{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_30973/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_30973","id":"gutenberg_30973","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30973","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Fairy tales -- Norway","Folklore -- Norway","Tales -- Norway"],"text":"Produced by Suzanne Shell, Dan Horwood and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: He too saw the image in the water; but he looked up at\nonce, and became aware of the lovely Lassie who sate there up in the\ntree. Page 70]\n\n\n\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\n  EAST OF THE SUN AND\n  WEST OF THE MOON\n\n  OLD TALES FROM THE NORTH\n\n\n  ILLUSTRATED BY\n  KAY NIELSEN\n\n\n  NEW YORK\n  GEORGE H DORAN COMPANY\n\n\n\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nA folk-tale, in its primitive plainness of word and entire absence of\ncomplexity in thought, is peculiarly sensitive and susceptible to the\ntouch of stranger hands; and he who has been able to acquaint himself\nwith the _Norske Folkeeventyr_ of Asbj\u00f6rnsen and Moe (from which these\nstories are selected), has an advantage over the reader of an English\nrendering. Of this advantage Mr. Kay Nielsen has fully availed\nhimself: and the exquisite _bizarrerie_ of his drawings aptly\nexpresses the innermost significance of the old-world, old-wives'\nfables. For to term these legends, Nursery Tales, would be to curtail\nthem, by nine-tenths, of their interest. They are the romances of the\nchildhood of Nations: they are the never-failing springs of sentiment,\nof sensation, of heroic example, from which primeval peoples drank\ntheir fill at will.\n\nThe quaintness, the tenderness, the grotesque yet realistic\nintermingling of actuality with supernaturalism, by which the\noriginal _Norske Folkeeventyr_ are characterised, will make an appeal\nto all, as represented in the pictures of Kay Nielsen. And these\nimperishable traditions, whose bases are among the very roots of all\nantiquity, are here reincarnated in line and colour, to the delight of\nall who ever knew or now shall know them.\n\nPermission to reprint the Stories in this book, which originally\nappeared in Sir G. W. Dasent's \"Popular Tales from the Norse,\" has\nbeen obtained from Messrs. George Routledge & Sons, Ltd. THE THREE\nPRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN is printed by arrangement with Messrs.\nDavid Nutt; and PRINCE LINDWORM is newly translated for this volume.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                  PAGE\n  EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON                               9\n  THE BLUE BELT                                                     29\n  PRINCE LINDWORM                                                   53\n  THE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER                                      65\n  THE HUSBAND WHO WAS TO MIND THE HOUSE                             75\n  THE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND                                79\n  THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND                                 85\n  SORIA MORIA CASTLE                                                97\n  THE GIANT WHO HAD NO HEART IN HIS BODY                           117\n  THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL                                   131\n  THE WIDOW'S SON                                                  149\n  THE THREE BILLY GOATS GRUFF                                      167\n  THE THREE PRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN                        171\n  THE CAT ON THE DOVREFELL                                         200\n  ONE'S OWN CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PRETTIEST                          203\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  EAST OF THE SUN AND\n  WEST OF THE MOON\n                                                                  Page\n    \"Well, mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and\n        then there's nothing to fear,\" said the Bear, so\n        she rode a long, long way                                    9\n    \"Tell me the way, then,\" she said, \"and I'll search\n        you out\"                                                    16\n    And then she lay on a little green patch in the\n        midst of the gloomy thick wood                              24\n    The North Wind goes over the sea                                32\n    And flitted away as far as they could from the\n        Castle that lay East of the Sun and West of the\n        Moon                                                        40\n\n  THE BLUE BELT\n\n    The Lad in the Bear's skin, and the King of Arabia's\n        daughter                                                    48\n\n  PRINCE LINDWORM\n\n    She saw the Lindworm for the first time, as he came\n        in and stood by her side                                    56\n\n  THE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER\n\n    She could not help setting the door a little ajar,\n        just to peep in, when--Pop! out flew the Moon               64\n    Then he coaxed her down and took her home                       72\n    \"Here are your children; now you shall have them\n        again. I am the Virgin Mary\"                                80\n    He too saw the image in the water; but he looked up\n        at once, and became aware of the lovely Lassie\n        who sate there up in the tree                     FRONTISPIECE\n\n  THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND\n\n    \"You'll come to three Princesses, whom you will see\n        standing in the earth up to their necks, with\n        only their heads out\"                                       88\n    So the man gave him a pair of snow shoes                        96\n    The King went into the Castle, and at first his\n        Queen didn't know him, he was so wan and thin,\n        through wandering so far and being so woeful               104\n\n  THE GIANT WHO HAD\n  NO HEART IN HIS BODY\n\n    The six brothers riding out to woo                             112\n    \"On that island stands a church; in that church is a\n        well; in that well swims a duck\"                           120\n    He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and\n        when he got out of the Giant's door, there stood\n        the Wolf waiting for him                                   128\n\n  THE WIDOW'S SON\n\n    When he had walked a day or so, a strange man met\n        him. \"Whither away?\" asked the man                         136\n    But still the Horse begged him to look behind him              144\n    And this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay\n        the lad, so lovely, and white and red, just as\n        the Princess had seen him in the morning sun               152\n    The Lad in the Battle                                          160\n\n  THE THREE PRINCESSES\n  IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN\n\n    Just as they bent down to take the rose a big dense\n        snowdrift came and carried them away                       168\n    The Troll was quite willing, and before long he fell\n        asleep and began snoring                                   176\n    As soon as they tugged at the rope, the Captain and\n        the Lieutenant pulled up the Princesses, the one\n        after the other                                            184\n    No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing\n        and a whirring from all quarters, and such a\n        large flock of birds swept down that they\n        blackened all the field in which they settled              192\n\n\n\n\nEAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a poor husbandman who had so many children\nthat he hadn't much of either food or clothing to give them. Pretty\nchildren they all were, but the prettiest was the youngest daughter,\nwho was so lovely there was no end to her loveliness.\n\nSo one day, 'twas on a Thursday evening late at the fall of the year,\nthe weather was so wild and rough outside, and it was so cruelly dark,\nand rain fell and wind blew, till the walls of the cottage shook\nagain. There they all sat round the fire, busy with this thing and\nthat. But just then, all at once something gave three taps on the\nwindow-pane. Then the father went out to see what was the matter; and,\nwhen he got out of doors, what should he see but a great big _White\nBear_.\n\n\"Good-evening to you!\" said the _White Bear_.\n\n\"The same to you!\" said the man.\n\n\"Will you give me your youngest daughter? If you will, I'll make you\nas rich as you are now poor,\" said the _Bear_.\n\nWell, the man would not be at all sorry to be so rich; but still he\nthought he must have a bit of a talk with his daughter first; so he\nwent in and told them how there was a great _White Bear_ waiting\noutside, who had given his word to make them so rich if he could only\nhave the youngest daughter.\n\nThe lassie said \"No!\" outright. Nothing could get her to say anything\nelse; so the man went out and settled it with the _White Bear_ that he\nshould come again the next Thursday evening and get an answer.\nMeantime he talked his daughter over, and kept on telling her of all\nthe riches they would get, and how well off she would be herself; and\nso at last she thought better of it, and washed and mended her rags,\nmade herself as smart as she could, and was ready to start. I can't\nsay her packing gave her much trouble.\n\n[Illustration: \"Well, mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and then\nthere's nothing to fear,\" said the Bear, so she rode a long, long way.]\n\nNext Thursday evening came the _White Bear_ to fetch her, and she got\nupon his back with her bundle, and off they went. So, when they had\ngone a bit of the way, the _White Bear_ said:\n\n\"Are you afraid?\"\n\n\"No,\" she wasn't.\n\n\"Well! mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and then there's\nnothing to fear,\" said the _Bear_.\n\nSo she rode a long, long way, till they came to a great steep hill.\nThere, on the face of it, the _White Bear_ gave a knock, and a door\nopened, and they came into a castle where there were many rooms all\nlit up; rooms gleaming with silver and gold; and there, too, was a\ntable ready laid, and it was all as grand as grand could be. Then the\n_White Bear_ gave her a silver bell; and when she wanted anything, she\nwas only to ring it, and she would get it at once.\n\nWell, after she had eaten and drunk, and evening wore on, she got\nsleepy after her journey, and thought she would like to go to bed, so\nshe rang the bell; and she had scarce taken hold of it before she came\ninto a chamber where there was a bed made, as fair and white as any\none would wish to sleep in, with silken pillows and curtains and gold\nfringe. All that was in the room was gold or silver; but when she had\ngone to bed and put out the light, a man came and laid himself\nalongside her. That was the _White Bear_, who threw off his beast\nshape at night; but she never saw him, for he always came after she\nhad put out the light, and before the day dawned he was up and off\nagain. So things went on happily for a while, but at last she began to\nget silent and sorrowful; for there she went about all day alone, and\nshe longed to go home to see her father and mother and brothers and\nsisters. So one day, when the _White Bear_ asked what it was that she\nlacked, she said it was so dull and lonely there, and how she longed\nto go home to see her father and mother and brothers and sisters, and\nthat was why she was so sad and sorrowful, because she couldn't get to\nthem.\n\n\"Well, well!\" said the _Bear_, \"perhaps there's a cure for all this;\nbut you must promise me one thing, not to talk alone with your mother,\nbut only when the rest are by to hear; for she'll take you by the hand\nand try to lead you into a room alone to talk; but you must mind and\nnot do that, else you'll bring bad luck on both of us.\"\n\nSo one Sunday the _White Bear_ came and said, now they could set off\nto see her father and mother. Well, off they started, she sitting on\nhis back; and they went far and long. At last they came to a grand\nhouse, and there her brothers and sisters were running about out of\ndoors at play, and everything was so pretty, 'twas a joy to see.\n\n\"This is where your father and mother live now,\" said the _White\nBear_; \"but don't forget what I told you, else you'll make us both\nunlucky.\"\n\n\"No! bless her, she'd not forget;\"--and when she had reached the\nhouse, the _White Bear_ turned right about and left her.\n\nThen, when she went in to see her father and mother, there was such\njoy, there was no end to it. None of them thought they could thank her\nenough for all she had done for them. Now, they had everything they\nwished, as good as good could be, and they all wanted to know how she\ngot on where she lived.\n\nWell, she said, it was very good to live where she did; she had all\nshe wished. What she said beside I don't know, but I don't think any\nof them had the right end of the stick, or that they got much out of\nher. But so, in the afternoon, after they had done dinner, all\nhappened as the _White Bear_ had said. Her mother wanted to talk with\nher alone in her bedroom; but she minded what the _White Bear_ had\nsaid, and wouldn't go upstairs.\n\n\"Oh! what we have to talk about will keep!\" she said, and put her\nmother off. But, somehow or other, her mother got round her at last,\nand she had to tell her the whole story. So she said, how every night\nwhen she had gone to bed a man came and lay down beside her as soon as\nshe had put out the light; and how she never saw him, because he was\nalways up and away before the morning dawned; and how she went about\nwoeful and sorrowing, for she thought she should so like to see him;\nand how all day long she walked about there alone; and how dull and\ndreary and lonesome it was.\n\n\"My!\" said her mother; \"it may well be a Troll you slept with! But now\nI'll teach you a lesson how to set eyes on him. I'll give you a bit of\ncandle, which you can carry home in your bosom; just light that while\nhe is asleep, but take care not to drop the tallow on him.\"\n\nYes! she took the candle and hid it in her bosom, and as night drew\non, the _White Bear_ came and fetched her away.\n\nBut when they had gone a bit of the way, the _White Bear_ asked if all\nhadn't happened as he had said.\n\n\"Well, she couldn't say it hadn't.\"\n\n\"Now, mind,\" said he, \"if you have listened to your mother's advice,\nyou have brought bad luck on us both, and then, all that has passed\nbetween us will be as nothing.\"\n\n\"No,\" she said, \"she hadn't listened to her mother's advice.\"\n\nSo when she reached home, and had gone to bed, it was the old story\nover again. There came a man and lay down beside her; but at dead of\nnight, when she heard he slept, she got up and struck a light, lit the\ncandle, and let the light shine on him, and so she saw that he was the\nloveliest _Prince_ one ever set eyes on, and she fell so deep in love\nwith him on the spot, that she thought she couldn't live if she didn't\ngive him a kiss there and then. And so she did; but as she kissed him,\nshe dropped three hot drops of tallow on his shirt, and he woke up.\n\n\"What have you done?\" he cried; \"now you have made us both unlucky,\nfor had you held out only this one year, I had been freed. For I have\na step-mother who has bewitched me, so that I am a _White Bear_ by\nday, and a _Man_ by night. But now all ties are snapt between us; now\nI must set off from you to her. She lives in a Castle which stands\n_East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and there, too, is a\n_Princess_, with a nose three ells long, and she's the wife I must\nhave now.\"\n\nShe wept and took it ill, but there was no help for it; go he must.\n\nThen she asked if she mightn't go with him.\n\nNo, she mightn't.\n\n\"Tell me the way, then,\" she said, \"and I'll search you out; _that_\nsurely I may get leave to do.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Tell me the way, then,\" she said, \"and I'll search you\nout.\"]\n\n\"Yes,\" she might do that, he said; \"but there was no way to that\nplace. It lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and thither\nshe'd never find her way.\"\n\nSo next morning, when she woke up, both _Prince_ and castle were gone,\nand then she lay on a little green patch, in the midst of the gloomy\nthick wood, and by her side lay the same bundle of rags she had\nbrought with her from her old home.\n\n[Illustration: And then she lay on a little green patch in the midst of\nthe gloomy thick wood.]\n\nSo when she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and wept till she\nwas tired, she set out on her way, and walked many, many days, till\nshe came to a lofty crag. Under it sat an old hag, and played with a\ngold apple which she tossed about. Here the lassie asked if she knew\nthe way to the Prince, who lived with his step-mother in the Castle,\nthat lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and who was to marry\nthe _Princess_ with a nose three ells long.\n\n\"How did you come to know about him?\" asked the old hag; \"but maybe\nyou are the lassie who ought to have had him?\"\n\nYes, she was.\n\n\"So, so; it's you, is it?\" said the old hag. \"Well, all I know about\nhim is, that he lives in the castle that lies _East of the Sun and\nWest of the Moon_, and thither you'll come, late or never; but still\nyou may have the loan of my horse, and on him you can ride to my next\nneighbour. Maybe she'll be able to tell you; and when you get there,\njust give the horse a switch under the left ear, and beg him to be off\nhome; and, stay, this gold apple you may take with you.\"\n\nSo she got upon the horse, and rode a long, long time, till she came\nto another crag, under which sat another old hag, with a gold\ncarding-comb. Here the lassie asked if she knew the way to the castle\nthat lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, and she answered,\nlike the first old hag, that she knew nothing about it, except it was\neast of the sun and west of the moon.\n\n\"And thither you'll come, late or never, but you shall have the loan\nof my horse to my next neighbour; maybe she'll tell you all about it;\nand when you get there, just switch the horse under the left ear, and\nbeg him to be off home.\"\n\nAnd this old hag gave her the golden carding-comb; it might be she'd\nfind some use for it, she said. So the lassie got up on the horse, and\nrode a far, far way, and a weary time; and so at last she came to\nanother great crag, under which sat another old hag, spinning with a\ngolden spinning-wheel. Her, too, she asked if she knew the way to the\n_Prince_, and where the castle was that lay _East of the Sun and West\nof the Moon_. So it was the same thing over again.\n\n\"Maybe it's you who ought to have had the _Prince_?\" said the old\nhag.\n\nYes, it was.\n\nBut she, too, didn't know the way a bit better than the other two.\n\"East of the sun and west of the moon it was,\" she knew--that was\nall.\n\n\"And thither you'll come, late or never; but I'll lend you my horse,\nand then I think you'd best ride to the East Wind and ask him; maybe\nhe knows those parts, and can blow you thither. But when you get to\nhim, you need only give the horse a switch under the left ear, and\nhe'll trot home of himself.\"\n\nAnd so, too, she gave her the gold spinning-wheel. \"Maybe you'll find\na use for it,\" said the old hag.\n\nThen on she rode many many days, a weary time, before she got to the\nEast Wind's house, but at last she did reach it, and then she asked\nthe East Wind if he could tell her the way to the _Prince_ who dwelt\neast of the sun and west of the moon. Yes, the East Wind had often\nheard tell of it, the _Prince_ and the castle, but he couldn't tell\nthe way, for he had never blown so far.\n\n\"But, if you will, I'll go with you to my brother the West Wind, maybe\nhe knows, for he's much stronger. So, if you will just get on my\nback, I'll carry you thither.\"\n\nYes, she got on his back, and I should just think they went briskly\nalong.\n\nSo when they got there, they went into the West Wind's house, and the\nEast Wind said the lassie he had brought was the one who ought to have\nhad the _Prince_ who lived in the castle _East of the Sun and West of\nthe Moon_; and so she had set out to seek him, and how he had come\nwith her, and would be glad to know if the West Wind knew how to get\nto the castle.\n\n\"Nay,\" said the West Wind, \"so far I've never blown; but if you will,\nI'll go with you to our brother the South Wind, for he's much stronger\nthan either of us, and he has flapped his wings far and wide. Maybe\nhe'll tell you. You can get on my back, and I'll carry you to him.\"\n\nYes! she got on his back, and so they travelled to the South Wind, and\nweren't so very long on the way, I should think.\n\nWhen they got there, the West Wind asked him if he could tell her the\nway to the castle that lay _East of the Sun and West of the Moon_, for\nit was she who ought to have had the _Prince_ who lived there.\n\n\"You don't say so! That's she, is it?\" said the South Wind.\n\n\"Well, I have blustered about in most places in my time, but so far\nhave I never blown; but if you will, I'll take you to my brother the\nNorth Wind; he is the oldest and strongest of the whole lot of us, and\nif he don't know where it is, you'll never find any one in the world\nto tell you. You can get on my back, and I'll carry you thither.\"\n\nYes! she got on his back, and away he went from his house at a fine\nrate. And this time, too, she wasn't long on her way.\n\nSo when they got to the North Wind's house, he was so wild and cross,\ncold puffs came from him a long way off.\n\n\"BLAST YOU BOTH, WHAT DO YOU WANT?\" he roared out to them ever so far\noff, so that it struck them with an icy shiver.\n\n\"Well,\" said the South Wind, \"you needn't be so foul-mouthed, for here\nI am, your brother, the South Wind, and here is the lassie who ought\nto have had the _Prince_ who dwells in the castle that lies _East of\nthe Sun and West of the Moon_, and now she wants to ask you if you\never were there, and can tell her the way, for she would be so glad to\nfind him again.\"\n\n\"YES, I KNOW WELL ENOUGH WHERE IT IS,\" said the North Wind; \"once in\nmy life I blew an aspen-leaf thither, but, I was so tired I couldn't\nblow a puff for ever so many days, after. But if you really wish to go\nthither, and aren't afraid to come along with me, I'll take you on my\nback and see if I can blow you thither.\"\n\nYes! with all her heart; she must and would get thither if it were\npossible in any way; and as for fear, however madly he went, she\nwouldn't be at all afraid.\n\n\"Very well, then,\" said the North Wind, \"but you must sleep here\nto-night, for we must have the whole day before us, if we're to get\nthither at all.\"\n\nEarly next morning the North Wind woke her, and puffed himself up, and\nblew himself out, and made himself so stout and big, 'twas gruesome to\nlook at him; and so off they went high up through the air, as if they\nwould never stop till they got to the world's end.\n\nDown here below there was such a storm; it threw down long tracts of\nwood and many houses, and when it swept over the great sea, ships\nfoundered by hundreds.\n\n[Illustration: The North Wind goes over the sea.]\n\nSo they tore on and on--no one can believe how far they went--and all\nthe while they still went over the sea, and the North Wind got more\nand more weary, and so out of breath he could scarce bring out a puff,\nand his wings drooped and drooped, till at last he sunk so low that\nthe crests of the waves dashed over his heels.\n\n\"Are you afraid?\" said the North Wind.\n\n\"No!\" she wasn't.\n\nBut they weren't very far from land; and the North Wind had still so\nmuch strength left in him that he managed to throw her up on the shore\nunder the windows of the castle which lay _East of the Sun and West of\nthe Moon_; but then he was so weak and worn out, he had to stay there\nand rest many days before he could get home again.\n\nNext morning the lassie sat down under the castle window, and began to\nplay with the gold apple; and the first person she saw was the\n_Long-nose_ who was to have the _Prince_.\n\n\"What do you want for your gold apple, you lassie?\" said the\n_Long-nose_, and threw up the window.\n\n\"It's not for sale, for gold or money,\" said the lassie.\n\n\"If it's not for sale for gold or money, what is it that you will sell\nit for? You may name your own price,\" said the _Princess_.\n\n\"Well! if I may get to the _Prince_, who lives here, and be with him\nto-night, you shall have it,\" said the lassie whom the North Wind had\nbrought.\n\nYes! she might; that could be done. So the _Princess_ got the gold\napple; but when the lassie came up to the _Prince's_ bed-room at night\nhe was fast asleep; she called him and shook him, and between whiles\nshe wept sore; but all she could do she couldn't wake him up. Next\nmorning, as soon as day broke, came the _Princess_ with the long nose,\nand drove her out again.\n\nSo in the daytime she sat down under the castle windows and began to\ncard with her carding-comb, and the same thing happened. The\n_Princess_ asked what she wanted for it; and she said it wasn't for\nsale for gold or money, but if she might get leave to go up to the\n_Prince_ and be with him that night, the _Princess_ should have it.\nBut when she went up she found him fast asleep again, and all she\ncalled, and all she shook, and wept, and prayed, she couldn't get life\ninto him; and as soon as the first gray peep of day came, then came\nthe _Princess_ with the long nose, and chased her out again.\n\nSo, in the daytime, the lassie sat down outside under the castle\nwindow, and began to spin with her golden spinning-wheel, and that,\ntoo, the _Princess_ with the long nose wanted to have. So she threw up\nthe window and asked what she wanted for it. The lassie said, as she\nhad said twice before, it wasn't for sale for gold or money; but if\nshe might go up to the _Prince_ who was there, and be with him alone\nthat night, she might have it.\n\nYes! she might do that and welcome. But now you must know there were\nsome Christian folk who had been carried off thither, and as they sat\nin their room, which was next the _Prince_, they had heard how a woman\nhad been in there, and wept and prayed, and called to him two nights\nrunning, and they told that to the _Prince_.\n\nThat evening, when the _Princess_ came with her sleepy drink, the\n_Prince_ made as if he drank, but threw it over his shoulder, for he\ncould guess it was a sleepy drink. So, when the lassie came in, she\nfound the _Prince_ wide awake; and then she told him the whole story\nhow she had come thither.