They drove through the dense woods in the car. However, the car shone like a torch, which dazzled some of the robbers' eyes, and they could no longer bear it.
"That's gold! That's gold!" they shouted. They rushed forward, stopped the horses, killed the riders, coachmen and servants, and finally dragged Gerda from the carriage.
"She is very fat...she is very beautiful...she grew up eating walnut kernels!" said the old female robber. Her beard grew long and hard, and her fluffy eyebrows covered her eyes.
.
"She looks like a fat little lamb! How delicious!"
So she pulled out a shining knife - the knife was so shining that it was scary.
"Ouch!" the old woman yelled at the same time, because her biological daughter climbed on her back and bit her ear; she is a naughty and savage child who likes to have this kind of fun. "You...
Naughty child!" said the mother, so that she would not have time to kill Gerda.
"I want her to play with me!" said the little robber girl. "She must give me her muff and her pretty clothes, and sleep in the bed with me!"
So the child bit her again, causing the old robber to jump up and spin again. The other robbers all laughed and said at the same time: "Look how well she and her kid dance!"
"I want to get in that car!" said the little robber girl.
She did whatever she wanted, because she was a very wild and stubborn child. She and Gerda sat in the car and drove over tree stumps and thorns until they ran into the forest. The little robber girl was the same as Gerda.
Although she was older, her body was stronger and her shoulders were broader. Her skin was brown and her eyes were dark, almost gloomy. She hugged little Gerda around her waist and said:
"As long as I'm not angry with you, they can't kill you. You're a princess, I suppose?"
"No," said little Gerda. Then she told her what had happened to her and how she liked little Gay.
The little robber girl looked at her seriously, nodded slightly, and said at the same time: "Even if I am angry with you, they can't kill you, because then I will do it myself."
So she wiped away Gerda's tears and put her hands into the soft and warm muff.
Now at last the carriage came to a halt. They entered the courtyard of the robber's palace. The palace was cracked from top to bottom. The great dodos and ravens flew out of the open holes, and the great lapdogs—each of them looked like
As if they could swallow a person - jump very high, but they don't scream because this is not allowed.
In a large, old, smoky room, there was a fire burning brightly on the stone floor. The smoke was swirling under the ceiling, trying to find a way out. A large pot of soup was boiling, and there was
Many rabbits and hares are roasted on the iron pole.
"You sleep with me and my little animals tonight," said the little robber girl.
They ate something and drank something, and then went to a corner covered with straw and carpet. There were more than a hundred pigeons perched on slats and perches. They were almost asleep.
But when the two girls arrived, they turned their heads and took a look.
"These things all belong to me," the little robber girl said. So she immediately grabbed one at hand, lifted its legs and shook it a few times until it made it flap its wings randomly. "Kiss it.
Come on!" she shouted, slapping Gerda across the face. "There are some forest bastards sitting there," she continued, pointing to a hole in the wall that was barricaded with wooden bars. "
These two things are the bastards of the forest. If you don't keep them shut, they will fly away in a moment. Now please look at my old love, Ba." She grabbed a reindeer by its horns and turned it
Drag it out. It is lassoed; there is a bright copper ring around its neck. "We have to lasso it tightly, otherwise it will escape. Every night I scratch its neck with a sharp knife."
Tickling - he is very afraid of this hand."
The little girl then pulled out a long knife from the crack in the wall and slid it on the reindeer's neck a few times. The poor animal bounced its legs. The little robber girl laughed a lot and dragged Gerda into the bed.
.
"Do you keep this knife by your side when you sleep?" Gerda asked, looking at the knife in horror.
"I always sleep with my knife!" replied the little robber girl, "because no one knows what accident will happen. But now please tell me about Gaye and why you came to this big place.
Tell me again why you came to this world."
Gerda told the story again from the beginning. The turtle dove cooed in the cage above, and at the same time the other turtle doves fell asleep. The little robber girl put one hand around Gerda's neck and held the
Holding the knife, she also fell asleep - people could hear these movements. But Gerda could not close her eyes no matter what - she did not know whether she would live or die.
