Stories from Hans Andersen | Page 8

she saw that
the summer was over; it was quite late autumn. She would never have
known it inside the beautiful garden, where the sun always shone, and

the flowers of every season were always in bloom.
'Oh, how I have wasted my time,' said little Gerda. 'It is autumn. I must
not rest any longer,' and she got up to go on.
Oh, how weary and sore were her little feet, and everything round
looked so cold and dreary. The long willow leaves were quite yellow.
The damp mist fell off the trees like rain, one leaf dropped after another
from the trees, and only the sloe-thorn still bore its fruit; but the sloes
were sour and set one's teeth on edge. Oh, how grey and sad it looked,
out in the wide world.
FOURTH STORY
PRINCE AND PRINCESS
[Illustration: She has read all the newspapers in the world, and
forgotten them again, so clever is she.]
Gerda was soon obliged to rest again. A big crow hopped on to the
snow, just in front of her. It had been sitting looking at her for a long
time and wagging its head. Now it said, 'Caw, caw; good-day,
good-day,' as well as it could; it meant to be kind to the little girl, and
asked her where she was going, alone in the wide world.
Gerda understood the word 'alone' and knew how much there was in it,
and she told the crow the whole story of her life and adventures, and
asked if it had seen Kay.
The crow nodded its head gravely and said, 'May be I have, may be I
have.'
'What, do you really think you have?' cried the little girl, nearly
smothering him with her kisses.
'Gently, gently!' said the crow. 'I believe it may have been Kay, but he
has forgotten you by this time, I expect, for the Princess.'
'Does he live with a Princess?' asked Gerda.

'Yes, listen,' said the crow; 'but it is so difficult to speak your language.
If you understand "crow's language,"[1] I can tell you about it much
better.'
'No, I have never learnt it,' said Gerda; 'but grandmother knew it, and
used to speak it. If only I had learnt it!'
'It doesn't matter,' said the crow. 'I will tell you as well as I can,
although I may do it rather badly.'
Then he told her what he had heard.
'In this kingdom where we are now,' said he, 'there lives a Princess who
is very clever. She has read all the newspapers in the world, and
forgotten them again, so clever is she. One day she was sitting on her
throne, which is not such an amusing thing to do either, they say; and
she began humming a tune, which happened to be
"Why should I not be married, oh why?"
"Why not indeed?" said she. And she made up her mind to marry, if she
could find a husband who had an answer ready when a question was
put to him. She called all the court ladies together, and when they heard
what she wanted they were delighted.
'"I like that now," they said. "I was thinking the same thing myself the
other day."
'Every word I say is true,' said the crow, 'for I have a tame sweetheart
who goes about the palace whenever she likes. She told me the whole
story.'
Of course his sweetheart was a crow, for 'birds of a feather flock
together,' and one crow always chooses another. The newspapers all
came out immediately with borders of hearts and the Princess's initials.
They gave notice that any young man who was handsome enough
might go up to the Palace to speak to the Princess. The one who spoke
as if he were quite at home, and spoke well, would be chosen by the

Princess as her husband. Yes, yes, you may believe me, it's as true as I
sit here,' said the crow. 'The people came crowding in; there was such
running, and crushing, but no one was fortunate enough to be chosen,
either on the first day, or on the second. They could all of them talk
well enough in the street, but when they entered the castle gates, and
saw the guard in silver uniforms, and when they went up the stairs
through rows of lackeys in gold embroidered liveries, their courage
forsook them. When they reached the brilliantly lighted
reception-rooms, and stood in front of the throne where the Princess
was seated, they could think of nothing to say, they only echoed her
last words, and of course that was not what she wanted.
'It was just as if they had all taken some kind of sleeping-powder,
which made them lethargic; they did not recover themselves until they