'We have come at a good rate,' she said; 'but you are almost
frozen. Creep in under my cloak.'

And she set him close to her in the sledge and drew the cloak
over him. He felt as though he were sinking into a snow-drift.

'Are you cold now?' she asked, and kissed his forehead. The kiss
was cold as ice and reached down to his heart, which was already
half a lump of ice.

'My sledge! Don't forget my sledge!' He thought of that first,
and it was fastened to one of the great white birds who flew
behind with the sledge on its back.

The Snow-queen kissed Kay again, and then he forgot all about
little Gerda, his grandmother, and everybody at home.

'Now I must not kiss you any more,' she said, 'or else I should
kiss you to death.'

Then away they flew over forests and lakes, over sea and land.
Round them whistled the cold wind, the wolves howled, and the
snow hissed; over them flew the black shrieking crows. But high
up the moon shone large and bright, and thus Kay passed the long
winter night. In the day he slept at the Snow-queen's feet.

But what happened to little Gerda when Kay did not come back?

What had become of him? Nobody knew. The other boys told how
they had seen him fasten his sledge on to a large one which had