The Snow Queen: Part 2

This interesting second part of Hans Christian Andersen's classic story is sometimes left out in modern versions. Little Gerda goes looking for Kay but is trapped by a witch in her garden of enchanted flowers. Kay asks the talking flowers where Kay is, but each can only tell their own story. None of the stories make sense to Gerda.

Transcript

Hello there,

It's Mandy here.

Welcome back for part two of the Snow Queen by the wonderful hands Christian Anderson.

We left Kay asleep at the feet of the Snow Queen,

But now it's time to find out what happened to Gerda during Kay's absence.

But before we start,

Please feel free to make yourself really comfortable,

As comfortable as you can be at this moment in time,

And we'll begin.

But how fared little Gerda during Kay's absence?

What had become of him no one knew,

Nor could anyone give the slightest information,

Except for the boys who said that he had tied his sledge to another very large one which had driven through the street and out at the town gate.

Nobody knew where it went.

Many tears were shed for him and little Gerda wept bitterly for a long time.

She said she knew he must be dead,

That he was drowned in the river which flowed close by the school.

Oh indeed those long winter days were very dreary,

But at last spring came with warm sunshine.

Kay is dead and gone,

Said little Gerda.

I don't believe it,

Said the sunshine.

He is dead and gone,

She said to the sparrows.

We don't believe it,

They replied.

And at last little Gerda began to doubt it herself.

I will put on my new red shoes,

She said one morning,

Those that Kay has never seen,

And then I will go down to the river and ask for him.

It was quite early when she kissed her old grandmother who was still asleep.

Then she put on her red shoes and went quite alone out of the town gates towards the river.

Is it true that you have taken my little playmate away from me,

Said she to the river.

I will give you my red shoes if you will give him back to me.

And it seemed as if the waves nodded to her in a strange manner.

So she took off her red shoes,

Which she liked better than anything else,

And threw them both into the river.

But they fell near the bank and the little waves carried them back to the land,

Just as if the river would not take from her what she loved best,

Because they could not give her back little Kay.

But she thought the shoes had not been thrown out far enough.

Then she crept into a boat that lay among the reeds and threw the shoes again from the farther end of the boat into the water.

But the boat wasn't fastened and her movement sent it gliding away from the land.

When she saw this,

She hastened to reach the end of the boat,

But before she could do so,

It was more than a yard from the bank and drifting away faster than ever.

Then little Gerda was very much frightened and began to cry.

But no one heard her except the sparrows and they couldn't carry her to land,

Although they flew along by the shore and sang as if to comfort her.

Here we are,

Here we are.

The boat floated with the stream.

Little Gerda sat quite still with only her stockings on her feet.

The red shoes floated after her,

But she couldn't reach them because the boat kept so far ahead.

The banks on each side of the river were very pretty.

There were beautiful flowers,

Old trees,

Sloping fields in which cows and sheep were grazing,

But not a person to be seen.

Perhaps the river will carry me to little Kay,

Thought Gerda,

And then she became more cheerful and raised her head and looked at the beautiful green banks.

And so the boat sailed on for hours.

At length she came to a large cherry orchard in which stood a small red house with strange red and blue windows.

It also had a thatched roof and outside were two wooden soldiers that presented arms to her as she sailed past.

Gerda called out to them for she thought they were alive,

But of course they didn't answer and as the boat drifted nearer to the shore she saw what they really were.

Then Gerda called still louder and there came a very old woman out of the house,

Leaning on a crutch.

She wore a large hat to shade her from the sun and on it were painted all sorts of pretty flowers.

You poor little child,

Said the old woman,

How did you manage to come all this distance into the wide world on such a rapid rolling stream?

And then the old woman walked in the water,

Seized the boat with her crutch,

Drew it to land and lifted Gerda out.

And Gerda was glad to feel herself on dry ground,

Although she was rather afraid of the strange old woman.

Come and tell me who you are,

Said she,

And how came you here?

So Gerda told her everything,

While the old woman shook her head and said,

Hem hem.

And when she had finished Gerda asked if she had not seen little Kay and the old woman told her he had not passed by that way.

But that he very likely would come.

So she told Gerda not to be sorrowful,

But to taste the cherries and look at the flowers.

They were better than any picture book,

But each of them could tell a story.

Then she took Gerda by the hand and led her into the little house and the old woman closed the door.

The windows were very high and as the panes were red,

Blue and yellow,

The daylight shone through them in all sorts of singular colours.

On the table were some beautiful cherries and Gerda had permission to eat as many as she would.

