Fairy tale The Snow Queen. Read online

Boy and girl

Flower garden of a woman who knew how to cast magic

“I can’t stand it when they roar,” said the little robber. - You should be happy now! Here are two loaves of bread and a ham for you; so you don't go hungry.

The little robber tied all this on the deer's back, opened the gate, lured the dogs into the house, cut the rope with her sharp knife and said to the deer:

-Well, run! Look, take care of the girl!

Gerda extended both hands in huge mittens to the little robber and said goodbye to her. The deer set off at full speed through stumps and bushes, through forests, through swamps, across steppes. Wolves howled, crows cawed. "Fuck! Fuck!" - was suddenly heard from above, and it seemed as if the entire sky was engulfed in a scarlet glow.

-Here it is, my native northern lights! - said the deer. - Look how it burns!

And he ran even faster, not stopping day or night. A lot of time has passed. The bread was eaten, and the ham too. And here they are in Lapland.

Story six

Lapland and Finnish

I can't make her stronger than she is. Don't you see how great her power is? Don't you see how people and animals serve her? After all, she walked around half the world barefoot! She should not think that we gave her strength: this strength is in her heart, her strength is that she is a sweet, innocent child. If she herself cannot penetrate the palace of the Snow Queen and remove the fragments from Kai’s heart and eye, we will not be able to help her. Two miles from here the Snow Queen's garden begins; tu yes you can carry the girl. You plant it near a bush with red berries that stands in the snow. Don't waste time talking, but come back immediately.

With these words, the Finnish woman put Gerda on the deer and he ran as fast as he could.

Oh, I forgot my boots and mittens! - Gerda screamed: she was burned by the cold. But the deer did not dare to stop until it reached a bush with red berries. There he lowered the girl, kissed her on the lips, and large shiny tears rolled down his cheeks. Then he ran back like an arrow. Poor Gerda stood without boots or gloves in the middle of a terrible icy desert.

She ran forward as fast as she could; A whole regiment of snow flakes was rushing towards her, but they did not fall from the sky - the sky was completely clear, illuminated by the northern lights. No, snow flakes were rushing along the ground, and the closer they flew, the larger they became. Here Gerda remembered the big beautiful snowflakes that she had seen under a magnifying glass, but these were much larger, scarier, and all alive. These were the vanguard of the Snow Queen's army. Their appearance was outlandish: some resembled large ugly hedgehogs, others - balls of snakes, others - fat bear cubs with tousled hair; but they all sparkled with whiteness, they were all living snow flakes.

Well, what was Kai doing at this time? Of course, he wasn't thinking about Gerda; where could he have guessed that she was standing in front of the palace.

Story seven

What happened in the halls of the snow queen and what happened next

The walls of the palace were covered with snowstorms, and the windows and doors were damaged by violent winds. The palace had more than a hundred halls; they were scattered haphazardly, at the whim of the blizzards; the largest hall extended for many, many miles. The entire palace was illuminated by the bright northern lights. How cold, how deserted it was in these dazzling white halls!

Fun never came here! Bear balls have never been held here to the music of the storm, balls at which polar bears would walk on their hind legs, showing their grace and graceful manners; Not once has society gathered here to play blind man's buff or forfeits; Even the little white fox godmothers never came here to chat over a cup of coffee. It was cold and deserted in the huge halls of the Snow Queen. The northern lights shone so regularly that it was possible to calculate when they would flare up with a bright flame and when they would completely weaken.

In the middle of the largest deserted hall lay a frozen lake. The ice on it cracked and broke into thousands of pieces; all the pieces were exactly the same and correct - a real work of art! When the Snow Queen was at home, she sat in the middle of this lake and later said that she was sitting on the mirror of the mind: in her opinion, it was the one and only mirror, the best in the world.

She called the craters of the fire-breathing mountains, Vesuvius and Etna, cauldrons.

I'll whiten them a little. That's how it should be. It's good for lemons and grapes! The Snow Queen flew away, and Kai was left alone in an empty ice hall that stretched for several miles. He looked at the ice floes and thought and thought, until his head was pounding. The numb boy sat motionless. You would have thought he was frozen.

Meanwhile, Gerda entered the huge gates, where fierce winds were blowing. But she read the evening prayer, and the winds died down, as if they had fallen asleep. Gerda entered the vast deserted ice hall, saw Kai and immediately recognized him. The girl threw herself on his neck, hugged him tightly and exclaimed:

-Kai, my dear Kai! Finally I found you!

But Kai didn’t even move: he sat still calm and cold. And then Gerda burst into tears: hot tears fell onto Kai’s chest and penetrated into his very heart; they melted the ice and melted a fragment of the mirror. Kai looked at Gerda, and she sang:

-Roses are blooming in the valleys... Beauty!
Soon we will see the Christ child.

Kai suddenly burst into tears and cried so hard that a second piece of glass rolled out of his eye. He recognized Gerda and joyfully exclaimed:

-Gerda! Dear Gerda! Where have you been? And where was I myself? - And he looked around. - How cold it is here! How deserted these huge halls are!

He hugged Gerda tightly, and she laughed and cried with joy. Yes, her joy was so great that even the ice floes began to dance, and when they were tired, they lay down so that they formed the very word that the Snow Queen ordered Kaya to compose. For this word, she promised to give him freedom, the whole world and new skates.

Gerda kissed Kai on both cheeks, and they turned pink again; she kissed her eyes - and they shone like hers; kissed his hands and feet - and he became cheerful and healthy again. Let the Snow Queen return whenever she pleases - after all, his vacation note, written in shiny icy letters, lay here.

Kai and Gerda held hands and left the palace. They talked about grandmother and the roses that grew at home under the very roof. And everywhere they walked, the violent winds died down, and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. A reindeer was waiting for them near a bush with red berries; he brought with him a young doe, her udder was full of milk. She gave the children warm milk and kissed them on the lips. Then she and the reindeer took Kai and Gerda first to Finka. They warmed up with her and learned the way home, and then went to the Laplander; she sewed them new clothes and repaired Kai's sled.

The deer and doe ran side by side and accompanied them to the very border of Lapland, where the first greenery was already breaking through. Here Kai and Gerda parted with the deer and the Laplander.

-Farewell! Farewell! - they said to each other.

The first birds were chirping, the trees were covered with green buds. A young girl wearing a bright red cap and holding a pistol rode out of the forest on a magnificent horse. Gerda immediately recognized the horse; it had once been harnessed to a golden carriage. She was a little robber; she was tired of sitting at home and wanted to visit the north, and if she didn’t like it there, then other parts of the world.

She and Gerda immediately recognized each other. What a joy!

But Gerda stroked her cheek and asked about the prince and princess.

“They left for foreign lands,” answered the robber girl.

And the raven? - asked Gerda.

Raven died; The tame crow is widowed, now she wears black wool on her leg as a sign of mourning and complains about her fate. But all this is nonsense! Tell us better what happened to you and how you found him?

Kai and Gerda told her everything.

That's the end of the fairy tale! - said the robber, shook their hands, promised to visit them if she ever had a chance to visit their city. Then she went to travel around the world. Kai and Gerda, holding hands, went their way. Spring greeted them everywhere: flowers bloomed, grass turned green.

The sound of bells was heard, and they recognized the high towers of their hometown. Kai and Gerda entered the city where their grandmother lived; then they climbed the stairs and entered the room, where everything was as before: the clock was ticking: “tick-tock”, and the hands were still moving. But as they passed through the door, they noticed that they had grown and become adults. Roses bloomed on gutter and looked into the open windows.

Their children's benches stood right there. Kai and Gerda sat down on them and held hands. They forgot the cold, deserted splendor of the Snow Queen’s palace, like a heavy dream. Grandmother sat in the sun and read the gospel aloud: “If you are not like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven!”

Kai and Gerda looked at each other and only then understood the meaning of the old psalm:

Roses are blooming in the valleys... Beauty!
Soon we will see the baby Christ!

So they sat side by side, both already adults, but children at heart and soul, and outside it was a warm, blessed summer!

The fairy tale “The Snow Queen” is an extraordinary story about a boy Kai and a girl Gerda. They were separated by a piece of broken mirror. The main theme of Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" is the struggle between good and evil.