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the _Prince_, \"you've just come in the very nick of time,\nfor to-morrow is to be our wedding-day; but now I won't have the\n_Long-nose_, and you are the only woman in the world who can set me\nfree. I'll say I want to see what my wife is fit for, and beg her to\nwash the shirt which has the three spots of tallow on it; she'll say\nyes, for she doesn't know 'tis you who put them there; but that's a\nwork only for Christian folk, and not for such a pack of Trolls, and\nso I'll say that I won't have any other for my bride than the woman\nwho can wash them out, and ask you to do it.\"\n\nSo there was great joy and love between them all that night. But next\nday, when the wedding was to be, the _Prince_ said:\n\n\"First of all, I'd like to see what my bride is fit for.\"\n\n\"Yes!\" said the step-mother, with all her heart.\n\n\"Well,\" said the _Prince_, \"I've got a fine shirt which I'd like for\nmy wedding shirt, but somehow or other it has got three spots of\ntallow on it, which I must have washed out; and I have sworn never to\ntake any other bride than the woman who's able to do that. If she\ncan't, she's not worth having.\"\n\nWell, that was no great thing they said, so they agreed, and she with\nthe long-nose began to wash away as hard as she could, but the more\nshe rubbed and scrubbed, the bigger the spots grew.\n\n\"Ah!\" said the old hag, her mother, \"you can't wash; let me try.\"\n\nBut she hadn't long taken the shirt in hand before it got far worse\nthan ever, and with all her rubbing, and wringing, and scrubbing, the\nspots grew bigger and blacker, and the darker and uglier was the\nshirt.\n\nThen all the other Trolls began to wash, but the longer it lasted, the\nblacker and uglier the shirt grew, till at last it was as black all\nover as if it had been up the chimney.\n\n\"Ah!\" said the _Prince_, \"you're none of you worth a straw; you can't\nwash. Why there, outside, sits a beggar lassie, I'll be bound she\nknows how to wash better than the whole lot of you. COME IN, LASSIE!\"\nhe shouted.\n\nWell, in she came.\n\n\"Can you wash this shirt clean, lassie you?\" said he.\n\n\"I don't know,\" she said, \"but I think I can.\"\n\nAnd almost before she had taken it and dipped it in the water, it was\nas white as driven snow, and whiter still.\n\n\"Yes; you are the lassie for me,\" said the _Prince_.\n\nAt that the old hag flew into such a rage, she burst on the spot, and\nthe _Princess_ with the long nose after her, and the whole pack of\nTrolls after her--at least I've never heard a word about them since.\n\nAs for the _Prince_ and _Princess_, they set free all the poor\nChristian folk who had been carried off and shut up there; and they\ntook with them all the silver and gold, and flitted away as far as\nthey could from the Castle that lay _East of the Sun and West of the\nMoon_.\n\n[Illustration: And flitted away as far as they could from the Castle that\nlay East of the Sun and West of the Moon.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLUE BELT\n\n\nOnce on a time there was an old beggar-woman, who had gone out to beg.\nShe had a little lad with her, and when she had got her bag full she\nstruck across the hills towards her own home. So when they had gone a\nbit up the hill-side, they came upon a little _Blue Belt_ which lay\nwhere two paths met, and the lad asked his mother's leave to pick it\nup.\n\n\"No,\" said she, \"maybe there's witchcraft in it;\" and so with threats\nshe forced him to follow her. But when they had gone a bit further,\nthe lad said he must turn aside a moment out of the road; and\nmeanwhile his mother sat down on a tree-stump. But the lad was a long\ntime gone, for as soon as he got so far into the wood that the old\ndame could not see him, he ran off to where the _Belt_ lay, took it\nup, tied it round his waist, and lo! he felt as strong as if he could\nlift the whole hill. When he got back, the old dame was in a great\nrage, and wanted to know what he had been doing all that while. \"You\ndon't care how much time you waste, and yet you know the night is\ndrawing on, and we must cross the hill before it is dark!\" So on they\ntramped; but when they had got about half-way, the old dame grew\nweary, and said she must rest under a bush.\n\n\"Dear mother,\" said the lad, \"mayn't I just go up to the top of this\nhigh crag while you rest, and try if I can't see some sign of folk\nhereabouts?\"\n\nYes! he might do that; so when he had got to the top he saw a light\nshining from the north. So he ran down and told his mother.\n\n\"We must get on, mother; we are near a house, for I see a bright light\nshining quite close to us in the north.\" Then she rose and shouldered\nher bag, and set off to see; but they hadn't gone far, before there\nstood a steep spur of the hill, right across their path.\n\n\"Just as I thought!\" said the old dame, \"now we can't go a step\nfarther; a pretty bed we shall have here!\"\n\nBut the lad took the bag under one arm, and his mother under the\nother, and ran straight up the steep crag with them.\n\n\"Now, don't you see? Don't you see that we are close to a house? Don't\nyou see that bright light?\"\n\nBut the old dame said those were no Christian folk, but _Trolls_, for\nshe was at home in all that forest far and near, and knew there was\nnot a living soul in it, until you were well over the ridge and had\ncome down on the other side. But they went on, and in a little while\nthey came to a great house which was all painted red.\n\n\"What's the good?\" said the old dame. \"We daren't go in, for here the\n_Trolls_ live.\"\n\n\"Don't say so; we must go in. There must be men where the lights shine\nso,\" said the lad. So in he went, and his mother after him, but he had\nscarce opened the door before she swooned away, for there she saw a\ngreat stout man, at least twenty feet high, sitting on the bench.\n\n\"Good evening, grandfather!\" said the lad.\n\n\"Well, here I've sat three hundred years,\" said the man who sat on the\nbench, \"and no one has ever come and called me grandfather before.\"\nThen the lad sat down by the man's side, and began to talk to him as\nif they had been old friends.\n\n\"But what's come over your mother?\" said the man, after they had\nchatted a while. \"I think she swooned away; you had better look after\nher.\"\n\nSo the lad went and took hold of the old dame, and dragged her up the\nhall along the floor. That brought her to herself, and she kicked and\nscratched, and flung herself about, and at last sat down upon a heap\nof firewood in the corner; but she was so frightened that she scarce\ndared to look one in the face.\n\nAfter a while, the lad asked if they could spend the night there.\n\n\"Yes, to be sure,\" said the man.\n\nSo they went on talking again, but the lad soon got hungry, and wanted\nto know if they could get food as well as lodging.\n\n\"Of course,\" said the man, \"that might be got too.\" And after he had\nsat a while longer, he rose up and threw six loads of dry pitch-pine\non the fire. This made the old hag still more afraid.\n\n\"Oh! now he's going to roast us alive,\" she said, in the corner where\nshe sat.\n\nAnd when the wood had burned down to glowing embers, up got the man\nand strode out of his house.\n\n\"Heaven bless and help us! what a stout heart you have got!\" said the\nold dame. \"Don't you see we have got amongst _Trolls_?\"\n\n\"Stuff and nonsense!\" said the lad; \"no harm if we have.\"\n\nIn a little while, back came the man with an ox so fat and big, the\nlad had never seen its like, and he gave it one blow with his fist\nunder the ear, and down it fell dead on the floor. When that was done,\nhe took it up by all the four legs and laid it on the glowing embers,\nand turned it and twisted it about till it was burnt brown outside.\nAfter that, he went to a cupboard and took out a great silver dish,\nand laid the ox on it; and the dish was so big that none of the ox\nhung over on any side. This he put on the table, and then he went down\ninto the cellar and fetched a cask of wine, knocked out the head, and\nput the cask on the table, together with two knives, which were each\nsix feet long. When this was done he bade them go and sit down to\nsupper and eat. So they went, the lad first and the old dame after,\nbut she began to whimper and wail, and to wonder how she should ever\nuse such knives. But her son seized one, and began to cut slices out\nof the thigh of the ox, which he placed before his mother. And when\nthey had eaten a bit, he took up the cask with both hands, and lifted\nit down to the floor; then he told his mother to come and drink, but\nit was still so high she couldn't reach up to it; so he caught her up,\nand held her up to the edge of the cask while she drank; as for\nhimself, he clambered up and hung down like a cat inside the cask\nwhile he drank. So when he had quenched his thirst, he took up the\ncask and put it back on the table, and thanked the man for the good\nmeal, and told his mother to come and thank him too, and, a-feared\nthough she was, she dared do nothing else but thank the man. Then the\nlad sat down again alongside the man and began to gossip, and after\nthey had sat a while the man said:\n\n\"Well! I must just go and get a bit of supper too;\" and so he went to\nthe table and ate up the whole ox--hoofs, and horns, and all--and\ndrained the cask to the last drop, and then went back and sat on the\nbench.\n\n\"As for beds,\" he said, \"I don't know what's to be done. I've only got\none bed and a cradle; but we could get on pretty well if you would\nsleep in the cradle, and then your mother might lie in the bed\nyonder.\"\n\n\"Thank you kindly, that'll do nicely,\" said the lad; and with that he\npulled off his clothes and lay down in the cradle; but, to tell you\nthe truth, it was quite as big as a four-poster. As for the old dame,\nshe had to follow the man who showed her to bed, though she was out of\nher wits for fear.\n\n\"Well!\" thought the lad to himself, \"'twill never do to go to sleep\nyet. I'd best lie awake and listen how things go as the night wears\non.\"\n\nSo, after a while, the man began to talk to the old dame, and at last\nhe said:\n\n\"We two might live here so happily together, could we only be rid of\nthis son of yours.\"\n\n\"But do you know how to settle him? Is that what you're thinking of?\"\nsaid she.\n\n\"Nothing easier,\" said he; at any rate he would try. He would just say\nhe wished the old dame would stay and keep house for him a day or two,\nand then he would take the lad out with him up the hill to quarry\ncorner-stones, and roll down a great rock on him. All this the lad lay\nand listened to.\n\nNext day the _Troll_--for it was a _Troll_ as clear as day--asked if\nthe old dame would stay and keep house for him a few days; and as the\nday went on he took a great iron crowbar, and asked the lad if he had\na mind to go with him up the hill and quarry a few corner-stones. With\nall his heart, he said, and went with him; and so, after they had\nsplit a few stones, the _Troll_ wanted him to go down below and look\nafter cracks in the rock; and while he was doing this the _Troll_\nworked away, and wearied himself with his crowbar till he moved a\nwhole crag out of its bed, which came rolling right down on the place\nwhere the lad was; but he held it up till he could get on one side,\nand then let it roll on.\n\n\"Oh!\" said the lad to the _Troll_, \"now I see what you mean to do with\nme. You want to crush me to death; so just go down yourself and look\nafter the cracks and refts in the rock, and I'll stand up above.\"\n\nThe _Troll_ did not dare to do otherwise than the lad bade him, and\nthe end of it was that the lad rolled down a great rock, which fell\nupon the _Troll_ and broke one of his thighs.\n\n\"Well! you _are_ in a sad plight,\" said the lad, as he strode down,\nlifted up the rock, and set the man free. After that he had to put him\non his back and carry him home; so he ran with him as fast as a horse,\nand shook him so that the _Troll_ screamed and screeched as if a knife\nwere run into him. And when he got home, they had to put the _Troll_\nto bed, and there he lay in a sad pickle.\n\nWhen the night wore on, the _Troll_ began to talk to the old dame\nagain, and to wonder how ever they could be rid of the lad.\n\n\"Well,\" said the old dame, \"if you can't hit on a plan to get rid of\nhim, I'm sure I can't.\"\n\n\"Let me see,\" said the _Troll_; \"I've got twelve lions in a garden; if\nthey could only get hold of the lad, they'd soon tear him to pieces.\"\n\nSo the old dame said it would be easy enough to get him there. She\nwould sham sick, and say she felt so poorly, nothing would do her any\ngood but lion's milk. All that the lad lay and listened to; and when\nhe got up in the morning his mother said she was worse than she\nlooked, and she thought she should never be right again unless she\ncould get some lion's milk.\n\n\"Then I'm afraid you'll be poorly a long time, mother,\" said the lad,\n\"for I'm sure I don't know where any is to be got.\"\n\n\"Oh! if that be all,\" said the _Troll_, \"there's no lack of lion's\nmilk, if we only had the man to fetch it;\" and then he went on to say\nhow his brother had a garden with twelve lions in it, and how the lad\nmight have the key if he had a mind to milk the lions. So the lad took\nthe key and a milking pail, and strode off; and when he unlocked the\ngate and got into the garden, there stood all the twelve lions on\ntheir hind-paws, rampant and roaring at him. But the lad laid hold of\nthe biggest, and led him about by the fore-paws, and dashed him\nagainst stocks and stones till there wasn't a bit of him left but the\ntwo paws. So when the rest saw that, they were so afraid that they\ncrept up and lay at his feet like so many curs. After that they\nfollowed him about wherever he went, and when he got home, they lay\ndown outside the house, with their fore-paws on the door sill.\n\n\"Now, mother, you'll soon be well,\" said the lad, when he went in,\n\"for here is the lion's milk.\"\n\nHe had just milked a drop in the pail.\n\nBut the _Troll_, as he lay in bed, swore it was all a lie. He was sure\nthe lad was not the man to milk lions.\n\nWhen the lad heard that, he forced the _Troll_ to get out of bed,\nthrew open the door, and all the lions rose up and seized the _Troll_,\nand at last the lad had to make them leave their hold.\n\nThat night the _Troll_ began to talk to the old dame again. \"I'm sure\nI can't tell how to put this lad out of the way--he is so awfully\nstrong; can't you think of some way?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the old dame, \"if you can't tell, I'm sure I can't.\"\n\n\"Well!\" said the _Troll_, \"I have two brothers in a castle; they are\ntwelve times as strong as I am, and that's why I was turned out and\nhad to put up with this farm. They hold that castle, and round it\nthere is an orchard with apples in it, and whoever eats those apples\nsleeps for three days and three nights. If we could only get the lad\nto go for the fruit, he wouldn't be able to keep from tasting the\napples, and as soon as ever he fell asleep my brothers would tear him\nin pieces.\"\n\nThe old dame said she would sham sick, and say she could never be\nherself again unless she tasted those apples; for she had set her\nheart on them.\n\nAll this the lad lay and listened to.\n\nWhen the morning came the old dame was so poorly that she couldn't\nutter a word but groans and sighs. She was sure she should never be\nwell again, unless she had some of those apples that grew in the\norchard near the castle where the man's brothers lived; only she had\nno one to send for them.\n\nOh! the lad was ready to go that instant; but the eleven lions went\nwith him. So when he came to the orchard, he climbed up into the apple\ntree and ate as many apples as he could, and he had scarce got down\nbefore he fell into a deep sleep; but the lions all lay round him in a\nring. The third day came the _Troll's_ brothers, but they did not\ncome in man's shape. They came snorting like man-eating steeds, and\nwondered who it was that dared to be there, and said they would tear\nhim to pieces, so small that there should not be a bit of him left.\nBut up rose the lions and tore the _Trolls_ into small pieces, so that\nthe place looked as if a dung heap had been tossed about it; and when\nthey had finished the _Trolls_ they lay down again. The lad did not\nwake till late in the afternoon, and when he got on his knees and\nrubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he began to wonder what had been\ngoing on, when he saw the marks of hoofs. But when he went towards the\ncastle, a maiden looked out of a window who had seen all that had\nhappened, and she said:\n\n\"You may thank your stars you weren't in that tussle, else you must\nhave lost your life.\"\n\n\"What! I lose my life! No fear of that, I think,\" said the lad.\n\nSo she begged him to come in, that she might talk with him, for she\nhadn't seen a Christian soul ever since she came there. But when she\nopened the door the lions wanted to go in too, but she got so\nfrightened that she began to scream, and so the lad let them lie\noutside. Then the two talked and talked, and the lad asked how it\ncame that she, who was so lovely, could put up with those ugly\n_Trolls_. She never wished it, she said; 'twas quite against her will.\nThey had seized her by force, and she was the King of Arabia's\ndaughter. So they talked on, and at last she asked him what he would\ndo; whether she should go back home, or whether he would have her to\nwife. Of course he would have her, and she shouldn't go home.\n\nAfter that they went round the castle, and at last they came to a\ngreat hall, where the _Trolls'_ two great swords hung high up on the\nwall.\n\n\"I wonder if you are man enough to wield one of these,\" said the\n_Princess_.\n\n\"Who? I?\" said the lad. \"'Twould be a pretty thing if I couldn't wield\none of these.\"\n\nWith that he put two or three chairs one a-top of the other, jumped\nup, and touched the biggest sword with his finger tips, tossed it up\nin the air, and caught it again by the hilt; leapt down, and at the\nsame time dealt such a blow with it on the floor that the whole hall\nshook. After he had thus got down, he thrust the sword under his arm\nand carried it about with him.\n\nSo, when they had lived a little while in the castle, the _Princess_\nthought she ought to go home to her parents, and let them know what\nhad become of her; so they loaded a ship, and she set sail from the\ncastle.\n\nAfter she had gone, and the lad had wandered about a little, he called\nto mind that he had been sent out on an errand thither, and had come\nto fetch something for his mother's health; and though he said to\nhimself, \"After all the old dame was not so bad but she's all right by\nthis time\"--still he thought he ought to go and just see how she was.\nSo he went and found both the man and his mother quite fresh and\nhearty.\n\n\"What wretches you are to live in this beggarly hut,\" said the lad.\n\"Come with me up to my castle, and you shall see what a fine fellow I\nam.\"\n\nWell! they were both ready to go, and on the way his mother talked to\nhim, and asked how it was he had got so strong.\n\n\"If you must know it came of that blue belt which lay on the hill-side\nthat time when you and I were out begging,\" said the lad.\n\n\"Have you got it still?\" asked she.\n\n\"Yes\"--he had. It was tied round his waist.\n\n\"Might she see it?\"\n\n\"Yes\"--she might; and with that he pulled open his waistcoat and shirt\nto show it to her.\n\nThen she seized it with both hands, tore it off, and twisted it round\nher fist.\n\n\"Now,\" she cried, \"what shall I do with such a wretch as you? I'll\njust give you one blow, and dash your brains out!\"\n\n\"Far too good a death for such a scamp,\" said the _Troll_. \"No! let's\nfirst burn out his eyes, and then turn him adrift in a little boat.\"\n\nSo they burned out his eyes and turned him adrift, in spite of his\nprayers and tears; but, as the boat drifted, the lions swam after, and\nat last they laid hold of it and dragged it ashore on an island, and\nplaced the lad under a fir tree. They caught game for him, and they\nplucked the birds and made him a bed of down; but he was forced to eat\nhis meat raw and he was blind. At last, one day the biggest lion was\nchasing a hare which was blind, for it ran straight over stock and\nstone, and the end was, it ran right up against a fir-stump and\ntumbled head over heels across the field right into a spring; but lo!\nwhen it came out of the spring it saw its way quite plain, and so\nsaved its life.\n\n\"So, so!\" thought the lion, and went and dragged the lad to the\nspring, and dipped him over head and ears in it. So, when he had got\nhis sight again, he went down to the shore and made signs to the lions\nthat they should all lie close together like a raft; then he stood\nupon their backs while they swam with him to the mainland. When he had\nreached the shore he went up into a birchen copse, and made the lions\nlie quiet. Then he stole up to the castle, like a thief, to see if he\ncouldn't lay hands on his belt; and when he got to the door, he peeped\nthrough the keyhole, and there he saw his belt hanging up over a door\nin the kitchen. So he crept softly in across the floor, for there was\nno one there; but as soon as he had got hold of the belt, he began to\nkick and stamp about as though he were mad. Just then his mother came\nrushing out:\n\n\"Dear heart, my darling little boy! do give me the belt again,\" she\nsaid.\n\n\"Thank you kindly,\" said he. \"Now you shall have the doom you passed\non me,\" and he fulfilled it on the spot. When the old _Troll_ heard\nthat, he came in and begged and prayed so prettily that he might not\nbe smitten to death.\n\n\"Well, you may live,\" said the lad, \"but you shall undergo the same\npunishment you gave me;\" and so he burned out the _Troll's_ eyes, and\nturned him adrift on the sea in a little boat, but he had no lions to\nfollow him.\n\nNow the lad was all alone, and he went about longing and longing for\nthe _Princess_; at last he could bear it no longer; he must set out to\nseek her, his heart was so bent on having her. So he loaded four ships\nand set sail for Arabia.\n\nFor some time they had fair wind and fine weather, but after that they\nlay wind-bound under a rocky island. So the sailors went ashore and\nstrolled about to spend the time, and there they found a huge egg,\nalmost as big as a little house. So they began to knock it about with\nlarge stones, but, after all, they couldn't crack the shell. Then the\nlad came up with his sword to see what all the noise was about, and\nwhen he saw the egg, he thought it a trifle to crack it; so he gave it\none blow and the egg split, and out came a chicken as big as an\nelephant.\n\n\"Now we have done wrong,\" said the lad; \"this can cost us all our\nlives;\" and then he asked his sailors if they were men enough to sail\nto Arabia in four-and-twenty hours if they got a fine breeze. Yes!\nthey were good to do that, they said, so they set sail with a fine\nbreeze, and got to Arabia in three-and-twenty hours. As soon as they\nlanded, the lad ordered all the sailors to go and bury themselves up\nto the eyes in a sandhill, so that they could barely see the ships.\nThe lad and the captains climbed a high crag and sate down under a\nfir.\n\nIn a little while came a great bird flying with an island in its\nclaws, and let it fall down on the fleet, and sunk every ship. After\nit had done that, it flew up to the sandhill and flapped its wings, so\nthat the wind nearly took off the heads of the sailors, and it flew\npast the fir with such force that it turned the lad right about, but\nhe was ready with his sword, and gave the bird one blow and brought it\ndown dead.\n\nAfter that he went to the town, where every one was glad because the\n_King_ had got his daughter back; but now the _King_ had hidden her\naway somewhere himself, and promised her hand as a reward to any one\nwho could find her, and this though she was betrothed before. Now as\nthe lad went along he met a man who had white bear-skins for sale, so\nhe bought one of the hides and put it on; and one of the captains was\nto take an iron chain and lead him about, and so he went into the town\nand began to play pranks. At last the news came to the _King's_ ears,\nthat there never had been such fun in the town before, for here was a\nwhite bear that danced and cut capers just as it was bid. So a\nmessenger came to say the bear must come to the castle at once, for\nthe _King_ wanted to see its tricks. So when it got to the castle\nevery one was afraid, for such a beast they had never seen before; but\nthe captain said there was no danger unless they laughed at it. They\nmustn't do that, else it would tear them to pieces. When the _King_\nheard that, he warned all the court not to laugh. But while the fun\nwas going on, in came one of the _King's_ maids, and began to laugh\nand make game of the bear, and the bear flew at her and tore her, so\nthat there was scarce a rag of her left. Then all the court began to\nbewail, and the captain most of all.\n\n\"Stuff and nonsense,\" said the _King_; \"she's only a maid, besides\nit's more my affair than yours.\"\n\nWhen the show was over, it was late at night. \"It's no good your going\naway, when it's so late,\" said the _King_. \"The bear had best sleep\nhere.\"\n\n\"Perhaps it might sleep in the ingle by the kitchen fire,\" said the\ncaptain.\n\n\"Nay,\" said the _King_, \"it shall sleep up here, and it shall have\npillows and cushions to sleep on.\" So a whole heap of pillows and\ncushions was brought, and the captain had a bed in a side room.\n\nBut at midnight the _King_ came with a lamp in his hand and a big\nbunch of keys, and carried off the white bear. He passed along gallery\nafter gallery through doors and rooms, up-stairs and down-stairs, till\nat last he came to a pier which ran out into the sea. Then the _King_\nbegan to pull and haul at posts and pins, this one up and that one\ndown, till at last a little house floated up to the water's edge.\nThere he kept his daughter, for she was so dear to him that he had hid\nher, so that no one could find her out. He left the white bear outside\nwhile he went in and told her how it had danced and played its pranks.\nShe said she was afraid, and dared not look at it; but he talked her\nover, saying there was no danger if she only wouldn't laugh. So they\nbrought the bear in, and locked the door, and it danced and played\nits tricks; but just when the fun was at its height, the _Princess's_\nmaid began to laugh. Then the lad flew at her and tore her to bits,\nand the _Princess_ began to cry and sob.\n\n\"Stuff and nonsense,\" cried the _King_; \"all this fuss about a maid!\nI'll get you just as good a one again. But now I think the bear had\nbest stay here till morning, for I don't care to have to go and lead\nit along all those galleries and stairs at this time of night.\"\n\n\"Well!\" said the _Princess_, \"if it sleeps here, I'm sure I won't.\"\n\n[Illustration: The Lad in the Bear's skin, and the King of Arabia's\ndaughter.]