While she was eating them,

The old woman combed out her long flaxen ringlets with a golden cone and the glossy curls hung down on each side of the little round pleasant face,

Which looked fresh and blooming as a rose.

I have long been wishing for a dear little maiden like you,

Said the old woman,

And now you must stay with me and see how happily we shall live together.

And while she went on combing little Gerda's hair,

The little girl thought less and less about her adopted brother Kay,

For the old woman could conjure.

Although she was not a wicked witch,

She conjured only a little for her own amusement and now because she wanted to keep Gerda.

Therefore she went into the garden and stretched out her crutch towards all the rose trees,

Beautiful though they were,

And they immediately sunk into the dark earth so that no one could tell where they had once stood.

The old woman,

You see,

Was afraid that if little Gerda saw roses,

She would think of the roses at home and then remember little Kay and run away.

Then she took Gerda into the flower garden.

How fragrant and beautiful it was.

Every flower that could be thought of for every season of the year was here in full bloom.

No picture book could have more beautiful colours.

Gerda jumped for joy and played till the sun went down behind the tall cherry trees.

Then she slept in an elegant bed with red silk pillows,

Embroidered with coloured violets,

And then she dreamt as pleasantly as a queen on her wedding day.

The next day,

And for many days after,

Gerda played with the flowers in the warm sunshine.

She knew every one,

And yet,

Although there were so many of them,

It seemed as if one were missing,

But which it was,

She couldn't tell.

One day,

However,

As she sat looking at the old woman's hat with the painted flowers on it,

She saw that the prettiest of all the flowers was a rose.

The old woman had forgotten to take it from her hat when she made all the roses sink into the earth.

It is difficult to keep the thoughts together in everything.

One little mistake upsets all our arrangements.

What?

Are there no roses here?

Cried Gerda,

And she ran out into the garden and examined all the beds and searched and searched.

There wasn't one to be found.

Then she sat down and wept,

And her tears fell just on the place where one of the rose trees had sunk down.

The warm tears moistened the earth,

And the rose tree sprouted up at once,

As blooming as when it had sunk,

And Gerda embraced it and kissed the roses and thought of the beautiful roses at home,

And with them of little Kay.

Oh,

How I have been detained,

Said the little maiden.

I wanted to seek for little Kay.

Do you know where he is?

She asked the roses.

Do you think he is dead?

And the roses answered,

No,

He is not dead.

We have been in the ground where all the dead lie,

But Kay is not there.

Oh,

Thank you,

Said little Gerda,

And then she went to the other flowers and looked into their little cups,

And she asked,

Do you know where little Kay is?

But each flower,

As it stood in the sunshine,

Dreamed only of its own little fairy tale of history.

Not one knew anything of Kay.

Gerda heard many stories from the flowers as she asked them one after another about him.

And what said the tiger lily?

Hark,

Do you hear the drum?

Turn,

Turn.

There are only two nouns,

Always turn,

Turn.

Listen to the women's song of mourning.

Hear the cry of the priest.

In her long red robe stands the Hindu widow by the funeral pile.

The flames rise around her as she places herself on the dead body of her husband.

But the Hindu woman is thinking of the living one in that circle,

Of him,

Her son,

Who lighted those flames.

Those shining eyes trouble her heart more painfully than the flames which will soon consume her body to ashes.

Can the fire of the heart be extinguished in the flames of the funeral pile?

I don't understand that at all,

Said little Gerda.

That is my story,

Said the tiger lily.

What said the convulvulus?

Near yonder narrow road stands an old knight's castle.

Thick ivy creeps up over the old ruined walls,

Leaf over leaf,

Even to the balcony in which stands a beautiful maiden.

She bends over the balustrades and looks up the road.

No rose on its stem is fresher than she,

No apple blossom,

Wafted by the wind,

Floats more lightly than she moves.

Her rich silk rustles as she bends over and exclaims,

Will he not come?

Is it K you mean?

Asked Gerda.

I am only speaking of a story of my dream,

Replied the flower.

And what said the little snowdrop?

Between two trees a rope is hanging,

There is a piece of board upon it,

It is a swing.

Two pretty little girls in dresses white as snow and with long green ribbons fluttering from their hats are sitting upon it swinging.

Their brother,

Who is taller than they are,

Stands in the swing,

He has one arm around the rope to steady himself,

In one hand he holds a little bowl and in the other a clay pipe,

He is blowing bubbles.

As the swing goes on the bubbles fly upward,

Reflecting the most beautiful varying colours.

