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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon, by 
+Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon
+
+Author: Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen
+
+Illustrator: Frederick Richardson
+
+Posting Date: February 5, 2015 [EBook #8653]
+Release Date: August, 2005
+First Posted: July 30, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EAST O' THE SUN AND WEST O' THE MOON ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Garcia, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+EAST O' THE SUN AND WEST O' THE MOON
+with
+OTHER NORWEGIAN FOLK TALES
+
+
+Retold by Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen
+
+Illustrated by Frederick Richardson
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+In recent years there has been a wholesome revival of the ancient art
+of story-telling. The most thoughtful, progressive educators have come
+to recognize the culture value of folk and fairy stories, fables and
+legends, not only as means of fostering and directing the power of the
+child's imagination, but as a basis for literary interpretation and
+appreciation throughout life.
+
+This condition has given rise to a demand for the best material in each
+of these several lines. Some editors have gleaned from one field; some
+from several. It is the aim of this little book to bring together only
+the very best from the rich stores of Norwegian folk-lore. All these
+stories have been told many times by the editor to varied audiences of
+children and to those who are "older grown." Each has proved its power
+to make the universal appeal.
+
+In preparing the stories for publication, the aim has been to preserve,
+as much as possible, in vocabulary and idiom, the original folk-lore
+language, and to retain the conversational style of the teller of tales,
+in order that the sympathetic young reader may, in greater or less
+degree, be translated into the atmosphere of the old-time story-hour.
+
+GUDRUN THORNE-THOMSEN.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon
+
+The Three Billy Goats Gruff
+
+Taper Tom
+
+Why the Bear is Stumpy-Tailed
+
+Reynard and the Cock
+
+Bruin and Reynard Partners
+
+Boots and His Brothers
+
+The Lad Who Went to the North Wind
+
+The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body
+
+The Sheep and the Pig Who Set Up Housekeeping
+
+The Parson and the Clerk
+
+Father Bruin
+
+The Pancake
+
+Why the Sea is Salt
+
+The Squire's Bride
+
+Peik
+
+The Princess Who Could Not Be Silenced
+
+The Twelve Wild Ducks
+
+Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside
+
+The Princess on the Glass Hill
+
+The Husband Who Was to Mind the House
+
+Little Freddy with His Fiddle
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "Are you afraid?"]
+
+
+
+
+EAST O' THE SUN AND WEST O' THE MOON
+
+
+Once on a time there was a poor woodcutter who had so many children that
+he had not 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.
+
+It was on a Thursday evening late in the fall of the year. The weather
+was wild and rough outside, and it was cruelly dark. The rain fell and
+the wind blew till the walls of the cottage shook. There they all sat
+round the fire busy with this thing and that. Just then, all at once,
+something gave three taps at 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 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 give him his
+prettiest lassie, no, that he couldn't do, so he said "No" outright and
+closed the door both tight and well. But the Bear called out, "I'll give
+you time to think; next Thursday night I'll come for your answer."
+
+Now, the lassie had heard every word that the Bear had said, and before
+the next Thursday evening came, she had washed and mended her rags, made
+herself as neat as she could, and was ready to start. I can't say her
+packing gave her much trouble.
+
+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, not at all," said the lassie.
+
+"Well! mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and then there's nothing
+to fear," added 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,
+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. When she wanted anything she had only to ring it, and she
+would get what she wanted at once.
+
+Well, when she had had supper and evening wore on, she became sleepy
+because of her journey. She thought she would like to go to bed, so she
+rang the bell. She had scarce taken hold of it before she came into a
+chamber where there were two beds as fair and white as any one would
+wish to sleep in. But when she had put out the light and gone to bed
+some one came into the room and lay down in the other bed. Now this
+happened every night, but she never saw who it was, 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 for a while, the lassie having everything she wanted.
+But you must know, that no human being did she see from morning till
+night, only the White Bear could she talk to, and she did not know what
+man or monster it might be who came to sleep in her room by night. At
+last she began to be silent and sorrowful and would neither eat nor
+drink.
+
+One day the White Bear came to her and said: "Lassie, why are you so
+sorrowful? This castle and all that is in it are yours, the silver bell
+will give you anything that you wish. I only beg one thing of you--ask
+no questions, trust me and nothing shall harm you. So now be happy
+again." But still the lassie had no peace of mind, for one thing she
+wished to know: Who it was who came in the night and slept in her room?
+All day long and all night long she wondered and longed to know, and she
+fretted and pined away.
+
+So one night, when she could not stand it any longer and she heard that
+he slept, she got up, lit a bit of a candle, and let the light shine on
+him. Then she saw that he was the loveliest Prince one ever set eyes on,
+and she bent over and kissed him. But, as she kissed him, she dropped
+three drops of hot 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 am the
+White Bear by day and a man by night. It is a wicked witch who has
+bewitched me; and now I must set off from you to her. She lives in a
+castle which stands East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, and there are
+many trolls and witches there and one of those is the wife I must now
+have."
+
+She wept, 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."
+
+"Yes, you may do that," he said, "but there is no way to that place. It
+lies East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon and thither you can never find
+your way." And at that very moment both Prince and castle were gone, and
+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 home.
+
+Then she wept and wept till she was tired, and all the while she thought
+of the lovely Prince and how she should find him.
+
+So at last she set out on her way and walked many, many days and
+whomever she met she asked: "Can you tell me the way to the castle that
+lies East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon?" But no one could tell her.
+
+And on she went a weary time. Both hungry and tired was she when she got
+to the East Wind's house one morning. There she asked the East Wind if
+he could tell her the way to the Prince who dwelt East o' the Sun and
+West o' 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 can tell you they went briskly along.
+
+So when they got there, they went into the West Wind's house, and the
+East Wind said that the lassie he had brought was the one who ought to
+marry the Prince who lived in the castle East o' the Sun and West o' the
+Moon; and that she had set out to seek him, 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 is 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
+were not long on the way, either.
+
+When they got there, the West Wind asked him if he could tell her the
+way to the castle that lay East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon, for it
+was she who ought to marry 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 that far I
+have never blown; however, if you will, I'll take you to my brother the
+North Wind; he is the oldest and strongest of all of us, and if he
+doesn't know where it is, you'll never find anyone 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 was not long on the way. When they got
+near the North Wind's house he was so wild and cross that cold puffs
+came from him.
+
+"Heigh, there, what do you want?" he bawled 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 put out, for here I am
+your brother, the South Wind, and here is the lassie who ought to marry
+the Prince who dwells in the castle that lies East o' the Sun and West
+o' the Moon. 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 it. 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 there."
+
+"Yes! and thank you," she said, for 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, it was gruesome to
+look at him. And so off she went, high on the back of the North Wind up
+through the air, as if they would never stop till they got to the
+world's end.
+
+Down here below there was a terrible storm; it threw down long tracts of
+woodland and many houses, and when it swept over the great sea ships
+foundered by hundreds.
+
+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 lashed over her heels.
+
+"Are you afraid?" said the North Wind.
+
+She wasn't.
+
+But they were not very far from land; and the North Wind had still so
+much strength left in him that he managed to throw her up on shore close
+by the castle which lay East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon; but then
+he was so weak and worn out, that he had to stay there and rest many
+days before he could get home again.
+
+And now the lassie began to look about her and to think of how she might
+free the Prince, but nowhere did she see a sign of life.
+
+Then she sat herself down right under the castle windows, and as soon as
+the sun went down, out they came, trolls and witches, red-eyed,
+long-nosed, hunch-backed hags, tumbling over each other, scolding,
+hurrying and scurrying hither and thither.
+
+At first they almost frightened the life out of her, but when she had
+watched them awhile and they had not noticed her, she took courage and
+walked up to one of them and said: "Pray tell me what goes on here
+to-night that you are all so busy, and could I perhaps get something to
+do for a night's lodging and a bit of food?"
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the horrid witch, "and where do you come from that
+you do not know that it is to-night that the Prince chooses his bride.
+When the moon stands high over the tree tops yonder we meet in the
+clearing by the old oak. There the caldrons are ready with boiling lye,
+for don't you know?--he's going to choose for his bride the one who can
+wash three spots of tallow from his shirt, Ha, ha, ha!"
+
+And the wicked witch hurried off again, laughing such a horrible laugh
+that it made the lassie's blood run cold.
+
+But now the trolls and witches came trooping out of the very earth, it
+seemed, and all turned their steps toward the clearing in the woods.
+
+So the lassie went too, and found a place among the rest. Now the moon
+stood high above the tree tops, and there was the caldron in the middle
+and round about sat the trolls and witches;--such gruesome company I'm
+sure you were never in. Then came the Prince; he looked about from one
+to the other, and he saw the lassie, and his face grew white, but he
+said nothing.
+
+"Now, let's begin," said a witch with a nose three ells long. She was
+sure she was going to have the Prince, and she began to wash away as
+hard as she could, but the more she rubbed and scrubbed, the bigger the
+spots grew.
+
+"Ah!" said an old hag, "you can't wash, let me try."
+
+But she hadn't long taken the shirt in hand, before it was far worse
+than ever, and with all her rubbing and scrubbing and wringing, 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 sits a beggar lassie, I'll be bound she knows how to
+wash better than the whole lot of you. Come here, lassie," he shouted.
+
+"Can you wash the shirt clean, lassie?" 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 snow, and whiter still.
+
+"Yes; you are the lassie for me," said the Prince.
+
+At that moment the sun rose and the whole pack of trolls turned to
+stone.
+
+There you may see them to this very day sitting around in a circle, big
+ones and little ones, all hard, cold stone.
+
+But the Prince took the lassie by the hand and they flitted away as far
+as they could from the castle that lay East o' the Sun and West o' the
+Moon.
+
+
+
+
+THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF
+
+
+Once on a time there were three Billy Goats, who were to go up to the
+hillside to make themselves fat, and the family name of the goats was
+"Gruff."
+
+On the way up was a bridge, over a river which 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.
+
+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
+hillside 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 do not 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 across the bridge.
+
+"Trip, trap! trip, trap! trip, trap!" went the bridge.
+
+"_Who is that tripping over my bridge_?" roared the Troll.
+
+"Oh, it's the second Billy Goat Gruff, and I'm going up to the hillside
+to make myself fat," said the Billy Goat. Nor had he such a small voice,
+either.
+
+"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 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 on my bridge?_" roared the Troll.
+
+"It's I! the big Billy Goat Gruff," said the Billy Goat, and he had a
+big hoarse voice.
+
+"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up!" roared the troll.
+
+  "_Well come! I have two spears so stout,
+   With them I'll thrust your eyeballs out;
+   I have besides two great big stones,
+   With them I'll crush you body and bones!_"
+
+That was what the big Billy Goat said; so he flew at the Troll, and
+thrust him with his horns, and crushed him to bits, body and bones, and
+tossed him out into the river, and after that he went up to the
+hillside.
+
+There the Billy Goats got so fat that they were scarcely able to walk
+home again, and if they haven't grown thinner, why they're still fat;
+and so,--
+
+  "Snip, snap, stout.
+   This tale's told out."
+
+
+
+
+TAPER TOM
+
+
+Once on a time there was a King who had a daughter, and she was so
+lovely that her good looks were well known far and near. But she was so
+sad and serious she could never be got to laugh, and besides, she was so
+high and mighty that she said "No" to all who came to woo her. She would
+have none of them, were they ever so grand--lords or princes,--it was
+all the same.
+
+The King had long ago become tired of this, for he thought she might
+just as well marry; she, too, like all other people. There was no use in
+waiting; she was quite old enough, nor would she be any richer, for she
+was to have half the kingdom,--that came to her as her mother's heir.
+
+So he had word sent throughout the kingdom, that anyone who could get
+his daughter to laugh should have her for his wife and half the kingdom
+besides. But, if there was anyone who tried and could not, he was to
+have a sound thrashing. And sure it was that there were many sore backs
+in that kingdom, for lovers and wooers came from north and south, and
+east and west, thinking it nothing at all to make a King's daughter
+laugh. And gay fellows they were, some of them too, but for all their
+tricks and capers there sat the Princess, just as sad and serious as she
+had been before.
+
+Now, not far from the palace lived a man who had three sons, and they,
+too, had heard how the King had given it out that the man who could make
+the Princess laugh was to have her to wife and half the kingdom.
+
+The eldest was for setting off first. So he strode off, and when he came
+to the King's grange, he told the King he would be glad to try to make
+the Princess laugh.
+
+"All very well, my man," said the King, "but it's sure to be of no use,
+for so many have been here and tried. My daughter is so sorrowful it's
+no use trying, and it's not my wish that anyone should come to grief."
+
+But the lad thought he would like to try. It couldn't be such a very
+hard thing for him to get the Princess to laugh, for so many had laughed
+at him, both gentle and simple, when he enlisted for a soldier and was
+drilled by Corporal Jack.
+
+So he went off to the courtyard, under the Princess's window, and began
+to go through his drill as Corporal Jack had taught him. But it was no
+good, the Princess was just as sad and serious and did not so much as
+smile at him once. So they took him and thrashed him well, and sent him
+home again.
+
+Well, he had hardly got home before his second brother wanted to set
+off. He was a schoolmaster, and the funniest figure one ever laid eyes
+upon; he was lopsided, for he had one leg shorter than the other, and
+one moment he was as little as a boy, and in another, when he stood on
+his long leg, he was as tall and long as a Troll. Besides this he was a
+powerful preacher.
+
+So when he came to the king's palace, and said he wished to make the
+Princess laugh, the King thought it might not be so unlikely after all.
+"But mercy on you," he said, "if you don't make her laugh. We are for
+laying it on harder and harder for every one that fails."
+
+Then the schoolmaster strode off to the courtyard, and put himself
+before the Princess's window, and read and preached like seven parsons,
+and sang and chanted like seven clerks, as loud as all the parsons and
+clerks in the country round.
+
+The King laughed loud at him, and the Princess almost smiled a little,
+but then became as sad and serious as ever, and so it fared no better
+with Paul, the schoolmaster, than with Peter the soldier--for you must
+know one was called Peter and the other Paul. So they took him and
+flogged him well, and then they sent him home again.
+
+Then the youngest, whose name was Taper Tom, was all for setting out.
+But his brothers laughed and jeered at him, and showed him their sore
+backs, and his father said it was no use for him to go for he had no
+sense. Was it not true that he neither knew anything nor could do
+anything? There he sat in the hearth, like a cat, and grubbed in the
+ashes and split tapers. That was why they called him "Taper Tom." But
+Taper Tom would not give in, and so they got tired of his growling; and
+at last he, too, got leave to go to the king's palace to try his luck.
