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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, by
+Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Engebretsen Moe
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: East of the Sun and West of the Moon
+       Old Tales from the North
+
+Author: Peter Christen Asbjornsen
+        Jorgen Engebretsen Moe
+
+Illustrator: Kay Nielsen
+
+Release Date: January 15, 2010 [EBook #30973]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EAST OF THE SUN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dan Horwood and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: He too saw the image in the water; but he looked up at
+once, and became aware of the lovely Lassie who sate there up in the
+tree. Page 70]
+
+
+
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+  EAST OF THE SUN AND
+  WEST OF THE MOON
+
+  OLD TALES FROM THE NORTH
+
+
+  ILLUSTRATED BY
+  KAY NIELSEN
+
+
+  NEW YORK
+  GEORGE H DORAN COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+A folk-tale, in its primitive plainness of word and entire absence of
+complexity in thought, is peculiarly sensitive and susceptible to the
+touch of stranger hands; and he who has been able to acquaint himself
+with the _Norske Folkeeventyr_ of Asbjoernsen and Moe (from which these
+stories are selected), has an advantage over the reader of an English
+rendering. Of this advantage Mr. Kay Nielsen has fully availed
+himself: and the exquisite _bizarrerie_ of his drawings aptly
+expresses the innermost significance of the old-world, old-wives'
+fables. For to term these legends, Nursery Tales, would be to curtail
+them, by nine-tenths, of their interest. They are the romances of the
+childhood of Nations: they are the never-failing springs of sentiment,
+of sensation, of heroic example, from which primeval peoples drank
+their fill at will.
+
+The quaintness, the tenderness, the grotesque yet realistic
+intermingling of actuality with supernaturalism, by which the
+original _Norske Folkeeventyr_ are characterised, will make an appeal
+to all, as represented in the pictures of Kay Nielsen. And these
+imperishable traditions, whose bases are among the very roots of all
+antiquity, are here reincarnated in line and colour, to the delight of
+all who ever knew or now shall know them.
+
+Permission to reprint the Stories in this book, which originally
+appeared in Sir G. W. Dasent's "Popular Tales from the Norse," has
+been obtained from Messrs. George Routledge & Sons, Ltd. THE THREE
+PRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN is printed by arrangement with Messrs.
+David Nutt; and PRINCE LINDWORM is newly translated for this volume.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                  PAGE
+  EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON                               9
+  THE BLUE BELT                                                     29
+  PRINCE LINDWORM                                                   53
+  THE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER                                      65
+  THE HUSBAND WHO WAS TO MIND THE HOUSE                             75
+  THE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND                                79
+  THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND                                 85
+  SORIA MORIA CASTLE                                                97
+  THE GIANT WHO HAD NO HEART IN HIS BODY                           117
+  THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL                                   131
+  THE WIDOW'S SON                                                  149
+  THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF                                      167
+  THE THREE PRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN                        171
+  THE CAT ON THE DOVREFELL                                         200
+  ONE'S OWN CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PRETTIEST                          203
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+  EAST OF THE SUN AND
+  WEST OF THE MOON
+                                                                  Page
+    "Well, mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and
+        then there's nothing to fear," said the Bear, so
+        she rode a long, long way                                    9
+    "Tell me the way, then," she said, "and I'll search
+        you out"                                                    16
+    And then she lay on a little green patch in the
+        midst of the gloomy thick wood                              24
+    The North Wind goes over the sea                                32
+    And flitted away as far as they could from the
+        Castle that lay East of the Sun and West of the
+        Moon                                                        40
+
+  THE BLUE BELT
+
+    The Lad in the Bear's skin, and the King of Arabia's
+        daughter                                                    48
+
+  PRINCE LINDWORM
+
+    She saw the Lindworm for the first time, as he came
+        in and stood by her side                                    56
+
+  THE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER
+
+    She could not help setting the door a little ajar,
+        just to peep in, when--Pop! out flew the Moon               64
+    Then he coaxed her down and took her home                       72
+    "Here are your children; now you shall have them
+        again. I am the Virgin Mary"                                80
+    He too saw the image in the water; but he looked up
+        at once, and became aware of the lovely Lassie
+        who sate there up in the tree                     FRONTISPIECE
+
+  THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND
+
+    "You'll come to three Princesses, whom you will see
+        standing in the earth up to their necks, with
+        only their heads out"                                       88
+    So the man gave him a pair of snow shoes                        96
+    The King went into the Castle, and at first his
+        Queen didn't know him, he was so wan and thin,
+        through wandering so far and being so woeful               104
+
+  THE GIANT WHO HAD
+  NO HEART IN HIS BODY
+
+    The six brothers riding out to woo                             112
+    "On that island stands a church; in that church is a
+        well; in that well swims a duck"                           120
+    He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and
+        when he got out of the Giant's door, there stood
+        the Wolf waiting for him                                   128
+
+  THE WIDOW'S SON
+
+    When he had walked a day or so, a strange man met
+        him. "Whither away?" asked the man                         136
+    But still the Horse begged him to look behind him              144
+    And this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay
+        the lad, so lovely, and white and red, just as
+        the Princess had seen him in the morning sun               152
+    The Lad in the Battle                                          160
+
+  THE THREE PRINCESSES
+  IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN
+
+    Just as they bent down to take the rose a big dense
+        snowdrift came and carried them away                       168
+    The Troll was quite willing, and before long he fell
+        asleep and began snoring                                   176
+    As soon as they tugged at the rope, the Captain and
+        the Lieutenant pulled up the Princesses, the one
+        after the other                                            184
+    No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing
+        and a whirring from all quarters, and such a
+        large flock of birds swept down that they
+        blackened all the field in which they settled              192
+
+
+
+
+EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON
+
+
+Once on a time there was a poor husbandman who had so many children
+that he hadn't much of either food or clothing to give them. Pretty
+children they all were, but the prettiest was the youngest daughter,
+who was so lovely there was no end to her loveliness.
+
+So one day, 'twas on a Thursday evening late at the fall of the year,
+the weather was so wild and rough outside, and it was so cruelly dark,
+and rain fell and wind blew, till the walls of the cottage shook
+again. There they all sat round the fire, busy with this thing and
+that. But just then, all at once something gave three taps on the
+window-pane. Then the father went out to see what was the matter; and,
+when he got out of doors, what should he see but a great big _White
+Bear_.
+
+"Good-evening to you!" said the _White Bear_.
+
+"The same to you!" said the man.
+
+"Will you give me your youngest daughter? If you will, I'll make you
+as rich as you are now poor," said the _Bear_.
+
+Well, the man would not be at all sorry to be so rich; but still he
+thought he must have a bit of a talk with his daughter first; so he
+went in and told them how there was a great _White Bear_ waiting
+outside, who had given his word to make them so rich if he could only
+have the youngest daughter.
+
+The lassie said "No!" outright. Nothing could get her to say anything
+else; so the man went out and settled it with the _White Bear_ that he
+should come again the next Thursday evening and get an answer.
+Meantime he talked his daughter over, and kept on telling her of all
+the riches they would get, and how well off she would be herself; and
+so at last she thought better of it, and washed and mended her rags,
+made herself as smart as she could, and was ready to start. I can't
+say her packing gave her much trouble.
+
+[Illustration: "Well, mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and then
+there's nothing to fear," said the Bear, so she rode a long, long way.]
+
+Next Thursday evening came the _White Bear_ to fetch her, and she got
+upon his back with her bundle, and off they went. So, when they had
+gone a bit of the way, the _White Bear_ said:
+
+"Are you afraid?"
+
+"No," she wasn't.
+
+"Well! mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and then there's
+nothing to fear," said the _Bear_.
+
+So she rode a long, long way, till they came to a great steep hill.
+There, on the face of it, the _White Bear_ gave a knock, and a door
+opened, and they came into a castle where there were many rooms all
+lit up; rooms gleaming with silver and gold; and there, too, was a
+table ready laid, and it was all as grand as grand could be. Then the
+_White Bear_ gave her a silver bell; and when she wanted anything, she
+was only to ring it, and she would get it at once.
+
+Well, after she had eaten and drunk, and evening wore on, she got
+sleepy after her journey, and thought she would like to go to bed, so
+she rang the bell; and she had scarce taken hold of it before she came
+into a chamber where there was a bed made, as fair and white as any
+one would wish to sleep in, with silken pillows and curtains and gold
+fringe. All that was in the room was gold or silver; but when she had
+gone to bed and put out the light, a man came and laid himself
+alongside her. That was the _White Bear_, who threw off his beast
+shape at night; but she never saw him, for he always came after she
+had put out the light, and before the day dawned he was up and off
+again. So things went on happily for a while, but at last she began to
+get silent and sorrowful; for there she went about all day alone, and
+she longed to go home to see her father and mother and brothers and
+sisters. So one day, when the _White Bear_ asked what it was that she
+lacked, she said it was so dull and lonely there, and how she longed
+to go home to see her father and mother and brothers and sisters, and
+that was why she was so sad and sorrowful, because she couldn't get to
+them.
+
+"Well, well!" said the _Bear_, "perhaps there's a cure for all this;
+but you must promise me one thing, not to talk alone with your mother,
+but only when the rest are by to hear; for she'll take you by the hand
+and try to lead you into a room alone to talk; but you must mind and
+not do that, else you'll bring bad luck on both of us."
+
+So one Sunday the _White Bear_ came and said, now they could set off
+to see her father and mother. Well, off they started, she sitting on
+his back; and they went far and long. At last they came to a grand
+house, and there her brothers and sisters were running about out of
+doors at play, and everything was so pretty, 'twas a joy to see.
+
+"This is where your father and mother live now," said the _White
+Bear_; "but don't forget what I told you, else you'll make us both
+unlucky."
+
+"No! bless her, she'd not forget;"--and when she had reached the
+house, the _White Bear_ turned right about and left her.
+
+Then, when she went in to see her father and mother, there was such
+joy, there was no end to it. None of them thought they could thank her
+enough for all she had done for them. Now, they had everything they
+wished, as good as good could be, and they all wanted to know how she
+got on where she lived.
+
+Well, she said, it was very good to live where she did; she had all
+she wished. What she said beside I don't know, but I don't think any
+of them had the right end of the stick, or that they got much out of
+her. But so, in the afternoon, after they had done dinner, all
+happened as the _White Bear_ had said. Her mother wanted to talk with
+her alone in her bedroom; but she minded what the _White Bear_ had
+said, and wouldn't go upstairs.
+
+"Oh! what we have to talk about will keep!" she said, and put her
+mother off. But, somehow or other, her mother got round her at last,
+and she had to tell her the whole story. So she said, how every night
+when she had gone to bed a man came and lay down beside her as soon as
+she had put out the light; and how she never saw him, because he was
+always up and away before the morning dawned; and how she went about
+woeful and sorrowing, for she thought she should so like to see him;
+and how all day long she walked about there alone; and how dull and
+dreary and lonesome it was.
+
+"My!" said her mother; "it may well be a Troll you slept with! But now
+I'll teach you a lesson how to set eyes on him. I'll give you a bit of
+candle, which you can carry home in your bosom; just light that while
+he is asleep, but take care not to drop the tallow on him."
+
+Yes! she took the candle and hid it in her bosom, and as night drew
+on, the _White Bear_ came and fetched her away.
+
+But when they had gone a bit of the way, the _White Bear_ asked if all
+hadn't happened as he had said.
+
+"Well, she couldn't say it hadn't."
+
+"Now, mind," said he, "if you have listened to your mother's advice,
+you have brought bad luck on us both, and then, all that has passed
+between us will be as nothing."
+
+"No," she said, "she hadn't listened to her mother's advice."
+
+So when she reached home, and had gone to bed, it was the old story
+over again. There came a man and lay down beside her; but at dead of
+night, when she heard he slept, she got up and struck a light, lit the
+candle, and let the light shine on him, and so she saw that he was the
+loveliest _Prince_ one ever set eyes on, and she fell so deep in love
+with him on the spot, that she thought she couldn't live if she didn't
+give him a kiss there and then. And so she did; but as she kissed him,
+she dropped three hot drops of tallow on his shirt, and he woke up.
+
+"What have you done?" he cried; "now you have made us both unlucky,
+for had you held out only this one year, I had been freed. For I have
+a step-mother who has bewitched me, so that I am a _White Bear_ by
+day, and a _Man_ by night. But now all ties are snapt between us; now
+I must set off from you to her. She lives in a Castle which stands
+_East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and there, too, is a
+_Princess_, with a nose three ells long, and she's the wife I must
+have now."
+
+She wept and took it ill, but there was no help for it; go he must.
+
+Then she asked if she mightn't go with him.
+
+No, she mightn't.
+
+"Tell me the way, then," she said, "and I'll search you out; _that_
+surely I may get leave to do."
+
+[Illustration: "Tell me the way, then," she said, "and I'll search you
+out."]
+
+"Yes," she might do that, he said; "but there was no way to that
+place. It lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and thither
+she'd never find her way."
+
+So next morning, when she woke up, both _Prince_ and castle were gone,
+and then she lay on a little green patch, in the midst of the gloomy
+thick wood, and by her side lay the same bundle of rags she had
+brought with her from her old home.
+
+[Illustration: And then she lay on a little green patch in the midst of
+the gloomy thick wood.]
+
+So when she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and wept till she
+was tired, she set out on her way, and walked many, many days, till
+she came to a lofty crag. Under it sat an old hag, and played with a
+gold apple which she tossed about. Here the lassie asked if she knew
+the way to the Prince, who lived with his step-mother in the Castle,
+that lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and who was to marry
+the _Princess_ with a nose three ells long.
+
+"How did you come to know about him?" asked the old hag; "but maybe
+you are the lassie who ought to have had him?"
+
+Yes, she was.
+
+"So, so; it's you, is it?" said the old hag. "Well, all I know about
+him is, that he lives in the castle that lies _East of the Sun and
+West of the Moon_, and thither you'll come, late or never; but still
+you may have the loan of my horse, and on him you can ride to my next
+neighbour. Maybe she'll be able to tell you; and when you get there,
+just give the horse a switch under the left ear, and beg him to be off
+home; and, stay, this gold apple you may take with you."
+
+So she got upon the horse, and rode a long, long time, till she came
+to another crag, under which sat another old hag, with a gold
+carding-comb. Here the lassie asked if she knew the way to the castle
+that lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and she answered,
+like the first old hag, that she knew nothing about it, except it was
+east of the sun and west of the moon.
+
+"And thither you'll come, late or never, but you shall have the loan
+of my horse to my next neighbour; maybe she'll tell you all about it;
+and when you get there, just switch the horse under the left ear, and
+beg him to be off home."
+
+And this old hag gave her the golden carding-comb; it might be she'd
+find some use for it, she said. So the lassie got up on the horse, and
+rode a far, far way, and a weary time; and so at last she came to
+another great crag, under which sat another old hag, spinning with a
+golden spinning-wheel. Her, too, she asked if she knew the way to the
+_Prince_, and where the castle was that lay _East of the Sun and West
+of the Moon_. So it was the same thing over again.
+
+"Maybe it's you who ought to have had the _Prince_?" said the old
+hag.
+
+Yes, it was.
+
+But she, too, didn't know the way a bit better than the other two.
+"East of the sun and west of the moon it was," she knew--that was
+all.
+
+"And thither you'll come, late or never; but I'll lend you my horse,
+and then I think you'd best ride to the East Wind and ask him; maybe
+he knows those parts, and can blow you thither. But when you get to
+him, you need only give the horse a switch under the left ear, and
+he'll trot home of himself."
+
+And so, too, she gave her the gold spinning-wheel. "Maybe you'll find
+a use for it," said the old hag.
+
+Then on she rode many many days, a weary time, before she got to the
+East Wind's house, but at last she did reach it, and then she asked
+the East Wind if he could tell her the way to the _Prince_ who dwelt
+east of the sun and west of the moon. Yes, the East Wind had often
+heard tell of it, the _Prince_ and the castle, but he couldn't tell
+the way, for he had never blown so far.
+
+"But, if you will, I'll go with you to my brother the West Wind, maybe
+he knows, for he's much stronger. So, if you will just get on my
+back, I'll carry you thither."
+
+Yes, she got on his back, and I should just think they went briskly
+along.
+
+So when they got there, they went into the West Wind's house, and the
+East Wind said the lassie he had brought was the one who ought to have
+had the _Prince_ who lived in the castle _East of the Sun and West of
+the Moon_; and so she had set out to seek him, and how he had come
+with her, and would be glad to know if the West Wind knew how to get
+to the castle.
+
+"Nay," said the West Wind, "so far I've never blown; but if you will,
+I'll go with you to our brother the South Wind, for he's much stronger
+than either of us, and he has flapped his wings far and wide. Maybe
+he'll tell you. You can get on my back, and I'll carry you to him."
+
+Yes! she got on his back, and so they travelled to the South Wind, and
+weren't so very long on the way, I should think.
+
+When they got there, the West Wind asked him if he could tell her the
+way to the castle that lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, for
+it was she who ought to have had the _Prince_ who lived there.
+
+"You don't say so! That's she, is it?" said the South Wind.
+
+"Well, I have blustered about in most places in my time, but so far
+have I never blown; but if you will, I'll take you to my brother the
+North Wind; he is the oldest and strongest of the whole lot of us, and
+if he don't know where it is, you'll never find any one in the world
+to tell you. You can get on my back, and I'll carry you thither."
+
+Yes! she got on his back, and away he went from his house at a fine
+rate. And this time, too, she wasn't long on her way.
+
+So when they got to the North Wind's house, he was so wild and cross,
+cold puffs came from him a long way off.
+
+"BLAST YOU BOTH, WHAT DO YOU WANT?" he roared out to them ever so far
+off, so that it struck them with an icy shiver.
+
+"Well," said the South Wind, "you needn't be so foul-mouthed, for here
+I am, your brother, the South Wind, and here is the lassie who ought
+to have had the _Prince_ who dwells in the castle that lies _East of
+the Sun and West of the Moon_, and now she wants to ask you if you
+ever were there, and can tell her the way, for she would be so glad to
+find him again."
+
+"YES, I KNOW WELL ENOUGH WHERE IT IS," said the North Wind; "once in
+my life I blew an aspen-leaf thither, but, I was so tired I couldn't
+blow a puff for ever so many days, after. But if you really wish to go
+thither, and aren't afraid to come along with me, I'll take you on my
+back and see if I can blow you thither."
+
+Yes! with all her heart; she must and would get thither if it were
+possible in any way; and as for fear, however madly he went, she
+wouldn't be at all afraid.
+
+"Very well, then," said the North Wind, "but you must sleep here
+to-night, for we must have the whole day before us, if we're to get
+thither at all."
+
+Early next morning the North Wind woke her, and puffed himself up, and
+blew himself out, and made himself so stout and big, 'twas gruesome to
+look at him; and so off they went high up through the air, as if they
+would never stop till they got to the world's end.
+
+Down here below there was such a storm; it threw down long tracts of
+wood and many houses, and when it swept over the great sea, ships
+foundered by hundreds.
+
+[Illustration: The North Wind goes over the sea.]
+
+So they tore on and on--no one can believe how far they went--and all
+the while they still went over the sea, and the North Wind got more
+and more weary, and so out of breath he could scarce bring out a puff,
+and his wings drooped and drooped, till at last he sunk so low that
+the crests of the waves dashed over his heels.
+
+"Are you afraid?" said the North Wind.
+
+"No!" she wasn't.
+
+But they weren't very far from land; and the North Wind had still so
+much strength left in him that he managed to throw her up on the shore
+under the windows of the castle which lay _East of the Sun and West of
+the Moon_; but then he was so weak and worn out, he had to stay there
+and rest many days before he could get home again.
+
+Next morning the lassie sat down under the castle window, and began to
+play with the gold apple; and the first person she saw was the
+_Long-nose_ who was to have the _Prince_.
+
+"What do you want for your gold apple, you lassie?" said the
+_Long-nose_, and threw up the window.
+
+"It's not for sale, for gold or money," said the lassie.
+
+"If it's not for sale for gold or money, what is it that you will sell
+it for? You may name your own price," said the _Princess_.
+
+"Well! if I may get to the _Prince_, who lives here, and be with him
+to-night, you shall have it," said the lassie whom the North Wind had
+brought.
+
+Yes! she might; that could be done. So the _Princess_ got the gold
+apple; but when the lassie came up to the _Prince's_ bed-room at night
+he was fast asleep; she called him and shook him, and between whiles
+she wept sore; but all she could do she couldn't wake him up. Next
+morning, as soon as day broke, came the _Princess_ with the long nose,
+and drove her out again.
+
+So in the daytime she sat down under the castle windows and began to
+card with her carding-comb, and the same thing happened. The
+_Princess_ asked what she wanted for it; and she said it wasn't for
+sale for gold or money, but if she might get leave to go up to the
+_Prince_ and be with him that night, the _Princess_ should have it.
+But when she went up she found him fast asleep again, and all she
+called, and all she shook, and wept, and prayed, she couldn't get life
+into him; and as soon as the first gray peep of day came, then came
+the _Princess_ with the long nose, and chased her out again.
+
+So, in the daytime, the lassie sat down outside under the castle
+window, and began to spin with her golden spinning-wheel, and that,
+too, the _Princess_ with the long nose wanted to have. So she threw up
+the window and asked what she wanted for it. The lassie said, as she
+had said twice before, it wasn't for sale for gold or money; but if
+she might go up to the _Prince_ who was there, and be with him alone
+that night, she might have it.
+
+Yes! she might do that and welcome. But now you must know there were
+some Christian folk who had been carried off thither, and as they sat
+in their room, which was next the _Prince_, they had heard how a woman
+had been in there, and wept and prayed, and called to him two nights
+running, and they told that to the _Prince_.
+
+That evening, when the _Princess_ came with her sleepy drink, the
+_Prince_ made as if he drank, but threw it over his shoulder, for he
+could guess it was a sleepy drink. So, when the lassie came in, she
+found the _Prince_ wide awake; and then she told him the whole story
+how she had come thither.
+
+"Ah," said the _Prince_, "you've just come in the very nick of time,
+for to-morrow is to be our wedding-day; but now I won't have the
+_Long-nose_, and you are the only woman in the world who can set me
+free. I'll say I want to see what my wife is fit for, and beg her to
+wash the shirt which has the three spots of tallow on it; she'll say
+yes, for she doesn't know 'tis you who put them there; but that's a
+work only for Christian folk, and not for such a pack of Trolls, and
+so I'll say that I won't have any other for my bride than the woman
+who can wash them out, and ask you to do it."
+
+So there was great joy and love between them all that night. But next
+day, when the wedding was to be, the _Prince_ said:
+
+"First of all, I'd like to see what my bride is fit for."
+
+"Yes!" said the step-mother, with all her heart.
+
+"Well," said the _Prince_, "I've got a fine shirt which I'd like for
+my wedding shirt, but somehow or other it has got three spots of
+tallow on it, which I must have washed out; and I have sworn never to
+take any other bride than the woman who's able to do that. If she
+can't, she's not worth having."
+
+Well, that was no great thing they said, so they agreed, and she with
+the long-nose began to wash away as hard as she could, but the more
+she rubbed and scrubbed, the bigger the spots grew.
+
+"Ah!" said the old hag, her mother, "you can't wash; let me try."
+
+But she hadn't long taken the shirt in hand before it got far worse
+than ever, and with all her rubbing, and wringing, and scrubbing, the
+spots grew bigger and blacker, and the darker and uglier was the
+shirt.
