{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_64189/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_64189","id":"gutenberg_64189","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64189","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Tales -- Norway"],"text":"A Selection from the Norse Tales.\n\n\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n PRINTED BY R. & R. CLARK,\n\n FOR\n\n EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS, EDINBURGH.\n\n LONDON HAMILTON, ADAMS, &\n CO.\n\n CAMBRIDGE MACMILLAN & CO.\n\n DUBLIN W. ROBERTSON.\n\n GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE.\n\n\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n[Illustration:\n\n THE PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL\n]\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n A SELECTION\n\n\n\n FROM\n\n\n\n _THE NORSE TALES_\n\n\n\n FOR THE USE OF CHILDREN.\n\n\n\n\n BY\n\n\n G. W. DASENT, D.C.L.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n _EDINBURGH_:\n\n _EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS_.\n\n 1862.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n NOTICE.\n\n -------\n\n\nIT was said by one of old time that a child\u2019s heart is a holy place, and\nScripture in awful words has uttered woe on him who wounds the feelings\n\u201cof one of these little ones.\u201d So this selection has been made to meet\nthe scruples of those good people who thought some of _The Norse Tales_\ntoo outspoken for their children. Whether these worthy folk were not\nmistaken; whether here, too, \u201cevil to him who evil thinks\u201d might not\nhave been a fitting answer; it is now needless to ask. The book is\nprinted. \u201cHacon Grizzlebeard,\u201d \u201cWhy the Sea is salt,\u201d \u201cThe Master\nSmith,\u201d \u201cThe Mastermaid,\u201d \u201cThe Master Thief,\u201d and other naughty stories,\nare blotted out, and no doubt the rest feel glad to be rid of such bad\ncompany, and proud to be raised to the rank of \u201cMoral Tales.\u201d The\nbeautiful illustrations and bright binding will make them vain too. They\nhad best be ware. Pride and Vanity hand in hand can hardly fail to trip.\nBut if any little readers before whose eyes either of the earlier\neditions may have come, should chance to miss some of their old friends,\nand ask why they have been left out of this volume, it is hoped that\ntheir mothers will be better able to answer the question than the writer\nof these lines can ever be, for he still sees no harm at all in them.\n\n\nBROAD SANCTUARY, _Dec. 6, 1861_.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n -------\n\n\n PAGE\n\n True and Untrue 1\n\n The Old Dame and her Hen 11\n\n East o\u2019 the Sun and West o\u2019 the 23\n Moon\n\n Boots who ate a Match with the 43\n Troll\n\n Boots, who made the Princess say, 48\n \u201cThat\u2019s a Story\u201d\n\n The Twelve Wild Ducks 52\n\n The Giant who had no Heart in his 64\n Body\n\n The Fox as Herdsman 77\n\n The Cat on the Dovrefell 80\n\n Princess on the Glass Hill 83\n\n How one went out to Woo 101\n\n The Cock and Hen 102\n\n The Two Step-Sisters 103\n\n Buttercup 119\n\n Taming the Shrew 126\n\n Shortshanks 129\n\n Gudbrand on the Hill-Side 157\n\n The Blue Belt 165\n\n Why the Bear is Stumpy-Tailed 189\n\n Not a Pin to choose between them 191\n\n One\u2019s own Children are always 201\n Prettiest\n\n The Three Princesses of Whiteland 202\n\n The Lassie and her Godmother 213\n\n The Three Aunts 221\n\n The Cock, the Cuckoo, and the 229\n Black-Cock\n\n Rich Peter the Pedlar 230\n\n Boots and the Troll 251\n\n The Lad who went to the North Wind 261\n\n The Best Wish 267\n\n The Three Billy-Goats Gruff 284\n\n Well Done and Ill Paid 287\n\n The Husband who was to mind the 292\n House\n\n Dapplegrim 296\n\n The Seven Foals 315\n\n The Widow\u2019s Son 328\n\n Bushy Bride 344\n\n Boots and his Brothers 356\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n _LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS._\n\n -------\n\n\n PAGE\n _Princess on the Glass Hill_ _Frontispiece_\n _The Cat on the Dovrefell_ 80\n _The Three Princesses of Whiteland_ 202\n _The Three Aunts_ 221\n _Rich Peter the Pedlar_ 230\n _The Three Billy-Goats Gruff_ 284\n _Dapplegrim_ 296\n _The Seven Foals_ 315\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n TALES FROM THE NORSE.\n\n -------\n\n\n\n\n TRUE AND UNTRUE.\n\n\nONCE on a time there were two brothers; one was called True, and the\nother Untrue. True was always upright and good towards all, but Untrue\nwas bad and full of lies, so that no one could believe what he said.\nTheir mother was a widow, and hadn\u2019t much to live on; so when her sons\nhad grown up, she was forced to send them away that they might earn\ntheir bread in the world. Each got a little scrip with some food in it,\nand then they went their way.\n\nNow, when they had walked till evening, they sat down on a windfall in\nthe wood, and took out their scrips, for they were hungry after walking\nthe whole day, and thought a morsel of food would be sweet enough.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019re of my mind,\u201d said Untrue, \u201cI think we had better eat out of\nyour scrip, so long as there is anything in it, and after that we can\ntake to mine.\u201d\n\nYes! True was well pleased with this, so they fell to eating, but Untrue\ngot all the best bits, and stuffed himself with them, while True got\nonly the burnt crusts and scraps.\n\nNext morning they broke their fast off True\u2019s food, and they dined off\nit too, and then there was nothing left in his scrip. So when they had\nwalked till late at night, and were ready to eat again, True wanted to\neat out of his brother\u2019s scrip, but Untrue said \u201cNo,\u201d the food was his,\nand he had only enough for himself.\n\n\u201cNay! but you know you ate out of my scrip so long as there was anything\nin it,\u201d said True.\n\n\u201cAll very fine, I daresay,\u201d answered Untrue; \u201cbut if you are such a fool\nas to let others eat up your food before your face, you must make the\nbest of it; for now all you have to do is to sit here and starve.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well!\u201d said True, \u201cyou\u2019re Untrue by name and untrue by nature; so\nyou have been, and so you will be all your life long.\u201d\n\nNow when Untrue heard this, he flew into a rage, and rushed at his\nbrother, and plucked out both his eyes. \u201cNow, try if you can see whether\nfolk are untrue or not, you blind buzzard!\u201d and so saying, he ran away\nand left him.\n\nPoor True! there he went, walking along and feeling his way through the\nthick wood. Blind and alone, he scarce knew which way to turn, when all\nat once he caught hold of the trunk of a great bushy lime-tree; so he\nthought he would climb up into it, and sit there till the night was over\nfor fear of the wild beasts.\n\n\u201cWhen the birds begin to sing,\u201d he said to himself, \u201cthen I shall know\nit is day, and I can try to grope my way farther on.\u201d So he climbed up\ninto the lime-tree. After he had sat there a little time, he heard how\nsome one came and began to make a stir and clatter under the tree, and\nsoon after others came; and when they began to greet one another, he\nfound out it was Bruin the bear, and Greylegs the wolf, and Slyboots the\nfox, and Longears the hare, who had come to keep St. John\u2019s eve under\nthe tree. So they began to eat and drink, and be merry; and when they\nhad done eating they fell to gossipping together. At last the Fox said\u2014\n\n\u201cShan\u2019t we, each of us, tell a little story while we sit here?\u201d\n\nWell! the others had nothing against that. It would be good fun, they\nsaid, and the Bear began; for you may fancy he was king of the company.\n\n\u201cThe king of England,\u201d said Bruin, \u201chas such bad eyesight, that he can\nscarce see a yard before him; but if he only came to this lime-tree in\nthe morning, while the dew is still on the leaves, and took and rubbed\nhis eyes with the dew, he would get back his sight as good as ever.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery true!\u201d said Greylegs. \u201cThe king of England has a deaf and dumb\ndaughter too; but if he only knew what I know, he would soon cure her.\nLast year she went to the communion. She let a crumb of the bread fall\nout of her mouth, and a great toad came and swallowed it down; but if\nthey only dug up the chancel floor they would find the toad sitting\nright under the altar rails, with the bread still sticking in his\nthroat. If they were to cut the toad open and take and give the bread to\nthe princess, she would be like other folk again as to her speech and\nhearing.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is all very well,\u201d said the Fox; \u201cbut if the king of England knew\nwhat I know, he would not be so badly off for water in his palace; for\nunder the great stone, in his palace-yard, is a spring of the clearest\nwater one could wish for, if he only knew to dig for it there.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the Hare in a small voice; \u201cthe king of England has the\nfinest orchard in the whole land, but it does not bear so much as a\ncrab, for there lies a heavy gold chain in three turns round the\norchard. If he got that dug up, there would not be a garden like it for\nbearing in all his kingdom.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery true, I dare say,\u201d said the Fox; \u201cbut now it\u2019s getting very late,\nand we may as well go home.\u201d\n\nSo they all went away together.\n\nAfter they were gone, True fell asleep as he sat up in the tree; but\nwhen the birds began to sing at dawn, he woke up, and took the dew from\nthe leaves, and rubbed his eyes with it, and so got his sight back as\ngood as it was before Untrue plucked his eyes out.\n\nThen he went straight to the king of England\u2019s palace, and begged for\nwork, and got it on the spot. So one day the king came out into the\npalace-yard, and when he had walked about a bit, he wanted to drink out\nof his pump; for you must know the day was hot, and the king very\nthirsty; but when they poured him out a glass, it was so muddy, and\nnasty, and foul, that the king got quite vexed.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s ever a man in my whole kingdom who has such bad\nwater in his yard as I, and yet I bring it in pipes from far, over hill\nand dale,\u201d cried out the king.\n\n\u201cLike enough, your Majesty;\u201d said True, \u201cbut if you would let me have\nsome men to help me to dig up this great stone which lies here in the\nmiddle of your yard, you would soon see good water, and plenty of it.\u201d\n\nWell! the king was willing enough; and they had scarcely got the stone\nwell out, and dug under it a while, before a jet of water sprang out\nhigh up into the air, as clear and full as if it came out of a conduit,\nand clearer water was not to be found in all England.\n\nA little while after the king was out in his palace-yard again, and\nthere came a great hawk flying after his chicken, and all the king\u2019s men\nbegan to clap their hands and bawl out, \u201cThere he flies! There he\nflies!\u201d The king caught up his gun and tried to shoot the hawk, but he\ncouldn\u2019t see so far, so he fell into great grief.\n\n\u201cWould to Heaven,\u201d he said, \u201cthere was any one who could tell me a cure\nfor my eyes; for I think I shall soon go quite blind!\u201d\n\n\u201cI can tell you one soon enough,\u201d said True; and then he told the king\nwhat he had done to cure his own eyes, and the king set off that very\nafternoon to the lime-tree, as you may fancy, and his eyes were quite\ncured as soon as he rubbed them with the dew which was on the leaves in\nthe morning. From that time forth there was no one whom the king held so\ndear as True, and he had to be with him wherever he went, both at home\nand abroad.\n\nSo one day as they were walking together in the orchard, the king said,\n\u201cI can\u2019t tell how it is _that_ I can\u2019t! there isn\u2019t a man in England who\nspends so much on his orchard as I, and yet I can\u2019t get one of the trees\nto bear so much as a crab.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! well!\u201d said True; \u201cif I may have what lies three times twisted\nround your orchard and men to dig it up, your orchard will bear well\nenough.\u201d\n\nYes! the king was quite willing, so True got men and began to dig, and\nat last he dug up the whole gold chain. Now True was a rich man, far\nricher indeed than the king himself, but still the king was well\npleased, for his orchard bore so that the boughs of the trees hung down\nto the ground, and such sweet apples and pears nobody had ever tasted.\n\nAnother day too the king and True were walking about, and talking\ntogether, when the princess passed them, and the king was quite downcast\nwhen he saw her.\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t it a pity, now, that so lovely a princess as mine should want\nspeech and hearing,\u201d he said to True.\n\n\u201cAy, but there is a cure for that,\u201d said True.\n\nWhen the king heard that, he was so glad that he promised him the\nprincess to wife, and half his kingdom into the bargain, if he could get\nher right again. So True took a few men, and went into the church, and\ndug up the toad which sat under the altar-rails. Then he cut open the\ntoad, and took out the bread and gave it to the king\u2019s daughter; and\nfrom that hour she got back her speech, and could talk like other\npeople.\n\nNow True was to have the princess, and they got ready for the bridal\nfeast, and such a feast had never been seen before; it was the talk of\nthe whole land. Just as they were in the midst of dancing the\nbridal-dance, in came a beggar lad, and begged for a morsel of food, and\nhe was so ragged and wretched that every one crossed themselves when\nthey looked at him; but True knew him at once, and saw that it was\nUntrue, his brother.\n\n\u201cDo you know me again?\u201d said True.\n\n\u201cOh! where should such a one as I ever have seen so great a lord,\u201d said\nUntrue.\n\n\u201cStill you _have_ seen me before,\u201d said True. \u201cIt was I whose eyes you\nplucked out a year ago this very day. Untrue by name, and untrue by\nnature. So I said before, and so I say now; but you are still my\nbrother, and so you shall have some food. After that, you may go to the\nlime-tree where I sat last year; if you hear anything that can do you\ngood, you will be lucky.