+
+When he got there he did not say that he wished to try to make the
+Princess laugh, but asked if he could get work there. No, they had no
+place for him, but for all that Taper Tom would not give up. In such a
+big palace they must want someone to carry wood and water for the
+kitchen maid,--that was what he said. And the king thought it might very
+well be, for he, too, got tired of his teasing. In the end Taper Tom
+stayed there to carry wood and water for the kitchen maid.
+
+So one day, when he was going to fetch water from the brook, he set eyes
+upon a big fish which lay under an old fir stump, where the water had
+eaten into the bank, and he put his bucket softly under the fish and
+caught it. But as he was gong home to the grange he met an old woman who
+led a golden goose by a string.
+
+"Good-day, godmother," said Taper Tom, "that's a pretty bird you have,
+and what fine feathers! If one only had such feathers one might leave
+off splitting fir tapers."
+
+The goody was just as pleased with the fish Tom had in his bucket and
+said, if he would give her the fish, he might have the golden goose. And
+it was such a curious goose. When any one touched it he stuck fast to
+it, if Tom only said, "If you want to come along, hang on." Of course,
+Taper Tom was willing enough to make the exchange. "A bird is as good as
+a fish any day," he said to himself, "and, if it's such a bird as you
+say, I can use it as a fish hook." That was what he said to the goody,
+and he was much pleased with the goose.
+
+Now, he had not gone far before he met another old woman. As soon as she
+saw the lovely golden goose she spoke prettily, and coaxed and begged
+Tom to give her leave to stroke his lovely golden goose.
+
+"With all my heart," said Taper Tom, and just as she stroked the goose
+he said, "If you want to come along, hang on."
+
+The goody pulled and tore, but she was forced to hang on whether she
+would or not, and Taper Tom went on as though he alone were with the
+golden goose.
+
+When he had gone a bit farther, he met a man who had had a quarrel with
+the old woman for a trick she had played him. So, when he saw how hard
+she struggled and strove to get free, and how fast she stuck, he thought
+he would just pay her off the old grudge, and so he gave her a kick with
+his foot.
+
+"If you want to come along, hang on!" called out Tom, and then the old
+man had to hop along on one leg, whether he would or not. When he tore
+and tugged and tried to get loose--it was still worse for him, for he
+all but fell flat on his back every step he took.
+
+In this way they went on a good bit till they had nearly reached the
+King's palace.
+
+There they met the King's smith, who was going to the smithy, and had a
+great pair of tongs in his hand. Now you must know this smith was a
+merry fellow, full of both tricks and pranks, and when he saw this
+string come hobbling and limping along, he laughed so that he was almost
+bent double. Then he bawled out, "Surely this is a new flock of geese
+the Princess is going to have--Ah, here is the gander that toddles in
+front. Goosey! goosey! goosey!" he called, and with that he threw his
+hands about as though he were scattering corn for the geese.
+
+But the flock never stopped--on it went and all that the goody and the
+man did was to look daggers at the smith for making fun of them. Then
+the smith went on:
+
+"It would be fine fun to see if I could hold the whole flock, so many as
+they are," for he was a stout strong fellow. So he took hold with his
+big tongs by the old man's coat tail, and the man all the while
+screeched and wriggled. But Taper Tom only said:
+
+"If you want to come along, hang on!" So the smith had to go along too.
+He bent his back and stuck his heels into the ground and tried to get
+loose, but it was all no good. He stuck fast, as though he had been
+screwed tight with his own vise, and whether he would or not, he had to
+dance along with the rest.
+
+So, when they came near to the King's palace, the dog ran out and began
+to bark as though they were wolves and beggars. And when the Princess,
+looking out of the window to see what was the matter, set eyes on this
+strange pack, she laughed softly to herself. But Taper Tom was not
+content with that:
+
+"Bide a bit," he said, "she will soon have to make a noise." And as he
+said that he turned off with his band to the back of the palace.
+
+When they passed by the kitchen the door stood open, and the cook was
+just stirring the porridge. But when she saw Taper Tom and his pack she
+came running out at the door, with her broom in one hand and a ladle
+full of smoking porridge in the other, and she laughed as though her
+sides would split. And when she saw the smith there too, she bent double
+and went off again in a loud peal of laughter. But when she had had her
+laugh out, she too thought the golden goose so lovely she must just
+stroke it.
+
+"Taper Tom! Taper Tom!" she called out, and came running out with the
+ladle of porridge in her fist, "Give me leave to pet that pretty bird of
+yours'?"
+
+"Better come and pet me," said the smith. But when the cook heard that
+she got angry.
+
+"What is that you say?" she cried and gave the smith a box on his ears
+with the ladle.
+
+"If you want to come along, hang on," said Taper Tom. So she stuck fast
+too, and for all her kicks and plunges, and all her scolding and
+screaming, and all her riving and striving, she too had to limp along
+with them.
+
+[Illustration: She opened her mouth wide and laughed]
+
+Soon the whole company came under the Princess's window. There she stood
+waiting for them. And when she saw they had taken the cook too, with her
+ladle and broom, she opened her mouth wide, and laughed so loud that the
+King had to hold her upright.
+
+So Taper Tom got the Princess and half the kingdom, and they say he kept
+her in high spirits with his tricks and pranks till the end of her days.
+
+
+
+
+WHY THE BEAR IS STUMPY-TAILED
+
+
+One day the Bear met the Fox, who came slinking along with a string of
+fish he had stolen.
+
+"Where did you get those?" asked the Bear.
+
+"Oh! my Lord Bruin, I've been out fishing and caught them," said the
+Fox.
+
+So the Bear had a mind to learn to fish too, and bade the Fox tell him
+how he was to set about it.
+
+"Oh! it is an easy craft for you," answered the Fox, "and soon learned.
+You've only to go upon the ice, cut a hole, stick your tail down into
+it, and hold it there as long as you can. You're not to mind if your
+tail smarts a little; that's when the fish bite. The longer you hold it
+there the more fish you'll get; and then all at once out with it, with a
+cross pull sideways, and with a strong pull too."
+
+Yes, the Bear did as the Fox had said, and held his tail a long, long
+time down in the hole, till it was frozen in fast. Then he pulled it out
+with a cross pull, and it snapped short off. That's why Bruin goes about
+with a stumpy tail to this very day.
+
+
+
+
+REYNARD AND THE COCK
+
+
+Once on a time there was a cock who stood on the barnyard fence and
+crowed and flapped his wings. Then the fox came by.
+
+"Good-day," said Reynard. "I have heard you crowing so nicely, but can
+you stand on one leg and crow, and wink your eyes?"
+
+"Oh, yes," said the cock, "I can do that very well." So he stood on one
+leg and crowed, but he winked only with one eye, and when he had done
+that he made himself big and flapped his wings, as though he had done a
+great thing.
+
+"Very pretty, to be sure," said Reynard. "Almost as pretty as when the
+parson preaches in church, but can you stand on one leg and wink both
+your eyes at once? I hardly think you can."
+
+"Can't I though!" said the cock, and stood on one leg, and winked both
+his eyes and crowed. But Reynard caught hold of him, took him by the
+throat, and threw him on his back, so that he was off to the wood before
+he had crowed his crow out, as fast as Reynard could lay legs to the
+ground.
+
+When they had come under an old spruce fir, Reynard threw the cock on
+the ground, and set his paw on his breast, and was going to take a bite:
+"You are a heathen, Reynard!" said the cock. "Good Christians say grace
+before they eat."
+
+But Reynard would be no heathen, no indeed. So he let go his hold, and
+was about to fold his paws over his breast, and say grace--but pop! up
+flew the cock into a tree.
+
+"You shan't get off for all that," said Reynard to himself. So he went
+away, and came again with a few chips which the woodcutters had left.
+The cock peeped and peered to see what they could be.
+
+"What is that you have there?" he asked.
+
+"These are letters I have just got," said Reynard, "won't you help me to
+read them, for I don't know how to read writing."
+
+"I'd be so happy, but I dare not read them now," said the cock, "for
+here comes a hunter--I see him, I see him with his pouch and gun."
+
+When Reynard heard the cock chattering about a hunter, he took to his
+heels as fast as he could.
+
+
+
+
+BRUIN AND REYNARD PARTNERS
+
+
+Once on a time Bruin and Reynard owned a field in common. They had
+a little clearing up in the wood, and the first year they sowed rye.
+
+"Now we must share the crop as is fair and right," said Reynard.
+"If you like to have the root, I'll take the top."
+
+Yes, Bruin was ready to do that; but when they had threshed out the
+crop, Reynard got all the corn, but Bruin got nothing but roots and
+rubbish. He did not like that at all; but Reynard said that was how
+they had agreed to share it.
+
+"This year I have the gain," said Reynard, "next year it will be your
+turn. Then you shall have the top, and I shall have to put up with the
+root."
+
+But when spring came, and it was time to sow, Reynard asked Bruin what
+he thought of turnips.
+
+"Aye, aye!" said Bruin, "that's better food than rye," and so Reynard
+thought also. But when harvest time came Reynard got the roots, while
+Bruin got the turnip-tops. And then Bruin was so angry with Reynard
+that he put an end at once to his partnership with him.
+
+
+
+
+BOOTS AND HIS BROTHERS
+
+
+Once on a time there was a man who had three sons, Peter, Paul and
+Espen. Espen was Boots, of course, because he was the youngest. I can't
+say the man had anything except these three sons, for he did not possess
+one penny to rub against another; and so he told his sons over and over
+again they must go out into the world to seek their fortune, for at home
+there was nothing to be expected but to starve to death.
+
+Now, a short way from the man's cottage was the King's palace, and you
+must know, just against the King's windows a great oak had sprung up,
+which was so stout and big that it took away all the light from the
+king's palace. The King had said he would give much gold to any man who
+could fell the oak, but no one was man enough to do it, for as soon as
+one chip of the oak's trunk flew off, two grew in its stead. The King
+wished also to have a well dug which was to hold water for the whole
+year. All his neighbors had wells, but he had none, and he thought that
+a shame.
+
+So the King said he would give to any one who could dig him such a well
+as would hold water for the whole year round, both money and goods, but
+no one could do it, for the King's palace lay high, high up on a hill,
+and they could dig but a few inches before they would come upon rock.
+
+But as the King had set his heart on having these two things done, he
+had it given out in all the churches of his kingdom far and wide, that
+he who could fell the big oak in the King's courtyard, and dig him a
+well that would hold water the whole year round, should have the
+Princess and half the kingdom. Well! you may easily know there was many
+a man who came to try his luck; but all their hacking and hewing, and
+all their digging and delving were useless. The oak got bigger and
+stouter at every stroke, and the rock grew no softer either.
+
+One day the three brothers thought they, too, would set off and try it.
+Their father had not a word to say against it; for even if they did not
+get the Princess and half the kingdom, it might happen they would get a
+place somewhere with a good master and that was all he wanted. So when
+the brothers asked his permission, he consented at once, and Peter, Paul
+and Espen set forth.
+
+Well, they had not gone far before they came to a fir wood where at one
+side there rose a steep hill, and as they went along they heard
+something hewing and hacking away up on the hill among the trees.
+
+"I wonder now what it is that is hewing away up yonder," said Boots.
+
+"You're always so clever with your wondering," laughed Peter and Paul
+both at once. "What wonder is it, pray, that a wood cutter should stand
+and hack up on a hillside?"
+
+"Still, I'd like to see what it is, after all," said Boots, and up he
+went.
+
+"Oh, if you're such a child, 'twill do you good to go and take a
+lesson," called out his brothers after him.
+
+But Boots didn't care for what they said; he climbed the steep hillside
+towards the spot whence the noise came, and when he reached the place,
+what do you think he saw? Why, an axe that stood there hacking and
+hewing, all of itself, at the trunk of a fir tree.
+
+"Good-day," said Boots. "So you stand here all alone and hew, do you?"
+
+"Yes, here I've stood and hewed and hacked for hundreds of years,
+waiting for you," said the axe.
+
+"Well, here I am at last," said Boots, as he took the axe, pulled it off
+its haft, and stuffed both head and haft into his wallet.
+
+When he got down again to his brothers, they began to jeer and laugh at
+him.
+
+"And now, what strange thing was it you saw up yonder on the hillside?"
+they asked.
+
+"Oh, it was only an axe we heard," said Boots.
+
+When they had gone on a bit farther, their road passed under a steep
+spur of rock, where they heard something digging and shovelling.
+
+[Illustration: A spade that stood digging and delving]
+
+"I wonder now," said Boots, "what is digging and shovelling up yonder at
+the top of the rock."
+
+"Ah, you're always so clever with your wondering," laughed Peter and
+Paul again, "as if you'd never heard a woodpecker hacking and pecking at
+a hollow tree."
+
+"Well, well," said Boots, "I just think it would be fun to see what it
+really is."
+
+And so off he set to climb the rock, while the others laughed and made
+fun of him. But he did not care a bit for that; up he climbed, and when
+he got near the top, what do you think he saw? Why, a spade that stood
+there digging and delving.
+
+"Good-day!" said Boots. "So you stand here all alone, and dig and delve,
+do you?"
+
+"Yes, that's what I do," said the spade, "and that's what I've done
+these hundreds of years, waiting for you, Boots."
+
+"Well, here I am," said Boots again, as he took the spade and knocked it
+off the handle, and put it into his wallet,--and then returned to his
+brothers.
+
+"Well, what was it, so rare and strange," said Peter and Paul, "that you
+saw up there at the top of the rock?"
+
+"Oh," said Boots, "nothing more than a spade; that was what we heard."
+
+So they went on again a good bit until they came to a brook. They were
+thirsty, all three, after their long walk, and so they lay down beside
+the brook to have a drink.
+
+"I wonder now," said Boots, "where all this water comes from."
+
+"I wonder if you've lost the little sense you had," said Peter and Paul
+in one breath. "Where the brook comes from indeed! Have you never heard
+how water rises from a spring in the earth?"
+
+"Yes! but still I've a great fancy to see where this brook comes from,"
+said Boots.
+
+So along beside the brook he went, in spite of all that his brothers
+cried after him. Nothing could stop him. On he went, up and up, and the
+brook got smaller and smaller, and at last, a little way farther on,
+what do you think he saw? Why, a great walnut, and out of that the water
+trickled.
+
+"Good-day!" said Boots again. "So you lie here, and trickle and run down
+all alone?"
+
+"Yes, I do," said the walnut, "and here have I trickled and run these
+hundreds of years, waiting for you, Boots."
+
+"Well, here I am," said Boots, as he took up a lump of moss, and plugged
+up the hole, that the water might not run out. Then he put the walnut
+into his wallet, and ran down to his brothers.
+
+"Well, now," said Peter and Paul, "have you found out where the water
+comes from? A rare sight it must have been!"
+
+"Oh, after all, it was only a hole it ran out of," said Boots; and so
+the others laughed and made fun of him again, but Boots didn't mind that
+a bit.
