Palace of the Prince and Princess

The Palace of the Prince and Princess is the royal setting where Gerda’s search for Kay briefly seems close to success, then changes course. Its grand rooms display a world of ceremony and rank, but the decisive passage through it is clandestine: Forest crow and Tame crow guide Gerda past the public entrance and into the sleeping apartments. There she discovers that the boy she mistook for Kay is the Prince. The palace’s response—to listen to her story, reward the crows, and send her onward in comfort—makes it a temporary refuge rather than the end of her quest.

Court, Contest, and Public Entrance

The palace belongs to a kingdom whose Princess is presented as exceptionally clever: she has read all the newspapers in the world, though she has forgotten them. Her decision to marry shapes the palace’s public role. Rather than seeking a suitor who merely looks impressive, she wants someone able to answer when spoken to. Notices invite handsome young men to visit and promise that the one who speaks best will be chosen. The arrangement turns the residence into a place of public competition, drawing crowds who hope to win the Princess’s attention.

The public approach is designed to impress. Suitors pass guards in silver uniforms, footmen in golden livery, and brightly lit halls on their way to the Princess. Yet ceremony proves an obstacle: men who speak easily in the streets lose their composure inside, repeat the Princess’s last words, and leave without managing a proper conversation. The crowd stretches from the town gate to the palace, and the disappointed visitors are not even given a glass of water. Some bring bread for themselves but keep it rather than share it with their neighbors. The palace thus appears both as an aspirational destination and as a setting where rank, spectacle, and competition unsettle those who enter.

Kay’s Passage Through the Palace

According to Forest crow’s report, Kay passes through the formal entrance without being intimidated by the guards or the gold-liveried servants on the stairs. He remarks on the inconvenience of standing on the steps and proceeds inside. His boots creak loudly as he walks, a detail Gerda recognizes because she has heard the same sound at home. In the halls, councillors and ambassadors move barefoot while carrying golden vessels; the display is solemn and imposing, but Kay remains at ease.

The Princess receives visitors in a room arranged around elaborate degrees of rank. She sits on a pearl as large as a spinning wheel, surrounded by court ladies and their maids, cavaliers and their servants, and further attendants assigned to those servants. The people stand in circles, with the figures nearest the door appearing especially proud. Against this hierarchy, Kay speaks freely. He says he has come not to court the Princess but to hear her wisdom, and the two please one another. His easy manner contrasts with the other suitors’ failure, although Gerda’s hope rests on a mistaken identification: she believes the palace visitor must be Kay because of his familiar, creaking boots and sledge.

The Hidden Route and the Bedchamber

Gerda expects that Kay will bring her into the palace once he learns she has arrived. Instead, Forest crow returns with word that the public entrance will not admit her. Tame crow knows a back staircase leading to the sleeping apartments and where its key can be found. She also sends Gerda bread from the kitchen, recognizing that the traveler may be hungry. The birds’ private knowledge of the residence opens a route unavailable to the crowd outside.

Gerda and the crows enter through a back door left ajar and climb the stairs. The palace lights are being put out as they proceed, while leaves fall along the avenue. Their progress passes through increasingly splendid rooms. In the first hall, rose-colored satin embroidered with artificial flowers covers the walls, and fleeting dreams prevent Gerda from clearly distinguishing the royal figures. The sleeping chamber is more elaborate still: crystal leaves form a palm-like ceiling, and two beds shaped like lilies hang from golden stems above the floor. The Princess sleeps in the white bed; the red one is where Gerda searches for Kay.

Gerda pushes aside a red bed-leaf and sees a brown neck. Believing she has found Kay, she calls out and holds up the lamp. The sleeping boy wakes, and the dreams rush back into the room. He is the Prince, who resembles Kay only in the neck. The palace’s beauty and Gerda’s longing have brought her to the right kind of place for shelter, but not to the person she has crossed the world to find.

Welcome, Reward, and Departure

The Princess wakes and asks what has happened. Gerda weeps and explains her journey and the crows’ assistance. The Prince and Princess pity her, praise the birds, and say they are not angry about the unauthorized entry, while making clear it must not happen again. They offer the crows a choice between freedom and a position as court crows, with the kitchen’s leftovers. The birds request a secure appointment, thinking of provision in their old age. The encounter turns an apparent breach of palace order into an occasion for gratitude and reward.

The Prince gives up his bed so Gerda can sleep. She folds her hands and reflects on the kindness shown to her by people and animals; in a dream, an angel draws a little sledge carrying Kay. That vision does not change the fact that Kay remains missing, and it vanishes when she wakes. The following day, the royal couple offer her silk and velvet and invite her to stay for several days. Gerda declines the extended stay, asking instead for boots, a carriage, and a horse so she can continue searching. She receives boots, a muff, and neat clothes, then leaves in a coach of pure gold bearing the Prince and Princess’s coat of arms. The coach is accompanied by a coachman, footman, and outriders wearing golden crowns, and is stocked with cakes, fruit, and gingerbread nuts.

The royal couple help Gerda into the coach and wish her success. Forest crow accompanies her for the first three miles, while Tame crow remains at the doorway, unable to travel after her new appointment has left her with a headache. Gerda and Forest crow weep at their farewell; he flies to a tree and watches the coach glitter in the sunlight until it is out of sight. The palace therefore marks a pause in the search rather than its resolution: its hospitality sends Gerda back into the wider world with supplies, transport, and the help of a companion for part of the road.