\u201d\n\nSo Untrue did not wait to be told twice. \u201cIf True has got so much good\nby sitting in the lime-tree, that in one year he has come to be king\nover half England, what good may not I get,\u201d he thought. So he set off\nand climbed up into the lime-tree. He had not sat there long, before all\nthe beasts came as before, and ate and drank, and kept St. John\u2019s eve\nunder the tree. When they had left off eating, the Fox wished that they\nshould begin to tell stories, and Untrue got ready to listen with all\nhis might, till his ears were almost fit to fall off. But Bruin the bear\nwas surly, and growled and said\u2014\n\n\u201cSome one has been chattering about what we said last year, and so now\nwe will hold our tongues about what we know;\u201d and with that the beasts\nbid one another \u201cGood night,\u201d and parted, and Untrue was just as wise as\nhe was before, and the reason was, that his name was Untrue, and his\nnature untrue too.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE OLD DAME AND HER HEN.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was an old widow who lived far away from the rest\nof the world, up under a hill-side, with her three daughters. She was so\npoor that she had no stock but one single hen, which she prized as the\napple of her eye; in short, it was always cackling at her heels, and she\nwas always running to look after it. Well! one day, all at once, the hen\nwas missing. The old wife went out, and round and round the cottage,\nlooking and calling for her hen, but it was gone, and there was no\ngetting it back.\n\nSo the woman said to her eldest daughter, \u201cYou must just go out and see\nif you can find our hen, for have it back we must, even if we have to\nfetch it out of the hill.\u201d\n\nWell! the daughter was ready enough to go, so she set off and walked up\nand down, and looked and called, but no hen could she find. But all at\nonce, just as she was about to give up the hunt, she heard some one\ncalling out in a cleft in the rock\u2014\n\n \u201cYour hen trips inside the hill!\n Your hen trips inside the hill!\u201d\n\nSo she went into the cleft to see what it was, but she had scarce set\nher foot inside the cleft, before she fell through a trap-door, deep,\ndeep down, into a vault under ground. When she got to the bottom she\nwent through many rooms, each finer than the other; but in the innermost\nroom of all, a great ugly man of the hill-folk came up to her and asked,\n\u201cWill you be my sweetheart?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! I will not,\u201d she said. She wouldn\u2019t have him at any price! not she;\nall she wanted was to get above ground again as fast as ever she could,\nand to look after her hen which was lost. Then the Man o\u2019 the Hill got\nso angry that he took her up and wrung her head off, and threw both head\nand trunk down into the cellar.\n\nWhile this was going on, her mother sat at home waiting and waiting, but\nno daughter came. So after she had waited a bit longer, and neither\nheard nor saw anything of her daughter, she said to her midmost\ndaughter, that she must go out and see after her sister, and she added\u2014\n\n\u201cYou can just give our hen a call at the same time.\u201d\n\nWell! the second sister had to set off, and the very same thing befell\nher; she went about looking and calling, and all at once she too heard a\nvoice away in the cleft of the rock saying\u2014\n\n \u201cYour hen trips inside the hill!\n Your hen trips inside the hill!\u201d\n\nShe thought this strange, and went to see what it could be; and so she\ntoo fell through the trap-door, deep, deep down, into the vault. There\nshe went from room to room, and in the innermost one the Man o\u2019 the Hill\ncame to her and asked if she would be his sweetheart? No! that she\nwouldn\u2019t; all she wanted was to get above ground again, and hunt for her\nhen which was lost. So the Man o\u2019 the Hill got angry, and took her up\nand wrung her head off, and threw both head and trunk down into the\ncellar.\n\nNow, when the old dame had sat and waited seven lengths and seven\nbreadths for her second daughter, and could neither see nor hear\nanything of her, she said to the youngest,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, you really must set off and see after your sisters. \u2019Twas silly to\nlose the hen, but \u2019twill be sillier still if we lose both your sisters;\nand you can give the hen a call at the same time,\u201d\u2014for the old dame\u2019s\nheart was still set on her hen.\n\nYes! the youngest was ready enough to go; so she walked up and down,\nhunting for her sisters and calling the hen, but she could neither see\nnor hear anything of them. So at last she too came up to the cleft in\nthe rock, and heard how something said\u2014\n\n \u201cYour hen trips inside the hill!\n Your hen trips inside the hill!\u201d\n\nShe thought this strange, so she too went to see what it was, and fell\nthrough the trap-door too, deep, deep down, into a vault. When she\nreached the bottom she went from one room to another, each grander than\nthe other; but she wasn\u2019t at all afraid, and took good time to look\nabout her. So as she was peeping into this and that, she cast her eye on\nthe trap-door into the cellar, and looked down it, and what should she\nsee there but her sisters, who lay dead. She had scarce time to slam to\nthe trap-door before the Man o\u2019 the Hill came to her and asked\u2014\n\n\u201cWill you be my sweetheart?\u201d\n\n\u201cWith all my heart,\u201d answered the girl, for she saw very well how it had\ngone with her sisters. So, when the Man o\u2019 the Hill heard that, he got\nher the finest clothes in the world; she had only to ask for them, or\nfor anything else she had a mind to, and she got what she wanted, so\nglad was the Man o\u2019 the Hill that any one would be his sweetheart.\n\nBut when she had been there a little while, she was one day even more\ndoleful and downcast than was her wont. So the Man o\u2019 the Hill asked her\nwhat was the matter, and why she was in such dumps.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the girl, \u201cit\u2019s because I can\u2019t get home to my mother. She\u2019s\nhard pinched, I know, for meat and drink, and has no one with her.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the Man o\u2019 the Hill, \u201cI can\u2019t let you go to see her; but\njust stuff some meat and drink into a sack, and I\u2019ll carry it to her.\u201d\n\nYes! she would do so, she said, with many thanks; but at the bottom of\nthe sack she stuffed a lot of gold and silver, and afterwards she laid a\nlittle food on the top of the gold and silver. Then she told the ogre\nthe sack was ready, but he must be sure not to look into it. So he gave\nhis word he wouldn\u2019t, and set off. Now, as the Man o\u2019 the Hill walked\noff, she peeped out after him through a chink in the trap-door; but when\nhe had gone a bit on the way, he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cThis sack is so heavy, I\u2019ll just see what there is inside it.\u201d\n\nAnd so he was about to untie the mouth of the sack, but the girl called\nout to him,\u2014\n\n \u201cI see what you\u2019re at!\n I see what you\u2019re at!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe deuce you do!\u201d said the Man o\u2019 the Hill; \u201cthen you must have plaguy\nsharp eyes in your head, that\u2019s all!\u201d\n\nSo he threw the sack over his shoulder, and dared not try to look into\nit again. When he reached the widow\u2019s cottage, he threw the sack in\nthrough the cottage door, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cHere you have meat and drink from your daughter; she doesn\u2019t want for\nanything.\u201d\n\nSo, when the girl had been in the hill a good bit longer, one day a\nbilly-goat fell down the trap-door.\n\n\u201cWho sent for you, I should like to know? you long-bearded beast!\u201d said\nthe Man o\u2019 the Hill, who was in an awful rage, and with that he whipped\nup the goat, and wrung his head off, and threw him down into the cellar.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the girl, \u201cwhy did you do that? I might have had the goat to\nplay with down here.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the Man o\u2019 the Hill, \u201cyou needn\u2019t be so down in the mouth\nabout it, I should think, for I can soon put life into the billy-goat\nagain.\u201d\n\nSo saying, he took a flask which hung up against the wall, put the\nbilly-goat\u2019s head on his body again, and smeared it with some ointment\nout of the flask, and he was as well and as lively as ever again.\n\n\u201cHo! ho!\u201d said the girl to herself; \u201cthat flask is worth something\u2014that\nit is.\u201d\n\nSo when she had been some time longer in the hill, she watched for a day\nwhen the Man o\u2019 the Hill was away, took her eldest sister, and putting\nher head on her shoulders, smeared her with some of the ointment out of\nthe flask, just as she had seen the Man o\u2019 the Hill do with the\nbilly-goat, and in a trice her sister came to life again. Then the girl\nstuffed her into a sack, laid a little food over her, and as soon as the\nMan o\u2019 the Hill came home, she said to him,\u2014\n\n\u201cDear friend! Now do go home to my mother with a morsel of food again;\npoor thing! she\u2019s both hungry and thirsty, I\u2019ll be bound; and besides\nthat, she\u2019s all alone in the world. But you must mind and not look into\nthe sack.\u201d\n\nWell! he said he would carry the sack; and he said, too, that he would\nnot look into it; but when he had gone a little way, he thought the sack\ngot awfully heavy; and when he had gone a bit farther he said to\nhimself,\u2014\n\n\u201cCome what will, I must see what\u2019s inside this sack, for however sharp\nher eyes may be, she can\u2019t see me all this way off.\u201d\n\nBut just as he was about to untie the sack, the girl who sat inside the\nsack called out,\u2014\n\n \u201cI see what you\u2019re at!\n I see what you\u2019re at!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe deuce you do!\u201d said the ogre; \u201cthen you must have plaguy sharp\neyes;\u201d for he thought all the while it was the girl inside the hill who\nwas speaking. So he didn\u2019t dare so much as to peep into the sack again,\nbut carried it straight to her mother as fast as he could, and when he\ngot to the cottage door he threw it in through the door, and bawled out\u2014\n\n\u201cHere you have meat and drink from your daughter; she wants for\nnothing.\u201d\n\nNow, when the girl had been in the hill a while longer, she did the very\nsame thing with her other sister. She put her head on her shoulders,\nsmeared her with ointment out of the flask, brought her to life, and\nstuffed her into the sack; but this time she crammed in also as much\ngold and silver as the sack would hold, and over all laid a very little\nfood.\n\n\u201cDear friend,\u201d she said to the Man o\u2019 the Hill, \u201cyou really must run\nhome to my mother with a little food again; and mind you don\u2019t look into\nthe sack.\u201d\n\nYes! the Man o\u2019 the Hill was ready enough to do as she wished, and he\ngave his word too that he wouldn\u2019t look into the sack; but when he had\ngone a bit of the way he began to think the sack got awfully heavy, and\nwhen he had gone a bit further, he could scarce stagger along under it,\nso he set it down, and was just about to untie the string and look into\nit, when the girl inside the sack bawled out,\u2014\n\n \u201cI see what you\u2019re at!\n I see what you\u2019re at!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe deuce you do!\u201d said the Man o\u2019 the Hill, \u201cthen you must have plaguy\nsharp eyes of your own.\u201d\n\nWell, he dared not try to look into the sack, but made all the haste he\ncould, and carried the sack straight to the girl\u2019s mother. When he got\nto the cottage door he threw the sack in through the door, and roared\nout,\u2014\n\n\u201cHere you have food from your daughter; she wants for nothing.\u201d\n\nSo when the girl had been there a good while longer, the Man o\u2019 the Hill\nmade up his mind to go out for the day; then the girl shammed to be sick\nand sorry, and pouted and fretted.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no use your coming home before twelve o\u2019clock at night,\u201d she said,\n\u201cfor I shan\u2019t be able to have supper ready before\u2014I\u2019m so sick and\npoorly.\u201d\n\nBut when the Man o\u2019 the Hill was well out of the house, she stuffed some\nof her clothes with straw, and stuck up this lass of straw in the corner\nby the chimney, with a besom in her hand, so that it looked just as if\nshe herself were standing there. After that she stole off home, and got\na sharp-shooter to stay in the cottage with her mother.\n\nSo when the clock struck twelve, or just about it, home came the Man o\u2019\nthe Hill, and the first thing he said to the straw-girl was, \u201cGive me\nsomething to eat.\u201d\n\nBut she answered him never a word.\n\n\u201cGive me something to eat I say!\u201d called out the Man o\u2019 the Hill, \u201cfor I\nam almost starved.\u201d\n\nNo! she hadn\u2019t a word to throw at him.\n\n\u201cGive me something to eat!\u201d roared out the ogre the third time. \u201cI think\nyou\u2019d better open your ears and hear what I say, or else I\u2019ll wake you\nup, that I will!\u201d\n\nNo! the girl stood just as still as ever; so he flew into a rage, and\ngave her such a slap in the face, that the straw flew all about the\nroom; but when he saw that, he knew he had been tricked, and began to\nhunt everywhere; and at last, when he came to the cellar, and found both\nthe girl\u2019s sisters missing, he soon saw how the cat jumped, and ran off\nto the cottage, saying, \u201cI\u2019ll soon pay her off!\u201d\n\nBut when he reached the cottage, the sharp-shooter fired off his piece,\nand then the Man o\u2019 the Hill dared not go into the house, for he thought\nit was thunder. So he set off home again as fast as he could lay legs to\nthe ground, but what do you think, just as he got to the trap-door, the\nsun rose and the Man o\u2019 the Hill burst.