+
+"After all, I had the fun of seeing it," said he.
+
+So when they had gone a bit farther, they came to the King's palace; but
+as every one in the kingdom had heard how he might win the Princess and
+half the realm, if he could only fell the big oak and dig the King's
+well, so many had come to try their luck that the oak was now twice as
+stout and big as it had been at first; for two chips grew for every one
+they hewed out with their axes, as I dare say you remember I told you.
+So the King had now laid down as a punishment, that if any one tried and
+could not fell the oak, he should be put on a barren island, much like a
+prison.
+
+The two brothers did not let themselves be scared by that, however, for
+they were quite sure they could fell the oak, and Peter, as he was the
+eldest, was to try his hand first. But it went with him as with all the
+rest who had hewn at the oak. For every chip he had cut out, two grew in
+its place. So the King's men seized him, bound him hand and foot, and
+put him out on the island.
+
+Now, Paul was to try his luck, but he fared just the same; when he had
+hewn two or three strokes, they began to see the oak grow, and so the
+King's men seized him too, bound him hand and foot, and put him out on
+the island.
+
+And now Boots was to try.
+
+"You can save yourself the trouble, we'll bind you and send you off
+after your brothers just as well first as last," laughed the King's men.
+
+"Well, I'd just like to try first," said Boots, and so he got leave.
+Then he took his axe out of his wallet and fitted it to its haft.
+
+"Hew away!" said he to his axe; and away it hewed, making the chips fly,
+so that it wasn't long before down came the oak.
+
+When that was done Boots pulled out his spade and fitted it to its
+handle.
+
+"Dig away!" said he to the spade; and the spade began to dig and delve
+till the earth and rock flew out in splinters, and he had the well soon
+dug out, as you may believe.
+
+And when he had got it as big and deep as he chose, Boots took out his
+walnut and laid it in one corner of the well, and pulled the plug of
+moss out.
+
+"Trickle and run," said Boots; and so the water trickled and ran, till
+it gushed out of the hole in a stream, and in a short time the well was
+brimful.
+
+Then Boots had felled the oak which shaded the King's palace, and dug a
+well that held water all the year around, and so he got the princess and
+half the kingdom, as the King had said. And it was lucky for Peter and
+Paul that they were on the barren island, else they had heard each day
+and hour how every one said: "Well, after all, Boots did not wonder
+about things for nothing."
+
+
+
+
+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
+feeble and weak, she asked her son to go out to the storehouse and fetch
+meal for cooking. But when he got outside the storehouse, and was just
+going down the steps, there came the North Wind, puffing and blowing,
+caught up the meal, and away with it through the air. Then the lad went
+back into the storehouse for more; but when he came out again on the
+steps, the North Wind came again and carried off the meal with a puff;
+and more than that, he did it the third time. At this the lad got very
+angry; and as it seemed hard that the North Wind should behave so, he
+thought he would go in search of him and ask him to give up his meal.
+
+So off he went, but the way was long, and he walked and walked. At last
+he came to the North Wind's house.
+
+"Good-day!" said the lad, "and thank you for coming to see us."
+
+"Good-day," answered the North Wind, and 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 the meal you took from me on the storehouse 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 your meal," said the North Wind; "but since you are in such
+need, I'll give you a table cloth which will get you everything you
+want. You need 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 long he could
+not 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 the table
+which stood in the corner, and said,--
+
+"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes."
+
+He had scarcely said this before the cloth did as it was bid, and all
+who stood by thought it a fine thing, but most of all the landlord. So,
+when all were fast asleep, at dead of night, he took the lad's cloth,
+and put another like it in its stead. But this could not so much as
+serve up a bit of dry bread.
+
+When the lad woke he took the 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 every
+sort of food I please."
+
+"All very true, I dare say," said the mother, "but seeing is believing."
+
+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 not even 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, late in the afternoon, he came to where the North Wind lived.
+
+"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 have no meal," said the North Wind; "but you may have the ram yonder
+which will coin gold ducats when you say to it,--
+
+"Ram, ram! make money!"
+
+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
+the first time.
+
+Before he called for anything, he tried what the North Wind had said of
+the ram, and found it all true. When the landlord saw this, he thought
+it a fine ram, and when the lad had fallen asleep, he took another which
+could not coin even a penny, and exchanged 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 will coin golden ducats if I only say, 'Ram, ram! make
+money!'"
+
+"All very true, I dare say," said his mother, "but I shan't believe it
+until I see the ducats made."
+
+"Ram, ram! make money!" said the lad; but not even a penny did the ram
+coin.
+
+So the lad went back to the North Wind and scolded him, 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 it's a stick of such a kind that if you
+say, 'Stick, stick! lay on! it lays on till you say,--'Stick, stick! now
+stop!'"
+
+So the lad thanked the North Wind and went his way, and as the road was
+long, he turned in this night also to the landlord; but as he could
+guess pretty well 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 thought surely the stick must be worth something,
+hunted up one which was like it, and when he heard the lad snore he was
+going to exchange the two; but, just as the landlord was about to take
+it, the lad called 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.
+You shall have back both your cloth and your ram."
+
+When the lad thought the landlord had had 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 tied around its horns;
+and so he got his rights for the meal he had lost.
+
+
+
+
+THE GIANT WHO HAD NO HEART IN HIS BODY
+
+
+Once on a time there was a King who had seven sons. Six of them were
+stout, brave lads, but the youngest was the cinderlad, you must know;
+and he went about by himself neither saying nor doing much. Best of all
+he liked to sit by the hearth and watch the glowing cinders, so they
+called him Boots, and thought little of him.
+
+Now, when the Princes were grown up, the six were to set off to fetch
+brides for themselves. As for Boots, they would not be seen with him, so
+he was to stay at home; but the others were to bring back a bride for
+him, if any could be found willing to marry such a one. The King gave
+the six the finest clothes you ever set eyes upon, so fine that the
+light gleamed from them a long way off; and each had his horse, which
+cost many, many hundred dollars, and so they set off. Now, when they had
+been to many palaces, and seen many princesses, they came to a king who
+had six daughters. Such lovely king's daughters they had never seen, and
+so they asked them to be their brides, and when they had got them, they
+set off home again. But they quite forgot that they were to bring back a
+bride for Boots, their brother, who was staying at home.
+
+When they had gone a good bit on their way, they passed close by a steep
+hillside, like a wall, where was a giant's house. Out came the giant and
+set his eyes upon them, and turned them all into stone, princes,
+princesses and all. Now, the king waited and waited for his six sons,
+but so long as he waited so long they stayed away; so he fell into great
+grief, and said he would never know what it was to be happy again.
+
+One day Boots said to the King,--
+
+"I've been thinking to ask your leave to set out and find my brothers."
+
+"Nay, nay!" said his father, "that would be of no use, for you are not
+clever enough. Better stay and dig in the ashes all your life."
+
+But Boots had set his heart upon it. Go he would; and he begged and
+pleaded so long that the King was forced to let him go. He gave Boots an
+old broken-down nag; but Boots did not care a pin for that, he sprang up
+on his sorry old steed.
+
+"Farewell, Father," he said, "I'll come back, never fear, and likely
+enough I shall bring my six brothers back with me," and with that he
+rode off.
+
+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; but still I can spare you a little. I see you need
+it."
+
+So he gave the raven some of the food he had brought with him.
+
+Now, when he had gone a little farther, 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; "help me out into the
+water again, and I'll help you 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 be there and choke;" and with that
+he shot the fish out into the stream again.
+
+After that he went on a long, long way, and there met him a wolf, which
+was so famished that it lay and crawled along the road.
+
+"Dear friend, do let me have some food," said the wolf, "I'm so hungry
+that the wind whistles through my ribs. I've had nothing to eat these
+two years. When I have eaten, 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 all I have, since you are in such
+great need."
+
+[Illustration: Never had the prince had such a ride in his life]
+
+So when the wolf had eaten the food. Boots took the bit and put it
+between the wolf's jaws, and laid the saddle on his back; and away they
+went like the wind. Never had the Prince had such a ride before.
+
+"When we have gone still farther," said Graylegs, "I'll show you the
+Giant's house."
+
+And 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 to stone; and see, here are their
+six brides. Yonder is the door, and in at that door you must go. 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 you do as she bids you."
+
+Well! Boots went in, but, truth to say, he was very much afraid. 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 set eyes upon.
+
+"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. He is a most cruel monster, and 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
+have been turned to stone; and you, too, I will try to save, that I
+will."
+
+"Well, if you must, you must," said the Princess; "so let us see if we
+can't hit upon a plan. Just creep under the bed yonder, and mind you
+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, 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 crow 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 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 glad to ask you about, if I only dared."
+
+"What thing is that?" asked the Giant.
+
+"Only this, where do 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 very 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 this heart; but the more they dug
+and the more they hunted the more they couldn't find it.
+
+"He has balked 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, 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 crow 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 dare say 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 is the meaning of all this? said the Giant.
+
+"Ah!" said the Princess, "I strewed them there when I knew 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 in the evening, the Princess asked the Giant
+again where his heart was, for she said she would so much 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 will soon find it."
+
+Next morning the Giant was away early, and strode off to the wood. As
+soon as he was gone, Boots and the Princess were in the cupboard hunting
+for the heart, but the more they looked for it the less they found it.
+
+"Well," said the Princess, "we'll just try him once more."
+
+So she decked 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 crow 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;
+but after all my pains I dare say it's that you smell."
+
+When the Giant heard that he said no more about it, but after a while he
+saw how the cupboard was all decked about with flowers and garlands; and
+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 foolishness?" asked the Giant.
+
+"Oh, I couldn't help doing it when I knew your heart lay there," said
+the Princess.
+
+"How can you be so silly as to believe any such thing?" said the Giant.
+
+"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."
+
+"Yet for all that," said the Princess, "it would be such a pleasure to
+know where it really lies."
+
+Then the poor Giant could hold out no longer, but said,--
+
+"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."
+
+In the morning early, while it was still gray dawn, the Giant strode off
+to the wood.
+
+"Now I must set off too," said Boots; "if I only knew how to find the
+way." He took a long farewell of the Princess, and when he slipped out
+of the Giant's door, there stood the Wolf waiting for him. Boots told
+him all that had happened, and said now he wished to ride to the well
+inside the church, if only he knew the way. The Wolf bade him jump on
+his back, and away they went, over hill and dale, over hedge and field,
+till the wind whistled after them. After they had travelled many, many
+days, they came at last to the lake. Then the Prince did not know how to
+get across, but the Wolf bade him not to be afraid, but to hold fast. So
+he jumped into the lake with the Prince on his back, and swam over to
+the island. When they came to the church, the church keys hung high,
+high up on the top of the tower, and the Prince knew not how to get them
+down.
+
+"Call upon the raven," said the Wolf.
+
+So the Prince called upon the raven, and immediately the raven came, and
+flew up and fetched the keys, and so the Prince got into the church.
+When he came to the well, there was the duck, which swam about forward
+and backward, just as the Giant had said. So the Prince stood and coaxed
+it and coaxed it, till finally 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 in the well, and then Boots was beside himself to know how to get it
+out again.
+
+"Now call upon the salmon," said the Wolf, and Boots called upon 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 he squeezed
+the egg, the Giant screamed and begged and prayed to be spared, saying
+he would do all that the Prince wished if he would only not squeeze his
+heart in two.
+
+"Tell him to restore to life again your six brothers and their brides,
+whom he has turned to stone," 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.
+
+Then Boots left the Giant's heart on the altar of the church. That took
+all the evil power from the cruel Giant, and I have never heard of him
+since.
+
+And now, 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 hillside after his bride, and they all set off home
+again to their father's house. And you may fancy how glad the old King
+was when he saw his seven sons come back, each with his bride;--"But the
+loveliest bride is the bride of Boots, after all," said the King, "and
+he shall sit highest at the table, with her by his side."
+
+So they had a great wedding feast, and the mirth was both loud and long,
+and if they have not done feasting, why they are at it still.
+
+
+
+
+THE SHEEP AND THE PIG WHO SET UP HOUSEKEEPING
+
+
+Once on a time there was a sheep who stood in the pen to be fattened.
+
+So he lived well and was stuffed and crammed with everything that was
+good, till one day the dairymaid came to give him still more food. Then
+she said, "Eat away, sheep, you won't be here much longer, we are going
+to kill you to-morrow."
+
+The sheep thought over this for a while, and then he ate till he was
+ready to burst; and when he was crammed full, he butted out the door of
+the pen, and took his way to the neighboring farm. There he went to see
+a pig whom he had known out on the common, and with whom he had always
+been very friendly.
+
+"Good-day," said the sheep, "do you know why it is you are so well off,
+and why it is they fatten you and take such pains with you?"
+
+"No, I don't," said the pig.
+
+"Well, I know; they are going to kill and eat you," said the sheep.
+
+"Are they?" said the pig, "and what is there to be done about it?"
+
+"If you will do as I do," said the sheep, "we'll go off to the wood,
+build us a house, and set up for ourselves."
+
+Yes, the pig was willing enough. "Good company is such a comfort," he
+said, and so the two set off.
+
+When they had gone a bit they met a goose.
+
+"Good-day, good sirs, and whither away so fast to-day?" said the goose.
+
+"Good-day, good-day," said the sheep, "we are going to set up for
+ourselves in the wood, for you know every man's house is his castle."
+
+"Well," said the goose, "I should so much like a home of my own, too.
+May I go with you?"
+
+"With gossip and gabble is built neither house nor stable," said the
+pig, "let us know what you can do."
+
+"I can pluck moss and stuff it into the seams between the planks, and
+the house will be tight and warm."
+
+Yes, they would give him leave, for, above all things, piggy wished to
+be warm and comfortable.
+
+So, when they had gone a bit farther--the goose had hard work to walk so
+fast--they met a hare, who came frisking out of the wood.
+
+"Good-day, good sirs," she said, "how far are you trotting to-day?"
+
+"Good-day, good-day," said the sheep, "we're going to the wood to build
+us a house and set up for ourselves, for, you know, try all the world
+around, there's nothing like home."
+
+"As for that," said the hare, "I have a house in every bush, but yet, I
+have often said in winter, 'If I only live till summer I'll build me a
+house,' and so I have half a mind to go with you and build one, after
+all."
+
+"Yes," said the pig, "if we ever get into trouble we might use you to
+scare away the dogs, for I don't fancy you could help us in
+house-building."
+
+"Don't make fun of me. I have teeth to gnaw pegs and paws to drive them
+into the wall, so I can very well set up to be carpenter," said the
+hare.
+
+So he too got leave to go with them and help to build their house, and
+there was nothing more to be said about it.
+
+When they had gone a bit farther they met a cock.
