Stories from Hans Andersen | Page 5

drove away down the street
and out of the town gates. Nobody knew where he was, and many tears
were shed; little Gerda cried long and bitterly. At last, people said he
was dead; he must have fallen into the river which ran close by the
town. Oh, what long, dark, winter days those were!
At last the spring came and the sunshine.
'Kay is dead and gone,' said little Gerda.
'I don't believe it,' said the sunshine.
'He is dead and gone,' she said to the swallows.
'We don't believe it,' said the swallows; and at last little Gerda did not
believe it either.
'I will put on my new red shoes,' she said one morning; 'those Kay
never saw; and then I will go down to the river and ask it about him!'
It was very early in the morning; she kissed the old grandmother, who
was still asleep, put on the red shoes, and went quite alone, out by the
gate to the river.
'Is it true that you have taken my little playfellow? I will give you my
red shoes if you will bring him back to me again.'
She thought the little ripples nodded in such a curious way, so she took
off her red shoes, her most cherished possessions, and threw them both
into the river. They fell close by the shore, and were carried straight

back to her by the little wavelets; it seemed as if the river would not
accept her offering, as it had not taken little Kay.
She only thought she had not thrown them far enough; so she climbed
into a boat which lay among the rushes, then she went right out to the
further end of it, and threw the shoes into the water again. But the boat
was loose, and her movements started it off, and it floated away from
the shore: she felt it moving and tried to get out, but before she reached
the other end the boat was more than a yard from the shore, and was
floating away quite quickly.
Little Gerda was terribly frightened, and began to cry, but nobody
heard her except the sparrows, and they could not carry her ashore, but
they flew alongside twittering, as if to cheer her, 'We are here, we are
here.' The boat floated rapidly away with the current; little Gerda sat
quite still with only her stockings on; her little red shoes floated behind,
but they could not catch up the boat, which drifted away faster and
faster.
The banks on both sides were very pretty with beautiful flowers, fine
old trees, and slopes dotted with sheep and cattle, but not a single
person.
'Perhaps the river is taking me to little Kay,' thought Gerda, and that
cheered her; she sat up and looked at the beautiful green banks for
hours.
Then they came to a big cherry garden; there was a little house in it,
with curious blue and red windows, it had a thatched roof, and two
wooden soldiers stood outside, who presented arms as she sailed past.
Gerda called out to them; she thought they were alive, but of course
they did not answer; she was quite close to them, for the current drove
the boat close to the bank. Gerda called out again, louder than before,
and then an old, old woman came out of the house; she was leaning
upon a big, hooked stick, and she wore a big sun hat, which was
covered with beautiful painted flowers.
'You poor little child,' said the old woman, 'how ever were you driven

out on this big, strong river into the wide, wide world alone?' Then she
walked right into the water, and caught hold of the boat with her
hooked stick; she drew it ashore, and lifted little Gerda out.
Gerda was delighted to be on dry land again, but she was a little bit
frightened of the strange old woman.
'Come, tell me who you are, and how you got here,' said she.
When Gerda had told her the whole story and asked her if she had seen
Kay, the woman said she had not seen him, but that she expected him.
Gerda must not be sad, she was to come and taste her cherries and see
her flowers, which were more beautiful than any picture-book; each
one had a story to tell. Then she took Gerda by the hand, they went into
the little house, and the old woman locked the door.
The windows were very high up, and they were red, blue, and yellow;
they threw a very curious light into the room. On the table were
quantities of the most delicious cherries, of which Gerda had leave to
eat as many as ever she liked. While she was