\n\nOh! if one only knew where the trap-door was, I\u2019ll be bound there\u2019s a\nwhole heap of gold and silver down there still!\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n EAST O\u2019 THE SUN AND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a poor husbandman who had so many children that\nhe hadn\u2019t much of either food or clothing to give them. Pretty children\nthey all were, but the prettiest was the youngest daughter, who was so\nlovely there was no end to her loveliness.\n\nSo one day, \u2019twas 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 again.\nThere they all sat round the fire busy with this thing and that. But\njust then, all at once something gave three taps on the window-pane.\nThen the father went out to see what was the matter; and, when he got\nout of doors, what should he see but a great big White Bear.\n\n\u201cGood evening to you!\u201d said the White Bear.\n\n\u201cThe same to you,\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cWill you give me your youngest daughter? If you will, I\u2019ll make you as\nrich as you are now poor,\u201d 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 went\nin and told them how there was a great White Bear waiting outside, who\nhad given his word to make them so rich if he could only have the\nyoungest daughter.\n\nThe lassie said \u201cNo!\u201d 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. Meantime\nhe talked his daughter over, and kept on telling her of all the riches\nthey would get, and how well off she would be herself; and so at last\nshe thought better of it, and washed and mended her rags, made herself\nas smart as she could, and was ready to start. I can\u2019t say her packing\ngave her much trouble.\n\nNext Thursday evening came the White Bear to fetch her, and she got upon\nhis back with her bundle, and off they went. So, when they had gone a\nbit of the way, the White Bear said,\u2014\n\n\u201cAre you afraid?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! she wasn\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! mind and hold tight by my shaggy coat, and then there\u2019s nothing\nto fear,\u201d 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 lit\nup; rooms gleaming with silver and gold; and there too was a table ready\nlaid, and it was all as grand as grand could be. Then the White Bear\ngave her a silver bell; and when she wanted anything, she was only to\nring it, and she would get it at once.\n\nWell, after she had eaten and drunk, and evening wore on, she got sleepy\nafter her journey, and thought she would like to go to bed, so she rang\nthe bell; and she had scarce taken hold of it before she came into a\nchamber, where there was a bed made, as fair and white as any one would\nwish to sleep in, with silken pillows and curtains and gold fringe. All\nthat was in the room was gold or silver; but when she had gone to bed,\nand put out the light, a man came and laid himself alongside her. That\nwas the White Bear, who threw off his beast shape at night; but she\nnever saw him, for he always came after she had put out the light, and\nbefore the day dawned he was up and off again. So things went on happily\nfor a while, but at last she began to get silent and sorrowful; for\nthere she went about all day alone, and she longed to go home to see her\nfather and mother, and brothers and sisters. So one day, when the White\nBear asked what it was that she lacked, she said it was so dull and\nlonely there, and how she longed to go home to see her father and\nmother, and brothers and sisters, and that was why she was so sad and\nsorrowful, because she couldn\u2019t get to them.\n\n\u201cWell, well!\u201d said the Bear, \u201cperhaps there\u2019s a cure for all this; but\nyou must promise me one thing, not to talk alone with your mother, but\nonly when the rest are by to hear; for she\u2019ll take you by the hand and\ntry to lead you into a room alone to talk; but you must mind and not do\nthat, else you\u2019ll bring bad luck on both of us.\u201d\n\nSo one Sunday the White Bear came and said, now they could set off to\nsee her father and mother. Well, off they started, she sitting on his\nback; and they went far and long. At last they came to a grand house,\nand there her brothers and sisters were running about out of doors at\nplay, and everything was so pretty, \u2019twas a joy to see.\n\n\u201cThis is where your father and mother live now,\u201d said the White Bear;\n\u201cbut don\u2019t forget what I told you, else you\u2019ll make us both unlucky.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! bless her, she\u2019d not forget;\u201d and when she had reached the house,\nthe White Bear turned right about and left her.\n\nThen when she went in to see her father and mother, there was such joy,\nthere was no end to it. None of them thought they could thank her enough\nfor all she had done for them. Now, they had everything they wished, as\ngood as good could be, and they all wanted to know how she got on where\nshe lived.\n\nWell, she said, it was very good to live where she did; she had all she\nwished. What she said beside I don\u2019t know; but I don\u2019t think any of them\nhad the right end of the stick, or that they got much out of her. But so\nin the afternoon, after they had done dinner, all happened as the White\nBear had said. Her mother wanted to talk with her alone in her bed-room;\nbut she minded what the White Bear had said, and wouldn\u2019t go up stairs.\n\n\u201cOh! what we have to talk about, will keep,\u201d she said, and put her\nmother off. But some how or other, her mother got round her at last, and\nshe had to tell her the whole story. So she said, how every night, when\nshe had gone to bed, a man came and lay down beside her as soon as she\nhad put out the light, and how she never saw him, because he was always\nup and away before the morning dawned; and how she went about woeful and\nsorrowing, for she thought she should so like to see him, and how all\nday long she walked about there alone, and how dull, and dreary, and\nlonesome it was.\n\n\u201cMy!\u201d said her mother; \u201cit may well be a Troll you slept with! But now\nI\u2019ll teach you a lesson how to set eyes on him. I\u2019ll give you a bit of\ncandle, which you can carry home in your bosom; just light that while he\nis asleep, but take care not to drop the tallow on him.\u201d\n\nYes! she took the candle and hid it in her bosom, and as night drew on,\nthe 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\u2019t happened as he had said?\n\n\u201cWell she couldn\u2019t say it hadn\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, mind,\u201d said he, \u201cif you have listened to your mother\u2019s advice, you\nhave brought bad luck on us both, and then, all that has passed between\nus will be as nothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d she said, \u201cshe hadn\u2019t listened to her mother\u2019s advice.\u201d\n\nSo when she reached home, and had gone to bed, it was the old story over\nagain. There came a man and lay down beside her; but at dead of night,\nwhen she heard he slept, she got up and struck a light, lit the candle,\nand let the light shine on him, and so she saw that he was the loveliest\nPrince one ever set eyes on, and she fell so deep in love with him on\nthe spot, that she thought she couldn\u2019t live if she didn\u2019t give him a\nkiss there and then. And so she did, but as she kissed him, she dropped\nthree hot drops of tallow on his shirt, and he woke up.\n\n\u201cWhat have you done?\u201d he cried; \u201cnow you have made us both unlucky, for\nhad you held out only this one year, I had been freed. For I have a\nstep-mother who has bewitched me, so that I am a White Bear by day, and\na Man by night. But now all ties are snapt between us; now I must set\noff from you to her. She lives in a Castle which stands EAST O\u2019 THE SUN\nAND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON, and there, too, is a Princess, with a nose three\nells long, and she\u2019s the wife I must have now.\u201d\n\nShe wept and took it ill, but there was no help for it; go he must.\n\nThen she asked if she mightn\u2019t go with him?\n\nNo, she mightn\u2019t.\n\n\u201cTell me the way then,\u201d she said; \u201cand I\u2019ll search you out; _that_\nsurely I may get leave to do.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, she might do that,\u201d he said; \u201cbut there was no way to that place.\nIt lay EAST O\u2019 THE SUN AND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON, and thither she\u2019d never\nfind her way.\u201d\n\nSo next morning, when she woke up, both Prince and castle were gone, and\nthen she lay on a little green patch, in the midst of the gloomy thick\nwood, and by her side lay the same bundle of rags she had brought with\nher from her old home.\n\nSo when she had rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and wept till she was\ntired, she set out on her way, and walked many, many days, till she came\nto a lofty crag. Under it sat an old hag, and played with a gold apple\nwhich she tossed about. Her the lassie asked if she knew the way to the\nPrince, who lived with his step-mother in the Castle, that lay EAST O\u2019\nTHE SUN AND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON, and who was to marry the Princess, with a\nnose three ells long.\n\n\u201cHow did you come to know about him?\u201d asked the old hag; \u201cbut maybe you\nare the lassie who ought to have had him?\u201d\n\nYes, she was.\n\n\u201cSo, so; it\u2019s you, is it?\u201d said the old hag. \u201cWell, all I know about him\nis, that he lives in the castle that lies EAST O\u2019 THE SUN AND WEST O\u2019\nTHE MOON, and thither you\u2019ll come, late or never; but still you may have\nthe loan of my horse, and on him you can ride to my next neighbour.\nMaybe she\u2019ll be able to tell you; and when you get there, just give the\nhorse a switch under the left ear, and beg him to be off home; and,\nstay, this gold apple you may take with you.\u201d\n\nSo she got upon the horse, and rode a long long time, till she came to\nanother crag, under which sat another old hag, with a gold carding comb.\nHer the lassie asked if she knew the way to the castle that lay EAST O\u2019\nTHE SUN AND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON, and she answered, like the first old hag,\nthat she knew nothing about it, except it was east o\u2019 the sun and west\no\u2019 the moon.\n\n\u201cAnd thither you\u2019ll come, late or never, but you shall have the loan of\nmy horse to my next neighbour; maybe she\u2019ll tell you all about it; and\nwhen you get there, just switch the horse under the left ear, and beg\nhim to be off home.\u201d\n\nAnd this old hag gave her the golden carding comb; it might be she\u2019d\nfind the 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 another\ngreat crag, under which sat another old hag, spinning with a golden\nspinning-wheel. Her, too, she asked if she knew the way to the Prince,\nand where the castle was that lay EAST O\u2019 THE SUN AND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON.\nSo it was the same thing over again.\n\n\u201cMaybe it\u2019s you who ought to have had the Prince?\u201d said the old hag.\n\nYes, it was.\n\nBut she, too, didn\u2019t know the way a bit better than the other two, \u201cEast\no\u2019 the sun and west o\u2019 the moon it was,\u201d she knew\u2014that was all.\n\n\u201cAnd thither you\u2019ll come, late or never; but I\u2019ll lend you my horse, and\nthen I think you\u2019d best ride to the East Wind and ask him; maybe he\nknows those parts, and can blow you thither. But when you get to him,\nyou need only give the horse a switch under the left ear, and he\u2019ll trot\nhome of himself.\u201d\n\nAnd so, too, she gave her the gold spinning-wheel. \u201cMaybe you\u2019ll find a\nuse for it,\u201d said the old hag.\n\nThen on she rode many many days, a weary time, before she got to the\nEast Wind\u2019s house, but at last she did reach it, and then she asked the\nEast Wind if he could tell her the way to the Prince who dwelt east o\u2019\nthe sun and west o\u2019 the moon. Yes, the East Wind had often heard tell of\nit, the Prince, and the castle, but he couldn\u2019t tell the way, for he had\nnever blown so far.\n\n\u201cBut, if you will, I\u2019ll go with you to my brother the West Wind, maybe\nhe knows, for he\u2019s much stronger. So, if you will just get on my back,\nI\u2019ll carry you thither.\u201d\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\u2019s 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 O\u2019 THE SUN AND WEST O\u2019 THE\nMOON; and so she had set out to seek him, and how he had come with her,\nand would be glad to know if the West Wind knew how to get to the\ncastle.\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said the West Wind, \u201cso far I\u2019ve never blown; but if you will,\nI\u2019ll go with you to our brother the South Wind, for he\u2019s much stronger\nthan either of us, and he has flapped his wings far and wide. Maybe\nhe\u2019ll tell you. You can get on my back, and I\u2019ll carry you to him.\u201d\n\nYes! she got on his back, and so they travelled to the South Wind, and\nweren\u2019t 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 O\u2019 THE SUN AND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON, for it\nwas she who ought to have had the Prince who lived there.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t say so. That\u2019s she, is it?\u201d said the South Wind.\n\n\u201cWell, I have blustered about in most places in my time, but so far have\nI never blown; but if you will, I\u2019ll take you to my brother the North\nWind; he is the oldest and strongest of the whole lot of us, and if he\ndon\u2019t know where it is, you\u2019ll never find any one in the world to tell\nyou. You can get on my back, and I\u2019ll carry you thither.\u201d\n\nYes! she got on his back, and away he went from his house at a fine\nrate. And this time, too, she wasn\u2019t long on her way.\n\nSo when they got to the North Wind\u2019s house, he was so wild and cross,\ncold puffs came from him a long way off.\n\n\u201cBLAST YOU BOTH, WHAT DO YOU WANT?\u201d he roared out to them ever so far\noff, so that it struck them with an icy shiver.