The Snow Queen: Story the Fourth: The Prince and Princess

This section is one of my favorites. 

Having escaped the enchantress, Gerda comes across a crow. She asks him if he’s seen Kai, and he says he might have.

The crow describes the princess of this land, and exceedingly clever young woman who’s read every newspaper ever written. The princess wished to marry, someone both handsome and clever, and many suitors came. On the first two days, all the suitors were too star struck to say anything to impress the princess. But on the third day, a young man came who was handsome and clever and charming, and he won her heart and her hand. 

This, the crow thinks, may be Kai, and Gerda agrees, for he is handsome and clever, with bright eyes and long hair, poor clothing, and new boots that creak, and he arrived at the palace carrying something on his back, which may have been a knapsack, but may also have been a sled, for the crow did not get a good view.

The crow takes Gerda to the palace, where she is introduced to his crow girlfriend, who lives inside. They take her up a back stairway to the princess’ bedroom, where she and the new prince are sleeping, in two separate beds. Gerda holds up a lamp to the prince, who wakes, and turns, and is not Kai.

The princess wakes as well, and Gerda and the crows explain the whole story. The crows are given a position in the court as a reward for helping Gerda, but warned not to sneak anyone else into the royal bedroom in the middle of the night. Gerda is given the prince’s bed to sleep in, and the next morning, a new pair of boots, a muff, and a coach and escort to continue her search for Kai.

There’s just a lot going on in this section. I love the story of the prince and princess, and the little detail that she’s read every newspaper ever written, which I leaned into heavily for my interpretation of the character. I love the detail of dreams following people through the palace, and the revelation that Gerda’s grandmother can speak crow. I love that we acknowledge how lonely Gerda is, how hard this journey is. And I love that this is the first section where we really see other characters being kind to her, and helpful. I love her faith in Kai, her confidence that he’s worthy of marrying a princess, and that he’ll welcome her with open arms, even though he hasn’t exactly been nice lately. It’s just a good section.