They stopped at a mean-looking little hut with a roof sloping nearly to the ground and a door so low one had to creep through. Inside, an old Lapland woman cooked fish by a train-oil lamp. The reindeer told her Gerda's story after his own, while Gerda, pinched with cold, could not speak.
"Oh, you poor things," said the woman, "you have far to go. Travel over a hundred miles to Finland, where the Snow Queen lives and burns Bengal lights each evening. I'll write a few words on this dried stock-fish, for I have no paper. Take it to the Finland woman there; she can advise you better."
Once warmed and fed, Gerda received the inscribed fish. Tied again to the reindeer, they sped off under the flashing blue northern lights all night, until they reached Finland and knocked at the chimney of the Finland woman's hut, which had no door above ground.
Inside was terribly hot; the small, dirty-looking woman wore scarcely any clothes. She loosened Gerda's dress and removed her boots and mittens to prevent overheating, then placed ice on the reindeer's head and read the message on the fish three times until she knew it by heart. She then popped the fish into a soup saucepan, never wasting anything.
The reindeer recounted his and Gerda's tales. The Finland woman twinkled her clever eyes but said nothing. "You are so clever," said the reindeer. "I know you can tie all the world's winds with a piece of twine. If a sailor unties one knot, he gets a fair wind; a second, a hard wind; a third and fourth, a storm that uproots forests. Can you not give this maiden the strength of twelve men to overcome the Snow Queen?"
"The strength of twelve men!" said the Finland woman. "That would be of little use." She went to a shelf, unrolled a large skin inscribed with wonderful characters, and read until perspiration ran down her forehead. Yet, moved by the reindeer's pleas and Gerda's beseeching, tearful eyes, she drew the reindeer aside, laid fresh ice on his head, and whispered:
"Little Kay is with the Snow Queen. He finds everything to his liking and believes it the finest place, but only because he has a shard of broken glass in his heart and a tiny piece in his eye. These must be removed, or he will never be human again, and the Snow Queen will keep her power over him."
"But can you not give Gerda something to conquer this power?"
"I can give her no greater power than she already has," said the woman. "Do you not see its strength? How men and animals serve her, and how far she has come barefoot. Her power lies in her own pure and innocent heart. If she cannot reach the Snow Queen herself and remove the glass from Kay, we cannot help. Two miles hence begins the Snow Queen's garden. Carry the girl there and set her by the large bush covered with red berries in the snow. Do not linger; return swiftly."
The Finland woman lifted Gerda onto the reindeer, and he ran off. "Oh, I forgot my boots and mittens!" cried Gerda, feeling the cutting cold, but the reindeer dared not stop. He ran to the berry bush, set Gerda down, kissed her, his bright tears trickling down his cheeks, then left her and ran back.
There stood poor Gerda, shoeless and gloveless in the cold, dreary, ice-bound Finland. She ran forward, but a regiment of snowflakes surrounded her. They did not fall from the clear, northern-lit sky but ran along the ground, growing larger as they neared. Gerda recalled how large and beautiful snowflakes looked through a burning-glass, but these were larger, terrible, and alive—the Snow Queen's guards in strange shapes: some like great porcupines, others like twisted serpents with heads stretched out, a few like little fat bears with bristled hair. All were dazzling white, living snowflakes.
Little Gerda repeated the Lord's Prayer. The cold was so great her breath steamed out. As she prayed, the steam increased and took the shape of little angels that grew larger upon touching the earth. They wore helmets and carried spears and shields. Their numbers swelled until a whole legion stood around her. They thrust spears into the terrible snowflakes, shattering them, and Gerda went forward with courage and safety. The angels stroked her hands and feet, lessening the cold, and she hastened 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 supposed she could be standing before the palace.