english_text_to_crack.txt

She only thought she had not thrown them far enough; so she
climbed into a boat which lay among the rushes, then she went
right out to the further end of it, and threw the shoes into the water
again. But the boat was loose, and her movements started it off, and
it floated away from the shore: she felt it moving and tried to get
out, but before she reached the other end the boat was more than a
yard from the shore, and was floating away quite quickly.
Little Gerda was terribly frightened, and began to cry, but nobody heard her except the sparrows, and they could not carry her
ashore, but they flew alongside twittering, as if to cheer her, 'We are
here, we are here.' The boat floated rapidly away with the current;
little Gerda sat quite still with only her stockings on; her little red
shoes floated behind, but they could not catch up the boat, which
drifted away faster and faster.
The banks on both sides were very pretty with beautiful flowers,
fine old trees, and slopes dotted with sheep and cattle, but not a
single person.
'Perhaps the river is taking me to little Kay,' thought Gerda, and
that cheered her; she sat up and looked at the beautiful green banks
for hours.
Then they came to a big cherry garden; there was a little house in
it, with curious blue and red windows, it had a thatched roof, and
two wooden soldiers stood outside, who presented arms as she sailed
past. Gerda called out to them; she thought they were alive, but of
course they did not answer; she was quite close to them, for the
current drove the boat close to the bank. Gerda called out again,
louder than before, and then an old, old woman came out of the
house; she was leaning upon a big, hooked stick, and she wore a big
sun hat, which was covered with beautiful painted flowers.
'You poor little child,' said the old woman, 'how ever were you
driven out on this big, strong river into the wide, wide world alone?'
Then she walked right into the water, and caught hold of the boat
with her hooked stick; she drew it ashore, and lifted little Gerda
out.
'Come, tell me who you are, and how you got here,' said she.
When Gerda had told her the whole story and asked her if she
had seen Kay, the woman said she had not seen him, but that she
expected him. Gerda must not be sad, she was to come and taste her
cherries and see her flowers, which were more beautiful than any
picture-book; each one had a story to tell. Then she took Gerda by
the hand, they went into the little house, and the old woman locked
the door.
The windows were very high up, and they were red, blue, and
yellow; they threw a very curious light into the room. On the table
were quantities of the most delicious cherries, of which Gerda had
leave to eat as many as ever she liked. While she was eating, the old
woman combed her hair with a golden comb, so that the hair curled,
and shone like gold round the pretty little face, which was as sweet
as a rose.
'I have long wanted a little girl like you!' said the old woman. 'You
will see how well we shall get on together.' While she combed her
hair Gerda had forgotten all about Kay, for the old woman was
learned in the magic art; but she was not a bad witch, she only cast
spells over people for a little amusement, and she wanted to keep
Gerda. She therefore went into the garden and waved her hooked
stick over all the rose-bushes, and however beautifully they were
flowering, all sank down into the rich black earth without leaving a
trace behind them. The old woman was afraid that if Gerda saw the
roses she would be reminded of Kay, and would want to run away.
Then she took Gerda into the flower garden. What a delicious scent
there was! and every imaginable flower for every season was in that
lovely garden; no picture-book could be brighter or more beautiful.
Gerda jumped for joy and played till the sun went down behind the
tall cherry trees. Then she was put into a lovely bed with rose-coloured
silken coverings stuffed with violets; she slept and dreamt as lovely
dreams as any queen on her wedding day.
The next day she played with the flowers in the garden again—
and many days passed in the same way. Gerda knew every flower,
but however many there were, she always thought there was one
missing, but which it was she did not know