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the south Wind, \u201cyou needn\u2019t be so foul-mouthed, for here I\nam, your brother the South Wind, and here is the lassie who ought to\nhave had the Prince who dwells in the castle that lies EAST O\u2019 THE SUN\nAND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON, and now she wants to ask you if you ever were\nthere, and can tell her the way, for she would be so glad to find him\nagain.\u201d\n\n\u201cYES, I KNOW WELL ENOUGH WHERE IT IS,\u201d said the North Wind; \u201conce in my\nlife I blew an aspen leaf thither, but I was so tired I couldn\u2019t blow a\npuff for ever so many days after. But if you really wish to go thither,\nand aren\u2019t afraid to come along with me, I\u2019ll take you on my back and\nsee if I can blow you thither.\u201d\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\u2019t be at all afraid.\n\n\u201cVery well then,\u201d said the North Wind, \u201cbut you must sleep here\nto-night, for we must have the whole day before us if we\u2019re to get\nthither at all.\u201d\n\nEarly next morning the North Wind woke her, and puffed himself up, and\nblew himself out, and made himself so stout and big, \u2019twas 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\u2019s 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\nSo they tore on and on,\u2014no one can believe how far they went,\u2014and all\nthe while they still went over the sea, and the North Wind got more and\nmore weary, and so out of breath he could scarce bring out a puff, and\nhis wings drooped and drooped, till at last he sunk so low that the\ncrests of the waves dashed over his heels.\n\n\u201cAre you afraid?\u201d said the North Wind.\n\nNo! she wasn\u2019t.\n\nBut they weren\u2019t 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 O\u2019 THE SUN AND WEST O\u2019\nTHE MOON; but then he was so weak and worn out, he had to stay there and\nrest 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 Long-nose\nwho was to have the Prince.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want for your gold apple, you lassie?\u201d said the Long-nose,\nand threw up the window.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s not for sale for gold or money,\u201d said the lassie.\n\n\u201cIf it\u2019s not for sale for gold or money, what is it that you will sell\nit for! You may name your own price,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cWell! if I may get to the Prince, who lives here, and be with him to\nnight, you shall have it,\u201d said the lassie whom the North Wind had\nbrought.\n\nYes! she might; that could be done. So the Princess got the gold apple;\nbut when the lassie came up to the Prince\u2019s bed-room at night he was\nfast asleep; she called him and shook him, and between whiles she wept\nsore; but all she could do she couldn\u2019t wake him up. Next morning, as\nsoon as day broke, came the Princess with the long nose, and drove her\nout again.\n\nSo in the daytime she sat down under the castle windows and began to\ncard with her golden carding-comb, and the same thing happened. The\nPrincess asked what she wanted for it; and she said it wasn\u2019t for sale\nfor gold or money, but if she might get leave to go up to the Prince and\nbe with him that night, the Princess should have it. But when she went\nup, she found him fast asleep again, and all she called, and all she\nshook, and wept, and prayed, she couldn\u2019t get life into him; and as soon\nas the first gray peep of day came, then came the Princess with the long\nnose, and chased her out again.\n\nSo, in the day time, the lassie sat down outside under the castle\nwindow, and began to spin with her golden spinning-wheel, and that, too,\nthe Princess with the long nose wanted to have. So she threw up the\nwindow and asked what she wanted for it. The lassie said, as she had\nsaid twice before, it wasn\u2019t for sale for gold or money; but if she\nmight go up to the Prince who was there, and be with him alone that\nnight, 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 in\ntheir room, which was next the Prince, they had heard how a woman had\nbeen 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 Prince\nmade as if he drank, but threw it over his shoulder, for he could guess\nit was a sleepy drink. So, when the lassie came in, she found the Prince\nwide awake; and then she told him the whole story how she had come\nthither.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cyou\u2019ve just come in the very nick of time, for\nto-morrow is to be our wedding-day; but now I won\u2019t have the Long-nose,\nand you are the only woman in the world who can set me free. I\u2019ll say I\nwant to see what my wife is fit for, and beg her to wash the shirt which\nhas the three spots of tallow on it; she\u2019ll say yes, for she doesn\u2019t\nknow \u2019tis you who put them there; but that\u2019s a work only for Christian\nfolk, and not for such a pack of Trolls, and so I\u2019ll say that I won\u2019t\nhave any other for my bride than the woman who can wash them out, and\nask you to do it.\u201d\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,\u2014\n\n\u201cFirst of all, I\u2019d like to see what my bride is fit for.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said the step-mother, with all her heart.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cI\u2019ve got a fine shirt which I\u2019d like for my\nwedding shirt, but somehow or other it has got three spots of tallow on\nit, which I must have washed out; and I have sworn never to take any\nother bride than the woman who\u2019s able to do that. If she can\u2019t, she\u2019s\nnot worth having.\u201d\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 she\nrubbed and scrubbed, the bigger the spots grew.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the old hag, her mother, \u201cyou can\u2019t wash; let me try.\u201d\n\nBut she hadn\u2019t 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 shirt.\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 over\nas if it had been up the chimney.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the Prince, \u201cyou\u2019re none of you worth a straw; you can\u2019t\nwash. Why there, outside, sits a beggar lassie, I\u2019ll be bound she knows\nhow to wash better than the whole lot of you. COME IN LASSIE!\u201d he\nshouted.\n\nWell, in she came.\n\n\u201cCan you wash this shirt clean, lassie, you?\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d she said, \u201cbut I think I can.\u201d\n\nAnd almost before she had taken it and dipped it in the water, it was as\nwhite as driven snow, and whiter still.\n\n\u201cYes; you are the lassie for me,\u201d 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 Trolls\nafter her,\u2014at least I\u2019ve never heard a word about them since.\n\nAs for the Prince and Princess, they set free all the poor Christian\nfolk who had been carried off and shut up there; and they took with them\nall the silver and gold, and flitted away as far as they could from the\nCastle that lay EAST O\u2019 THE SUN AND WEST O\u2019 THE MOON.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n BOOTS WHO ATE A MATCH WITH THE TROLL.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a farmer, who had three sons; his means were\nsmall, and he was old and weak, and his sons would take to nothing. A\nfine large wood belonged to the farm, and one day the father told his\nsons to go and hew wood, and try to pay off some of his debts.\n\nWell, after a long talk, he got them to set off, and the eldest was to\ngo first. But when he had got well into the wood, and began to hew at a\nmossy old fir, what should he see coming up to him but a great sturdy\nTroll.\n\n\u201cIf you hew in this wood of mine,\u201d said the Troll, \u201cI\u2019ll kill you!\u201d\n\nWhen the lad heard that, he threw the axe down, and ran off home as fast\nas he could lay legs to the ground; so he came in quite out of breath,\nand told them what had happened, but his father called him\n\u201chare-heart,\u201d\u2014no Troll would ever have scared him from hewing when he\nwas young, he said.\n\nNext day the second son\u2019s turn came, and he fared just the same. He had\nscarce hewn three strokes at the fir, before the Troll came to him too,\nand said,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf you hew in this wood of mine, I\u2019ll kill you!\u201d\n\nThe lad dared not so much as look at him, but threw down the axe, took\nto his heels, and came scampering home just like his brother. So when he\ngot home, his father was angry again, and said no Troll had ever scared\nhim when he was young.\n\nThe third day Boots wanted to set off.\n\n\u201cYou, indeed!\u201d said the two elder brothers; \u201cyou\u2019ll do it bravely, no\ndoubt! you, who have scarce ever set your foot out of the door.\u201d\n\nBoots said nothing to this, but only begged them to give him a good\nstore of food. His mother had no cheese, so she set the pot on the fire\nto make him a little, and he put it into a scrip and set off. So when he\nhad hewn a bit, the Troll came to him too, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf you hew in this wood of mine, I\u2019ll kill you.\u201d\n\nBut the lad was not slow; he pulled his cheese out of the scrip in a\ntrice, and squeezed it till the whey spurted out.\n\n\u201cHold your tongue!\u201d he cried to the Troll, \u201cor I\u2019ll squeeze you as I\nsqueeze the water out of this white stone.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, dear friend!\u201d said the Troll, \u201conly spare me, and I\u2019ll help you to\nhew.\u201d\n\nWell, on those terms the lad was willing to spare him, and the Troll\nhewed so bravely, that they felled and cut up many, many fathoms in the\nday.\n\nBut when even drew near the Troll said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow you\u2019d better come home with me, for my house is nearer than yours.\u201d\n\nSo the lad was willing enough; and when they reached the Troll\u2019s house,\nthe Troll was to make up the fire, while the lad went to fetch water for\ntheir porridge, and there stood two iron pails so big and heavy, that he\ncouldn\u2019t so much as lift them from the ground.\n\n\u201cPooh!\u201d said the lad, \u201cit isn\u2019t worth while to touch these\nfinger-basins. I\u2019ll just go and fetch the spring itself.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, nay, dear friend!\u201d said the Troll; \u201cI can\u2019t afford to lose my\nspring; just you make up the fire, and I\u2019ll go and fetch the water.\u201d\n\nSo when he came back with the water, they set to and boiled up a great\npot of porridge.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all the same to me,\u201d said the lad; \u201cbut if you\u2019re of my mind,\nwe\u2019ll eat a match!\u201d\n\n\u201cWith all my heart,\u201d said the Troll, for he thought he could surely hold\nhis own in eating. So they sat down; but the lad took his scrip unawares\nto the Troll, and hung it before him, and so he spooned more into the\nscrip than he ate himself; and when the scrip was full, he took up his\nknife and made a slit in the scrip. The Troll looked on all the while,\nbut said never a word. So when they had eaten a good bit longer, the\nTroll laid down his spoon, saying, \u201cNay! but I can\u2019t eat a morsel more.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you shall eat,\u201d said the youth; \u201cI\u2019m only half done; why don\u2019t you\ndo as I did, and cut a hole in your paunch? You\u2019ll be able to eat then\nas much as you please.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut doesn\u2019t it hurt one cruelly?\u201d asked the Troll.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the youth, \u201cnothing to speak of.\u201d\n\nSo the Troll did as the lad said, and then you must know very well that\nhe lost his life; but the lad took all the silver and gold that he found\nin the hill-side, and went home with it, and you may fancy it went a\ngreat way to pay off the debt.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n BOOTS, WHO MADE THE PRINCESS SAY, \u201cTHAT\u2019S A STORY.\u201d\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a king who had a daughter, and she was such a\ndreadful story-teller that the like of her was not to be found far or\nnear. So the king gave out, that if any one could tell such a string of\nlies as would get her to say, \u201cThat\u2019s a story,\u201d he should have her to\nwife, and half the kingdom besides. Well, many came, as you may fancy,\nto try their luck, for every one would have been very glad to have the\nPrincess, to say nothing of the kingdom; but they all cut a sorry\nfigure, for the Princess was so given to story telling, that all their\nlies went in at one ear and out of the other. Among the rest came three\nbrothers to try their luck, and the two elder went first, but they fared\nno better than those who had gone before them. Last of all the third,\nBoots, set off and found the Princess in the farm-yard.\n\n\u201cGood morning,\u201d he said, \u201cand thank you for nothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood morning,\u201d said she, \u201cand the same to you.\u201d\n\nThen she went on\u2014\n\n\u201cYou haven\u2019t such a fine farm-yard as ours, I\u2019ll be bound; for when two\nshepherds stand, one at each end of it, and blow their ram\u2019s horns, the\none can\u2019t hear the other.\u201d\n\n\u201cHaven\u2019t we though!\u201d answered Boots; \u201cours is far bigger; for when a cow\nbegins to go with calf at one end of it, she doesn\u2019t get to the other\nend before the time to drop her calf is come.\u201d\n\n\u201cI daresay!\u201d said the Princess. \u201cWell, but you haven\u2019t such a big ox,\nafter all, as ours yonder; for when two men sit, one on each horn, they\ncan\u2019t touch each other with a twenty-foot rule.\u201d\n\n\u201cStuff!\u201d said Boots; \u201cis that all? why, we have an ox who is so big,\nthat when two men sit, one on each horn, and each blows his great\nmountain-trumpet, they can\u2019t hear one another.\u201d\n\n\u201cI dare say!\u201d said the Princess; \u201cbut you haven\u2019t so much milk as we,\nI\u2019ll be bound; for we milk our kine into great pails, and carry them\nin-doors, and empty them into great tubs, and so we make great, great\ncheeses.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! you do, do you?