was
frightened and tried to say a prayer, but he could remember nothing but
the multiplication table.

The snowflakes became larger and larger, till they appeared like great
white birds. All at once they sprang on one side, the great sledge
stopped, and the person who had driven it rose up. The fur and the cap,
which were made entirely of snow, fell off, and he saw a lady, tall and
white; it was the Snow Queen.

"We have driven well," said she; "but why do you tremble so? Here, creep
into my warm fur." Then she seated him beside her in the sledge, and as
she wrapped the fur about him, he felt as if he were sinking into a
snowdrift.

"Are you still cold?" she asked, as she kissed him on the forehead. The
kiss was colder than ice; it went quite through to his heart, which was
almost a lump of ice already. He felt as if he were going to die, but
only for a moment--he soon seemed quite well and did not notice the cold
all around him.

"My sledge! Don't forget my sledge," was his first thought, and then he
looked and saw that it was bound fast to one of the white birds which
flew behind him. The Snow Queen kissed little Kay again, and by this
time he had forgotten little Gerda, his grandmother, and all at home.

"Now you must have no more kisses," she said, "or I should kiss you to
death."

Kay looked at her. She was so beautiful, he could not imagine a more
lovely face; she did not now seem to be made of ice as when he had seen
her through his window and she had nodded to him.

In his eyes she was perfect, and he did not feel at all afraid. He told
her he could do mental arithmetic as far as fractions, and that he knew
the number of square miles and the number of inhabitants in the country.
She smiled, and it occurred to him that she thought he did not yet know
so very much.

He looked around the vast expanse as she flew higher and higher