Background

So, let's start retelling the summary of "The Snow Queen". One day, an evil troll created a mirror, looking into which all good things decreased and disappeared, while evil, on the contrary, increased. But, unfortunately, the troll's students broke the mirror in an argument, and all its fragments scattered throughout the world. And if even one tiny piece fell into the human heart, then it froze and became a piece of ice. And if it got into the eye, then the person stopped seeing good, and in any action he felt only evil intent.

Kai and Gerda

The summary of “The Snow Queen” should be continued with the information that in one small town there lived friends: a boy and a girl, Kai and Gerda. They were each other's brother and sister, but only until the moment when shrapnel got into the boy's eye and heart. After the accident, the boy became embittered, began to be rude and lost his brotherly feelings for Gerda. In addition, he stopped seeing good. He began to think that no one loved him and everyone wished him harm.

And then one not very good day, Kai went sledding. He clung to a sleigh passing near him. But they belonged to the Snow Queen. She kissed the boy, thereby making his heart even colder. The queen took him to her ice palace.

Gerda's journey

Gerda was very sad for the boy for the rest of the winter and waited for his return, and, without waiting, she went in search of her brother as soon as spring came.

The first woman Gerda met on her way was a witch. She cast a spell on the girl that deprived her of her memory. But, seeing the roses, Gerda remembered everything and ran away from her.

After that, on her way she met a raven, who told her that a prince very similar to Kai had wooed the princess of his kingdom. But it turned out to be not him. The princess and the prince turned out to be very kind people, they gave her clothes and a carriage made of gold.

The girl’s path lay through a terrible and dark forest, where she was attacked by a gang of robbers. Among them was a little girl. She turned out to be kind and gave Gerda a deer. On it, the heroine went further and soon, having met pigeons, she found out where her sworn brother was.

On the way she met two more kind women - a Laplander and a Finnish woman. Each helped the girl in her search for Kai.

Domain of the Snow Queen

And so, having reached the possessions of the Snow Queen, she gathered the remnants of her strength and went through a severe snowstorm and the royal army. Gerda prayed all the way, and angels came to her aid. They helped her get to the ice castle.

Kai was there, but the queen was not there. The boy was like a statue, all frozen and cold. He didn't even pay attention to Gerda and continued playing the puzzle. Then the girl, unable to cope with her emotions, began to cry bitterly. Tears thawed Kai's heart. He also began to cry, and the fragment fell out along with the tear.

The main characters of the fairy tale "The Snow Queen". Gerda

There are many heroes in the fairy tale, but they are all minor. There are only three main ones: Gerda, Kai, and the queen. But still, the only truly main character of the fairy tale “The Snow Queen” is only one - little Gerda.

Yes, she is very small, but she is also selfless and brave. In the fairy tale, all her strength is concentrated in her kind heart, which attracts sympathetic people to the girl, without whom she would not have reached the ice castle. It is kindness that helps Gerda defeat the queen and unfreeze her sworn brother.

Gerda is ready to do anything for her loved ones and is confident in the decisions she makes. She does not doubt for a second and helps everyone who needs it, without counting on help. In the fairy tale, the girl shows only the best character traits, and she is the embodiment of justice and goodness.

Kai's image

Kai is a very controversial hero. On the one hand, he is kind and sensitive, but on the other, he is frivolous and stubborn. Even before the fragments hit the eye and heart. After the incident, Kai is completely under the influence of the Snow Queen and carries out her orders without saying a word against it. But after Gerda frees him, everything is fine again.

Yes, on the one hand, Kai is a positive character, but his inaction and passivity prevent the reader from falling in love with him.

The image of the Snow Queen

The Snow Queen is the embodiment of winter and cold. Her home is an endless expanse of ice. Just like ice, she is very beautiful in appearance and also smart. But her heart doesn't know feelings. That is why she is the prototype of evil in Andersen's fairy tale.

History of creation

It's time to tell the story of the creation of Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen". It was first published in 1844. The tale is the longest in the author’s bibliography, and Andersen claimed that it is connected with the story of his life.

Andersen said that “The Snow Queen,” a summary of which is contained in the article, appeared in his head when he was little and played with his friend and neighbor, the white-headed Lisbeth. To him, she was practically a sister. The girl was always next to Hans, supported him in all his games and listened to his first fairy tales. Many researchers claim that she became the prototype of Gerda.

But not only Gerda had a prototype. Singer Jenny Lind has become the living embodiment of the queen. The author was in love with her, but the girl did not share his feelings, and Andersen made her cold heart the embodiment of the beauty and soullessness of the Snow Queen.

In addition, Andersen was fascinated by Scandinavian myths, and there death was called the ice maiden. Before his death, his father said that the maiden had come for him. Perhaps the Snow Queen has the same prototype as the Scandinavian winter and death. She also has no feelings, and the kiss of death can freeze her forever.

The image of a girl made of ice attracted the storyteller, and in his heritage there is another fairy tale about the Snow Queen, who stole her lover from his bride.

Andersen wrote the fairy tale in a very difficult time, when religion and science were in conflict. Therefore, there is an opinion that the confrontation between Gerda and the queen describes the events that took place.

In the USSR, the fairy tale was remade, since censorship did not allow the mention of Christ and the reading of the Gospel at night.

"The Snow Queen": analysis of the work

Andersen in his fairy tales creates an opposition - the opposition of good and evil, summer and winter, external and internal, death and life.

Thus, the Snow Queen has become a classic character in folklore. Dark and cold mistress of winter and death. She is contrasted with the warm and kind Gerda, the embodiment of life and summer.

Kai and Gerda, according to Schelling’s natural philosophy, are androgynous, that is, the opposition of death and life, summer and winter. Children are together in the summer, but suffer separation in the winter.

The first half of the tale talks about the creation of a magic mirror that can distort good, turning it into evil. A person traumatized by its fragment acts as an opponent of culture. On the one hand, this is a myth that affects culture and breaks the connection between man and nature. So Kai becomes soulless and rejects his love for summer and the beauty of nature. But he begins to love the creations of the mind with all his heart.

The fragment that ended up in the boy's eye allows him to think rationally, cynically, and show interest in the geometric structure of snowflakes.

As we know, a fairy tale cannot have a bad ending, so Andersen contrasted Christian values ​​with the world of technology. That is why the children in the fairy tale sing psalms to the rose. Although the rose fades, the memory of it remains. Thus, memory is a mediator between the world of the living and the dead. This is exactly how Gerda, once in the witch’s garden, forgets Kai, and then her memory returns again and she runs away. It is roses that help her in this.

The scene in the castle with the false prince and princess is very symbolic. In this dark moment, Gerda is helped by ravens, symbolizing the powers of the night and wisdom. Climbing the stairs is a tribute to Plato's myth of the cave, in which non-existent shadows create the idea of ​​a false reality. It takes a lot of strength for Gerda to distinguish between lies and truth.

The further the fairy tale “The Snow Queen” advances, the summary of which you already know, the more often peasant symbolism appears. Gerda, with the help of prayer, copes with the storm and ends up in the queen's domain. The atmosphere of the castle was created by the author himself. It highlights all the complexes and failures of the poor writer. According to biographers, the Andresen family had some mental disorders.

So the queen's powers can symbolize actions that can drive you crazy. The castle is motionless and cold, crystalline.

Thus, Kai’s injury leads to his seriousness and intellectual development, and his attitude towards his loved ones changes dramatically. Soon he is completely alone in the icy halls. These signs characterize schizophrenia.

Kai meditates over the ice, showing his loneliness. Gerda's arrival to Kai suggests his salvation from the world of the dead, from the world of madness. He returns to the world of love and kindness, eternal summer. The couple reunites again, and the person gains integrity thanks to a difficult path and overcoming himself.

The fairy tale The Snow Queen, written by Hans Christian Andersen, will be interesting to read for children of all ages. This is a story about two poor children who loved each other like brother and sister, and their names were Kai and Gerda. When the friends were playing outside and sledding, the Snow Queen suddenly appeared and took Kai with her. Gerda goes in search of her friend, but many adventures await her along the way. Reading a fairy tale about the Snow Queen is a pleasure. Therefore, we recommend that you read it to the very end.