\u201d said Boots. \u201cWell, we milk ours into great tubs,\nand then we put them in carts and drive them in-doors, and then we turn\nthem out into great brewing vats, and so we make cheeses as big as a\ngreat house. We had, too, a dun mare to tread the cheese well together\nwhen it was making; but once she tumbled down into the cheese, and we\nlost her; and after we had eaten at this cheese seven years, we came\nupon a great dun mare, alive and kicking. Well, once after that I was\ngoing to drive this mare to the mill, and her back-bone snapped in two;\nbut I wasn\u2019t put out, not I, for I took a spruce sapling, and put it\ninto her for a back-bone, and she had no other back-bone all the while\nwe had her. But the sapling grew up into such a tall tree, that I\nclimbed right up to heaven by it, and when I got there, I saw the Virgin\nMary sitting and spinning the foam of the sea into pig\u2019s-bristle ropes;\nbut just then the spruce-fir broke short off, and I couldn\u2019t get down\nagain; so the Virgin Mary let me down by one of the ropes, and down I\nslipped straight into a fox\u2019s hole, and who should sit there but my\nmother and your father cobbling shoes; and just as I stepped in, my\nmother gave your father such a box on the ear, that it made his whiskers\ncurl.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a story!\u201d said the Princess; \u201cmy father never did any such thing\nin all his born days!\u201d\n\nSo Boots got the Princess to wife, and half the kingdom besides.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE TWELVE WILD DUCKS.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a Queen who was out driving, when there had\nbeen a new fall of snow in the winter; but when she had gone a little\nway, she began to bleed at the nose, and had to get out of her sledge.\nAnd so, as she stood there, leaning against the fence, and saw the red\nblood on the white snow, she fell a-thinking how she had twelve sons and\nno daughter, and she said to herself,\n\n\u201cIf I only had a daughter as white as snow and as red as blood, I\nshouldn\u2019t care what became of all my sons.\u201d\n\nBut the words were scarce out of her mouth before an old witch of the\nTrolls came up to her.\n\n\u201cA daughter you shall have,\u201d she said, \u201cand she shall be as white as\nsnow, and as red as blood; and your sons shall be mine, but you may keep\nthem till the babe is christened.\u201d\n\nSo when the time came the Queen had a daughter, and she was as white as\nsnow, and as red as blood, just as the Troll had promised, and so they\ncalled her \u201cSnow-white and Rosy-red.\u201d Well, there was great joy at the\nKing\u2019s court, and the Queen was as glad as glad could be; but when what\nshe had promised to the old witch came into her mind, she sent for a\nsilversmith, and bade him make twelve silver spoons, one for each\nprince, and after that she bade him make one more, and that she gave to\nSnow-white and Rosy-red. But as soon as ever the Princess was\nchristened, the Princes were turned into twelve wild ducks, and flew\naway. They never saw them again,\u2014away they went, and away they stayed.\n\nSo the Princess grew up, and she was both tall and fair, but she was\noften so strange and sorrowful, and no one could understand what it was\nthat failed her. But one evening the Queen was also sorrowful, for she\nhad many strange thoughts when she thought of her sons. She said to\nSnow-white and Rosy-red,\n\n\u201cWhy are you so sorrowful, my daughter? Is there anything you want? if\nso, only say the word, and you shall have it.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, it seems so dull and lonely here,\u201d said Snow-white and Rosy-red;\n\u201cevery one else has brothers and sisters, but I am all alone; I have\nnone; and that\u2019s why I\u2019m so sorrowful.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you _had_ brothers, my daughter,\u201d said the Queen; \u201cI had twelve\nsons who were your brothers, but I gave them all away to get you;\u201d and\nso she told her the whole story.\n\nSo when the Princess heard that, she had no rest; for, in spite of all\nthe Queen could say or do, and all she wept and prayed, the lassie would\nset off to seek her brothers, for she thought it was all her fault; and\nat last she got leave to go away from the palace. On and on she walked\ninto the wide world, so far, you would never have thought a young lady\ncould have strength to walk so far.\n\nSo, once, when she was walking through a great, great wood, one day she\nfelt tired, and sat down on a mossy tuft and fell asleep. Then she\ndreamt that she went deeper and deeper into the wood, till she came to a\nlittle wooden hut, and there she found her brothers; just then she woke,\nand straight before her she saw a worn path in the green moss, and this\npath went deeper into the wood; so she followed it, and after a long\ntime she came to just such a little wooden house as that she had seen in\nher dream.\n\nNow, when she went into the room there was no one at home, but there\nstood twelve beds, and twelve chairs, and twelve spoons\u2014a dozen of\neverything, in short. So when she saw that, she was so glad, she hadn\u2019t\nbeen so glad for many a long year, for she could guess at once that her\nbrothers lived here, and that they owned the beds, and chairs, and\nspoons. So she began to make up the fire, and sweep the room, and make\nthe beds, and cook the dinner, and to make the house as tidy as she\ncould; and when she had done all the cooking and work, she ate her own\ndinner, and crept under her youngest brother\u2019s bed, and lay down there,\nbut she forgot her spoon upon the table.\n\nSo she had scarcely laid herself down before she heard something\nflapping and whirring in the air, and so all the twelve wild ducks came\nsweeping in; but as soon as ever they crossed the threshold they became\nPrinces.\n\n\u201cOh, how nice and warm it is in here,\u201d they said. \u201cHeaven bless him who\nmade up the fire, and cooked such a good dinner for us.\u201d\n\nAnd so each took up his silver spoon, and was going to eat. But when\neach had taken his own, there was one still left lying on the table, and\nit was so like the rest that they couldn\u2019t tell it from them.\n\n\u201cThis is our sister\u2019s spoon,\u201d they said; \u201cand if her spoon be here, she\ncan\u2019t be very far off herself.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf this be our sister\u2019s spoon, and she be here,\u201d said the eldest, \u201cshe\nshall be killed, for she is to blame for all the ill we suffer.\u201d\n\nAnd this she lay under the bed and listened to.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the youngest; \u201c\u2019twere a shame to kill her for that. She has\nnothing to do with our suffering ill; for if any one\u2019s to blame, it\u2019s\nour own mother.\u201d\n\nSo they set to work hunting for her both high and low, and at last they\nlooked under all the beds, and so when they came to the youngest\nPrince\u2019s bed, they found her, and dragged her out. Then the eldest\nPrince wished again to have her killed, but she begged and prayed so\nprettily for herself.\n\n\u201cOh! gracious goodness! don\u2019t kill me, for I\u2019ve gone about seeking you\nthese three years, and if I could only set you free, I\u2019d willingly lose\nmy life.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said they, \u201cif you will set us free, you may keep your life; for\nyou can if you choose.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; only tell me,\u201d said the Princess; \u201chow it can be done, and I\u2019ll do\nit, whatever it be.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou must pick thistle-down,\u201d said the Princes, \u201cand you must card it,\nand spin it, and weave it; and after you have done that, you must cut\nout and make twelve coats, and twelve shirts, and twelve neckerchiefs,\none for each of us, and while you do that, you must neither talk, nor\nlaugh, nor weep. If you can do that, we are free.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut where shall I ever get thistle-down enough for so many\nneckerchiefs, and shirts, and coats?\u201d asked Snow-white and Rosy-red.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ll soon shew you,\u201d said the Princes; and so they took her with them\nto a great wide moor, where there stood such a crop of thistles, all\nnodding and nodding in the breeze, and the down all floating and\nglistening like gossamers through the air in the sunbeams. The Princess\nhad never seen such a quantity of thistle-down in her life, and she\nbegan to pluck and gather it as fast and as well as she could; and when\nshe got home at night she set to work carding and spinning yarn from the\ndown. So she went on a long long time, picking, and carding, and\nspinning, and all the while keeping the Princes\u2019 house, cooking and\nmaking their beds. At evening home they came, flapping and whirring like\nwild ducks, and all night they were Princes, but in the morning off they\nflew again, and were wild ducks the whole day.\n\nBut now it happened once, when she was out on the moor to pick\nthistle-down,\u2014and if I don\u2019t mistake, it was the very last time she was\nto go thither,\u2014it happened that the young King who ruled that land was\nout hunting, and came riding across the moor and saw her. So he stopped\nthere and wondered who the lovely lady could be that walked along the\nmoor picking thistle-down, and he asked her her name, and when he could\nget no answer, he was still more astonished; and at last he liked her so\nmuch, that nothing would do but he must take her home to his castle and\nmarry her. So he ordered his servants to take her and put her upon his\nhorse. Snow-white and Rosy-red, she wrung her hands, and made signs to\nthem, and pointed to the bags in which her work was, and when the King\nsaw she wished to have them with her, he told his men to take up the\nbags behind them. When they had done that the Princess came to herself\nlittle by little, for the King was both a wise man and a handsome man\ntoo, and he was as soft and kind to her as a doctor. But when they got\nhome to the palace, and the old Queen, who was his step-mother, set eyes\non Snow-white and Rosy-red, she got so cross and jealous of her because\nshe was so lovely, that she said to the king,\u2014\n\n\u201cCan\u2019t you see now, that this thing whom you have picked up, and whom\nyou are going to marry, is a witch. Why? she can\u2019t either talk, or\nlaugh, or weep!\u201d\n\nBut the King didn\u2019t care a pin for what she said, but held on with the\nwedding, and married Snow-white and Rosy-red, and they lived in great\njoy and glory; but she didn\u2019t forget to go on sewing at her shirts.\n\nSo when the year was almost out Snow-white and Rosy-red brought a Prince\ninto the world; and then the old Queen was more spiteful and jealous\nthan ever, and at dead of night, she stole in to Snow-white and\nRosy-red, while she slept, and took away her babe, and threw it into a\npit full of snakes. After that she cut Snow-white and Rosy-red in her\nfinger, and smeared the blood over her mouth, and went straight to the\nKing.\n\n\u201cNow come and see,\u201d she said, \u201cwhat sort of a thing you have taken for\nyour Queen; here she has eaten up her own babe.\u201d\n\nThen the King was so downcast, he almost burst into tears, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cYes, it must be true, sure I see it with my own eyes; but she\u2019ll not do\nit again, I\u2019m sure, and so this time I\u2019ll spare her life.\u201d\n\nSo before the next year was out she had another son, and the same thing\nhappened. The King\u2019s step-mother got more and more jealous and spiteful.\nShe stole in to the young Queen at night while she slept, took away the\nbabe, and threw it into a pit full of snakes, cut the young Queen\u2019s\nfinger, and smeared the blood over her mouth, and then went and told the\nKing she had eaten up her own child. Then the King was so sorrowful, you\ncan\u2019t think how sorry he was, and he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cYes, it must be true, since I see it with my own eyes; but she\u2019ll not\ndo it again, I\u2019m sure, and so this time too I\u2019ll spare her life.\u201d\n\nWell! before the next year was out, Snow-white and Rosy-red brought a\ndaughter into the world, and her, too, the old Queen took and threw into\nthe pit full of snakes, while the young Queen slept. Then she cut her\nfinger, smeared the blood over her mouth, and went again to the King and\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow you may come and see if it isn\u2019t as I say; she\u2019s a wicked, wicked\nwitch, for here she has gone and eaten up her third babe too.\u201d\n\nThen the King was so sad, there was no end to it, for now he couldn\u2019t\nspare her any longer, but had to order her to be burnt alive on a pile\nof wood. But just when the pile was all a-blaze, and they were going to\nput her on it, she made signs to them to take twelve boards and lay them\nround the pile, and on these she laid the neckerchiefs, and the shirts,\nand the coats for her brothers, but the youngest brother\u2019s shirt wanted\nits left arm, for she hadn\u2019t had time to finish it. And as soon as ever\nshe had done that, they heard such a flapping and whirring in the air,\nand down came twelve wild ducks flying over the forest, and each of them\nsnapped up his clothes in his bill and flew off with them.\n\n\u201cSee now!\u201d said the old Queen to the King, \u201cwasn\u2019t I right when I told\nyou she was a witch; but make haste and burn her before the pile burns\nlow.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the King, \u201cwe\u2019ve wood enough and to spare, and so I\u2019ll wait a\nbit, for I have a mind to see what the end of all this will be.\u201d\n\nAs he spoke, up came the twelve princes riding along, as handsome\nwell-grown lads as you\u2019d wish to see; but the youngest prince had a wild\nduck\u2019s wing instead of his left arm.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s all this about?\u201d asked the Princes.\n\n\u201cMy Queen is to be burnt,\u201d said the King, \u201cbecause she\u2019s a witch, and\nbecause she has eaten up her own babes.\u201d\n\n\u201cShe hasn\u2019t eaten them at all,\u201d said the Princes. \u201cSpeak now, sister;\nyou have set us free and saved us, now save yourself.