The robbers sat around the fire, singing and drinking. The old robber woman turned somersaults. A little girl was really frightened when she saw this scene.
Then the turtle doves said: "Coo! Coo! We saw little Kay. A white hen was carrying his sleigh: he was sitting in the carriage of the Snow Queen. While we were in the nest, the carriage was low.
Lowland flew over the trees. She blew on our little turtle dove: everyone was dead except us two. Coo! Coo!"
"What are you talking about above?" asked Gerda. "Where did the Snow Queen travel? Do you know?"
"She must have gone to Lapland, because there is snow and ice all year round. Just ask the reindeer on the rope."
"There is ice and snow there, and it is magnificent and glorious there!" said the reindeer. "There, people can jump freely in the sparkling valleys! There, the Snow Queen sets up her summer tent, but the palace she often lives in is near the North Pole.
An island called Spitsbergen."
"Ah, Kay, little Kay!" Gerda sighed.
"You have to lie still," said the little robber girl, "or I will thrust the knife into your belly!"
The next morning, Gerda told her what the turtledove said. The little robber girl looked very serious, but she nodded and said: "It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter! Do you know where Lapland is?" She asked the reindeer.
.
"Who knows better than me?" said the reindeer, its eyes rolling on its head. "I was born there and grew up there. I jumped on the snow there."
"Listen!" the little robber girl said to Gerda. "You need to know: our men are gone. Only mother is left, and she will stay here. But towards noon, she will leave from the big bottle
Let’s have a drink inside, so she’s going to take a nap, and then I’ll come and help you!”
She jumped out of bed, threw her arms around her mother's neck, pulled her beard, and said: "Good morning, my dear old she-goat."
Her mother tapped her nose several times, making her red and blue - but this was entirely out of true maternal love.
After the mother drank something from the bottle, she fell asleep. The little robber girl went to the reindeer and said: "I would like to stab you a few more times with a sharp knife, because you will look funny. But it doesn't matter."
, I will untie you and let you out so that you can run to Lapland. But you have to use your legs well to bring this little girl to the palace of the Snow Queen.
—Her playmate is there. You have heard what she said to me, for she spoke loudly, and you listened too!"
The reindeer jumped up with joy. The little robber girl lifted little Gerda onto its back, tied her up very carefully, and even gave her a small cushion as a seat.
"That's okay," she said, "just put on your leather boots because it's getting cold. But I'm going to keep this muff because it's cute! But you still won't feel cold.
These are my mother's big gloves that go up to your elbows. Put them on! Your hands now look like my ugly mother's hands."
Gerda was so happy that she cried.
"I can't bear to see you shed a lot of tears!" said the little robber girl. "You should look very happy now. Take these two pieces of bread and a piece of ham, so as not to starve."
These things were tied to the reindeer's back. The little robber girl opened the door and coaxed some of the big dogs into the house. Then she cut the rope with her knife and said to the reindeer:
"Run! But please take good care of this little girl!"
Gerda stretched out her big gloved hands to the little robber girl and said: "Goodbye!" Then the reindeer started galloping on the tree stumps and bushes, through the woods, over the swamps and prairie, as fast as possible
The ground galloped. Jackals were howling, and crows were croaking. "Hush! Hush!" This was the sound coming from the air. The sky seemed to be on fire.
"That's my dear old Northern Lights!" said the reindeer, "look how bright it is!" So it ran faster, day and night.
When the bread was finished and the ham was finished, they arrived in Lapland.
-----------------------------------------------
①Lapland is a place in the north of Sweden, Norway and Finland. It is very cold.
②Spitsbergen (Spiyzbergen) is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean and belongs to Norway.
The sixth story: Lapland women and Finnish women
They stopped in front of a small house. This house was very simple; its roof was so low that it almost touched the ground; its door was so low that when people in the family wanted to go in or out, they had to crawl on the ground.
There was no one in the house except an old woman, who was frying fish on an oil lamp. The reindeer told Gerda's whole story, but he told his own first, because he felt that his was the most important.