\n\nBut just then the bear curled himself up and lay down by the stove;\nand it was settled at last that the _Princess_ should sleep there too,\nwith a light burning. But as soon as the _King_ had well gone, the\nwhite bear came and begged her to undo his collar. The _Princess_ was\nso scared she almost swooned away; but she felt about till she found\nthe collar, and she had scarce undone it before the bear pulled his\nhead off. Then she knew him again, and was so glad there was no end to\nher joy, and she wanted to tell her father at once that her deliverer\nwas come. But the lad would not hear of it; he would earn her once\nmore, he said. So in the morning when they heard the _King_ rattling\nat the posts outside, the lad drew on the hide and lay down by the\nstove.\n\n\"Well, has it lain still?\" the king asked.\n\n\"I should think so,\" said the _Princess_; \"it hasn't so much as turned\nor stretched itself once.\"\n\nWhen they got up to the castle again, the captain took the bear and\nled it away, and then the lad threw off the hide, and went to a tailor\nand ordered clothes fit for a prince; and when they were fitted on he\nwent to the _King_, and said he wanted to find the _Princess_.\n\n\"You're not the first who has wished the same thing,\" said the _King_,\n\"but they have all lost their lives; for if any one who tries can't\nfind her in four-and-twenty hours his life is forfeited.\"\n\nYes; the lad knew all that. Still he wished to try, and if he\ncouldn't find her, 'twas his look-out. Now in the castle there was a\nband that played sweet tunes, and there were fair maids to dance with,\nand so the lad danced away.\n\nWhen twelve hours were gone, the _King_ said:\n\n\"I pity you with all my heart. You're so poor a hand at seeking; you\nwill surely lose your life.\"\n\n\"Stuff!\" said the lad; \"while there's life there's hope! So long as\nthere's breath in the body there's no fear; we have lots of time!\" and\nso he went on dancing till there was only one hour left.\n\nThen he said he would begin to search.\n\n\"It's no use now,\" said the _King_; \"time's up.\"\n\n\"Light your lamp; out with your big bunch of keys,\" said the lad, \"and\nfollow me whither I wish to go. There is still a whole hour left.\"\n\nSo the lad went the same way which the _King_ had led him the night\nbefore, and he bade the _King_ unlock door after door till they came\ndown to the pier which ran out into the sea.\n\n\"It's all no use, I tell you,\" said the _King_; \"time's up, and this\nwill only lead you right out into the sea.\"\n\n\"Still five minutes more,\" said the lad, as he pulled and pushed at\nthe posts and pins, and the house floated up.\n\n\"Now the time is up,\" bawled the _King_; \"come hither, headsman, and\ntake off his head.\"\n\n\"Nay, nay!\" said the lad; \"stop a bit, there are still three minutes!\nOut with the key, and let me get into this house.\"\n\nBut there stood the _King_ and fumbled with his keys, to draw out the\ntime. At last he said he hadn't any key.\n\n\"Well, if you haven't, I _have_,\" said the lad, as he gave the door\nsuch a kick that it flew to splinters inwards on the floor.\n\nAt the door the _Princess_ met him, and told her father this was her\ndeliverer, on whom her heart was set. So she had him; and this was how\nthe beggar boy came to marry the daughter of the King of Arabia.\n\n\n\n\nPRINCE LINDWORM\n\n\nOnce upon a time, there was a fine young _King_ who was married to the\nloveliest of Queens. They were exceedingly happy, all but for one\nthing--they had no children. And this often made them both sad,\nbecause the _Queen_ wanted a dear little child to play with, and the\n_King_ wanted an heir to the kingdom.\n\nOne day the _Queen_ went out for a walk by herself, and she met an\nugly old woman. The old woman was just like a witch: but she was a\nnice kind of witch, not the cantankerous sort. She said, \"Why do you\nlook so doleful, pretty lady?\" \"It's no use my telling you,\" answered\nthe _Queen_, \"nobody in the world can help me.\" \"Oh, you never know,\"\nsaid the old woman. \"Just you let me hear what your trouble is, and\nmaybe I can put things right.\"\n\n\"My dear woman, how can you?\" said the _Queen_: and she told her, \"The\n_King_ and I have no children: that's why I am so distressed.\" \"Well,\nyou needn't be,\" said the old witch. \"I can set that right in a\ntwinkling, if only you will do exactly as I tell you. Listen.\nTo-night, at sunset, take a little drinking-cup with two ears\" (that\nis, handles), \"and put it bottom upwards on the ground in the\nnorth-west corner of your garden. Then go and lift it up to-morrow\nmorning at sunrise, and you will find two roses underneath it, one red\nand one white. If you eat the red rose, a little boy will be born to\nyou: if you eat the white rose, a little girl will be sent. But,\nwhatever you do, you mustn't eat _both_ the roses, or you'll be\nsorry,--that I warn you! Only one: remember that!\" \"Thank you a\nthousand times,\" said the _Queen_, \"this is good news indeed!\" And she\nwanted to give the old woman her gold ring; but the old woman wouldn't\ntake it.\n\nSo the _Queen_ went home and did as she had been told: and next\nmorning at sunrise she stole out into the garden and lifted up the\nlittle drinking-cup. She _was_ surprised, for indeed she had hardly\nexpected to see anything. But there were the two roses underneath it,\none red and one white. And now she was dreadfully puzzled, for she did\nnot know which to choose. \"If I choose the red one,\" she thought, \"and\nI have a little boy, he may grow up and go to the wars and get killed.\nBut if I choose the white one, and have a little girl, she will stay\nat home awhile with us, but later on she will get married and go away\nand leave us. So, whichever it is, we may be left with no child after\nall.\"\n\nHowever, at last she decided on the white rose, and she ate it. And it\ntasted so sweet, that she took and ate the red one too: without ever\nremembering the old woman's solemn warning.\n\nSome time after this, the _King_ went away to the wars: and while he\nwas still away, the _Queen_ became the mother of twins. One was a\nlovely baby-boy, and the other was a _Lindworm_, or Serpent. She was\nterribly frightened when she saw the _Lindworm_, but he wriggled away\nout of the room, and nobody seemed to have seen him but herself: so\nthat she thought it must have been a dream. The baby _Prince_ was so\nbeautiful and so healthy, the _Queen_ was full of joy: and likewise,\nas you may suppose, was the _King_ when he came home and found his son\nand heir. Not a word was said by anyone about the _Lindworm_: only the\n_Queen_ thought about it now and then.\n\nMany days and years passed by, and the baby grew up into a handsome\nyoung _Prince_, and it was time that he got married. The _King_ sent\nhim off to visit foreign kingdoms, in the Royal coach, with six white\nhorses, to look for a Princess grand enough to be his wife. But at the\nvery first cross-roads, the way was stopped by an enormous _Lindworm_,\nenough to frighten the bravest. He lay in the middle of the road with\na great wide open mouth, and cried, \"A bride for me before a bride for\nyou!\" Then the _Prince_ made the coach turn round and try another\nroad: but it was all no use. For, at the first cross-ways, there lay\nthe _Lindworm_ again, crying out, \"A bride for me before a bride for\nyou!\" So the _Prince_ had to turn back home again to the Castle, and\ngive up his visits to the foreign kingdoms. And his mother, the\n_Queen_, had to confess that what the _Lindworm_ said was true. For he\nwas really the eldest of her twins: and so he ought to have a wedding\nfirst.\n\nThere seemed nothing for it but to find a bride for the _Lindworm_,\nif his younger brother, the _Prince_, were to be married at all. So\nthe _King_ wrote to a distant country, and asked for a Princess to\nmarry his son (but, of course, he didn't say which son), and presently\na Princess arrived. But she wasn't allowed to see her bridegroom until\nhe stood by her side in the great hall and was married to her, and\nthen, of course, it was too late for her to say she wouldn't have him.\nBut next morning the Princess had disappeared. The _Lindworm_ lay\nsleeping all alone: and it was quite plain that he had eaten her.\n\nA little while after, the Prince decided that he might now go\njourneying again in search of a _Princess_. And off he drove in the\nRoyal chariot with the six white horses. But at the first cross-ways,\nthere lay the _Lindworm_, crying with his great wide open mouth, \"A\nbride for me before a bride for you!\" So the carriage tried another\nroad, and the same thing happened, and they had to turn back again\nthis time, just as formerly. And the King wrote to several foreign\ncountries, to know if anyone would marry his son. At last another\n_Princess_ arrived, this time from a very far distant land. And, of\ncourse, she was not allowed to see her future husband before the\nwedding took place,--and then, lo and behold! it was the _Lindworm_\nwho stood at her side. And next morning the Princess had disappeared:\nand the _Lindworm_ lay sleeping all alone; and it was quite clear that\nhe had eaten her.\n\nBy and by the _Prince_ started on his quest for the third time: and at\nthe first cross-roads there lay the _Lindworm_ with his great wide\nopen mouth, demanding a bride as before. And the _Prince_ went\nstraight back to the castle, and told the _King_: \"You must find\nanother bride for my elder brother.\"\n\n\"I don't know where I am to find her,\" said the _King_, \"I have\nalready made enemies of two great Kings who sent their daughters here\nas brides: and I have no notion how I can obtain a third lady. People\nare beginning to say strange things, and I am sure no _Princess_ will\ndare to come.\"\n\nNow, down in a little cottage near a wood, there lived the _King's_\nshepherd, an old man with his only daughter. And the _King_ came one\nday and said to him, \"Will you give me your daughter to marry my son\nthe _Lindworm_? And I will make you rich for the rest of your\nlife.\"--\"No, sire,\" said the shepherd, \"that I cannot do. She is my\nonly child, and I want her to take care of me when I am old. Besides,\nif the _Lindworm_ would not spare two beautiful Princesses, he won't\nspare her either. He will just gobble her up: and she is much too good\nfor such a fate.\"\n\nBut the _King_ wouldn't take \"No\" for an answer: and at last the old\nman had to give in.\n\nWell, when the old shepherd told his daughter that she was to be\n_Prince Lindworm's_ bride, she was utterly in despair. She went out\ninto the woods, crying and wringing her hands and bewailing her hard\nfate. And while she wandered to and fro, an old witch-woman suddenly\nappeared out of a big hollow oak-tree, and asked her, \"Why do you look\nso doleful, pretty lass?\" The shepherd-girl said, \"It's no use my\ntelling you, for nobody in the world can help me.\"--\"Oh, you never\nknow,\" said the old woman. \"Just you let me hear what your trouble is,\nand maybe I can put things right.\"--\"Ah, how can you?\" said the girl,\n\"For I am to be married to the _King's_ eldest son, who is a\n_Lindworm_. He has already married two beautiful Princesses, and\ndevoured them: and he will eat me too! No wonder I am distressed.\"\n\n\"Well, you needn't be,\" said the witch-woman. \"All that can be set\nright in a twinkling: if only you will do exactly as I tell you.\" So\nthe girl said she would.\n\n\"Listen, then,\" said the old woman. \"After the marriage ceremony is\nover, and when it is time for you to retire to rest, you must ask to\nbe dressed in ten snow-white shifts. And you must then ask for a tub\nfull of lye,\" (that is, washing water prepared with wood-ashes) \"and a\ntub full of fresh milk, and as many whips as a boy can carry in his\narms,--and have all these brought into your bed-chamber. Then, when\nthe _Lindworm_ tells you to shed a shift, do you bid him slough a\nskin. And when all his skins are off, you must dip the whips in the\nlye and whip him; next, you must wash him in the fresh milk; and,\nlastly, you must take him and hold him in your arms, if it's only for\none moment.\"\n\n\"The last is the worst notion--ugh!\" said the shepherd's daughter, and\nshe shuddered at the thought of holding the cold, slimy, scaly\n_Lindworm_.\n\n\"Do just as I have said, and all will go well,\" said the old woman.\nThen she disappeared again in the oak-tree.\n\nWhen the wedding-day arrived, the girl was fetched in the Royal\nchariot with the six white horses, and taken to the castle to be\ndecked as a bride. And she asked for ten snow-white shifts to be\nbrought her, and the tub of lye, and the tub of milk, and as many\nwhips as a boy could carry in his arms. The ladies and courtiers in\nthe castle thought, of course, that this was some bit of peasant\nsuperstition, all rubbish and nonsense. But the _King_ said, \"Let her\nhave whatever she asks for.\" She was then arrayed in the most\nwonderful robes, and looked the loveliest of brides. She was led to\nthe hall where the wedding ceremony was to take place, and she saw the\n_Lindworm_ for the first time as he came in and stood by her side. So\nthey were married, and a great wedding-feast was held, a banquet fit\nfor the son of a king.\n\n[Illustration: She saw the Lindworm for the first time as he came in and\nstood by her side.]\n\nWhen the feast was over, the bridegroom and bride were conducted to\ntheir apartment, with music, and torches, and a great procession. As\nsoon as the door was shut, the _Lindworm_ turned to her and said,\n\"Fair maiden, shed a shift!\" The shepherd's daughter answered him,\n\"_Prince Lindworm_, slough a skin!\"--\"No one has ever dared tell me to\ndo that before!\" said he.--\"But I command you to do it now!\" said she.\nThen he began to moan and wriggle: and in a few minutes a long\nsnake-skin lay upon the floor beside him. The girl drew off her first\nshift, and spread it on top of the skin.\n\nThe _Lindworm_ said again to her, \"Fair maiden, shed a shift.\"\n\nThe shepherd's daughter answered him, \"_Prince Lindworm_, slough a\nskin.\"\n\n\"No one has ever dared tell me to do that before,\" said he.--\"But I\ncommand you to do it now,\" said she. Then with groans and moans he\ncast off the second skin: and she covered it with her second shift.\nThe _Lindworm_ said for the third time, \"Fair maiden, shed a shift.\"\nThe shepherd's daughter answered him again, \"_Prince Lindworm_, slough\na skin.\"--\"No one has ever dared tell me to do that before,\" said he,\nand his little eyes rolled furiously. But the girl was not afraid, and\nonce more she commanded him to do as she bade.\n\nAnd so this went on until nine _Lindworm_ skins were lying on the\nfloor, each of them covered with a snow-white shift. And there was\nnothing left of the _Lindworm_ but a huge thick mass, most horrible to\nsee. Then the girl seized the whips, dipped them in the lye, and\nwhipped him as hard as ever she could. Next, she bathed him all over\nin the fresh milk. Lastly, she dragged him on to the bed and put her\narms round him. And she fell fast asleep that very moment.\n\nNext morning very early, the _King_ and the courtiers came and peeped\nin through the keyhole. They wanted to know what had become of the\ngirl, but none of them dared enter the room. However, in the end,\ngrowing bolder, they opened the door a tiny bit. And there they saw\nthe girl, all fresh and rosy, and beside her lay--no _Lindworm_, but\nthe handsomest prince that any one could wish to see.\n\nThe _King_ ran out and fetched the _Queen_: and after that, there were\nsuch rejoicings in the castle as never were known before or since. The\nwedding took place all over again, much finer than the first, with\nfestivals and banquets and merrymakings for days and weeks. No bride\nwas ever so beloved by a King and Queen as this peasant maid from the\nshepherd's cottage. There was no end to their love and their kindness\ntowards her: because, by her sense and her calmness and her courage,\nshe had saved their son, _Prince Lindworm_.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LASSIE AND HER GODMOTHER\n\n\nOnce on a time a poor couple lived far, far away in a great wood. The\nwife was brought to bed, and had a pretty girl, but they were so poor\nthey did not know how to get the babe christened, for they had no\nmoney to pay the parson's fees. So one day the father went out to see\nif he could find any one who was willing to stand for the child and\npay the fees; but though he walked about the whole day from one house\nto another, and though all said they were willing enough to stand, no\none thought himself bound to pay the fees. Now, when he was going\nhome again, a lovely lady met him, dressed so fine, and she looked so\nthoroughly good and kind; she offered to get the babe christened, but\nafter that, she said, she must keep it for her own. The husband\nanswered, he must first ask his wife what she wished to do; but when\nhe got home and told his story, the wife said, right out, \"No!\"\n\nNext day the man went out again, but no one would stand if they had to\npay the fees; and though he begged and prayed, he could get no help.\nAnd again as he went home, towards evening the same lovely lady met\nhim, who looked so sweet and good, and she made him the same offer. So\nhe told his wife again how he had fared, and this time she said, if he\ncouldn't get any one to stand for his babe next day, they must just\nlet the lady have her way, since she seemed so kind and good.\n\nThe third day, the man went about, but he couldn't get any one to\nstand; and so when, towards evening, he met the kind lady again, he\ngave his word she should have the babe if she would only get it\nchristened at the font. So next morning she came to the place where\nthe man lived, followed by two men to stand godfathers, took the babe\nand carried it to church, and there it was christened. After that she\ntook it to her own house, and there the little girl lived with her\nseveral years, and her _Foster-mother_ was always kind and friendly to\nher.\n\nNow, when the _Lassie_ had grown to be big enough to know right and\nwrong, her _Foster-mother_ got ready to go on a journey.\n\n\"You have my leave,\" she said, \"to go all over the house, except those\nrooms which I shew you;\" and when she had said that, away she went.\n\nBut the _Lassie_ could not forbear just to open one of the doors a\nlittle bit, when--POP! out flew a Star.\n\nWhen her _Foster-mother_ came back, she was very vexed to find\nthat the star had flown out, and she got very angry with her\n_Foster-daughter_, and threatened to send her away; but the child\ncried and begged so hard that she got leave to stay.\n\nNow, after a while, the _Foster-mother_ had to go on another journey;\nand, before she went, she forbade the _Lassie_ to go into those two\nrooms into which she had never been. She promised to beware; but when\nshe was left alone, she began to think and to wonder what there could\nbe in the second room, and at last she could not help setting the door\na little ajar, just to peep in, when--POP! out flew the Moon.\n\n[Illustration: She could not help setting the door a little ajar, just to\npeep in, when--Pop! out flew the Moon.]\n\nWhen her _Foster-mother_ came home and found the moon let out, she was\nvery downcast, and said to the _Lassie_ she must go away, she could\nnot stay with her any longer. But the _Lassie_ wept so bitterly, and\nprayed so heartily for forgiveness, that this time, too, she got leave\nto stay.\n\nSome time after, the _Foster-mother_ had to go away again, and she\ncharged the Lassie, who by this time was half grown up, most earnestly\nthat she mustn't try to go into, or to peep into, the third room. But\nwhen her _Foster-mother_ had been gone some time, and the _Lassie_ was\nweary of walking about alone, all at once she thought, \"Dear me, what\nfun it would be just to peep a little into that third room.\" Then she\nthought she mustn't do it for her _Foster-mother's_ sake; but when the\nbad thought came the second time she could hold out no longer; come\nwhat might, she must and would look into the room; so she just opened\nthe door a tiny bit, when--POP! out flew the Sun.\n\nBut when her _Foster-mother_ came back and saw that the sun had flown\naway, she was cut to the heart, and said, \"Now, there was no help for\nit, the _Lassie_ must and should go away; she couldn't hear of her\nstaying any longer.\" Now the _Lassie_ cried her eyes out, and begged\nand prayed so prettily; but it was all no good.\n\n\"Nay! but I must punish you!\" said her _Foster-mother_; \"but you may\nhave your choice, either to be the loveliest woman in the world, and\nnot to be able to speak, or to keep your speech, and to be the ugliest\nof all women; but away from me you must go.\"\n\nAnd the _Lassie_ said, \"I would sooner be lovely.\" So she became all\nat once wondrous fair; but from that day forth she was dumb.\n\nSo, when she went away from her _Foster-mother_, she walked and\nwandered through a great, great wood; but the farther she went, the\nfarther off the end seemed to be. So, when the evening came on, she\nclomb up into a tall tree, which grew over a spring, and there she\nmade herself up to sleep that night. Close by lay a castle, and from\nthat castle came early every morning a maid to draw water to make the\nPrince's tea, from the spring over which the _Lassie_ was sitting. So\nthe maid looked down into the spring, saw the lovely face in the\nwater, and thought it was her own; then she flung away the pitcher,\nand ran home; and, when she got there, she tossed up her head and\nsaid, \"If I'm so pretty, I'm far too good to go and fetch water.\"\n\nSo another maid had to go for the water, but the same thing happened\nto her; she went back and said she was far too pretty and too good to\nfetch water from the spring for the Prince. Then the Prince went\nhimself, for he had a mind to see what all this could mean. So, when\nhe reached the spring, he too saw the image in the water; but he\nlooked up at once, and became aware of the lovely _Lassie_ who sate\nthere up in the tree. Then he coaxed her down and took her home; and\nat last made up his mind to have her for his queen, because she was so\nlovely; but his mother, who was still alive, was against it.\n\n[Illustration: Then he coaxed her down and took her home.]\n\n\"She can't speak,\" she said, \"and maybe she's a wicked witch.\"\n\nBut the Prince could not be content till he got her. So after they had\nlived together a while, the _Lassie_ was to have a child, and when the\nchild came to be born, the Prince set a strong watch about her; but at\nthe birth one and all fell into a deep sleep, and her _Foster-mother_\ncame, cut the babe on its little finger, and smeared the queen's mouth\nwith the blood; and said:\n\n\"Now you shall be as grieved as I was when you let out the star;\" and\nwith these words she carried off the babe.\n\nBut when those who were on the watch woke, they thought the queen had\neaten her own child, and the old queen was all for burning her alive,\nbut the Prince was so fond of her that at last he begged her off, but\nhe had hard work to set her free.\n\nSo the next time the young queen was to have a child, twice as strong\na watch was set as the first time, but the same thing happened over\nagain, only this time her _Foster-mother_ said:\n\n\"Now you shall be as grieved as I was when you let the moon out.\"\n\nAnd the queen begged and prayed, and wept; for when her _Foster-mother_\nwas there, she could speak--but it was all no good.\n\nAnd now the old queen said she must be burnt, but the Prince found\nmeans to beg her off. But when the third child was to be born, a watch\nwas set three times as strong as the first, but just the same thing\nhappened. Her _Foster-mother_ came while the watch slept, took the\nbabe, and cut its little finger, and smeared the queen's mouth with\nthe blood, telling her now she should be as grieved as she had been\nwhen the _Lassie_ let out the sun.\n\nAnd now the Prince could not save her any longer. She must and should\nbe burnt. But just as they were leading her to the stake, all at once\nthey saw her _Foster-mother_, who came with all three children--two\nshe led by the hand, and the third she had on her arm; and so she went\nup to the young queen and said:\n\n[Illustration: \"Here are your children; now you shall have them again. I\nam the Virgin Mary.\"]\n\n\"Here are your children; now you shall have them again. I am the\nVirgin Mary, and so grieved as you have been, so grieved was I when\nyou let out sun, and moon, and star. Now you have been punished for\nwhat you did, and henceforth you shall have your speech.\"\n\nHow glad the Queen and Prince now were, all may easily think, but no\none can tell. After that they were always happy; and from that day\neven the Prince's mother was very fond of the young queen.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HUSBAND WHO WAS TO MIND THE HOUSE\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a man, so surly and cross, he never thought\nhis _Wife_ did anything right in the house. So, one evening, in\nhaymaking time, he came home, scolding and swearing, and showing his\nteeth and making a dust.\n\n\"Dear love, don't be so angry; there's a good man,\" said his goody;\n\"to-morrow let's change our work. I'll go out with the mowers and mow,\nand you shall mind the house at home.\"\n\nYes! the _Husband_ thought that would do very well. He was quite\nwilling, he said.\n\nSo, early next morning, his goody took a scythe over her neck, and\nwent out into the hayfield with the mowers, and began to mow; but the\nman was to mind the house, and do the work at home.\n\nFirst of all, he wanted to churn the butter; but when he had churned a\nwhile, he got thirsty, and went down to the cellar to tap a barrel of\nale. So, just when he had knocked in the bung, and was putting the tap\ninto the cask, he heard overhead the pig come into the kitchen. Then\noff he ran up the cellar steps, with the tap in his hand, as fast as\nhe could, to look after the pig, lest it should upset the churn; but\nwhen he got up, and saw the pig had already knocked the churn over,\nand stood there, routing and grunting amongst the cream which was\nrunning all over the floor, he got so wild with rage that he quite\nforgot the ale-barrel, and ran at the pig as hard as he could. He\ncaught it, too, just as it ran out of doors, and gave it such a kick,\nthat piggy lay for dead on the spot. Then all at once he remembered he\nhad the tap in his hand; but when he got down to the cellar, every\ndrop of ale had run out of the cask.\n\nThen he went into the dairy and found enough cream left to fill the\nchurn again, and so he began to churn, for butter they must have at\ndinner. When he had churned a bit, he remembered that their milking\ncow was still shut up in the byre, and hadn't had a bit to eat or a\ndrop to drink all the morning, though the sun was high. Then all at\nonce he thought 'twas too far to take her down to the meadow, so he'd\njust get her up on the house top--for the house, you must know, was\nthatched with sods, and a fine crop of grass was growing there. Now\nthe house lay close up against a steep down, and he thought if he\nlaid a plank across to the thatch at the back he'd easily get the cow\nup.