+
+Then all the other Trolls began to wash, but the longer it lasted, the
+blacker and uglier the shirt grew, till at last it was as black all
+over as if it had been up the chimney.
+
+"Ah!" said the _Prince_, "you're none of you worth a straw; you can't
+wash. Why there, outside, sits a beggar lassie, I'll be bound she
+knows how to wash better than the whole lot of you. COME IN, LASSIE!"
+he shouted.
+
+Well, in she came.
+
+"Can you wash this shirt clean, lassie you?" said he.
+
+"I don't know," she said, "but I think I can."
+
+And almost before she had taken it and dipped it in the water, it was
+as white as driven snow, and whiter still.
+
+"Yes; you are the lassie for me," said the _Prince_.
+
+At that the old hag flew into such a rage, she burst on the spot, and
+the _Princess_ with the long nose after her, and the whole pack of
+Trolls after her--at least I've never heard a word about them since.
+
+As for the _Prince_ and _Princess_, they set free all the poor
+Christian folk who had been carried off and shut up there; and they
+took with them all the silver and gold, and flitted away as far as
+they could from the Castle that lay _East of the Sun and West of the
+Moon_.
+
+[Illustration: And flitted away as far as they could from the Castle that
+lay East of the Sun and West of the Moon.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BELT
+
+
+Once on a time there was an old beggar-woman, who had gone out to beg.
+She had a little lad with her, and when she had got her bag full she
+struck across the hills towards her own home. So when they had gone a
+bit up the hill-side, they came upon a little _Blue Belt_ which lay
+where two paths met, and the lad asked his mother's leave to pick it
+up.
+
+"No," said she, "maybe there's witchcraft in it;" and so with threats
+she forced him to follow her. But when they had gone a bit further,
+the lad said he must turn aside a moment out of the road; and
+meanwhile his mother sat down on a tree-stump. But the lad was a long
+time gone, for as soon as he got so far into the wood that the old
+dame could not see him, he ran off to where the _Belt_ lay, took it
+up, tied it round his waist, and lo! he felt as strong as if he could
+lift the whole hill. When he got back, the old dame was in a great
+rage, and wanted to know what he had been doing all that while. "You
+don't care how much time you waste, and yet you know the night is
+drawing on, and we must cross the hill before it is dark!" So on they
+tramped; but when they had got about half-way, the old dame grew
+weary, and said she must rest under a bush.
+
+"Dear mother," said the lad, "mayn't I just go up to the top of this
+high crag while you rest, and try if I can't see some sign of folk
+hereabouts?"
+
+Yes! he might do that; so when he had got to the top he saw a light
+shining from the north. So he ran down and told his mother.
+
+"We must get on, mother; we are near a house, for I see a bright light
+shining quite close to us in the north." Then she rose and shouldered
+her bag, and set off to see; but they hadn't gone far, before there
+stood a steep spur of the hill, right across their path.
+
+"Just as I thought!" said the old dame, "now we can't go a step
+farther; a pretty bed we shall have here!"
+
+But the lad took the bag under one arm, and his mother under the
+other, and ran straight up the steep crag with them.
+
+"Now, don't you see? Don't you see that we are close to a house? Don't
+you see that bright light?"
+
+But the old dame said those were no Christian folk, but _Trolls_, for
+she was at home in all that forest far and near, and knew there was
+not a living soul in it, until you were well over the ridge and had
+come down on the other side. But they went on, and in a little while
+they came to a great house which was all painted red.
+
+"What's the good?" said the old dame. "We daren't go in, for here the
+_Trolls_ live."
+
+"Don't say so; we must go in. There must be men where the lights shine
+so," said the lad. So in he went, and his mother after him, but he had
+scarce opened the door before she swooned away, for there she saw a
+great stout man, at least twenty feet high, sitting on the bench.
+
+"Good evening, grandfather!" said the lad.
+
+"Well, here I've sat three hundred years," said the man who sat on the
+bench, "and no one has ever come and called me grandfather before."
+Then the lad sat down by the man's side, and began to talk to him as
+if they had been old friends.
+
+"But what's come over your mother?" said the man, after they had
+chatted a while. "I think she swooned away; you had better look after
+her."
+
+So the lad went and took hold of the old dame, and dragged her up the
+hall along the floor. That brought her to herself, and she kicked and
+scratched, and flung herself about, and at last sat down upon a heap
+of firewood in the corner; but she was so frightened that she scarce
+dared to look one in the face.
+
+After a while, the lad asked if they could spend the night there.
+
+"Yes, to be sure," said the man.
+
+So they went on talking again, but the lad soon got hungry, and wanted
+to know if they could get food as well as lodging.
+
+"Of course," said the man, "that might be got too." And after he had
+sat a while longer, he rose up and threw six loads of dry pitch-pine
+on the fire. This made the old hag still more afraid.
+
+"Oh! now he's going to roast us alive," she said, in the corner where
+she sat.
+
+And when the wood had burned down to glowing embers, up got the man
+and strode out of his house.
+
+"Heaven bless and help us! what a stout heart you have got!" said the
+old dame. "Don't you see we have got amongst _Trolls_?"
+
+"Stuff and nonsense!" said the lad; "no harm if we have."
+
+In a little while, back came the man with an ox so fat and big, the
+lad had never seen its like, and he gave it one blow with his fist
+under the ear, and down it fell dead on the floor. When that was done,
+he took it up by all the four legs and laid it on the glowing embers,
+and turned it and twisted it about till it was burnt brown outside.
+After that, he went to a cupboard and took out a great silver dish,
+and laid the ox on it; and the dish was so big that none of the ox
+hung over on any side. This he put on the table, and then he went down
+into the cellar and fetched a cask of wine, knocked out the head, and
+put the cask on the table, together with two knives, which were each
+six feet long. When this was done he bade them go and sit down to
+supper and eat. So they went, the lad first and the old dame after,
+but she began to whimper and wail, and to wonder how she should ever
+use such knives. But her son seized one, and began to cut slices out
+of the thigh of the ox, which he placed before his mother. And when
+they had eaten a bit, he took up the cask with both hands, and lifted
+it down to the floor; then he told his mother to come and drink, but
+it was still so high she couldn't reach up to it; so he caught her up,
+and held her up to the edge of the cask while she drank; as for
+himself, he clambered up and hung down like a cat inside the cask
+while he drank. So when he had quenched his thirst, he took up the
+cask and put it back on the table, and thanked the man for the good
+meal, and told his mother to come and thank him too, and, a-feared
+though she was, she dared do nothing else but thank the man. Then the
+lad sat down again alongside the man and began to gossip, and after
+they had sat a while the man said:
+
+"Well! I must just go and get a bit of supper too;" and so he went to
+the table and ate up the whole ox--hoofs, and horns, and all--and
+drained the cask to the last drop, and then went back and sat on the
+bench.
+
+"As for beds," he said, "I don't know what's to be done. I've only got
+one bed and a cradle; but we could get on pretty well if you would
+sleep in the cradle, and then your mother might lie in the bed
+yonder."
+
+"Thank you kindly, that'll do nicely," said the lad; and with that he
+pulled off his clothes and lay down in the cradle; but, to tell you
+the truth, it was quite as big as a four-poster. As for the old dame,
+she had to follow the man who showed her to bed, though she was out of
+her wits for fear.
+
+"Well!" thought the lad to himself, "'twill never do to go to sleep
+yet. I'd best lie awake and listen how things go as the night wears
+on."
+
+So, after a while, the man began to talk to the old dame, and at last
+he said:
+
+"We two might live here so happily together, could we only be rid of
+this son of yours."
+
+"But do you know how to settle him? Is that what you're thinking of?"
+said she.
+
+"Nothing easier," said he; at any rate he would try. He would just say
+he wished the old dame would stay and keep house for him a day or two,
+and then he would take the lad out with him up the hill to quarry
+corner-stones, and roll down a great rock on him. All this the lad lay
+and listened to.
+
+Next day the _Troll_--for it was a _Troll_ as clear as day--asked if
+the old dame would stay and keep house for him a few days; and as the
+day went on he took a great iron crowbar, and asked the lad if he had
+a mind to go with him up the hill and quarry a few corner-stones. With
+all his heart, he said, and went with him; and so, after they had
+split a few stones, the _Troll_ wanted him to go down below and look
+after cracks in the rock; and while he was doing this the _Troll_
+worked away, and wearied himself with his crowbar till he moved a
+whole crag out of its bed, which came rolling right down on the place
+where the lad was; but he held it up till he could get on one side,
+and then let it roll on.
+
+"Oh!" said the lad to the _Troll_, "now I see what you mean to do with
+me. You want to crush me to death; so just go down yourself and look
+after the cracks and refts in the rock, and I'll stand up above."
+
+The _Troll_ did not dare to do otherwise than the lad bade him, and
+the end of it was that the lad rolled down a great rock, which fell
+upon the _Troll_ and broke one of his thighs.
+
+"Well! you _are_ in a sad plight," said the lad, as he strode down,
+lifted up the rock, and set the man free. After that he had to put him
+on his back and carry him home; so he ran with him as fast as a horse,
+and shook him so that the _Troll_ screamed and screeched as if a knife
+were run into him. And when he got home, they had to put the _Troll_
+to bed, and there he lay in a sad pickle.
+
+When the night wore on, the _Troll_ began to talk to the old dame
+again, and to wonder how ever they could be rid of the lad.
+
+"Well," said the old dame, "if you can't hit on a plan to get rid of
+him, I'm sure I can't."
+
+"Let me see," said the _Troll_; "I've got twelve lions in a garden; if
+they could only get hold of the lad, they'd soon tear him to pieces."
+
+So the old dame said it would be easy enough to get him there. She
+would sham sick, and say she felt so poorly, nothing would do her any
+good but lion's milk. All that the lad lay and listened to; and when
+he got up in the morning his mother said she was worse than she
+looked, and she thought she should never be right again unless she
+could get some lion's milk.
+
+"Then I'm afraid you'll be poorly a long time, mother," said the lad,
+"for I'm sure I don't know where any is to be got."
+
+"Oh! if that be all," said the _Troll_, "there's no lack of lion's
+milk, if we only had the man to fetch it;" and then he went on to say
+how his brother had a garden with twelve lions in it, and how the lad
+might have the key if he had a mind to milk the lions. So the lad took
+the key and a milking pail, and strode off; and when he unlocked the
+gate and got into the garden, there stood all the twelve lions on
+their hind-paws, rampant and roaring at him. But the lad laid hold of
+the biggest, and led him about by the fore-paws, and dashed him
+against stocks and stones till there wasn't a bit of him left but the
+two paws. So when the rest saw that, they were so afraid that they
+crept up and lay at his feet like so many curs. After that they
+followed him about wherever he went, and when he got home, they lay
+down outside the house, with their fore-paws on the door sill.
+
+"Now, mother, you'll soon be well," said the lad, when he went in,
+"for here is the lion's milk."
+
+He had just milked a drop in the pail.
+
+But the _Troll_, as he lay in bed, swore it was all a lie. He was sure
+the lad was not the man to milk lions.
+
+When the lad heard that, he forced the _Troll_ to get out of bed,
+threw open the door, and all the lions rose up and seized the _Troll_,
+and at last the lad had to make them leave their hold.
+
+That night the _Troll_ began to talk to the old dame again. "I'm sure
+I can't tell how to put this lad out of the way--he is so awfully
+strong; can't you think of some way?"
+
+"No," said the old dame, "if you can't tell, I'm sure I can't."
+
+"Well!" said the _Troll_, "I have two brothers in a castle; they are
+twelve times as strong as I am, and that's why I was turned out and
+had to put up with this farm. They hold that castle, and round it
+there is an orchard with apples in it, and whoever eats those apples
+sleeps for three days and three nights. If we could only get the lad
+to go for the fruit, he wouldn't be able to keep from tasting the
+apples, and as soon as ever he fell asleep my brothers would tear him
+in pieces."
+
+The old dame said she would sham sick, and say she could never be
+herself again unless she tasted those apples; for she had set her
+heart on them.
+
+All this the lad lay and listened to.
+
+When the morning came the old dame was so poorly that she couldn't
+utter a word but groans and sighs. She was sure she should never be
+well again, unless she had some of those apples that grew in the
+orchard near the castle where the man's brothers lived; only she had
+no one to send for them.
+
+Oh! the lad was ready to go that instant; but the eleven lions went
+with him. So when he came to the orchard, he climbed up into the apple
+tree and ate as many apples as he could, and he had scarce got down
+before he fell into a deep sleep; but the lions all lay round him in a
+ring. The third day came the _Troll's_ brothers, but they did not
+come in man's shape. They came snorting like man-eating steeds, and
+wondered who it was that dared to be there, and said they would tear
+him to pieces, so small that there should not be a bit of him left.
+But up rose the lions and tore the _Trolls_ into small pieces, so that
+the place looked as if a dung heap had been tossed about it; and when
+they had finished the _Trolls_ they lay down again. The lad did not
+wake till late in the afternoon, and when he got on his knees and
+rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he began to wonder what had been
+going on, when he saw the marks of hoofs. But when he went towards the
+castle, a maiden looked out of a window who had seen all that had
+happened, and she said:
+
+"You may thank your stars you weren't in that tussle, else you must
+have lost your life."
+
+"What! I lose my life! No fear of that, I think," said the lad.
+
+So she begged him to come in, that she might talk with him, for she
+hadn't seen a Christian soul ever since she came there. But when she
+opened the door the lions wanted to go in too, but she got so
+frightened that she began to scream, and so the lad let them lie
+outside. Then the two talked and talked, and the lad asked how it
+came that she, who was so lovely, could put up with those ugly
+_Trolls_. She never wished it, she said; 'twas quite against her will.
+They had seized her by force, and she was the King of Arabia's
+daughter. So they talked on, and at last she asked him what he would
+do; whether she should go back home, or whether he would have her to
+wife. Of course he would have her, and she shouldn't go home.
+
+After that they went round the castle, and at last they came to a
+great hall, where the _Trolls'_ two great swords hung high up on the
+wall.
+
+"I wonder if you are man enough to wield one of these," said the
+_Princess_.
+
+"Who? I?" said the lad. "'Twould be a pretty thing if I couldn't wield
+one of these."
+
+With that he put two or three chairs one a-top of the other, jumped
+up, and touched the biggest sword with his finger tips, tossed it up
+in the air, and caught it again by the hilt; leapt down, and at the
+same time dealt such a blow with it on the floor that the whole hall
+shook. After he had thus got down, he thrust the sword under his arm
+and carried it about with him.
+
+So, when they had lived a little while in the castle, the _Princess_
+thought she ought to go home to her parents, and let them know what
+had become of her; so they loaded a ship, and she set sail from the
+castle.
+
+After she had gone, and the lad had wandered about a little, he called
+to mind that he had been sent out on an errand thither, and had come
+to fetch something for his mother's health; and though he said to
+himself, "After all the old dame was not so bad but she's all right by
+this time"--still he thought he ought to go and just see how she was.
+So he went and found both the man and his mother quite fresh and
+hearty.
+
+"What wretches you are to live in this beggarly hut," said the lad.
+"Come with me up to my castle, and you shall see what a fine fellow I
+am."
+
+Well! they were both ready to go, and on the way his mother talked to
+him, and asked how it was he had got so strong.
+
+"If you must know it came of that blue belt which lay on the hill-side
+that time when you and I were out begging," said the lad.
+
+"Have you got it still?" asked she.
+
+"Yes"--he had. It was tied round his waist.
+
+"Might she see it?"
+
+"Yes"--she might; and with that he pulled open his waistcoat and shirt
+to show it to her.
+
+Then she seized it with both hands, tore it off, and twisted it round
+her fist.
+
+"Now," she cried, "what shall I do with such a wretch as you? I'll
+just give you one blow, and dash your brains out!"
+
+"Far too good a death for such a scamp," said the _Troll_. "No! let's
+first burn out his eyes, and then turn him adrift in a little boat."
+
+So they burned out his eyes and turned him adrift, in spite of his
+prayers and tears; but, as the boat drifted, the lions swam after, and
+at last they laid hold of it and dragged it ashore on an island, and
+placed the lad under a fir tree. They caught game for him, and they
+plucked the birds and made him a bed of down; but he was forced to eat
+his meat raw and he was blind. At last, one day the biggest lion was
+chasing a hare which was blind, for it ran straight over stock and
+stone, and the end was, it ran right up against a fir-stump and
+tumbled head over heels across the field right into a spring; but lo!
+when it came out of the spring it saw its way quite plain, and so
+saved its life.
+
+"So, so!" thought the lion, and went and dragged the lad to the
+spring, and dipped him over head and ears in it. So, when he had got
+his sight again, he went down to the shore and made signs to the lions
+that they should all lie close together like a raft; then he stood
+upon their backs while they swam with him to the mainland. When he had
+reached the shore he went up into a birchen copse, and made the lions
+lie quiet. Then he stole up to the castle, like a thief, to see if he
+couldn't lay hands on his belt; and when he got to the door, he peeped
+through the keyhole, and there he saw his belt hanging up over a door
+in the kitchen. So he crept softly in across the floor, for there was
+no one there; but as soon as he had got hold of the belt, he began to
+kick and stamp about as though he were mad. Just then his mother came
+rushing out:
+
+"Dear heart, my darling little boy! do give me the belt again," she
+said.
+
+"Thank you kindly," said he. "Now you shall have the doom you passed
+on me," and he fulfilled it on the spot. When the old _Troll_ heard
+that, he came in and begged and prayed so prettily that he might not
+be smitten to death.
+
+"Well, you may live," said the lad, "but you shall undergo the same
+punishment you gave me;" and so he burned out the _Troll's_ eyes, and
+turned him adrift on the sea in a little boat, but he had no lions to
+follow him.
+
+Now the lad was all alone, and he went about longing and longing for
+the _Princess_; at last he could bear it no longer; he must set out to
+seek her, his heart was so bent on having her. So he loaded four ships
+and set sail for Arabia.
+
+For some time they had fair wind and fine weather, but after that they
+lay wind-bound under a rocky island. So the sailors went ashore and
+strolled about to spend the time, and there they found a huge egg,
+almost as big as a little house. So they began to knock it about with
+large stones, but, after all, they couldn't crack the shell. Then the
+lad came up with his sword to see what all the noise was about, and
+when he saw the egg, he thought it a trifle to crack it; so he gave it
+one blow and the egg split, and out came a chicken as big as an
+elephant.
+
+"Now we have done wrong," said the lad; "this can cost us all our
+lives;" and then he asked his sailors if they were men enough to sail
+to Arabia in four-and-twenty hours if they got a fine breeze. Yes!
+they were good to do that, they said, so they set sail with a fine
+breeze, and got to Arabia in three-and-twenty hours. As soon as they
+landed, the lad ordered all the sailors to go and bury themselves up
+to the eyes in a sandhill, so that they could barely see the ships.
+The lad and the captains climbed a high crag and sate down under a
+fir.
+
+In a little while came a great bird flying with an island in its
+claws, and let it fall down on the fleet, and sunk every ship. After
+it had done that, it flew up to the sandhill and flapped its wings, so
+that the wind nearly took off the heads of the sailors, and it flew
+past the fir with such force that it turned the lad right about, but
+he was ready with his sword, and gave the bird one blow and brought it
+down dead.
+
+After that he went to the town, where every one was glad because the
+_King_ had got his daughter back; but now the _King_ had hidden her
+away somewhere himself, and promised her hand as a reward to any one
+who could find her, and this though she was betrothed before. Now as
+the lad went along he met a man who had white bear-skins for sale, so
+he bought one of the hides and put it on; and one of the captains was
+to take an iron chain and lead him about, and so he went into the town
+and began to play pranks. At last the news came to the _King's_ ears,
+that there never had been such fun in the town before, for here was a
+white bear that danced and cut capers just as it was bid. So a
+messenger came to say the bear must come to the castle at once, for
+the _King_ wanted to see its tricks. So when it got to the castle
+every one was afraid, for such a beast they had never seen before; but
+the captain said there was no danger unless they laughed at it. They
+mustn't do that, else it would tear them to pieces. When the _King_
+heard that, he warned all the court not to laugh. But while the fun
+was going on, in came one of the _King's_ maids, and began to laugh
+and make game of the bear, and the bear flew at her and tore her, so
+that there was scarce a rag of her left. Then all the court began to
+bewail, and the captain most of all.
+
+"Stuff and nonsense," said the _King_; "she's only a maid, besides
+it's more my affair than yours."
+
+When the show was over, it was late at night. "It's no good your going
+away, when it's so late," said the _King_. "The bear had best sleep
+here."
+
+"Perhaps it might sleep in the ingle by the kitchen fire," said the
+captain.
+
+"Nay," said the _King_, "it shall sleep up here, and it shall have
+pillows and cushions to sleep on." So a whole heap of pillows and
+cushions was brought, and the captain had a bed in a side room.
+
+But at midnight the _King_ came with a lamp in his hand and a big
+bunch of keys, and carried off the white bear. He passed along gallery
+after gallery through doors and rooms, up-stairs and down-stairs, till
+at last he came to a pier which ran out into the sea. Then the _King_
+began to pull and haul at posts and pins, this one up and that one
+down, till at last a little house floated up to the water's edge.
+There he kept his daughter, for she was so dear to him that he had hid
+her, so that no one could find her out. He left the white bear outside
+while he went in and told her how it had danced and played its pranks.
+She said she was afraid, and dared not look at it; but he talked her
+over, saying there was no danger if she only wouldn't laugh. So they
+brought the bear in, and locked the door, and it danced and played
+its tricks; but just when the fun was at its height, the _Princess's_
+maid began to laugh. Then the lad flew at her and tore her to bits,
+and the _Princess_ began to cry and sob.
+
+"Stuff and nonsense," cried the _King_; "all this fuss about a maid!
+I'll get you just as good a one again. But now I think the bear had
+best stay here till morning, for I don't care to have to go and lead
+it along all those galleries and stairs at this time of night."
+
+"Well!" said the _Princess_, "if it sleeps here, I'm sure I won't."
+
+[Illustration: The Lad in the Bear's skin, and the King of Arabia's
+daughter.]
+
+But just then the bear curled himself up and lay down by the stove;
+and it was settled at last that the _Princess_ should sleep there too,
+with a light burning. But as soon as the _King_ had well gone, the
+white bear came and begged her to undo his collar. The _Princess_ was
+so scared she almost swooned away; but she felt about till she found
+the collar, and she had scarce undone it before the bear pulled his
+head off. Then she knew him again, and was so glad there was no end to
+her joy, and she wanted to tell her father at once that her deliverer
+was come. But the lad would not hear of it; he would earn her once
+more, he said. So in the morning when they heard the _King_ rattling
+at the posts outside, the lad drew on the hide and lay down by the
+stove.
+
+"Well, has it lain still?" the king asked.
+
+"I should think so," said the _Princess_; "it hasn't so much as turned
+or stretched itself once."
+
+When they got up to the castle again, the captain took the bear and
+led it away, and then the lad threw off the hide, and went to a tailor
+and ordered clothes fit for a prince; and when they were fitted on he
+went to the _King_, and said he wanted to find the _Princess_.
+
+"You're not the first who has wished the same thing," said the _King_,
+"but they have all lost their lives; for if any one who tries can't
+find her in four-and-twenty hours his life is forfeited."