Read online fairy tale The Snow Queen

Mirror and its fragments

Let's start! When we reach the end of our story, we will know more than we do now. So, once upon a time there lived a troll, furious and despising; it was the devil himself. Once he was in a particularly good mood: he made a mirror in which everything that was good and beautiful was completely diminished, while everything that was worthless and ugly, on the contrary, stood out even brighter and seemed even worse. The most beautiful landscapes looked like boiled spinach in it, and the best of people looked like freaks, or it seemed that they were standing upside down and had no bellies at all! The faces were distorted to the point that it was impossible to recognize them; If someone had a freckle or mole on their face, it would spread all over their face. The devil was terribly amused by all this. A kind, pious human thought was reflected in the mirror with an unimaginable grimace, so that the troll could not help but laugh, rejoicing at his invention. All the troll's students - he had his own school - talked about the mirror as if it were some kind of miracle.

Now only, they said, you can see the whole world and people in their true light!

And so they ran around with the mirror; soon there was not a single country, not a single person left that would not be reflected in him in a distorted form. Finally, they wanted to reach heaven in order to laugh at the angels and the Creator himself. The higher they rose, the more the mirror twisted and writhed from grimaces; they could barely hold it in their hands. But then they got up again, and suddenly the mirror became so distorted that it tore out of their hands, flew to the ground and broke into pieces. Millions, billions of its fragments have caused, however, even more trouble than the mirror itself. Some of them were no larger than a grain of sand, scattered throughout the world, sometimes fell into people’s eyes and remained there. A person with such a splinter in the eye began to see everything inside out or notice only the bad sides in every thing - after all, each splinter retained a property that distinguished the mirror itself. For some people, shrapnel went straight to the heart, and that was the worst thing: the heart turned into a piece of ice. Among these fragments there were also large ones, such that they could be inserted into window frames, but it was not worth looking through these windows at your good friends. Finally, there were also fragments that were used for glasses, only the trouble was if people put them on in order to look at things and judge them more accurately! And the evil troll laughed until he felt colic, the success of this invention tickled him so pleasantly. But many more fragments of the mirror were flying around the world. Let's hear about them.

Boy and girl

In a big city, where there are so many houses and people that not everyone can carve out even a small space for a garden, and where most residents therefore have to be content with indoor flowers in pots, there lived two poor children, but they had a garden larger than a flower pot. They were not related, but they loved each other like brother and sister. Their parents lived in the attics of adjacent houses. The roofs of the houses almost met, and under the ledges of the roofs there was a drainage gutter, located just under the window of each attic. Thus, it was enough to step out of some window onto the gutter, and you could find yourself at the neighbors’ window.

The parents each had a large wooden box; roots and small rose bushes grew in them - one in each - showered with wonderful flowers. It occurred to the parents to place these boxes at the bottom of the gutters; thus, from one window to another stretched like two flower beds. Peas hung from the boxes in green garlands, rose bushes peered into the windows and intertwined their branches; something like a triumphal gate of greenery and flowers was formed. Since the boxes were very high and the children firmly knew that they were not allowed to climb on them, the parents often allowed the boy and girl to visit each other on the roof and sit on a bench under the roses. And what the funny Games they arranged it here!

In winter, this pleasure ceased; the windows were often covered with icy patterns. But the children heated copper coins on the stove and applied them to the frozen glass - immediately a wonderful round hole thawed, and a cheerful, affectionate peephole looked out into it - each of them watched from his own window, a boy and a girl, Kai and Gerda. In the summer they could find themselves visiting each other in one leap, but in the winter they had to first go down many, many steps, and then go up the same number. A snowball was fluttering in the yard.

These are white bees swarming! - said the old grandmother.

Do they also have a queen? - the boy asked; he knew that real bees had one.

Eat! - answered the grandmother. - Snowflakes surround her in a thick swarm, but she is larger than all of them and never remains on the ground - she always floats on a black cloud. Often at night she flies through the city streets and looks into the windows; That’s why they are covered with ice patterns, like flowers!

We saw it, we saw it! - the children said and believed that all this was true.

Can't the Snow Queen come here? - the girl asked once.

Let him try! - said the boy. - I’ll put her on a warm stove, so she’ll melt!

But grandma patted him on the head and started talking about something else.

In the evening, when Kai was already at home and almost completely undressed, getting ready to go to bed, he climbed onto a chair by the window and looked into the small circle that had thawed on the window glass. Snowflakes fluttered outside the window; one of them, a larger one, fell on the edge of the flower box and began to grow, grow, until it finally turned into a woman wrapped in the finest white tulle, woven, it seemed, from millions of snow stars. She was so lovely, so tender, all dazzling white ice and still alive! Her eyes sparkled like stars, but there was neither warmth nor meekness in them. She nodded to the boy and beckoned him with her hand. The boy got scared and jumped off the chair; Something like a large bird flashed past the window.

The next day there was a glorious frost, but then there was a thaw, and then spring came. The sun was shining, the flower boxes were all green again, the swallows were nesting under the roof, the windows were opened, and the children could again sit in their little garden on the roof.

The roses bloomed delightfully all summer. The girl learned a psalm, which also spoke about roses; the girl sang it to the boy, thinking about her roses, and he sang along with her:

The children sang, holding hands, kissed the roses, looked at the clear sun and talked to it - it seemed to them that the infant Christ himself was looking at them from it. What a wonderful summer it was, and how nice it was under the bushes of fragrant roses, which seemed to be blooming forever!

Kai and Gerda sat and looked at a book with pictures of animals and birds; The big tower clock struck five.

Ay! - the boy suddenly screamed. “I was stabbed right in the heart, and something got into my eye!”

The girl wrapped her little arm around his neck, he blinked, but there seemed to be nothing in his eye.

It must have jumped out! - he said.

But the fact of the matter is, no. Two fragments of the devil’s mirror hit him in the heart and in the eye, in which, as we, of course, remember, everything great and good seemed insignificant and disgusting, and the evil and bad were reflected even brighter, the bad sides of each thing stood out even more sharply. Poor Kai! Now his heart had to turn into a piece of ice! The pain in the eye and in the heart has already passed, but the very fragments remain in them.

What are you crying about? - he asked Gerda. - Uh! How ugly you are now! It doesn't hurt me at all! Ugh! - he suddenly shouted. - This rose is being eaten away by a worm! And that one is completely crooked! What ugly roses! No better than the boxes they stick out in!

And he, pushing the box with his foot, tore out two roses.

Kai, what are you doing? - the girl screamed, and he, seeing her fear, snatched another one and ran away from cute little Gerda out of his window.

After that, if the girl brought him a book with pictures, he said that these pictures were only good for infants; If the old grandmother told anything, he found fault with the words. Yes, if only this! And then he went so far as to imitate her gait, put on her glasses and imitate her voice! It turned out very similar and made people laugh. Soon the boy learned to imitate all his neighbors - he was excellent at flaunting all their oddities and shortcomings - and people said:

What a head this little boy has!

And the reason for everything was the fragments of the mirror that got into his eye and heart. That is why he even imitated cute little Gerda, who loved him with all her heart.

And his fun has now become completely different, so sophisticated. Once in winter, when it was snowing, he appeared with a large burning glass and placed the hem of his blue jacket under the snow.

Look through the glass, Gerda! - he said. Each snowflake seemed much larger under the glass than it actually was, and looked like a luxurious flower or a decagonal star. What a miracle!

See how skillfully it's done! - Kai said. - This is much more interesting than real flowers! And what accuracy! Not a single wrong line! Oh, if only they didn’t melt!

A little later, Kai appeared in big mittens, with a sled behind his back, and shouted in Gerda’s ear:

I was allowed to ride in a large area with other boys! - And running.

There were a lot of children skating around the square. Those who were bolder tied their sleighs to peasant sleighs and thus rode quite far. The fun was in full swing. At the height of it, large sleighs painted in White color. There was a man sitting in them, all dressed in a white fur coat and the same hat. The sleigh drove around the square twice: Kai quickly tied his sleigh to it and rolled off. The large sleigh rushed faster and then turned out of the square into an alley. The man sitting in them turned around and nodded in a friendly manner to Kai, as if he were an acquaintance. Kai tried several times to untie his sled, but the man in the fur coat nodded to him, and he rode on. So they left the city gates. Snow suddenly fell in flakes, it became so dark that you couldn’t see anything around. The boy hastily let go of the rope, which had caught on the large sleigh, but his sleigh seemed to have grown to the large sleigh and continued to rush like a whirlwind. Kai screamed loudly - no one heard him! The snow was falling, the sleds were racing, diving in the snowdrifts, jumping over hedges and ditches. Kai was trembling all over, he wanted to read “Our Father,” but only the multiplication table was spinning in his mind.