\u201d\n\nThen Snow-white and Rosy-red spoke, and told the whole story; how every\ntime she was brought to bed, the old Queen, the King\u2019s step-mother, had\nstolen into her at night, had taken her babes away, and cut her little\nfinger, and smeared the blood over her mouth; and then the Princes took\nthe King, and shewed him the snake-pit where three babes lay playing\nwith adders and toads, and lovelier children you never saw.\n\nSo the King had them taken out at once, and went to his step-mother, and\nasked her what punishment she thought that woman deserved who could find\nit in her heart to betray a guiltless Queen and three such blessed\nlittle babes.\n\n\u201cShe deserves to be fast bound between twelve unbroken steeds, so that\neach may take his share of her,\u201d said the old Queen.\n\n\u201cYou have spoken your own doom,\u201d said the King, \u201cand you shall suffer it\nat once.\u201d\n\nSo the wicked old Queen was fast bound between twelve unbroken steeds,\nand each got his share of her. But the King took Snow-white and\nRosy-red, and their three children, and the twelve Princes; and so they\nall went home to their father and mother, and told all that had befallen\nthem, and there was joy and gladness over the whole kingdom, because the\nPrincess was saved and set free, and because she had set free her twelve\nbrothers.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE 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 them so\nmuch that he could never bear to be without them all at once, but one\nmust always be with him. Now, when they were grown up, six were to set\noff to woo, but as for the youngest, his father kept him at home, and\nthe others were to bring back a princess for him to the palace. So the\nking gave the six the finest clothes you ever set eyes on, so fine that\nthe light gleamed from them a long way off, and each had his horse,\nwhich cost many, many hundred dollars, and so they set off. Now, when\nthey had been to many palaces, and seen many princesses, at last they\ncame to a king who had six daughters; such lovely king\u2019s daughters they\nhad never seen, and so they fell to wooing them, each one, and when they\nhad got them for sweethearts, they set off home again, but they quite\nforgot that they were to bring back with them a sweetheart for Boots,\ntheir brother, who stayed at home, for they were over head and ears in\nlove with their own sweethearts.\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\u2019s house was, and there the\ngiant came out, and set his eyes upon them, and turned them all into\nstone, princes and princesses and all. Now, the king waited and waited\nfor his six sons, but the more he waited, the longer they stayed away;\nso he fell into great trouble, and said he should never know what it was\nto be glad again.\n\n\u201cAnd if I had not you left,\u201d he said to Boots, \u201cI would live no longer,\nso full of sorrow am I for the loss of your brothers.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, but now I\u2019ve been thinking to ask your leave to set out and find\nthem again; that\u2019s what I\u2019m thinking of,\u201d said Boots.\n\n\u201cNay, nay!\u201d said his father; \u201cthat leave you shall never get, for then\nyou would stay away too.\u201d\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 broken-down\njade, for his six other sons and their train had carried off all his\nhorses; but Boots did not care a pin for that, he sprang up on his sorry\nold steed.\n\n\u201cFarewell, father,\u201d said he; \u201cI\u2019ll come back, never fear, and like\nenough I shall bring my six brothers back with me;\u201d and with that he\nrode off.\n\nSo when he had ridden a while he came to a Raven, which lay in the road\nand flapped its wings, and was not able to get out of the way, it was so\nstarved.\n\n\u201cOh, dear friend,\u201d said the Raven, \u201cgive me a little food, and I\u2019ll help\nyou again at your utmost need.\u201d\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t much food,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cand I don\u2019t see how you\u2019ll ever\nbe able to help me much; but still I can spare you a little. I see you\nwant it.\u201d\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\u201cOh, dear friend,\u201d said the Salmon to the Prince, \u201cshove me out into the\nwater again, and I\u2019ll help you again at your utmost need.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the Prince, \u201cthe help you\u2019ll give me will not be great, I\ndaresay, but it\u2019s a pity you should lie there and choke;\u201d and with that\nhe shot the fish out into the stream again.\n\nAfter that he went a long, long way, and there met him a Wolf, which was\nso famished that it lay and crawled along the road on its belly.\n\n\u201cDear friend, do let me have your horse,\u201d said the Wolf; \u201cI\u2019m so hungry\nthe wind whistles through my ribs; I\u2019ve had nothing to eat these two\nyears.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Boots, \u201cthis will never do; first I came to a Raven, and I\nwas forced to give him my food; next I came to a Salmon, and him I had\nto help into the water again; and now you will have my horse. It can\u2019t\nbe done, that it can\u2019t, for then I should have nothing to ride on.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, dear friend, but you can help me,\u201d said Greylegs the wolf; \u201cyou\ncan ride upon my back, and I\u2019ll help you again in your utmost need.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! the help I shall get from you will not be great, I\u2019ll be bound,\u201d\nsaid the Prince; \u201cbut you may take my horse, since you are in such\nneed.\u201d\n\nSo when the wolf had eaten the horse, Boots took the bit and put it into\nthe Wolf\u2019s jaw, and laid the saddle on his back; and now the Wolf was so\nstrong, after what he had got inside, that he set off with the Prince\nlike nothing. So fast he had never ridden before.\n\n\u201cWhen we have gone a bit farther,\u201d said Greylegs; \u201cI\u2019ll shew you the\nGiant\u2019s house.\u201d\n\nSo after a while they came to it.\n\n\u201cSee here is the Giant\u2019s house,\u201d said the Wolf; \u201cand see, here are your\nsix brothers, whom the Giant has turned into stone; and see here are\ntheir six brides, and away yonder is the door, and in at that door you\nmust go.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, but I daren\u2019t go in,\u201d said the Prince; \u201che\u2019ll take my life.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! no!\u201d said the Wolf; \u201cwhen you get in you\u2019ll find a Princess, and\nshe\u2019ll tell you what to do to make an end of the Giant. Only mind and do\nas she bids you.\u201d\n\nWell! Boots went in, but, truth to say, he was very much afraid. When he\ncame in the Giant was away, but in one of the rooms sat the Princess,\njust as the wolf had said, and so lovely a princess Boots had never yet\nset eyes on.\n\n\u201cOh! heaven help you! whence have you come?\u201d said the Princess, as she\nsaw him; \u201cit will surely be your death. No one can make an end of the\nGiant who lives here, for he has no heart in his body.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! well!\u201d said Boots; \u201cbut now that I am here, I may as well try\nwhat I can do with him; and I will see if I can\u2019t free my brothers, who\nare standing turned to stone out of doors; and you, too, I will try to\nsave, that I will.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, if you must, you must,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cand so let us see if\nwe can\u2019t hit on a plan. Just creep under the bed yonder, and mind and\nlisten to what he and I talk about. But, pray, do lie as still as a\nmouse.\u201d\n\nSo he crept under the bed, and he had scarce got well underneath it,\nbefore the Giant came.\n\n\u201cHa!\u201d roared the Giant, \u201cwhat a smell of Christian blood there is in the\nhouse!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I know there is,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cfor there came a magpie\nflying with a man\u2019s 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\u2019t\ngo off so soon.\u201d\n\nSo the Giant said no more about it, and when night came, they went to\nbed. After they had lain a while, the Princess said,\u2014\n\n\u201cThere is one thing I\u2019d be so glad to ask you about, if I only dared.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat thing is that?\u201d asked the Giant.\n\n\u201cOnly where it is you keep your heart, since you don\u2019t carry it about\nyou,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cAh! that\u2019s a thing you\u2019ve no business to ask about; but if you must\nknow, it lies under the door-sill,\u201d said the Giant.\n\n\u201cHo! ho!\u201d said Boots to himself under the bed, \u201cthen we\u2019ll soon see if\nwe can\u2019t find it.\u201d\n\nNext morning the Giant got up cruelly early, and strode off to the wood;\nbut he was hardly out of the house before Boots and the Princess set to\nwork to look under the door-sill for his heart; but the more they dug,\nand the more they hunted, the more they couldn\u2019t find it.\n\n\u201cHe has baulked us this time,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cbut we\u2019ll try him\nonce more.\u201d\n\nSo she picked all the prettiest flowers she could find, and strewed them\nover the door-sill which they had laid in its right place again; and\nwhen the time came for the Giant to come home again, Boots crept under\nthe bed. Just as he was well under, back came the Giant.\n\nSnuff\u2014snuff, went the Giant\u2019s nose. \u201cMy eyes and limbs, what a smell of\nChristian blood there is in here,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cI know there is,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cfor there came a magpie flying\nwith a man\u2019s bone in his bill, and let it fall down the chimney. I made\nas much haste as I could to get it out, but I daresay it\u2019s that you\nsmell.\u201d\n\nSo the Giant held his peace, and said no more about it. A little while\nafter, he asked who it was that had strewed flowers about the door-sill.\n\n\u201cOh, I, of course,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cAnd, pray, what\u2019s the meaning of all this,\u201d said the Giant.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the Princess, \u201cI\u2019m so fond of you that I couldn\u2019t help\nstrewing them, when I knew that your heart lay under there.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t say so,\u201d said the Giant; \u201cbut after all it doesn\u2019t lie there\nat all.\u201d\n\nSo when they went to bed again in the evening, the Princess asked the\nGiant again where his heart was, for she said she would so like to know.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Giant, \u201cif you must know, it lies away yonder in the\ncupboard against the wall.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo, so!\u201d thought Boots and the Princess; \u201cthen we\u2019ll soon try to find\nit.\u201d\n\nNext morning the Giant was away early, and strode off to the wood, and\nso soon as he was gone Boots and the Princess were in the cupboard\nhunting for his heart, but the more they sought for it the less they\nfound it.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cwe\u2019ll just try him once more.\u201d\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 again.\n\nThen back came the Giant.\n\nSnuff\u2014snuff! \u201cMy eyes and limbs, what a smell of Christian blood there\nis in here!\u201d\n\n\u201cI know there is,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cfor a little while since there\ncame a magpie flying with a man\u2019s bone in his bill, and let it fall down\nthe chimney. I made all the haste I could to get it out of the house\nagain; but after all my pains, I dare say it\u2019s that you smell.\u201d\n\nWhen the Giant heard that he said no more about it; but a little while\nafter, he saw how the cupboard was all decked about with flowers, and\ngarlands; so he asked who it was that had done that? Who could it be but\nthe Princess.\n\n\u201cAnd, pray, what\u2019s the meaning of all this tomfoolery?\u201d asked the Giant.\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m so fond of you, I couldn\u2019t help doing it when I knew that your\nheart lay there,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cHow can you be so silly as to believe any such thing?\u201d said the Giant.\n\n\u201cOh yes; how can I help believing it, when you say it,\u201d said the\nPrincess.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re a goose,\u201d said the Giant; \u201cwhere my heart is, you will never\ncome.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cbut for all that, \u2019twould be such a pleasure\nto know where it really lies.\u201d\n\nThen the poor Giant could hold out no longer, but was forced to say,\u2014\n\n\u201cFar, far away in a lake lies an island; on that island stands a church;\nin that church is a well; in that well swims a duck; in that duck there\nis an egg, and in that egg there lies my heart,\u2014you darling!\u201d\n\nIn the morning early, while it was still gray dawn, the Giant strode off\nto the wood.\n\n\u201cYes! now I must set off too,\u201d said Boots; \u201cif I only knew how to find\nthe way. He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and when he got\nout of the Giant\u2019s door, there stood the Wolf waiting for him. So Boots\ntold him all that had happened inside the house, and said now he wished\nto ride to the well in the church, if he only knew the way. So the Wolf\nbade him jump on his back, he\u2019d soon find the way; and away they went\ntill the wind whistled after them, over hedge and field, over hill and\ndale. After they had travelled many, many days, they came at last to the\nlake. Then the Prince did not know how to get over it, but the Wolf bade\nhim only not be afraid, but stick on, and so he jumped into the lake\nwith the Prince on his back, and swam over to the island. So they came\nto the church; but the church keys hung high, high up on the top of the\ntower, and at first the Prince did not know how to get them down.\n\n\u201cYou must call on the Raven,\u201d said the Wolf.