+
+Yes; the lad knew all that. Still he wished to try, and if he
+couldn't find her, 'twas his look-out. Now in the castle there was a
+band that played sweet tunes, and there were fair maids to dance with,
+and so the lad danced away.
+
+When twelve hours were gone, the _King_ said:
+
+"I pity you with all my heart. You're so poor a hand at seeking; you
+will surely lose your life."
+
+"Stuff!" said the lad; "while there's life there's hope! So long as
+there's breath in the body there's no fear; we have lots of time!" and
+so he went on dancing till there was only one hour left.
+
+Then he said he would begin to search.
+
+"It's no use now," said the _King_; "time's up."
+
+"Light your lamp; out with your big bunch of keys," said the lad, "and
+follow me whither I wish to go. There is still a whole hour left."
+
+So the lad went the same way which the _King_ had led him the night
+before, and he bade the _King_ unlock door after door till they came
+down to the pier which ran out into the sea.
+
+"It's all no use, I tell you," said the _King_; "time's up, and this
+will only lead you right out into the sea."
+
+"Still five minutes more," said the lad, as he pulled and pushed at
+the posts and pins, and the house floated up.
+
+"Now the time is up," bawled the _King_; "come hither, headsman, and
+take off his head."
+
+"Nay, nay!" said the lad; "stop a bit, there are still three minutes!
+Out with the key, and let me get into this house."
+
+But there stood the _King_ and fumbled with his keys, to draw out the
+time. At last he said he hadn't any key.
+
+"Well, if you haven't, I _have_," said the lad, as he gave the door
+such a kick that it flew to splinters inwards on the floor.
+
+At the door the _Princess_ met him, and told her father this was her
+deliverer, on whom her heart was set. So she had him; and this was how
+the beggar boy came to marry the daughter of the King of Arabia.
+
+
+
+
+PRINCE LINDWORM
+
+
+Once upon a time, there was a fine young _King_ who was married to the
+loveliest of Queens. They were exceedingly happy, all but for one
+thing--they had no children. And this often made them both sad,
+because the _Queen_ wanted a dear little child to play with, and the
+_King_ wanted an heir to the kingdom.
+
+One day the _Queen_ went out for a walk by herself, and she met an
+ugly old woman. The old woman was just like a witch: but she was a
+nice kind of witch, not the cantankerous sort. She said, "Why do you
+look so doleful, pretty lady?" "It's no use my telling you," answered
+the _Queen_, "nobody in the world can help me." "Oh, you never know,"
+said the old woman. "Just you let me hear what your trouble is, and
+maybe I can put things right."
+
+"My dear woman, how can you?" said the _Queen_: and she told her, "The
+_King_ and I have no children: that's why I am so distressed." "Well,
+you needn't be," said the old witch. "I can set that right in a
+twinkling, if only you will do exactly as I tell you. Listen.
+To-night, at sunset, take a little drinking-cup with two ears" (that
+is, handles), "and put it bottom upwards on the ground in the
+north-west corner of your garden. Then go and lift it up to-morrow
+morning at sunrise, and you will find two roses underneath it, one red
+and one white. If you eat the red rose, a little boy will be born to
+you: if you eat the white rose, a little girl will be sent. But,
+whatever you do, you mustn't eat _both_ the roses, or you'll be
+sorry,--that I warn you! Only one: remember that!" "Thank you a
+thousand times," said the _Queen_, "this is good news indeed!" And she
+wanted to give the old woman her gold ring; but the old woman wouldn't
+take it.
+
+So the _Queen_ went home and did as she had been told: and next
+morning at sunrise she stole out into the garden and lifted up the
+little drinking-cup. She _was_ surprised, for indeed she had hardly
+expected to see anything. But there were the two roses underneath it,
+one red and one white. And now she was dreadfully puzzled, for she did
+not know which to choose. "If I choose the red one," she thought, "and
+I have a little boy, he may grow up and go to the wars and get killed.
+But if I choose the white one, and have a little girl, she will stay
+at home awhile with us, but later on she will get married and go away
+and leave us. So, whichever it is, we may be left with no child after
+all."
+
+However, at last she decided on the white rose, and she ate it. And it
+tasted so sweet, that she took and ate the red one too: without ever
+remembering the old woman's solemn warning.
+
+Some time after this, the _King_ went away to the wars: and while he
+was still away, the _Queen_ became the mother of twins. One was a
+lovely baby-boy, and the other was a _Lindworm_, or Serpent. She was
+terribly frightened when she saw the _Lindworm_, but he wriggled away
+out of the room, and nobody seemed to have seen him but herself: so
+that she thought it must have been a dream. The baby _Prince_ was so
+beautiful and so healthy, the _Queen_ was full of joy: and likewise,
+as you may suppose, was the _King_ when he came home and found his son
+and heir. Not a word was said by anyone about the _Lindworm_: only the
+_Queen_ thought about it now and then.
+
+Many days and years passed by, and the baby grew up into a handsome
+young _Prince_, and it was time that he got married. The _King_ sent
+him off to visit foreign kingdoms, in the Royal coach, with six white
+horses, to look for a Princess grand enough to be his wife. But at the
+very first cross-roads, the way was stopped by an enormous _Lindworm_,
+enough to frighten the bravest. He lay in the middle of the road with
+a great wide open mouth, and cried, "A bride for me before a bride for
+you!" Then the _Prince_ made the coach turn round and try another
+road: but it was all no use. For, at the first cross-ways, there lay
+the _Lindworm_ again, crying out, "A bride for me before a bride for
+you!" So the _Prince_ had to turn back home again to the Castle, and
+give up his visits to the foreign kingdoms. And his mother, the
+_Queen_, had to confess that what the _Lindworm_ said was true. For he
+was really the eldest of her twins: and so he ought to have a wedding
+first.
+
+There seemed nothing for it but to find a bride for the _Lindworm_,
+if his younger brother, the _Prince_, were to be married at all. So
+the _King_ wrote to a distant country, and asked for a Princess to
+marry his son (but, of course, he didn't say which son), and presently
+a Princess arrived. But she wasn't allowed to see her bridegroom until
+he stood by her side in the great hall and was married to her, and
+then, of course, it was too late for her to say she wouldn't have him.
+But next morning the Princess had disappeared. The _Lindworm_ lay
+sleeping all alone: and it was quite plain that he had eaten her.
+
+A little while after, the Prince decided that he might now go
+journeying again in search of a _Princess_. And off he drove in the
+Royal chariot with the six white horses. But at the first cross-ways,
+there lay the _Lindworm_, crying with his great wide open mouth, "A
+bride for me before a bride for you!" So the carriage tried another
+road, and the same thing happened, and they had to turn back again
+this time, just as formerly. And the King wrote to several foreign
+countries, to know if anyone would marry his son. At last another
+_Princess_ arrived, this time from a very far distant land. And, of
+course, she was not allowed to see her future husband before the
+wedding took place,--and then, lo and behold! it was the _Lindworm_
+who stood at her side. And next morning the Princess had disappeared:
+and the _Lindworm_ lay sleeping all alone; and it was quite clear that
+he had eaten her.
+
+By and by the _Prince_ started on his quest for the third time: and at
+the first cross-roads there lay the _Lindworm_ with his great wide
+open mouth, demanding a bride as before. And the _Prince_ went
+straight back to the castle, and told the _King_: "You must find
+another bride for my elder brother."
+
+"I don't know where I am to find her," said the _King_, "I have
+already made enemies of two great Kings who sent their daughters here
+as brides: and I have no notion how I can obtain a third lady. People
+are beginning to say strange things, and I am sure no _Princess_ will
+dare to come."
+
+Now, down in a little cottage near a wood, there lived the _King's_
+shepherd, an old man with his only daughter. And the _King_ came one
+day and said to him, "Will you give me your daughter to marry my son
+the _Lindworm_? And I will make you rich for the rest of your
+life."--"No, sire," said the shepherd, "that I cannot do. She is my
+only child, and I want her to take care of me when I am old. Besides,
+if the _Lindworm_ would not spare two beautiful Princesses, he won't
+spare her either. He will just gobble her up: and she is much too good
+for such a fate."
+
+But the _King_ wouldn't take "No" for an answer: and at last the old
+man had to give in.
+
+Well, when the old shepherd told his daughter that she was to be
+_Prince Lindworm's_ bride, she was utterly in despair. She went out
+into the woods, crying and wringing her hands and bewailing her hard
+fate. And while she wandered to and fro, an old witch-woman suddenly
+appeared out of a big hollow oak-tree, and asked her, "Why do you look
+so doleful, pretty lass?" The shepherd-girl said, "It's no use my
+telling you, for nobody in the world can help me."--"Oh, you never
+know," said the old woman. "Just you let me hear what your trouble is,
+and maybe I can put things right."--"Ah, how can you?" said the girl,
+"For I am to be married to the _King's_ eldest son, who is a
+_Lindworm_. He has already married two beautiful Princesses, and
+devoured them: and he will eat me too! No wonder I am distressed."
+
+"Well, you needn't be," said the witch-woman. "All that can be set
+right in a twinkling: if only you will do exactly as I tell you." So
+the girl said she would.
+
+"Listen, then," said the old woman. "After the marriage ceremony is
+over, and when it is time for you to retire to rest, you must ask to
+be dressed in ten snow-white shifts. And you must then ask for a tub
+full of lye," (that is, washing water prepared with wood-ashes) "and a
+tub full of fresh milk, and as many whips as a boy can carry in his
+arms,--and have all these brought into your bed-chamber. Then, when
+the _Lindworm_ tells you to shed a shift, do you bid him slough a
+skin. And when all his skins are off, you must dip the whips in the
+lye and whip him; next, you must wash him in the fresh milk; and,
+lastly, you must take him and hold him in your arms, if it's only for
+one moment."
+
+"The last is the worst notion--ugh!" said the shepherd's daughter, and
+she shuddered at the thought of holding the cold, slimy, scaly
+_Lindworm_.
+
+"Do just as I have said, and all will go well," said the old woman.
+Then she disappeared again in the oak-tree.
+
+When the wedding-day arrived, the girl was fetched in the Royal
+chariot with the six white horses, and taken to the castle to be
+decked as a bride. And she asked for ten snow-white shifts to be
+brought her, and the tub of lye, and the tub of milk, and as many
+whips as a boy could carry in his arms. The ladies and courtiers in
+the castle thought, of course, that this was some bit of peasant
+superstition, all rubbish and nonsense. But the _King_ said, "Let her
+have whatever she asks for." She was then arrayed in the most
+wonderful robes, and looked the loveliest of brides. She was led to
+the hall where the wedding ceremony was to take place, and she saw the
+_Lindworm_ for the first time as he came in and stood by her side. So
+they were married, and a great wedding-feast was held, a banquet fit
+for the son of a king.
+
+[Illustration: She saw the Lindworm for the first time as he came in and
+stood by her side.]
+
+When the feast was over, the bridegroom and bride were conducted to
+their apartment, with music, and torches, and a great procession. As
+soon as the door was shut, the _Lindworm_ turned to her and said,
+"Fair maiden, shed a shift!" The shepherd's daughter answered him,
+"_Prince Lindworm_, slough a skin!"--"No one has ever dared tell me to
+do that before!" said he.--"But I command you to do it now!" said she.
+Then he began to moan and wriggle: and in a few minutes a long
+snake-skin lay upon the floor beside him. The girl drew off her first
+shift, and spread it on top of the skin.
+
+The _Lindworm_ said again to her, "Fair maiden, shed a shift."
+
+The shepherd's daughter answered him, "_Prince Lindworm_, slough a
+skin."
+
+"No one has ever dared tell me to do that before," said he.--"But I
+command you to do it now," said she. Then with groans and moans he
+cast off the second skin: and she covered it with her second shift.
+The _Lindworm_ said for the third time, "Fair maiden, shed a shift."
+The shepherd's daughter answered him again, "_Prince Lindworm_, slough
+a skin."--"No one has ever dared tell me to do that before," said he,
+and his little eyes rolled furiously. But the girl was not afraid, and
+once more she commanded him to do as she bade.
+
+And so this went on until nine _Lindworm_ skins were lying on the
+floor, each of them covered with a snow-white shift. And there was
+nothing left of the _Lindworm_ but a huge thick mass, most horrible to
+see. Then the girl seized the whips, dipped them in the lye, and
+whipped him as hard as ever she could. Next, she bathed him all over
+in the fresh milk. Lastly, she dragged him on to the bed and put her
+arms round him. And she fell fast asleep that very moment.
+
+Next morning very early, the _King_ and the courtiers came and peeped
+in through the keyhole. They wanted to know what had become of the
+girl, but none of them dared enter the room. However, in the end,
+growing bolder, they opened the door a tiny bit. And there they saw
+the girl, all fresh and rosy, and beside her lay--no _Lindworm_, but
+the handsomest prince that any one could wish to see.
+
+The _King_ ran out and fetched the _Queen_: and after that, there were
+such rejoicings in the castle as never were known before or since. The
+wedding took place all over again, much finer than the first, with
+festivals and banquets and merrymakings for days and weeks. No bride
+was ever so beloved by a King and Queen as this peasant maid from the
+shepherd's cottage. There was no end to their love and their kindness
+towards her: because, by her sense and her calmness and her courage,
+she had saved their son, _Prince Lindworm_.
+
+
+
+
+THE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER
+
+
+Once on a time a poor couple lived far, far away in a great wood. The
+wife was brought to bed, and had a pretty girl, but they were so poor
+they did not know how to get the babe christened, for they had no
+money to pay the parson's fees. So one day the father went out to see
+if he could find any one who was willing to stand for the child and
+pay the fees; but though he walked about the whole day from one house
+to another, and though all said they were willing enough to stand, no
+one thought himself bound to pay the fees. Now, when he was going
+home again, a lovely lady met him, dressed so fine, and she looked so
+thoroughly good and kind; she offered to get the babe christened, but
+after that, she said, she must keep it for her own. The husband
+answered, he must first ask his wife what she wished to do; but when
+he got home and told his story, the wife said, right out, "No!"
+
+Next day the man went out again, but no one would stand if they had to
+pay the fees; and though he begged and prayed, he could get no help.
+And again as he went home, towards evening the same lovely lady met
+him, who looked so sweet and good, and she made him the same offer. So
+he told his wife again how he had fared, and this time she said, if he
+couldn't get any one to stand for his babe next day, they must just
+let the lady have her way, since she seemed so kind and good.
+
+The third day, the man went about, but he couldn't get any one to
+stand; and so when, towards evening, he met the kind lady again, he
+gave his word she should have the babe if she would only get it
+christened at the font. So next morning she came to the place where
+the man lived, followed by two men to stand godfathers, took the babe
+and carried it to church, and there it was christened. After that she
+took it to her own house, and there the little girl lived with her
+several years, and her _Foster-mother_ was always kind and friendly to
+her.
+
+Now, when the _Lassie_ had grown to be big enough to know right and
+wrong, her _Foster-mother_ got ready to go on a journey.
+
+"You have my leave," she said, "to go all over the house, except those
+rooms which I shew you;" and when she had said that, away she went.
+
+But the _Lassie_ could not forbear just to open one of the doors a
+little bit, when--POP! out flew a Star.
+
+When her _Foster-mother_ came back, she was very vexed to find
+that the star had flown out, and she got very angry with her
+_Foster-daughter_, and threatened to send her away; but the child
+cried and begged so hard that she got leave to stay.
+
+Now, after a while, the _Foster-mother_ had to go on another journey;
+and, before she went, she forbade the _Lassie_ to go into those two
+rooms into which she had never been. She promised to beware; but when
+she was left alone, she began to think and to wonder what there could
+be in the second room, and at last she could not help setting the door
+a little ajar, just to peep in, when--POP! out flew the Moon.
+
+[Illustration: She could not help setting the door a little ajar, just to
+peep in, when--Pop! out flew the Moon.]
+
+When her _Foster-mother_ came home and found the moon let out, she was
+very downcast, and said to the _Lassie_ she must go away, she could
+not stay with her any longer. But the _Lassie_ wept so bitterly, and
+prayed so heartily for forgiveness, that this time, too, she got leave
+to stay.
+
+Some time after, the _Foster-mother_ had to go away again, and she
+charged the Lassie, who by this time was half grown up, most earnestly
+that she mustn't try to go into, or to peep into, the third room. But
+when her _Foster-mother_ had been gone some time, and the _Lassie_ was
+weary of walking about alone, all at once she thought, "Dear me, what
+fun it would be just to peep a little into that third room." Then she
+thought she mustn't do it for her _Foster-mother's_ sake; but when the
+bad thought came the second time she could hold out no longer; come
+what might, she must and would look into the room; so she just opened
+the door a tiny bit, when--POP! out flew the Sun.
+
+But when her _Foster-mother_ came back and saw that the sun had flown
+away, she was cut to the heart, and said, "Now, there was no help for
+it, the _Lassie_ must and should go away; she couldn't hear of her
+staying any longer." Now the _Lassie_ cried her eyes out, and begged
+and prayed so prettily; but it was all no good.
+
+"Nay! but I must punish you!" said her _Foster-mother_; "but you may
+have your choice, either to be the loveliest woman in the world, and
+not to be able to speak, or to keep your speech, and to be the ugliest
+of all women; but away from me you must go."
+
+And the _Lassie_ said, "I would sooner be lovely." So she became all
+at once wondrous fair; but from that day forth she was dumb.
+
+So, when she went away from her _Foster-mother_, she walked and
+wandered through a great, great wood; but the farther she went, the
+farther off the end seemed to be. So, when the evening came on, she
+clomb up into a tall tree, which grew over a spring, and there she
+made herself up to sleep that night. Close by lay a castle, and from
+that castle came early every morning a maid to draw water to make the
+Prince's tea, from the spring over which the _Lassie_ was sitting. So
+the maid looked down into the spring, saw the lovely face in the
+water, and thought it was her own; then she flung away the pitcher,
+and ran home; and, when she got there, she tossed up her head and
+said, "If I'm so pretty, I'm far too good to go and fetch water."
+
+So another maid had to go for the water, but the same thing happened
+to her; she went back and said she was far too pretty and too good to
+fetch water from the spring for the Prince. Then the Prince went
+himself, for he had a mind to see what all this could mean. So, when
+he reached the spring, he too saw the image in the water; but he
+looked up at once, and became aware of the lovely _Lassie_ who sate
+there up in the tree. Then he coaxed her down and took her home; and
+at last made up his mind to have her for his queen, because she was so
+lovely; but his mother, who was still alive, was against it.
+
+[Illustration: Then he coaxed her down and took her home.]
+
+"She can't speak," she said, "and maybe she's a wicked witch."
+
+But the Prince could not be content till he got her. So after they had
+lived together a while, the _Lassie_ was to have a child, and when the
+child came to be born, the Prince set a strong watch about her; but at
+the birth one and all fell into a deep sleep, and her _Foster-mother_
+came, cut the babe on its little finger, and smeared the queen's mouth
+with the blood; and said:
+
+"Now you shall be as grieved as I was when you let out the star;" and
+with these words she carried off the babe.
+
+But when those who were on the watch woke, they thought the queen had
+eaten her own child, and the old queen was all for burning her alive,
+but the Prince was so fond of her that at last he begged her off, but
+he had hard work to set her free.
+
+So the next time the young queen was to have a child, twice as strong
+a watch was set as the first time, but the same thing happened over
+again, only this time her _Foster-mother_ said:
+
+"Now you shall be as grieved as I was when you let the moon out."
+
+And the queen begged and prayed, and wept; for when her _Foster-mother_
+was there, she could speak--but it was all no good.
+
+And now the old queen said she must be burnt, but the Prince found
+means to beg her off. But when the third child was to be born, a watch
+was set three times as strong as the first, but just the same thing
+happened. Her _Foster-mother_ came while the watch slept, took the
+babe, and cut its little finger, and smeared the queen's mouth with
+the blood, telling her now she should be as grieved as she had been
+when the _Lassie_ let out the sun.
+
+And now the Prince could not save her any longer. She must and should
+be burnt. But just as they were leading her to the stake, all at once
+they saw her _Foster-mother_, who came with all three children--two
+she led by the hand, and the third she had on her arm; and so she went
+up to the young queen and said:
+
+[Illustration: "Here are your children; now you shall have them again. I
+am the Virgin Mary."]
+
+"Here are your children; now you shall have them again. I am the
+Virgin Mary, and so grieved as you have been, so grieved was I when
+you let out sun, and moon, and star. Now you have been punished for
+what you did, and henceforth you shall have your speech."
+
+How glad the Queen and Prince now were, all may easily think, but no
+one can tell. After that they were always happy; and from that day
+even the Prince's mother was very fond of the young queen.
+
+
+
+
+THE HUSBAND WHO WAS TO MIND THE HOUSE
+
+
+Once on a time there was a man, so surly and cross, he never thought
+his _Wife_ did anything right in the house. So, one evening, in
+haymaking time, he came home, scolding and swearing, and showing his
+teeth and making a dust.
+
+"Dear love, don't be so angry; there's a good man," said his goody;
+"to-morrow let's change our work. I'll go out with the mowers and mow,
+and you shall mind the house at home."
+
+Yes! the _Husband_ thought that would do very well. He was quite
+willing, he said.
+
+So, early next morning, his goody took a scythe over her neck, and
+went out into the hayfield with the mowers, and began to mow; but the
+man was to mind the house, and do the work at home.
+
+First of all, he wanted to churn the butter; but when he had churned a
+while, he got thirsty, and went down to the cellar to tap a barrel of
+ale. So, just when he had knocked in the bung, and was putting the tap
+into the cask, he heard overhead the pig come into the kitchen. Then
+off he ran up the cellar steps, with the tap in his hand, as fast as
+he could, to look after the pig, lest it should upset the churn; but
+when he got up, and saw the pig had already knocked the churn over,
+and stood there, routing and grunting amongst the cream which was
+running all over the floor, he got so wild with rage that he quite
+forgot the ale-barrel, and ran at the pig as hard as he could. He
+caught it, too, just as it ran out of doors, and gave it such a kick,
+that piggy lay for dead on the spot. Then all at once he remembered he
+had the tap in his hand; but when he got down to the cellar, every
+drop of ale had run out of the cask.
+
+Then he went into the dairy and found enough cream left to fill the
+churn again, and so he began to churn, for butter they must have at
+dinner. When he had churned a bit, he remembered that their milking
+cow was still shut up in the byre, and hadn't had a bit to eat or a
+drop to drink all the morning, though the sun was high. Then all at
+once he thought 'twas too far to take her down to the meadow, so he'd
+just get her up on the house top--for the house, you must know, was
+thatched with sods, and a fine crop of grass was growing there. Now
+the house lay close up against a steep down, and he thought if he
+laid a plank across to the thatch at the back he'd easily get the cow
+up.
+
+But still he couldn't leave the churn, for there was his little babe
+crawling about on the floor, and "if I leave it," he thought, "the
+child is safe to upset it." So he took the churn on his back, and went
+out with it; but then he thought he'd better first water the cow
+before he turned her out on the thatch; so he took up a bucket to draw
+water out of the well; but, as he stooped down at the well's brink,
+all the cream ran out of the churn over his shoulders, and so down
+into the well.
+
+Now it was near dinner-time, and he hadn't even got the butter yet; so
+he thought he'd best boil the porridge, and filled the pot with water
+and hung it over the fire. When he had done that, he thought the cow
+might perhaps fall off the thatch and break her legs or her neck. So
+he got up on the house to tie her up. One end of the rope he made fast
+to the cow's neck and the other he slipped down the chimney and tied
+round his own thigh; and he had to make haste, for the water now began
+to boil in the pot, and he had still to grind the oatmeal.