The snow flakes kept growing and eventually turned into large white chickens. Suddenly they scattered to the sides, the large sleigh stopped, and the man sitting in it stood up. She was a tall, slender, dazzlingly white woman - the Snow Queen; both the fur coat and the hat she was wearing were made of snow.

We had a great ride! - she said. - But are you completely cold? Get into my fur coat!

And, placing the boy in her sleigh, she wrapped him in her fur coat; Kai seemed to have sunk into a snowdrift.

Are you still freezing? - she asked and kissed his forehead.

Uh! Her kiss was colder than ice, pierced him with coldness right through and reached his very heart, and it was already half icy. For one minute it seemed to Kai that he was about to die, but no, on the contrary, it became easier, he even completely stopped feeling cold.

My sled! Don't forget my sled! - he realized.

And the sleigh was tied to the back of one of the white hens, who flew with them after the big sleigh. The Snow Queen kissed Kai again, and he forgot Gerda, his grandmother, and everyone at home.

I won't kiss you anymore! - she said. - Otherwise I’ll kiss you to death!

Kai looked at her; she was so good! He could not imagine a more intelligent, charming face. Now she didn’t seem icy to him, like that time when she sat outside the window and nodded her head at him; now she seemed perfect to him. He was not at all afraid of her and told her that he knew all four operations of arithmetic, and even with fractions, he knew how many square miles and inhabitants there were in each country, and she only smiled in response. And then it seemed to him that he really knew little, and he fixed his gaze on the endless air space. At the same moment, the Snow Queen soared with him onto a dark lead cloud, and they rushed forward. The storm howled and moaned, as if singing ancient songs; they flew over forests and lakes, over seas and solid land; Cold winds blew beneath them, wolves howled, snow sparkled, black crows flew screaming, and above them a large clear moon shone. Kai looked at him all the long, long winter night - during the day he slept at the feet of the Snow Queen.

Flower garden of a woman who knew how to cast magic

What happened to Gerda when Kai didn’t return? Where did he go? No one knew this, no one could say anything about him. The boys only said that they saw him tie his sled to a large, magnificent sleigh, which then turned into an alley and drove out of the city gates. Nobody knew where he went. Many tears were shed for him; Gerda cried bitterly and for a long time. Finally they decided that he had died, drowned in the river that flowed outside the city. The dark winter days dragged on for a long time.

But then spring came, the sun came out.

Kai is dead and will never come back! - said Gerda.

I do not believe! - answered the sunlight.

He died and will never come back! - she repeated to the swallows.

We don't believe it! - they answered.

In the end, Gerda herself stopped believing it.

Let me put on my new red shoes. “Kai has never seen them before,” she said one morning, “but I’ll go to the river to ask about him.”

It was still very early; she kissed her sleeping grandmother, put on her red shoes and ran alone out of town, straight to the river.

Is it true that you took my sworn brother? I'll give you my red shoes if you give it back to me!

And the girl felt that the waves were nodding at her in a strange way; then she took off her red shoes, her first treasure, and threw them into the river. But they fell just near the shore, and the waves immediately carried them to land - it was as if the river did not want to take her jewel from the girl, since it could not return Kaya to her. The girl thought that she had not thrown her shoes very far, climbed into the boat, which was rocking in the reeds, stood on the very edge of the stern and again threw her shoes into the water. The boat was not tied down and pushed off from the shore. The girl wanted to jump onto land as quickly as possible, but while she was making her way from the stern to the bow, the boat had already moved a whole yard away from the beret and was quickly rushing along with the current.

Gerda was terribly frightened and began to cry and scream, but no one except the sparrows heard her screams; The sparrows could not carry her to land and only flew after her along the shore and chirped, as if wanting to console her: “We are here!” We are here!"

The banks of the river were very beautiful; Everywhere one could see the most wonderful flowers, tall, spreading trees, meadows where sheep and cows grazed, but nowhere was a single human soul to be seen.

“Maybe the river is carrying me to Kai?” - Gerda thought, cheered up, stood on her bow and admired the beautiful green shores for a long, long time. But then she sailed to a large cherry orchard, in which nestled a house with colored glass in the windows and a thatched roof. Two wooden soldiers stood at the door and saluted everyone who passed by with their guns.

Gerda shouted to them - she took them for alive - but they, of course, did not answer her. So she swam even closer to them, the boat came almost to the very shore, and the girl screamed even louder. An old, old woman in a large straw hat, painted with wonderful flowers, came out of the house, leaning on a stick.

Oh you poor baby! - said the old lady. - How did you end up on such a big fast river and climb so far?

With these words, the old woman entered the water, hooked the boat with her hook, pulled it to the shore and landed Gerda.

Gerda was very happy that she finally found herself on land, although she was afraid of the strange old woman.

Well, let's go, tell me who you are and how you got here? - said the old lady.

Gerda began to tell her about everything, and the old woman shook her head and repeated: “Hm! Hm!” But then the girl finished and asked the old woman if she had seen Kai. She replied that he had not passed here yet, but that he would probably pass, so the girl had nothing to grieve about yet - she would rather try the cherries and admire the flowers that grow in the garden: they are more beautiful than those drawn in any picture book and they can tell everything fairy tales! Then the old woman took Gerda by the hand, took her to her house and locked the door.

The windows were high from the floor and all made of multi-colored glass - red, blue and yellow; because of this, the room itself was illuminated with some amazing bright, rainbow light. There was a basket of ripe cherries on the table, and Gerda could eat them to her heart's content; While she was eating, the old woman combed her hair with a golden comb. The hair curled and the curls surrounded the girl’s fresh, round, rose-like face with a golden glow.

I have long wanted to have such a cute girl! - said the old lady. - You'll see how well we'll live with you!

And she continued to comb the girl’s curls, and the longer she combed, the more Gerda forgot her sworn brother Kai - the old woman knew how to cast magic. She was not an evil witch and cast spells only occasionally, for her own pleasure; now she really wanted to keep Gerda with her. And so she went into the garden, touched all the rose bushes with her stick, and as they stood in full bloom, they all went deep, deep into the ground, and there was no trace of them left. The old woman was afraid that when Gerda saw her roses she would remember her own, and then about Kai, and would run away.

Having done her job, the old woman took Gerda to the flower garden. The girl’s eyes widened: there were flowers of all varieties, all seasons. What beauty, what fragrance! In all the world you couldn’t find a more colorful and beautiful picture book than this flower garden. Gerda jumped for joy and played among the flowers until the sun set behind the tall cherry trees. Then they put her in a wonderful bed with red silk feather beds stuffed with blue violets; the girl fell asleep and had dreams such as only a queen sees on her wedding day.

The next day Gerda was again allowed to play in the sun. Many days passed like this. Gerda knew every flower in the garden, but no matter how many there were, it still seemed to her that one was missing, but which one? One day she sat and looked at the old woman’s straw hat, painted with flowers; the most beautiful of them was just a rose - the old woman forgot to erase it. This is what absent-mindedness means!

How! Are there any roses here? - said Gerda and immediately ran to look for them, but the whole garden - there was not a single one!

Then the girl sank to the ground and began to cry. Warm tears fell exactly on the place where one of the rose bushes had previously stood, and as soon as they wet the ground, the bush instantly grew out of it, as fresh and blooming as before. Gerda wrapped her arms around him, began to kiss the roses and remembered those wonderful roses that bloomed in her house, and at the same time about Kai.

How I hesitated! - said the girl. - I have to look for Kai!.. Do you know where he is? - she asked the roses. - Do you believe that he died and will not return again?

He didn't die! - said the roses. - We were underground, where all the dead lie, but Kai was not among them.

Thank you! - said Gerda and went to other flowers, looked into their cups and asked: - Do you know where Kai is?

But each flower basked in the sun and thought only about its own fairy tale or story; Gerda heard a lot of them, but not one of the flowers said a word about Kai.

What did the fire lily tell her?

