What do you do when the world around you crumbles?
According to Gerda, the only thing you can do is keep the façade and cheer up those that surround you, including yourself. Fake it till I make it, so to say.
You see, Laust, Gerda’s beloved, is going to the war against the Prussians. A terrifying prospect, so to say. If he doesn’t die, he’ll return a changed man, Gerda is worried, she doesn’t want him to go. She doesn’t want anything bad to happen to him.
But, does she show her worry? No!  She’ll stay happy. Everything will be fine.
Gerda knows that if she repeats that enough to herself, it’ll be real.