Gerda was so cold that she had no strength at all and could not even speak a word.
"Oh, you poor things!" said the Lapland woman, "you still have a long way to go! You still have to run more than three hundred Danish miles to reach Finnmark, because the Snow Queen is there.
Vacation in the country. She sets off blue fireworks every night. I will write a few words on a dried cod, as I have no paper. You can take it to an old Finnish woman - she will tell you more.
Lots of news.”
When Gerda had warmed herself and had eaten and drank something, the Lapland woman wrote a few words on a dried cod, told Gerda to hold it well, and tied her to the back of the reindeer.
Up, the deer immediately jumped away, "Hoo! Hoo!" it said in the high sky. The most beautiful, the blue Northern Lights, kept shining all night long.
So they got to Finnmark, and they knocked on the Finnish woman's chimney, because she didn't even have a door.
It was very hot in the house and the Finnish woman lived there almost naked. She was small and very dirty. She immediately untied Gerda's clothes and took off her big gloves and boots, otherwise she would be too dirty.
Alda would feel too hot. She put a piece of ice on the reindeer's head and read the words written on the cod three times in a row. When she had memorized the words, she
Throw the fish into a soup can and cook it because it is edible and she is a person who never wastes anything.
The reindeer first told his story, and then the story of little Gerda. The Finnish woman blinked her clever eyes and said nothing.
"You are very clever," said the reindeer. "I know that you can sew together all the winds in the world with a single thread. If the captain unties a knot, he can have a good wind; if he loosens
If he opens the second knot, the wind will blow harder; but when he unties the third and fourth knots, there will be a storm that can blow down the woods. Can you give this little girl
How can a little drink give her the strength of 12 people to subdue the Snow Queen?"
"The power of 12 people!" said the Finnish woman, "This is so effective!"
She went to the cupboard, took down a large bundle of skins, and opened the bundle. There were many strange letters written on it. The Finnish woman read until beads of sweat dripped from her forehead.
However, the reindeer pleaded very earnestly on behalf of little Gerda, and Gerda herself looked at the Finnish woman with tearful, pleading eyes. The woman also began to blink, and led the reindeer to a
He walked to the corner of the wall and put a piece of fresh ice on his back while saying: "Of course little Gay lives at the Snow Queen's place. He feels that everything is in line with his taste and ideas there. He thinks that there
It is the most beautiful place in the world. But this is because there is a fragment of a mirror in his heart and a fragment of mirror in his eyes. They must be taken out first, otherwise he will never be able to become a human being. But
Snow Queen will do everything in her power to keep him!"
"But can you give little Gerda something that will give her the strength to overcome all difficulties?"
"I can give her no more power than she has now: don't you see how great it is? Don't you see how men and animals serve her? Don't you see that she wears bare feet
How many miles has she traveled in this world? She doesn't need to know her own strength from us. Her strength is in her heart; she is an innocent and lovely child - this is her strength. If she can't
Go to the Snow Queen and take the shards of glass out of little Kay. Then there's nothing we can do to help her! The Snow Queen's garden starts two miles from here. You can take the little girl there.
Go there: put her on the snow next to a big bush full of red flowers and berries. Don't stay there chatting, hurry up and come back here!"
So the Finnish woman put Gerda on the back of the reindeer. She ran away as fast as possible.
"Oh, I didn't put on my boots! I didn't put on my big gloves!" cried little Gerda.
She immediately felt the biting cold; but the reindeer did not dare to stop: it ran to the bush full of red berries. It put Gerda down, kissed her on the mouth, and
Big, shiny tears ran down her face. She ran back as fast as she could. Poor Gerda stood there in that terrible, cold Finnmark, without shoes or big gloves.
She ran forward as hard as she could. A snowflake rolled over. It didn't fall from the sky, because the sky was very clear, and the Northern Lights were also shooting out. The snowflake rolled up along the ground. The closer it got, the closer it got.
Grow huge. Gerda remembered how big and beautiful the snowflakes had been when she looked out through the hot glass. But here they looked huge and scary - they were alive. They were white snow.