\n\nBut still he couldn't leave the churn, for there was his little babe\ncrawling about on the floor, and \"if I leave it,\" he thought, \"the\nchild is safe to upset it.\" So he took the churn on his back, and went\nout with it; but then he thought he'd better first water the cow\nbefore he turned her out on the thatch; so he took up a bucket to draw\nwater out of the well; but, as he stooped down at the well's brink,\nall the cream ran out of the churn over his shoulders, and so down\ninto the well.\n\nNow it was near dinner-time, and he hadn't even got the butter yet; so\nhe thought he'd best boil the porridge, and filled the pot with water\nand hung it over the fire. When he had done that, he thought the cow\nmight perhaps fall off the thatch and break her legs or her neck. So\nhe got up on the house to tie her up. One end of the rope he made fast\nto the cow's neck and the other he slipped down the chimney and tied\nround his own thigh; and he had to make haste, for the water now began\nto boil in the pot, and he had still to grind the oatmeal.\n\nSo he began to grind away; but while he was hard at it, down fell the\ncow off the house-top after all, and as she fell, she dragged the man\nup the chimney by the rope. There he stuck fast; and as for the cow,\nshe hung half-way down the wall, swinging between heaven and earth,\nfor she could neither get down nor up.\n\nAnd now the goody had waited seven lengths and seven breadths for her\n_Husband_ to come and call them home to dinner; but never a call they\nhad. At last she thought she'd waited long enough, and went home. But\nwhen she got there and saw the cow hanging in such an ugly place, she\nran up and cut the rope in two with her scythe. But, as she did this,\ndown came her _Husband_ out of the chimney; and so, when his old dame\ncame inside the kitchen, there she found him standing on his head in\nthe porridge pot.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND\n\n\nOnce on a time there was an old widow who had one son; and as she was\npoorly and weak, her son had to go up into the safe to fetch meal for\ncooking; but when he got outside the safe, and was just going down the\nsteps, there came the _North Wind_ puffing and blowing, caught up the\nmeal, and so away with it through the air. Then the _Lad_ went back\ninto the safe for more; but when he came out again on the steps, if\nthe _North Wind_ didn't come again and carry off the meal with a puff:\nand, more than that, he did so the third time. At this the _Lad_ got\nvery angry; and as he thought it hard that the _North Wind_ should\nbehave so, he thought he'd just look him up, and ask him to give up\nhis meal.\n\nSo off he went, but the way was long, and he walked and walked; but at\nlast he came to the _North Wind's_ house.\n\n\"Good day!\" said the _Lad_, \"and thank you for coming to see us\nyesterday.\"\n\n\"GOOD DAY!\" answered the _North Wind_, for his voice was loud and\ngruff, \"AND THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE ME. WHAT DO YOU WANT?\"\n\n\"Oh!\" answered the _Lad_, \"I only wished to ask you to be so good as\nto let me have back that meal you took from me on the safe steps, for\nwe haven't much to live on; and if you're to go on snapping up the\nmorsel we have, there'll be nothing for it but to starve.\"\n\n\"I haven't got your meal,\" said the _North Wind_; \"but if you are in\nsuch need, I'll give you a cloth which will get you everything you\nwant, if you only say, 'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds\nof good dishes!'\"\n\nWith this the _Lad_ was well content. But, as the way was so long he\ncouldn't get home in one day, so he turned into an inn on the way; and\nwhen they were going to sit down to supper he laid the cloth on a\ntable which stood in the corner, and said:\n\n\"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes.\"\n\nHe had scarce said so before the cloth did as it was bid; and all who\nstood by thought it a fine thing, but most of all the landlady. So,\nwhen all were fast asleep at dead of night, she took the _Lad's_\ncloth, and put another in its stead, just like the one he had got from\nthe _North Wind_, but which couldn't so much as serve up a bit of dry\nbread.\n\nSo, when the _Lad_ woke, he took his cloth and went off with it, and\nthat day he got home to his mother.\n\n\"Now,\" said he, \"I've been to the _North Wind's_ house, and a good\nfellow he is, for he gave me this cloth, and when I only say to it,\n'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes,' I get\nany sort of food I please.\"\n\n\"All very true, I daresay,\" said his mother; \"but seeing is believing,\nand I shan't believe it till I see it.\"\n\nSo the _Lad_ made haste, drew out a table, laid the cloth on it, and\nsaid:\n\n\"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes.\"\n\nBut never a bit of dry bread did the cloth serve up.\n\n\"Well,\" said the _Lad_ \"there's no help for it but to go to the _North\nWind_ again;\" and away he went.\n\nSo he came to where the _North Wind_ lived late in the afternoon.\n\n\"Good evening!\" said the _Lad_.\n\n\"Good evening!\" said the _North Wind_.\n\n\"I want my rights for that meal of ours which you took,\" said the\n_Lad_; \"for, as for that cloth I got, it isn't worth a penny.\"\n\n\"I've got no meal,\" said the _North Wind_; \"but yonder you have a ram\nwhich coins nothing but golden ducats as soon as you say to it: 'Ram,\nram! make money!'\"\n\nSo the _Lad_ thought this a fine thing; but as it was too far to get\nhome that day, he turned in for the night to the same inn where he had\nslept before.\n\nBefore he called for anything, he tried the truth of what the _North\nWind_ had said of the ram, and found it all right; but, when the\nlandlord saw that, he thought it was a famous ram, and, when the _Lad_\nhad fallen asleep, he took another which couldn't coin gold ducats,\nand changed the two.\n\nNext morning off went the _Lad_; and when he got home to his mother,\nhe said:\n\n\"After all, the _North Wind_ is a jolly fellow; for now he has given\nme a ram which can coin golden ducats if I only say: 'Ram, ram! make\nmoney!'\"\n\n\"All very true, I daresay,\" said his mother; \"but I shan't believe any\nsuch stuff until I see the ducats made.\"\n\n\"Ram, ram! make money!\" said the _Lad_; but if the ram made anything,\nit wasn't money.\n\nSo the _Lad_ went back again to the _North Wind_, and blew him up, and\nsaid the ram was worth nothing, and he must have his rights for the\nmeal.\n\n\"Well!\" said the _North Wind_; \"I've nothing else to give you but that\nold stick in the corner yonder; but its a stick of that kind that if\nyou say: 'Stick, stick! lay on!' it lays on till you say: 'Stick,\nstick! now stop!'\"\n\nSo, as the way was long, the _Lad_ turned in this night too to the\nlandlord; but as he could pretty well guess how things stood as to the\ncloth and the ram, he lay down at once on the bench and began to\nsnore, as if he were asleep.\n\nNow the landlord, who easily saw that the stick must be worth\nsomething, hunted up one which was like it, and when he heard the lad\nsnore, was going to change the two; but, just as the landlord was\nabout to take it, the _Lad_ bawled out:\n\n\"Stick, stick! lay on!\"\n\nSo the stick began to beat the landlord, till he jumped over chairs,\nand tables, and benches, and yelled and roared:\n\n\"Oh my! oh my! bid the stick be still, else it will beat me to death,\nand you shall have back both your cloth and your ram.\"\n\nWhen the _Lad_ thought the landlord had got enough, he said:\n\n\"Stick, stick! now stop!\"\n\nThen he took the cloth and put it into his pocket, and went home with\nhis stick in his hand, leading the ram by a cord round its horns; and\nso he got his rights for the meal he had lost.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a fisherman who lived close by a palace, and\nfished for the _King's_ table. One day when he was out fishing he just\ncaught nothing. Do what he would--however he tried with bait and\nangle--there was never a sprat on his hook. But when the day was far\nspent a head bobbed up out of the water, and said:\n\n\"If I may have what your wife bears under her girdle, you shall catch\nfish enough.\"\n\nSo the man answered boldly, \"Yes;\" for he did not know that his wife\nwas going to have a child. After that, as was like enough, he caught\nplenty of fish of all kinds. But when he got home at night and told\nhis story, how he had got all that fish, his wife fell a-weeping and\nmoaning, and was beside herself for the promise which her husband had\nmade, for she said, \"I bear a babe under my girdle.\"\n\nWell, the story soon spread, and came up to the castle; and when the\n_King_ heard the woman's grief and its cause, he sent down to say he\nwould take care of the child, and see if he couldn't save it.\n\nSo the months went on and on, and when her time came the fisher's wife\nhad a boy; so the king took it at once, and brought it up as his own\nson, until the lad grew up. Then he begged leave one day to go out\nfishing with his father; he had such a mind to go, he said. At first\nthe _King_ wouldn't hear of it, but at last the lad had his way, and\nwent. So he and his father were out the whole day, and all went right\nand well till they landed at night. Then the lad remembered he had\nleft his handkerchief, and went to look for it; but as soon as ever he\ngot into the boat, it began to move off with him at such speed that\nthe water roared under the bow, and all the lad could do in rowing\nagainst it with the oars was no use; so he went and went the whole\nnight, and at last he came to a white strand, far far away.\n\nThere he went ashore, and when he had walked about a bit, an old, old\nman met him, with a long white beard.\n\n\"What's the name of this land?\" asked the lad.\n\n\"Whiteland,\" said the man, who went on to ask the lad whence he came,\nand what he was going to do. So the lad told him all.\n\n[Illustration: \"You'll come to three Princesses, whom you will see\nstanding in the earth up to their necks, with only their heads out.\"]\n\n\"Aye, aye!\" said the man; \"now when you have walked a little farther\nalong the strand here, you'll come to three _Princesses_, whom you\nwill see standing in the earth up to their necks, with only their\nheads out. Then the first--she is the eldest--will call out and beg\nyou so prettily to come and help her; and the second will do the same;\nto neither of these shall you go; make haste past them, as if you\nneither saw nor heard anything. But the third you shall go to, and do\nwhat she asks. If you do this, you'll have good luck--that's all.\"\n\nWhen the lad came to the first _Princess_, she called out to him, and\nbegged him so prettily to come to her, but he passed on as though he\nsaw her not. In the same way he passed by the second; but to the third\nhe went straight up.\n\n\"If you'll do what I bid you,\" she said, \"you may have which of us you\nplease.\"\n\n\"Yes;\" he was willing enough; so she told him how three _Trolls_ had\nset them down in the earth there; but before they had lived in the\ncastle up among the trees.\n\n\"Now,\" she said, \"you must go into that castle, and let the _Trolls_\nwhip you each one night for each of us. If you can bear that, you'll\nset us free.\"\n\nWell, the lad said he was ready to try.\n\n\"When you go in,\" the _Princess_ went on to say, \"you'll see two lions\nstanding at the gate; but if you'll only go right in the middle\nbetween them they'll do you no harm. Then go straight on into a little\ndark room, and make your bed. Then the _Troll_ will come to whip you;\nbut if you take the flask which hangs on the wall, and rub yourself\nwith the ointment that's in it, wherever his lash falls, you'll be as\nsound as ever. Then grasp the sword that hangs by the side of the\nflask and strike the _Troll_ dead.\"\n\nYes, he did as the _Princess_ told him; he passed in the midst between\nthe lions, as if he hadn't seen them, and went straight into the\nlittle room, and there he lay down to sleep. The first night there\ncame a _Troll_ with three heads and three rods, and whipped the lad\nsoundly; but he stood it till the _Troll_ was done; then he took the\nflask and rubbed himself, and grasped the sword and slew the _Troll_.\n\nSo, when he went out next morning, the _Princesses_ stood out of the\nearth up to their waists.\n\nThe next night 'twas the same story over again, only this time the\n_Troll_ had six heads and six rods, and he whipped him far worse than\nthe first; but when he went out next morning, the _Princesses_ stood\nout of the earth as far as the knee.\n\nThe third night there came a _Troll_ that had nine heads and nine\nrods, and he whipped and flogged the lad so long that he fainted away;\nthen the _Troll_ took him up and dashed him against the wall; but the\nshock brought down the flask, which fell on the lad, burst, and\nspilled the ointment all over him, and so he became as strong and\nsound as ever again. Then he wasn't slow; he grasped the sword and\nslew the _Troll_; and next morning when he went out of the castle the\n_Princesses_ stood before him with all their bodies out of the earth.\nSo he took the youngest for his _Queen_, and lived well and happily\nwith her for some time.\n\nAt last he began to long to go home for a little to see his parents.\nHis _Queen_ did not like this; but at last his heart was so set on it,\nand he longed and longed so much, there was no holding him back, so\nshe said:\n\n\"One thing you must promise me. This--only to do what your father begs\nyou to do, and not what mother wishes;\" and that he promised.\n\nThen she gave him a ring, which was of that kind that any one who wore\nit might wish two wishes. So he wished himself home, and when he got\nhome his parents could not wonder enough what a grand man their son\nhad become.\n\nNow, when he had been at home some days, his mother wished him to go\nup to the palace and show the _King_ what a fine fellow he had come\nto be. But his father said:\n\n\"No! don't let him do that; if he does, we shan't have any more joy of\nhim this time.\"\n\nBut it was no good, the mother begged and prayed so long that at last\nhe went. So when he got up to the palace he was far braver, both in\nclothes and array, than the other king, who didn't quite like this,\nand at last he said:\n\n\"All very fine; but here you can see my _Queen_, what like she is, but\nI can't see yours: that I can't. Do you know, I scarce think she's so\ngood-looking as mine.\"\n\n\"Would to Heaven,\" said the young _King_, \"she were standing here,\nthen you'd see what she was like.\" And that instant there she stood\nbefore them.\n\nBut she was very woeful, and said to him:\n\n\"Why did you not mind what I told you; and why did you not listen to\nwhat your father said? Now, I must away home, and as for you, you have\nhad both your wishes.\"\n\nWith that she knitted a ring among his hair with her name on it, and\nwished herself home, and was off.\n\nThen the young _King_ was cut to the heart, and went, day out day in,\nthinking and thinking how he should get back to his _Queen_. \"I'll\njust try,\" he thought, \"if I can't learn where Whiteland lies;\" and so\nhe went out into the world to ask. So when he had gone a good way, he\ncame to a high hill, and there he met one who was lord over all the\nbeasts of the wood, for they all came home to him when he blew his\nhorn; so the _King_ asked if he knew where Whiteland was.\n\n\"No, I don't,\" said he, \"but I'll ask my beasts.\" Then he blew his\nhorn and called them, and asked if any of them knew where Whiteland\nlay. But there was no beast that knew.\n\nSo the man gave him a pair of snow-shoes.\n\n[Illustration: So the man gave him a pair of snow-shoes.]\n\n\"When you get on these,\" he said, \"you'll come to my brother, who\nlives hundreds of miles off; he is lord over all the birds of the air.\nAsk him. When you reach his house, just turn the shoes so that the\ntoes point this way, and they'll come home of themselves.\" So when the\n_King_ reached the house, he turned the shoes as the lord of the\nbeasts had said, and away they went home of themselves.\n\nSo he asked again after Whiteland, and the man called all the birds\nwith a blast of his horn, and asked if any of them knew where\nWhiteland lay; but none of the birds knew. Now, long, long after the\nrest of the birds came an old eagle, which had been away ten round\nyears, but he couldn't tell any more than the rest.\n\n\"Well, well,\" said the man, \"I'll lend you a pair of snow-shoes, and,\nwhen you get them on, they'll carry you to my brother, who lives\nhundreds of miles off; he's lord of all the fish in the sea; you'd\nbetter ask him. But don't forget to turn the toes of the shoes this\nway.\"\n\nThe _King_ was full of thanks, got on the shoes, and when he came to\nthe man who was lord over the fish of the sea, he turned the toes\nround, and so off they went home like the other pair. After that, he\nasked again after Whiteland.\n\nSo the man called the fish with a blast, but no fish could tell where\nit lay. At last came an old pike, which they had great work to call\nhome, he was such a way off. So when they asked him he said:\n\n\"Know it? I should think I did! I've been cook there ten years, and\nto-morrow I'm going there again; for now the queen of Whiteland, whose\nking is away, is going to wed another husband.\"\n\n\"Well!\" said the man, \"as this is so, I'll give you a bit of advice.\nHereabouts, on a moor, stand three brothers, and here they have stood\nthese hundred years, fighting about a hat, a cloak, and a pair of\nboots. If any one has these three things he can make himself\ninvisible, and wish himself anywhere he pleases. You can tell them you\nwish to try the things, and, after that, you'll pass judgment between\nthem, whose they shall be.\"\n\nYes! the _King_ thanked the man, and went and did as he told him.\n\n\"What's all this?\" he said to the brothers. \"Why do you stand here\nfighting for ever and a day? Just let me try these things, and I'll\ngive judgment whose they shall be.\"\n\nThey were very willing to do this; but, as soon as he had got the hat,\ncloak, and boots, he said:\n\n\"When we meet next time, I'll tell you my judgment,\" and with these\nwords he wished himself away.\n\nSo as he went along up in the air, he came up with the North wind.\n\n\"Whither away?\" roared the North Wind.\n\n\"To Whiteland,\" said the _King_; and then he told him all that had\nbefallen him.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the North Wind, \"you go faster than I--you do; for you can\ngo straight, while I have to puff and blow round every turn and\ncorner. But when you get there, just place yourself on the stairs by\nthe side of the door, and then I'll come storming in, as though I were\ngoing to blow down the whole castle. And then when the prince, who is\nto have your _Queen_, comes out to see what's the matter, just you\ntake him by the collar and pitch him out of doors; then I'll look\nafter him, and see if I can't carry him off.\"\n\n[Illustration: The King went into the Castle, and at first his Queen\ndidn't know him, he was so wan and thin, through wandering so far and\nbeing so woeful.]\n\nWell, the _King_ did as the North Wind said. He took his stand on the\nstairs, and when the North Wind came, storming and roaring, and took\nhold of the castle wall, so that it shook again, the prince came out\nto see what was the matter. But as soon as ever he came, the _King_\ncaught him by the collar and pitched him out of doors, and then the\nNorth Wind caught him up and carried him off. So when there was an end\nof him, the _King_ went into the castle, and at first his _Queen_\ndidn't know him, he was so wan and thin, through wandering so far and\nbeing so woeful; but when he shewed her the ring, she was as glad as\nglad could be; and so the rightful wedding was held, and the fame of\nit spread far and wide.\n\n\n\n\nSORIA MORIA CASTLE\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a poor couple who had a son whose name was\n_Halvor_. Ever since he was a little boy he would turn his hand to\nnothing, but just sat there and groped about in the ashes. His father\nand mother often put him out to learn this trade or that, but _Halvor_\ncould stay nowhere; for, when he had been there a day or two, he ran\naway from his master, and never stopped till he was sitting again in\nthe ingle, poking about in the cinders.\n\nWell, one day a skipper came, and asked _Halvor_ if he hadn't a mind\nto be with him, and go to sea, and see strange lands. Yes, _Halvor_\nwould like that very much; so he wasn't long in getting himself\nready.\n\nHow long they sailed I'm sure I can't tell; but the end of it was,\nthey fell into a great storm, and when it was blown over, and it got\nstill again, they couldn't tell where they were; for they had been\ndriven away to a strange coast, which none of them knew anything\nabout.\n\nWell, as there was just no wind at all, they stayed lying wind-bound\nthere, and _Halvor_ asked the skipper's leave to go on shore and look\nabout him; he would sooner go, he said, than lie there and sleep.\n\n\"Do you think now you're fit to show yourself before folk,\" said the\nskipper, \"why, you've no clothes but those rags you stand in?\"\n\nBut _Halvor_ stuck to his own, and so at last he got leave, but he was\nto be sure and come back as soon as ever it began to blow. So off he\nwent and found a lovely land; wherever he came there were fine large\nflat cornfields and rich meads, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of a\nliving soul. Well, it began to blow, but _Halvor_ thought he hadn't\nseen enough yet, and he wanted to walk a little farther just to see if\nhe couldn't meet any folk. So after a while he came to a broad high\nroad, so smooth and even, you might easily roll an egg along it.\n_Halvor_ followed this, and when evening drew on he saw a great castle\never so far off, from which the sunbeams shone. So as he had now\nwalked the whole day and hadn't taken a bit to eat with him, he was as\nhungry as a hunter, but still the nearer he came to the castle, the\nmore afraid he got.\n\nIn the castle kitchen a great fire was blazing, and _Halvor_ went into\nit, but such a kitchen he had never seen in all his born days. It was\nso grand and fine; there were vessels of silver and vessels of gold,\nbut still never a living soul. So when _Halvor_ had stood there a\nwhile and no one came out, he went and opened a door, and there inside\nsat a _Princess_ who span upon a spinning-wheel.\n\n\"Nay, nay, now!\" she called out, \"dare Christian folk come hither? But\nnow you'd best be off about your business, if you don't want the\n_Troll_ to gobble you up; for here lives a _Troll_ with three heads.\"\n\n\"All one to me,\" said the lad, \"I'd be just as glad to hear he had\nfour heads beside; I'd like to see what kind of fellow he is. As for\ngoing, I won't go at all. I've done no harm; but meat you must get me,\nfor I'm almost starved to death.\"\n\nWhen _Halvor_ had eaten his fill, the _Princess_ told him to try if he\ncould brandish the sword that hung against the wall; no, he couldn't\nbrandish it, he couldn't even lift it up.\n\n\"Oh!\" said the _Princess_, \"now you must go and take a pull of that\nflask that hangs by its side; that's what the _Troll_ does every time\nhe goes out to use the sword.\"\n\nSo _Halvor_ took a pull, and in the twinkling of an eye he could\nbrandish the sword like nothing; and now he thought it high time the\n_Troll_ came; and lo! just then up came the _Troll_ puffing and\nblowing. _Halvor_ jumped behind the door.\n\n\"HUTETU,\" said the _Troll_, as he put his head in at the door, \"what a\nsmell of Christian man's blood!\"\n\n\"Aye,\" said _Halvor_, \"you'll soon know that to your cost,\" and with\nthat he hewed off all his heads.\n\nNow the _Princess_ was so glad that she was free, she both danced and\nsang, but then all at once she called her sisters to mind, and so she\nsaid:\n\n\"Would my sisters were free too!\"\n\n\"Where are they?\" asked _Halvor_.\n\nWell, she told him all about it; one was taken away by a _Troll_ to\nhis Castle which lay fifty miles off, and the other by another _Troll_\nto his Castle which was fifty miles further still.\n\n\"But now,\" she said, \"you must first help me to get this ugly carcass\nout of the house.\"\n\nYes, _Halvor_ was so strong he swept everything away, and made it all\nclean and tidy in no time. So they had a good and happy time of it,\nand next morning he set off at peep of grey dawn; he could take no\nrest by the way, but ran and walked the whole day. When he first saw\nthe Castle he got a little afraid; it was far grander than the first,\nbut here too there wasn't a living soul to be seen. So _Halvor_ went\ninto the kitchen, and didn't stop there either, but went straight\nfurther on into the house.\n\n\"Nay, nay,\" called out the _Princess_, \"dare Christian folk come\nhither? I don't know I'm sure how long it is since I came here, but in\nall that time I haven't seen a Christian man. 'Twere best you saw how\nto get away as fast as you came; for here lives a _Troll_ who has six\nheads.\"\n\n\"I shan't go,\" said _Halvor_, \"if he has six heads besides.\"\n\n\"He'll take you up and swallow you down alive,\" said the _Princess_.\n\nBut it was no good, _Halvor_ wouldn't go; he wasn't at all afraid of\nthe _Troll_, but meat and drink he must have, for he was half starved\nafter his long journey. Well, he got as much of that as he wished, but\nthen the _Princess_ wanted him to be off again.\n\n\"No,\" said _Halvor_, \"I won't go, I've done no harm, and I've nothing\nto be afraid about.\"\n\n\"He won't stay to ask that,\" said the _Princess_, \"for he'll take you\nwithout law or leave; but as you won't go, just try if you can\nbrandish that sword yonder, which the _Troll_ wields in war.\"\n\nHe couldn't brandish it, and then the _Princess_ said he must take a\npull at the flask which hung by its side, and when he had done that he\ncould brandish it.\n\nJust then back came the _Troll_, and he was both stout and big, so\nthat he had to go sideways to get through the door. When the _Troll_\ngot his first head in he called out:\n\n\"HUTETU, what a smell of Christian man's blood!\"\n\nBut that very moment _Halvor_ hewed off his first head, and so on all\nthe rest as they popped in. The _Princess_ was overjoyed, but just\nthen she came to think of her sisters, and wished out loud they were\nfree. _Halvor_ thought that might easily be done, and wanted to be off\nat once; but first he had to help the _Princess_ to get the _Troll's_\ncarcass out of the way, and so he could only set out next morning.\n\nIt was a long way to the Castle, and he had to walk fast and run hard\nto reach it in time; but about nightfall he saw the Castle, which was\nfar finer and grander than either of the others. This time he wasn't\nthe least afraid, but walked straight through the kitchen, and into\nthe Castle. There sat a _Princess_ who was so pretty, there was no end\nto her loveliness. She too like the others told him there hadn't been\nChristian folk there ever since she came thither, and bade him go away\nagain, else the _Troll_ would swallow him alive, and do you know, she\nsaid, he has nine heads.