Do you hear the drum beating? Boom! Boom! The sounds are very monotonous: boom, boom! Listen to the mournful singing of women! Listen to the screams of the priests!.. An Indian widow stands on the fire in a long red robe. The flame is about to engulf her and the body of her dead husband, but she thinks about the living one - about the one who is standing here, about the one whose gaze burns her heart stronger than the flame that is now going to incinerate her body. Can the flame of the heart go out in the flames of a fire!

I don't understand anything! - said Gerda.

This is my fairy tale! - answered the fiery lily.

What did the bindweed say?

A narrow mountain path leads to an ancient knight's castle proudly rising on a rock. The old brick walls are thickly covered with ivy. Its leaves cling to the balcony, and a lovely girl is standing on the balcony; she leans over the railing and looks at the road. The girl is fresher than a rose, airier than an apple tree flower swayed by the wind. How her silk dress rustles! “Will he really not come?”

Are you talking about Kai? - asked Gerda.

I tell my tale, my dreams! - answered the bindweed.

What did little snowdrop say?

A long board is swinging between the trees - this is a swing. Two little girls are sitting on the board; their dresses are white as snow, and long green silk ribbons flutter on their hats. The older brother is kneeling behind the sisters, leaning on the ropes; in one hand he has a small cup of soapy water, in the other there is a clay tube. He blows bubbles, the board shakes, the bubbles fly through the air, shimmering in the sun with all the colors of the rainbow. Here is one hanging at the end of a tube and swaying in the wind. A little black dog, light as a soap bubble, stands on its hind legs and places its front legs on the board, but the board flies up, the little dog falls, yapping and angry. The children tease her, the bubbles burst... The board shakes, the foam scatters - that's my song!

She may be good, but you say all this in such a sad tone! And again, not a word about Kai! What will the hyacinths say?

Once upon a time there lived two slender, ethereal beauties, sisters. One was wearing a red dress, another was blue, and the third was completely white. They danced hand in hand in the clear moonlight by the quiet lake. They weren't elves, but real girls. A sweet aroma filled the air, and the girls disappeared into the forest. Now the aroma became even stronger, even sweeter - three coffins floated out of the thicket of the forest; The beautiful sisters lay in them, and fireflies fluttered around them like living lights. Are the girls sleeping or dead? The scent of flowers says they are dead. The evening bell rings for the dead!

You made me sad! - said Gerda. - Your bells smell so strong too!.. Now I can’t get dead girls out of my head! Oh, is Kai really dead too? But the roses were underground and they say that he is not there!

Ding-dang! - the hyacinth bells rang. - We are not calling over Kai! We don't even know him! We ring our own little song; we don't know the other one!

And Gerda went to the golden dandelion, shining in the shiny green grass.

You, little clear sun! - Gerda told him. - Tell me, do you know where I can look for my sworn brother?

Dandelion shone even brighter and looked at the girl. What song did he sing to her? Alas! And this song didn’t say a word about Kai!

Early spring; The clear sun shines welcomingly on the small courtyard. Swallows hover near the white wall adjacent to the neighbors' yard. The first yellow flowers peek out from the green grass, sparkling in the sun like gold. An old grandmother came out to sit in the yard; Here her granddaughter, a poor servant, came from among the guests and kissed the old woman deeply. A girl's kiss is more valuable than gold - it comes straight from the heart. Gold on her lips, gold in her heart. That's all! - said the dandelion.

My poor grandmother! - Gerda sighed. - How she misses me, how she grieves! No less than I grieved for Kai! But I'll be back soon and bring him with me. There is no point in asking the flowers anymore - you won’t get anything from them, they only know their songs!

And she tied her skirt higher to make it easier to run, but when she wanted to jump over the daffodil, it hit her on the legs. Gerda stopped, looked at the long flower and asked:

Perhaps you know something?

And she leaned towards him, waiting for an answer. What did the narcissist say?

I see myself! I see myself! Oh, how I smell!.. High, high in a small closet, right under the roof, stands a half-dressed dancer. She either balances on one leg, then again stands firmly on both and tramples the whole world with them - she is, after all, just an optical illusion. Here she is pouring water from a kettle onto some white piece of material that she is holding in her hands. This is her corsage. Cleanliness is the best beauty! A white skirt hangs on a nail driven into the wall; the skirt was also washed with water from a kettle and dried on the roof! Here the girl gets dressed and ties a bright yellow scarf around her neck, setting off the whiteness of the dress even more sharply. Again one leg flies into the air! Look how straight she stands on the other, like a flower on its stem! I see myself, I see myself!

Yes, I don’t care much about this! - said Gerda. - There’s nothing to tell me about this!

And she ran out of the garden.

The door was only locked; Gerda pulled the rusty bolt, it gave way, the door opened, and the girl, barefoot, began to run along the road! She looked back three times, but no one was chasing her. Finally she got tired, sat down on a stone and looked around: summer had already passed, it was late autumn in the yard, but in the old woman’s wonderful garden, where the sun always shone and flowers of all seasons bloomed, this was not noticeable!

God! How I hesitated! After all, autumn is just around the corner! There's no time for rest here! - said Gerda and set off again.

Oh, how her poor, tired legs hurt! How cold and damp it was in the air! The leaves on the willows turned completely yellow, the fog settled on them in large drops and flowed down to the ground; the leaves were falling down. One thorn tree stood covered with astringent, tart berries. How gray and dull the whole white world seemed!

Prince and Princess

Gerda had to sit down to rest again. A large raven was jumping in the snow right in front of her; He looked at the girl for a long, long time, nodding his head to her, and finally spoke:

Kar-kar! Hello!

He humanly could not pronounce this more clearly, but, apparently, he wished the girl well and asked her where she was wandering around the world alone? Gerda understood the words “alone” perfectly and immediately felt their full meaning. Having told the raven her whole life, the girl asked if he had seen Kai?

Raven shook his head thoughtfully and said:

May be!

How? Is it true? - the girl exclaimed and almost strangled the raven with kisses.

Quiet, quiet! - said the raven. - I think it was your Kai! But now he must have forgotten you and his princess!

Does he live with the princess? - asked Gerda.

But listen! - said the raven. - Only it’s terribly difficult for me to speak your way! Now, if you understood crow, I would tell you about everything much better.

No, they didn’t teach me this! - said Gerda. - Grandma understands! It would be nice for me to know how too!

That is OK! - said the raven. - I’ll tell you as best I can, even if it’s bad.

And he told about everything that only he knew.

In the kingdom where you and I are, there is a princess who is so smart that it’s impossible to say! She read all the newspapers in the world and already forgot everything she read - that’s how smart she is! One day she was sitting on the throne - and there’s not much fun in that, as people say - and humming a song: “Why shouldn’t I get married?” “But indeed!” - she thought, and she wanted to get married. But she wanted to choose a man for her husband who would be able to answer when they spoke to him, and not someone who could only put on airs - that’s so boring! And so they called all the courtiers with a drumbeat and announced to them the will of the princess. They were all very pleased and said: “We like this! We recently thought about this ourselves!” All this is true! - added the raven. “I have a bride at court, she’s tame, she walks around the palace, and I know all this from her.”

His bride was a crow - after all, everyone is looking for a wife to match themselves.

The next day all the newspapers came out with a border of hearts and with the princess’s monograms. It was announced in the newspapers that every young man of pleasant appearance could come to the palace and talk with the princess: the one who behaves completely freely, like at home, and turns out to be the most eloquent of all, the princess will choose as her husband! Yes Yes! - repeated the raven. - All this is as true as the fact that I am sitting here in front of you! People poured into the palace in droves, there was a stampede and a crush, but nothing came of it either on the first or on the second day. On the street, all the suitors spoke well, but as soon as they crossed the palace threshold, saw the guards all in silver, and the footmen in gold, and entered the huge, light-filled halls, they were taken aback. They will approach the throne where the princess sits, and they will only repeat her last words, but this is not what she needed at all! Really, they were all definitely doped with dope! But upon leaving the gate, they again acquired the gift of speech. A long, long tail of grooms stretched from the very gates to the doors of the palace. I was there and saw it myself! The grooms were hungry and thirsty, but they were not even allowed a glass of water from the palace. True, those who were smarter stocked up on sandwiches, but the thrifty ones no longer shared with their neighbors, thinking to themselves: “Let them starve and become emaciated - the princess won’t take them!”

Well, what about Kai, Kai? - asked Gerda. - When did he appear? And he came to get married?

