And she dried Gerda 's eyes , and stuck both her hands in the beautiful warm muff . The little robber-girl took Gerda to a corner of the robbers ' camp where she slept . All round were more than a hundred wood-pigeons which seemed to be asleep , but they moved a little when the two girls came up . There was also , near by , a reindeer which the robber-girl teased by tickling it with her long sharp knife . Gerda lay awake for some time . ` Coo , coo ! ' said the wood-pigeons . ` We have seen little Kay . A white bird carried his sledge ; he was sitting in the Snow-queen 's carriage which drove over the forest when our little ones were in the nest . She breathed on them , and all except we two died . Coo , coo ! ' ` What are you saying over there ? ' cried Gerda . ` Where was the Snow-queen going to ? Do you know at all ? ' ` She was probably travelling to Lapland , where there is always ice and snow . Ask the reindeer . ' ` There is capital ice and snow there ! ' said the reindeer . ` One can jump about there in the great sparkling valleys .
There the Snow-queen has her summer palace , but her best palace is up by the North Pole , XXXXX the island called Spitzbergen . ' '
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