\n\n\"Aye, aye,\" said _Halvor_, \"if he had nine other heads, and nine other\nheads still, I won't go away,\" and so he stood fast before the stove.\nThe _Princess_ kept on begging him so prettily to go away, lest the\n_Troll_ should gobble him up, but _Halvor_ said:\n\n\"Let him come as soon as he likes.\"\n\nSo she gave him the _Troll's_ sword, and bade him take a pull at the\nflask, that he might be able to brandish and wield it.\n\nJust then back came the _Troll_ puffing and blowing and tearing along.\nHe was far bigger and stouter than the other two, and he too had to go\non one side to get through the door. So when he got his first head in,\nhe said as the others had said:\n\n\"HUTETU, what a smell of Christian man's blood!\"\n\nThat very moment _Halvor_ hewed off the first head and then all the\nrest; but the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the\nhardest bit of work _Halvor_ had to do, to get it hewn off, although\nhe knew very well he had strength enough to do it.\n\nSo all the _Princesses_ came together to that Castle, which was called\n_Soria Moria Castle_, and they were glad and happy as they had never\nbeen in all their lives before, and they all were fond of _Halvor_\nand _Halvor_ of them, and he might choose the one he liked best for\nhis bride; but the youngest was fondest of him of all the three.\n\nBut there after a while, _Halvor_ went about, and was so strange and\ndull and silent. Then the Princesses asked him what he lacked, and if\nhe didn't like to live with them any longer? Yes, he did, for they had\nenough and to spare, and he was well off in every way, but still\nsomehow or other he did so long to go home, for his father and mother\nwere alive, and them he had such a great wish to see.\n\nWell, they thought that might be done easily enough.\n\n\"You shall go thither and come back hither, safe and unscathed, if you\nwill only follow our advice,\" said the _Princesses_.\n\nYes, he'd be sure to mind all they said. So they dressed him up till\nhe was as grand as a king's son, and then they set a ring on his\nfinger, and that was such a ring, he could wish himself thither and\nhither with it; but they told him to be sure and not take it off, and\nnot to name their names, for there would be an end of all his bravery,\nand then he'd never see them more.\n\n\"If I only stood at home I'd be glad,\" said _Halvor_; and it was done\nas he had wished. Then stood _Halvor_ at his father's cottage door\nbefore he knew a word about it. Now it was about dusk at even, and so,\nwhen they saw such a grand stately lord walk in, the old couple got so\nafraid they began to bow and scrape. Then _Halvor_ asked if he\ncouldn't stay there, and have a lodging there that night. No; that he\ncouldn't.\n\n\"We can't do it at all,\" they said, \"for we haven't this thing or that\nthing which such a lord is used to have; 'twere best your lordship\nwent up to the farm, no long way off, for you can see the chimneys,\nand there they have lots of everything.\"\n\n_Halvor_ wouldn't hear of it--he wanted to stop; but the old couple\nstuck to their own, that he had better go to the farmer's; there he\nwould get both meat and drink; as for them, they hadn't even a chair\nto offer him to sit down on.\n\n\"No,\" said _Halvor_, \"I won't go up there till to-morrow early, but\nlet me just stay here to-night; worst come to the worst, I can sit in\nthe chimney corner.\"\n\nWell, they couldn't say anything against that; so _Halvor_ sat down by\nthe ingle, and began to poke about in the ashes, just as he used to do\nwhen he lay at home in old days, and stretched his lazy bones.\n\nWell, they chattered and talked about many things; and they told\n_Halvor_ about this thing and that; and so he asked them if they had\nnever had any children.\n\nYes, yes, they had once a lad whose name was _Halvor_, but they didn't\nknow whither he had wandered; they couldn't even tell whether he were\ndead or alive.\n\n\"Couldn't it be me, now?\" said _Halvor_.\n\n\"Let me see; I could tell him well enough,\" said the old wife, and\nrose up. \"Our _Halvor_ was so lazy and dull, he never did a thing; and\nbesides, he was so ragged, that one tatter took hold of the next\ntatter on him. No; there never was the making of such a fine fellow\nin him as you are, master.\"\n\nA little while after the old wife went to the hearth to poke up the\nfire, and when the blaze fell on _Halvor's_ face, just as when he was\nat home of old poking about in the ashes, she knew him at once.\n\n\"Ah! but it is you after all, _Halvor_?\" she cried; and then there was\nsuch joy for the old couple, there was no end to it; and he was forced\nto tell how he had fared, and the old dame was so fond and proud of\nhim, nothing would do but he must go up at once to the farmer's, and\nshow himself to the lassies, who had always looked down on him. And\noff she went first, and _Halvor_ followed after. So, when she got up\nthere, she told them all how _Halvor_ had come home again, and now\nthey should only just see how grand he was, for, said she, \"he looks\nlike nothing but a King's son.\"\n\n\"All very fine,\" said the lassies, and tossed up their heads. \"We'll\nbe bound he's just the same beggarly ragged boy he always was.\"\n\nJust then in walked _Halvor_, and then the lassies were all so taken\naback, they forgot their sarks in the ingle, where they were sitting\ndarning their clothes, and ran out in their smocks. Well, when they\nwere got back again, they were so shamefaced they scarce dared look at\n_Halvor_, towards whom they had always been proud and haughty.\n\n\"Aye, aye,\" said _Halvor_, \"you always thought yourselves so pretty\nand neat, no one could come near you; but now you should just see the\neldest _Princess_ I have set free; against her you look just like\nmilkmaids, and the midmost is prettier still; but the youngest, who is\nmy sweetheart, she's fairer than both sun and moon. Would to Heaven\nthey were only here,\" said _Halvor_, \"then you'd see what you would\nsee.\"\n\nHe had scarce uttered these words before there they stood, but then he\nfelt so sorry, for now what they had said came into his mind. Up at\nthe farm there was a great feast got ready for the _Princesses_, and\nmuch was made of them, but they wouldn't stop there.\n\n\"No, we want to go down to your father and mother,\" they said to\n_Halvor_; \"and so we'll go out now and look about us.\"\n\nSo he went down with them, and they came to a great lake just outside\nthe farm. Close by the water was such a lovely green bank; here the\n_Princesses_ said they would sit and rest a while; they thought it so\nsweet to sit down and look over the water.\n\nSo they sat down there, and when they had sat a while the youngest\n_Princess_ said:\n\n\"I may as well comb your hair a little, _Halvor_.\"\n\nWell, _Halvor_ laid his head on her lap, and she combed his bonny\nlocks, and it wasn't long before _Halvor_ fell fast asleep. Then she\ntook the ring from his finger, and put another in its stead; and she\nsaid:\n\n\"Now hold me all together! and now would we were all in _Soria Moria\nCastle_.\"\n\nSo when _Halvor_ woke up, he could very well tell that he had lost the\n_Princesses_, and began to weep and wail; and he was so downcast, they\ncouldn't comfort him at all. In spite of all his father and mother\nsaid, he wouldn't stop there, but took farewell of them, and said he\nwas safe not to see them again; for if he couldn't find the\n_Princesses_ again, he thought it not worth while to live.\n\nWell, he had still about sixty pounds left, so he put them into his\npocket, and set out on his way. So, when he had walked a while, he met\na man with a tidy horse, and he wanted to buy it, and began to chaffer\nwith the man.\n\n\"Aye,\" said the man, \"to tell the truth, I never thought of selling\nhim; but if we could strike a bargain perhaps--\"\n\n\"What do you want for him?\" asked _Halvor_.\n\n\"I didn't give much for him, nor is he worth much; he's a brave horse\nto ride, but he can't draw at all; still he's strong enough to carry\nyour knapsack and you too, turn and turn about,\" said the man.\n\nAt last they agreed on the price, and _Halvor_ laid the knapsack on\nhim, and so he walked a bit, and rode a bit, turn and turn about. At\nnight he came to a green plain where stood a great tree, at the roots\nof which he sat down. There he let the horse loose, but he didn't lie\ndown to sleep, but opened his knapsack and took a meal. At peep of day\noff he set again, for he could take no rest. So he rode and walked\nand walked and rode the whole day through the wide wood, where there\nwere so many green spots and glades that shone so bright and lovely\nbetween the trees. He didn't know at all where he was or whither he\nwas going, but he gave himself no more time to rest than when his\nhorse cropped a bit of grass, and he took a snack out of his knapsack\nwhen they came to one of those green glades. So he went on walking and\nriding by turns, and as for the wood there seemed to be no end to it.\n\nBut at dusk the next day he saw a light gleaming away through the\ntrees.\n\n\"Would there were folk hereaway,\" thought _Halvor_, \"that I might warm\nmyself a bit and get a morsel to keep body and soul together.\"\n\nWhen he got up to it he saw the light came from a wretched little hut,\nand through the window he saw an old old, couple inside. They were as\ngrey-headed as a pair of doves, and the old wife had such a nose! why,\nit was so long she used it for a poker to stir the fire as she sat in\nthe ingle.\n\n\"Good evening,\" said _Halvor_.\n\n\"Good evening,\" said the old wife.\n\n\"But what errand can you have in coming hither?\" she went on, \"for no\nChristian folk have been here these hundred years and more.\"\n\nWell, _Halvor_ told her all about himself, and how he wanted to get to\n_Soria Moria Castle_, and asked if she knew the way thither.\n\n\"No,\" said the old wife, \"that I don't, but see now, here comes the\nMoon, I'll ask her, she'll know all about it, for doesn't she shine on\neverything?\"\n\nSo when the Moon stood clear and bright over the tree-tops, the old\nwife went out.\n\n\"THOU MOON, THOU MOON,\" she screamed, \"canst thou tell me the way to\n_Soria Moria Castle_?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Moon, \"that I can't, for the last time I shone there a\ncloud stood before me.\"\n\n\"Wait a bit still,\" said the old wife to _Halvor_, \"bye and bye comes\nthe West Wind; he's sure to know it, for he puffs and blows round\nevery corner.\"\n\n\"Nay, nay,\" said the old wife when she went out again, \"you don't mean\nto say you've got a horse too; just turn the poor beastie loose in our\n'toun,' and don't let him stand there and starve to death at the\ndoor.\"\n\nThen she ran on:\n\n\"But won't you swop him away to me?--we've got an old pair of boots\nhere, with which you can take twenty miles at each stride; those you\nshall have for your horse, and so you'll get all the sooner to _Soria\nMoria Castle_.\"\n\nThat _Halvor_ was willing to do at once; and the old wife was so glad\nat having the horse, she was ready to dance and skip for joy.\n\n\"For now,\" she said, \"I shall be able to ride to church. I, too, think\nof that.\"\n\nAs for _Halvor_, he had no rest, and wanted to be off at once, but the\nold wife said there was no hurry.\n\n\"Lie down on the bench with you and sleep a bit, for we've no bed to\noffer you, and I'll watch and wake you when the West Wind comes.\"\n\nSo after a while up came the West Wind, roaring and howling along till\nthe walls creaked and groaned again.\n\nOut ran the old wife.\n\n\"THOU WEST WIND, THOU WEST WIND! Canst thou tell me the way to _Soria\nMoria Castle_? Here's one who wants to get thither.\"\n\n\"Yes, I know it very well,\" said the West Wind, \"and now I'm just off\nthither to dry clothes for the wedding that's to be; if he's swift of\nfoot he can go along with me.\"\n\nOut ran _Halvor_.\n\n\"You'll have to stretch your legs if you mean to keep up,\" said the\nWest Wind.\n\nSo off he set over field and hedge, and hill and fell, and _Halvor_\nhad hard work to keep up.\n\n\"Well,\" said the West Wind, \"now I've no time to stay with you any\nlonger, for I've got to go away yonder and tear down a strip of spruce\nwood first before I go to the bleaching-ground to dry the clothes; but\nif you go alongside the hill you'll come to a lot of lassies standing\nwashing clothes, and then you've not far to go to _Soria Moria\nCastle_.\"\n\nIn a little while _Halvor_ came upon the lassies who stood washing,\nand they asked if he had seen anything of the West Wind who was to\ncome and dry the clothes for the wedding.\n\n\"Aye, aye, that I have,\" said _Halvor_, \"he's only gone to tear down a\nstrip of spruce wood. It'll not be long before he's here,\" and then he\nasked them the way to _Soria Moria Castle_.\n\nSo they put him into the right way, and when he got to the Castle it\nwas full of folk and horses; so full it made one giddy to look at\nthem. But _Halvor_ was so ragged and torn from having followed the\nWest Wind through bush and brier and bog, that he kept on one side,\nand wouldn't show himself till the last day when the bridal feast was\nto be.\n\nSo when all, as was then right and fitting, were to drink the bride\nand bridegroom's health and wish them luck, and when the cupbearer was\nto drink to them all again, both knights and squires, last of all he\ncame in turn to _Halvor_. He drank their health, but let the ring\nwhich the _Princess_ had put upon his finger as he lay by the lake\nfall into the glass, and bade the cupbearer go and greet the bride and\nhand her the glass.\n\nThen up rose the _Princess_ from the board at once.\n\n\"Who is most worthy to have one of us,\" she said, \"he that has set us\nfree, or he that here sits by me as bridegroom?\"\n\nWell they all said there could be but one voice and will as to that,\nand when _Halvor_ heard that he wasn't long in throwing off his\nbeggar's rags, and arraying himself as bridegroom.\n\n\"Aye, aye, here is the right one after all,\" said the youngest\n_Princess_ as soon as she saw him, and so she tossed the other one out\nof the window, and held her wedding with _Halvor_.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANT WHO HAD NO HEART IN HIS BODY\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a _King_ who had _seven sons_, and he loved\nthem so much that he could never bear to be without them all at once,\nbut one must always be with him. Now, when they were grown up, six\nwere to set off to woo, but as for the youngest, his father kept him\nat home, and the others were to bring back a princess for him to the\npalace. So the _King_ gave the six the finest clothes you ever set\neyes on, so fine that the light gleamed from them a long way off, and\neach had his horse, which cost many, many hundred pounds, and so they\nset off. Now, when they had been to many palaces, and seen many\nprincesses, at last they came to a _King_ who had _six daughters_;\nsuch lovely king's daughters they had never seen, and so they fell to\nwooing them, each one, and when they had got them for sweethearts,\nthey set off home again, but they quite forgot that they were to bring\nback with them a sweetheart for _Boots_, their brother, who stayed at\nhome, for they were over head and ears in love with their own\nsweethearts.\n\n[Illustration: The six brothers riding out to woo.]\n\nBut when they had gone a good bit on their way, they passed close by a\nsteep hill-side, like a wall, where the _Giant's_ house was, and there\nthe _Giant_ came out, and set his eyes upon them, and turned them all\ninto stone, princes and princesses and all. Now the _King_ waited and\nwaited for his _six sons_, but the more he waited, the longer they\nstayed away; so he fell into great trouble, and said he should never\nknow what it was to be glad again.\n\n\"And if I had not you left,\" he said to _Boots_, \"I would live no\nlonger, so full of sorrow am I for the loss of your brothers.\"\n\n\"Well, but now I've been thinking to ask your leave to set out and\nfind them again; that's what I'm thinking of,\" said _Boots_.\n\n\"Nay, nay!\" said his father; \"that leave you shall never get, for then\nyou would stay away too.\"\n\nBut _Boots_ had set his heart upon it; go he would; and he begged and\nprayed so long that the _King_ was forced to let him go. Now, you must\nknow the _King_ had no other horse to give _Boots_ but an old\nbroken-down jade, for his six other sons and their train had carried\noff all his horses; but _Boots_ did not care a pin for that, he sprang\nup on his sorry old steed.\n\n\"Farewell, father,\" said he; \"I'll come back, never fear, and like\nenough I shall bring my six brothers back with me;\" and with that he\nrode off.\n\nSo, when he had ridden a while, he came to a _Raven_, which lay in the\nroad and flapped its wings, and was not able to get out of the way, it\nwas so starved.\n\n\"Oh, dear friend,\" said the _Raven_, \"give me a little food, and I'll\nhelp you again at your utmost need.\"\n\n\"I haven't much food,\" said the _Prince_, \"and I don't see how you'll\never be able to help me much; but still I can spare you a little. I\nsee you want it.\"\n\nSo he gave the raven some of the food he had brought with him.\n\nNow, when he had gone a bit further, he came to a brook, and in the\nbrook lay a great _Salmon_, which had got upon a dry place and dashed\nitself about, and could not get into the water again.\n\n\"Oh, dear friend,\" said the _Salmon_ to the _Prince_; \"shove me out\ninto the water again, and I'll help you again at your utmost need.\"\n\n\"Well!\" said the _Prince_, \"the help you'll give me will not be great,\nI daresay, but it's a pity you should lie there and choke;\" and with\nthat he shot the fish out into the stream again.\n\nAfter that he went a long, long way, and there met him a _Wolf_ which\nwas so famished that it lay and crawled along the road on its belly.\n\n\"Dear friend, do let me have your horse,\" said the _Wolf_; \"I'm so\nhungry the wind whistles through my ribs; I've had nothing to eat\nthese two years.\"\n\n\"No,\" said _Boots_, \"this will never do; first I came to a raven, and\nI was forced to give him my food; next I came to a salmon, and him I\nhad to help into the water again; and now you will have my horse. It\ncan't be done, that it can't, for then I should have nothing to ride\non.\"\n\n\"Nay, dear friend, but you can help me,\" said _Graylegs_ the wolf;\n\"you can ride upon my back, and I'll help you again in your utmost\nneed.\"\n\n\"Well! the help I shall get from you will not be great, I'll be\nbound,\" said the _Prince_; \"but you may take my horse, since you are\nin such need.\"\n\nSo when the _Wolf_ had eaten the horse, _Boots_ took the bit and put\nit into the _Wolf's_ jaw, and laid the saddle on his back; and now the\n_Wolf_ was so strong, after what he had got inside, that he set off\nwith the _Prince_ like nothing. So fast he had never ridden before.\n\n\"When we have gone a bit farther,\" said _Graylegs_, \"I'll show you the\n_Giant's_ house.\"\n\nSo after a while they came to it.\n\n\"See, here is the _Giant's_ house,\" said the _Wolf_; \"and see, here\nare your six brothers, whom the _Giant_ has turned into stone; and\nsee, here are their six brides, and away yonder is the door, and in\nthat door you must go.\"\n\n\"Nay, but I daren't go in,\" said the _Prince_; \"he'll take my life.\"\n\n\"No! no!\" said the _Wolf_; \"when you get in you'll find a _Princess_,\nand she'll tell you what to do to make an end of the _Giant_. Only\nmind and do as she bids you.\"\n\nWell! _Boots_ went in, but, truth to say, he was very much afraid.\nWhen he came in the _Giant_ was away, but in one of the rooms sat the\n_Princess_, just as the _Wolf_ had said, and so lovely a princess\n_Boots_ had never yet set eyes on.\n\n\"Oh! heaven help you! whence have you come?\" said the _Princess_, as\nshe saw him; \"it will surely be your death. No one can make an end of\nthe _Giant_ who lives here, for he has no heart in his body.\"\n\n\"Well! well!\" said _Boots_; \"but now that I am here, I may as well try\nwhat I can do with him; and I will see if I can't free my brothers,\nwho are standing turned to stone out of doors; and you, too, I will\ntry to save, that I will.\"\n\n\"Well, if you must, you must,\" said the _Princess_; \"and so let us see\nif we can't hit on a plan. Just creep under the bed yonder, and mind\nand listen to what he and I talk about. But, pray, do lie as still as\na mouse.\"\n\nSo he crept under the bed, and he had scarce got well underneath it,\nbefore the _Giant_ came.\n\n\"Ha!\" roared the _Giant_, \"what a smell of Christian blood there is in\nthe house!\"\n\n\"Yes, I know there is,\" said the _Princess_, \"for there came a magpie\nflying with a man's bone, and let it fall down the chimney. I made all\nthe haste I could to get it out, but all one can do, the smell doesn't\ngo off so soon.\"\n\nSo the _Giant_ said no more about it, and when night came, they went\nto bed. After they had lain a while, the _Princess_ said:\n\n\"There is one thing I'd be so glad to ask you about, if I only\ndared.\"\n\n\"What thing is that?\" asked the _Giant_.\n\n\"Only where it is you keep your heart, since you don't carry it about\nyou,\" said the _Princess_.\n\n\"Ah! that's a thing you've no business to ask about; but if you must\nknow, it lies under the door-sill,\" said the _Giant_.\n\n\"Ho! ho!\" said _Boots_ to himself under the bed, \"then we'll soon see\nif we can't find it.\"\n\nNext morning the _Giant_ got up cruelly early, and strode off to the\nwood; but he was hardly out of the house before _Boots_ and the\n_Princess_ set to work to look under the door-sill for his heart; but\nthe more they dug, and the more they hunted, the more they couldn't\nfind it.\n\n\"He has baulked us this time,\" said the _Princess_, \"but we'll try him\nonce more.\"\n\nSo she picked all the prettiest flowers she could find, and strewed\nthem over the door-sill, which they had laid in its right place again;\nand when the time came for the _Giant_ to come home again, _Boots_\ncrept under the bed. Just as he was well under, back came the\n_Giant_.\n\nSnuff--snuff, went the _Giant's_ nose. \"My eyes and limbs, what a\nsmell of Christian blood there is in here,\" said he.\n\n\"I know there is,\" said the _Princess_, \"for there came a magpie\nflying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the\nchimney. I made as much haste as I could to get it out, but I daresay\nit's that you smell.\"\n\nSo the _Giant_ held his peace, and said no more about it. A little\nwhile after, he asked who it was that had strewed flowers about the\ndoor-sill.\n\n\"Oh, I, of course,\" said the _Princess_.\n\n\"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this?\" said the _Giant_.\n\n\"Ah!\" said the _Princess_, \"I'm so fond of you that I couldn't help\nstrewing them, when I knew that your heart lay under there.\"\n\n\"You don't say so,\" said the _Giant_; \"but after all it doesn't lie\nthere at all.\"\n\nSo when they went to bed again in the evening, the _Princess_ asked\nthe _Giant_ again where his heart was, for she said she would so like\nto know.\n\n\"Well,\" said the _Giant_, \"if you must know, it lies away yonder in\nthe cupboard against the wall.\"\n\n\"So, so!\" thought _Boots_ and the _Princess_; \"then we'll soon try to\nfind it.\"\n\nNext morning the _Giant_ was away early, and strode off to the wood,\nand so soon as he was gone _Boots_ and the _Princess_ were in the\ncupboard hunting for his heart, but the more they sought for it, the\nless they found it.\n\n\"Well,\" said the _Princess_, \"we'll just try him once more.\"\n\nSo she decked out the cupboard with flowers and garlands, and when the\ntime came for the _Giant_ to come home, _Boots_ crept under the bed\nagain.\n\nThen back came the _Giant_.\n\nSnuff--snuff! \"My eyes and limbs, what a smell of Christian blood\nthere is in here!\"\n\n\"I know there is,\" said the _Princess_; \"for a little while since\nthere came a magpie flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it\nfall down the chimney. I made all the haste I could to get it out of\nthe house again; but after all my pains, I daresay it's that you\nsmell.\"\n\nWhen the _Giant_ heard that, he said no more about it; but a little\nwhile after, he saw how the cupboard was all decked about with flowers\nand garlands; so he asked who it was that had done that? Who could it\nbe but the _Princess_?\n\n\"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this tomfoolery?\" asked the\n_Giant_.\n\n\"Oh, I'm so fond of you, I couldn't help doing it when I knew that\nyour heart lay there,\" said the _Princess_.\n\n\"How can you be so silly as to believe any such thing?\" said the\n_Giant_.\n\n\"Oh yes; how can I help believing it, when you say it?\" said the\n_Princess_.\n\n\"You're a goose,\" said the _Giant_; \"where my heart is, you will never\ncome.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the _Princess_; \"but for all that, 'twould be such a\npleasure to know where it really lies.\"\n\nThen the poor _Giant_ could hold out no longer, but was forced to\nsay:\n\n[Illustration: \"On that island stands a church; in that church is a well;\nin that well swims a duck.\"]\n\n\"Far, far away in a lake lies an island; on that island stands a\nchurch; in that church is a well; in that well swims a duck; in that\nduck there is an egg, and in that egg there lies my heart,--you\ndarling!\"\n\nIn the morning early, while it was still grey dawn, the _Giant_ strode\noff to the wood.\n\n[Illustration: He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and when he\ngot out of the Giant's door, there stood the Wolf waiting for him.]\n\n\"Yes! now I must set off too,\" said _Boots_; \"if I only knew how to\nfind the way.\" He took a long, long farewell of the _Princess_, and\nwhen he got out of the _Giant's_ door, there stood the _Wolf_ waiting\nfor him. So _Boots_ told him all that had happened inside the house,\nand said now he wished to ride to the well in the church, if he only\nknew the way. So the _Wolf_ bade him jump on his back, he'd soon find\nthe way; and away they went, till the wind whistled after them, over\nhedge and field, over hill and dale. After they had travelled many,\nmany days, they came at last to the lake. Then the _Prince_ did not\nknow how to get over it, but the _Wolf_ bade him only not be afraid,\nbut stick on, and so he jumped into the lake with the _Prince_ on his\nback, and swam over to the island. So they came to the church; but the\nchurch keys hung high, high up on the top of the tower, and at first\nthe _Prince_ did not know how to get them down.\n\n\"You must call on the raven,\" said the _Wolf_.\n\nSo the _Prince_ called on the raven, and in a trice the raven came,\nand flew up and fetched the keys, and so the _Prince_ got into the\nchurch. But when he came to the well, there lay the duck, and swam\nabout backwards and forwards, just as the _Giant_ had said. So the\n_Prince_ stood and coaxed it, till it came to him, and he grasped it\nin his hand; but just as he lifted it up from the water the duck\ndropped the egg into the well, and then _Boots_ was beside himself to\nknow how to get it out again.