Wait! Wait! Now we have just reached it! On the third day, a small man appeared, not in a carriage, not on horseback, but simply on foot, and directly entered the palace. His eyes sparkled like yours; His hair was long, but he was poorly dressed.

It's Kai! - Gerda was delighted. - So I found him! - and she clapped her hands.

He had a knapsack on his back! - continued the raven.

No, it was probably his sleigh! - said Gerda. - He left the house with the sled!

Very possible! - said the raven. - I didn't get a good look. So, my bride told me that, entering the palace gates and seeing the guards in silver, and the footmen in gold on the stairs, he was not the least embarrassed, nodded his head and said: “It must be boring to stand here on the stairs, I’d better go into the rooms!” The halls were all flooded with light; nobles walked around without boots, delivering golden dishes - it couldn’t have been more solemn! And his boots creaked, but he wasn’t embarrassed by that either.

It's probably Kai! - exclaimed Gerda. - I know he was wearing new boots! I myself heard how they creaked when he came to his grandmother!

Yes, they did squeak quite a bit! - continued the raven. - But he boldly approached the princess; she sat on a pearl the size of a spinning wheel, and around stood the ladies of the court and gentlemen with their maids, maids' maids, valets, valets' servants and valets' servants. The farther someone stood from the princess and closer to the doors, the more important and arrogant he behaved. It was impossible to look at the servant of the valets, standing right at the door, without fear, he was so important!

That's fear! - said Gerda. - Did Kai still marry the princess?

If I weren't a raven, I would marry her myself, even though I'm engaged. He entered into a conversation with the princess and spoke as well as I do when I speak crow - at least that’s what my bride told me. He generally behaved very freely and sweetly and declared that he had not come to get married, but only to listen to the princess’s clever speeches. Well, he liked her, and she liked him too!

Yes, yes, it's Kai! - said Gerda. - He's so smart! He knew all four operations of arithmetic, and even with fractions! Oh, take me to the palace!

It’s easy to say,” the raven answered, “but how to do it?” Wait, I’ll talk to my fiancée, she’ll come up with something and advise us. Do you think that they will let you into the palace just like that? Why, they don’t really let girls like that in!

They'll let me in! - said Gerda. - If only Kai heard that I was here, he would come running after me now!

Wait for me here, at the bars! - said the raven, shook his head and flew away.

He returned quite late in the evening and croaked:

Kar, kar! My bride sends you a thousand bows and this little loaf of bread. She stole it in the kitchen - there are a lot of them, and you must be hungry!.. Well, you won’t get into the palace: you’re barefoot - the guards in silver and the footmen in gold will never let you through. But don't cry, you will still get there. My bride knows how to get into the princess's bedroom from the back door, and she knows where to get the key.

And so they entered the garden, walked along long alleys strewn with yellowed autumn leaves, and when all the lights in the palace windows went out one by one, the raven led the girl through a small half-open door.

Oh, how Gerda’s heart beat with fear and joyful impatience! She was definitely going to do something bad, but she only wanted to find out if her Kai was here! Yes, yes, he's probably here! She so vividly imagined his intelligent eyes, long hair, smile... How he smiled at her when they used to sit side by side under the rose bushes! And how happy he will be now when he sees her, hears what a long journey she decided to take for his sake, learns how everyone at home grieved for him! Oh, she was just beside herself with fear and joy.

But here they are on the landing of the stairs; a lamp was burning on the closet, and a tame crow was sitting on the floor and looking around. Gerda sat down and bowed, as her grandmother taught her.

My fiancé told me so many good things about you, miss! - said the tame crow. - Your vita - as they say - is also very touching! Would you like to take the lamp, and I will go ahead? We will go straight, we won’t meet anyone here!

And it seems to me that someone is coming after us! - said Gerda, and at that very moment some shadows rushed past her with a slight noise: horses with flowing manes and thin legs, hunters, ladies and gentlemen on horseback.

These are dreams! - said the tame crow. - They come here so that the thoughts of high-ranking people are carried away to the hunt. So much the better for us - it will be more convenient to see the sleeping people! I hope, however, that by entering in honor you will show that you have a grateful heart!

There is something to talk about here! It goes without saying! - said the forest raven.

Then they entered the first hall, all covered with pink satin woven with flowers. Dreams flashed past the girl again, but so quickly that she did not even have time to see the riders. One hall was more magnificent than the other - it simply took me by surprise. Finally they reached the bedroom: the ceiling resembled the top of a huge palm tree with precious crystal leaves; From the middle of it descended a thick golden stem, on which hung two beds in the shape of lilies. One was white, the princess slept in it, the other was red, and Gerda hoped to find Kai in it. The girl slightly bent one of the red petals and saw the dark blond back of her head. It's Kai! She called him by name loudly and brought the lamp right up to his face. The dreams noisily rushed away: the prince woke up and turned his head... Ah, it was not Kai!

The prince resembled him only from the back of his head, but was just as young and handsome. The princess looked out of the white lily and asked what happened. Gerda began to cry and told her entire story, mentioning what the crows had done for her.

Oh, you poor thing! - said the prince and princess, praised the crows, declared that they were not at all angry with them - just let them not do this in the future - and even wanted to reward them.

Do you want to be free birds? - asked the princess. - Or do you want to take the position of court crows, fully supported from kitchen scraps?

The raven and the crow bowed and asked for a position at court - they thought about old age and said:

It’s good to have a faithful piece of bread in your old age!

The prince stood up and gave up his bed to Gerda; There was nothing more he could do for her yet. And she folded her little hands and thought: “How kind all people and animals are!” - closed her eyes and fell asleep sweetly. The dreams again flew into the bedroom, but now they looked like God’s angels and were carrying Kai on a small sleigh, who nodded his head to Gerda. Alas! All this was just a dream and disappeared as soon as the girl woke up.

The next day they dressed her from head to toe in silk and velvet and allowed her to stay in the palace as long as she wished. The girl could have lived happily ever after, but she only stayed for a few days and began to ask to be given a cart with a horse and a pair of shoes - she again wanted to go looking for her sworn brother around the world.

She was given shoes, a muff, and a wonderful dress, and when she said goodbye to everyone, a golden carriage with the coats of arms of the prince and princess shining like stars drove up to the gate; the coachman, footmen and postilions - she was also given postilions - had small gold crowns on their heads. The prince and princess themselves seated Gerda in the carriage and wished her a happy journey. The forest raven, who had already managed to get married, accompanied the girl for the first three miles and sat in the carriage next to her - he could not ride with his back to the horses. A tame crow sat on the gate and flapped its wings. She did not go to see Gerda off because she had been suffering from headaches since she received a position at court and ate too much. The carriage was chock full of sugar pretzels, and the box under the seat was filled with fruit and gingerbread.

Goodbye! Goodbye! - the prince and princess shouted.

Gerda began to cry, and so did the crow. So they drove the first three miles. Here the raven said goodbye to the girl. It was a hard parting! The raven flew up a tree and flapped its black wings until the carriage, shining like the sun, disappeared from sight.

Little robber

So Gerda drove into the dark forest, but the carriage shone like the sun and immediately caught the eye of the robbers. They could not stand it and flew at her shouting: “Gold! Gold!" They grabbed the horses by the bridle, killed the little postilions, coachman and servants, and pulled Gerda out of the carriage.

Look, what a nice, fat little thing. Fattened with nuts! - said the old robber woman with a long, stiff beard and shaggy, overhanging eyebrows. - Fatty, like your lamb! Well, what will it taste like?

And she pulled out a sharp, sparkling knife. What a horror!

Ay! - she suddenly screamed: she was bitten on the ear by her own daughter, who was sitting behind her and was so unbridled and willful that it was funny!

Oh you mean girl! - the mother screamed, but did not have time to kill Gerda.

She will play with me! - said the little robber. - She will give me her muff, her pretty dress and will sleep with me in my bed.

And the girl again bit her mother so hard that she jumped and spun around in one place. The robbers laughed:

Look how he jumps with his girl!

I want to get into the carriage! - shouted the little robber and insisted on her own - she was terribly spoiled and stubborn.

They got into the carriage with Gerda and rushed over stumps and hummocks into the thicket of the forest. The little robber was as tall as Gerda, but stronger, broader in the shoulders and much darker. Her eyes were completely black, but somehow sad. She hugged Gerda and said:

They won't kill you until I'm angry with you! You're a princess, right?