\n\nSo the Prince called on the Raven, and immediately the Raven came, and\nflew up and fetched the keys, and so the Prince got into the church. But\nwhen he came to the well, there lay the duck, and swam about backwards\nand forwards, just as the Giant had said. So the Prince stood and coaxed\nit and coaxed it, till it came to him, and he grasped it in his hand;\nbut just as he lifted it up from the water the duck dropped the egg into\nthe well, and then Boots was beside himself to know how to get it out\nagain.\n\n\u201cWell, now you must call on the Salmon, to be sure,\u201d said the Wolf; and\nthe king\u2019s son called on the Salmon, and the Salmon came and fetched up\nthe 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\u201cSqueeze it again,\u201d said the Wolf; and when the Prince did so, the Giant\nscreamed still more piteously, and begged and prayed so prettily to be\nspared, saying he would do all that the Prince wished if he would only\nnot squeeze his heart in two.\n\n\u201cTell him, if he will restore to life again your six brothers and their\nbrides, whom he has turned to stone, you will spare his life,\u201d said the\nWolf.\n\nYes, the Giant was ready to do that, and he turned the six brothers into\nking\u2019s sons again, and their brides into king\u2019s daughters.\n\n\u201cNow, squeeze the egg in two,\u201d said the Wolf. So Boots squeezed the egg\nto pieces, and the Giant burst at once.\n\nNow, when he had made an end of the Giant, Boots rode back again on the\nWolf to the Giant\u2019s house, and there stood all his six brothers alive\nand merry, with their brides. Then Boots went into the hill-side after\nhis bride, and so they all set off home again to their father\u2019s house.\nAnd you may fancy how glad the old king was when he saw all his seven\nsons come back, each with his bride;\u2014\u201cBut the loveliest bride of all was\nthe bride of Boots after all,\u201d said the king, \u201cand he shall sit\nuppermost at the table, with her by his side.\u201d\n\nSo he sent out, and called a great wedding-feast, and the mirth was both\nloud and long, and if they have not done feasting, why they are still at\nit.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE FOX AS HERDSMAN.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a woman who went out to hire a herdsman, and\nshe met a bear.\n\n\u201cWhither away, Goody?\u201d said Bruin.\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m going out to hire a herdsman,\u201d answered the woman.\n\n\u201cWhy not have me for a herdsman?\u201d said Bruin.\n\n\u201cWell, why not?\u201d said the woman. \u201cIf you only knew how to call the\nflock; just let me hear?\u201d\n\n\u201cOW, OW!\u201d growled the bear.\n\n\u201cNo, no! I won\u2019t have you,\u201d said the woman, as soon as she heard him say\nthat, and off she went on her way.\n\nSo, when she had gone a bit further, she met a wolf.\n\n\u201cWhither away, Goody?\u201d asked the Wolf.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said she, \u201cI\u2019m going out to hire a herdsman.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy not have me for a herdsman?\u201d said the Wolf.\n\n\u201cWell, why not? if you can only call the flock; let me hear?\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cUh, uh!\u201d said the Wolf.\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d said the woman; \u201cyou will never do for me.\u201d\n\nWell, after she had gone a while longer, she met a fox.\n\n\u201cWhither away, Goody?\u201d asked the Fox.\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m just going out to hire a herdsman,\u201d said the woman.\n\n\u201cWhy not have me for your herdsman?\u201d asked the Fox.\n\n\u201cWell, why not?\u201d said she; \u201cif you only knew how to call the flock; let\nme hear?\u201d\n\n\u201cDil-dal-holom,\u201d sung out the Fox, in such a fine clear voice.\n\n\u201cYes; I\u2019ll have you for my herdsman,\u201d said the woman; and so she set the\nFox to herd her flock.\n\nThe first day the Fox was herdsman he ate up all the woman\u2019s goats; the\nnext day he made an end of all her sheep; and the third day he ate up\nall her kine. So, when he came home at even, the woman asked what he had\ndone with all her flocks?\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the Fox, \u201ctheir skulls are in the stream, and their bodies in\nthe holt.\u201d\n\nNow, the Goody stood and churned when the fox said this, but she thought\nshe might as well step out and see after her flock; and while she was\naway the Fox crept into the churn and ate up the cream. So when the\nGoody came back and saw that, she fell into such a rage, that she\nsnatched up the little morsel of the cream that was left, and threw it\nat the fox as he ran off, so that he got a dab of it on the end of his\ntail, and that\u2019s the reason why the fox has a white tip to his brush.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE 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, and\nthere he turned into a cottage where a man lived, whose name was Halvor,\nand asked the man if he could get house-room there, for his bear and\nhimself.\n\n\u201cHeaven never help me, if what I say isn\u2019t true!\u201d said the man; \u201cbut we\ncan\u2019t give any one house-room just now, for every Christmas Eve such a\npack of Trolls come down upon us, that we are forced to flit, and\nhaven\u2019t so much as a house over our own heads, to say nothing of lending\none to any one else.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the man, \u201cif that\u2019s 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.\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n THE CAT ON THE DOVREFELL.\n]\n\nWell, he begged so hard, that at last he got leave to stay there; so the\npeople of the house flitted out, and before they went, everything was\ngot ready for the Trolls; the tables were laid, and there was rice\nporridge, and fish boiled in lye, and sausages, and all else that was\ngood, just as for any other grand feast.\n\nSo, when everything was ready, down came the Trolls. Some were great and\nsome were small; some had long tails and some had no tails at all; some,\ntoo, had long, long noses; and they ate and drank, and tasted every\nthing. Just then, one of the little Trolls caught sight of the white\nbear, who lay under the stove; so he took a piece of sausage and stuck\nit on a fork, and went and poked it up against the bear\u2019s nose,\nscreaming out\u2014\n\n\u201cPussy, will you have some sausage?\u201d\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 Eve,\ncutting wood before the holidays, for he thought the Trolls would come\nagain; and just as he was hard at work, he heard a voice in the wood\ncalling out,\u2014\n\n\u201cHalvor, Halvor!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Halvor, \u201chere I am.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you got your big cat with you still?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, that I have,\u201d said Halvor; \u201cshe\u2019s lying at home under the stove,\nand what\u2019s more, she has now got seven kittens, far bigger and fiercer\nthan she is herself.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, then, we\u2019ll never come to see you again,\u201d bawled out the Troll away\nin the wood, and he kept his word; for since that time the Trolls have\nnever eaten their Christmas brose with Halvor on the Dovrefell.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n PRINCESS ON THE GLASS HILL.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a man who had a meadow which lay high up on the\nhill-side, and in the meadow was a barn, which he had built to keep his\nhay in. Now, I must tell you, there hadn\u2019t been much in the barn for the\nlast year or two, for every St. John\u2019s night, when the grass stood\ngreenest and deepest, the meadow was eaten down to the very ground the\nnext morning, just as if a whole drove of sheep had been there feeding\non it over night. This happened once, and it happened twice; so at last\nthe man grew weary of losing his crop of hay, and said to his sons\u2014for\nhe had three of them, and the youngest was nicknamed Boots, of\ncourse\u2014that now one of them must just go and sleep in the barn in the\noutlying field when St. John\u2019s night came, for it was too good a joke\nthat his grass should be eaten, root and blade, this year, as it had\nbeen the last two years. So whichever of them went must keep a sharp\nlook-out; that was what their father said.\n\nWell, the eldest son was ready to go and watch the meadow; trust him for\nlooking after the grass! It shouldn\u2019t be his fault if man or beast, or\nthe fiend himself got a blade of grass. So, when evening came, he set\noff to the barn, and lay down to sleep; but a little on in the night\ncame such a clatter, and such an earthquake that walls and roof shook,\nand groaned, and creaked; then up jumped the lad, and took to his heels\nas fast as ever he could; nor dared he once look round till he reached\nhome; and as for the hay, why it was eaten up this year just as it had\nbeen twice before.\n\nThe next St. John\u2019s night, the man said again it would never do to lose\nall the grass in the outlying field year after year in this way, so one\nof his sons must just trudge off to watch it, and watch it well too.\nWell, the next oldest son was ready to try his luck, so he set off, and\nlay down to sleep in the barn as his brother had done before him; but as\nthe night wore on, there came on a rumbling and quaking of the earth,\nworse even than on the last St. John\u2019s night, and when the lad heard it,\nhe got frightened, and took to his heels as though he were running a\nrace.\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,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re just the man to watch the hay, that you are; you, who have done\nnothing all your life but sit in the ashes and toast yourself by the\nfire.\u201d\n\nBut Boots did not care a pin for their chattering, and stumped away as\nevening drew on up the hill-side to the outlying field. There he went\ninside the barn and lay down; but in about an hour\u2019s time the barn began\nto groan and creak, so that it was dreadful to hear.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Boots to himself, \u201cif it isn\u2019t worse than this, I can stand\nit well enough.\u201d\n\nA little while after came another creak and an earthquake, so that the\nlitter in the barn flew about the lad\u2019s ears.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Boots to himself, \u201cif it isn\u2019t worse than this, I daresay I\ncan stand it out.\u201d\n\nBut just then came a third rumbling, and a third earthquake, so that the\nlad thought walls and roof were coming down on his head; but it passed\noff, and all was still as death about him.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019ll come again, I\u2019ll be bound,\u201d thought Boots; but no, it didn\u2019t come\nagain; still it was, and still it stayed; but after he had lain a little\nwhile, he heard a noise as if a horse were standing just outside the\nbarn-door, and cropping the grass. He stole to the door, and peeped\nthrough a chink, and there stood a horse feeding away. So big, and fat,\nand grand a horse, Boots had never set eyes on; by his side on the grass\nlay a saddle and bridle, and a full set of armour for a knight, all of\nbrass, so bright that the light gleamed from it.\n\n\u201cHo, ho!\u201d thought the lad; \u201cit\u2019s you, is it, that eats up our hay? I\u2019ll\nsoon put a spoke in your wheel, just see if I don\u2019t.\u201d\n\nSo he lost no time, but took the steel out of his tinder-box, and threw\nit over the horse; then it had no power to stir from the spot, and\nbecame so tame that the lad could do what he liked with it. So he got on\nits back, and rode off with it to a place which no one knew of, and\nthere he put up the horse. When he got home, his brothers laughed and\nasked how he had fared?\n\n\u201cYou didn\u2019t lie long in the barn, even if you had the heart to go so far\nas the field.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Boots, \u201call I can say is, I lay in the barn till the sun\nrose, and neither saw nor heard anything; I can\u2019t think what there was\nin the barn to make you both so afraid.\u201d\n\n\u201cA pretty story,\u201d said his brothers; \u201cbut we\u2019ll soon see how you have\nwatched the meadow;\u201d 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\u2019s eve it was the same story over again; neither\nof the elder brothers dared to go out to the outlying field to watch the\ncrop; but Boots, he had the heart to go, and everything happened just as\nit had happened the year before. First a clatter and an earthquake, then\na greater clatter and another earthquake, and so on a third time; only\nthis year the earthquakes were far worse than the year before. Then all\nat once everything was as still as death, and the lad heard how\nsomething was cropping the grass outside the barn-door, so he stole to\nthe door, and peeped through a chink; and what do you think he saw? why,\nanother horse standing right up against the wall, and chewing and\nchamping with might and main. It was far finer and fatter than that\nwhich came the year before, and it had a saddle on its back, and a\nbridle on its neck, and a full suit of mail for a knight lay by its\nside, all of silver, and as grand as you would wish to see.\n\n\u201cHo, ho!\u201d said Boots to himself; \u201cit\u2019s you that gobbles up our hay, is\nit? I\u2019ll soon put a spoke in your wheel; and with that he took the steel\nout of his tinder-box, and threw it over the horse\u2019s crest, which stood\nas still as a lamb. Well, the lad rode this horse too to the\nhiding-place where he kept the other one, and after that he went home.\n\n\u201cI suppose you\u2019ll tell us,\u201d said one of his brothers, \u201cthere\u2019s a fine\ncrop this year too, up in the hayfield.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, so there is,\u201d 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\u2019t give Boots softer words for all that.