Kay is really with the Snow Queen, but he finds everything there
so much to his taste and his liking that he believes it is the finest
place in the world; and this is because he has a piece of broken glass
in his heart and a little splinter of glass in his eye. These must be
taken out, or he will never be a human being again, and the Snow Queen
will retain her power over him."

"But can you not give little Gerda something to help her to conquer this
power?"

"I can give her no greater power than she has already," said the woman;
"don't you see how strong that is? how men and animals are obliged to
serve her, and how well she has gotten through the world, barefooted as
she is? She cannot receive any power from me greater than she now has,
which consists in her own purity and innocence of heart. If she cannot
herself obtain access to the Snow Queen and remove the glass fragments
from little Kay, we can do nothing to help her. Two miles from here the
Snow Queen's garden begins. You can carry the little girl so far, and
set her down by the large bush which stands in the snow, covered with
red berries. Do not stay gossiping, but come back here as quickly as you
can." Then the Finland woman lifted little Gerda upon the reindeer, and
he ran away with her as quickly as he could.

"Oh, I have forgotten my boots and my mittens," cried little Gerda, as
soon as she felt the cutting cold; but the reindeer dared not stop, so
he ran on till he reached the bush with the red berries. Here he set
Gerda down, and he kissed her, and the great bright tears trickled over
the animal's cheeks; then he left her and ran back as fast as he could.

There stood poor Gerda, without shoes, without gloves, in the midst of
cold, dreary, ice-bound Finland. She ran forward as quickly as she
could, when a whole regiment of snowflakes came round her. They did not,
however, fall from the sky, which was quite clear and glittered with the
northern lights. The snowflakes ran along the ground, and the nearer
they came to her the larger they appeared. Gerda remembered how large
and beautiful they looked through the burning glass. But these were
really larger and much more terrible, for they were alive and were the
guards of the Snow Queen and had the strangest shapes. Some were like
great porcupines, others like twisted serpents with their heads
stretching out, and some few were like little fat bears with their hair
bristled; but all were dazzlingly white, an