No! - the girl answered and told what she had to experience and how she loves Kai.

The little robber looked at her seriously, nodded her head slightly and said:

They won't kill you, even if I'm angry with you - I'd rather kill you myself!

And she wiped away Gerda’s tears, and then hid both hands in her pretty, soft and warm muff.

The carriage stopped: they entered the courtyard of a robber's castle. It was covered in huge cracks; crows and crows flew out of them; Huge bulldogs jumped out from somewhere and looked so fiercely, as if they wanted to eat everyone, but they did not bark - this was forbidden.

In the middle of a huge hall, with dilapidated, soot-covered walls and a stone floor, a fire was blazing; the smoke rose to the ceiling and had to find its own way out; Soup was boiling in a huge cauldron over the fire, and hares and rabbits were roasting on spits.

You will sleep with me right here, next to my little menagerie! - the little robber said to Gerda.

The girls were fed and watered, and they went to their corner, where straw was laid out and covered with carpets. Higher up there were more than a hundred pigeons sitting on perches; they all seemed to be asleep, but when the girls approached, they stirred slightly.

All mine! - said the little robber, grabbed one of the pigeons by the legs and shook it so much that it beat its wings. - Here, kiss him! - she shouted, poking the dove right in Gerda’s face. - And here are the forest rogues sitting! - she continued, pointing to two pigeons sitting in a small recess in the wall, behind a wooden lattice. - These two are forest rogues! They must be kept locked up, otherwise they will fly away quickly! And here is my dear old man! - And the girl pulled the antlers of a reindeer tied to the wall in a shiny copper collar. - He also needs to be kept on a leash, otherwise he will run away! Every evening I tickle him under the neck with my sharp knife - he is afraid of death!

With these words, the little robber pulled out a long knife from a crevice in the wall and ran it across the deer’s neck. The poor animal kicked, and the girl laughed and dragged Gerda to the bed.

Do you sleep with a knife? - Gerda asked her, glancing sideways at the sharp knife.

Always! - answered the little robber. - Who knows what might happen! But tell me again about Kai and how you set off to wander the world!

Gerda told. Wood pigeons in a cage cooed quietly; the other pigeons were already sleeping; the little robber wrapped one arm around Gerda's neck - she had a knife in the other - and began to snore, but Gerda could not close her eyes, not knowing whether they would kill her or leave her alive. The robbers sat around the fire, sang songs and drank, and the old robber woman tumbled. It was scary for the poor girl to look at it.

Suddenly the forest pigeons cooed:

Kurr! Kurr! We saw Kai! The white hen carried his sleigh on her back, and he sat in the Snow Queen's sleigh. They flew over the forest when we, the chicks, were still lying in the nest; she breathed on us, and everyone died except the two of us! Kurr! Kurr!

What are you saying? - Gerda exclaimed. -Where did the Snow Queen fly to?

She probably flew to Lapland - there is eternal snow and ice there! Ask the reindeer what's tied up here!

Yes, there is eternal snow and ice, how wonderful it is! - said the reindeer. - There you jump in freedom across endless sparkling icy plains! The Snow Queen's summer tent will be pitched there, and her permanent palaces are at the North Pole, on the island of Spitsbergen!

Oh Kai, my dear Kai! - Gerda sighed.

Lie still! - said the little robber. - Otherwise I’ll stab you with a knife!

In the morning Gerda told her what she had heard from the wood pigeons. The little robber looked seriously at Gerda, nodded her head and said:

Well, so be it!.. Do you know where Lapland is? - she then asked the reindeer.

Who would know if not me! - answered the deer, and his eyes sparkled. - I was born and raised there, I jumped across the snowy plains there!

So listen! - the little robber said to Gerda. - You see, all our people are gone; one mother at home; a little later she will take a sip from the big bottle and take a nap - then I will do something for you!

Then the girl jumped out of bed, hugged her mother, pulled her beard and said:

Hello my little goat!

And her mother hit her on the nose, the girl’s nose turned red and blue, but all this was done with love.

Then, when the old woman took a sip from her bottle and began to snore, the little robber approached the reindeer and said:

We could still make fun of you for a long, long time! You can be really funny when they tickle you with a sharp knife! Well, so be it! I will untie you and set you free. You can run away to your Lapland, but for this you must take this girl to the palace of the Snow Queen - her sworn brother is there. You, of course, heard what she was saying? She spoke quite loudly, and your ears are always on top of your head.

The reindeer jumped for joy. The little robber placed Gerda on it, tied her tightly for the sake of caution, and slipped a soft pillow under her to make it more comfortable for her to sit.

So be it,” she then said, “take back your fur boots - it will be cold!” I’ll keep the muff for myself, it’s so good! But I won’t let you freeze; Here are my mother’s huge mittens, they will reach your very elbows! Put your hands in them! Well, now you have hands like my ugly mother!

Gerda cried with joy.

I can't stand it when they whine! - said the little robber. - Now you need to look fun! Here's two more loaves of bread and a ham for you! What? You won't go hungry!

Both were tied to a deer. Then the little robber opened the door, lured the dogs into the house, cut the rope with which the deer was tied with her sharp knife, and said to him:

Well, it's alive! Look after the girl!

Gerda extended both hands in huge mittens to the little robber and said goodbye to her. The reindeer set off at full speed through stumps and hummocks, through the forest, through swamps and steppes. The wolves howled, the crows croaked, and the sky suddenly began to roar and throw out pillars of fire.

Here is my native northern lights! - said the deer. - Look how it burns!

Lapland and Finnish

The deer stopped at a miserable hut; the roof went down to the ground, and the door was so low that people had to crawl through it on all fours. There was an old Laplander woman at home, frying fish by the light of a fat lamp. The reindeer told the Laplander the whole story of Gerda, but first he told his own - it seemed much more important to him. Gerda was so numb from the cold that she could not speak.

Oh you poor things! - said the Laplander. - You still have a long way to go! You'll have to walk more than a hundred miles until you get to Finnmark, where the Snow Queen lives in her country house and lights blue sparklers every evening. I will write a few words on dried cod - I don’t have paper - and you will take it to the Finnish woman who lives in those places and will be able to teach you better than me what to do.

When Gerda had warmed up, eaten and drunk, the Laplander wrote a few words on the dried cod, told Gerda to take good care of it, then tied the girl to the back of the deer, and it rushed off again. The sky exploded again and threw out pillars of wonderful blue flame. So the deer and Gerda ran to Finnmark and knocked on the chimney of the Finnish woman - she didn’t even have a door.

Well, it was hot in her home! The Finnish woman herself, a short, dirty woman, walked around half naked. She quickly pulled off Gerda's entire dress, mittens and boots - otherwise the girl would have been too hot - put a piece of ice on the deer's head and then began to read what was written on the dried cod. She read everything from word to word three times until she had it memorized, and then she put the cod into the cauldron - after all, the fish was good for food, and the Finnish woman did not waste anything.

Here the deer first told his story, and then the story of Gerda. The Finnish girl blinked her smart eyes, but didn’t say a word.

You are such a wise woman! - said the deer. - I know that you can tie all four winds with one thread; when the skipper unties one knot, a fair wind blows, unties another, the weather gets worse, and unties the third and fourth, such a storm arises that it breaks the trees into splinters. Would you make a drink for the girl that would give her the strength of twelve heroes? Then she would defeat the Snow Queen!

The strength of twelve heroes! - said the Finnish woman. - Yes, there is a lot of sense in this!

With these words, she took a large leather scroll from the shelf and unfolded it: there were some amazing writings on it; The Finnish woman began to read them and read them until she broke out in a sweat.

The deer again began to ask for Gerda, and Gerda herself looked at the Finn with such pleading eyes, full of tears, that she blinked again, took the deer aside and, changing the ice on his head, whispered:

Kai is actually with the Snow Queen, but he is quite happy and thinks that he couldn’t be better anywhere. The reason for everything is the fragments of the mirror that sit in his heart and in his eye. They must be removed, otherwise he will never be human and the Snow Queen will retain her power over him.

But won't you help Gerda somehow destroy this power?