The Queen's outposts are all strangely shaped. Some look like big ugly hedgehogs; some look like many snakes with their heads sticking out and tangled together; some look like little fat bears with erect hair. They are all shiny white.
, living snowflakes.
Little Gerda was reciting the Lord's Prayer. The weather was so cold that she could see her breath coming out of her mouth like smoke. The breath she exhaled became thicker and thicker, forming a bright
Little angels. As they touched the ground, they grew larger and larger. They all wore helmets and carried spears and shields. Their number increased. When Gerda finished her prayer, there appeared around her
A large regiment. These soldiers stabbed these terrible snowflakes with their spears and broke them into countless pieces. Then little Gerda moved forward steadily and bravely. Angel stroked her hand and
Then she felt less cold. She hurried towards the Snow Queen's palace.
But now we have to see what Gay is doing first. He did not think of little Gerda at all, let alone that she was standing at the door of the palace.
-----------------------------------------------
①Finnmark is the northernmost county in Norway and the northernmost region in Europe. It is extremely cold.
②Refers to the Northern Lights.
The seventh story: What happened in the Snow Queen's palace and its consequences
The walls of the palace are made of snow, and the biting cold wind is its windows and doors. There are more than a hundred houses inside, all formed by snowflakes blowing together. The largest room among them is several miles long.
The roads are long. They are illuminated by the powerful Northern Lights; they are very large, very empty, very cold and very bright. There is never much joy here, not even a bear's dance. In fact, a blizzard is likely to start here.
A little music allows the polar bears to stand on their hind legs and take steps to show off their outstanding postures. They don't even have gadgets like slapping their mouths or tapping their paws. The young white fox girls have never played any tricks.
tea party.
The hall of the Snow Queen is empty, vast and cold. The northern light shines so accurately that you can tell when it is highest and when it is lowest. In the center of this empty, edgeless snow hall there is a frozen
The lake - it broke into a thousand pieces; but each piece was exactly the same shape as the other pieces, so it was like a perfect set of works of art. When the Snow Queen was at home, she sat in the middle of the lake
.She herself said that she was sitting in the mirror of reason, and this was the only and best mirror in the world.
Little Gay was blue with cold - indeed, almost black with cold, but he didn't feel it, because the Snow Queen kissed the shivers away from him. His heart was like an ice cube. He was stirring
We take a few flat and sharp pieces of ice and put them together to make something. This is just like we want to use several pieces of wood to make a pattern - it is the so-called Chinese toy. ① Gay is also piecing together patterns.
——The most complex pattern.
This is called the rational ice cube game. In his eyes, these patterns are the most amazing and very important things; this is entirely because of the mischief of the mirror fragment in his eyes. He lays out these patterns,
To form a word - but he could not form the word he wanted - "eternal". So Snow White said: "If you can spell this pattern, then you are your own master. I will give you
The whole world and a new pair of skates, as a gift.”
But he couldn't spell it out.
"Now I am anxious to fly to a warm country!" said the Snow Queen, "I want to see those black jars!" She was referring to those volcanoes, which we call Etna and Vesuvius.
Volcano ②. "I will make them whiter! There is a need; it will be good for grapes and lemons."
So the Snow Queen flew away. Gay sat alone in the large and empty ice palace that was several miles long, staring blankly at his ice cubes. He fell into deep thought, almost breaking his head.
He was sitting upright and motionless. People might have thought he was frozen to death.
At this moment little Gerda happened to walk through the gate and came to the palace. The wind here was very sharp, but after she finished her evening prayers, the wind calmed down and seemed to fall asleep. She left
Entering this large, empty, cold room, she saw Gay. She recognized him immediately. She fell on him, hugged him, hugged him tightly, and cried out at the same time:
"Gay, dear little Gay! I finally found you!"
But he sat motionless, upright and indifferent. Then little Gerda shed many hot tears. The tears flowed onto his chest, seeped into his heart, melted the snow in it, and filled it with water.