+
+"Good-day, good sirs," said the cock, "whither are you going to-day,
+gentlemen?"
+
+"Good-day, good-day," said the sheep, "we are going off to the wood to
+build a house and set up for ourselves, for you know, ''Tis good to
+travel east and west, but after all a home is best.'"
+
+"Well," said the cock, "if I might have leave to join such a gallant
+company, I also would like to go to the wood and build a house."
+
+"Ay, ay!" said the pig, "but how can you help us build a house?"
+
+"Oh," said the cock, "what would you do without a cock? I am up early,
+and I wake every one."
+
+"Very true," said the pig, "let him come with us. Sleep is the biggest
+thief," he said, "he thinks nothing of stealing half one's life."
+
+So they all set off to the wood together, and built a house.
+
+The pig hewed the timber, and the sheep drew it home; the hare was
+carpenter, and gnawed pegs and bolts and hammered them into the walls
+and roof; the goose plucked moss and stuffed it into the seams; the cock
+crew, and looked out that they did not oversleep themselves in the
+morning; and when the house was ready, and the roof lined with birch
+bark and thatched with turf, there they lived by themselves and were
+merry and well.
+
+But you must know that a bit farther on in the wood was a wolf's den,
+and there lived two graylegs. When they saw that a new house had been
+built near by, they wanted to become acquainted with their neighbors.
+One of them made up an errand and went into the new house and asked for
+a light for his pipe. But as soon as he got inside the door the sheep
+gave him such a butt that he fell head foremost into the hearth. Then
+the pig began to bite him, and the goose to nip and peck him, and the
+cock upon the roost to crow and chatter, and as for the hare, he was so
+frightened that he ran about aloft and on the floor and scratched and
+scrambled in every corner of the house.
+
+So after a time the wolf came out.
+
+"Well," said the one who waited for him outside, "you must have been
+well received since you stayed so long. But what became of the light?
+You have neither pipe nor smoke."
+
+"Yes, yes," said the other, "a pleasant company indeed. As soon as I got
+inside the door, the shoemaker began to beat me with his last, so that I
+fell head foremost into the open fire, and there sat two smiths who blew
+the bellows, and made the sparks fly, and struck and punched me with
+red-hot tongs and pincers. As for the hunter, he went scrambling about
+looking for his gun, and it was good luck he did not find it. And all
+the while there was another who sat up under the roof and slapped his
+arms and cried out, 'Drag him hither, drag him hither!' That was what he
+screamed, and if he had only got hold of me, I should never have come
+out alive."
+
+The wolves never went calling on their neighbors any more.
+
+
+
+
+THE PARSON AND THE CLERK
+
+
+There was once a parson who was such a bully that whenever he met anyone
+driving on the king's highway, he called out, ever so far off--"Out of
+the way! Out of the way! Here comes the parson!"
+
+One day when he was driving along and behaving so, he met the king. "Out
+of the way! Out of the way!" he bawled a long way off. But the king
+drove on and held his own; so it was the parson who had to turn his
+horse aside that time, and when the king came up beside him, he said,
+"To-morrow you shall come to me at the palace, and if you can't answer
+three questions which I shall ask you, you shall lose your office for
+your pride's sake."
+
+This was something quite different from what the parson was wont to
+hear. He could bawl and bully, shout and scold. All that he could do,
+but question and answer were not in his line. So he set off to the
+clerk, who was said to be worth more than the parson, and told him he
+had no mind to go to the king. "For one fool can ask more than ten wise
+men can answer;" and the end was, he got the clerk to go in his place.
+
+Yes, the clerk set off and came to the palace in the parson's clothes.
+There the king met him out on the porch with crown and sceptre, and he
+was so grand he fairly glittered and gleamed. "Well, are you there?"
+said the king.
+
+"Tell me first," said the king, "how far the east is from the west?"
+
+"Just a day's journey," said the clerk.
+
+"How is that?" asked the king.
+
+"Don't you know," said the clerk, "that the sun rises in the east and
+sets in the west, and he does it just nicely in a day?"
+
+"Very well!" said the king, "but tell me now what you think I am worth,
+as you see me stand here?"
+
+"Well," said the clerk, "our Lord was valued at thirty pieces of silver,
+so I don't think I can set your price higher than twenty-nine."
+
+"All very fine!" said the king, "but, as you are so wise, perhaps you
+can tell me what I am thinking about now?"
+
+"Oh!" said the clerk, "you are thinking it's the parson who stands
+before you, but there's where you are mistaken, for I am the clerk."
+
+"Be off home with you," said the king, "and be you parson, and let him
+be clerk." And so it was.
+
+
+
+
+FATHER BRUIN
+
+
+Once on a time there was a man who lived far, far away in the wood. He
+had many, many goats and sheep, but never a one could he keep because of
+Greylegs, the wolf.
+
+At last he said, "I'll soon trap Greyboots," and so he set to work to
+dig a pitfall. When he had dug it deep enough, he put a pole down in the
+midst of the pit, and on the top of the pole he set a board, and on the
+board he put a little dog. Over the pit itself he spread boughs and
+branches and leaves, and other rubbish, and a-top of all he strewed
+snow, so that Greylegs might not see that there was a pit underneath.
+
+So when night came on, the little dog grew weary of sitting there:
+"Bow-wow, bow-wow," he said, and bayed at the moon. Just then up came a
+fox, prowling and sneaking, and thought here was a fine time for
+marketing, and with that gave a jump,--head over heels down into the
+pitfall.
+
+And when it got a little farther on in the night, the little dog grew so
+weary and so hungry, and it fell to yelping and howling: "Bow-wow,
+bow-wow," he cried out. Just at that very moment up came Greylegs,
+trotting and trotting. He, too, thought he should get a fat steak, and
+he, too, made a spring--head over heels down into the pitfall.
+
+When it was getting on towards grey dawn in the morning, down fell the
+snow, with a north wind, and it grew so cold that the little dog stood
+and shivered and shook, he was so weary and hungry, "Bow-wow, bow-wow,
+bow-wow," he called out, and barked and yelped and howled. Then up came
+a bear, tramping and tramping along, and thought to himself how he could
+get a morsel for breakfast at the very top of the morning, and so he
+thought and thought among the boughs and branches, till he, too, went
+bump--head over heels down into the pitfall.
+
+So when it got a little farther on in the morning, an old beggar wife
+came walking by, who toddled from farm to farm with a bag on her back.
+When she set eyes on the little dog that stood there and howled, she
+could not help going near to look and see if any wild beasts had fallen
+into the pit during the night. So she crawled up on her knees and peeped
+down into it.
+
+"Art thou come into the pit at last, Reynard?" she said to the fox, for
+he was the first she saw; "a very good place, too, for such a hen-roost
+robber as thou; and thou, too, Grey-paw," she said to the wolf; "many a
+goat and sheep hast thou torn and rent, and now thou shalt be plagued
+and punished to death. Bless my heart! Thou, too, Bruin! Art thou, too,
+sitting in this room, thou horse killer? Thee, too, will we strip, and
+thee shall we flay, and thy skull shall be nailed up on the wall." All
+this the old lass screeched out as she bent over towards the bear. But
+just then her bag fell over her ears and dragged her down, and slap!
+down went the old woman--head over heels into the pitfall.
+
+So there they all four sat and glared at one another, each in a
+corner--Reynard in one, Greylegs in another, Bruin in a third, and the
+old woman in a fourth.
+
+But as soon as it was broad daylight, Reynard began to peep and peer,
+and to twist and turn about, for he thought he might as well try to get
+out.
+
+But the old lass cried out, "Canst thou not sit still, thou whirligig
+thief, and not go twisting and turning? Only look at Father Bruin
+himself in the corner, how he sits as grave as a judge," for now she
+thought she might as well make friends with the bear.
+
+But just then up came the man who owned the pitfall.
+
+First he drew up the old woman, and after that he slew all the beasts,
+and neither spared Father Bruin himself in the corner, nor Grey-legs,
+nor Reynard the whirligig thief. That night, at least, he thought he had
+made a good haul.
+
+
+
+
+THE PANCAKE
+
+
+Once on a time there was a woman who had seven hungry children, and she
+was frying a pancake for them. It was a sweet milk pancake, and there it
+lay in the pan, bubbling and frizzling so thick and good, it was a
+delight to look at it. And the children stood round about, and the old
+father sat by and looked on.
+
+"Oh, give me a bit of pancake, mother, dear, I am so hungry," said one
+child.
+
+"Oh, darling mother," said the second.
+
+"Oh, darling, good mother," said the third.
+
+"Oh, darling, good, sweet mother," said the fourth.
+
+"Oh, darling, pretty, good, sweet mother," said the fifth.
+
+"Oh, darling, pretty, good, sweet, clever mother," said the sixth.
+
+"Oh, darling, pretty, good, sweet, clever, kindest little mother," said
+the seventh.
+
+So they begged for the pancake all around, the one more prettily than
+the other, for they were so hungry and so good.
+
+"Yes, yes, children, only bide a bit till it turns itself"--she ought to
+have said, 'till I can get it turned,'--"and then you shall have some
+lovely sweet milk pancake. Only look how fat and happy it lies there."
+
+When the pancake heard all this it became afraid, and in a trice it
+turned itself and tried to jump out of the pan, but it fell back into it
+again, the other side up. When it had been fried a little on the other
+side too, till it got firm and stiff, it jumped out of the pan to the
+floor and rolled off like a wheel through the door and down the hill.
+
+"Holloa! Stop, pancake!" and away ran the mother after it, with the
+frying pan in one hand and the ladle in the other, as fast as she could,
+and all the children behind her, while the old father on crutches limped
+after them last of all.
+
+"Hi! Won't you stop? Catch it! Stop, pancake!" they all screamed out,
+one after another, and tried to catch it on the run and hold it. But the
+pancake rolled on and on, and in a twinkling of an eye it was so far
+ahead that they couldn't see it.
+
+So when it had rolled awhile it met a man.
+
+"Good-day, pancake," said the man.
+
+"Good-day, Manny Panny!" said the pancake.
+
+"Dear pancake," said the man, "don't roll so fast; stop a little and let
+me eat you."
+
+"No, no; I have run away from the mother, and the father, and seven
+hungry children. I'll run away from you, Manny Panny," said the pancake,
+and it rolled and rolled till it met a hen.
+
+"Good-day, pancake," said the hen.
+
+"The same to you, Henny Penny," said the pancake.
+
+"Pancake, dear, don't roll so fast. Bide a bit and let me eat you up,"
+said the hen.
+
+"No, no; I have run away from the mother, and the father, and seven
+hungry children, and Manny Panny. I'll run away from you, too, Henny
+Penny," said the pancake, and it rolled on like a wheel down the road.
+
+Just then it met a cock.
+
+"Good-day, pancake," said the cock.
+
+"The same to you, Cocky Locky," said the pancake.
+
+"Pancake, dear, don't roll so fast, but bide a bit and let me eat you
+up."
+
+"No, no; I have run away from the mother, and the father, seven hungry
+children, Manny Panny, and Henny Penny. I'll run away from you too,
+Cocky Locky," said the pancake, and it rolled and rolled as fast as it
+could. Bye and bye it met a duck.
+
+"Good-day, pancake," said the duck.
+
+"The same to you, Ducky Lucky."
+
+"Pancake, dear, don't roll away so fast; bide a bit and let me eat you
+up."
+
+"No, no; I have run away from the mother, and the father, and seven
+hungry children, Manny Panny, Henny Penny, and Cocky Locky. I'll run
+away from you, too, Ducky Lucky," said the pancake, and with that it
+took to rolling and rolling faster than ever; and when it had rolled a
+long, long while, it met a goose.
+
+"Good-day, pancake," said the goose.
+
+"The same to you, Goosey Poosey."
+
+"Pancake, dear, don't roll so fast; bide a bit and let me eat you up."
+
+"No, no; I have run away from the mother, the father, seven hungry
+children, Manny Panny, Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, and Ducky Lucky. I'll
+run away from you, too, Goosey Poosey," said the pancake, and off it
+rolled.
+
+So when it had rolled a long way off, it met a gander.
+
+"Good-day, pancake," said the gander.
+
+"The same to you, Gander Pander," said the pancake.
+
+"Pancake, dear, don't roll so fast; bide a bit and let me have a bite."
+
+"No, no; I've run away from the mother, the father, seven hungry
+children, Manny Panny, Henny Penny, Cocky Locky, Ducky Lucky, and Goosey
+Poosey. I'll run away from you, too, Gander Pander," said the pancake,
+and it rolled and rolled as fast as ever.
+
+So when it had rolled a long, long time, it met a pig.
+
+"Good-day, pancake," said the pig.
+
+"The same to you, Piggy Wiggy," said the pancake, and without a word
+more it began to roll and roll for dear life.
+
+"Nay, nay," said the pig, "you needn't be in such a hurry; we two can go
+side by side through the wood; they say it is not too safe in there."
+
+The pancake thought there might be something in that, and so they kept
+company. But when they had gone a while, they came to a brook. As for
+Piggy, he was so fat he could swim across. It was nothing for him, but
+the poor pancake could not get over.
+
+"Seat yourself on my snout," said the pig, "and I'll carry you over."
+
+So the pancake did that.
+
+"Ouf, ouf," said the pig, and swallowed the pancake at one gulp, and
+then, as the poor pancake could go no farther, why--this story can go no
+farther either.
+
+
+
+
+WHY THE SEA IS SALT
+
+
+Once on a time, but it was a long, long time ago, there were two
+brothers, one rich and one poor.
+
+Now, one Christmas eve, the poor one had not so much as a crumb in the
+house, either of meat or bread, so he went to his brother to ask him for
+something with which to keep Christmas. It was not the first time his
+brother had been forced to help him, and, as he was always stingy, he
+was not very glad to see him this time, but he said, "I'll give you a
+whole piece of bacon, two loaves of bread, and candles into the bargain,
+if you'll never bother me again--but mind you don't set foot in my house
+from this day on."
+
+The poor brother said he wouldn't, thanked his brother for the help he
+had given him, and started on his way home.
+
+He hadn't gone far before he met an old, old man with a white beard, who
+looked so thin and worn and hungry that it was pitiful to see him.
+
+"In heaven's name give a poor man a morsel to eat," said the old man.
+
+"Now, indeed, I have been begging myself," said the poor brother, "but
+I'm not so poor that I can't give you something on the blessed Christmas
+eve." And with that he handed the old man a candle, a loaf of bread, and
+he was just going to cut off a slice of bacon, when the old man stopped
+him--"That is enough and to spare," said he. "And now, I'll tell you
+something. Not far from here is the entrance to the home of the
+underground folks. They have a mill there which can grind out anything
+they wish for except bacon; now mind you go there. When you get inside
+they will all want to buy your bacon, but don't sell it unless you get
+in return the mill which stands behind the door. When you come out I'll
+teach you how to handle the mill."