I can't make her stronger than she is. Don't you see how great her power is? Don't you see that both people and animals serve her? After all, she walked around half the world barefoot! It’s not up to us to borrow her power! The strength is in her sweet, innocent childish heart. If she herself cannot penetrate the palace of the Snow Queen and remove the fragments from Kai’s heart, then we will certainly not help her! Two miles from here the Snow Queen's garden begins. Take the girl there, drop her off near a large bush covered with red berries, and come back without hesitation!

With these words, the Finnish woman lifted Gerda onto the back of the deer, and he began to run as fast as he could.

Hey, I'm without warm boots! Hey, I'm not wearing gloves! - Gerda shouted, finding herself in the cold.

But the deer did not dare to stop until it reached a bush with red berries; Then he lowered the girl, kissed her right on the lips, and large shiny tears rolled from his eyes. Then he shot back like an arrow. The poor girl was left alone, in the bitter cold, without shoes, without mittens.

She ran forward as fast as she could; a whole regiment of snow flakes was rushing towards her, but they did not fall from the sky - the sky was completely clear, and the northern lights were glowing on it - no, they ran along the ground straight towards Gerda and, as they approached, they became larger and larger. Gerda remembered the large beautiful flakes under the burning glass, but these were much larger, more terrible, of the most amazing types and shapes, and all of them were alive. These were the vanguard of the Snow Queen's army. Some resembled large ugly hedgehogs, others - hundred-headed snakes, others - fat bear cubs with tousled hair. But they all sparkled equally with whiteness, they were all living snow flakes.

Gerda began to read the “Our Father”; it was so cold that the girl’s breath immediately turned into a thick fog. This fog kept getting thicker and thicker, but small, bright angels began to stand out from it, who, having stepped on the ground, grew into large, formidable angels with helmets on their heads and spears and shields in their hands. Their number kept growing, and when Gerda finished her prayer, a whole legion had already formed around her. The angels took the snow monsters onto their spears, and they crumbled into thousands of snowflakes. Gerda could now boldly move forward; the angels stroked her arms and legs, and she no longer felt so cold. Finally, the girl reached the palace of the Snow Queen.

Let's see what Kai was doing at this time. He didn’t even think about Gerda, and least of all about the fact that she was standing in front of the castle.

What happened in the halls of the Snow Queen and what happened next

The walls of the Snow Queen's palace were covered in a blizzard, the windows and doors were damaged by violent winds. Hundreds of huge halls illuminated by the northern lights stretched one after another; the largest extended for many, many miles. How cold, how deserted it was in these white, brightly sparkling palaces! Fun never came here! If only on a rare occasion there would be a bear party here with dancing to the music of the storm, in which polar bears could distinguish themselves by their grace and ability to walk on their hind legs, or a game of cards with quarrels and fights, or, finally, they would agree to talk over a cup of coffee little white chanterelles - no, this never happened! Cold, deserted, dead! The northern lights flashed and burned so regularly that it was possible to accurately calculate at what minute the light would intensify and at what moment it would weaken. In the middle of the largest deserted snowy hall there was a frozen lake. The ice cracked on it into thousands of pieces, marvelously even and regular. In the middle of the lake stood the throne of the Snow Queen; She sat on it when she was at home, saying that she sat on the mirror of the mind; in her opinion, it was the only and best mirror in the world.

Kai turned completely blue, almost blackened from the cold, but did not notice it - the kisses of the Snow Queen made him insensitive to the cold, and his very heart became a piece of ice. Kai tinkered with the flat, pointed ice floes, arranging them in all sorts of ways. There is such a game - folding figures from wooden planks, which is called “Chinese puzzle”. Kai also made various intricate figures from ice floes, and this was called “ice mind games.” In his eyes, these figures were a miracle of art, and folding them was an activity of the first importance. This happened because there was a piece of a magic mirror in his eye! He put whole words together from ice floes, but he could not put together what he especially wanted - the word “eternity.” The Snow Queen told him: “If you put this word together, you will be your own master, and I will give you the whole world and a pair of new skates.” But he couldn't put it together.

Now I'll fly to warmer lands! - said the Snow Queen. - I’ll look into the black cauldrons!

She called the craters of the fire-breathing mountains Vesuvius and Etna cauldrons.

And she flew away, and Kai was left alone in the vast deserted hall, looking at the ice floes and thinking and thinking, so that his head was cracking. He sat in one place - so pale, motionless, as if lifeless. You would have thought he was frozen.

At that time, Gerda entered the huge gate, made by violent winds. She read the evening prayer, and the winds subsided, as if they had fallen asleep. She freely entered the huge deserted ice hall and saw Kai. The girl immediately recognized him, threw herself on his neck, hugged him tightly and exclaimed:

Kai, my dear Kai! Finally I found you!

But he sat still as motionless and cold. Then Gerda began to cry; Her hot tears fell on his chest, penetrated his heart, melted his icy crust and melted the fragment. Kai looked at Gerda, and she sang:

Roses are blooming... Beauty, beauty!
Soon we will see the baby Christ.

Kai suddenly burst into tears and cried so long and so hard that the shard flowed out of his eye along with the tears. Then he recognized Gerda and was very happy.

Gerda! My dear Gerda!.. Where have you been for so long? Where was I myself? - And he looked around. - How cold and deserted it is here!

And he pressed himself tightly to Gerda. She laughed and cried with joy. Yes, there was such joy that even the ice floes began to dance, and when they were tired, they lay down and composed the very word that the Snow Queen asked Kaya to compose; having folded it, he could become his own master, and even receive from her the gift of the whole world and a pair of new skates.

Gerda kissed Kai on both cheeks, and they bloomed like roses again, kissed his eyes, and they sparkled like her eyes; She kissed his hands and feet, and he again became vigorous and healthy.

The Snow Queen could return at any time - his freedom letter lay here, written in shiny icy letters.

Kai and Gerda walked out of the deserted icy palaces hand in hand; They walked and talked about their grandmother, about their roses, and on their way the violent winds died down and the sun peeked through. When they reached a bush with red berries, a reindeer was already waiting for them. He brought with him a young female deer, her udder was full of milk; she gave it to Kai and Gerda and kissed them right on the lips. Then Kai and Gerda went first to the Finnish woman, warmed up with her and found out the way home, and then to the Laplander; she sewed them a new dress, repaired her sleigh and went to see them off.

The reindeer couple also accompanied the young travelers right up to the very border of Lapland, where the first greenery was already breaking through. Here Kai and Gerda said goodbye to the deer and the Laplander.

Bon Voyage! - the guides shouted to them.

Here in front of them is the forest. The first birds began to sing, the trees were covered with green buds. A young girl in a bright red cap and with a pistol in her belt rode out of the forest to meet the travelers on a magnificent horse. Gerda immediately recognized both the horse - it had once been harnessed to a golden carriage - and the girl. She was a little robber; she was bored with living at home, and she wanted to visit the north, and if she didn’t like it there, she wanted to go to other places. She also recognized Gerda. What a joy!

Look, you're a tramp! - she said to Kai. “I would like to know if you are worth having people run after you to the ends of the earth!”

But Gerda patted her on the cheek and asked about the prince and princess.

They left for foreign lands! - answered the young robber.

And the raven and the crow? - asked Gerda.

The forest raven died; The tame crow remains a widow, walks around with black fur on its leg and complains about its fate. But all this is nonsense, but tell me better what happened to you and how you found him.

Gerda and Kai told her everything.

Well, that's the end of the fairy tale! - said the young robber, shook their hands and promised to visit them if she ever came to their city. Then she went her way, and Kai and Gerda went theirs. They walked, and spring flowers bloomed on their road and the grass turned green. Then the bells rang, and they recognized the bell towers of their hometown. They climbed the familiar stairs and entered a room where everything was as before: the clock ticked in the same way, the hour hand moved in the same way. But, passing through the low door, they noticed that during this time they had managed to become adults. Blooming rose bushes peered from the roof through the open window; their children's chairs stood right there. Kai and Gerda each sat down on their own and took each other's hands. The cold, deserted splendor of the Snow Queen's palace was forgotten by them, like a heavy dream. Grandmother sat in the sun and read the Gospel loudly: “If you do not become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven!”

Kai and Gerda looked at each other and only then understood the meaning of the old psalm:

Roses are blooming... Beauty, beauty!
Soon we will see the baby Christ.

So they sat side by side, both already adults, but children at heart and soul, and outside it was a warm, blessed summer!