Can not you give the little girl a drink so that she may have the strength of twelve men and overcome the Snow-queen ? ' ` The strength of twelve men ! ' said the Finland woman ; ` that would not help much . Little Kay is with the Snow-queen and he likes everything there very much and thinks it the best place in the world . But that is because he has a splinter of glass in his heart and a bit in his eye . If these do not come out , he will never be free , and the Snow-queen will keep her power over him . ' ` But can not you give little Gerda something so that she can have power over her ? ' ' I can give her no greater power than she has already ; do n't you see how great it is ? Do n't you see how men and beasts must help her when she wanders into the wide world with her bare feet ? She is powerful already , because she is a dear little innocent child . If she can not by herself conquer the Snow-queen and take away the glass splinters from little Kay , we can not help her ! The Snow-queen 's garden begins two miles from here . You can carry the little maiden so far ; put her down by the large bush with red berries growing in the snow . Then you must come back here as fast as you can . ' Then the Finland woman lifted little Gerda on the reindeer and away he sped . ` Oh , I have left my gloves and boots behind ! ' cried Gerda . She missed them in the piercing cold , but the reindeer did not dare to stop . On he ran till he came to the bush with red berries . Then he set Gerda down and kissed her mouth , and great big tears ran down his cheeks , and then he ran back .
There stood poor Gerda , without shoes or gloves in the middle XXXXX the bitter cold of Finland .
If behind into of on over than that till with