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"Now listen," said the robber-girl; "all our men are gone away, only mother is here, and here she will stay; but at noon she always drinks out of a great bottle, and afterwards sleeps for a little while; and then, I'll do something for you." Then she jumped out of bed, clasped her mother round the neck, and pulled her by the beard, crying, "My own little nanny goat, good morning."
And then Gerda stretched out her hand, with the great mitten on it, towards the little robber-girl, and said, "Farewell," and away flew the reindeer, over stumps and stones, through the great forest, over marshes and plains, as quickly as he could. The wolves howled, and the ravens screamed; while up in the sky quivered red lights like flames of fire.
And then she bit her mother again, and made her spring in the air, and jump about; and all the robbers laughed, and said, "See how she is dancing with her young cub." "I will have a ride in the coach," said the little robber-girl; and she would have her own way; for she was so self-willed and obstinate.
'She is plump and tender! I will eat her! said the old robber-queen, and she drew her long knife, which glittered horribly. 'You shall not kill her! cried her little daughter. 'She shall play with me. She shall give me her muff and her beautiful dress, and she shall sleep in my bed. The little robber-girl was as big as Gerda, but was stronger, broader, with dark hair and black eyes.
"Oh!" screamed the old woman the same moment; for her own daughter, who held her back, had bitten her in the ear. She was a wild and naughty girl, and the mother called her an ugly thing, and had not time to kill Gerda. "She shall play with me," said the little robber-girl; "she shall give me her muff and her pretty dress, and sleep with me in my bed."
'I should like to know if you deserve to be run all over the world! But Gerda patted her cheeks and asked after the prince and princess. 'They are travelling about, said the robber girl. 'And the crow? asked Gerda. 'Oh, the crow is dead! answered the robber-girl. 'His tame sweetheart is a widow and hops about with a bit of black crape round her leg.
"Will you have that knife with you while you are asleep?" asked Gerda, looking at it in great fright. "I always sleep with the knife by me," said the robber-girl. "No one knows what may happen. But now tell me again all about little Kay, and why you went out into the world." Then Gerda repeated her story over again, while the wood-pigeons in the cage over her cooed, and the other pigeons slept.
The Snow Queen has her summer tent there, but her strong castle is at the North Pole, on an island called Spitzbergen." "Oh, Kay, little Kay!" sighed Gerda. "Lie still," said the robber-girl, "or I shall run my knife into your body."
She makes a great fuss, but that's all nonsense. But tell me what happened to you, and how you caught him. And Kay and Gerda told her all. 'Dear, dear! said the robber-girl, shook both their hands, and promised that if she came to their town she would come and see them. Then she rode on. But Gerda and Kay went home hand in hand.
She threw her arms round Gerda and said, 'They shall not kill you, so long as you are not naughty. Aren't you a princess? 'No, said Gerda, and she told all that had happened to her, and how dearly she loved little Kay. The robber-girl looked at her very seriously, and nodded her head, saying, 'They shall not kill you, even if you are naughty, for then I will kill you myself!
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