The Snow Queen: 5th And Final Part

Join Gerda as she finally finds Little Kay, who is playing with sharp flat pieces of ice in the vast, chill palace of the Snow Queen, guarded by living snowflakes. Find out how she frees him and how their story ends. Written by Hans Christian Andersen.

Transcript

Hello,

It's Mandy here.

Welcome back to Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen and this is the final part of the story.

We're rejoining Gerda just as the robber girl's reindeer has left her in the middle of Finland.

Before we start please go ahead and make sure that you're feeling really comfortable.

Just settle down into whatever surface you're sitting or lying on and I'll begin.

There stood poor Gerda,

Without shoes,

Without gloves,

In the middle of cold,

Dreary,

Ice-bound Finland.

She ran forward as quickly as she could when a whole regiment of snowflakes came around her.

They didn't however fall from the sky which was quite clear and glittering with the northern lights.

The snowflakes ran along the ground and the nearer they came to her the larger they appeared.

Gerda remembered how large and beautiful they looked through the burning glass but these were larger and much more terrible for they were alive and were the guards of the Snow Queen and had the strangest shapes.

Some were like great porcupines,

Others like twisted serpents with their heads stretching out and some few were like little fat bears with their hair bristled but all were dazzlingly white and all were living snowflakes.

So little Gerda repeated the Lord's Prayer and the cold was so great that she could see her own breath come out of her mouth like steam as she uttered the words.

The steam appeared to increase as she continued her prayer till it took the shape of little angels who grew larger the moment they touched the earth.

They all wore helmets on their heads and carried spears and shields.

Their number continued to increase more and more and by the time Gerda had finished her prayers a whole legion stood around her.

They thrust their spears into the terrible snowflakes so that they shattered into a hundred pieces and little Gerda could go forward with courage and safety.

The angels stroked her hands and feet so that she felt the cold less and she hastened on to the Snow Queen's castle.

But now we must see what Kay is doing.

In truth he thought not of little Gerda and never even supposed that she could be standing in the front of the palace.

The walls of the palace were formed of drifted snow and the windows and doors of the cutting winds.

There were more than a hundred rooms in it,

All as if they had been formed with snow blown together.

The largest of them extended for several miles.

They were all lighted up by the vivid light of the aurora and they were so large and empty,

So icy cold and glittering.

There were no amusements here,

Not even a little bear's ball when the storm might have been the music and the bears could have danced on their hind legs and shown their good manners.

There were no pleasant games of snapdragon or touch or even a gossip over a tea table for the young lady foxes.

Empty,

Vast and cold were the halls of the Snow Queen.

The flickering flame of the northern lights could be plainly seen whether they rose high or low in the heavens from every part of the castle.

In the midst of its empty endless hall of snow was a frozen lake broken on its surface into a thousand forms and in the centre of this lake sat the Snow Queen when she was at home.

She called the lake the Mirror of Reason and said that it was the best and indeed the only one in the world.

Little Kay was quite blue with cold,

Indeed almost black,

But he didn't feel it for the Snow Queen had kissed away the icy shiverings and his heart was already a lump of ice.

He dragged some sharp flat pieces of ice to and fro and placed them together in all kinds of positions as if he wished to make something out of them,

Just as we try to form various figures with little tablets of wood which we call a Chinese puzzle.

Kay's fingers were very artistic.

It was the icy game of reason at which he played and in his eyes the figures were very remarkable and of the highest importance.

This opinion was owing to the piece of glass still sticking in his eye.

He composed many complete figures forming different words but there was one word he could never manage to form.

It was the word eternity.

The Snow Queen had said to him,

When you can find out this you shall be your own master and I will give you the whole world and a new pair of skates.

But he could not accomplish it.

Now I must hasten away to warmer countries,

Said the Snow Queen.

I will go and look into the black craters of the tops of the burning mountains,

Etna and Vesuvius as they are called.

I shall make them look white which will be good for them and for the lemons and the grapes.

And away flew the Snow Queen leaving little Kay quite alone in the great hall which was so many miles in length.

