Well, we’re riding with Gerda on a reindeer and we’re headed to Lapland because a dove said the Snow Queen lives there.
Eventually, the girl and the animal arrive in front of a hovel, when they find an old Lapp woman frying fish over a whale-oil lamp.
Illustration by Arthur Rackham
Gerda tells her story again, for like the fifth or the sixth time, and the Lapp woman tells her that she still has at least a hundred miles to go before she reaches Finnmark where the Snow Queen is currently on vacation.
The Lapp woman is a bit of a witch, but a benevolent one, and she writes a message for the Finn woman on a piece of dried cod. Apparently, it’s a thing.
Illustration by Arthur Rackham
Then she gives Gerda warm food, puts her back on the reindeer and sends her off on her mission.
When she arrives at the hut of the Finn woman, there even isn’t a door to knock on. We pretty soon realize that she’s living in a sauna: she’s going around naked, quickly helps Gerda out of her fur attires and puts a piece of ice on the reindeer’s head. She reads the codfish and then, very sensibly, makes a soup out of it.
This time, the reindeer speaks first and addresses the Finn woman by openly saying she’s a wise witch and asking her to help Gerda in her predicament. The woman eventually reveals the secret: Kai is indeed with the Snow Queen, but he’s rather enjoying his stay because he has a splinter of ice in his heart and a speck of ice in his eye. They have to be removed before Kai can be set free of the Queen’s influence.
She’s also the first person to point out that Gerda herself has powers.
“I can’t give her more power than she already has. Don’t you see how much she possesses? Haven’t you noticed how man and beast alike want to help her? Look how far she’s come in the wide word on those bare feet! But we mustn’t tell her about this power.
Of course, being Andersen, there’s also a sugary sickening piece about how her power lies in her innocence.
Whatever.
The Finn woman plots with the reindeer to send Gerda off without her boots and mittens and leave her at the bottom of a redberries bush.
And so they part.
Illustration by Edmund Dulac.
Gerda runs forward as fast as she can, barefoot in the snow, and is faced by swarms of snowflakes, the big and monstrous advance guard of the Snow Queen. Gerda starts to pray and her breath turns into angels, who come down to fight off the snowflakes. While I go in a corner and throw up, here’s a beautiful illustration of the otherwise sickening scene.
Illustration by Arthur Rackham
Comforted and aided by this army, she marches towards the Snow Queen’s castle, where we’ll see how Kai is doing.
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