+
+So the man with the bacon thanked the other for his good advice and
+followed the directions which the old man had given him, and soon he
+stood outside the door of the hillfolk's home.
+
+When he got in, everything went just as the old man had said. All the
+hillfolk, great and small, came swarming up to him, like ants around an
+ant-hill, and each tried to outbid the other for the bacon.
+
+"Well!" said the man, "by rights, my old dame and I ought to have this
+bacon for our Christmas dinner; but, since you have all set your hearts
+on it, I suppose I must give it up to you. Now, if I sell it at all,
+I'll have for it that mill behind the door yonder."
+
+At first the hillfolk wouldn't hear of such a bargain and higgled and
+haggled with the man, but he stuck to what he said, and at last they
+gave up the mill for the bacon.
+
+When the man got out of the cave and into the woods again, he met the
+same old beggar and asked him how to handle the mill. After he had
+learned how to use it, he thanked the old man and went off home as fast
+as he could; but still the clock had struck twelve on Christmas eve
+before he reached his own door.
+
+"Wherever in the world have you been?" said his old dame. "Here have I
+sat hour after hour, waiting and watching, without so much as two sticks
+to lay together under the Christmas porridge."
+
+"Oh!" said the man, "I could not get back before, for I had to go a long
+way first for one thing and then for another; but now you shall see what
+you shall see."
+
+So he put the mill on the table, and bade it first of all grind lights,
+then a tablecloth, then meat, then ale, and so on till they had
+everything that was nice for Christmas fare. He had only to speak the
+word and the mill ground out whatever he wanted. The old dame stood by
+blessing her stars, and kept on asking where he had got this wonderful
+mill, but he wouldn't tell her.
+
+"It's all the same where I got it. You see the mill is a good one, and
+the mill stream never freezes. That's enough."
+
+So he ground meat and drink and all good things to last out the whole of
+Christmas holidays, and on the third day he asked all his friends and
+kin to his house and gave them a great feast. Now, when his rich brother
+saw all that was on the table and all that was in the cupboards, he grew
+quite wild with anger, for he could not bear that his brother should
+have anything.
+
+"'Twas only on Christmas eve," he said to the rest, "he was so poorly
+off that he came and begged for a morsel of food, and now he gives a
+feast as if he were count or a king." and he turned to his brother and
+said, "But where in the world did you get all this wealth?"
+
+"From behind the door," answered the owner of the mill, for he did not
+care to tell his brother much about it. But later in the evening, when
+he had gotten a little too merry, he could keep his secret no longer,
+and he brought out the mill and said:
+
+"There you see what has gotten me all this wealth," and so he made the
+mill grind all kinds of things.
+
+When his brother saw it, he set his heart on having the mill, and, after
+some talk, it was agreed that the rich brother was to get it at
+hay-harvest time, when he was to pay three hundred dollars for it. Now,
+you may fancy the mill did not grow rusty for want of work, for while he
+had it the poor brother made it grind meat and drink that would last for
+years. When hay-harvest came, the rich brother got it, but he was in
+such a hurry to make it grind that he forgot to learn how to handle it.
+
+It was evening when the rich brother got the mill home, and next morning
+he told his wife to go out into the hayfield and toss hay while the
+mowers cut the grass, and he would stay at home and get the dinner
+ready. So, when dinner time drew near, he put the mill on the kitchen
+table and said:
+
+"Grind herrings and broth, and grind them good and fast."
+
+And the mill began to grind herrings and broth; first of all the dishes
+full, then all the tubs full, and so on till the kitchen floor was quite
+covered. The man twisted and twirled at the mill to get it to stop, but
+for all his fiddling and fumbling the mill went on grinding, and in a
+little while the broth rose so high that the man was nearly drowning. So
+he threw open the kitchen door and ran into the parlor, but it was not
+long before the mill had ground the parlor full too, and it was only at
+the risk of his life that the man could get hold of the latch of the
+house door through the stream of broth. When he got the door open, he
+ran out and set off down the road, with the stream of herrings and broth
+at his heels, roaring like a waterfall over the whole farm.
+
+Now, his old dame, who was in the field tossing hay, thought it a long
+time to dinner, and at last she said:
+
+"Well! though the master doesn't call us home, we may as well go. Maybe
+he finds it hard work to boil the broth, and will be glad of my help."
+
+The men were willing enough, so they sauntered homewards. But just as
+they had got a little way up the hill, what should they meet but
+herrings and broth, all running and dashing and splashing together in a
+stream, and the master himself running before them for his life, and as
+he passed them he called out: "Eat, drink! eat, drink! but take care
+you're not drowned in the broth."
+
+Away he ran as fast as his legs would carry him to his brother's house,
+and begged him in heaven's name to take back the mill, and that at once,
+for, said he, "If it grinds only one hour more, the whole parish will be
+swallowed up by herrings and broth."
+
+So the poor brother took back the mill, and it wasn't long before it
+stopped grinding herrings and broth.
+
+[Illustration: With the herrings and broth at his heels]
+
+And now he set up a farmhouse far finer than the one in which his
+brother lived, and with the mill he ground so much gold that he covered
+it with plates of gold. And, as the farm lay by the seaside, the golden
+house gleamed and glistened far away over the sea. All who sailed by put
+ashore to see the rich man in the golden house, and to see the wonderful
+mill the fame of which spread far and wide, till there was nobody who
+hadn't heard of it.
+
+So one day there came a skipper who wanted to see the mill, and the
+first thing he asked was if it could grind salt.
+
+"Grind salt!" said the owner, "I should just think it could. It can
+grind anything."
+
+When the skipper heard that, he said he must have the mill, for if he
+only had it, he thought, he need not take his long voyages across stormy
+seas for a lading of salt. He much preferred sitting at home with a pipe
+and a glass. Well, the man let him have it, but the skipper was in such
+a hurry to get away with it that he had no time to ask how to handle the
+mill. He got on board his ship as fast as he could and set sail. When he
+had sailed a good way off, he brought the mill on deck and said, "Grind
+salt, and grind both good and fast."
+
+And the mill began to grind salt so that it poured out like water, and
+when the skipper had got the ship full he wished to stop the mill, but
+whichever way he turned it, and however much he tried, it did no good;
+the mill kept on grinding, and the heap of salt grew higher and higher,
+and at last down sank the ship.
+
+There lies the mill at the bottom of the sea, and grinds away to this
+very day, and that is the reason why the sea is salt--so some folks say.
+
+
+
+
+THE SQUIRE'S BRIDE
+
+
+There was once a very rich squire who owned a large farm, had plenty of
+silver at the bottom of his chest, and money in the bank besides; but
+there was something he had not, and that was a wife.
+
+One day a neighbor's daughter was working for him in the hayfield. The
+squire liked her very much and, as she was a poor man's daughter, he
+thought that if he only mentioned marriage she would be more than glad
+to take him at once. So he said to her, "I've been thinking I want to
+marry."
+
+"Well, one may think of many things," said the lassie, as she stood
+there and smiled slyly. She really thought the old fellow ought to be
+thinking of something that behooved him better than getting married at
+his time of life.
+
+"Now, you see," he said, "I was thinking that you should be my wife!"
+
+"No, thank you," said she, "and much obliged for the honor."
+
+The squire was not used to being gainsaid, and the more she refused him
+the more he wanted her. But the lassie would not listen to him at all.
+So the old man sent for her father and told him that, if he could talk
+his daughter over and arrange the whole matter for him, he would forgive
+him the money he had lent him, and would give him the piece of land
+which lay close to his meadow into the bargain.
+
+"Yes, yes, be sure I'll bring the lass to her senses," said the father.
+"She is only a child and does not know what is best for her."
+
+But all his coaxing, all his threats and all his talking, went for
+naught. She would not have the old miser, if he sat buried in gold up to
+his ears, she said.
+
+The squire waited and waited, but at last he got angry and told the
+father that he had to settle the matter at once if he expected him to
+stand by his bargain, for now he would wait no longer.
+
+The man knew no other way out of it, but to let the squire get
+everything ready for the wedding; then, when the parson and the wedding
+guests had arrived, the squire would send for the lassie as if she were
+wanted for some work on the farm. When she got there they would marry
+her right away, in such a hurry that she would have no time to think it
+over.
+
+When the guests had arrived the squire called one of his farm lads, told
+him to run down to his neighbor and ask him to send up immediately what
+he had promised.
+
+"But if you are not back with her in a twinkling," he said, shaking his
+fist at him, "I'll----"
+
+He did not finish, for the lad ran off as if he had been shot at.
+
+"My master has sent me to ask for that which you promised him," said the
+lad, when he got to the neighbor, "but, pray, lose no time, for master
+is terribly busy to-day."
+
+"Yes, yes! Run down in the meadow and take her with you--there she
+goes," answered the neighbor.
+
+The lad ran off and when he came to the meadow he found the daughter
+there raking the hay.
+
+"I am to fetch what your father has promised my master," said the lad.
+
+"Ah, ha!" thought she, "is that what they are up to?" And with a wicked
+twinkle of the eye, she said, "Oh, yes, it's that little bay mare of
+ours, I suppose. You had better go and take her. She stands tethered on
+the other side of the pea field."
+
+The boy jumped on the back of the bay mare and rode home at full gallop.
+
+"Have you got her with you?" asked the squire.
+
+"She is down at the door," said the lad.
+
+"Take her up to the room my mother had," said the squire.
+
+"But, master, how can I?" said the lad.
+
+"Do as I tell you," said the squire. "And if you can't manage her alone,
+get the men to help you," for he thought the lassie might be stubborn.
+
+When the lad saw his master's face he knew it would be no use to argue.
+So he went and got all the farm hands together to help him. Some pulled
+at the head and the forelegs of the mare and others pushed from behind,
+and at last they got her upstairs and into the room. There lay all the
+wedding finery ready.
+
+"Well, that's done, master!" said the lad, while he wiped his wet brow,
+"but it was the worst job I have ever had here on the farm."
+
+"Never mind, never mind, you shall not have done it for nothing," said
+his master, and he pulled a bright silver coin out of his pocket and
+gave it to the lad. "Now send the women up to dress her."
+
+"But, I say--master!--"
+
+"None of your talk!" cried the squire. "Tell them to hold her while they
+dress her, and mind not to forget either wreath or crown."
+
+The lad ran into the kitchen:
+
+"Listen, here, lasses," he called out, "you are to go upstairs and dress
+up the bay mare as a bride--I suppose master wants to play a joke on his
+guests."
+
+The women laughed and laughed, but ran upstairs and dressed the bay mare
+in everything that was there. And then the lad went and told his master
+that now she was all ready, with wreath and crown and all.
+
+"Very well, bring her down. I will receive her at the door myself," said
+the squire.
+
+There was a clatter and a thumping on the stairs, for that bride, you
+know, had no silken slippers on.
+
+When the door was opened and the squire's bride entered the room, you
+can imagine there was laughing and tittering and grinning enough.
+
+And as for the squire, they say he never went courting again.
+
+
+
+
+PEIK
+
+
+Once on a time there was a man, and he had a wife. They had a son and a
+daughter who were twins, and these were so alike that no one could tell
+one from the other except by their clothing. The boy they called Peik.
+He was of little use while his father and mother lived, for he cared to
+do naught else than to befool folk, and he was so full of tricks and
+pranks that no one was left in peace. When the parents died, matters
+grew still worse and worse. He would not turn his hand to anything. All
+he would do was to squander what they left behind them.
+
+His sister toiled and moiled all she could, but it helped little; so at
+last she told him how silly it was to do naught for the house.
+
+"What shall we have to live on when you have wasted everything?"
+she said.
+
+"Oh, I'll go out and befool somebody," said Peik.
+
+"Yes, Peik, I'll be bound you'll do that soon enough," said the sister.
+
+"Well, I'll try," said Peik.
+
+At last they had indeed nothing more. There was an end of everything;
+and Peik started off, and walked and walked till he came to the King's
+palace.
+
+Now, I must tell you, this King and his queen and eldest daughter were
+little better than trolls,--mean and hateful and very foolish,--so there
+was no love lost between them and the people.
+
+When Peik came to the King's palace, there stood the King in the porch,
+and as soon as he set eyes on the lad he said,
+
+"Whither away, to-day, Peik?"
+
+"Oh, I was going out to see if I could befool anybody," said Peik.
+
+"Can't you befool me now?" said the King.
+
+"No, I'm sure I can't," said Peik, "for I've forgotten my fooling rods."
+
+"Can't you go home and fetch them?" said the King, "I should be very
+glad to see if you are such a trickster as folks say."
+
+"I've no strength to walk," said Peik.
+
+"I'll lend you a horse and saddle," said the King
+
+"But I can't ride either," said Peik.
+
+"We'll lift you up," said the King, "then you'll be able to stick on."
+
+Well, Peik stood and scratched his head as though he would pull the hair
+off, and he let them lift him up into the saddle. There he sat, swinging
+this side and that, so long as the King could see him, and the King
+laughed till the tears came into his eyes, for such a tailor on
+horseback he had never seen. But when Peik was come well into the wood
+behind the hill, so that he was out of the King's sight, he sat as
+though he were tied to the horse, and off he rode as fast as the horse
+could carry him. But when he got to the town he sold both horse and
+saddle.
+
+All the while the King walked up and down, and loitered, and waited for
+Peik to come tottering back again with his fooling rods. And every now
+and then he laughed when he called to mind how wretched the lad looked
+as he sat swinging about on the horse like a sack of corn, not knowing
+on which side to fall off. This lasted for seven lengths and seven
+breaths, but no Peik came, and so at last the King saw that he was
+fooled and cheated out of his horse and saddle, even though Peik had not
+had his fooling rods with him. Then there was another story, for the
+King got wroth, and was all for setting off to kill Peik.
+
+But Peik had found out the day he was coming, and told his sister she
+must put on the big boiling-pot with a little water in it. Just as the
+King came in, Peik dragged the pot off the fire and ran off with it to
+the chopping-block, and so boiled the porridge on the block.
+
+The King wondered at that, and wondered on and on, so much that he quite
+forgot what brought him there.
+
+"What do you want for that pot?" said he.
+
+"I can't spare it," said Peik.
+
+"Why not?" said the King; "I'll pay what you ask."
+
+"No, no!" said Peik. "It saves me time and money, wood hire and chopping
+hire, carting and carrying."
+
+"Never mind," said the King, "I'll give you a hundred dollars. It's true
+you've fooled me out of a horse and saddle, and bridle besides, but all
+that shall go for nothing if I can only get the pot."
+
+"Well, if you must have it, you must," said Peik.