So he sat and looked at his pieces of ice and was thinking so deeply and sat so still that anyone might have supposed he was frozen.

Just at this moment it happened that little Gerda came through the great door of the castle.

Cutting winds were raging around her but she offered up a prayer and the winds sank down as if they were going to sleep.

And she went on until she came to the large empty hall and caught sight of Kay.

She knew him directly.

She flew to him and threw her arms around him.

She held him fast exclaiming,

Kay dear little Kay I have found you at last.

But he sat quite still stiff and cold.

Then little Gerda wept hot tears which fell on his breast and penetrated into his heart and thawed the lump of ice and washed away the little piece of glass which had stuck there.

Then he looked at her and she sang and then Kay burst into tears and he wept so that the splinter of glass swam out of his eye.

And then he recognised Gerda and said joyfully,

Gerda dear little Gerda where have you been all this time and where have I been?

And he looked all around him and said how cold it is and how large and empty it all looks and he clung to Gerda and she laughed and wept for joy.

It was so pleasing to see them that the pieces of ice even danced about and when they were tired and went to lie down they formed themselves into the letters of the word which the Snow Queen had said he must find out before he could be his own master and have the whole world and a pair of new skates.

Then Gerda kissed his cheeks and they became blooming and she kissed his eyes and they shone like her own.

She kissed his hands and his feet and then he became quite healthy and cheerful.

The Snow Queen might come home now when she pleased for there stood his certainty of freedom in the word she wanted written in shining letters of ice.

Then they took each other by the hand and went forth from the great palace of ice.

They spoke of the grandmother and of the roses on the roof and as they went on the winds were at rest and the sun burst forth.

When they arrived at the bush with red berries there stood the reindeer waiting for them and he had brought another young reindeer with him whose udders were full and the children drank her warm milk and kissed her.

Then they carried Kay and Gerda first to the Finland woman where they warmed themselves thoroughly in the hot room and she gave them directions about their journey home.

Next they went to the Lapland woman who had made some new clothes for them and put their sleighs in order.

Both the reindeer ran by their side and followed them as far as the boundaries of the country where the first green leaves were budding and here they took leave of the two reindeer and the Lapland woman and all said farewell.

Then the birds began to twitter and the forest too was full of green young leaves and out of it came a beautiful horse which Gerda remembered for it was one which had drawn the golden coach.

A young girl was riding on it with a shining red cap on her head and pistols in her belt.

It was the little robber maiden who had got tired of staying at home.

She was going first to the north and if that didn't suit her she meant to try some other part of the world.

She knew Gerda directly and Gerda remembered her.

It was a joyful meeting.

You are a fine fellow to go gadding about in this way said she to little Kay.

I should like to know whether you deserve that anyone should go to the end of the world to find you.

But Gerda patted her cheeks and asked after the prince and princess.

They are gone to foreign countries said the robber girl and the crow asked Gerda.

Oh the crow is dead she replied.

His tame sweetheart is now a widow and wears a bit of black worsted around her leg.

She mourns very pitifully and chatters more than ever.

But now tell me how you managed to get him back.

Gerda and Kay told her all about it.

Snip snap snare it's alright at last said the robber girl.

Then she took both their hands and promised that if ever she should pass through the town she would call and pay them a visit and she rode away into the wide world.

But Gerda and Kay went hand in hand towards home and as they advanced spring appeared more lovely with its green verdure and its beautiful flowers.

Very soon they recognized the large town where they lived and the tall steeples of the churches in which the sweet bells were ringing a merry peal as they entered it and found their way to their grandmother's door.

They went upstairs into the little room where all looked just as it used to do.

The old clock was going tick-tock and the hands pointed to the time of day.

But as they passed through the door into the room they perceived that they were both grown up and had become a man and a woman and there stood the little chairs on which they had sat when they were children and Kay and Gerda seated themselves each on their own chair and held each other by the hand while the cold empty grandeur of the Snow Queen's palace vanished from their memories like a painful dream.