\n\n\"Well, now you must call on the salmon to be sure,\" said the _Wolf_;\nand the king's son called on the salmon, and the salmon came and\nfetched up the egg from the bottom of the well.\n\nThen the _Wolf_ told him to squeeze the egg, and as soon as ever he\nsqueezed it the _Giant_ screamed out.\n\n\"Squeeze it again,\" said the _Wolf_; and when the _Prince_ did so, the\n_Giant_ screamed still more piteously, and begged and prayed so\nprettily to be spared, saying he would do all that the _Prince_ wished\nif he would only not squeeze his heart in two.\n\n\"Tell him, if he will restore to life again your six brothers and\ntheir brides, whom he has turned to stone, you will spare his life,\"\nsaid the _Wolf_. Yes, the _Giant_ was ready to do that, and he turned\nthe six brothers into king's sons again, and their brides into king's\ndaughters.\n\n\"Now, squeeze the egg in two,\" said the _Wolf_. So _Boots_ squeezed\nthe egg to pieces, and the _Giant_ burst at once.\n\nNow, when he had made an end of the _Giant_, _Boots_ rode back again\non the _Wolf_ to the _Giant's_ house, and there stood all his six\nbrothers alive and merry, with their brides. Then _Boots_ went into\nthe hill-side after his bride, and so they all set off home again to\ntheir father's house. And you may fancy how glad the old king was when\nhe saw all his seven sons come back, each with his bride--\"But the\nloveliest bride of all is the bride of _Boots_, after all,\" said the\nking, \"and he shall sit uppermost at the table, with her by his\nside.\"\n\nSo he sent out, and called a great wedding-feast, and the mirth was\nboth loud and long, and if they have not done feasting, why, they are\nstill at it.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a man who had a meadow, which lay high up on\nthe hill-side, and in the meadow was a barn, which he had built to\nkeep his hay in. Now, I must tell you, there hadn't been much in the\nbarn for the last year or two, for every St. John's night, when the\ngrass stood greenest and deepest, the meadow was eaten down to the\nvery ground the next morning, just as if a whole drove of sheep had\nbeen there feeding on it over night. This happened once, and it\nhappened twice; so at last the man grew weary of losing his crop of\nhay, and said to his sons--for he had three of them, and the youngest\nwas nicknamed _Boots_, of course--that now one of them must go and\nsleep in the barn in the outlying field when St. John's night came,\nfor it was too good a joke that his grass should be eaten, root and\nblade, this year, as it had been the last two years. So whichever of\nthem went must keep a sharp look-out; that was what their father\nsaid.\n\nWell, the eldest son was ready to go and watch the meadow; trust him\nfor looking after the grass! It shouldn't be his fault if man or\nbeast, or the fiend himself, got a blade of grass. So, when evening\ncame, he set off to the barn, and lay down to sleep; but a little on\nin the night came such a clatter, and such an earthquake, that walls\nand roof shook, and groaned, and creaked; then up jumped the lad, and\ntook to his heels as fast as ever he could; nor dared he once look\nround till he reached home; and as for the hay, why it was eaten up\nthis year just as it had been twice before.\n\nThe next St. John's night, the man said again, it would never do to\nlose all the grass in the outlying field year after year in this way,\nso one of his sons must just trudge off to watch it, and watch it well\ntoo. Well, the next oldest son was ready to try his luck, so he set\noff, and lay down to sleep in the barn as his brother had done before\nhim; but as the night wore on, there came on a rumbling and quaking of\nthe earth, worse even than on the last St. John's night, and when the\nlad heard it, he got frightened, and took to his heels as though he\nwere running a race.\n\nNext year the turn came to _Boots_; but when he made ready to go, the\nother two began to laugh and to make game of him, saying:\n\n\"You're just the man to watch the hay, that you are; you, who have\ndone nothing all your life but sit in the ashes and toast yourself by\nthe fire.\"\n\nBut _Boots_ did not care a pin for their chattering, and stumped away\nas evening grew on, up the hill-side to the outlying field. There he\nwent inside the barn and lay down; but in about an hour's time the\nbarn began to groan and creak, so that it was dreadful to hear.\n\n\"Well,\" said _Boots_ to himself, \"if it isn't worse than this, I can\nstand it well enough.\"\n\nA little while after came another creak and an earthquake, so that the\nlitter in the barn flew about the lad's ears. \"Oh!\" said _Boots_ to\nhimself, \"if it isn't worse than this, I daresay I can stand it out.\"\n\nBut just then came a third rumbling, and a third earthquake, so that\nthe lad thought walls and roof were coming down on his head; but it\npassed off, and all was still as death about him.\n\n\"It'll come again, I'll be bound,\" thought _Boots_; but no, it didn't\ncome again; still it was, and still it stayed; but after he had lain a\nlittle while, he heard a noise as if a horse were standing just\noutside the barn-door, and cropping the grass. He stole to the door,\nand peeped through a chink, and there stood a horse feeding away. So\nbig, and fat, and grand a horse, _Boots_ had never set eyes on; by his\nside on the grass lay a saddle and bridle, and a full set of armour\nfor a knight, all of brass, so bright that the light gleamed from it.\n\n\"Ho, ho!\" thought the lad; \"it's you, is it, that eats up our hay?\nI'll soon put a spoke in your wheel, just see if I don't.\"\n\nSo he lost no time, but took the steel out of his tinder-box, and\nthrew it over the horse; then it had no power to stir from the spot,\nand became so tame that the lad could do what he liked with it. So he\ngot on its back, and rode off with it to a place which no one knew of,\nand there he put up the horse. When he got home, his brothers laughed\nand asked how he had fared?\n\n\"You didn't lie long in the barn, even if you had the heart to go so\nfar as the field.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said _Boots_, \"all I can say is, I lay in the barn till the\nsun rose, and neither saw nor heard anything; I can't think what there\nwas in the barn to make you both so afraid.\"\n\n\"A pretty story,\" said his brothers; \"but we'll soon see how you have\nwatched the meadow;\" so they set off; but when they reached it, there\nstood the grass as deep and thick as it had been over night.\n\nWell, the next St. John's eve it was the same story over again;\nneither of the elder brothers dared to go out to the outlying field to\nwatch the crop; but _Boots_, he had the heart to go, and everything\nhappened just as it had happened the year before. First a clatter and\nan earthquake, then a greater clatter and another earthquake, and so\non a third time; only this year the earthquakes were far worse than\nthe year before. Then all at once everything was as still as death,\nand the lad heard how something was cropping the grass outside the\nbarn-door, so he stole to the door, and peeped through a chink; and\nwhat do you think he saw? Why, another horse standing right up against\nthe wall, and chewing and champing with might and main. It was far\nfiner and fatter than that which came the year before, and it had a\nsaddle on its back, and a bridle on its neck, and a full suit of mail\nfor a knight lay by its side, all of silver, and as grand as you would\nwish to see.\n\n\"Ho, ho!\" said _Boots_ to himself; \"it's you that gobbles up our hay,\nis it? I'll soon put a spoke in your wheel;\" and with that he took the\nsteel out of his tinder-box, and threw it over the horse's crest,\nwhich stood as still as a lamb. Well, the lad rode this horse, too, to\nthe hiding-place where he kept the other one, and after that he went\nhome.\n\n\"I suppose you'll tell us,\" said one of his brothers, \"there's a fine\ncrop this year too, up in the hayfield.\"\n\n\"Well, so there is,\" said _Boots_; and off ran the others to see, and\nthere stood the grass thick and deep, as it was the year before; but\nthey didn't give _Boots_ softer words for all that.\n\nNow, when the third St. John's eve came, the two elder brothers still\nhadn't the heart to lie out in the barn and watch the grass, for they\nhad got so scared at heart the nights they lay there before, that they\ncouldn't get over the fright; but _Boots_, he dared to go; and, to\nmake a very long story short, the very same thing happened this time\nas had happened twice before. Three earthquakes came, one after the\nother, each worse than the one which went before, and when the last\ncame, the lad danced about with the shock from one barn wall to the\nother; and after that, all at once, it was still as death. Now when he\nhad laid a little while, he heard something tugging away at the grass\noutside the barn, so he stole again to the door-chink, and peeped out,\nand there stood a horse close outside--far, far bigger and fatter than\nthe two he had taken before.\n\n\"Ho, ho!\" said the lad to himself, \"it's you, is it, that comes here\neating up our hay? I'll soon stop that--I'll soon put a spoke in your\nwheel.\" So he caught up his steel and threw it over his horse's neck,\nand in a trice it stood as if it were nailed to the ground, and\n_Boots_ could do as he pleased with it. Then he rode off with it to\nthe hiding-place where he kept the other two, and then went home. When\nhe got home, his two brothers made game of him as they had done\nbefore, saying, they could see he had watched the grass well, for he\nlooked for all the world as if he were walking in his sleep, and many\nother spiteful things they said, but _Boots_ gave no heed to them,\nonly asking them to go and see for themselves; and when they went,\nthere stood the grass as fine and deep this time as it had been twice\nbefore.\n\nNow, you must know that the king of the country where _Boots_ lived\nhad a daughter, whom he would only give to the man who could ride up\nover the hill of glass, for there was a high, high hill, all of glass,\nas smooth and slippery as ice, close by the _King's_ palace. Upon the\ntip top of the hill the _King's_ daughter was to sit, with three\ngolden apples in her lap, and the man who could ride up and carry off\nthe three golden apples, was to have half the kingdom, and the\n_Princess_ to wife. This the _King_ had stuck up on all the\nchurch-doors in his realm, and had given it out in many other\nkingdoms besides. Now, this _Princess_ was so lovely that all who set\neyes on her fell over head and ears in love with her whether they\nwould or no. So I needn't tell you how all the princes and knights who\nheard of her were eager to win her to wife, and half the kingdom\nbeside; and how they came riding from all parts of the world on high\nprancing horses, and clad in the grandest clothes, for there wasn't\none of them who hadn't made up his mind that he, and he alone, was to\nwin the _Princess_.\n\nSo when the day of trial came, which the king had fixed, there was\nsuch a crowd of princes and knights under the _Glass Hill_, that it\nmade one's head whirl to look at them, and everyone in the country\nwho could even crawl along was off to the hill, for they were all\neager to see the man who was to win the _Princess_. So the two elder\nbrothers set off with the rest; but as for _Boots_, they said outright\nhe shouldn't go with them, for if they were seen with such a dirty\nchangeling, all begrimed with smut from cleaning their shoes and\nsifting cinders in the dust-hole, they said folk would make game of\nthem.\n\n\"Very well,\" said _Boots_, \"it's all one to me. I can go alone, and\nstand or fall by myself.\"\n\nNow when the two brothers came to the _Hill of Glass_, the knights and\nprinces were all hard at it, riding their horses till they were all in\na foam; but it was no good, by my troth; for as soon as ever the\nhorses set foot on the hill, down they slipped, and there wasn't one\nwho could get a yard or two up; and no wonder, for the hill was as\nsmooth as a sheet of glass, and as steep as a house-wall. But all were\neager to have the _Princess_ and half the kingdom. So they rode and\nslipped, and slipped and rode, and still it was the same story over\nagain. At last all their horses were so weary that they could scarce\nlift a leg, and in such a sweat that the lather dripped from them, and\nso the knights had to give up trying any more. So the king was just\nthinking that he would proclaim a new trial for the next day, to see\nif they would have better luck, when all at once a knight came riding\nup on so brave a steed, that no one had ever seen the like of it in\nhis born days, and the knight had mail of brass, and the horse a brass\nbit in his mouth, so bright that the sunbeams shone from it. Then all\nthe others called out to him he might just as well spare himself the\ntrouble of riding at the Hill, for it would lead to no good; but he\ngave no heed to them, and put his horse at the hill, and went up it\nlike nothing for a good way, about a third of the height; and when he\nhad got so far, he turned his horse round and rode down again. So\nlovely a knight the _Princess_ thought she had never yet seen; and\nwhile he was riding, she sat and thought to herself:\n\n\"Would to heaven he might only come up and down the other side.\"\n\nAnd when she saw him turning back, she threw down one of the golden\napples after him, and it rolled down into his shoe. But when he got to\nthe bottom of the hill, he rode off so fast that no one could tell\nwhat had become of him. That evening all the knights and princes were\nto go before the king, that he who had ridden so far up the hill might\nshow the apple which the _Princess_ had thrown, but there was no one\nwho had anything to show. One after the other they all came, but not a\nman of them could show the apple.\n\nAt even the brothers of _Boots_ came home too, and had such a long\nstory to tell about the riding up the hill.\n\n\"First of all,\" they said, \"there was not one of the whole lot who\ncould get so much as a stride up; but at last came one who had a suit\nof brass mail, and a brass bridle and saddle, all so bright that the\nsun shone from them a mile off. He was a chap to ride, just! He rode a\nthird of the way up the _Hill of Glass_, and he could easily have\nridden the whole way up, if he chose; but he turned round and rode\ndown, thinking, maybe, that was enough for once.\"\n\n\"Oh! I should so like to have seen him, that I should,\" said _Boots_,\nwho sat by the fireside, and stuck his feet into the cinders, as was\nhis wont.\n\n\"Oh!\" said his brothers, \"you would, would you? You look fit to keep\ncompany with such high lords, nasty beast that you are, sitting there\namongst the ashes.\"\n\nNext day the brothers were all for setting off again, and _Boots_\nbegged them this time, too, to let him go with them and see the\nriding; but no, they wouldn't have him at any price, he was too ugly\nand nasty, they said.\n\n\"Well, well!\" said _Boots_; \"if I go at all, I must go by myself. I'm\nnot afraid.\"\n\nSo when the brothers got to the _Hill of Glass_, all the princes and\nknights began to ride again, and you may fancy they had taken care to\nshoe their horses sharp; but it was no good--they rode and slipped,\nand slipped and rode, just as they had done the day before, and there\nwas not one who could get so far as a yard up the hill. And when they\nhad worn out their horses, so that they could not stir a leg, they\nwere all forced to give it up as a bad job. So the king thought he\nmight as well proclaim that the riding should take place the day after\nfor the last time, just to give them one chance more; but all at once\nit came across his mind that he might as well wait a little longer, to\nsee if the knight in brass mail would come this day too. Well, they\nsaw nothing of him; but all at once came one riding on a steed, far,\nfar braver and finer than that on which the knight in brass had\nridden, and he had silver mail, and a silver saddle and bridle, all so\nbright that the sunbeams gleamed and glanced from them far away. Then\nthe others shouted out to him again, saying, he might as well hold\nhard, and not try to ride up the hill, for all his trouble would be\nthrown away; but the knight paid no heed to them, and rode straight\nat the hill, and right up it, till he had gone two-thirds of the way,\nand then he wheeled his horse round and rode down again. To tell the\ntruth, the _Princess_ liked him still better than the knight in brass,\nand she sat and wished he might only be able to come right up to the\ntop, and down the other side; but when she saw him turning back, she\nthrew the second apple after him, and it rolled down and fell into his\nshoe. But, as soon as ever he had come down from the _Hill of Glass_,\nhe rode off so fast that no one could see what became of him.\n\nAt even, when all were to go in before the king and the _Princess_,\nthat he who had the golden apple might show it, in they went, one\nafter the other, but there was no one who had any apple to show, and\nthe two brothers, as they had done on the former day, went home and\ntold how things had gone, and how all had ridden at the hill, and none\ngot up.\n\n\"But, last of all,\" they said, \"came one in a silver suit, and his\nhorse had a silver saddle and a silver bridle. He was just a chap to\nride; and he got two-thirds up the hill, and then turned back. He was\na fine fellow, and no mistake; and the _Princess_ threw the second\ngold apple to him.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said _Boots_, \"I should so like to have seen him too, that I\nshould.\"\n\n\"A pretty story,\" they said. \"Perhaps you think his coat of mail was\nas bright as the ashes you are always poking about, and sifting, you\nnasty dirty beast.\"\n\nThe third day everything happened as it had happened the two days\nbefore. _Boots_ begged to go and see the sight, but the two wouldn't\nhear of his going with them. When they got to the hill there was no\none who could get so much as a yard up it; and now all waited for the\nknight in silver mail, but they neither saw nor heard of him. At last\ncame one riding on a steed, so brave that no one had ever seen his\nmatch; and the knight had a suit of golden mail, and a golden saddle\nand bridle, so wondrous bright that the sunbeams gleamed from them a\nmile off. The other knights and princes could not find time to call\nout to him not to try his luck, for they were amazed to see how grand\nhe was. So he rode right at the hill, and tore up it like nothing, so\nthat the _Princess_ hadn't even time to wish that he might get up the\nwhole way. As soon as ever he reached the top, he took the third\ngolden apple from the _Princess'_ lap, and then turned his horse and\nrode down again. As soon as he got down, he rode off at full speed,\nand was out of sight in no time.\n\nNow, when the brothers got home at even, you may fancy what long\nstories they told, how the riding had gone off that day; and amongst\nother things, they had a deal to say about the knight in golden mail.\n\n\"He just was a chap to ride!\" they said; \"so grand a knight isn't to\nbe found in the wide world.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said _Boots_, \"I should so like to have seen him, that I\nshould.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said his brothers, \"his mail shone a deal brighter than the\nglowing coals which you are always poking and digging at; nasty dirty\nbeast that you are.\"\n\nNext day all the knights and princes were to pass before the king and\nthe _Princess_--it was too late to do so the night before, I\nsuppose--that he who had the gold apple might bring it forth; but one\ncame after another, first the _Princes_, and then the knights, and\nstill no one could show the gold apple.\n\n\"Well,\" said the king, \"some one must have it, for it was something we\nall saw with our own eyes, how a man came and rode up and bore it\noff.\"\n\nSo he commanded that every man who was in the kingdom should come up\nto the palace and see if they could show the apple. Well, they all\ncame one after another, but no one had the golden apple, and after a\nlong time the two brothers of _Boots_ came. They were the last of all,\nso the king asked them if there was no one else in the kingdom who\nhadn't come.\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" said they; \"we have a brother, but he never carried off the\ngolden apple. He hasn't stirred out of the dusthole on any of the\nthree days.\"\n\n\"Never mind that,\" said the king; \"he may as well come up to the\npalace like the rest.\"\n\nSo _Boots_ had to go up to the palace.\n\n\"How now,\" said the king; \"have you got the golden apple? Speak out!\"\n\n\"Yes, I have,\" said _Boots_; \"here is the first, and here is the\nsecond, and here is the third too;\" and with that he pulled all three\ngolden apples out of his pocket, and at the same time threw off his\nsooty rags, and stood before them in his gleaming golden mail.\n\n\"Yes!\" said the king; \"you shall have my daughter, and half my\nkingdom, for you well deserve both her and it.\"\n\nSo they got ready for the wedding, and _Boots_ got the _Princess_ to\nwife, and there was great merry-making at the bridal-feast, you may\nfancy, for they could all be merry though they couldn't ride up the\n_Hill of Glass_; and all I can say is, if they haven't left off their\nmerry-making yet, why, they're still at it.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WIDOW'S SON\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a poor, poor _Widow_, who had an only _Son_.\nShe dragged on with the boy till he had been confirmed, and then she\nsaid she couldn't feed him any longer, he must just go out and earn\nhis own bread. So the lad wandered out into the world, and when he had\nwalked a day or so, a strange man met him.\n\n\"Whither away?\" asked the man.\n\n[Illustration: When he had walked a day or so, a strange man met him.\n\"Whither away?\" asked the man.]\n\n\"Oh, I'm going out into the world to try and get a place,\" said the\nlad.\n\n\"Will you come and serve me?\" said the man.\n\n\"Oh, yes; just as soon you as any one else,\" said the lad.\n\n\"Well, you'll have a good place with me,\" said the man; \"for you'll\nonly have to keep me company, and do nothing at all else beside.\"\n\nSo the lad stopped with him, and lived on the fat of the land, both in\nmeat and drink, and had little or nothing to do; but he never saw a\nliving soul in that man's house.\n\nSo one day the man said:\n\n\"Now, I'm going off for eight days, and that time you'll have to spend\nhere all alone; but you must not go into any one of these four rooms\nhere. If you do, I'll take your life when I come back.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the lad, he'd be sure not to do that. But when the man had\nbeen gone three or four days, the lad couldn't bear it any longer, but\nwent into the first room, and when he got inside he looked round, but\nhe saw nothing but a shelf over the door where a bramble-bush rod\nlay.\n\nWell, indeed! thought the lad; a pretty thing to forbid my seeing\nthis.\n\nSo when the eight days were out, the man came home, and the first\nthing he said was:\n\n\"You haven't been into any of these rooms, of course.\"\n\n\"No, no; that I haven't,\" said the lad.\n\n\"I'll soon see that,\" said the man, and went at once into the room\nwhere the lad had been.\n\n\"Nay, but you have been in here,\" said he; \"and now you shall lose\nyour life.\"\n\nThen the lad begged and prayed so hard that he got off with his life,\nbut the man gave him a good thrashing. And when it was over, they\nwere as good friends as ever.\n\nSome time after the man set off again, and said he should be away\nfourteen days; but before he went he forbade the lad to go into any of\nthe rooms he had not been in before; as for that he had been in, he\nmight go into that, and welcome. Well, it was the same story over\nagain, except that the lad stood out eight days before he went in. In\nthis room, too, he saw nothing but a shelf over the door, and a big\nstone, and a pitcher of water on it. Well, after all, there's not much\nto be afraid of my seeing here, thought the lad.\n\nBut when the man came back, he asked if he had been into any of the\nrooms. No, the lad hadn't done anything of the kind.\n\n\"Well, well; I'll soon see that,\" said the man; and when he saw the\nlad had been in them after all, he said:\n\n\"Ah! now I'll spare you no longer; now you must lose your life.\"\n\nBut the lad begged and prayed for himself again, and so this time too\nhe got off with stripes; though he got as many as his skin would\ncarry. But when he got sound and well again, he led just as easy a\nlife as ever, and he and the man were just as good friends.\n\nSo a while after the man was to take another journey, and now he said\nhe should be away three weeks, and he forbade the lad anew to go into\nthe third room, for if he went in there he might just make up his mind\nat once to lose his life. Then after fourteen days the lad couldn't\nbear it, but crept into the room, but he saw nothing at all in there\nbut a trap door on the floor; and when he lifted it up and looked\ndown, there stood a great copper cauldron which bubbled up and boiled\naway down there; but he saw no fire under it.\n\n\"Well, I should just like to know if it's hot,\" thought the lad, and\nstruck his finger down into the broth, and when he pulled it out\nagain, lo! it was gilded all over. So the lad scraped and scrubbed it,\nbut the gilding wouldn't go off, so he bound a piece of rag round it;\nand when the man came back, and asked what was the matter with his\nfinger, the lad said he'd given it such a bad cut. But the man tore\noff the rag, and then he soon saw what was the matter with the finger.\nFirst he wanted to kill the lad outright, but when he wept, and\nbegged, he only gave him such a thrashing that he had to keep his bed\nthree days. After that the man took down a pot from the wall, and\nrubbed him over with some stuff out of it, and so the lad was as\nsound and fresh as ever.\n\nSo after a while the man started off again, and this time he was to be\naway a month. But before he went, he said to the lad, if he went into\nthe fourth room he might give up all hope of saving his life.\n\nWell, the lad stood out for two or three weeks, but then he couldn't\nhold out any longer; he must and would go into that room, and so in he\nstole. There stood a great black horse tied up in a stall by himself,\nwith a manger of red-hot coals at his head and a truss of hay at his\ntail. Then the lad thought this all wrong, so he changed them about,\nand put the hay at his head. Then said the _Horse_:\n\n\"Since you are so good at heart as to let me have some food, I'll set\nyou free, that I will. For if the _Troll_ comes back and finds you\nhere, he'll kill you outright. But now you must go up to the room\nwhich lies just over this, and take a coat of mail out of those that\nhang there; and mind, whatever you do, don't take any of the bright\nones, but the most rusty of all you see, that's the one to take; and\nsword and saddle you must choose for yourself just in the same way.