+
+So he began to grind away; but while he was hard at it, down fell the
+cow off the house-top after all, and as she fell, she dragged the man
+up the chimney by the rope. There he stuck fast; and as for the cow,
+she hung half-way down the wall, swinging between heaven and earth,
+for she could neither get down nor up.
+
+And now the goody had waited seven lengths and seven breadths for her
+_Husband_ to come and call them home to dinner; but never a call they
+had. At last she thought she'd waited long enough, and went home. But
+when she got there and saw the cow hanging in such an ugly place, she
+ran up and cut the rope in two with her scythe. But, as she did this,
+down came her _Husband_ out of the chimney; and so, when his old dame
+came inside the kitchen, there she found him standing on his head in
+the porridge pot.
+
+
+
+
+THE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND
+
+
+Once on a time there was an old widow who had one son; and as she was
+poorly and weak, her son had to go up into the safe to fetch meal for
+cooking; but when he got outside the safe, and was just going down the
+steps, there came the _North Wind_ puffing and blowing, caught up the
+meal, and so away with it through the air. Then the _Lad_ went back
+into the safe for more; but when he came out again on the steps, if
+the _North Wind_ didn't come again and carry off the meal with a puff:
+and, more than that, he did so the third time. At this the _Lad_ got
+very angry; and as he thought it hard that the _North Wind_ should
+behave so, he thought he'd just look him up, and ask him to give up
+his meal.
+
+So off he went, but the way was long, and he walked and walked; but at
+last he came to the _North Wind's_ house.
+
+"Good day!" said the _Lad_, "and thank you for coming to see us
+yesterday."
+
+"GOOD DAY!" answered the _North Wind_, for his voice was loud and
+gruff, "AND THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE ME. WHAT DO YOU WANT?"
+
+"Oh!" answered the _Lad_, "I only wished to ask you to be so good as
+to let me have back that meal you took from me on the safe steps, for
+we haven't much to live on; and if you're to go on snapping up the
+morsel we have, there'll be nothing for it but to starve."
+
+"I haven't got your meal," said the _North Wind_; "but if you are in
+such need, I'll give you a cloth which will get you everything you
+want, if you only say, 'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds
+of good dishes!'"
+
+With this the _Lad_ was well content. But, as the way was so long he
+couldn't get home in one day, so he turned into an inn on the way; and
+when they were going to sit down to supper he laid the cloth on a
+table which stood in the corner, and said:
+
+"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes."
+
+He had scarce said so before the cloth did as it was bid; and all who
+stood by thought it a fine thing, but most of all the landlady. So,
+when all were fast asleep at dead of night, she took the _Lad's_
+cloth, and put another in its stead, just like the one he had got from
+the _North Wind_, but which couldn't so much as serve up a bit of dry
+bread.
+
+So, when the _Lad_ woke, he took his cloth and went off with it, and
+that day he got home to his mother.
+
+"Now," said he, "I've been to the _North Wind's_ house, and a good
+fellow he is, for he gave me this cloth, and when I only say to it,
+'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes,' I get
+any sort of food I please."
+
+"All very true, I daresay," said his mother; "but seeing is believing,
+and I shan't believe it till I see it."
+
+So the _Lad_ made haste, drew out a table, laid the cloth on it, and
+said:
+
+"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes."
+
+But never a bit of dry bread did the cloth serve up.
+
+"Well," said the _Lad_ "there's no help for it but to go to the _North
+Wind_ again;" and away he went.
+
+So he came to where the _North Wind_ lived late in the afternoon.
+
+"Good evening!" said the _Lad_.
+
+"Good evening!" said the _North Wind_.
+
+"I want my rights for that meal of ours which you took," said the
+_Lad_; "for, as for that cloth I got, it isn't worth a penny."
+
+"I've got no meal," said the _North Wind_; "but yonder you have a ram
+which coins nothing but golden ducats as soon as you say to it: 'Ram,
+ram! make money!'"
+
+So the _Lad_ thought this a fine thing; but as it was too far to get
+home that day, he turned in for the night to the same inn where he had
+slept before.
+
+Before he called for anything, he tried the truth of what the _North
+Wind_ had said of the ram, and found it all right; but, when the
+landlord saw that, he thought it was a famous ram, and, when the _Lad_
+had fallen asleep, he took another which couldn't coin gold ducats,
+and changed the two.
+
+Next morning off went the _Lad_; and when he got home to his mother,
+he said:
+
+"After all, the _North Wind_ is a jolly fellow; for now he has given
+me a ram which can coin golden ducats if I only say: 'Ram, ram! make
+money!'"
+
+"All very true, I daresay," said his mother; "but I shan't believe any
+such stuff until I see the ducats made."
+
+"Ram, ram! make money!" said the _Lad_; but if the ram made anything,
+it wasn't money.
+
+So the _Lad_ went back again to the _North Wind_, and blew him up, and
+said the ram was worth nothing, and he must have his rights for the
+meal.
+
+"Well!" said the _North Wind_; "I've nothing else to give you but that
+old stick in the corner yonder; but its a stick of that kind that if
+you say: 'Stick, stick! lay on!' it lays on till you say: 'Stick,
+stick! now stop!'"
+
+So, as the way was long, the _Lad_ turned in this night too to the
+landlord; but as he could pretty well guess how things stood as to the
+cloth and the ram, he lay down at once on the bench and began to
+snore, as if he were asleep.
+
+Now the landlord, who easily saw that the stick must be worth
+something, hunted up one which was like it, and when he heard the lad
+snore, was going to change the two; but, just as the landlord was
+about to take it, the _Lad_ bawled out:
+
+"Stick, stick! lay on!"
+
+So the stick began to beat the landlord, till he jumped over chairs,
+and tables, and benches, and yelled and roared:
+
+"Oh my! oh my! bid the stick be still, else it will beat me to death,
+and you shall have back both your cloth and your ram."
+
+When the _Lad_ thought the landlord had got enough, he said:
+
+"Stick, stick! now stop!"
+
+Then he took the cloth and put it into his pocket, and went home with
+his stick in his hand, leading the ram by a cord round its horns; and
+so he got his rights for the meal he had lost.
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND
+
+
+Once on a time there was a fisherman who lived close by a palace, and
+fished for the _King's_ table. One day when he was out fishing he just
+caught nothing. Do what he would--however he tried with bait and
+angle--there was never a sprat on his hook. But when the day was far
+spent a head bobbed up out of the water, and said:
+
+"If I may have what your wife bears under her girdle, you shall catch
+fish enough."
+
+So the man answered boldly, "Yes;" for he did not know that his wife
+was going to have a child. After that, as was like enough, he caught
+plenty of fish of all kinds. But when he got home at night and told
+his story, how he had got all that fish, his wife fell a-weeping and
+moaning, and was beside herself for the promise which her husband had
+made, for she said, "I bear a babe under my girdle."
+
+Well, the story soon spread, and came up to the castle; and when the
+_King_ heard the woman's grief and its cause, he sent down to say he
+would take care of the child, and see if he couldn't save it.
+
+So the months went on and on, and when her time came the fisher's wife
+had a boy; so the king took it at once, and brought it up as his own
+son, until the lad grew up. Then he begged leave one day to go out
+fishing with his father; he had such a mind to go, he said. At first
+the _King_ wouldn't hear of it, but at last the lad had his way, and
+went. So he and his father were out the whole day, and all went right
+and well till they landed at night. Then the lad remembered he had
+left his handkerchief, and went to look for it; but as soon as ever he
+got into the boat, it began to move off with him at such speed that
+the water roared under the bow, and all the lad could do in rowing
+against it with the oars was no use; so he went and went the whole
+night, and at last he came to a white strand, far far away.
+
+There he went ashore, and when he had walked about a bit, an old, old
+man met him, with a long white beard.
+
+"What's the name of this land?" asked the lad.
+
+"Whiteland," said the man, who went on to ask the lad whence he came,
+and what he was going to do. So the lad told him all.
+
+[Illustration: "You'll come to three Princesses, whom you will see
+standing in the earth up to their necks, with only their heads out."]
+
+"Aye, aye!" said the man; "now when you have walked a little farther
+along the strand here, you'll come to three _Princesses_, whom you
+will see standing in the earth up to their necks, with only their
+heads out. Then the first--she is the eldest--will call out and beg
+you so prettily to come and help her; and the second will do the same;
+to neither of these shall you go; make haste past them, as if you
+neither saw nor heard anything. But the third you shall go to, and do
+what she asks. If you do this, you'll have good luck--that's all."
+
+When the lad came to the first _Princess_, she called out to him, and
+begged him so prettily to come to her, but he passed on as though he
+saw her not. In the same way he passed by the second; but to the third
+he went straight up.
+
+"If you'll do what I bid you," she said, "you may have which of us you
+please."
+
+"Yes;" he was willing enough; so she told him how three _Trolls_ had
+set them down in the earth there; but before they had lived in the
+castle up among the trees.
+
+"Now," she said, "you must go into that castle, and let the _Trolls_
+whip you each one night for each of us. If you can bear that, you'll
+set us free."
+
+Well, the lad said he was ready to try.
+
+"When you go in," the _Princess_ went on to say, "you'll see two lions
+standing at the gate; but if you'll only go right in the middle
+between them they'll do you no harm. Then go straight on into a little
+dark room, and make your bed. Then the _Troll_ will come to whip you;
+but if you take the flask which hangs on the wall, and rub yourself
+with the ointment that's in it, wherever his lash falls, you'll be as
+sound as ever. Then grasp the sword that hangs by the side of the
+flask and strike the _Troll_ dead."
+
+Yes, he did as the _Princess_ told him; he passed in the midst between
+the lions, as if he hadn't seen them, and went straight into the
+little room, and there he lay down to sleep. The first night there
+came a _Troll_ with three heads and three rods, and whipped the lad
+soundly; but he stood it till the _Troll_ was done; then he took the
+flask and rubbed himself, and grasped the sword and slew the _Troll_.
+
+So, when he went out next morning, the _Princesses_ stood out of the
+earth up to their waists.
+
+The next night 'twas the same story over again, only this time the
+_Troll_ had six heads and six rods, and he whipped him far worse than
+the first; but when he went out next morning, the _Princesses_ stood
+out of the earth as far as the knee.
+
+The third night there came a _Troll_ that had nine heads and nine
+rods, and he whipped and flogged the lad so long that he fainted away;
+then the _Troll_ took him up and dashed him against the wall; but the
+shock brought down the flask, which fell on the lad, burst, and
+spilled the ointment all over him, and so he became as strong and
+sound as ever again. Then he wasn't slow; he grasped the sword and
+slew the _Troll_; and next morning when he went out of the castle the
+_Princesses_ stood before him with all their bodies out of the earth.
+So he took the youngest for his _Queen_, and lived well and happily
+with her for some time.
+
+At last he began to long to go home for a little to see his parents.
+His _Queen_ did not like this; but at last his heart was so set on it,
+and he longed and longed so much, there was no holding him back, so
+she said:
+
+"One thing you must promise me. This--only to do what your father begs
+you to do, and not what mother wishes;" and that he promised.
+
+Then she gave him a ring, which was of that kind that any one who wore
+it might wish two wishes. So he wished himself home, and when he got
+home his parents could not wonder enough what a grand man their son
+had become.
+
+Now, when he had been at home some days, his mother wished him to go
+up to the palace and show the _King_ what a fine fellow he had come
+to be. But his father said:
+
+"No! don't let him do that; if he does, we shan't have any more joy of
+him this time."
+
+But it was no good, the mother begged and prayed so long that at last
+he went. So when he got up to the palace he was far braver, both in
+clothes and array, than the other king, who didn't quite like this,
+and at last he said:
+
+"All very fine; but here you can see my _Queen_, what like she is, but
+I can't see yours: that I can't. Do you know, I scarce think she's so
+good-looking as mine."
+
+"Would to Heaven," said the young _King_, "she were standing here,
+then you'd see what she was like." And that instant there she stood
+before them.
+
+But she was very woeful, and said to him:
+
+"Why did you not mind what I told you; and why did you not listen to
+what your father said? Now, I must away home, and as for you, you have
+had both your wishes."
+
+With that she knitted a ring among his hair with her name on it, and
+wished herself home, and was off.
+
+Then the young _King_ was cut to the heart, and went, day out day in,
+thinking and thinking how he should get back to his _Queen_. "I'll
+just try," he thought, "if I can't learn where Whiteland lies;" and so
+he went out into the world to ask. So when he had gone a good way, he
+came to a high hill, and there he met one who was lord over all the
+beasts of the wood, for they all came home to him when he blew his
+horn; so the _King_ asked if he knew where Whiteland was.
+
+"No, I don't," said he, "but I'll ask my beasts." Then he blew his
+horn and called them, and asked if any of them knew where Whiteland
+lay. But there was no beast that knew.
+
+So the man gave him a pair of snow-shoes.
+
+[Illustration: So the man gave him a pair of snow-shoes.]
+
+"When you get on these," he said, "you'll come to my brother, who
+lives hundreds of miles off; he is lord over all the birds of the air.
+Ask him. When you reach his house, just turn the shoes so that the
+toes point this way, and they'll come home of themselves." So when the
+_King_ reached the house, he turned the shoes as the lord of the
+beasts had said, and away they went home of themselves.
+
+So he asked again after Whiteland, and the man called all the birds
+with a blast of his horn, and asked if any of them knew where
+Whiteland lay; but none of the birds knew. Now, long, long after the
+rest of the birds came an old eagle, which had been away ten round
+years, but he couldn't tell any more than the rest.
+
+"Well, well," said the man, "I'll lend you a pair of snow-shoes, and,
+when you get them on, they'll carry you to my brother, who lives
+hundreds of miles off; he's lord of all the fish in the sea; you'd
+better ask him. But don't forget to turn the toes of the shoes this
+way."
+
+The _King_ was full of thanks, got on the shoes, and when he came to
+the man who was lord over the fish of the sea, he turned the toes
+round, and so off they went home like the other pair. After that, he
+asked again after Whiteland.
+
+So the man called the fish with a blast, but no fish could tell where
+it lay. At last came an old pike, which they had great work to call
+home, he was such a way off. So when they asked him he said:
+
+"Know it? I should think I did! I've been cook there ten years, and
+to-morrow I'm going there again; for now the queen of Whiteland, whose
+king is away, is going to wed another husband."
+
+"Well!" said the man, "as this is so, I'll give you a bit of advice.
+Hereabouts, on a moor, stand three brothers, and here they have stood
+these hundred years, fighting about a hat, a cloak, and a pair of
+boots. If any one has these three things he can make himself
+invisible, and wish himself anywhere he pleases. You can tell them you
+wish to try the things, and, after that, you'll pass judgment between
+them, whose they shall be."
+
+Yes! the _King_ thanked the man, and went and did as he told him.
+
+"What's all this?" he said to the brothers. "Why do you stand here
+fighting for ever and a day? Just let me try these things, and I'll
+give judgment whose they shall be."
+
+They were very willing to do this; but, as soon as he had got the hat,
+cloak, and boots, he said:
+
+"When we meet next time, I'll tell you my judgment," and with these
+words he wished himself away.
+
+So as he went along up in the air, he came up with the North wind.
+
+"Whither away?" roared the North Wind.
+
+"To Whiteland," said the _King_; and then he told him all that had
+befallen him.
+
+"Ah," said the North Wind, "you go faster than I--you do; for you can
+go straight, while I have to puff and blow round every turn and
+corner. But when you get there, just place yourself on the stairs by
+the side of the door, and then I'll come storming in, as though I were
+going to blow down the whole castle. And then when the prince, who is
+to have your _Queen_, comes out to see what's the matter, just you
+take him by the collar and pitch him out of doors; then I'll look
+after him, and see if I can't carry him off."
+
+[Illustration: The King went into the Castle, and at first his Queen
+didn't know him, he was so wan and thin, through wandering so far and
+being so woeful.]
+
+Well, the _King_ did as the North Wind said. He took his stand on the
+stairs, and when the North Wind came, storming and roaring, and took
+hold of the castle wall, so that it shook again, the prince came out
+to see what was the matter. But as soon as ever he came, the _King_
+caught him by the collar and pitched him out of doors, and then the
+North Wind caught him up and carried him off. So when there was an end
+of him, the _King_ went into the castle, and at first his _Queen_
+didn't know him, he was so wan and thin, through wandering so far and
+being so woeful; but when he shewed her the ring, she was as glad as
+glad could be; and so the rightful wedding was held, and the fame of
+it spread far and wide.
+
+
+
+
+SORIA MORIA CASTLE
+
+
+Once on a time there was a poor couple who had a son whose name was
+_Halvor_. Ever since he was a little boy he would turn his hand to
+nothing, but just sat there and groped about in the ashes. His father
+and mother often put him out to learn this trade or that, but _Halvor_
+could stay nowhere; for, when he had been there a day or two, he ran
+away from his master, and never stopped till he was sitting again in
+the ingle, poking about in the cinders.
+
+Well, one day a skipper came, and asked _Halvor_ if he hadn't a mind
+to be with him, and go to sea, and see strange lands. Yes, _Halvor_
+would like that very much; so he wasn't long in getting himself
+ready.
+
+How long they sailed I'm sure I can't tell; but the end of it was,
+they fell into a great storm, and when it was blown over, and it got
+still again, they couldn't tell where they were; for they had been
+driven away to a strange coast, which none of them knew anything
+about.
+
+Well, as there was just no wind at all, they stayed lying wind-bound
+there, and _Halvor_ asked the skipper's leave to go on shore and look
+about him; he would sooner go, he said, than lie there and sleep.
+
+"Do you think now you're fit to show yourself before folk," said the
+skipper, "why, you've no clothes but those rags you stand in?"
+
+But _Halvor_ stuck to his own, and so at last he got leave, but he was
+to be sure and come back as soon as ever it began to blow. So off he
+went and found a lovely land; wherever he came there were fine large
+flat cornfields and rich meads, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of a
+living soul. Well, it began to blow, but _Halvor_ thought he hadn't
+seen enough yet, and he wanted to walk a little farther just to see if
+he couldn't meet any folk. So after a while he came to a broad high
+road, so smooth and even, you might easily roll an egg along it.
+_Halvor_ followed this, and when evening drew on he saw a great castle
+ever so far off, from which the sunbeams shone. So as he had now
+walked the whole day and hadn't taken a bit to eat with him, he was as
+hungry as a hunter, but still the nearer he came to the castle, the
+more afraid he got.
+
+In the castle kitchen a great fire was blazing, and _Halvor_ went into
+it, but such a kitchen he had never seen in all his born days. It was
+so grand and fine; there were vessels of silver and vessels of gold,
+but still never a living soul. So when _Halvor_ had stood there a
+while and no one came out, he went and opened a door, and there inside
+sat a _Princess_ who span upon a spinning-wheel.
+
+"Nay, nay, now!" she called out, "dare Christian folk come hither? But
+now you'd best be off about your business, if you don't want the
+_Troll_ to gobble you up; for here lives a _Troll_ with three heads."
+
+"All one to me," said the lad, "I'd be just as glad to hear he had
+four heads beside; I'd like to see what kind of fellow he is. As for
+going, I won't go at all. I've done no harm; but meat you must get me,
+for I'm almost starved to death."
+
+When _Halvor_ had eaten his fill, the _Princess_ told him to try if he
+could brandish the sword that hung against the wall; no, he couldn't
+brandish it, he couldn't even lift it up.
+
+"Oh!" said the _Princess_, "now you must go and take a pull of that
+flask that hangs by its side; that's what the _Troll_ does every time
+he goes out to use the sword."
+
+So _Halvor_ took a pull, and in the twinkling of an eye he could
+brandish the sword like nothing; and now he thought it high time the
+_Troll_ came; and lo! just then up came the _Troll_ puffing and
+blowing. _Halvor_ jumped behind the door.
+
+"HUTETU," said the _Troll_, as he put his head in at the door, "what a
+smell of Christian man's blood!"
+
+"Aye," said _Halvor_, "you'll soon know that to your cost," and with
+that he hewed off all his heads.
+
+Now the _Princess_ was so glad that she was free, she both danced and
+sang, but then all at once she called her sisters to mind, and so she
+said:
+
+"Would my sisters were free too!"
+
+"Where are they?" asked _Halvor_.
+
+Well, she told him all about it; one was taken away by a _Troll_ to
+his Castle which lay fifty miles off, and the other by another _Troll_
+to his Castle which was fifty miles further still.
+
+"But now," she said, "you must first help me to get this ugly carcass
+out of the house."
+
+Yes, _Halvor_ was so strong he swept everything away, and made it all
+clean and tidy in no time. So they had a good and happy time of it,
+and next morning he set off at peep of grey dawn; he could take no
+rest by the way, but ran and walked the whole day. When he first saw
+the Castle he got a little afraid; it was far grander than the first,
+but here too there wasn't a living soul to be seen. So _Halvor_ went
+into the kitchen, and didn't stop there either, but went straight
+further on into the house.
+
+"Nay, nay," called out the _Princess_, "dare Christian folk come
+hither? I don't know I'm sure how long it is since I came here, but in
+all that time I haven't seen a Christian man. 'Twere best you saw how
+to get away as fast as you came; for here lives a _Troll_ who has six
+heads."
+
+"I shan't go," said _Halvor_, "if he has six heads besides."
+
+"He'll take you up and swallow you down alive," said the _Princess_.
+
+But it was no good, _Halvor_ wouldn't go; he wasn't at all afraid of
+the _Troll_, but meat and drink he must have, for he was half starved
+after his long journey. Well, he got as much of that as he wished, but
+then the _Princess_ wanted him to be off again.
+
+"No," said _Halvor_, "I won't go, I've done no harm, and I've nothing
+to be afraid about."
+
+"He won't stay to ask that," said the _Princess_, "for he'll take you
+without law or leave; but as you won't go, just try if you can
+brandish that sword yonder, which the _Troll_ wields in war."
+
+He couldn't brandish it, and then the _Princess_ said he must take a
+pull at the flask which hung by its side, and when he had done that he
+could brandish it.
+
+Just then back came the _Troll_, and he was both stout and big, so
+that he had to go sideways to get through the door. When the _Troll_
+got his first head in he called out:
+
+"HUTETU, what a smell of Christian man's blood!"
+
+But that very moment _Halvor_ hewed off his first head, and so on all
+the rest as they popped in. The _Princess_ was overjoyed, but just
+then she came to think of her sisters, and wished out loud they were
+free. _Halvor_ thought that might easily be done, and wanted to be off
+at once; but first he had to help the _Princess_ to get the _Troll's_
+carcass out of the way, and so he could only set out next morning.
+
+It was a long way to the Castle, and he had to walk fast and run hard
+to reach it in time; but about nightfall he saw the Castle, which was
+far finer and grander than either of the others. This time he wasn't
+the least afraid, but walked straight through the kitchen, and into
+the Castle. There sat a _Princess_ who was so pretty, there was no end
+to her loveliness. She too like the others told him there hadn't been
+Christian folk there ever since she came thither, and bade him go away
+again, else the _Troll_ would swallow him alive, and do you know, she
+said, he has nine heads.
+
+"Aye, aye," said _Halvor_, "if he had nine other heads, and nine other
+heads still, I won't go away," and so he stood fast before the stove.
+The _Princess_ kept on begging him so prettily to go away, lest the
+_Troll_ should gobble him up, but _Halvor_ said:
+
+"Let him come as soon as he likes."
