front? We go this way so as to meet no one.'

Through beautiful rooms they came to the sleeping-room. In the
middle of it, hung on a thick rod of gold, were two beds, shaped
like lilies, one all white, in which lay the princess, and the
other red, in which Gerda hoped to find Kay. She pushed aside
the curtain, and saw a brown neck. Oh, it was Kay! She called
his name out loud, holding the lamp towards him.

He woke up, turned his head and--it was not Kay!

It was only his neck that was like Kay's, but he was young and
handsome. The princess sat up in her lily-bed and asked who was
there.

Then Gerda cried, and told her story and all that the crows had
done.

'You poor child!' said the prince and princess, and they praised
the crows, and said that they were not angry with them, but that
they must not do it again. Now they should have a reward.

'Would you like to fly away free?' said the princess, 'or will
you have a permanent place as court crows with what you can get
in the kitchen?'

And both crows bowed and asked for a permanent appointment, for
they thought of their old age.

And they put Gerda to bed, and she folded her hands, thinking, as