The King took another wife, a beautiful woman, but proud and overbearing, and she could not bear to be surpassed in beauty by any one.
The Snow Queen kissed Kay again, and then he forgot all about little Gerda, Grandmother, and all the others at home.
Then it was that the gods, fearful for their safety and for the life of every beautiful thing, assembled on the bed of the tranquil River of Heaven whose waters had been dried up.