+
+When the King got home he asked guests and made a feast, but the meat
+was to be boiled in the new pot, and so he took it up and set it in the
+middle of the floor. The guests thought the King had lost his wits, and
+went about elbowing one another, and laughing at him. But he walked
+round and round the pot and cackled and chattered, saying all in a
+breath--
+
+"Well, well! bide a bit, bide a bit! 'Twill boil in a minute."
+
+But there was no boiling. So he saw that Peik had been out with his
+fooling rods and had cheated him again, and now he would set off at once
+and slay him.
+
+When the King came, Peik stood out by the barn door. "Wouldn't it boil?"
+he asked.
+
+"No, it would not, and you shall smart for it," said the King, about to
+unsheath his knife.
+
+"I can well believe that," said Peik, "for you did not take the block,
+too."
+
+"I wish I thought," said the King, "you weren't telling me a pack of
+lies."
+
+"I tell you it's because of the block it stands on; it won't boil
+without it," said Peik.
+
+"Well, what do you want for it?"
+
+It was well worth three hundred dollars; but for the King's sake it
+should go for two. So the King got the block and traveled home with it.
+He bade guests again, made a feast, and set the pot on the
+chopping-block in the middle of the room. The guests thought he was both
+daft and mad, and they went about making game of him, while he cackled
+and chattered around the pot, calling out, "Bide a bit! Now it boils,
+now it boils in a trice."
+
+But it wouldn't boil a bit more on the block than on the bare floor. So
+he saw that Peik had been out with his fooling rods this time, too. Then
+he fell a-tearing his hair, and said he would set off at once and slay
+the lad. He wouldn't spare him this time, whether or no.
+
+But Peik was ready for him. He had filled a leather bag with blood and
+stuffed it into his sister's bosom, and told her what to say and do.
+
+"Where's Peik?" screamed out the King. He was in such a rage that he
+stuttered and stammered.
+
+"He is so poorly that he can't stir hand or foot," she said, "and now
+he's trying to get a nap."
+
+"Wake him up!" said the King.
+
+"Nay, I daren't, he will be so angry," said the sister.
+
+"Well, I am angrier still," said the King, "and if you don't wake him, I
+will," and with that he tapped his side where his knife hung.
+
+"Well, she would go and wake him," but Peik turned hastily in his bed,
+drew out a knife and ripped open the leather bag in her bosom, so that
+the blood gushed out, and down she fell on the floor as though she were
+dead.
+
+"What an awful fellow you are, Peik," said the King; "you have killed
+your sister right before my eyes!"
+
+"Oh, there's no trouble with her so long as there's breath in my
+nostrils," said Peik, and with that he pulled out a ram's horn and began
+to toot on it.
+
+"Toot-e-too-too," he blew, with one end of the horn to her body, and up
+she rose as though there was nothing the matter with her.
+
+"Dear me, Peik! Can you kill folk and blow life into them again? Can you
+do that?" said the King.
+
+"Why!" said Peik, "how could I get on at all if I couldn't? I am always
+killing every one I come near; don't you know I have a terrible temper?"
+
+"I am hot-tempered, too," said the King, "and that horn I must have.
+I'll give you a hundred dollars for it, and besides I'll forgive you for
+cheating me out of my horse and for fooling me about the pot and the
+block, and all else."
+
+Peik was loth to part with it, but for his sake he would let him have
+it. And so the King went off home with it, and he hardly got back before
+he must try it.
+
+So he fell a-wrangling and quarreling with the queen and his eldest
+daughter, and they paid him back in the same coin; but before they knew
+what was happening he had whipped out his knife and cut their throats.
+They fell down stone dead and the other two daughters ran from the
+house, they were so afraid.
+
+The King walked about the floor for a while and kept chattering that
+there was no harm done so long as there was breath in him, and then he
+pulled out the horn and began to blow "Toot-e-too-too! Toot-e-too-too!"
+but, though he blew and tooted as hard as he could all that day and the
+next, too, he could not blow life into them again. Dead they were, and
+dead they stayed. But the people in the kingdom were only glad to get
+rid of such troll-folk, and were wishing some one might make an end of
+the King, too, so that they might have a good King in his place.
+
+But the King was now angrier than ever, and must go right off to kill
+Peik.
+
+But Peik knew that he was coming and then he said to his sister--
+
+"Now, you must change clothes with me and set off. If you will do that,
+you may have all we own."
+
+So, she changed clothes with him, packed up and started off as fast as
+she could; but Peik sat all alone in his sister's clothes.
+
+"Where is that Peik?" roared the King, as as he came, in a towering
+rage, through the door.
+
+"He has run away," said Peik. "He knew that your Majesty was coming, so
+he left me all alone without a morsel of bread or a penny in my purse,"
+and he made himself as gentle and sweet as a young lady.
+
+"Come along, then, to the King's palace, and you shall have enough to
+live on. There's no good sitting here and starving in this cabin by
+yourself," said the King.
+
+So Peik went home with the King, and there he was treated as the King's
+own daughter, for Miss Peik sewed and stitched and sang and played with
+the others, and was with them early and late.
+
+But one day a man came to the King and told him that Peik's sister was
+at a farm in the neighborhood, and that it was Peik he had brought up in
+his own house. Now, Peik had heard all that the man told the King, so he
+ran away from the King's palace, out into the wide world.
+
+The King got into a terrible rage then, and called for Peik, but he was
+nowhere to be found. Then he mounted his horse to go out to look for
+Peik.
+
+He had not gone far before he came to a ploughed field and there sat
+Peik on a stone, playing on a mouth organ.
+
+"What! Are you sitting there, Peik?" said the King.
+
+"Here I sit, sure enough," said Peik; "where else should I sit?"
+
+"You have cheated me foully time after time," said the King, "but now
+you must come along home with me, and I'll kill you."
+
+"Well, well," said Peik, "if it can't be helped, it can't; I suppose I
+must go along with you."
+
+When they got home to the King's palace they got ready a barrel which
+Peik was to be put in, and when it was ready they carted it up a high
+mountain. There he was to lie three days, thinking on all the evil he
+had done, then they were to roll him down the mountain into the sea.
+
+The third day a rich man passed by and when he heard Peik's story he was
+ready to help him out of his trouble.
+
+They made a stuffed man and put him with some stones into the
+barrel--but the rich man gave Peik horses and cows, sheep and swine, and
+money beside.
+
+Now, the King came to roll Peik down the mountain. "A happy journey!"
+said the King, "and now it is all over with you and your fooling rods."
+
+Before the barrel was halfway down the mountain there was not a whole
+stave of it left, nor would there have been a whole limb on Peik, had he
+been there. But when the King came back to the palace, Peik was there
+before him, and sat in the court-yard playing on his mouth organ.
+
+"What! You sitting here, you, Peik?"
+
+"Yes! Here I sit, sure enough. Where else should I sit?" said Peik.
+"Maybe I can get room here for all my horses and sheep and money."
+
+"But whither was it that I rolled you that you got all this wealth?"
+asked the King.
+
+"Oh, you rolled me into the sea," said Peik, "and when I got to the
+bottom there was more than enough and to spare, both of horses and
+sheep, and of gold and silver. The cattle went about in great flocks,
+and the gold and silver lay in large heaps as big as houses."
+
+"What will you take to roll me down the same way?" asked the King.
+
+"Oh," said Peik, "it costs little or nothing to do it. Besides, you took
+nothing from me, and so I'll take nothing from you either."
+
+So he stuffed the King into a barrel and rolled him over, and when he
+had given him a ride down to the sea for nothing, he went home to the
+King's palace.
+
+[Illustration: So he stuffed the King into the barrel and rolled him over]
+
+Then he began to hold his bridal feast with the youngest princess, and
+afterwards he ruled the land both well and long. But he kept his fooling
+rods to himself, and kept them so well that nothing was ever heard of
+Peik and his tricks, but only of "Ourself the King."
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS WHO COULD NOT BE SILENCED
+
+
+There was once a King, and he had a daughter who was so cross and
+crooked in her words that no one could silence her, and so he gave it
+out that he who could do it should marry the princess and have half the
+kingdom, too. There were plenty of those who wanted to try it, I can
+tell you, for it is not every day that you can get a princess and half a
+kingdom. The gate to the King's palace did not stand still a minute.
+They came in great crowds from the East and the West, both riding and
+walking. But there was not one of them who could silence the princess.
+
+At last the king had it given out that those who tried, and failed,
+should have both ears marked with the big redhot iron with which he
+marked his sheep. He was not going to have all that flurry and worry for
+nothing.
+
+Well, there were three brothers, who had heard about the princess, and,
+as they did not fare very well at home, they thought they had better set
+out to try their luck and see if they could not win the princess and
+half the kingdom. They were friends and good fellows, all three of them,
+and they set off together.
+
+When they had walked a bit of the way, Boots picked up something.
+
+"I've found--I've found something!" he cried.
+
+"What did you find!" asked the brothers.
+
+"I found a dead crow," said he.
+
+"Ugh! Throw it away! What would you do with that?" said the brothers,
+who always thought they knew a great deal.
+
+"Oh, I haven't much to carry, I might as well carry this," said Boots.
+
+So when they had walked on a bit, Boots again picked up something.
+
+"I've found--I've found something!" he cried.
+
+"What have you found now?" said the brothers.
+
+"I found a willow twig," said he.
+
+"Dear, what do you want with that? Throw it away!" said they.
+
+"Oh, I haven't much to carry, I might as well carry that," said Boots.
+
+So when they had walked a bit, Boots picked up something again. "Oh,
+lads, I've found--I've found something!" he cried.
+
+"Well, well, what did you find this time?" asked the brothers.
+
+"A piece of a broken saucer," said he.
+
+"Oh, what is the use of that? Throw it away!" said they.
+
+"Oh, I haven't much to carry, I might as well carry that," said Boots.
+
+And when they had walked a bit further, Boots stooped down again and
+picked up something else.
+
+"I've found--I've found something, lads!" he cried.
+
+"And what is it now?" said they.
+
+"Two goat horns," said Boots.
+
+"Oh! Throw them away. What could you do with them?" said they.
+
+"Oh, I haven't much to carry, I might as well carry them," said Boots.
+
+In a little while he found something again.
+
+"Oh, lads, see, I've found--I've found something," he cried.
+
+"Dear, dear, what wonderful things you do find! What is it now?" said
+the brothers.
+
+"I've found a wedge," said he.
+
+"Oh, throw it away. What do you want with that?" said they.
+
+"Oh, I haven't much to carry, I might as well carry that," said Boots.
+
+And now, as they walked over the fields close up to the King's palace,
+Boots bent down again and held something in his fingers.
+
+"Oh, lads, lads, see what I've found!" he cried.
+
+"If you only found a little common sense, it would be good for you,"
+said they. "Well, let's see what it is now."
+
+"A worn-out shoe sole," said he.
+
+"Pshaw! Well, that was something to pick up! Throw it away! What do you
+want with that?" said the brothers.
+
+"Oh, I haven't much to carry, I might as well carry that, if I am to win
+the princess and half the kingdom," said Boots.
+
+"Yes, you are likely to do that--you," said they.
+
+And now they came to the King's palace. The eldest one went in first.
+
+"Good-day," said he.
+
+"Good-day to you," said the princess, and she twisted and turned.
+
+"It's awfully hot here," said he.
+
+"It is hotter over there in the hearth," said the princess. There lay
+the red-hot iron ready awaiting. When he saw that he forgot every word
+he was going to say, and so it was all over with him.
+
+And now came the next oldest one.
+
+"Good-day," said he.
+
+"Good-day to you," said she, and she turned and twisted herself.
+
+"It's awfully hot here," said he.
+
+"It's hotter over there in the hearth," said she. And when he looked at
+the red-hot iron he, too, couldn't get a word out, and so they marked
+his ears and sent him home again.
+
+Then it was Boots' turn.
+
+"Good-day," said he.
+
+"Good-day to you," said she, and she twisted and turned again.
+
+"It's nice and warm in here," said Boots.
+
+"It's hotter in the hearth," said she, and she was no sweeter, now the
+third one had come.
+
+"That's good, I may bake my crow there, then?" asked he.
+
+"I'm afraid she'll burst," said the princess.
+
+"There's no danger; I'll wind this willow twig around," said the lad.
+
+"It's too loose," said she.
+
+"I'll stick this wedge in," said the lad, and took out the wedge.
+
+"The fat will drop off," said the princess.
+
+"I'll hold this under," said the lad, and pulled out the broken bit of
+the saucer.
+
+"You are crooked in your words, that you are," said the princess.
+
+"No, I'm not crooked, but this is crooked," said the lad, and he showed
+her the goat's horn.
+
+"Well, I never saw the equal to that!" cried the princess.
+
+"Oh, here is the equal to it," said he, and pulled out the other.
+
+"Now, you think you'll wear out my soul, don't you?" said she.
+
+"No, I won't wear out your soul, for I have a sole that's worn out
+already," said the lad, and pulled out the shoe sole.
+
+Then the princess hadn't a word to say.
+
+"Now, you're mine," said Boots.
+
+And so she was.
+
+
+
+
+THE TWELVE WILD DUCKS
+
+
+Once on a time there was a Queen who had twelve sons but no daughter.
+
+One day she was out driving in the woods and met the prettiest little
+lassie one ever did see, and so the Queen stopped her horses, lifted the
+child up in her arms, kissed her on both cheeks, all the while thinking:
+
+"I wish I had a little girl of my own, oh, how long I've waited and
+wished for one."
+
+Just then an old witch of the trolls came up to her, but you wouldn't
+have known it was a witch at all, she looked so kind and good.
+
+"A daughter you shall have," she said, "and she shall be the prettiest
+child in twelve kingdoms, if you will give to me what ever comes to meet
+you at the bridge."
+
+Now the Queen had a little snow white dog of which she was very fond,
+and it always ran to meet her when she had been away. She thought, of
+course, it was the dog the old dame wanted, so the Queen said, "Yes, you
+may have what comes to meet me on the bridge." With that she hurried
+home as fast as she could.
+
+But, who should come to meet her on the bridge but her twelve sons; and
+before the mother could cry out to them the wicked witch threw her spell
+upon them and turned them into twelve ducks which flapped their wings
+and flew away. Away they went and away they stayed.
+
+But the Queen had a daughter, and she was the loveliest child one ever
+set eyes upon. The Princess grew up, and she was both tall and fair, but
+she was often quiet and sorrowful, and no one could understand what it
+was that ailed her. The Queen, too, was often sorrowful, as you may
+believe, for she had many strange fears when she thought of her sons.
+And one day she said to her daughter, "Why are you so sorrowful, lassie
+mine? Is there anything you want? If so, only say the word, and you
+shall have it."