\"\n\nSo the lad did all that; but it was a heavy load for him to carry them\nall down at once.\n\nWhen he came back, the _Horse_ told him to pull off his clothes and\nget into the cauldron which stood and boiled in the other room, and\nbathe himself there. \"If I do,\" thought the lad, \"I shall look an\nawful fright;\" but for all that, he did as he was told. So when he had\ntaken his bath, he became so handsome and sleek, and as red and white\nas milk and blood, and much stronger than he had been before.\n\n\"Do you feel any change?\" asked the _Horse_.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the lad.\n\n\"Try and lift me, then,\" said the _Horse_.\n\nOh yes! he could do that, and as for the sword, he brandished it like\na feather.\n\n\"Now saddle me,\" said the _Horse_, \"and put on the coat of mail, and\nthen take the bramble-bush rod, and the stone, and the pitcher of\nwater, and the pot of ointment, and then we'll be off as fast as we\ncan.\"\n\nSo when the lad had got on the horse, off they went at such a rate, he\ncouldn't at all tell how they went. But when he had ridden awhile, the\n_Horse_ said, \"I think I hear a noise; look round! can you see\nanything?\"\n\n\"Yes; there are ever so many coming after us, at least a score,\" said\nthe lad.\n\n\"Aye, aye, that's the _Troll_ coming,\" said the _Horse_; \"now he's\nafter us with his pack.\"\n\nSo they rode on a while, until those who followed were close behind\nthem.\n\n\"Now throw your bramble-bush rod behind you, over your shoulder,\" said\nthe _Horse_; \"but mind you throw it a good way off my back.\"\n\nSo the lad did that, and all at once a close, thick bramblewood grew\nup behind them. So the lad rode on a long, long time, while the\n_Troll_ and his crew had to go home to fetch something to hew their\nway through the wood. But at last the _Horse_ said again:\n\n\"Look behind you! can you see anything now?\"\n\n\"Yes, ever so many,\" said the lad, \"as many as would fill a large\nchurch.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, that's the _Troll_ and his crew,\" said the _Horse_; \"now\nhe's got more to back him; but now throw down the stone, and mind you\nthrow it far behind me.\"\n\nAnd as soon as the lad did what the _Horse_ said, up rose a great\nblack hill of rock behind him. So the _Troll_ had to be off home to\nfetch something to mine his way through the rock; and while the\n_Troll_ did that, the lad rode a good bit further on. But still the\n_Horse_ begged him to look behind him, and then he saw a troop like a\nwhole army behind him, and they glistened in the sunbeams.\n\n[Illustration: But still the Horse begged him to look behind him.]\n\n\"Aye, aye,\" said the _Horse_, \"that's the _Troll_, and now he's got\nhis whole band with him, so throw the pitcher of water behind you, but\nmind you don't spill any of it upon me.\"\n\nSo the lad did that; but in spite of all the pains he took, he still\nspilt one drop on the horse's flank. So it became a great deep lake;\nand because of that one drop, the horse found himself far out in it,\nbut still he swam safe to land. But when the _Trolls_ came to the\nlake, they lay down to drink it dry; and so they swilled and swilled\ntill they burst.\n\n\"Now we're rid of them,\" said the _Horse_.\n\nSo when they had gone a long, long while, they came to a green patch\nin a wood.\n\n\"Now, strip off all your arms,\" said the _Horse_, \"and only put on\nyour ragged clothes, and take the saddle off me, and let me loose, and\nhang all my clothing and your arms up inside that great hollow\nlime-tree yonder. Then make yourself a wig of fir-moss, and go up to\nthe king's palace, which lies close here, and ask for a place.\nWhenever you need me, only come here and shake the bridle, and I'll\ncome to you.\"\n\nYes! the lad did all his _Horse_ told him, and as soon as ever he put\non the wig of moss he became so ugly, and pale, and miserable to look\nat, no one would have known him again. Then he went up to the king's\npalace and begged first for leave to be in the kitchen, and bring in\nwood and water for the cook, but then the kitchen-maid asked him:\n\n\"Why do you wear that ugly wig? Off with it. I won't have such a\nfright in here.\"\n\n\"No, I can't do that,\" said the lad; \"for I'm not quite right in my\nhead.\"\n\n\"Do you think then I'll have you in here about the food,\" cried the\ncook. \"Away with you to the coachman; you're best fit to go and clean\nthe stable.\"\n\nBut when the coachman begged him to take his wig off, he got the same\nanswer, and he wouldn't have him either.\n\n\"You'd best go down to the gardener,\" said he; \"you're best fit to go\nabout and dig in the garden.\"\n\nSo he got leave to be with the gardener, but none of the other\nservants would sleep with him, and so he had to sleep by himself under\nthe steps of the summer-house. It stood upon beams, and had a high\nstaircase. Under that he got some turf for his bed, and there he lay\nas well as he could.\n\nSo, when he had been some time at the palace, it happened one morning,\njust as the sun rose, that the lad had taken off his wig, and stood\nand washed himself, and then he was so handsome, it was a joy to look\nat him.\n\nSo the _Princess_ saw from her window the lovely gardener's boy, and\nthought she had never seen any one so handsome. Then she asked the\ngardener why he lay out there under the steps.\n\n\"Oh,\" said the gardener, \"none of his fellow-servants will sleep with\nhim; that's why.\"\n\n\"Let him come up to-night, and lie at the door inside my bedroom, and\nthen they'll not refuse to sleep with him any more,\" said the\n_Princess_.\n\nSo the gardener told that to the lad.\n\n\"Do you think I'll do any such thing?\" said the lad. \"Why they'd say\nnext there was something between me and the _Princess_.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the gardener, \"you've good reason to fear any such thing,\nyou who are so handsome.\"\n\n\"Well, well,\" said the lad, \"since it's her will, I suppose I must\ngo.\"\n\nSo, when he was to go up the steps in the evening, he tramped and\nstamped so on the way, that they had to beg him to tread softly lest\nthe _King_ should come to know it. So he came into the _Princess'_\nbedroom, lay down, and began to snore at once. Then the _Princess_\nsaid to her maid:\n\n\"Go gently, and just pull his wig off;\" and she went up to him.\n\nBut just as she was going to whisk it off, he caught hold of it with\nboth hands, and said she should never have it. After that he lay down\nagain, and began to snore. Then the _Princess_ gave her maid a wink,\nand this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay the lad so\nlovely, and white and red, just as the _Princess_ had seen him in the\nmorning sun.\n\n[Illustration: And this time she whisked off the wig; and there lay the\nlad, so lovely, and white and red, just as the Princess had seen him in\nthe morning sun.]\n\nAfter that the lad slept every night in the _Princess'_ bedroom.\n\nBut it wasn't long before the _King_ came to hear how the gardener's\nlad slept every night in the _Princess'_ bedroom; and he got so wroth\nhe almost took the lad's life. He didn't do that, however, but he\nthrew him into the prison tower; and as for his daughter, he shut her\nup in her own room, whence she never got leave to stir day or night.\nAll that she begged, and all that she prayed, for the lad and herself,\nwas no good. The _King_ was only more wroth than ever.\n\nSome time after came a war and uproar in the land, and the _King_ had\nto take up arms against another king who wished to take the kingdom\nfrom him. So when the lad heard that, he begged the gaoler to go to\nthe _King_ and ask for a coat of mail and a sword, and for leave to go\nto the war. All the rest laughed when the gaoler told his errand, and\nbegged the _King_ to let him have an old worn-out suit, that they\nmight have the fun of seeing such a wretch in battle. So he got that,\nand an old broken-down hack besides, which went upon three legs, and\ndragged the fourth after it.\n\n[Illustration: The Lad in the Battle.]\n\nThen they went out to meet the foe; but they hadn't got far from the\npalace before the lad got stuck fast in a bog with his hack. There he\nsat and dug his spurs in, and cried, \"Gee up! gee up!\" to his hack.\nAnd all the rest had their fun out of this, and laughed, and made game\nof the lad as they rode past him. But they were scarcely gone, before\nhe ran to the lime-tree, threw on his coat of mail, and shook the\nbridle, and there came the _Horse_ in a trice, and said: \"Do now your\nbest, and I'll do mine.\"\n\nBut when the lad came up the battle had begun, and the _King_ was in a\nsad pinch; but no sooner had the lad rushed into the thick of it than\nthe foe was beaten back, and put to flight. The _King_ and his men\nwondered and wondered who it could be who had come to help them, but\nnone of them got so near him as to be able to talk to him, and as soon\nas the fight was over he was gone. When they went back, there sat the\nlad still in the bog, and dug his spurs into his three-legged hack,\nand they all laughed again.\n\n\"No! only just look,\" they said; \"there the fool sits still.\"\n\nThe next day when they went out to battle, they saw the lad sitting\nthere still, so they laughed again, and made game of him; but as soon\nas ever they had ridden by, the lad ran again to the lime-tree, and\nall happened as on the first day. Every one wondered what strange\nchampion it could be that had helped them, but no one got so near him\nas to say a word to him; and no one guessed it could be the lad;\nthat's easy to understand.\n\nSo when they went home at night, and saw the lad still sitting there\non his hack, they burst out laughing at him again, and one of them\nshot an arrow at him and hit him in the leg. So he began to shriek and\nto bewail; 'twas enough to break one's heart; and so the _King_ threw\nhis pocket-handkerchief to him to bind his wound.\n\nWhen they went out to battle the third day, the lad still sat there.\n\n\"Gee up! gee up!\" he said to his hack.\n\n\"Nay, nay,\" said the _King's_ men; \"if he won't stick there till he's\nstarved to death.\"\n\nAnd then they rode on, and laughed at him till they were fit to fall\nfrom their horses. When they were gone, he ran again to the lime, and\ncame up to the battle just in the very nick of time. This day he slew\nthe enemy's king, and then the war was over at once.\n\nWhen the battle was over, the _King_ caught sight of his handkerchief,\nwhich the strange warrior had bound round his leg, and so it wasn't\nhard to find him out. So they took him with great joy between them to\nthe palace, and the _Princess_, who saw him from her window, got so\nglad, no one can believe it.\n\n\"Here comes my own true love,\" she said.\n\nThen he took the pot of ointment and rubbed himself on the leg, and\nafter that he rubbed all the wounded, and so they all got well again\nin a moment.\n\nSo he got the _Princess_ to wife; but when he went down into the\nstable where his horse was on the day the wedding was to be, there it\nstood so dull and heavy, and hung its ears down, and wouldn't eat its\ncorn. So when the young _King_--for he was now a king, and had got\nhalf the kingdom--spoke to him, and asked what ailed him, the _Horse_\nsaid:\n\n\"Now I have helped you on, and now I won't live any longer. So just\ntake the sword, and cut my head off.\"\n\n\"No, I'll do nothing of the kind,\" said the young _King_; \"but you\nshall have all you want, and rest all your life.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the _Horse_, \"if you don't do as I tell you, see if I\ndon't take your life somehow.\"\n\nSo the _King_ had to do what he asked; but when he swung the sword and\nwas to cut his head off, he was so sorry he turned away his face, for\nhe would not see the stroke fall. But as soon as ever he had cut off\nthe head, there stood the loveliest _Prince_ on the spot where the\nhorse had stood.\n\n\"Why, where in all the world did you come from?\" asked the _King_.\n\n\"It was I who was a horse,\" said the _Prince_; \"for I was king of\nthat land whose king you slew yesterday. He it was who threw this\n_Troll's_ shape over me, and sold me to the _Troll_. But now he is\nslain I get my own again, and you and I will be neighbour kings, but\nwar we will never make on one another.\"\n\nAnd they didn't either; for they were friends as long as they lived,\nand each paid the other very many visits.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE BILLY-GOATS GRUFF\n\n\nOnce on a time there were three _Billy-goats_, who were to go up to\nthe hill-side to make themselves fat, and the name of all three was\n\"_Gruff_.\"\n\nOn the way up was a bridge over a burn they had to cross; and under\nthe bridge lived a great ugly _Troll_, with eyes as big as saucers,\nand a nose as long as a poker.\n\nSo first of all came the youngest billy-goat _Gruff_ to cross the\nbridge.\n\n\"Trip, trap! trip, trap!\" went the bridge.\n\n\"Who's that tripping over my bridge?\" roared the _Troll_.\n\n\"Oh! it is only I, the tiniest billy-goat _Gruff_; and I'm going up to\nthe hill-side to make myself fat,\" said the billy-goat, with such a\nsmall voice.\n\n\"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up,\" said the _Troll_.\n\n\"Oh, no! pray don't take me. I'm too little, that I am,\" said the\nbilly-goat; \"wait a bit till the second billy-goat _Gruff_ comes, he's\nmuch bigger.\"\n\n\"Well! be off with you,\" said the _Troll_.\n\nA little while after came the second billy-goat _Gruff_ to cross the\nbridge.\n\n\"TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP!\" went the bridge.\n\n\"WHO'S THAT tripping over my bridge?\" roared the _Troll_.\n\n\"Oh! It's the second billy-goat _Gruff_, and I'm going up to the\nhill-side to make myself fat,\" said the billy-goat, who hadn't such a\nsmall voice.\n\n\"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up,\" said the _Troll_.\n\n\"Oh, no! don't take me, wait a little till the big billy-goat _Gruff_\ncomes, he's much bigger.\"\n\n\"Very well! be off with you,\" said the _Troll_.\n\nBut just then up came the big billy-goat _Gruff_.\n\n\"TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP!\" went the bridge, for the\nbilly-goat was so heavy that the bridge creaked and groaned under\nhim.\n\n\"WHO'S THAT tramping over my bridge?\" roared the _Troll_.\n\n\"IT'S I! THE BIG BILLY-GOAT GRUFF,\" said the billy-goat, who had an\nugly hoarse voice of his own.\n\n\"Now, I'm coming to gobble you up,\" roared the _Troll_.\n\n            \"Well, come along! I've got two spears,\n            And I'll poke your eyeballs out at your ears;\n            I've got besides two curling-stones,\n            And I'll crush you to bits, body and bones.\"\n\nThat was what the big billy-goat said; and so he flew at the _Troll_\nand poked his eyes out with his horns, and crushed him to bits, body\nand bones, and tossed him out into the burn, and after that he went up\nto the hill-side. There the billy-goats got so fat they were scarce\nable to walk home again; and if the fat hasn't fallen off them, why\nthey're still fat; and so:\n\n                        Snip, snap, snout,\n                        This tale's told out.\n\n\n\n\nTHE THREE PRINCESSES IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN\n\n\nThere were once upon a time a _King_ and _Queen_ who had no children,\nand they took it so much to heart that they hardly ever had a happy\nmoment. One day the _King_ stood in the portico and looked out over\nthe big meadows and all that was his. But he felt he could have no\nenjoyment out of it all, since he did not know what would become of it\nafter his time. As he stood there pondering, an old beggar woman came\nup to him and asked him for a trifle in heaven's name. She greeted him\nand curtsied, and asked what ailed the _King_, since he looked so\nsad.\n\n\"You can't do anything to help me, my good woman,\" said the _King_;\n\"it's no use telling you.\"\n\n\"I am not so sure about that,\" said the beggar woman. \"Very little is\nwanted when luck is in the way. The _King_ is thinking that he has no\nheir to his crown and kingdom, but he need not mourn on that account,\"\nshe said. \"The _Queen_ shall have three daughters, but great care must\nbe taken that they do not come out under the open heavens before they\nare all fifteen years old; otherwise a snowdrift will come and carry\nthem away.\"\n\nWhen the time came the _Queen_ had a beautiful baby girl; the year\nafter she had another, and the third year she also had a girl.\n\nThe _King_ and _Queen_ were glad beyond all measure; but although the\n_King_ was very happy, he did not forget to set a watch at the Palace\ndoor, so that the _Princesses_ should not get out.\n\nAs they grew up they became both fair and beautiful, and all went well\nwith them in every way. Their only sorrow was that they were not\nallowed to go out and play like other children. For all they begged\nand prayed their parents, and for all they besought the sentinel, it\nwas of no avail; go out they must not before they were fifteen years\nold, all of them.\n\nSo one day, not long before the fifteenth birthday of the youngest\n_Princess_, the _King_ and the _Queen_ were out driving, and the\n_Princesses_ were standing at the window and looking out. The sun was\nshining, and everything looked so green and beautiful that they felt\nthat they must go out, happen what might. So they begged and entreated\nand urged the sentinel, all three of them, that he should let them\ndown into the garden. \"He could see for himself how warm and pleasant\nit was; no snowy weather could come on such a day.\" Well, he didn't\nthink it looked much like it either, and if they must go they had\nbetter go, the soldier said; but it must only be for a minute, and he\nhimself would go with them and look after them.\n\nWhen they got down into the garden they ran up and down, and filled\ntheir laps with flowers and green leaves, the prettiest they could\nfind. At last they could manage no more, but just as they were going\nindoors they caught sight of a large rose at the other end of the\ngarden. It was many times prettier than any they had gathered, so they\nmust have that also. But just as they bent down to take the rose a big\ndense snowdrift came and carried them away.\n\n[Illustration: Just as they bent down to take the rose a big dense\nsnow-drift came and carried them away.]\n\nThere was great mourning over the whole country, and the _King_ made\nknown from all the churches that any one who could save the\n_Princesses_ should have half the kingdom and his golden crown and\nwhichever princess he liked to choose.\n\nYou can well understand there were plenty who wanted to gain half the\nkingdom, and a princess into the bargain; so there were people of both\nhigh and low degree who set out for all parts of the country. But\nthere was no one who could find the _Princesses_, or even get any\ntidings of them.\n\nWhen all the grand and rich people in the country had had their turn,\na captain and a lieutenant came to the Palace, and wanted to try their\nluck. The _King_ fitted them out both with silver and gold, and wished\nthem success on their journey.\n\nThen came a soldier, who lived with his mother in a little cottage\nsome way from the Palace. He had dreamt one night that he also was\ntrying to find the _Princesses_. When the morning came he still\nremembered what he had dreamt, and told his mother about it.\n\n\"Some witchery must have got hold of you,\" said the woman, \"but you\nmust dream the same thing three nights running, else there is nothing\nin it.\" And the next two nights the same thing happened; he had the\nsame dream, and he felt he must go. So he washed himself and put on\nhis uniform, and went into the kitchen at the Palace. It was the day\nafter the captain and the lieutenant had set out.\n\n\"You had better go home again,\" said the _King_, \"the _Princesses_ are\nbeyond your reach, I should say; and besides, I have spent so much\nmoney on outfits that I have nothing left to-day. You had better come\nback another time.\"\n\n\"If I go, I must go to-day,\" said the soldier. \"Money I do not want; I\nonly need a drop in my flask and some food in my wallet,\" he said;\n\"but it must be a good walletful--as much meat and bacon as I can\ncarry.\"\n\nYes, that he might have if that was all he wanted.\n\nSo he set off, and he had not gone many miles before he overtook the\ncaptain and the lieutenant.\n\n\"Where are you going?\" asked the captain, when he saw the man in\nuniform.\n\n\"I'm going to try if I can find the _Princesses_,\" answered the\nsoldier.\n\n\"So are we,\" said the captain, \"and since your errand is the same, you\nmay keep company with us, for if we don't find them, you are not\nlikely to find them either, my lad,\" said he.\n\nWhen they had gone awhile the soldier left the high road, and took a\npath into the forest.\n\n\"Where are you going?\" said the captain; \"it is best to follow the\nhigh road.\"\n\n\"That may be,\" said the soldier, \"but this is my way.\"\n\nHe kept to the path, and when the others saw this they turned round\nand followed him. Away they went further and further, far across big\nmoors and along narrow valleys.\n\nAnd at last it became lighter, and when they had got out of the forest\naltogether they came to a long bridge, which they had to cross. But on\nthat bridge a bear stood on guard. He rose on his hind legs and came\ntowards them, as if he wanted to eat them.\n\n\"What shall we do now?\" said the captain.\n\n\"They say that the bear is fond of meat,\" said the soldier, and then\nhe threw a fore quarter to him, and so they got past. But when they\nreached the other end of the bridge, they saw a lion, which came\nroaring towards them with open jaws as if he wanted to swallow them.\n\n\"I think we had better turn right-about, we shall never be able to get\npast him alive,\" said the captain.\n\n\"Oh, I don't think he is so very dangerous,\" said the soldier; \"I have\nheard that lions are very fond of bacon, and I have half a pig in my\nwallet;\" and then he threw a ham to the lion, who began eating and\ngnawing, and thus they got past him also.\n\nIn the evening they came to a fine big house. Each room was more\ngorgeous than the other; all was glitter and splendour wherever they\nlooked; but that did not satisfy their hunger. The captain and the\nlieutenant went round rattling their money, and wanted to buy some\nfood; but they saw no people nor could they find a crumb of anything\nin the house, so the soldier offered them some food from his wallet,\nwhich they were not too proud to accept, nor did they want any\npressing. They helped themselves of what he had as if they had never\ntasted food before.\n\nThe next day the captain said they would have to go out shooting and\ntry to get something to live upon. Close to the house was a large\nforest where there were plenty of hares and birds. The lieutenant was\nto remain at home and cook the remainder of the food in the soldier's\nwallet. In the meantime the captain and the soldier shot so much game\nthat they were hardly able to carry it home. When they came to the\ndoor they found the lieutenant in such a terrible plight that he was\nscarcely able to open the door to them.\n\n\"What is the matter with you?\" said the captain. The lieutenant then\ntold them that as soon as they were gone a tiny, little man, with a\nlong beard, who went on crutches, came in and asked so plaintively for\na penny; but no sooner had he got it than he let it fall on the\nfloor, and for all he raked and scraped with his crutch he was not\nable to get hold of it, so stiff and stark was he.\n\n\"I pitied the poor, old body,\" said the lieutenant, \"and so I bent\ndown to pick up the penny, but then he was neither stiff nor stark any\nlonger. He began to belabour me with his crutches till very soon I was\nunable to move a limb.\"\n\n\"You ought to be ashamed of yourself! you, one of the king's officers,\nto let an old cripple give you a thrashing, and then tell people of it\ninto the bargain!\" said the captain. \"Pshaw! to-morrow I'll stop at\nhome, and then you'll hear another story.\"\n\nThe next day the lieutenant and the soldier went out shooting and the\ncaptain remained at home to do the cooking and look after the house.\nBut if he fared no worse, he certainly fared no better than the\nlieutenant. In a little while the old man came in and asked for a\npenny. He let it fall as soon as he got it; gone it was and could not\nbe found. So he asked the captain to help him to find it, and the\ncaptain, without giving a thought, bent down to look for it. But no\nsooner was he on his knees than the cripple began belabouring him with\nhis crutches, and every time the captain tried to rise, he got a blow\nwhich sent him reeling. When the others came home in the evening, he\nstill lay on the same spot and could neither see nor speak.\n\nThe third day the soldier was to remain at home, while the other two\nwent out shooting. The captain said he must take care of himself, \"for\nthe old fellow will soon put an end to you, my lad,\" said he.\n\n\"Oh, there can't be much life in one if such an old crook can take\nit,\" said the soldier.\n\nThey were no sooner outside the door, than the old man came in and\nasked for a penny again.\n\n\"Money I have never owned,\" said the soldier, \"but food I'll give you,\nas soon as it is ready,\" said he, \"but if we are to get it cooked, you\nmust go and cut the wood.\"\n\n\"That I can't,\" said the old man.\n\n\"If you can't, you must learn,\" said the soldier. \"I will soon show\nyou. Come along with me down to the wood-shed.\" There he dragged out a\nheavy log and cut a cleft in it, and drove in a wedge till the cleft\ndeepened.\n\n\"Now you must lie down and look right along the cleft, and you'll soon\nlearn how to cut wood,\" said the soldier. \"In the meantime I'll show\nyou how to use the axe.\"\n\nThe old man was not sufficiently cunning, and did as he was told; he\nlay down and looked steadily along the log. When the soldier saw the\nold man's beard had got well into the cleft, he struck out the wedge;\nthe cleft closed and the old man was caught by the beard. The soldier\nbegan to beat him with the axe handle, and then swung the axe round\nhis head, and vowed that he would split his skull if he did not tell\nhim, there and then, where the _Princesses_ were.\n\n\"Spare my life, spare my life, and I'll tell you!\" said the old man.\n\"To the east of the house there is a big mound; on top of the mound\nyou must dig out a square piece of turf, and then you will see a big\nstone slab. Under that there is a deep hole through which you must let\nyourself down, and you'll then come to another world where you will\nfind the _Princesses_. But the way is long and dark and it goes both\nthrough fire and water.