+
+So she gave him the _Troll's_ sword, and bade him take a pull at the
+flask, that he might be able to brandish and wield it.
+
+Just then back came the _Troll_ puffing and blowing and tearing along.
+He was far bigger and stouter than the other two, and he too had to go
+on one side to get through the door. So when he got his first head in,
+he said as the others had said:
+
+"HUTETU, what a smell of Christian man's blood!"
+
+That very moment _Halvor_ hewed off the first head and then all the
+rest; but the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the
+hardest bit of work _Halvor_ had to do, to get it hewn off, although
+he knew very well he had strength enough to do it.
+
+So all the _Princesses_ came together to that Castle, which was called
+_Soria Moria Castle_, and they were glad and happy as they had never
+been in all their lives before, and they all were fond of _Halvor_
+and _Halvor_ of them, and he might choose the one he liked best for
+his bride; but the youngest was fondest of him of all the three.
+
+But there after a while, _Halvor_ went about, and was so strange and
+dull and silent. Then the Princesses asked him what he lacked, and if
+he didn't like to live with them any longer? Yes, he did, for they had
+enough and to spare, and he was well off in every way, but still
+somehow or other he did so long to go home, for his father and mother
+were alive, and them he had such a great wish to see.
+
+Well, they thought that might be done easily enough.
+
+"You shall go thither and come back hither, safe and unscathed, if you
+will only follow our advice," said the _Princesses_.
+
+Yes, he'd be sure to mind all they said. So they dressed him up till
+he was as grand as a king's son, and then they set a ring on his
+finger, and that was such a ring, he could wish himself thither and
+hither with it; but they told him to be sure and not take it off, and
+not to name their names, for there would be an end of all his bravery,
+and then he'd never see them more.
+
+"If I only stood at home I'd be glad," said _Halvor_; and it was done
+as he had wished. Then stood _Halvor_ at his father's cottage door
+before he knew a word about it. Now it was about dusk at even, and so,
+when they saw such a grand stately lord walk in, the old couple got so
+afraid they began to bow and scrape. Then _Halvor_ asked if he
+couldn't stay there, and have a lodging there that night. No; that he
+couldn't.
+
+"We can't do it at all," they said, "for we haven't this thing or that
+thing which such a lord is used to have; 'twere best your lordship
+went up to the farm, no long way off, for you can see the chimneys,
+and there they have lots of everything."
+
+_Halvor_ wouldn't hear of it--he wanted to stop; but the old couple
+stuck to their own, that he had better go to the farmer's; there he
+would get both meat and drink; as for them, they hadn't even a chair
+to offer him to sit down on.
+
+"No," said _Halvor_, "I won't go up there till to-morrow early, but
+let me just stay here to-night; worst come to the worst, I can sit in
+the chimney corner."
+
+Well, they couldn't say anything against that; so _Halvor_ sat down by
+the ingle, and began to poke about in the ashes, just as he used to do
+when he lay at home in old days, and stretched his lazy bones.
+
+Well, they chattered and talked about many things; and they told
+_Halvor_ about this thing and that; and so he asked them if they had
+never had any children.
+
+Yes, yes, they had once a lad whose name was _Halvor_, but they didn't
+know whither he had wandered; they couldn't even tell whether he were
+dead or alive.
+
+"Couldn't it be me, now?" said _Halvor_.
+
+"Let me see; I could tell him well enough," said the old wife, and
+rose up. "Our _Halvor_ was so lazy and dull, he never did a thing; and
+besides, he was so ragged, that one tatter took hold of the next
+tatter on him. No; there never was the making of such a fine fellow
+in him as you are, master."
+
+A little while after the old wife went to the hearth to poke up the
+fire, and when the blaze fell on _Halvor's_ face, just as when he was
+at home of old poking about in the ashes, she knew him at once.
+
+"Ah! but it is you after all, _Halvor_?" she cried; and then there was
+such joy for the old couple, there was no end to it; and he was forced
+to tell how he had fared, and the old dame was so fond and proud of
+him, nothing would do but he must go up at once to the farmer's, and
+show himself to the lassies, who had always looked down on him. And
+off she went first, and _Halvor_ followed after. So, when she got up
+there, she told them all how _Halvor_ had come home again, and now
+they should only just see how grand he was, for, said she, "he looks
+like nothing but a King's son."
+
+"All very fine," said the lassies, and tossed up their heads. "We'll
+be bound he's just the same beggarly ragged boy he always was."
+
+Just then in walked _Halvor_, and then the lassies were all so taken
+aback, they forgot their sarks in the ingle, where they were sitting
+darning their clothes, and ran out in their smocks. Well, when they
+were got back again, they were so shamefaced they scarce dared look at
+_Halvor_, towards whom they had always been proud and haughty.
+
+"Aye, aye," said _Halvor_, "you always thought yourselves so pretty
+and neat, no one could come near you; but now you should just see the
+eldest _Princess_ I have set free; against her you look just like
+milkmaids, and the midmost is prettier still; but the youngest, who is
+my sweetheart, she's fairer than both sun and moon. Would to Heaven
+they were only here," said _Halvor_, "then you'd see what you would
+see."
+
+He had scarce uttered these words before there they stood, but then he
+felt so sorry, for now what they had said came into his mind. Up at
+the farm there was a great feast got ready for the _Princesses_, and
+much was made of them, but they wouldn't stop there.
+
+"No, we want to go down to your father and mother," they said to
+_Halvor_; "and so we'll go out now and look about us."
+
+So he went down with them, and they came to a great lake just outside
+the farm. Close by the water was such a lovely green bank; here the
+_Princesses_ said they would sit and rest a while; they thought it so
+sweet to sit down and look over the water.
+
+So they sat down there, and when they had sat a while the youngest
+_Princess_ said:
+
+"I may as well comb your hair a little, _Halvor_."
+
+Well, _Halvor_ laid his head on her lap, and she combed his bonny
+locks, and it wasn't long before _Halvor_ fell fast asleep. Then she
+took the ring from his finger, and put another in its stead; and she
+said:
+
+"Now hold me all together! and now would we were all in _Soria Moria
+Castle_."
+
+So when _Halvor_ woke up, he could very well tell that he had lost the
+_Princesses_, and began to weep and wail; and he was so downcast, they
+couldn't comfort him at all. In spite of all his father and mother
+said, he wouldn't stop there, but took farewell of them, and said he
+was safe not to see them again; for if he couldn't find the
+_Princesses_ again, he thought it not worth while to live.
+
+Well, he had still about sixty pounds left, so he put them into his
+pocket, and set out on his way. So, when he had walked a while, he met
+a man with a tidy horse, and he wanted to buy it, and began to chaffer
+with the man.
+
+"Aye," said the man, "to tell the truth, I never thought of selling
+him; but if we could strike a bargain perhaps--"
+
+"What do you want for him?" asked _Halvor_.
+
+"I didn't give much for him, nor is he worth much; he's a brave horse
+to ride, but he can't draw at all; still he's strong enough to carry
+your knapsack and you too, turn and turn about," said the man.
+
+At last they agreed on the price, and _Halvor_ laid the knapsack on
+him, and so he walked a bit, and rode a bit, turn and turn about. At
+night he came to a green plain where stood a great tree, at the roots
+of which he sat down. There he let the horse loose, but he didn't lie
+down to sleep, but opened his knapsack and took a meal. At peep of day
+off he set again, for he could take no rest. So he rode and walked
+and walked and rode the whole day through the wide wood, where there
+were so many green spots and glades that shone so bright and lovely
+between the trees. He didn't know at all where he was or whither he
+was going, but he gave himself no more time to rest than when his
+horse cropped a bit of grass, and he took a snack out of his knapsack
+when they came to one of those green glades. So he went on walking and
+riding by turns, and as for the wood there seemed to be no end to it.
+
+But at dusk the next day he saw a light gleaming away through the
+trees.
+
+"Would there were folk hereaway," thought _Halvor_, "that I might warm
+myself a bit and get a morsel to keep body and soul together."
+
+When he got up to it he saw the light came from a wretched little hut,
+and through the window he saw an old old, couple inside. They were as
+grey-headed as a pair of doves, and the old wife had such a nose! why,
+it was so long she used it for a poker to stir the fire as she sat in
+the ingle.
+
+"Good evening," said _Halvor_.
+
+"Good evening," said the old wife.
+
+"But what errand can you have in coming hither?" she went on, "for no
+Christian folk have been here these hundred years and more."
+
+Well, _Halvor_ told her all about himself, and how he wanted to get to
+_Soria Moria Castle_, and asked if she knew the way thither.
+
+"No," said the old wife, "that I don't, but see now, here comes the
+Moon, I'll ask her, she'll know all about it, for doesn't she shine on
+everything?"
+
+So when the Moon stood clear and bright over the tree-tops, the old
+wife went out.
+
+"THOU MOON, THOU MOON," she screamed, "canst thou tell me the way to
+_Soria Moria Castle_?"
+
+"No," said the Moon, "that I can't, for the last time I shone there a
+cloud stood before me."
+
+"Wait a bit still," said the old wife to _Halvor_, "bye and bye comes
+the West Wind; he's sure to know it, for he puffs and blows round
+every corner."
+
+"Nay, nay," said the old wife when she went out again, "you don't mean
+to say you've got a horse too; just turn the poor beastie loose in our
+'toun,' and don't let him stand there and starve to death at the
+door."
+
+Then she ran on:
+
+"But won't you swop him away to me?--we've got an old pair of boots
+here, with which you can take twenty miles at each stride; those you
+shall have for your horse, and so you'll get all the sooner to _Soria
+Moria Castle_."
+
+That _Halvor_ was willing to do at once; and the old wife was so glad
+at having the horse, she was ready to dance and skip for joy.
+
+"For now," she said, "I shall be able to ride to church. I, too, think
+of that."
+
+As for _Halvor_, he had no rest, and wanted to be off at once, but the
+old wife said there was no hurry.
+
+"Lie down on the bench with you and sleep a bit, for we've no bed to
+offer you, and I'll watch and wake you when the West Wind comes."
+
+So after a while up came the West Wind, roaring and howling along till
+the walls creaked and groaned again.
+
+Out ran the old wife.
+
+"THOU WEST WIND, THOU WEST WIND! Canst thou tell me the way to _Soria
+Moria Castle_? Here's one who wants to get thither."
+
+"Yes, I know it very well," said the West Wind, "and now I'm just off
+thither to dry clothes for the wedding that's to be; if he's swift of
+foot he can go along with me."
+
+Out ran _Halvor_.
+
+"You'll have to stretch your legs if you mean to keep up," said the
+West Wind.
+
+So off he set over field and hedge, and hill and fell, and _Halvor_
+had hard work to keep up.
+
+"Well," said the West Wind, "now I've no time to stay with you any
+longer, for I've got to go away yonder and tear down a strip of spruce
+wood first before I go to the bleaching-ground to dry the clothes; but
+if you go alongside the hill you'll come to a lot of lassies standing
+washing clothes, and then you've not far to go to _Soria Moria
+Castle_."
+
+In a little while _Halvor_ came upon the lassies who stood washing,
+and they asked if he had seen anything of the West Wind who was to
+come and dry the clothes for the wedding.
+
+"Aye, aye, that I have," said _Halvor_, "he's only gone to tear down a
+strip of spruce wood. It'll not be long before he's here," and then he
+asked them the way to _Soria Moria Castle_.
+
+So they put him into the right way, and when he got to the Castle it
+was full of folk and horses; so full it made one giddy to look at
+them. But _Halvor_ was so ragged and torn from having followed the
+West Wind through bush and brier and bog, that he kept on one side,
+and wouldn't show himself till the last day when the bridal feast was
+to be.
+
+So when all, as was then right and fitting, were to drink the bride
+and bridegroom's health and wish them luck, and when the cupbearer was
+to drink to them all again, both knights and squires, last of all he
+came in turn to _Halvor_. He drank their health, but let the ring
+which the _Princess_ had put upon his finger as he lay by the lake
+fall into the glass, and bade the cupbearer go and greet the bride and
+hand her the glass.
+
+Then up rose the _Princess_ from the board at once.
+
+"Who is most worthy to have one of us," she said, "he that has set us
+free, or he that here sits by me as bridegroom?"
+
+Well they all said there could be but one voice and will as to that,
+and when _Halvor_ heard that he wasn't long in throwing off his
+beggar's rags, and arraying himself as bridegroom.
+
+"Aye, aye, here is the right one after all," said the youngest
+_Princess_ as soon as she saw him, and so she tossed the other one out
+of the window, and held her wedding with _Halvor_.
+
+
+
+
+THE GIANT WHO HAD NO HEART IN HIS BODY
+
+
+Once on a time there was a _King_ who had _seven sons_, and he loved
+them so much that he could never bear to be without them all at once,
+but one must always be with him. Now, when they were grown up, six
+were to set off to woo, but as for the youngest, his father kept him
+at home, and the others were to bring back a princess for him to the
+palace. So the _King_ gave the six the finest clothes you ever set
+eyes on, so fine that the light gleamed from them a long way off, and
+each had his horse, which cost many, many hundred pounds, and so they
+set off. Now, when they had been to many palaces, and seen many
+princesses, at last they came to a _King_ who had _six daughters_;
+such lovely king's daughters they had never seen, and so they fell to
+wooing them, each one, and when they had got them for sweethearts,
+they set off home again, but they quite forgot that they were to bring
+back with them a sweetheart for _Boots_, their brother, who stayed at
+home, for they were over head and ears in love with their own
+sweethearts.
+
+[Illustration: The six brothers riding out to woo.]
+
+But when they had gone a good bit on their way, they passed close by a
+steep hill-side, like a wall, where the _Giant's_ house was, and there
+the _Giant_ came out, and set his eyes upon them, and turned them all
+into stone, princes and princesses and all. Now the _King_ waited and
+waited for his _six sons_, but the more he waited, the longer they
+stayed away; so he fell into great trouble, and said he should never
+know what it was to be glad again.
+
+"And if I had not you left," he said to _Boots_, "I would live no
+longer, so full of sorrow am I for the loss of your brothers."
+
+"Well, but now I've been thinking to ask your leave to set out and
+find them again; that's what I'm thinking of," said _Boots_.
+
+"Nay, nay!" said his father; "that leave you shall never get, for then
+you would stay away too."
+
+But _Boots_ had set his heart upon it; go he would; and he begged and
+prayed so long that the _King_ was forced to let him go. Now, you must
+know the _King_ had no other horse to give _Boots_ but an old
+broken-down jade, for his six other sons and their train had carried
+off all his horses; but _Boots_ did not care a pin for that, he sprang
+up on his sorry old steed.
+
+"Farewell, father," said he; "I'll come back, never fear, and like
+enough I shall bring my six brothers back with me;" and with that he
+rode off.
+
+So, when he had ridden a while, he came to a _Raven_, which lay in the
+road and flapped its wings, and was not able to get out of the way, it
+was so starved.
+
+"Oh, dear friend," said the _Raven_, "give me a little food, and I'll
+help you again at your utmost need."
+
+"I haven't much food," said the _Prince_, "and I don't see how you'll
+ever be able to help me much; but still I can spare you a little. I
+see you want it."
+
+So he gave the raven some of the food he had brought with him.
+
+Now, when he had gone a bit further, he came to a brook, and in the
+brook lay a great _Salmon_, which had got upon a dry place and dashed
+itself about, and could not get into the water again.
+
+"Oh, dear friend," said the _Salmon_ to the _Prince_; "shove me out
+into the water again, and I'll help you again at your utmost need."
+
+"Well!" said the _Prince_, "the help you'll give me will not be great,
+I daresay, but it's a pity you should lie there and choke;" and with
+that he shot the fish out into the stream again.
+
+After that he went a long, long way, and there met him a _Wolf_ which
+was so famished that it lay and crawled along the road on its belly.
+
+"Dear friend, do let me have your horse," said the _Wolf_; "I'm so
+hungry the wind whistles through my ribs; I've had nothing to eat
+these two years."
+
+"No," said _Boots_, "this will never do; first I came to a raven, and
+I was forced to give him my food; next I came to a salmon, and him I
+had to help into the water again; and now you will have my horse. It
+can't be done, that it can't, for then I should have nothing to ride
+on."
+
+"Nay, dear friend, but you can help me," said _Graylegs_ the wolf;
+"you can ride upon my back, and I'll help you again in your utmost
+need."
+
+"Well! the help I shall get from you will not be great, I'll be
+bound," said the _Prince_; "but you may take my horse, since you are
+in such need."
+
+So when the _Wolf_ had eaten the horse, _Boots_ took the bit and put
+it into the _Wolf's_ jaw, and laid the saddle on his back; and now the
+_Wolf_ was so strong, after what he had got inside, that he set off
+with the _Prince_ like nothing. So fast he had never ridden before.
+
+"When we have gone a bit farther," said _Graylegs_, "I'll show you the
+_Giant's_ house."
+
+So after a while they came to it.
+
+"See, here is the _Giant's_ house," said the _Wolf_; "and see, here
+are your six brothers, whom the _Giant_ has turned into stone; and
+see, here are their six brides, and away yonder is the door, and in
+that door you must go."
+
+"Nay, but I daren't go in," said the _Prince_; "he'll take my life."
+
+"No! no!" said the _Wolf_; "when you get in you'll find a _Princess_,
+and she'll tell you what to do to make an end of the _Giant_. Only
+mind and do as she bids you."
+
+Well! _Boots_ went in, but, truth to say, he was very much afraid.
+When he came in the _Giant_ was away, but in one of the rooms sat the
+_Princess_, just as the _Wolf_ had said, and so lovely a princess
+_Boots_ had never yet set eyes on.
+
+"Oh! heaven help you! whence have you come?" said the _Princess_, as
+she saw him; "it will surely be your death. No one can make an end of
+the _Giant_ who lives here, for he has no heart in his body."
+
+"Well! well!" said _Boots_; "but now that I am here, I may as well try
+what I can do with him; and I will see if I can't free my brothers,
+who are standing turned to stone out of doors; and you, too, I will
+try to save, that I will."
+
+"Well, if you must, you must," said the _Princess_; "and so let us see
+if we can't hit on a plan. Just creep under the bed yonder, and mind
+and listen to what he and I talk about. But, pray, do lie as still as
+a mouse."
+
+So he crept under the bed, and he had scarce got well underneath it,
+before the _Giant_ came.
+
+"Ha!" roared the _Giant_, "what a smell of Christian blood there is in
+the house!"
+
+"Yes, I know there is," said the _Princess_, "for there came a magpie
+flying with a man's bone, and let it fall down the chimney. I made all
+the haste I could to get it out, but all one can do, the smell doesn't
+go off so soon."
+
+So the _Giant_ said no more about it, and when night came, they went
+to bed. After they had lain a while, the _Princess_ said:
+
+"There is one thing I'd be so glad to ask you about, if I only
+dared."
+
+"What thing is that?" asked the _Giant_.
+
+"Only where it is you keep your heart, since you don't carry it about
+you," said the _Princess_.
+
+"Ah! that's a thing you've no business to ask about; but if you must
+know, it lies under the door-sill," said the _Giant_.
+
+"Ho! ho!" said _Boots_ to himself under the bed, "then we'll soon see
+if we can't find it."
+
+Next morning the _Giant_ got up cruelly early, and strode off to the
+wood; but he was hardly out of the house before _Boots_ and the
+_Princess_ set to work to look under the door-sill for his heart; but
+the more they dug, and the more they hunted, the more they couldn't
+find it.
+
+"He has baulked us this time," said the _Princess_, "but we'll try him
+once more."
+
+So she picked all the prettiest flowers she could find, and strewed
+them over the door-sill, which they had laid in its right place again;
+and when the time came for the _Giant_ to come home again, _Boots_
+crept under the bed. Just as he was well under, back came the
+_Giant_.
+
+Snuff--snuff, went the _Giant's_ nose. "My eyes and limbs, what a
+smell of Christian blood there is in here," said he.
+
+"I know there is," said the _Princess_, "for there came a magpie
+flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the
+chimney. I made as much haste as I could to get it out, but I daresay
+it's that you smell."
+
+So the _Giant_ held his peace, and said no more about it. A little
+while after, he asked who it was that had strewed flowers about the
+door-sill.
+
+"Oh, I, of course," said the _Princess_.
+
+"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this?" said the _Giant_.
+
+"Ah!" said the _Princess_, "I'm so fond of you that I couldn't help
+strewing them, when I knew that your heart lay under there."
+
+"You don't say so," said the _Giant_; "but after all it doesn't lie
+there at all."
+
+So when they went to bed again in the evening, the _Princess_ asked
+the _Giant_ again where his heart was, for she said she would so like
+to know.
+
+"Well," said the _Giant_, "if you must know, it lies away yonder in
+the cupboard against the wall."
+
+"So, so!" thought _Boots_ and the _Princess_; "then we'll soon try to
+find it."
+
+Next morning the _Giant_ was away early, and strode off to the wood,
+and so soon as he was gone _Boots_ and the _Princess_ were in the
+cupboard hunting for his heart, but the more they sought for it, the
+less they found it.
+
+"Well," said the _Princess_, "we'll just try him once more."
+
+So she decked out the cupboard with flowers and garlands, and when the
+time came for the _Giant_ to come home, _Boots_ crept under the bed
+again.
+
+Then back came the _Giant_.
+
+Snuff--snuff! "My eyes and limbs, what a smell of Christian blood
+there is in here!"
+
+"I know there is," said the _Princess_; "for a little while since
+there came a magpie flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it
+fall down the chimney. I made all the haste I could to get it out of
+the house again; but after all my pains, I daresay it's that you
+smell."
+
+When the _Giant_ heard that, he said no more about it; but a little
+while after, he saw how the cupboard was all decked about with flowers
+and garlands; so he asked who it was that had done that? Who could it
+be but the _Princess_?
+
+"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this tomfoolery?" asked the
+_Giant_.
+
+"Oh, I'm so fond of you, I couldn't help doing it when I knew that
+your heart lay there," said the _Princess_.
+
+"How can you be so silly as to believe any such thing?" said the
+_Giant_.
+
+"Oh yes; how can I help believing it, when you say it?" said the
+_Princess_.
+
+"You're a goose," said the _Giant_; "where my heart is, you will never
+come."
+
+"Well," said the _Princess_; "but for all that, 'twould be such a
+pleasure to know where it really lies."
+
+Then the poor _Giant_ could hold out no longer, but was forced to
+say:
+
+[Illustration: "On that island stands a church; in that church is a well;
+in that well swims a duck."]
+
+"Far, far away in a lake lies an island; on that island stands a
+church; in that church is a well; in that well swims a duck; in that
+duck there is an egg, and in that egg there lies my heart,--you
+darling!"
+
+In the morning early, while it was still grey dawn, the _Giant_ strode
+off to the wood.
+
+[Illustration: He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and when he
+got out of the Giant's door, there stood the Wolf waiting for him.]
+
+"Yes! now I must set off too," said _Boots_; "if I only knew how to
+find the way." He took a long, long farewell of the _Princess_, and
+when he got out of the _Giant's_ door, there stood the _Wolf_ waiting
+for him. So _Boots_ told him all that had happened inside the house,
+and said now he wished to ride to the well in the church, if he only
+knew the way. So the _Wolf_ bade him jump on his back, he'd soon find
+the way; and away they went, till the wind whistled after them, over
+hedge and field, over hill and dale. After they had travelled many,
+many days, they came at last to the lake. Then the _Prince_ did not
+know how to get over it, but the _Wolf_ bade him only not be afraid,
+but stick on, and so he jumped into the lake with the _Prince_ on his
+back, and swam over to the island. So they came to the church; but the
+church keys hung high, high up on the top of the tower, and at first
+the _Prince_ did not know how to get them down.