The last still hangs from the bowl of the pipe and sways in the wind.

On goes the swing and then a little black dog comes running up.

He is almost as light as the bubble and he raises himself on his hind legs and wants to be taken into the swing,

But it doesn't stop and the dog falls,

Then he barks and gets angry.

The children stoop towards him and the bubble bursts.

A swinging plank,

A light sparkling foam picture,

That is my story.

It may be all very pretty what you are telling me,

Said little Gerda,

But you speak so mournfully and you do not mention little Kay at all.

What do the Hyacinths say?

There were three beautiful sisters,

Fair and delicate,

The dress of one was red,

Of the second blue and of the third pure white.

Hand in hand they danced in the bright moonlight by the calm lake,

But they were human beings not fairy elves.

The sweet fragrance attracted them and they disappeared in the wood.

Here the fragrance became stronger.

Three coffins in which lay the three beautiful maidens glided from the thickest part of the forest across the lake.

The fireflies flew lightly over them like little floating torches.

Do the dancing maidens sleep or are they dead?

The scent of the flower says that they are corpses.

The evening bell tolls there now.

You make me quite sorrowful,

Said little Gerda.

Your perfume is so strong you make me think of the dead maidens.

Ah,

Is little Kay really dead then?

The roses have been in the earth and they say no.

Cling clang,

Told the Hyacinth bells.

We are not tolling for little Kay.

We do not know him.

We sing our song,

The only one we know.

Then Gerda went to the buttercups that were glittering among the bright green leaves.

You are little bright suns,

Said Gerda.

Tell me if you know where I can find my playfellow.

And the buttercups sparkled gaily and looked again at Gerda.

What song could the buttercups sing?

It was not about Kay.

The bright warm sun shone on a little court on the first warm day of spring.

His bright beams rested on the white walls of the neighbouring house and close by bloomed the first yellow flower of the season,

Glittering like gold in the sun's warm ray.

An old woman sat in her armchair at the house door and her granddaughter,

A poor and pretty servant maid,

Came to see her for a short visit.

When she kissed her grandmother there was gold everywhere,

The gold of the heart in that holy kiss.

It was a golden morning,

There was gold in the beaming sunlight,

Gold in the leaves of the lowly flower and on the lips of the maiden.

There,

That is my story,

Said the buttercup.

My poor old grandmother,

Sighed Gerda.

She is longing to see me and grieving for me,

As she did for little Kay.

But I shall soon go home now and take little Kay with me.

It is no use asking the flowers,

They know only their own songs and can give me no information.

And then she tucked up her little dress that she might run faster,

But the narcissist caught her by the leg as she was jumping over it.

So she stopped and looked at the tall yellow flower and said,

Perhaps you may know something.

Then she stooped down quite close to the flower and listened.

And what did he say?

I can see myself,

I can see myself,

Said the narcissist.

Oh,

How sweet is my perfume.

Up in a little room with a bow window stands a little dancing girl,

Half undressed.

She stands sometimes on one leg and sometimes on both,

And looks as if she would tread the whole world under her feet.

She is nothing but an illusion.

She is pouring water out of a teapot on a piece of stuff which she holds in her hand.

It is her bodice.

Cleanliness is a good thing,

She says.

Her white dress hangs on a peg.

It has also been washed in the teapot and dried on the roof.

She puts it on and ties a saffron colored handkerchief around her neck,

Which makes the dress look whiter.

See how she stretches out her legs as if she was showing off on a stem.

I can see myself,

I can see myself.

What do I care for all that,

Said Gerda.

You need not tell me such stuff.

And she ran to the other end of the garden.

The door was fastened,

But she pressed against the rusty latch and it gave way.

The door sprang open and little Gerda ran out with bare feet into the wide world.

She looked back three times,

But no one seemed to be following her.

At last she could run no longer,

So she sat down to rest on a great stone and when she looked around she saw the summer was over and autumn very far advanced.

She had known nothing of this in the beautiful garden where the sun shone and the flowers grew all year round.

Oh,

How I have wasted my time,

Said little Gerda.

It is autumn,

I must not rest any longer and she rose up to go on.

But her little feet were wounded and sore and everything around her looked so cold and bleak.

The long willow leaves were quite yellow,

The dew drops fell like water,

Leaf after leaf dropped from the trees,

The slow thorn alone still bore fruit,

But the sloughs were sour and set the teeth on edge.

Oh,

How dark and weary the whole world appeared.

To be continued.