+
+"Oh, it seems so dull and lonely here," said the daughter, "every one
+else has brothers and sisters, but I am all alone; I have none. That's
+why I'm so sorrowful."
+
+"But you had brothers, my daughter," said the Queen; "I had twelve sons,
+stout, brave lads, but I lost them all when you came;" and so she told
+her the whole story.
+
+When the Princess heard that she had no rest; for she thought it was all
+her fault, and in spite of all the Queen could say or do, though she
+wept and prayed, the lassie would set off to seek her brothers. On and
+on she walked into the wide world, so far you would never have thought
+her small feet could have had strength to carry her so far.
+
+Finally, one day, when she was walking through a great, great wood, she
+felt tired, and sat down on a mossy tuft and fell asleep. Then she
+dreamt that she went deeper and deeper into the wood, till she came to a
+little wooden hut, and there she found her brothers. Just then she
+awoke, and straight before her she saw a worn path in the green moss.
+This path went deeper into the wood, so she followed it, and after a
+long time she came to just such a little wooden house as that she had
+seen in her dream.
+
+Now, when she went into the room there was no one at home, but there
+were twelve beds, and twelve chairs, and twelve spoons,--in short, a
+dozen of everything. When she saw that she was very glad; she had not
+been so glad for many a long year, for she could guess at once that her
+brothers lived there, and that they owned the beds and chairs and
+spoons. So she began to make up the fire, and sweep the room and make
+the beds and cook the dinner, and to make the house as tidy as she
+could.
+
+And when she had done all the work and the dinner was on the table she
+suddenly heard something flapping and whirling in the air, and she
+slipped behind the door. Then all the twelve ducks came sweeping in; but
+as soon as ever they crossed the threshold they became Princes.
+
+"Oh, how nice and warm it is here," they said, "Heaven bless him who
+made up the fire and cooked such a nice dinner for us."
+
+"But who can it be?" said the youngest Prince, and they all hunted both
+high and low until they found the lassie behind the door. And she threw
+her arms around their necks and said, "I'm your sister; I've gone about
+seeking you these three years, and if I could set you free, I'd
+willingly give my life."
+
+Then all the brothers looked sorrowfully, one at the other, and they
+shook their heads.
+
+"No, it's too hard," said the eldest Prince, looking at the pretty young
+Princess, "it's too hard," and again they sighed and shook their heads.
+
+"Oh, tell me, only tell me," said the Princess, "how can it be done, and
+I'll do it, whatever it be." And as she begged and pleaded for them to
+tell her, the youngest brother said at last, "You must pick thistledown,
+and you must card it, and spin it, and weave it. After you have done
+that, you must cut out and make twelve shirts, one for each of us, and
+while you do that, you must neither talk, nor laugh, nor weep. If you
+can do that we are free."
+
+"But where shall I ever get thistledown enough for so many shirts?"
+asked the sister.
+
+"Well, that is the hardest thing of all," said the eldest brother. "You
+must go to the witches' moor at midnight and gather it there," and big
+tears stood in his eyes, "and you must go alone, all alone."
+
+But the sister smiled and nodded her head, and when midnight came, and
+the moon was high in the sky she said good-bye to her brothers, and went
+to the great, wide moor, where the witches lived. There stood a great
+crop of thistles, all nodding and nodding in the breeze, while the down
+floated and glistened like gossamer through the air in the moonbeams.
+The Princess began to pluck and gather it as fast as she could, but she
+saw long skinny arms outstretched toward her, and, among the thistles,
+she saw a host of wicked faces all looking at her. Her heart stood still
+then and she grew icy cold, but never a sound did she utter, only
+plucked and gathered until her bag was full; and when she got home at
+break of day she set to work carding and spinning yarn from the down.
+
+[Illustration: The Princess began to pluck and gather as fast as she
+could]
+
+So she went on a long, long time picking down on the witches' moor,
+carding and spinning, and all the while keeping the house of the
+Princes, cooking, and making their beds. But she never talked, nor
+laughed, nor wept.
+
+At evening home the brothers came, flapping and whirring like wild
+ducks, and all night they were Princes, but in the morning off they flew
+again, and were wild ducks the whole day.
+
+But, it happened one night when she was out on the moor picking
+thistledown, that the young King who ruled that land was out hunting,
+and had lost his way. He had become separated from his companions, and
+now, as he came riding across the moor, he saw her. He stopped and
+wondered who the lovely lady could be that walked alone on the moor
+picking thistledown in the dead of the night; and he asked her name.
+Getting no answer, he was still more astonished, but he liked her so
+much, that at last nothing would do but he must take her home to his
+castle and marry her. So he took her and put her upon his horse. The
+Princess wrung her hands, and made signs to him, and pointed to the bags
+in which her work was, and when the King saw she wished to have them
+with her he took the bags and placed them behind them.
+
+When that was done the Princess, little by little, came to herself, for
+the King was both a wise man and a handsome man, and he was as gentle
+and kind to her as a mother. But when they reached the palace an old
+woman met them. She was the King's guardian, and when she set eyes on
+the Princess she became so cross and jealous of her, because she was so
+lovely, that she said to the King:
+
+"Can't you see now, that this thing whom you have picked up, and whom
+you are going to marry, is a witch? Why, she can neither talk nor laugh
+nor weep!"
+
+But the King did not care a straw for what she said. He held to the
+wedding and married the Princess, and they lived in great joy and glory.
+But the Princess didn't forget to go on working on her shirts, and she
+neither talked nor laughed nor wept. However, when she had spun and
+woven and cut, she found that she still had not enough cloth for the
+twelve shirts, and she needs must go to the witches' moor again.
+
+So that night while all the palace slept she quietly slipped out and
+walked off to pick her thistledown, but the old woman who was the King's
+guardian saw her, and she knew well where the young Queen was going, for
+I must tell you she was the same wicked witch who had changed the twelve
+Princes into wild ducks. She hurried to the King's chamber, woke him and
+said, "Now, come with me and I'll prove to you that your lovely Queen is
+a witch, who joins the wicked company on the moor at midnight." The King
+would not listen to her at first, but when he saw that the Queen's bed
+was empty, he got up and went with the old woman.
+
+And there upon the edge of the moor they stopped, but in the clear
+moonlight they could see the Queen among the horrid hags and trolls. The
+King turned away sadly and said not a word, for he loved his quiet Queen
+very much.
+
+But the wicked old woman began to whisper and tell abroad about the
+Queen's nightly visit to the moor, and at last the King's best men came
+to him and said, "We will not have a Queen who is a witch; the people
+demand of you that she be burnt alive."
+
+Then the King was so sad that there was no end to his sadness, for now
+he saw that he could not save her. He was obliged to order her to be
+burnt alive on a pile of wood. When the pile was all ablaze, and they
+were about to put her on it, she made signs to them to take twelve
+boards and lay them around the pile.
+
+On these she laid the shirts for her brothers all completed but that for
+the youngest, which lacked its left sleeve; she had not had time to
+finish it. And as soon as ever she had done that, they heard a flapping
+and whirring in the air, and down came twelve wild ducks from over the
+forest, and each snapped up his shirt in his bill and flew off with it.
+
+"See now!" said the old woman to the King, "wasn't I right when I told
+you she was a witch! Make haste and burn her before the pile burns low."
+
+"Oh!" said the King, "we've wood enough and to spare, and so I'll wait a
+bit, for I have a mind to see what the end of this will be."
+
+As he spoke up came the twelve Princes riding along, as handsome
+well-grown lads as you'd wish to see; but the youngest Prince had a wild
+duck's wing instead of his left arm. "What's all this about?" asked the
+Princes.
+
+"My Queen is to be burnt," said the King, "because she is a witch, so
+the people say, and I can't save her."
+
+"Speak now, sister," said the Princes, "you have set us free and saved
+us, now save yourself."
+
+Then the young Queen spoke and told the whole story, and the King and
+all the people listened with wonder and joy. Only the wicked old woman
+stood trembling with fear. And when the Queen had finished her story,
+the people took the old witch and bound her and burned her on the pile.
+
+But the King took his wife and the twelve Princes and went home with
+them to their father and mother, and told all that had befallen them.
+Then there was joy and gladness over the whole kingdom, because the
+wicked witch was dead and the Princes saved and set free, and because
+the lovely Princess had set free her twelve brothers.
+
+
+
+
+GUDBRAND-ON-THE-HILLSIDE
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a man whose name was Gudbrand. He had a farm
+which lay far, far away upon a hillside, and so they called him
+Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside.
+
+Now, you must know this man and his good wife lived so happily together,
+and understood one another so well, that all the husband did the wife
+thought so well done there was nothing like it in the world, and she was
+always pleased at whatever he turned his hand to. The farm was their own
+land, and they had a hundred dollars lying at the bottom of their chest
+and two cows tethered up in a stall in their farmyard.
+
+So one day his wife said to Gudbrand, "Do you know, dear, I think we
+ought to take one of our cows into town and sell it; that's what I
+think; for then we shall have some money in hand, and such well-to-do
+people as we ought to have ready money as other folks have. As for the
+hundred dollars in the chest yonder, we can't make a hole in our
+savings, and I'm sure I don't know what we want with more than one cow.
+
+"Besides, we shall gain a little in another way, for then I shall get
+off with only looking after one cow, instead of having, as now, to feed
+and litter and water two."
+
+Well, Gudbrand thought his wife talked right good sense, so he set off
+at once with the cow on the way to town to sell her; but when he got to
+the town, there was no one who would buy his cow.
+
+"Well, well, never mind," said Gudbrand, "at the worst, I can only go
+back home with my cow. I've both stable and tether for her, and the road
+is no farther out than in." And with that he began to toddle home with
+his cow.
+
+But when he had gone a bit of the way, a man met him who had a horse to
+sell. Gudbrand thought 'twas better to have a horse than a cow, so he
+traded with the man. A little farther on he met a man walking along and
+driving a fat pig before him, and he thought it better to have a fat pig
+than a horse, so he traded with the man. After that he went a little
+farther, and a man met him with a goat, so he thought it better to have
+a goat than a pig, and he traded with the man who owned the goat. Then
+he went on a good bit till he met a man who had a sheep, and he traded
+with him too, for he thought it always better to have a sheep than a
+goat. After a while he met a man with a goose, and he traded away the
+sheep for the goose; and when he had walked a long, long time, he met a
+man with a cock, and he traded with him, for he thought in this wise,
+"Tis surely better to have a cock than a goose."
+
+Then he went on till the day was far spent, and he began to get very
+hungry, so he sold the cock for a shilling, and bought food with the
+money, for, thought Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside, "Tis always better to save
+one's life than to have a cock."
+
+After that he went on homeward till he reached his nearest neighbor's
+house, where he turned in.
+
+"Well," said the owner of the house, "how did things go with you in
+town?"
+
+"Rather so-so," said Gudbrand, "I can't praise my luck, nor do I blame
+it either," and with that he told the whole story from first to last.
+
+"Ah!" said his friend, "you'll get nicely hauled over the coals, when
+you go home to your wife. Heaven help you, I wouldn't stand in your
+shoes for anything."
+
+"Well," said Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside, "I think things might have gone
+much worse with me; but now, whether I have done wrong or not, I have so
+kind a good wife she never has a word to say against anything that I
+do."
+
+"Oh!" answered his neighbor, "I hear what you say, but I don't believe
+it for all that."
+
+"And so you doubt it?" asked Gudbrand-on-the-Hillside.
+
+"Yes," said the friend, "I have a hundred crowns, at the bottom of my
+chest at home, I will give you if you can prove what you say."
+
+So Gudbrand stayed there till evening, when it began to get dark, and
+then they went together to his house, and the neighbor was to stand
+outside the door and listen, while the man went in to his wife.
+
+"Good evening!" said Gudbrand-on-the Hillside.
+
+"Good evening!" said the good wife. "Oh! is that you? Now, I am happy."
+
+Then the wife asked how things had gone with him in town.
+
+"Oh, only so-so," answered Gudbrand; "not much to brag of. When I got to
+town there was no one who would buy the cow, so you must know I traded
+it away for a horse."
+
+"For a horse," said his wife; "well that is good of you; thanks with all
+my heart. We are so well to do that we may drive to church, just as well
+as other people, and if we choose to keep a horse we have a right to get
+one, I should think." So, turning to her child she said, "Run out,
+deary, and put up the horse."
+
+"Ah!" said Gudbrand, "but you see I have not the horse after all, for
+when I got a bit farther on the road, I traded it for a pig."
+
+"Think of that, now!" said the wife. "You did just as I should have done
+myself; a thousand thanks! Now I can have a bit of bacon in the house to
+set before people when they come to see me, that I can. What do we want
+with a horse? People would only say we had got so proud that we couldn't
+walk to church. Go out, child, and put up the pig in the sty."
+
+"But I have not the pig either," said Gudbrand, "for when I got a little
+farther on, I traded it for a goat."
+
+"Dear me!" cried the wife, "how well you manage everything! Now I think
+it over, what should I do with a pig? People would only point at us and
+say 'Yonder they eat up all they have.' No, now I have a goat, and I
+shall have milk and cheese, and keep the goat too. Run out, child, and
+put up the goat."
+
+"Nay, but I haven't the goat either," said Gudbrand, "for a little
+farther on I traded it away and got a fine sheep instead!"
+
+"You don't say so!" cried his wife, "why, you do everything to please
+me, just as if I had been with you. What do we want with a goat? If I
+had it I should lose half my time in climbing up the hills to get it
+down. No, if I have a sheep, I shall have both wool and clothing, and
+fresh meat in the house. Run out, child, and put up the sheep."
+
+"But I haven't the sheep any more than the rest," said Gudbrand, "for
+when I got a bit farther, I traded it away for a goose."
+
+"Thank you, thank you, with all my heart," cried his wife, "what should
+I do with a sheep? I have no spinning wheel or carding comb, nor should
+I care to worry myself with cutting, and shaping, and sewing clothes. We
+can buy clothes now as we have always done; and now I shall have roast
+goose, which I have longed for so often; and, besides, down with which
+to stuff my little pillow. Run out, child, and put up the goose.
+
+"Well!" said Gudbrand, "I haven't the goose either; for when I had gone
+a bit farther I traded it for a cock."
+
+"Dear me!" cried his wife, "how you think of everything! just as I
+should have done myself. A cock! think of that! Why it's as good as an
+eight day clock, for every day the cock crows at four o'clock, and we
+shall be able to stir our stiff legs in good time. What should we do
+with a goose? I don't know how to cook it; and as for my pillow, I can
+stuff it with cotton grass. Run out, child, and put up the cock."
+
+"But after all, I haven't the cock either," said Gudbrand, "for when I
+had gone a bit farther, I became as hungry as a hunter, so I was forced
+to sell the cock for a shilling, for fear I should starve."