+
+"You must call on the raven," said the _Wolf_.
+
+So the _Prince_ called on the raven, and in a trice the raven came,
+and flew up and fetched the keys, and so the _Prince_ got into the
+church. But when he came to the well, there lay the duck, and swam
+about backwards and forwards, just as the _Giant_ had said. So the
+_Prince_ stood and coaxed it, till it came to him, and he grasped it
+in his hand; but just as he lifted it up from the water the duck
+dropped the egg into the well, and then _Boots_ was beside himself to
+know how to get it out again.
+
+"Well, now you must call on the salmon to be sure," said the _Wolf_;
+and the king's son called on the salmon, and the salmon came and
+fetched up the egg from the bottom of the well.
+
+Then the _Wolf_ told him to squeeze the egg, and as soon as ever he
+squeezed it the _Giant_ screamed out.
+
+"Squeeze it again," said the _Wolf_; and when the _Prince_ did so, the
+_Giant_ screamed still more piteously, and begged and prayed so
+prettily to be spared, saying he would do all that the _Prince_ wished
+if he would only not squeeze his heart in two.
+
+"Tell him, if he will restore to life again your six brothers and
+their brides, whom he has turned to stone, you will spare his life,"
+said the _Wolf_. Yes, the _Giant_ was ready to do that, and he turned
+the six brothers into king's sons again, and their brides into king's
+daughters.
+
+"Now, squeeze the egg in two," said the _Wolf_. So _Boots_ squeezed
+the egg to pieces, and the _Giant_ burst at once.
+
+Now, when he had made an end of the _Giant_, _Boots_ rode back again
+on the _Wolf_ to the _Giant's_ house, and there stood all his six
+brothers alive and merry, with their brides. Then _Boots_ went into
+the hill-side after his bride, and so they all set off home again to
+their father's house. And you may fancy how glad the old king was when
+he saw all his seven sons come back, each with his bride--"But the
+loveliest bride of all is the bride of _Boots_, after all," said the
+king, "and he shall sit uppermost at the table, with her by his
+side."
+
+So he sent out, and called a great wedding-feast, and the mirth was
+both loud and long, and if they have not done feasting, why, they are
+still at it.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL
+
+
+Once on a time there was a man who had a meadow, which lay high up on
+the hill-side, and in the meadow was a barn, which he had built to
+keep his hay in. Now, I must tell you, there hadn't been much in the
+barn for the last year or two, for every St. John's night, when the
+grass stood greenest and deepest, the meadow was eaten down to the
+very ground the next morning, just as if a whole drove of sheep had
+been there feeding on it over night. This happened once, and it
+happened twice; so at last the man grew weary of losing his crop of
+hay, and said to his sons--for he had three of them, and the youngest
+was nicknamed _Boots_, of course--that now one of them must go and
+sleep in the barn in the outlying field when St. John's night came,
+for it was too good a joke that his grass should be eaten, root and
+blade, this year, as it had been the last two years. So whichever of
+them went must keep a sharp look-out; that was what their father
+said.
+
+Well, the eldest son was ready to go and watch the meadow; trust him
+for looking after the grass! It shouldn't be his fault if man or
+beast, or the fiend himself, got a blade of grass. So, when evening
+came, he set off to the barn, and lay down to sleep; but a little on
+in the night came such a clatter, and such an earthquake, that walls
+and roof shook, and groaned, and creaked; then up jumped the lad, and
+took to his heels as fast as ever he could; nor dared he once look
+round till he reached home; and as for the hay, why it was eaten up
+this year just as it had been twice before.
+
+The next St. John's night, the man said again, it would never do to
+lose all the grass in the outlying field year after year in this way,
+so one of his sons must just trudge off to watch it, and watch it well
+too. Well, the next oldest son was ready to try his luck, so he set
+off, and lay down to sleep in the barn as his brother had done before
+him; but as the night wore on, there came on a rumbling and quaking of
+the earth, worse even than on the last St. John's night, and when the
+lad heard it, he got frightened, and took to his heels as though he
+were running a race.
+
+Next year the turn came to _Boots_; but when he made ready to go, the
+other two began to laugh and to make game of him, saying:
+
+"You're just the man to watch the hay, that you are; you, who have
+done nothing all your life but sit in the ashes and toast yourself by
+the fire."
+
+But _Boots_ did not care a pin for their chattering, and stumped away
+as evening grew on, up the hill-side to the outlying field. There he
+went inside the barn and lay down; but in about an hour's time the
+barn began to groan and creak, so that it was dreadful to hear.
+
+"Well," said _Boots_ to himself, "if it isn't worse than this, I can
+stand it well enough."
+
+A little while after came another creak and an earthquake, so that the
+litter in the barn flew about the lad's ears. "Oh!" said _Boots_ to
+himself, "if it isn't worse than this, I daresay I can stand it out."
+
+But just then came a third rumbling, and a third earthquake, so that
+the lad thought walls and roof were coming down on his head; but it
+passed off, and all was still as death about him.
+
+"It'll come again, I'll be bound," thought _Boots_; but no, it didn't
+come again; still it was, and still it stayed; but after he had lain a
+little while, he heard a noise as if a horse were standing just
+outside the barn-door, and cropping the grass. He stole to the door,
+and peeped through a chink, and there stood a horse feeding away. So
+big, and fat, and grand a horse, _Boots_ had never set eyes on; by his
+side on the grass lay a saddle and bridle, and a full set of armour
+for a knight, all of brass, so bright that the light gleamed from it.
+
+"Ho, ho!" thought the lad; "it's you, is it, that eats up our hay?
+I'll soon put a spoke in your wheel, just see if I don't."
+
+So he lost no time, but took the steel out of his tinder-box, and
+threw it over the horse; then it had no power to stir from the spot,
+and became so tame that the lad could do what he liked with it. So he
+got on its back, and rode off with it to a place which no one knew of,
+and there he put up the horse. When he got home, his brothers laughed
+and asked how he had fared?
+
+"You didn't lie long in the barn, even if you had the heart to go so
+far as the field."
+
+"Well," said _Boots_, "all I can say is, I lay in the barn till the
+sun rose, and neither saw nor heard anything; I can't think what there
+was in the barn to make you both so afraid."
+
+"A pretty story," said his brothers; "but we'll soon see how you have
+watched the meadow;" so they set off; but when they reached it, there
+stood the grass as deep and thick as it had been over night.
+
+Well, the next St. John's eve it was the same story over again;
+neither of the elder brothers dared to go out to the outlying field to
+watch the crop; but _Boots_, he had the heart to go, and everything
+happened just as it had happened the year before. First a clatter and
+an earthquake, then a greater clatter and another earthquake, and so
+on a third time; only this year the earthquakes were far worse than
+the year before. Then all at once everything was as still as death,
+and the lad heard how something was cropping the grass outside the
+barn-door, so he stole to the door, and peeped through a chink; and
+what do you think he saw? Why, another horse standing right up against
+the wall, and chewing and champing with might and main. It was far
+finer and fatter than that which came the year before, and it had a
+saddle on its back, and a bridle on its neck, and a full suit of mail
+for a knight lay by its side, all of silver, and as grand as you would
+wish to see.
+
+"Ho, ho!" said _Boots_ to himself; "it's you that gobbles up our hay,
+is it? I'll soon put a spoke in your wheel;" and with that he took the
+steel out of his tinder-box, and threw it over the horse's crest,
+which stood as still as a lamb. Well, the lad rode this horse, too, to
+the hiding-place where he kept the other one, and after that he went
+home.
+
+"I suppose you'll tell us," said one of his brothers, "there's a fine
+crop this year too, up in the hayfield."
+
+"Well, so there is," said _Boots_; and off ran the others to see, and
+there stood the grass thick and deep, as it was the year before; but
+they didn't give _Boots_ softer words for all that.
+
+Now, when the third St. John's eve came, the two elder brothers still
+hadn't the heart to lie out in the barn and watch the grass, for they
+had got so scared at heart the nights they lay there before, that they
+couldn't get over the fright; but _Boots_, he dared to go; and, to
+make a very long story short, the very same thing happened this time
+as had happened twice before. Three earthquakes came, one after the
+other, each worse than the one which went before, and when the last
+came, the lad danced about with the shock from one barn wall to the
+other; and after that, all at once, it was still as death. Now when he
+had laid a little while, he heard something tugging away at the grass
+outside the barn, so he stole again to the door-chink, and peeped out,
+and there stood a horse close outside--far, far bigger and fatter than
+the two he had taken before.
+
+"Ho, ho!" said the lad to himself, "it's you, is it, that comes here
+eating up our hay? I'll soon stop that--I'll soon put a spoke in your
+wheel." So he caught up his steel and threw it over his horse's neck,
+and in a trice it stood as if it were nailed to the ground, and
+_Boots_ could do as he pleased with it. Then he rode off with it to
+the hiding-place where he kept the other two, and then went home. When
+he got home, his two brothers made game of him as they had done
+before, saying, they could see he had watched the grass well, for he
+looked for all the world as if he were walking in his sleep, and many
+other spiteful things they said, but _Boots_ gave no heed to them,
+only asking them to go and see for themselves; and when they went,
+there stood the grass as fine and deep this time as it had been twice
+before.
+
+Now, you must know that the king of the country where _Boots_ lived
+had a daughter, whom he would only give to the man who could ride up
+over the hill of glass, for there was a high, high hill, all of glass,
+as smooth and slippery as ice, close by the _King's_ palace. Upon the
+tip top of the hill the _King's_ daughter was to sit, with three
+golden apples in her lap, and the man who could ride up and carry off
+the three golden apples, was to have half the kingdom, and the
+_Princess_ to wife. This the _King_ had stuck up on all the
+church-doors in his realm, and had given it out in many other
+kingdoms besides. Now, this _Princess_ was so lovely that all who set
+eyes on her fell over head and ears in love with her whether they
+would or no. So I needn't tell you how all the princes and knights who
+heard of her were eager to win her to wife, and half the kingdom
+beside; and how they came riding from all parts of the world on high
+prancing horses, and clad in the grandest clothes, for there wasn't
+one of them who hadn't made up his mind that he, and he alone, was to
+win the _Princess_.
+
+So when the day of trial came, which the king had fixed, there was
+such a crowd of princes and knights under the _Glass Hill_, that it
+made one's head whirl to look at them, and everyone in the country
+who could even crawl along was off to the hill, for they were all
+eager to see the man who was to win the _Princess_. So the two elder
+brothers set off with the rest; but as for _Boots_, they said outright
+he shouldn't go with them, for if they were seen with such a dirty
+changeling, all begrimed with smut from cleaning their shoes and
+sifting cinders in the dust-hole, they said folk would make game of
+them.
+
+"Very well," said _Boots_, "it's all one to me. I can go alone, and
+stand or fall by myself."
+
+Now when the two brothers came to the _Hill of Glass_, the knights and
+princes were all hard at it, riding their horses till they were all in
+a foam; but it was no good, by my troth; for as soon as ever the
+horses set foot on the hill, down they slipped, and there wasn't one
+who could get a yard or two up; and no wonder, for the hill was as
+smooth as a sheet of glass, and as steep as a house-wall. But all were
+eager to have the _Princess_ and half the kingdom. So they rode and
+slipped, and slipped and rode, and still it was the same story over
+again. At last all their horses were so weary that they could scarce
+lift a leg, and in such a sweat that the lather dripped from them, and
+so the knights had to give up trying any more. So the king was just
+thinking that he would proclaim a new trial for the next day, to see
+if they would have better luck, when all at once a knight came riding
+up on so brave a steed, that no one had ever seen the like of it in
+his born days, and the knight had mail of brass, and the horse a brass
+bit in his mouth, so bright that the sunbeams shone from it. Then all
+the others called out to him he might just as well spare himself the
+trouble of riding at the Hill, for it would lead to no good; but he
+gave no heed to them, and put his horse at the hill, and went up it
+like nothing for a good way, about a third of the height; and when he
+had got so far, he turned his horse round and rode down again. So
+lovely a knight the _Princess_ thought she had never yet seen; and
+while he was riding, she sat and thought to herself:
+
+"Would to heaven he might only come up and down the other side."
+
+And when she saw him turning back, she threw down one of the golden
+apples after him, and it rolled down into his shoe. But when he got to
+the bottom of the hill, he rode off so fast that no one could tell
+what had become of him. That evening all the knights and princes were
+to go before the king, that he who had ridden so far up the hill might
+show the apple which the _Princess_ had thrown, but there was no one
+who had anything to show. One after the other they all came, but not a
+man of them could show the apple.
+
+At even the brothers of _Boots_ came home too, and had such a long
+story to tell about the riding up the hill.
+
+"First of all," they said, "there was not one of the whole lot who
+could get so much as a stride up; but at last came one who had a suit
+of brass mail, and a brass bridle and saddle, all so bright that the
+sun shone from them a mile off. He was a chap to ride, just! He rode a
+third of the way up the _Hill of Glass_, and he could easily have
+ridden the whole way up, if he chose; but he turned round and rode
+down, thinking, maybe, that was enough for once."
+
+"Oh! I should so like to have seen him, that I should," said _Boots_,
+who sat by the fireside, and stuck his feet into the cinders, as was
+his wont.
+
+"Oh!" said his brothers, "you would, would you? You look fit to keep
+company with such high lords, nasty beast that you are, sitting there
+amongst the ashes."
+
+Next day the brothers were all for setting off again, and _Boots_
+begged them this time, too, to let him go with them and see the
+riding; but no, they wouldn't have him at any price, he was too ugly
+and nasty, they said.
+
+"Well, well!" said _Boots_; "if I go at all, I must go by myself. I'm
+not afraid."
+
+So when the brothers got to the _Hill of Glass_, all the princes and
+knights began to ride again, and you may fancy they had taken care to
+shoe their horses sharp; but it was no good--they rode and slipped,
+and slipped and rode, just as they had done the day before, and there
+was not one who could get so far as a yard up the hill. And when they
+had worn out their horses, so that they could not stir a leg, they
+were all forced to give it up as a bad job. So the king thought he
+might as well proclaim that the riding should take place the day after
+for the last time, just to give them one chance more; but all at once
+it came across his mind that he might as well wait a little longer, to
+see if the knight in brass mail would come this day too. Well, they
+saw nothing of him; but all at once came one riding on a steed, far,
+far braver and finer than that on which the knight in brass had
+ridden, and he had silver mail, and a silver saddle and bridle, all so
+bright that the sunbeams gleamed and glanced from them far away. Then
+the others shouted out to him again, saying, he might as well hold
+hard, and not try to ride up the hill, for all his trouble would be
+thrown away; but the knight paid no heed to them, and rode straight
+at the hill, and right up it, till he had gone two-thirds of the way,
+and then he wheeled his horse round and rode down again. To tell the
+truth, the _Princess_ liked him still better than the knight in brass,
+and she sat and wished he might only be able to come right up to the
+top, and down the other side; but when she saw him turning back, she
+threw the second apple after him, and it rolled down and fell into his
+shoe. But, as soon as ever he had come down from the _Hill of Glass_,
+he rode off so fast that no one could see what became of him.
+
+At even, when all were to go in before the king and the _Princess_,
+that he who had the golden apple might show it, in they went, one
+after the other, but there was no one who had any apple to show, and
+the two brothers, as they had done on the former day, went home and
+told how things had gone, and how all had ridden at the hill, and none
+got up.
+
+"But, last of all," they said, "came one in a silver suit, and his
+horse had a silver saddle and a silver bridle. He was just a chap to
+ride; and he got two-thirds up the hill, and then turned back. He was
+a fine fellow, and no mistake; and the _Princess_ threw the second
+gold apple to him."
+
+"Oh!" said _Boots_, "I should so like to have seen him too, that I
+should."
+
+"A pretty story," they said. "Perhaps you think his coat of mail was
+as bright as the ashes you are always poking about, and sifting, you
+nasty dirty beast."
+
+The third day everything happened as it had happened the two days
+before. _Boots_ begged to go and see the sight, but the two wouldn't
+hear of his going with them. When they got to the hill there was no
+one who could get so much as a yard up it; and now all waited for the
+knight in silver mail, but they neither saw nor heard of him. At last
+came one riding on a steed, so brave that no one had ever seen his
+match; and the knight had a suit of golden mail, and a golden saddle
+and bridle, so wondrous bright that the sunbeams gleamed from them a
+mile off. The other knights and princes could not find time to call
+out to him not to try his luck, for they were amazed to see how grand
+he was. So he rode right at the hill, and tore up it like nothing, so
+that the _Princess_ hadn't even time to wish that he might get up the
+whole way. As soon as ever he reached the top, he took the third
+golden apple from the _Princess'_ lap, and then turned his horse and
+rode down again. As soon as he got down, he rode off at full speed,
+and was out of sight in no time.
+
+Now, when the brothers got home at even, you may fancy what long
+stories they told, how the riding had gone off that day; and amongst
+other things, they had a deal to say about the knight in golden mail.
+
+"He just was a chap to ride!" they said; "so grand a knight isn't to
+be found in the wide world."
+
+"Oh!" said _Boots_, "I should so like to have seen him, that I
+should."
+
+"Ah!" said his brothers, "his mail shone a deal brighter than the
+glowing coals which you are always poking and digging at; nasty dirty
+beast that you are."
+
+Next day all the knights and princes were to pass before the king and
+the _Princess_--it was too late to do so the night before, I
+suppose--that he who had the gold apple might bring it forth; but one
+came after another, first the _Princes_, and then the knights, and
+still no one could show the gold apple.
+
+"Well," said the king, "some one must have it, for it was something we
+all saw with our own eyes, how a man came and rode up and bore it
+off."
+
+So he commanded that every man who was in the kingdom should come up
+to the palace and see if they could show the apple. Well, they all
+came one after another, but no one had the golden apple, and after a
+long time the two brothers of _Boots_ came. They were the last of all,
+so the king asked them if there was no one else in the kingdom who
+hadn't come.
+
+"Oh, yes," said they; "we have a brother, but he never carried off the
+golden apple. He hasn't stirred out of the dusthole on any of the
+three days."
+
+"Never mind that," said the king; "he may as well come up to the
+palace like the rest."
+
+So _Boots_ had to go up to the palace.
+
+"How now," said the king; "have you got the golden apple? Speak out!"
+
+"Yes, I have," said _Boots_; "here is the first, and here is the
+second, and here is the third too;" and with that he pulled all three
+golden apples out of his pocket, and at the same time threw off his
+sooty rags, and stood before them in his gleaming golden mail.
+
+"Yes!" said the king; "you shall have my daughter, and half my
+kingdom, for you well deserve both her and it."
+
+So they got ready for the wedding, and _Boots_ got the _Princess_ to
+wife, and there was great merry-making at the bridal-feast, you may
+fancy, for they could all be merry though they couldn't ride up the
+_Hill of Glass_; and all I can say is, if they haven't left off their
+merry-making yet, why, they're still at it.
+
+
+
+
+THE WIDOW'S SON
+
+
+Once on a time there was a poor, poor _Widow_, who had an only _Son_.
+She dragged on with the boy till he had been confirmed, and then she
+said she couldn't feed him any longer, he must just go out and earn
+his own bread. So the lad wandered out into the world, and when he had
+walked a day or so, a strange man met him.
+
+"Whither away?" asked the man.
+
+[Illustration: When he had walked a day or so, a strange man met him.
+"Whither away?" asked the man.]
+
+"Oh, I'm going out into the world to try and get a place," said the
+lad.
+
+"Will you come and serve me?" said the man.
+
+"Oh, yes; just as soon you as any one else," said the lad.
+
+"Well, you'll have a good place with me," said the man; "for you'll
+only have to keep me company, and do nothing at all else beside."
+
+So the lad stopped with him, and lived on the fat of the land, both in
+meat and drink, and had little or nothing to do; but he never saw a
+living soul in that man's house.
+
+So one day the man said:
+
+"Now, I'm going off for eight days, and that time you'll have to spend
+here all alone; but you must not go into any one of these four rooms
+here. If you do, I'll take your life when I come back."
+
+"No," said the lad, he'd be sure not to do that. But when the man had
+been gone three or four days, the lad couldn't bear it any longer, but
+went into the first room, and when he got inside he looked round, but
+he saw nothing but a shelf over the door where a bramble-bush rod
+lay.
+
+Well, indeed! thought the lad; a pretty thing to forbid my seeing
+this.
+
+So when the eight days were out, the man came home, and the first
+thing he said was:
+
+"You haven't been into any of these rooms, of course."
+
+"No, no; that I haven't," said the lad.
+
+"I'll soon see that," said the man, and went at once into the room
+where the lad had been.
+
+"Nay, but you have been in here," said he; "and now you shall lose
+your life."
+
+Then the lad begged and prayed so hard that he got off with his life,
+but the man gave him a good thrashing. And when it was over, they
+were as good friends as ever.
+
+Some time after the man set off again, and said he should be away
+fourteen days; but before he went he forbade the lad to go into any of
+the rooms he had not been in before; as for that he had been in, he
+might go into that, and welcome. Well, it was the same story over
+again, except that the lad stood out eight days before he went in. In
+this room, too, he saw nothing but a shelf over the door, and a big
+stone, and a pitcher of water on it. Well, after all, there's not much
+to be afraid of my seeing here, thought the lad.
+
+But when the man came back, he asked if he had been into any of the
+rooms. No, the lad hadn't done anything of the kind.
+
+"Well, well; I'll soon see that," said the man; and when he saw the
+lad had been in them after all, he said:
+
+"Ah! now I'll spare you no longer; now you must lose your life."
+
+But the lad begged and prayed for himself again, and so this time too
+he got off with stripes; though he got as many as his skin would
+carry. But when he got sound and well again, he led just as easy a
+life as ever, and he and the man were just as good friends.
+
+So a while after the man was to take another journey, and now he said
+he should be away three weeks, and he forbade the lad anew to go into
+the third room, for if he went in there he might just make up his mind
+at once to lose his life. Then after fourteen days the lad couldn't
+bear it, but crept into the room, but he saw nothing at all in there
+but a trap door on the floor; and when he lifted it up and looked
+down, there stood a great copper cauldron which bubbled up and boiled
+away down there; but he saw no fire under it.
+
+"Well, I should just like to know if it's hot," thought the lad, and
+struck his finger down into the broth, and when he pulled it out
+again, lo! it was gilded all over. So the lad scraped and scrubbed it,
+but the gilding wouldn't go off, so he bound a piece of rag round it;
+and when the man came back, and asked what was the matter with his
+finger, the lad said he'd given it such a bad cut. But the man tore
+off the rag, and then he soon saw what was the matter with the finger.
+First he wanted to kill the lad outright, but when he wept, and
+begged, he only gave him such a thrashing that he had to keep his bed
+three days. After that the man took down a pot from the wall, and
+rubbed him over with some stuff out of it, and so the lad was as
+sound and fresh as ever.
+
+So after a while the man started off again, and this time he was to be
+away a month. But before he went, he said to the lad, if he went into
+the fourth room he might give up all hope of saving his life.
