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 , on the island called Spitzbergen . ' ' O Kay , my little Kay ! ' sobbed Gerda . ` You must lie still , ' said the little robber-girl , ` or else I shall stick my knife into you ! ' In the morning Gerda told her all that the wood-pigeons had said . She nodded . ` Do you know where Lapland is ? ' she asked the reindeer . ` Who should know better than I ? ' said the beast , and his eyes sparkled . '
I was born and bred there XXXXX the snow-fields . '
about at by in into on over than that to