+
+"Now, God be praised that you did so!" cried his wife, "whatever you do,
+you do it always just after my own heart. What should we do with the
+cock? We are our own masters, I should think, and can lie abed in the
+morning as long as we like. Heaven be thanked that I have you safe back
+again; you who do everything so well, that I want neither cock nor
+goose; neither pigs nor kine."
+
+Then Gudbrand opened the door and said,--
+
+"Well, what do you say now? Have I won the hundred crowns?" and his
+neighbor was forced to admit that he had.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL
+
+
+Once on a time, there was a man who had a meadow, which lay high upon
+the hillside, 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 just go and sleep in the barn in the
+outlying field when St. John's night came, for it was no 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. 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 around until 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
+sat down to watch 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 as evening drew
+on, he walked up the hillside to the outlying field. There he went
+inside the barn and sat 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 sat a little
+while, he heard a noise as if a horse were standing just outside the
+barn door, and feeding on 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 armor 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?"
+
+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. Then 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 sit long in the barn, even if you had the heart to go as far
+as the field."
+
+"Well," said Boots, "all I can say is, I sat in the barn till the sun
+rose."
+
+"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 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 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 larger and finer than that which came the
+year before, and it had a saddle on its back, and a bridle on its head,
+and a full suit of mail for a knight lay by its side, all of silver, and
+as splendid as you would wish to see.
+
+"Ho, ho!" said Boots to himself; "it's you that gobbles up our hay, is
+it?" And with that he took the steel out of his tinder box, and threw it
+over the horse's crest; then it 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 hay field."
+
+"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 still hadn't the
+heart to sit out in the barn and watch the grass, for they had got so
+scared at heart the night they sat there before, that they couldn't get
+over the fright. But Boots dared to go; and the very same thing happened
+this time that 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 sat a little while, he heard something cropping away at the grass
+outside the barn, so he stole again to the door chink, and peeped out,
+and there stood a horse outside--far, far bigger and more beautiful than
+the two he had taken before. It had a saddle on its back, a bridle on
+its head, and a full suit of mail for a knight lay by its side--all of
+gold, all more splendid than anything you ever saw.
+
+[Illustration: So he caught up the steel and threw it over the horse]
+
+"Ho, ho!" said the lad to himself, "it's you, is it, that comes here
+eating up our hay? I'll soon stop that." So he caught up his steel, and
+threw it over the 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 offer the
+king had posted 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 loved her. 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 besides; 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 every one in the country who could even
+crawl along was off to the hill, for they all were eager to see the man
+who was to win the Princess. Thus 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 fellow, 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."
+
+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; 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 so the knights had
+to give up trying any more.
+
+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 a 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 that 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 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,--
+
+"Ah, how I wish that he might come up and go 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.
+
+The next day, all the princes and knights began to ride again, and you
+may fancy they had taken care to shoe their horses well; but it was no
+use,--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. 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 stop, 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 around 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 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 the hill of glass, he rode off so fast that no one could see what
+became of him.
+
+At even, 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.
+
+The third day everything happened as it had happened the two days
+before. There was no one who could get so much as a yard up the hill;
+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 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's 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 two 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 this wide world."
+
+Next day all the knights and princes were to pass before the king and
+the Princess--that he who had the gold apple might bring it forth; but
+one came after another, first the princes, 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 that
+we all saw with our own eyes, how a man came and rode up and bore it
+off."
+
+So he commanded that everyone who was in the kingdom should come up to
+the palace and see if he 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 dust-hole 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 he came.
+
+"How, now," said the king; "have you 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 HUSBAND WHO WAS TO MIND THE HOUSE
+
+
+Once on a time there was a man so mean and cross that he never thought
+his wife did anything right in the house. So one evening in hay-making
+time he came home scolding and tearing, and showing his teeth and making
+a fuss.
+
+"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."
+
+The husband thought that would do very well. He was quite willing, he
+said.
+
+So, early next morning his goody took a scythe on her shoulders, 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 grew thirsty and went down to the cellar to tap a barrel of
+ale. So, just when he 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 grunting and rooting
+in the cream which was running all over the floor, he became 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 died 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 its stall, and had not had a mouthful to eat or a
+drop to drink all the morning, though the sun was high. Then he thought
+it was 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 their house lay close up
+against a steep rock, and he thought if he laid a plank across to the
+roof at the back, he'd easily get the cow up.
+
+But still he could not leave the churn, for there was their little babe
+crawling about the floor, and, "If I leave it," he thought, "the child
+is sure to upset it."
+
+So he took the churn on his back and went out with it. Then he thought
+he'd better water the cow before he turned her out on the thatch, and he
+took up a bucket to draw water out of the well. But, as he stooped down
+at the brink of the well, all the cream ran out of the churn over his
+shoulders, about his neck, and down into the well.
+
+Now it was near dinner time, and he had not even got butter yet. So he
+thought he'd best boil the porridge, and he 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 waist. 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 housetop 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 halfway 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE FREDDY WITH HIS FIDDLE
+
+
+Once there was a farmer who had an only son. The lad had had very poor
+health so he could not go out to work in the field.
+
+His name was Freddy, but, since he remained such a wee bit of a fellow,
+they called him Little Freddy. At home there was but little to eat and
+nothing at all to burn, so his father went about the country trying to
+get the boy a place as cowherd or errand boy; but there was no one who
+would take the weakly little lad till they came to the sheriff. He was
+ready to take him, for he had just sent off his errand boy, and there
+was no one who would fill his place, for everybody knew the sheriff was
+a great miser.
+
+But the farmer thought it was better there than nowhere; he would get
+his food, for all the pay he was to get was his board--there was nothing
+said about wages or clothes. When the lad had served three years he
+wanted to leave, and the sheriff gave him all his wages at one time. He
+was to have a penny a year. "It couldn't well be less," said the
+sheriff. And so he got three pence in all.
+
+As for Little Freddy, he thought it was a great sum, for he had never
+owned so much; but, for all that, he asked if he wasn't to have anything
+for clothes, for those he had on were worn to rags. He had not had any
+new ones since he came to the sheriff's three years ago.
+
+"You have what we agreed on," said the sheriff, "and three whole pennies
+besides. I have nothing more to do with you. Be off!"
+
+So Little Freddy went into the kitchen and got a little food in his
+knapsack, and after that he set off on the road to buy himself more
+clothes. He was both merry and glad, for he had never seen a penny
+before, and every now and then he felt in his pockets as he went along
+to see if he had them all three. So, when he had gone far and farther
+than far, he got up on top of the mountains. He was not strong on his
+legs, and had to rest every now and then, and then he counted and
+counted how many pennies he had. And now he came to a great plain
+overgrown with moss. There he sat down and began to see if his money was
+all right. Suddenly a beggarman appeared before him, so tall and big
+that when he got a good look at him and saw his height and length, the
+lad began to scream and screech.
+
+"Don't you be afraid," said the beggarman, "I'll do you no harm, I came
+only to beg you for a penny."
+
+"Dear me!" said the lad, "I have only three pennies, and with them I was
+going to town to buy clothes."
+
+"It is worse for me than for you," said the beggarman, "I have not one
+penny, and I am still more ragged than you."
+
+"Well, that is so; you shall have it," said the lad.
+
+When he had walked on a while, he grew weary again, and sat down to
+rest. Suddenly another beggarman stood before him, and this one was
+still taller and uglier than the first. When the lad saw how very tall
+and ugly and long he was, he began to scream again.
+
+"Now, don't you be afraid of me," said the beggar, "I'll do you no harm.
+I came only to beg for a penny."
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear!" said the lad. "I have only two pennies, and with
+them I was going to the town to buy clothes. If I had only met you
+sooner, then--"
+
+"It's worse for me than for you," said the beggarman. "I have no penny,
+and a bigger body and less clothing."
+
+"Well, you may have it," said the lad. So he went away farther, till he
+got weary, and then he sat down to rest; but he had scarcely sat down
+when a third beggarman came to him. This one was so tall and ugly and
+long that the lad had to look up and up, right up to the sky. And when
+he took him all in with his eyes, and saw how very, very tall and ugly
+and ragged he was, he fell a-screeching and screaming again.
+
+[Illustration: The lad had to look up, right up into the sky]
+
+"Now, don't you be afraid of me, my lad," said the beggarman, "I'll do
+you no harm, for I am only a beggarman, who begs you for a penny."
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear!" said the lad. "I have only one penny left, and with
+it I was going to the town to buy clothes. If I had only met you sooner,
+then--"
+
+"As for that," said the beggarman, "I have no penny at all, that I
+haven't, and a bigger body and less clothes, so it is worse for me than
+for you."
+
+"Yes," said Little Freddy, "he must have the penny then--there was no
+help for it; for so each beggarman would have one penny, and he would
+have nothing."
+
+"Well," said the beggarman, "since you have such a good heart that you
+gave away all that you had in the world, I will give you a wish for each
+penny." For you must know it was the same beggarman who had got them all
+three; he had only changed his shape each time, that the lad might not
+know him again.
+
+"I have always had such a longing to hear a fiddle go, and see folk so
+merry and glad that they couldn't help dancing," said the lad; "and so
+if I may wish what I choose, I will wish myself such a fiddle, that
+everything that has life must dance to its tune."
+
+"That you may have," said the beggarman, "but it is a sorry wish. You
+must wish something better for the other two pennies."
+
+"I have always had such a love for hunting and shooting," said Little
+Freddy; "so if I may wish what I choose, I will wish myself such a gun
+that I shall hit everything I aim at, were it ever so far off."
+
+"That you may have," said the beggarman, "but it is a sorry wish too.
+You must wish better for the last penny."
+
+"I have always had a longing to be in company with folks who were kind
+and good," said Little Freddy; "and so, if I could get what I wish, I
+would wish it to be so that no one can say 'Nay' to the first thing I
+ask."
+
+"That wish is not so sorry," said the beggarman; and off he strode
+between the hills, and Freddy saw him no more.
+
+So the lad lay down to sleep, and the next day he came down from the
+mountain with his fiddle and his gun. First he went to the storekeeper
+and asked for clothes. Next at a farm he asked for a horse, and at a
+second for a sleigh; and at another place he asked for a fur coat. No
+one said him "Nay"--even the stingiest folk were all forced to give him
+what he asked for. At last he went through the country as a fine
+gentleman, and had his horse and his sleigh. When he had gone a bit he
+met the sheriff whose servant he had been.
+
+"Good day, master," said Little Freddy, as he pulled up and took off his
+hat.
+
+"Good day," said the sheriff, "but when was I ever your master?"
+
+"Oh yes," said Little Freddy, "don't you remember how I served you three
+years for three pence?"
+
+"My goodness, now!" said the sheriff, "you have grown rich in a hurry,
+and pray, how was it that you got to be such a fine gentleman?"
+
+"Oh, that is a long story," said Little Freddy.
+
+"And are you so full of fun that you carry a fiddle about with you?"
+asked the sheriff.
+
+"Yes, yes," said Freddy. "I have always had such a longing to get folk
+to dance. But the funniest thing of all is this gun, for it brings down
+almost anything that I aim at, however far it may be off. Do you see
+that magpie yonder, sitting in the spruce fir? What will you give me if
+I hit it as we stand here?"
+
+"Well," said the sheriff, and he laughed when he said it, "I'll give you
+all the money I have in my pocket, and I'll go and fetch it when it
+falls," for he never thought it possible for any gun to carry so far.
+
+But as the gun went off down fell the magpie, and into a great bramble
+thicket; and away went the sheriff up into the bramble after it, and he
+picked it up and held it up high for the lad to see. But just then
+Little Freddy began to play his fiddle, and the sheriff began to dance,
+and the thorns to tear him; but still the lad played on, and the sheriff
+danced, and cried, and begged, till his clothes flew to tatters, and he
+scarce had a thread to his back.
+
+"Yes," said Little Freddy, "now I think you're about as ragged as I was
+when I left your service; so now you may get off with what you have."
+
+But first the sheriff had to pay him all the money that he had in his
+pocket.
+
+So when the lad came to town he turned into an inn, and there he began
+to play, and all who came danced and laughed and were merry, and so the
+lad lived without any care, for all the folks liked him and no one would
+say "Nay" to anything he asked.
+
+But one evening just as they were all in the midst of their fun, up came
+the watchmen to drag the lad off to the town hall; for the sheriff had
+laid a charge against him, and said he had waylaid him and robbed him
+and nearly taken his life. And now he was to be hanged. The people would
+hear of nothing else. But Little Freddy had a cure for all trouble, and
+that was his fiddle. He began to play on it, and the watchmen fell
+a-dancing and they danced and they laughed till they gasped for breath.
+
+So soldiers and the guard were sent to take him, but it was no better
+with them than with the watchmen. When Little Freddy played his fiddle,
+they were all bound to dance; and dance as long as he could lift a
+finger to play a tune; but they were half dead long before he was tired.
+
+At last they stole a march on him, and took him while he lay asleep by
+night. Now that they had caught him they could condemn him to be hanged
+on the spot, and away they hurried him to the gallows tree.
+
+There a great crowd of people flocked together to see this wonder, and
+the sheriff too was there. He was glad to get even at last for the money
+and the clothes he had lost, and to see the lad hanged with his own
+eyes.
+
+And here came Little Freddy, carrying his fiddle and his gun. Slowly he
+mounted the steps of the gallows,--and when he got to the top he sat
+down, and asked if they could deny him a wish, and if he might have
+leave to do one thing? He had such a longing, he said, to scrape a tune
+and play a bar on his fiddle before they hanged him.
+
+"No, no," they said; "it were sin and shame to deny him that." For you
+know, no one could say "Nay" to what he asked.
+
+But the sheriff begged them not to let him have leave to touch a string,
+else it would be all over with them altogether. If the lad leave, he
+begged them to bind him to the birch that stood there.
+
+Little Freddy was not slow in getting his fiddle to speak, and all that
+were there fell a-dancing at once, those who went on two legs, and those
+who went on four. Both the dean and the parson, the lawyer and the
+sheriff, masters and men, dogs and pigs--they all danced and laughed and
+barked and squealed at one another. Some danced till they lay down and
+gasped, some danced till they fell in a swoon. It went badly with all of
+them, but worst of all with the sheriff; for there he stood bound to the
+birch, and he danced till he scraped the clothes off his back. I dare
+say it was a sorry looking sight and a sore back.
+
+But there was not one of them who thought of doing anything to Little
+Freddy, and away he went with his fiddle and his gun, whither he chose,
+and he lived merrily and happily all his days, for there was no one who
+could say "Nay" to the first thing he asked for.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of East O' the Sun and West O' the Moon, by 
+Gudrun Thorne-Thomsen
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