+
+Well, the lad stood out for two or three weeks, but then he couldn't
+hold out any longer; he must and would go into that room, and so in he
+stole. There stood a great black horse tied up in a stall by himself,
+with a manger of red-hot coals at his head and a truss of hay at his
+tail. Then the lad thought this all wrong, so he changed them about,
+and put the hay at his head. Then said the _Horse_:
+
+"Since you are so good at heart as to let me have some food, I'll set
+you free, that I will. For if the _Troll_ comes back and finds you
+here, he'll kill you outright. But now you must go up to the room
+which lies just over this, and take a coat of mail out of those that
+hang there; and mind, whatever you do, don't take any of the bright
+ones, but the most rusty of all you see, that's the one to take; and
+sword and saddle you must choose for yourself just in the same way."
+
+So the lad did all that; but it was a heavy load for him to carry them
+all down at once.
+
+When he came back, the _Horse_ told him to pull off his clothes and
+get into the cauldron which stood and boiled in the other room, and
+bathe himself there. "If I do," thought the lad, "I shall look an
+awful fright;" but for all that, he did as he was told. So when he had
+taken his bath, he became so handsome and sleek, and as red and white
+as milk and blood, and much stronger than he had been before.
+
+"Do you feel any change?" asked the _Horse_.
+
+"Yes," said the lad.
+
+"Try and lift me, then," said the _Horse_.
+
+Oh yes! he could do that, and as for the sword, he brandished it like
+a feather.
+
+"Now saddle me," said the _Horse_, "and put on the coat of mail, and
+then take the bramble-bush rod, and the stone, and the pitcher of
+water, and the pot of ointment, and then we'll be off as fast as we
+can."
+
+So when the lad had got on the horse, off they went at such a rate, he
+couldn't at all tell how they went. But when he had ridden awhile, the
+_Horse_ said, "I think I hear a noise; look round! can you see
+anything?"
+
+"Yes; there are ever so many coming after us, at least a score," said
+the lad.
+
+"Aye, aye, that's the _Troll_ coming," said the _Horse_; "now he's
+after us with his pack."
+
+So they rode on a while, until those who followed were close behind
+them.
+
+"Now throw your bramble-bush rod behind you, over your shoulder," said
+the _Horse_; "but mind you throw it a good way off my back."
+
+So the lad did that, and all at once a close, thick bramblewood grew
+up behind them. So the lad rode on a long, long time, while the
+_Troll_ and his crew had to go home to fetch something to hew their
+way through the wood. But at last the _Horse_ said again:
+
+"Look behind you! can you see anything now?"
+
+"Yes, ever so many," said the lad, "as many as would fill a large
+church."
+
+"Aye, aye, that's the _Troll_ and his crew," said the _Horse_; "now
+he's got more to back him; but now throw down the stone, and mind you
+throw it far behind me."
+
+And as soon as the lad did what the _Horse_ said, up rose a great
+black hill of rock behind him. So the _Troll_ had to be off home to
+fetch something to mine his way through the rock; and while the
+_Troll_ did that, the lad rode a good bit further on. But still the
+_Horse_ begged him to look behind him, and then he saw a troop like a
+whole army behind him, and they glistened in the sunbeams.
+
+[Illustration: But still the Horse begged him to look behind him.]
+
+"Aye, aye," said the _Horse_, "that's the _Troll_, and now he's got
+his whole band with him, so throw the pitcher of water behind you, but
+mind you don't spill any of it upon me."
+
+So the lad did that; but in spite of all the pains he took, he still
+spilt one drop on the horse's flank. So it became a great deep lake;
+and because of that one drop, the horse found himself far out in it,
+but still he swam safe to land. But when the _Trolls_ came to the
+lake, they lay down to drink it dry; and so they swilled and swilled
+till they burst.
+
+"Now we're rid of them," said the _Horse_.
+
+So when they had gone a long, long while, they came to a green patch
+in a wood.
+
+"Now, strip off all your arms," said the _Horse_, "and only put on
+your ragged clothes, and take the saddle off me, and let me loose, and
+hang all my clothing and your arms up inside that great hollow
+lime-tree yonder. Then make yourself a wig of fir-moss, and go up to
+the king's palace, which lies close here, and ask for a place.
+Whenever you need me, only come here and shake the bridle, and I'll
+come to you."
+
+Yes! the lad did all his _Horse_ told him, and as soon as ever he put
+on the wig of moss he became so ugly, and pale, and miserable to look
+at, no one would have known him again. Then he went up to the king's
+palace and begged first for leave to be in the kitchen, and bring in
+wood and water for the cook, but then the kitchen-maid asked him:
+
+"Why do you wear that ugly wig? Off with it. I won't have such a
+fright in here."
+
+"No, I can't do that," said the lad; "for I'm not quite right in my
+head."
+
+"Do you think then I'll have you in here about the food," cried the
+cook. "Away with you to the coachman; you're best fit to go and clean
+the stable."
+
+But when the coachman begged him to take his wig off, he got the same
+answer, and he wouldn't have him either.
+
+"You'd best go down to the gardener," said he; "you're best fit to go
+about and dig in the garden."
+
+So he got leave to be with the gardener, but none of the other
+servants would sleep with him, and so he had to sleep by himself under
+the steps of the summer-house. It stood upon beams, and had a high
+staircase. Under that he got some turf for his bed, and there he lay
+as well as he could.
+
+So, when he had been some time at the palace, it happened one morning,
+just as the sun rose, that the lad had taken off his wig, and stood
+and washed himself, and then he was so handsome, it was a joy to look
+at him.
+
+So the _Princess_ saw from her window the lovely gardener's boy, and
+thought she had never seen any one so handsome. Then she asked the
+gardener why he lay out there under the steps.
+
+"Oh," said the gardener, "none of his fellow-servants will sleep with
+him; that's why."
+
+"Let him come up to-night, and lie at the door inside my bedroom, and
+then they'll not refuse to sleep with him any more," said the
+_Princess_.
+
+So the gardener told that to the lad.
+
+"Do you think I'll do any such thing?" said the lad. "Why they'd say
+next there was something between me and the _Princess_."
+
+"Yes," said the gardener, "you've good reason to fear any such thing,
+you who are so handsome."
+
+"Well, well," said the lad, "since it's her will, I suppose I must
+go."
+
+So, when he was to go up the steps in the evening, he tramped and
+stamped so on the way, that they had to beg him to tread softly lest
+the _King_ should come to know it. So he came into the _Princess'_
+bedroom, lay down, and began to snore at once. Then the _Princess_
+said to her maid:
+
+"Go gently, and just pull his wig off;" and she went up to him.
+
+But just as she was going to whisk it off, he caught hold of it with
+both hands, and said she should never have it. After that he lay down
+again, and began to snore. Then the _Princess_ gave her maid a wink,
+and this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay the lad so
+lovely, and white and red, just as the _Princess_ had seen him in the
+morning sun.
+
+[Illustration: And this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay the
+lad, so lovely, and white and red, just as the Princess had seen him in
+the morning sun.]
+
+After that the lad slept every night in the _Princess'_ bedroom.
+
+But it wasn't long before the _King_ came to hear how the gardener's
+lad slept every night in the _Princess'_ bedroom; and he got so wroth
+he almost took the lad's life. He didn't do that, however, but he
+threw him into the prison tower; and as for his daughter, he shut her
+up in her own room, whence she never got leave to stir day or night.
+All that she begged, and all that she prayed, for the lad and herself,
+was no good. The _King_ was only more wroth than ever.
+
+Some time after came a war and uproar in the land, and the _King_ had
+to take up arms against another king who wished to take the kingdom
+from him. So when the lad heard that, he begged the gaoler to go to
+the _King_ and ask for a coat of mail and a sword, and for leave to go
+to the war. All the rest laughed when the gaoler told his errand, and
+begged the _King_ to let him have an old worn-out suit, that they
+might have the fun of seeing such a wretch in battle. So he got that,
+and an old broken-down hack besides, which went upon three legs, and
+dragged the fourth after it.
+
+[Illustration: The Lad in the Battle.]
+
+Then they went out to meet the foe; but they hadn't got far from the
+palace before the lad got stuck fast in a bog with his hack. There he
+sat and dug his spurs in, and cried, "Gee up! gee up!" to his hack.
+And all the rest had their fun out of this, and laughed, and made game
+of the lad as they rode past him. But they were scarcely gone, before
+he ran to the lime-tree, threw on his coat of mail, and shook the
+bridle, and there came the _Horse_ in a trice, and said: "Do now your
+best, and I'll do mine."
+
+But when the lad came up the battle had begun, and the _King_ was in a
+sad pinch; but no sooner had the lad rushed into the thick of it than
+the foe was beaten back, and put to flight. The _King_ and his men
+wondered and wondered who it could be who had come to help them, but
+none of them got so near him as to be able to talk to him, and as soon
+as the fight was over he was gone. When they went back, there sat the
+lad still in the bog, and dug his spurs into his three-legged hack,
+and they all laughed again.
+
+"No! only just look," they said; "there the fool sits still."
+
+The next day when they went out to battle, they saw the lad sitting
+there still, so they laughed again, and made game of him; but as soon
+as ever they had ridden by, the lad ran again to the lime-tree, and
+all happened as on the first day. Every one wondered what strange
+champion it could be that had helped them, but no one got so near him
+as to say a word to him; and no one guessed it could be the lad;
+that's easy to understand.
+
+So when they went home at night, and saw the lad still sitting there
+on his hack, they burst out laughing at him again, and one of them
+shot an arrow at him and hit him in the leg. So he began to shriek and
+to bewail; 'twas enough to break one's heart; and so the _King_ threw
+his pocket-handkerchief to him to bind his wound.
+
+When they went out to battle the third day, the lad still sat there.
+
+"Gee up! gee up!" he said to his hack.
+
+"Nay, nay," said the _King's_ men; "if he won't stick there till he's
+starved to death."
+
+And then they rode on, and laughed at him till they were fit to fall
+from their horses. When they were gone, he ran again to the lime, and
+came up to the battle just in the very nick of time. This day he slew
+the enemy's king, and then the war was over at once.
+
+When the battle was over, the _King_ caught sight of his handkerchief,
+which the strange warrior had bound round his leg, and so it wasn't
+hard to find him out. So they took him with great joy between them to
+the palace, and the _Princess_, who saw him from her window, got so
+glad, no one can believe it.
+
+"Here comes my own true love," she said.
+
+Then he took the pot of ointment and rubbed himself on the leg, and
+after that he rubbed all the wounded, and so they all got well again
+in a moment.
+
+So he got the _Princess_ to wife; but when he went down into the
+stable where his horse was on the day the wedding was to be, there it
+stood so dull and heavy, and hung its ears down, and wouldn't eat its
+corn. So when the young _King_--for he was now a king, and had got
+half the kingdom--spoke to him, and asked what ailed him, the _Horse_
+said:
+
+"Now I have helped you on, and now I won't live any longer. So just
+take the sword, and cut my head off."
+
+"No, I'll do nothing of the kind," said the young _King_; "but you
+shall have all you want, and rest all your life."
+
+"Well," said the _Horse_, "if you don't do as I tell you, see if I
+don't take your life somehow."
+
+So the _King_ had to do what he asked; but when he swung the sword and
+was to cut his head off, he was so sorry he turned away his face, for
+he would not see the stroke fall. But as soon as ever he had cut off
+the head, there stood the loveliest _Prince_ on the spot where the
+horse had stood.
+
+"Why, where in all the world did you come from?" asked the _King_.
+
+"It was I who was a horse," said the _Prince_; "for I was king of
+that land whose king you slew yesterday. He it was who threw this
+_Troll's_ shape over me, and sold me to the _Troll_. But now he is
+slain I get my own again, and you and I will be neighbour kings, but
+war we will never make on one another."
+
+And they didn't either; for they were friends as long as they lived,
+and each paid the other very many visits.
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE BILLY-GOATS GRUFF
+
+
+Once on a time there were three _Billy-goats_, who were to go up to
+the hill-side to make themselves fat, and the name of all three was
+"_Gruff_."
+
+On the way up was a bridge over a burn they had to cross; and under
+the bridge lived a great ugly _Troll_, with eyes as big as saucers,
+and a nose as long as a poker.
+
+So first of all came the youngest billy-goat _Gruff_ to cross the
+bridge.
+
+"Trip, trap! trip, trap!" went the bridge.
+
+"Who's that tripping over my bridge?" roared the _Troll_.
+
+"Oh! it is only I, the tiniest billy-goat _Gruff_; and I'm going up to
+the hill-side to make myself fat," said the billy-goat, with such a
+small voice.
+
+"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up," said the _Troll_.
+
+"Oh, no! pray don't take me. I'm too little, that I am," said the
+billy-goat; "wait a bit till the second billy-goat _Gruff_ comes, he's
+much bigger."
+
+"Well! be off with you," said the _Troll_.
+
+A little while after came the second billy-goat _Gruff_ to cross the
+bridge.
+
+"TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP!" went the bridge.
+
+"WHO'S THAT tripping over my bridge?" roared the _Troll_.
+
+"Oh! It's the second billy-goat _Gruff_, and I'm going up to the
+hill-side to make myself fat," said the billy-goat, who hadn't such a
+small voice.
+
+"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up," said the _Troll_.
+
+"Oh, no! don't take me, wait a little till the big billy-goat _Gruff_
+comes, he's much bigger."
+
+"Very well! be off with you," said the _Troll_.
+
+But just then up came the big billy-goat _Gruff_.
+
+"TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP!" went the bridge, for the
+billy-goat was so heavy that the bridge creaked and groaned under
+him.
+
+"WHO'S THAT tramping over my bridge?" roared the _Troll_.
+
+"IT'S I! THE BIG BILLY-GOAT GRUFF," said the billy-goat, who had an
+ugly hoarse voice of his own.
+
+"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up," roared the _Troll_.
+
+            "Well, come along! I've got two spears,
+            And I'll poke your eyeballs out at your ears;
+            I've got besides two curling-stones,
+            And I'll crush you to bits, body and bones."
+
+That was what the big billy-goat said; and so he flew at the _Troll_
+and poked his eyes out with his horns, and crushed him to bits, body
+and bones, and tossed him out into the burn, and after that he went up
+to the hill-side. There the billy-goats got so fat they were scarce
+able to walk home again; and if the fat hasn't fallen off them, why
+they're still fat; and so:
+
+                        Snip, snap, snout,
+                        This tale's told out.
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE PRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN
+
+
+There were once upon a time a _King_ and _Queen_ who had no children,
+and they took it so much to heart that they hardly ever had a happy
+moment. One day the _King_ stood in the portico and looked out over
+the big meadows and all that was his. But he felt he could have no
+enjoyment out of it all, since he did not know what would become of it
+after his time. As he stood there pondering, an old beggar woman came
+up to him and asked him for a trifle in heaven's name. She greeted him
+and curtsied, and asked what ailed the _King_, since he looked so
+sad.
+
+"You can't do anything to help me, my good woman," said the _King_;
+"it's no use telling you."
+
+"I am not so sure about that," said the beggar woman. "Very little is
+wanted when luck is in the way. The _King_ is thinking that he has no
+heir to his crown and kingdom, but he need not mourn on that account,"
+she said. "The _Queen_ shall have three daughters, but great care must
+be taken that they do not come out under the open heavens before they
+are all fifteen years old; otherwise a snowdrift will come and carry
+them away."
+
+When the time came the _Queen_ had a beautiful baby girl; the year
+after she had another, and the third year she also had a girl.
+
+The _King_ and _Queen_ were glad beyond all measure; but although the
+_King_ was very happy, he did not forget to set a watch at the Palace
+door, so that the _Princesses_ should not get out.
+
+As they grew up they became both fair and beautiful, and all went well
+with them in every way. Their only sorrow was that they were not
+allowed to go out and play like other children. For all they begged
+and prayed their parents, and for all they besought the sentinel, it
+was of no avail; go out they must not before they were fifteen years
+old, all of them.
+
+So one day, not long before the fifteenth birthday of the youngest
+_Princess_, the _King_ and the _Queen_ were out driving, and the
+_Princesses_ were standing at the window and looking out. The sun was
+shining, and everything looked so green and beautiful that they felt
+that they must go out, happen what might. So they begged and entreated
+and urged the sentinel, all three of them, that he should let them
+down into the garden. "He could see for himself how warm and pleasant
+it was; no snowy weather could come on such a day." Well, he didn't
+think it looked much like it either, and if they must go they had
+better go, the soldier said; but it must only be for a minute, and he
+himself would go with them and look after them.
+
+When they got down into the garden they ran up and down, and filled
+their laps with flowers and green leaves, the prettiest they could
+find. At last they could manage no more, but just as they were going
+indoors they caught sight of a large rose at the other end of the
+garden. It was many times prettier than any they had gathered, so they
+must have that also. But just as they bent down to take the rose a big
+dense snowdrift came and carried them away.
+
+[Illustration: Just as they bent down to take the rose a big dense
+snow-drift came and carried them away.]
+
+There was great mourning over the whole country, and the _King_ made
+known from all the churches that any one who could save the
+_Princesses_ should have half the kingdom and his golden crown and
+whichever princess he liked to choose.
+
+You can well understand there were plenty who wanted to gain half the
+kingdom, and a princess into the bargain; so there were people of both
+high and low degree who set out for all parts of the country. But
+there was no one who could find the _Princesses_, or even get any
+tidings of them.
+
+When all the grand and rich people in the country had had their turn,
+a captain and a lieutenant came to the Palace, and wanted to try their
+luck. The _King_ fitted them out both with silver and gold, and wished
+them success on their journey.
+
+Then came a soldier, who lived with his mother in a little cottage
+some way from the Palace. He had dreamt one night that he also was
+trying to find the _Princesses_. When the morning came he still
+remembered what he had dreamt, and told his mother about it.
+
+"Some witchery must have got hold of you," said the woman, "but you
+must dream the same thing three nights running, else there is nothing
+in it." And the next two nights the same thing happened; he had the
+same dream, and he felt he must go. So he washed himself and put on
+his uniform, and went into the kitchen at the Palace. It was the day
+after the captain and the lieutenant had set out.
+
+"You had better go home again," said the _King_, "the _Princesses_ are
+beyond your reach, I should say; and besides, I have spent so much
+money on outfits that I have nothing left to-day. You had better come
+back another time."
+
+"If I go, I must go to-day," said the soldier. "Money I do not want; I
+only need a drop in my flask and some food in my wallet," he said;
+"but it must be a good walletful--as much meat and bacon as I can
+carry."
+
+Yes, that he might have if that was all he wanted.
+
+So he set off, and he had not gone many miles before he overtook the
+captain and the lieutenant.
+
+"Where are you going?" asked the captain, when he saw the man in
+uniform.
+
+"I'm going to try if I can find the _Princesses_," answered the
+soldier.
+
+"So are we," said the captain, "and since your errand is the same, you
+may keep company with us, for if we don't find them, you are not
+likely to find them either, my lad," said he.
+
+When they had gone awhile the soldier left the high road, and took a
+path into the forest.
+
+"Where are you going?" said the captain; "it is best to follow the
+high road."
+
+"That may be," said the soldier, "but this is my way."
+
+He kept to the path, and when the others saw this they turned round
+and followed him. Away they went further and further, far across big
+moors and along narrow valleys.
+
+And at last it became lighter, and when they had got out of the forest
+altogether they came to a long bridge, which they had to cross. But on
+that bridge a bear stood on guard. He rose on his hind legs and came
+towards them, as if he wanted to eat them.
+
+"What shall we do now?" said the captain.
+
+"They say that the bear is fond of meat," said the soldier, and then
+he threw a fore quarter to him, and so they got past. But when they
+reached the other end of the bridge, they saw a lion, which came
+roaring towards them with open jaws as if he wanted to swallow them.
+
+"I think we had better turn right-about, we shall never be able to get
+past him alive," said the captain.
+
+"Oh, I don't think he is so very dangerous," said the soldier; "I have
+heard that lions are very fond of bacon, and I have half a pig in my
+wallet;" and then he threw a ham to the lion, who began eating and
+gnawing, and thus they got past him also.
+
+In the evening they came to a fine big house. Each room was more
+gorgeous than the other; all was glitter and splendour wherever they
+looked; but that did not satisfy their hunger. The captain and the
+lieutenant went round rattling their money, and wanted to buy some
+food; but they saw no people nor could they find a crumb of anything
+in the house, so the soldier offered them some food from his wallet,
+which they were not too proud to accept, nor did they want any
+pressing. They helped themselves of what he had as if they had never
+tasted food before.
+
+The next day the captain said they would have to go out shooting and
+try to get something to live upon. Close to the house was a large
+forest where there were plenty of hares and birds. The lieutenant was
+to remain at home and cook the remainder of the food in the soldier's
+wallet. In the meantime the captain and the soldier shot so much game
+that they were hardly able to carry it home. When they came to the
+door they found the lieutenant in such a terrible plight that he was
+scarcely able to open the door to them.
+
+"What is the matter with you?" said the captain. The lieutenant then
+told them that as soon as they were gone a tiny, little man, with a
+long beard, who went on crutches, came in and asked so plaintively for
+a penny; but no sooner had he got it than he let it fall on the
+floor, and for all he raked and scraped with his crutch he was not
+able to get hold of it, so stiff and stark was he.
+
+"I pitied the poor, old body," said the lieutenant, "and so I bent
+down to pick up the penny, but then he was neither stiff nor stark any
+longer. He began to belabour me with his crutches till very soon I was
+unable to move a limb."
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself! you, one of the king's officers,
+to let an old cripple give you a thrashing, and then tell people of it
+into the bargain!" said the captain. "Pshaw! to-morrow I'll stop at
+home, and then you'll hear another story."
+
+The next day the lieutenant and the soldier went out shooting and the
+captain remained at home to do the cooking and look after the house.
+But if he fared no worse, he certainly fared no better than the
+lieutenant. In a little while the old man came in and asked for a
+penny. He let it fall as soon as he got it; gone it was and could not
+be found. So he asked the captain to help him to find it, and the
+captain, without giving a thought, bent down to look for it. But no
+sooner was he on his knees than the cripple began belabouring him with
+his crutches, and every time the captain tried to rise, he got a blow
+which sent him reeling. When the others came home in the evening, he
+still lay on the same spot and could neither see nor speak.
+
+The third day the soldier was to remain at home, while the other two
+went out shooting. The captain said he must take care of himself, "for
+the old fellow will soon put an end to you, my lad," said he.
+
+"Oh, there can't be much life in one if such an old crook can take
+it," said the soldier.
+
+They were no sooner outside the door, than the old man came in and
+asked for a penny again.
+
+"Money I have never owned," said the soldier, "but food I'll give you,
+as soon as it is ready," said he, "but if we are to get it cooked, you
+must go and cut the wood."
+
+"That I can't," said the old man.
+
+"If you can't, you must learn," said the soldier. "I will soon show
+you. Come along with me down to the wood-shed." There he dragged out a
+heavy log and cut a cleft in it, and drove in a wedge till the cleft
+deepened.
+
+"Now you must lie down and look right along the cleft, and you'll soon
+learn how to cut wood," said the soldier. "In the meantime I'll show
+you how to use the axe."
+
+The old man was not sufficiently cunning, and did as he was told; he
+lay down and looked steadily along the log. When the soldier saw the
+old man's beard had got well into the cleft, he struck out the wedge;
+the cleft closed and the old man was caught by the beard. The soldier
+began to beat him with the axe handle, and then swung the axe round
+his head, and vowed that he would split his skull if he did not tell
+him, there and then, where the _Princesses_ were.