A small fragment of the mirror disintegrated. He looked at her and she sang a hymn:
Roses grow abundantly in the valley,
There we meet the Baby Jesus.
Then Gay burst into tears. He cried so hard that even the mirror powder came out of his eyes. Now he recognized her, so he shouted happily: "Gerda, dear Gerda! You are here."
Where have I been for so long? Where have I been?" He glanced around. "How cold it is here! How vast and empty it is here!"
He hugged Gerda tightly. She was so happy that she cried sometimes and laughed sometimes. They were so happy that even the ice cubes around them danced with joy. When they lay down because of fatigue, the two of them formed a perfect circle.
Pattern of Words - The Snow Queen once said that if he could spell out this pattern, he would become his own master and she would give him the whole world and a new pair of ice boots.
Gerda kissed his cheeks: they were like blooming flowers; she kissed his eyes: they were as bright as her own; she kissed his hands and feet, and he became healthy and lively again.
Get up. The Snow Queen could have returned home at this time, but the words of her liberation were already printed brightly on the ice.
They held hands and walked out of this huge ice palace. They talked about their grandmother and the roses on the roof. Wherever they went, the wind stopped and the sun showed its face. When they arrived
When they reached the bush with red berries, the reindeer was waiting for them there. It also brought another little doe. The doe's breasts were full, so she gave the two little ones warm milk.
eating, and kissing their mouths. They sent Kay and Gerda first to the Finnish woman. They warmed themselves for a while in her warm room, and received some instructions on the journey home. Then they
They went to the Lapland woman. The woman had made new clothes for them and had her sleigh repaired.
The reindeer and the doe jumped beside them and escorted them to the border. The early spring plants here had already sprouted green buds. They said goodbye to the two reindeer and the Lapland woman. "Goodbye.
Come on!" everyone said. The birds in early spring began to sing songs; the woods were covered with a layer of green buds. A beautiful horse ran out of the woods. Gerda knew it because it
It was the horse that used to pull the golden carriage. A young girl was riding it. She wore a shiny red hat on her head, and she also carried a pistol. This was the little robber girl. She was tired of staying at home.
She wanted to go to the north first; if she didn't like that place, go somewhere else. She recognized Gerda at once, and Gerda recognized her. They were very happy when they met.
Happy.
"You are such a lovely tramp!" she said to little Kai. "I would like to ask, are you worth having someone rush to the end of the world to find you?"
But Gerda touched her face and asked about the prince and the princess.
"They have all traveled to foreign countries!" said the little robber girl.
"But what about the crow?" asked little Gerda.
"Well, the crow is dead," answered the little robber girl, "and the tame lover is now a widow, with a black velvet on his leg! He is very sad, but that's not the least bit wrong.
Meaning! Now please tell me your story, how did you find him?"
Both Gerda and Gay told the story.
"Hiss-hee-hee!" said the little robber girl. Then she took both of their hands and promised that if she ever passed through their city she would definitely come to visit them. Then she rode on
The horse ran towards the vast world. Gerda and Gay walked arm in arm. What they saw on the road was a beautiful spring with green branches and green leaves and full of flowers. The church bells rang.
, they recognized the church steeples and the big city where they lived. They walked into the city and came to the door of their grandmother's house; they climbed the stairs and went into the room--everything was not where it was before.
The big clock was ticking - ticking, and the needle on it was also turning. But when they walked out of the door, they found that they had grown into adults. The roses on the water table were opening.
There were several chairs for children to sit on. Gay and Gerda each sat on their own chairs and held each other's hands. They had forgotten the coldness and warmth of the Snow Queen as if they had had a big dream.
The empty grandeur was completely forgotten. My grandmother sat in the bright sunshine of God and read the Bible loudly: "Unless you become a child, you will never enter the kingdom of God!"③
Gay and Gerda looked at each other face to face and immediately understood the meaning of the hymn——
Roses grow abundantly in the valley,
There we meet the Baby Jesus.
The two of them sat there, already adults, but also children - still children at heart. It was summer, warm, pleasant summer.