\"\n\nWhen the soldier got to know this, he released the old man, who was\nnot long in making off.\n\nWhen the captain and lieutenant came home they were surprised to find\nthe soldier alive. He told them what had happened from first to last,\nwhere the _Princesses_ were and how they should find them. They\nbecame as pleased as if they had already found them, and when they had\nhad some food, they took with them a basket and as much rope as they\ncould find, and all three set off to the mound. There they first dug\nout the turf just as the old man had told them, and underneath they\nfound a big stone slab, which it took all their strength to turn over.\nThey then began to measure how deep it was; they joined on ropes both\ntwo and three times, but they were no nearer the bottom the last time\nthan the first. At last they had to join all the ropes they had, both\nthe coarse and fine, and then they found it reached the bottom.\n\nThe captain was, of course, the first who wanted to descend; \"But when\nI tug at the rope you must make haste to drag me up again,\" he said.\nHe found the way both dark and unpleasant, but he thought he would go\non as long as it became no worse. But all at once he felt ice cold\nwater spouting about his ears; he became frightened to death and began\ntugging at the rope.\n\nThe lieutenant was the next to try, but it fared no better with him.\nNo sooner had he got through the flood of water than he saw a blazing\nfire yawning beneath him, which so frightened him that he also turned\nback.\n\nThe soldier then got into the bucket, and down he went through fire\nand water, right on till he came to the bottom, where it was so pitch\ndark that he could not see his hand before him. He dared not let go\nthe basket, but went round in a circle, feeling and fumbling about\nhim. At last he discovered a gleam of light far, far away like the\ndawn of day, and he went on in that direction.\n\nWhen he had gone a bit it began to grow light around him, and before\nlong he saw a golden sun rising in the sky and everything around him\nbecame as bright and beautiful as if in a fairy world.\n\nFirst he came to some cattle, which were so fat that their hides\nglistened a long way off, and when he had got past them he came to a\nfine, big palace. He walked through many rooms without meeting\nanybody. At last he heard the hum of a spinning wheel, and when he\nentered the room he found the eldest _Princess_ sitting there spinning\ncopper yarn; the room and everything in it was of brightly polished\ncopper.\n\n\"Oh, dear; oh, dear! what are Christian people doing here?\" said the\n_Princess_. \"Heaven preserve you! what do you want?\"\n\n\"I want to set you free and get you out of the mountain,\" said the\nsoldier.\n\n\"Pray do not stay. If the troll comes home he will put an end to you\nat once; he has three heads,\" said she.\n\n\"I do not care if he has four,\" said the soldier. \"I am here, and here\nI shall remain.\"\n\n\"Well, if you will be so headstrong, I must see if I can help you,\"\nsaid the _Princess_.\n\nShe then told him to creep behind the big brewing vat which stood in\nthe front hall; meanwhile she would receive the troll and scratch his\nheads till he went to sleep.\n\n\"And when I go out and call the hens you must make haste and come in,\"\nshe said. \"But you must first try if you can swing the sword which is\nlying on the table.\" No, it was too heavy, he could not even move it.\nHe had then to take a strengthening draught from the horn, which hung\nbehind the door; after that he was just able to stir it, so he took\nanother draught, and then he could lift it. At last he took a right,\nbig draught, and he could swing the sword as easily as anything.\n\nAll at once the troll came home; he walked so heavily that the palace\nshook.\n\n\"Ugh, ugh! I smell Christian flesh and blood in my house,\" said he.\n\n\"Yes,\" answered the _Princess_, \"a raven flew past here just now, and\nin his beak he had a human bone, which he dropped down the chimney; I\nthrew it out and swept and cleaned up after it, but I suppose it still\nsmells.\"\n\n\"So it does,\" said the troll.\n\n\"But come and lie down and I'll scratch your heads,\" said the\n_Princess_; \"the smell will be gone by the time you wake.\"\n\n[Illustration: The Troll was quite willing, and before long he fell\nasleep and began snoring.]\n\nThe troll was quite willing, and before long he fell asleep and began\nsnoring. When she saw he was sleeping soundly, she placed some stools\nand cushions under his heads and went to call the hens. The soldier\nthen stole into the room with the sword, and with one blow cut all\nthe three heads off the troll.\n\nThe _Princess_ was as pleased as a fiddler, and went with the soldier\nto her sisters, so that he could also set them free. First of all they\nwent across a courtyard and then through many long rooms till they\ncame to a big door.\n\n\"Here you must enter: here she is,\" said the _Princess_. When he\nopened the door he found himself in a large hall, where everything\nwas of pure silver; there sat the second sister at a silver\nspinning-wheel.\n\n\"Oh, dear; oh, dear!\" she said. \"What do you want here?\"\n\n\"I want to set you free from the troll,\" said the soldier.\n\n\"Pray do not stay, but go,\" said the _Princess_. \"If he finds you here\nhe will take your life on the spot.\"\n\n\"That would be awkward--that is if I don't take his first,\" said the\nsoldier.\n\n\"Well, since you will stay,\" she said, \"you will have to creep behind\nthe big brewing-vat in the front hall. But you must make haste and\ncome as soon as you hear me calling the hens.\"\n\nFirst of all he had to try if he was able to swing the troll's sword,\nwhich lay on the table; it was much larger and heavier than the first\none; he was hardly able to move it. He then took three draughts from\nthe horn and he could then lift it, and when he had taken three more\nhe could handle it as if it were a rolling pin.\n\nShortly afterwards he heard a heavy, rumbling noise that was quite\nterrible, and directly afterwards a troll with six heads came in.\n\n\"Ugh, ugh!\" he said as soon as he got his noses inside the door. \"I\nsmell Christian blood and bone in my house.\"\n\n\"Yes, just think! A raven came flying past here with a thigh-bone,\nwhich he dropped down the chimney,\" said the _Princess_. \"I threw it\nout, but the raven brought it back again. At last I got rid of it and\nmade haste to clean the room, but I suppose the smell is not quite\ngone,\" she said.\n\n\"No, I can smell it well,\" said the troll; but he was tired and put\nhis heads in the _Princess's_ lap, and she went on scratching them\ntill they all fell a-snoring. Then she called the hens, and the\nsoldier came and cut off all the six heads as if they were set on\ncabbage stalks.\n\nShe was no less glad than her elder sister, as you may imagine, and\ndanced and sang; but in the midst of their joy they remembered their\nyoungest sister. They went with the soldier across a large courtyard,\nand, after walking through many, many rooms, he came to the hall of\ngold where the third sister was.\n\nShe sat at a golden spinning-wheel spinning gold yarn, and the room\nfrom ceiling to floor glistened and glittered till it hurt one's\neyes.\n\n\"Heaven preserve both you and me, what do you want here?\" said the\n_Princess_. \"Go, go, else the troll will kill us both.\"\n\n\"Just as well two as one,\" answered the soldier. The _Princess_ cried\nand wept; but it was all of no use, he must and would remain. Since\nthere was no help for it he would have to try if he could use the\ntroll's sword on the table in the front hall. But he was only just\nable to move it; it was still larger and heavier than the other two\nswords.\n\nHe then had to take the horn down from the wall and take three\ndraughts from it, but was only just able to stir the sword. When he\nhad taken three more draughts he could lift it, and when he had taken\nanother three he swung it as easily as if it had been a feather.\n\nThe _Princess_ then settled with the soldier to do the same as her\nsisters had done. As soon as the troll was well asleep she would call\nthe hens, and he must then make haste and come in and put an end to\nthe troll.\n\nAll of a sudden they heard such a thundering, rambling noise, as if\nthe walls and roof were tumbling in.\n\n\"Ugh! Ugh! I smell Christian blood and bone in my house,\" said the\ntroll, sniffing with all his nine noses.\n\n\"Yes, you never saw the like! Just now a raven flew past here and\ndropped a human bone down the chimney. I threw it out, but the raven\nbrought it back, and this went on for some time,\" said the _Princess_;\nbut she got it buried at last, she said, and she had both swept and\ncleaned the place, but she supposed it still smelt.\n\n\"Yes, I can smell it well,\" said the troll.\n\n\"Come here and lie down in my lap and I will scratch your heads,\" said\nthe _Princess_. \"The smell will be all gone when you awake.\"\n\nHe did so, and when he was snoring at his best she put stools and\ncushions under the heads so that she could get away to call the hens.\nThe soldier then came in in his stockinged feet and struck at the\ntroll, so that eight of the heads fell off at one blow. But the sword\nwas too short and did not reach far enough; the ninth head woke up and\nbegan to roar.\n\n\"Ugh! Ugh! I smell a Christian.\"\n\n\"Yes, here he is,\" answered the soldier, and before the troll could\nget up and seize hold of him the soldier struck him another blow and\nthe last head rolled along the floor.\n\nYou can well imagine how glad the _Princesses_ became now that they no\nlonger had to sit and scratch the trolls' heads; they did not know how\nthey could do enough for him who had saved them. The youngest\n_Princess_ took off her gold ring and knotted it in his hair. They\nthen took with them as much gold and silver as they thought they\ncould carry and set off on their way home.\n\n[Illustration: As soon as they tugged at the rope, the Captain and the\nLieutenant pulled up the Princesses, the one after the other.]\n\nAs soon as they tugged at the rope the captain and the lieutenant\npulled up the _Princesses_, the one after the other. But when they\nwere safely up, the soldier thought it was foolish of him not to have\ngone up before the _Princesses_, for he had not very much belief in\nhis comrades. He thought he would first try them, so he put a heavy\nlump of gold in the basket and got out of the way. When the basket was\nhalf-way up they cut the rope and the lump of gold fell to the bottom\nwith such a crash that the pieces flew about his ears.\n\n\"Now we are rid of him,\" they said, and threatened the _Princesses_\nwith their life if they did not say that it was they who had saved\nthem from the trolls. They were forced to agree to this, much against\ntheir will, and especially the youngest _Princess_; but life was\nprecious, and so the two who were strongest had their way.\n\nWhen the captain and lieutenant got home with the _Princesses_ you may\nbe sure there were great rejoicings at the palace. The _King_ was so\nglad he didn't know which leg to stand on; he brought out his best\nwine from his cupboard and wished the two officers welcome. If they\nhad never been honoured before they were honoured now in full measure,\nand no mistake. They walked and strutted about the whole of the day,\nas if they were the cocks of the walk, since they were now going to\nhave the _King_ for father-in-law. For it was understood they should\neach have whichever of the _Princesses_ they liked and half the\nkingdom between them. They both wanted the youngest _Princess_, but\nfor all they prayed and threatened her it was of no use; she would not\nhear or listen to either.\n\nThey then asked the _King_ if they might have twelve men to watch over\nher; she was so sad and melancholy since she had been in the mountain\nthat they were afraid she might do something to herself.\n\nYes, that they might have, and the _King_ himself told the watch they\nmust look well after her and follow her wherever she went and stood.\n\nThey then began to prepare for the wedding of the two eldest\nsisters; it should be such a wedding as never was heard or spoken\nof before, and there was no end to the brewing and the baking and the\nslaughtering.\n\nIn the meantime the soldier walked and strolled about down in the\nother world. He thought it was hard that he should see neither people\nnor daylight any more; but he would have to do something, he thought,\nand so for many days he went about from room to room and opened all\nthe drawers and cupboards and searched about on the shelves and looked\nat all the fine things that were there. At last he came to a drawer in\na table, in which there lay a golden key; he tried this key to all the\nlocks he could find, but there was none it fitted till he came to a\nlittle cupboard over the bed, and in that he found an old rusty\nwhistle. \"I wonder if there is any sound in it,\" he thought, and put\nit to his mouth. No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing\nand a whirring from all quarters, and such a large flock of birds\nswept down, that they blackened all the field in which they settled.\n\n[Illustration: No sooner had he whistled than he heard a whizzing and a\nwhirring from all quarters, and such a large flock of birds swept down\nthat they blackened all the field in which they settled.]\n\n\"What does our master want to-day?\" they asked.\n\nIf he were their master, the soldier said, he would like to know if\nthey could tell him how to get up to the earth again. No, none of them\nknew anything about that; \"But our mother has not yet arrived,\" they\nsaid; \"if she can't help you, no one can.\"\n\nSo he whistled once more, and shortly heard something flapping its\nwings far away, and then it began to blow so hard that he was carried\naway between the houses like a wisp of hay across the courtyard, and\nif he had not caught hold of the fence he would no doubt have been\nblown away altogether.\n\nA big eagle--bigger than you can imagine--then swooped down in front\nof him.\n\n\"You come rather sharply,\" said the soldier.\n\n\"As you whistle so I come,\" answered the eagle. So he asked her if she\nknew any means by which he could get away from the world in which they\nwere.\n\n\"You can't get away from here unless you can fly,\" said the eagle,\n\"but if you will slaughter twelve oxen for me, so that I can have a\nreally good meal, I will try and help you. Have you got a knife?\"\n\n\"No, but I have a sword,\" he said. When the eagle had swallowed the\ntwelve oxen she asked the soldier to kill one more for victuals on the\njourney. \"Every time I gape you must be quick and fling a piece into\nmy mouth,\" she said, \"else I shall not be able to carry you up to\nearth.\"\n\nHe did as she asked him and hung two large bags of meat round her neck\nand seated himself among her feathers. The eagle then began to flap\nher wings and off they went through the air like the wind. It was as\nmuch as the soldier could do to hold on, and it was with the greatest\ndifficulty he managed to throw the pieces of flesh into the eagle's\nmouth every time she opened it.\n\nAt last the day began to dawn, and the eagle was then almost exhausted\nand began flapping with her wings, but the soldier was prepared and\nseized the last hind quarter and flung it to her. Then she gained\nstrength and brought him up to earth. When she had sat and rested a\nwhile at the top of a large pine-tree she set off with him again at\nsuch a pace that flashes of lightning were seen both by sea and land\nwherever they went.\n\nClose to the palace the soldier got off and the eagle flew home again,\nbut first she told him that if he at any time should want her he need\nonly blow the whistle and she would be there at once.\n\nIn the meantime everything was ready at the palace, and the time\napproached when the captain and lieutenant were to be married with the\ntwo eldest _Princesses_, who, however, were not much happier than\ntheir youngest sister; scarcely a day passed without weeping and\nmourning, and the nearer the wedding-day approached the more sorrowful\ndid they become.\n\nAt last the _King_ asked what was the matter with them; he thought it\nwas very strange that they were not merry and happy now that they\nwere saved and had been set free and were going to be married. They\nhad to give some answer, and so the eldest sister said they never\nwould be happy any more unless they could get such checkers as they\nhad played with in the blue mountain.\n\nThat, thought the _King_, could be easily managed, and so he sent word\nto all the best and cleverest goldsmiths in the country that they\nshould make these checkers for the _Princesses_. For all they tried\nthere was no one who could make them. At last all the goldsmiths had\nbeen to the palace except one, and he was an old, infirm man who had\nnot done any work for many years except odd jobs, by which he was just\nable to keep himself alive. To him the soldier went and asked to be\napprenticed. The old man was so glad to get him, for he had not had an\napprentice for many a day, that he brought out a flask from his chest\nand sat down to drink with the soldier. Before long the drink got into\nhis head, and when the soldier saw this he persuaded him to go up to\nthe palace and tell the _King_ that he would undertake to make the\ncheckers for the _Princesses_.\n\nHe was ready to do that on the spot; he had made finer and grander\nthings in his day, he said. When the _King_ heard there was some one\noutside who could make the checkers he was not long in coming out.\n\n\"Is it true what you say, that you can make such checkers as my\ndaughters want?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes, it is no lie,\" said the goldsmith; that he would answer for.\n\n\"That's well!\" said the _King_. \"Here is the gold to make them with;\nbut if you do not succeed you will lose your life, since you have come\nand offered yourself, and they must be finished in three days.\"\n\nThe next morning when the goldsmith had slept off the effects of the\ndrink, he was not quite so confident about the job. He wailed and wept\nand blew up his apprentice, who had got him into such a scrape while\nhe was drunk. The best thing would be to make short work of himself at\nonce, he said, for there could be no hope for his life; when the best\nand grandest goldsmiths could not make such checkers, was it likely\nthat he could do it?\n\n\"Don't fret on that account,\" said the soldier, \"but let me have the\ngold and I'll get the checkers ready in time; but I must have a room\nto myself to work in,\" he said. This he got, and thanks into the\nbargain.\n\nThe time wore on, and the soldier did nothing but lounge about, and\nthe goldsmith began to grumble, because he would not begin with the\nwork.\n\n\"Don't worry yourself about it,\" said the soldier, \"there is plenty of\ntime! If you are not satisfied with what I have promised you had\nbetter make them yourself.\" The same thing went on both that day and\nthe next; and when the smith heard neither hammer nor file from the\nsoldier's room the whole of the last day, he quite gave himself up for\nlost; it was now no use to think any longer about saving his life, he\nthought.\n\nBut when the night came on the soldier opened the window and blew his\nwhistle. The eagle then came and asked what he wanted.\n\n\"Those gold checkers, which the _Princesses_ had in the blue\nmountain,\" said the soldier; \"but you'll want something to eat first,\nI suppose? I have two ox carcases lying ready for you in the hay-loft\nyonder; you had better finish them,\" he said. When the eagle had done\nshe did not tarry, and long before the sun rose she was back again\nwith the checkers. The soldier then put them under his bed and lay\ndown to sleep.\n\nEarly next morning the goldsmith came and knocked at his door.\n\n\"What are you after now again?\" asked the soldier. \"You rush about\nenough in the day, goodness knows! If one cannot have peace when one\nis in bed, whoever would be an apprentice here?\" said he.\n\nNeither praying nor begging helped that time; the goldsmith must and\nwould come in, and at last he was let in.\n\nAnd then, you may be sure, there was soon an end to his wailing.\n\nBut still more glad than the goldsmith were the _Princesses_, when he\ncame up to the palace with the checkers, and gladdest of all was the\nyoungest _Princess_.\n\n\"Have you made them yourself?\" she asked.\n\n\"No, if I must speak the truth, it is not I,\" he said, \"but my\napprentice, who has made them.\"\n\n\"I should like to see that apprentice,\" said the _Princess_. In fact\nall three wanted to see him, and if he valued his life, he would have\nto come.\n\nHe was not afraid, either of women-folk or grand-folk, said the\nsoldier, and if it could be any amusement to them to look at his rags,\nthey should soon have that pleasure.\n\nThe youngest _Princess_ recognised him at once; she pushed the\nsoldiers aside and ran up to him, gave him her hand, and said:\n\n\"Good day, and many thanks for all you have done for us. It is he who\nfreed us from the trolls in the mountain,\" she said to the _King_. \"He\nis the one I will have!\" and then she pulled off his cap and showed\nthem the ring she had tied in his hair.\n\nIt soon came out how the captain and lieutenant had behaved, and so\nthey had to pay the penalty of their treachery with their lives, and\nthat was the end of their grandeur. But the soldier got the golden\ncrown and half the kingdom, and married the youngest _Princess_.\n\nAt the wedding they drank and feasted both well and long; for feast\nthey all could, even if they could not find the _Princesses_, and if\nthey have not yet done feasting and drinking they must be at it\nstill.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CAT ON THE DOVREFELL\n\n\nOnce on a time there was a man up in Finnmark who had caught a great\nwhite bear, which he was going to take to the King of Denmark. Now, it\nso fell out, that he came to the _Dovrefell_ just about Christmas Eve,\nand there he turned into a cottage where a man lived, whose name was\nHalvor, and asked the man if he could get house-room there for his\nbear and himself.\n\n\"Heaven never help me, if what I say isn't true!\" said the man; \"but\nwe can't give anyone house-room just now, for every Christmas Eve such\na pack of _Trolls_ come down upon us, that we are forced to flit, and\nhaven't so much as a house over our own heads, to say nothing of\nlending one to anyone else.\"\n\n\"Oh?\" said the man, \"if that's all, you can very well lend me your\nhouse; my bear can lie under the stove yonder, and I can sleep in the\nside-room.\"\n\nWell, he begged so hard, that at last he got leave to stay there; so\nthe people of the house flitted out, and before they went, everything\nwas got ready for the _Trolls_; the tables were laid, and there was\nrice porridge, and fish boiled in lye, and sausages, and all else that\nwas good, just as for any other grand feast.\n\nSo, when everything was ready, down came the _Trolls_. Some were\ngreat, and some were small; some had long tails, and some had no tails\nat all; some, too, had long, long noses; and they ate and drank, and\ntasted everything. Just then one of the little _Trolls_ caught sight\nof the white bear, who lay under the stove; so he took a piece of\nsausage and stuck it on a fork, and went and poked it up against the\nbear's nose, screaming out:\n\n\"Pussy, will you have some sausage?\"\n\nThen the white bear rose up and growled, and hunted the whole pack of\nthem out of doors, both great and small.\n\nNext year Halvor was out in the wood, on the afternoon of Christmas\nEve, cutting wood before the holidays, for he thought the _Trolls_\nwould come again; and just as he was hard at work, he heard a voice in\nthe wood calling out:\n\n\"Halvor! Halvor!\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Halvor, \"here I am.\"\n\n\"Have you got your big cat with you still?\"\n\n\"Yes, that I have,\" said Halvor; \"she's lying at home under the stove,\nand what's more, she has now got seven kittens, far bigger and fiercer\nthan she is herself.\"\n\n\"Oh, then, we'll never come to see you again,\" bawled out the _Troll_\naway in the wood, and he kept his word; for since that time the\n_Trolls_ have never eaten their Christmas brose with Halvor on the\n_Dovrefell_.\n\n\n\n\nONE'S OWN CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PRETTIEST\n\n\nA sportsman went out once into a wood to shoot, and he met a _Snipe_.\n\n\"Dear friend,\" said the _Snipe_, \"don't shoot my children!\"\n\n\"How shall I know your children?\" asked the _Sportsman_. \"What are\nthey like?\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said the _Snipe_, \"mine are the prettiest children in all the\nwood.\"\n\n\"Very well,\" said the _Sportsman_, \"I'll not shoot them; don't be\nafraid.\"\n\nBut for all that, when he came back, there he had a whole string of\nyoung snipes in his hand which he had shot.\n\n\"Oh, oh!\" said the _Snipe_, \"why did you shoot my children after\nall?\"\n\n\"What! these your children!\" said the _Sportsman_; \"why, I shot the\nugliest I could find, that I did!\"\n\n\"Woe is me!\" said the _Snipe_; \"don't you know that each one thinks\nhis own children the prettiest in the world?\"\n\n\n\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\n  Illustrations have been moved closer to their relevant paragraphs.\n  The page numbers in the List of Illustrations do not reflect the new\n  placement of the illustrations, but are as in the original.\n\n  Author's archaic and variable spelling and hyphenation is\n  preserved.\n\n  Author's punctuation style is preserved.\n\n  Passages in italics indicated by _underscores_.\n\n  Passages in bold indicated by =equal signs=.\n\n  Typographical problems have been changed and are listed below.\n\n\nTranscriber's Changes:\n\n  TOC: Page number for \"The Cat on the Dovrefell\" was corrected from\n           '201' to '200'\n\n  TOC: Page number for \"One's Own Children are Always Prettiest\" was\n           corrected from '205' to '203'\n\n  Page 25: Was 'over over' (the _Prince_ made as if he drank, but\n           threw it =over= his shoulder)\n\n  Page 38: Added italics (But the =_Troll_=, as he lay in bed, swore\n           it was all a lie.)\n\n  Page 43: Added 'to': Was 'it her' (he pulled open his waistcoat and\n           shirt to show =it to her=.)\n\n  Page 55: Added italics (Some time after this, the =_King_= went away\n           to the wars)\n\n  Page 59: Standardised hyphenation from 'witchwoman' (\"Well, you\n           needn't be,\" said the =witch-woman=. \"All that can be set\n           right in a twinkling)\n\n  Page 94: Removed extra double-quote (\"To Whiteland,\" said the\n           _King_; =and= then he told him all that had befallen him.)\n\n  Page 125: Added italics (Then back came the =_Giant_=.)\n\n  Page 155: Was 'again.' (home to fetch something to hew their way\n            through the wood. But at last the _Horse_ said =again:=)\n\n                  *       *       *       *       *","title":"East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":41318}