+
+"Spare my life, spare my life, and I'll tell you!" said the old man.
+"To the east of the house there is a big mound; on top of the mound
+you must dig out a square piece of turf, and then you will see a big
+stone slab. Under that there is a deep hole through which you must let
+yourself down, and you'll then come to another world where you will
+find the _Princesses_. But the way is long and dark and it goes both
+through fire and water."
+
+When the soldier got to know this, he released the old man, who was
+not long in making off.
+
+When the captain and lieutenant came home they were surprised to find
+the soldier alive. He told them what had happened from first to last,
+where the _Princesses_ were and how they should find them. They
+became as pleased as if they had already found them, and when they had
+had some food, they took with them a basket and as much rope as they
+could find, and all three set off to the mound. There they first dug
+out the turf just as the old man had told them, and underneath they
+found a big stone slab, which it took all their strength to turn over.
+They then began to measure how deep it was; they joined on ropes both
+two and three times, but they were no nearer the bottom the last time
+than the first. At last they had to join all the ropes they had, both
+the coarse and fine, and then they found it reached the bottom.
+
+The captain was, of course, the first who wanted to descend; "But when
+I tug at the rope you must make haste to drag me up again," he said.
+He found the way both dark and unpleasant, but he thought he would go
+on as long as it became no worse. But all at once he felt ice cold
+water spouting about his ears; he became frightened to death and began
+tugging at the rope.
+
+The lieutenant was the next to try, but it fared no better with him.
+No sooner had he got through the flood of water than he saw a blazing
+fire yawning beneath him, which so frightened him that he also turned
+back.
+
+The soldier then got into the bucket, and down he went through fire
+and water, right on till he came to the bottom, where it was so pitch
+dark that he could not see his hand before him. He dared not let go
+the basket, but went round in a circle, feeling and fumbling about
+him. At last he discovered a gleam of light far, far away like the
+dawn of day, and he went on in that direction.
+
+When he had gone a bit it began to grow light around him, and before
+long he saw a golden sun rising in the sky and everything around him
+became as bright and beautiful as if in a fairy world.
+
+First he came to some cattle, which were so fat that their hides
+glistened a long way off, and when he had got past them he came to a
+fine, big palace. He walked through many rooms without meeting
+anybody. At last he heard the hum of a spinning wheel, and when he
+entered the room he found the eldest _Princess_ sitting there spinning
+copper yarn; the room and everything in it was of brightly polished
+copper.
+
+"Oh, dear; oh, dear! what are Christian people doing here?" said the
+_Princess_. "Heaven preserve you! what do you want?"
+
+"I want to set you free and get you out of the mountain," said the
+soldier.
+
+"Pray do not stay. If the troll comes home he will put an end to you
+at once; he has three heads," said she.
+
+"I do not care if he has four," said the soldier. "I am here, and here
+I shall remain."
+
+"Well, if you will be so headstrong, I must see if I can help you,"
+said the _Princess_.
+
+She then told him to creep behind the big brewing vat which stood in
+the front hall; meanwhile she would receive the troll and scratch his
+heads till he went to sleep.
+
+"And when I go out and call the hens you must make haste and come in,"
+she said. "But you must first try if you can swing the sword which is
+lying on the table." No, it was too heavy, he could not even move it.
+He had then to take a strengthening draught from the horn, which hung
+behind the door; after that he was just able to stir it, so he took
+another draught, and then he could lift it. At last he took a right,
+big draught, and he could swing the sword as easily as anything.
+
+All at once the troll came home; he walked so heavily that the palace
+shook.
+
+"Ugh, ugh! I smell Christian flesh and blood in my house," said he.
+
+"Yes," answered the _Princess_, "a raven flew past here just now, and
+in his beak he had a human bone, which he dropped down the chimney; I
+threw it out and swept and cleaned up after it, but I suppose it still
+smells."
+
+"So it does," said the troll.
+
+"But come and lie down and I'll scratch your heads," said the
+_Princess_; "the smell will be gone by the time you wake."
+
+[Illustration: The Troll was quite willing, and before long he fell
+asleep and began snoring.]
+
+The troll was quite willing, and before long he fell asleep and began
+snoring. When she saw he was sleeping soundly, she placed some stools
+and cushions under his heads and went to call the hens. The soldier
+then stole into the room with the sword, and with one blow cut all
+the three heads off the troll.
+
+The _Princess_ was as pleased as a fiddler, and went with the soldier
+to her sisters, so that he could also set them free. First of all they
+went across a courtyard and then through many long rooms till they
+came to a big door.
+
+"Here you must enter: here she is," said the _Princess_. When he
+opened the door he found himself in a large hall, where everything
+was of pure silver; there sat the second sister at a silver
+spinning-wheel.
+
+"Oh, dear; oh, dear!" she said. "What do you want here?"
+
+"I want to set you free from the troll," said the soldier.
+
+"Pray do not stay, but go," said the _Princess_. "If he finds you here
+he will take your life on the spot."
+
+"That would be awkward--that is if I don't take his first," said the
+soldier.
+
+"Well, since you will stay," she said, "you will have to creep behind
+the big brewing-vat in the front hall. But you must make haste and
+come as soon as you hear me calling the hens."
+
+First of all he had to try if he was able to swing the troll's sword,
+which lay on the table; it was much larger and heavier than the first
+one; he was hardly able to move it. He then took three draughts from
+the horn and he could then lift it, and when he had taken three more
+he could handle it as if it were a rolling pin.
+
+Shortly afterwards he heard a heavy, rumbling noise that was quite
+terrible, and directly afterwards a troll with six heads came in.
+
+"Ugh, ugh!" he said as soon as he got his noses inside the door. "I
+smell Christian blood and bone in my house."
+
+"Yes, just think! A raven came flying past here with a thigh-bone,
+which he dropped down the chimney," said the _Princess_. "I threw it
+out, but the raven brought it back again. At last I got rid of it and
+made haste to clean the room, but I suppose the smell is not quite
+gone," she said.
+
+"No, I can smell it well," said the troll; but he was tired and put
+his heads in the _Princess's_ lap, and she went on scratching them
+till they all fell a-snoring. Then she called the hens, and the
+soldier came and cut off all the six heads as if they were set on
+cabbage stalks.
+
+She was no less glad than her elder sister, as you may imagine, and
+danced and sang; but in the midst of their joy they remembered their
+youngest sister. They went with the soldier across a large courtyard,
+and, after walking through many, many rooms, he came to the hall of
+gold where the third sister was.
+
+She sat at a golden spinning-wheel spinning gold yarn, and the room
+from ceiling to floor glistened and glittered till it hurt one's
+eyes.
+
+"Heaven preserve both you and me, what do you want here?" said the
+_Princess_. "Go, go, else the troll will kill us both."
+
+"Just as well two as one," answered the soldier. The _Princess_ cried
+and wept; but it was all of no use, he must and would remain. Since
+there was no help for it he would have to try if he could use the
+troll's sword on the table in the front hall. But he was only just
+able to move it; it was still larger and heavier than the other two
+swords.
+
+He then had to take the horn down from the wall and take three
+draughts from it, but was only just able to stir the sword. When he
+had taken three more draughts he could lift it, and when he had taken
+another three he swung it as easily as if it had been a feather.
+
+The _Princess_ then settled with the soldier to do the same as her
+sisters had done. As soon as the troll was well asleep she would call
+the hens, and he must then make haste and come in and put an end to
+the troll.
+
+All of a sudden they heard such a thundering, rambling noise, as if
+the walls and roof were tumbling in.
+
+"Ugh! Ugh! I smell Christian blood and bone in my house," said the
+troll, sniffing with all his nine noses.
+
+"Yes, you never saw the like! Just now a raven flew past here and
+dropped a human bone down the chimney. I threw it out, but the raven
+brought it back, and this went on for some time," said the _Princess_;
+but she got it buried at last, she said, and she had both swept and
+cleaned the place, but she supposed it still smelt.
+
+"Yes, I can smell it well," said the troll.
+
+"Come here and lie down in my lap and I will scratch your heads," said
+the _Princess_. "The smell will be all gone when you awake."
+
+He did so, and when he was snoring at his best she put stools and
+cushions under the heads so that she could get away to call the hens.
+The soldier then came in in his stockinged feet and struck at the
+troll, so that eight of the heads fell off at one blow. But the sword
+was too short and did not reach far enough; the ninth head woke up and
+began to roar.
+
+"Ugh! Ugh! I smell a Christian."
+
+"Yes, here he is," answered the soldier, and before the troll could
+get up and seize hold of him the soldier struck him another blow and
+the last head rolled along the floor.
+
+You can well imagine how glad the _Princesses_ became now that they no
+longer had to sit and scratch the trolls' heads; they did not know how
+they could do enough for him who had saved them. The youngest
+_Princess_ took off her gold ring and knotted it in his hair. They
+then took with them as much gold and silver as they thought they
+could carry and set off on their way home.
+
+[Illustration: As soon as they tugged at the rope, the Captain and the
+Lieutenant pulled up the Princesses, the one after the other.]
+
+As soon as they tugged at the rope the captain and the lieutenant
+pulled up the _Princesses_, the one after the other. But when they
+were safely up, the soldier thought it was foolish of him not to have
+gone up before the _Princesses_, for he had not very much belief in
+his comrades. He thought he would first try them, so he put a heavy
+lump of gold in the basket and got out of the way. When the basket was
+half-way up they cut the rope and the lump of gold fell to the bottom
+with such a crash that the pieces flew about his ears.
+
+"Now we are rid of him," they said, and threatened the _Princesses_
+with their life if they did not say that it was they who had saved
+them from the trolls. They were forced to agree to this, much against
+their will, and especially the youngest _Princess_; but life was
+precious, and so the two who were strongest had their way.
+
+When the captain and lieutenant got home with the _Princesses_ you may
+be sure there were great rejoicings at the palace. The _King_ was so
+glad he didn't know which leg to stand on; he brought out his best
+wine from his cupboard and wished the two officers welcome. If they
+had never been honoured before they were honoured now in full measure,
+and no mistake. They walked and strutted about the whole of the day,
+as if they were the cocks of the walk, since they were now going to
+have the _King_ for father-in-law. For it was understood they should
+each have whichever of the _Princesses_ they liked and half the
+kingdom between them. They both wanted the youngest _Princess_, but
+for all they prayed and threatened her it was of no use; she would not
+hear or listen to either.
+
+They then asked the _King_ if they might have twelve men to watch over
+her; she was so sad and melancholy since she had been in the mountain
+that they were afraid she might do something to herself.
+
+Yes, that they might have, and the _King_ himself told the watch they
+must look well after her and follow her wherever she went and stood.
+
+They then began to prepare for the wedding of the two eldest
+sisters; it should be such a wedding as never was heard or spoken
+of before, and there was no end to the brewing and the baking and the
+slaughtering.
+
+In the meantime the soldier walked and strolled about down in the
+other world. He thought it was hard that he should see neither people
+nor daylight any more; but he would have to do something, he thought,
+and so for many days he went about from room to room and opened all
+the drawers and cupboards and searched about on the shelves and looked
+at all the fine things that were there. At last he came to a drawer in
+a table, in which there lay a golden key; he tried this key to all the
+locks he could find, but there was none it fitted till he came to a
+little cupboard over the bed, and in that he found an old rusty
+whistle. "I wonder if there is any sound in it," he thought, and put
+it to his mouth. No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing
+and a whirring from all quarters, and such a large flock of birds
+swept down, that they blackened all the field in which they settled.
+
+[Illustration: No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing and a
+whirring from all quarters, and such a large flock of birds swept down
+that they blackened all the field in which they settled.]
+
+"What does our master want to-day?" they asked.
+
+If he were their master, the soldier said, he would like to know if
+they could tell him how to get up to the earth again. No, none of them
+knew anything about that; "But our mother has not yet arrived," they
+said; "if she can't help you, no one can."
+
+So he whistled once more, and shortly heard something flapping its
+wings far away, and then it began to blow so hard that he was carried
+away between the houses like a wisp of hay across the courtyard, and
+if he had not caught hold of the fence he would no doubt have been
+blown away altogether.
+
+A big eagle--bigger than you can imagine--then swooped down in front
+of him.
+
+"You come rather sharply," said the soldier.
+
+"As you whistle so I come," answered the eagle. So he asked her if she
+knew any means by which he could get away from the world in which they
+were.
+
+"You can't get away from here unless you can fly," said the eagle,
+"but if you will slaughter twelve oxen for me, so that I can have a
+really good meal, I will try and help you. Have you got a knife?"
+
+"No, but I have a sword," he said. When the eagle had swallowed the
+twelve oxen she asked the soldier to kill one more for victuals on the
+journey. "Every time I gape you must be quick and fling a piece into
+my mouth," she said, "else I shall not be able to carry you up to
+earth."
+
+He did as she asked him and hung two large bags of meat round her neck
+and seated himself among her feathers. The eagle then began to flap
+her wings and off they went through the air like the wind. It was as
+much as the soldier could do to hold on, and it was with the greatest
+difficulty he managed to throw the pieces of flesh into the eagle's
+mouth every time she opened it.
+
+At last the day began to dawn, and the eagle was then almost exhausted
+and began flapping with her wings, but the soldier was prepared and
+seized the last hind quarter and flung it to her. Then she gained
+strength and brought him up to earth. When she had sat and rested a
+while at the top of a large pine-tree she set off with him again at
+such a pace that flashes of lightning were seen both by sea and land
+wherever they went.
+
+Close to the palace the soldier got off and the eagle flew home again,
+but first she told him that if he at any time should want her he need
+only blow the whistle and she would be there at once.
+
+In the meantime everything was ready at the palace, and the time
+approached when the captain and lieutenant were to be married with the
+two eldest _Princesses_, who, however, were not much happier than
+their youngest sister; scarcely a day passed without weeping and
+mourning, and the nearer the wedding-day approached the more sorrowful
+did they become.
+
+At last the _King_ asked what was the matter with them; he thought it
+was very strange that they were not merry and happy now that they
+were saved and had been set free and were going to be married. They
+had to give some answer, and so the eldest sister said they never
+would be happy any more unless they could get such checkers as they
+had played with in the blue mountain.
+
+That, thought the _King_, could be easily managed, and so he sent word
+to all the best and cleverest goldsmiths in the country that they
+should make these checkers for the _Princesses_. For all they tried
+there was no one who could make them. At last all the goldsmiths had
+been to the palace except one, and he was an old, infirm man who had
+not done any work for many years except odd jobs, by which he was just
+able to keep himself alive. To him the soldier went and asked to be
+apprenticed. The old man was so glad to get him, for he had not had an
+apprentice for many a day, that he brought out a flask from his chest
+and sat down to drink with the soldier. Before long the drink got into
+his head, and when the soldier saw this he persuaded him to go up to
+the palace and tell the _King_ that he would undertake to make the
+checkers for the _Princesses_.
+
+He was ready to do that on the spot; he had made finer and grander
+things in his day, he said. When the _King_ heard there was some one
+outside who could make the checkers he was not long in coming out.
+
+"Is it true what you say, that you can make such checkers as my
+daughters want?" he asked.
+
+"Yes, it is no lie," said the goldsmith; that he would answer for.
+
+"That's well!" said the _King_. "Here is the gold to make them with;
+but if you do not succeed you will lose your life, since you have come
+and offered yourself, and they must be finished in three days."
+
+The next morning when the goldsmith had slept off the effects of the
+drink, he was not quite so confident about the job. He wailed and wept
+and blew up his apprentice, who had got him into such a scrape while
+he was drunk. The best thing would be to make short work of himself at
+once, he said, for there could be no hope for his life; when the best
+and grandest goldsmiths could not make such checkers, was it likely
+that he could do it?
+
+"Don't fret on that account," said the soldier, "but let me have the
+gold and I'll get the checkers ready in time; but I must have a room
+to myself to work in," he said. This he got, and thanks into the
+bargain.
+
+The time wore on, and the soldier did nothing but lounge about, and
+the goldsmith began to grumble, because he would not begin with the
+work.
+
+"Don't worry yourself about it," said the soldier, "there is plenty of
+time! If you are not satisfied with what I have promised you had
+better make them yourself." The same thing went on both that day and
+the next; and when the smith heard neither hammer nor file from the
+soldier's room the whole of the last day, he quite gave himself up for
+lost; it was now no use to think any longer about saving his life, he
+thought.
+
+But when the night came on the soldier opened the window and blew his
+whistle. The eagle then came and asked what he wanted.
+
+"Those gold checkers, which the _Princesses_ had in the blue
+mountain," said the soldier; "but you'll want something to eat first,
+I suppose? I have two ox carcases lying ready for you in the hay-loft
+yonder; you had better finish them," he said. When the eagle had done
+she did not tarry, and long before the sun rose she was back again
+with the checkers. The soldier then put them under his bed and lay
+down to sleep.
+
+Early next morning the goldsmith came and knocked at his door.
+
+"What are you after now again?" asked the soldier. "You rush about
+enough in the day, goodness knows! If one cannot have peace when one
+is in bed, whoever would be an apprentice here?" said he.
+
+Neither praying nor begging helped that time; the goldsmith must and
+would come in, and at last he was let in.
+
+And then, you may be sure, there was soon an end to his wailing.
+
+But still more glad than the goldsmith were the _Princesses_, when he
+came up to the palace with the checkers, and gladdest of all was the
+youngest _Princess_.
+
+"Have you made them yourself?" she asked.
+
+"No, if I must speak the truth, it is not I," he said, "but my
+apprentice, who has made them."
+
+"I should like to see that apprentice," said the _Princess_. In fact
+all three wanted to see him, and if he valued his life, he would have
+to come.
+
+He was not afraid, either of women-folk or grand-folk, said the
+soldier, and if it could be any amusement to them to look at his rags,
+they should soon have that pleasure.
+
+The youngest _Princess_ recognised him at once; she pushed the
+soldiers aside and ran up to him, gave him her hand, and said:
+
+"Good day, and many thanks for all you have done for us. It is he who
+freed us from the trolls in the mountain," she said to the _King_. "He
+is the one I will have!" and then she pulled off his cap and showed
+them the ring she had tied in his hair.
+
+It soon came out how the captain and lieutenant had behaved, and so
+they had to pay the penalty of their treachery with their lives, and
+that was the end of their grandeur. But the soldier got the golden
+crown and half the kingdom, and married the youngest _Princess_.
+
+At the wedding they drank and feasted both well and long; for feast
+they all could, even if they could not find the _Princesses_, and if
+they have not yet done feasting and drinking they must be at it
+still.
+
+
+
+
+THE CAT ON THE DOVREFELL
+
+
+Once on a time there was a man up in Finnmark who had caught a great
+white bear, which he was going to take to the King of Denmark. Now, it
+so fell out, that he came to the _Dovrefell_ just about Christmas Eve,
+and there he turned into a cottage where a man lived, whose name was
+Halvor, and asked the man if he could get house-room there for his
+bear and himself.
+
+"Heaven never help me, if what I say isn't true!" said the man; "but
+we can't give anyone house-room just now, for every Christmas Eve such
+a pack of _Trolls_ come down upon us, that we are forced to flit, and
+haven't so much as a house over our own heads, to say nothing of
+lending one to anyone else."
+
+"Oh?" said the man, "if that's all, you can very well lend me your
+house; my bear can lie under the stove yonder, and I can sleep in the
+side-room."
+
+Well, he begged so hard, that at last he got leave to stay there; so
+the people of the house flitted out, and before they went, everything
+was got ready for the _Trolls_; the tables were laid, and there was
+rice porridge, and fish boiled in lye, and sausages, and all else that
+was good, just as for any other grand feast.
+
+So, when everything was ready, down came the _Trolls_. Some were
+great, and some were small; some had long tails, and some had no tails
+at all; some, too, had long, long noses; and they ate and drank, and
+tasted everything. Just then one of the little _Trolls_ caught sight
+of the white bear, who lay under the stove; so he took a piece of
+sausage and stuck it on a fork, and went and poked it up against the
+bear's nose, screaming out:
+
+"Pussy, will you have some sausage?"
+
+Then the white bear rose up and growled, and hunted the whole pack of
+them out of doors, both great and small.
+
+Next year Halvor was out in the wood, on the afternoon of Christmas
+Eve, cutting wood before the holidays, for he thought the _Trolls_
+would come again; and just as he was hard at work, he heard a voice in
+the wood calling out:
+
+"Halvor! Halvor!"
+
+"Well," said Halvor, "here I am."
+
+"Have you got your big cat with you still?"
+
+"Yes, that I have," said Halvor; "she's lying at home under the stove,
+and what's more, she has now got seven kittens, far bigger and fiercer
+than she is herself."
+
+"Oh, then, we'll never come to see you again," bawled out the _Troll_
+away in the wood, and he kept his word; for since that time the
+_Trolls_ have never eaten their Christmas brose with Halvor on the
+_Dovrefell_.
+
+
+
+
+ONE'S OWN CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PRETTIEST
+
+
+A sportsman went out once into a wood to shoot, and he met a _Snipe_.
+
+"Dear friend," said the _Snipe_, "don't shoot my children!"
+
+"How shall I know your children?" asked the _Sportsman_. "What are
+they like?"
+
+"Oh!" said the _Snipe_, "mine are the prettiest children in all the
+wood."
+
+"Very well," said the _Sportsman_, "I'll not shoot them; don't be
+afraid."
+
+But for all that, when he came back, there he had a whole string of
+young snipes in his hand which he had shot.
+
+"Oh, oh!" said the _Snipe_, "why did you shoot my children after
+all?"
+
+"What! these your children!" said the _Sportsman_; "why, I shot the
+ugliest I could find, that I did!"
+
+"Woe is me!" said the _Snipe_; "don't you know that each one thinks
+his own children the prettiest in the world?"
+
+
+
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+  Illustrations have been moved closer to their relevant paragraphs.
+  The page numbers in the List of Illustrations do not reflect the new
+  placement of the illustrations, but are as in the original.
+
+  Author's archaic and variable spelling and hyphenation is
+  preserved.
+
+  Author's punctuation style is preserved.
+
+  Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.
+
+  Passages in bold indicated by =equal signs=.
+
+  Typographical problems have been changed and are listed below.
+
+
+Transcriber's Changes:
+
+  TOC: Page number for "The Cat on the Dovrefell" was corrected from
+           '201' to '200'
+
+  TOC: Page number for "One's Own Children are Always Prettiest" was
+           corrected from '205' to '203'
+
+  Page 25: Was 'over over' (the _Prince_ made as if he drank, but
+           threw it =over= his shoulder)
+
+  Page 38: Added italics (But the =_Troll_=, as he lay in bed, swore
+           it was all a lie.)
+
+  Page 43: Added 'to': Was 'it her' (he pulled open his waistcoat and
+           shirt to show =it to her=.)
+
+  Page 55: Added italics (Some time after this, the =_King_= went away
+           to the wars)
+
+  Page 59: Standardised hyphenation from 'witchwoman' ("Well, you
+           needn't be," said the =witch-woman=. "All that can be set
+           right in a twinkling)
+
+  Page 94: Removed extra double-quote ("To Whiteland," said the
+           _King_; =and= then he told him all that had befallen him.)
+
+  Page 125: Added italics (Then back came the =_Giant_=.)
+
+  Page 155: Was 'again.' (home to fetch something to hew their way
+            through the wood. But at last the _Horse_ said =again:=)
+
+                  *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, by
+Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Engebretsen Moe
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