\n\nNow when the third St. John\u2019s eve came, the two elder still hadn\u2019t the\nheart to lie out in the barn and watch the grass, for they had got so\nscared at heart the night they lay there before, that they couldn\u2019t get\nover the fright; but Boots, he dared to go; and, to make a long story\nshort, the very same thing happened this time as had happened twice\nbefore. Three earthquakes came, one after the other, each worse than the\none which went before, and when the last came, the lad danced about with\nthe shock from one barn wall to the other; and after that, all at once,\nit was still as death. Now, when he had lain a little while, he heard\nsomething tugging away at the grass outside the barn, so he stole again\nto the door-chink, and peeped out, and there stood a horse close\noutside\u2014far, far bigger and fatter than the two he had taken before.\n\n\u201cHo, ho!\u201d said the lad to himself, \u201cit\u2019s you, is it, that comes here\neating up our hay? I\u2019ll soon stop that\u2014I\u2019ll soon put a spoke in your\nwheel.\u201d So he caught up his steel and threw it over the horse\u2019s neck,\nand in a trice it stood as if it were nailed to the ground, and Boots\ncould do as he pleased with it. Then he rode off with it to the hiding,\nwhere he kept the other two, and then went home. When he got home, his\ntwo brothers made game of him as they had done before, saying, they\ncould see he had watched the grass well, for he looked for all the world\nas if he were walking in his sleep, and many other spiteful things they\nsaid; but Boots gave no heed to them, only asking them to go and see for\nthemselves; and when they went, there stood the grass as fine and deep\nthis time as it had been twice before.\n\nNow, you must know that the king of the country where Boots lived had a\ndaughter, whom he would only give to the man who could ride up over the\nhill of glass, for there was a high, high hill, all of glass, as smooth\nand slippery as ice, close by the king\u2019s palace. Upon the tip top of the\nhill the king\u2019s daughter was to sit, with three golden apples in her\nlap, and the man who could ride up and carry off the three golden\napples, was to have half the kingdom, and the Princess to wife. This the\nking had stuck up on all the church-doors in his realm, and had given it\nout in many other kingdoms besides. Now, this Princess was so lovely,\nthat all who set eyes on her, fell over head and ears in love with her,\nwhether they would or no. So I needn\u2019t tell you how all the princes and\nknights who heard of her were eager to win her to wife, and half the\nkingdom beside; and how they came riding from all parts of the world on\nhigh prancing horses, and clad in the grandest clothes, for there wasn\u2019t\none of them who hadn\u2019t 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 such\na crowd of princes and knights under the glass hill, that it made one\u2019s\nhead whirl to look at them; and every one in the country who could even\ncrawl along was off to the hill, for they all were eager to see the man\nwho was to win the Princess. So the two elder brothers set off with the\nrest; but as for Boots, they said outright he shouldn\u2019t go with them,\nfor if they were seen with such a dirty changeling, all begrimed with\nsmut from cleaning their shoes and sifting cinders in the dust-hole,\nthey said folk would make game of them.\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said Boots; \u201cit\u2019s all one to me. I can go alone, and stand\nor fall by myself.\u201d\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 a\nfoam; but it was no good, by my troth; for as soon as ever the horses\nset foot on the hill, down they slipped, and there wasn\u2019t one who could\nget a yard or two up; and no wonder, for the hill was as smooth as a\nsheet of glass, and as steep as a house-wall. But all were eager to have\nthe Princess and half the kingdom. So they rode and slipped, and slipped\nand rode, and still it was the same story over again. At last all their\nhorses were so weary that they could scarce lift a leg, and in such a\nsweat that the lather dripped from them, and so the knights had to give\nup trying any more. So the king was just thinking that he would proclaim\na new trial for the next day, to see if they would have better luck,\nwhen all at once a knight came riding up on so brave a steed, that no\none had ever seen the like of it in his born days, and the knight had\nmail of brass, and the horse a brass bit in his mouth, so bright that\nthe sunbeams shone from it. Then all the others called out to him he\nmight just as well spare himself the trouble of riding at the hill, for\nit would lead to no good; but he gave no heed to them, and put his horse\nat the hill, and went up it like nothing for a good way, about a third\nof the height; and when he had got so far, he turned his horse round,\nand rode down again. So lovely a knight the Princess thought she had\nnever yet seen; and while he was riding, she sat and thought to herself\u2014\n\n\u201cWould to heaven he might only come up and down the other side.\u201d\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 what\nhad become of him. That evening all the knights and princes were to go\nbefore the king, that he who had ridden so far up the hill might show\nthe apple which the princess had thrown, but there was no one who had\nanything to show. One after the other they all came, but not a man of\nthem could show the apple.\n\nAt even the brothers of Boots came home too, and had such a long story\nto tell about the riding up the hill.\n\n\u201cFirst of all,\u201d they said, \u201cthere was not one of the whole lot who could\nget so much as a stride up; but at last came one who had a suit of brass\nmail, and a brass bridle and saddle, all so bright that the sun shone\nfrom them a mile off. He was a chap to ride, just! He rode a third of\nthe way up the hill of glass, and he could easily have ridden the whole\nway up, if he chose; but he turned round and rode down, thinking, maybe\nthat was enough for once.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! I should so like to have seen him, that I should,\u201d said Boots, who\nsat by the fireside, and stuck his feet into the cinders, as was his\nwont.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said his brothers, \u201cyou would, would you? You look fit to keep\ncompany with such high lords, nasty beast that you are, sitting there\namongst the ashes.\u201d\n\nNext day the brothers were all for setting off again, and Boots begged\nthem this time, too, to let him go with them and see the riding; but no,\nthey wouldn\u2019t have him at any price, he was too ugly and nasty, they\nsaid.\n\n\u201cWell, well!\u201d said Boots; \u201cif I go at all, I must go by myself. I\u2019m not\nafraid.\u201d\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,\u2014they rode and slipped, and\nslipped and rode, just as they had done the day before, and there was\nnot one who could get so far as a yard up the hill. And when they had\nworn out their horses, so that they could not stir a leg, they were all\nforced to give it up as a bad job. So the king thought he might as well\nproclaim that the riding should take place the day after for the last\ntime, just to give them one chance more; but all at once it came across\nhis mind that he might as well wait a little longer, to see if the\nknight in brass mail would come this day too. Well! they saw nothing of\nhim; but all at once came one riding on a steed, far, far braver and\nfiner than that on which the knight in brass had ridden, and he had\nsilver mail, and a silver saddle and bridle, all so bright that the\nsunbeams gleamed and glanced from them far away. Then the others shouted\nout to him again, saying, he might as well hold hard, and not try to\nride up the hill, for all his trouble would be thrown away; but the\nknight paid no heed to them, and rode straight at the hill, and right up\nit, till he had gone two-thirds of the way, and then he wheeled his\nhorse round and rode down again. To tell the truth, the Princess liked\nhim still better than the knight in brass, and she sat and wished he\nmight only be able to come right up to the top, and down the other side;\nbut when she saw him turning back, she threw the second apple after him,\nand it rolled down and fell into his shoe. But as soon as ever he had\ncome down from the hill of glass, he rode off so fast that no one could\nsee what became of him.\n\nAt even, when all were to go in before the king and the Princess, that\nhe who had the golden apple might show it; in they went, one after the\nother, but there was no one who had any apple to show, and the two\nbrothers, as they had done on the former day, went home and told how\nthings had gone, and how all had ridden at the hill, and none got up.\n\n\u201cBut, last of all,\u201d they said, \u201ccame one in a silver suit, and his horse\nhad a silver saddle and a silver bridle. He was just a chap to ride; and\nhe got two-thirds up the hill, and then turned back. He was a fine\nfellow, and no mistake; and the Princess threw the second gold apple to\nhim.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Boots, \u201cI should so like to have seen him too, that I\nshould.\u201d\n\n\u201cA pretty story,\u201d they said. \u201cPerhaps you think his coat of mail was as\nbright as the ashes you are always poking about and sifting, you nasty\ndirty beast.\u201d\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\u2019t hear\nof his going with them. When they got to the hill there was no one who\ncould get so much as a yard up it; and now all waited for the knight in\nsilver mail, but they neither saw nor heard of him. At last came one\nriding on a steed, so brave that no one had ever seen his match; and the\nknight had a suit of golden mail, and a golden saddle and bridle, so\nwondrous bright that the sunbeams gleamed from them a mile off. The\nother knights and princes could not find time to call out to him not to\ntry his luck, for they were amazed to see how grand he was. So he rode\nright at the hill, and tore up it like nothing, so that the Princess\nhadn\u2019t even time to wish that he might get up the whole way. As soon as\never he reached the top, he took the third golden apple from the\nPrincess\u2019s lap, and then turned his horse and rode down again. As soon\nas he got down, he rode off at full speed, and was out of sight in no\ntime.\n\nNow, when the brothers got home at even, you may fancy what long stories\nthey told, how the riding had gone off that day; and amongst other\nthings, they had a deal to say about the knight in golden mail.\n\n\u201cHe just was a chap to ride!\u201d they said; \u201cso grand a knight isn\u2019t to be\nfound in the wide world.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said Boots, \u201cI should so like to have seen him; that I should.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said his brothers, \u201chis mail shone a deal brighter than the\nglowing coals which you are always poking and digging at; nasty dirty\nbeast that you are.\u201d\n\nNext day all the knights and princes were to pass before the king and\nthe Princess\u2014it was too late to do so the night before, I suppose\u2014that\nhe who had the gold apple might bring it forth; but one came after\nanother, first the princes, and then the knights, and still no one could\nshow the gold apple.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the king, \u201csome one must have it, for it was something that\nwe all saw with our own eyes, how a man came and rode up and bore it\noff.\u201d\n\nSo he commanded that every one who was in the kingdom should come up to\nthe palace and see if they could show the apple. Well, they all came one\nafter another, but no one had the golden apple, and after a long time\nthe two brothers of Boots came. They were the last of all, so the king\nasked them if there was no one else in the kingdom who hadn\u2019t come.\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d said they; \u201cWe have a brother, but he never carried off the\ngolden apple. He hasn\u2019t stirred out of the dusthole on any of the three\ndays.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind that,\u201d said the king; \u201che may as well come up to the palace\nlike the rest.\u201d\n\nSo Boots had to go up to the palace.\n\n\u201cHow, now,\u201d said the king; \u201chave you got the golden apple? Speak out!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I have,\u201d said Boots; \u201chere is the first, and here is the second,\nand here is the third too;\u201d and with that he pulled all three golden\napples out of his pocket, and at the same time threw off his sooty rags,\nand stood before them in his gleaming golden mail.\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said the king; \u201cyou shall have my daughter, and half my kingdom,\nfor you well deserve both her and it.\u201d\n\nSo they got ready for the wedding, and Boots got the Princess to wife,\nand there was great merry-making at the bridal-feast, you may fancy, for\nthey could all be merry though they couldn\u2019t ride up the hill of glass;\nand all I can say is, if they haven\u2019t left off their merry-making yet,\nwhy they\u2019re still at it.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n HOW ONE WENT OUT TO WOO.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a lad who went out to woo him a wife. Amongst\nother places, he came to a farm-house, where the household were little\nbetter than beggars; but when the wooer came in, they wanted to make out\nthat they were well to do, as you may guess. Now the husband had got a\nnew arm to his coat.\n\n\u201cPray, take a seat,\u201d he said to the wooer \u201cbut there\u2019s a shocking dust\nin the house.\u201d\n\nSo he went about rubbing and wiping all the benches and tables with his\nnew arm, but he kept the other all the while behind his back.\n\nThe wife she had got one new shoe, and she went stamping and sliding\nwith it up against the stools and chairs, saying, \u201cHow untidy it is\nhere! Everything is out of its place!\u201d\n\nThen they called out to their daughter to come down and put things to\nrights; but the daughter, she had got a new cap; so she put her head in\nat the door, and kept nodding and nodding, first to this side, and then\nto that.\n\n\u201cWell! for my part,\u201d she said, \u201cI can\u2019t be everywhere at once.\u201d\n\nAy! ay! that was a well-to-do household the wooer had come to.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE COCK AND HEN.\n\n [In this tale the notes of the Cock and Hen must be imitated.]\n\n\n_Hen_\u2014\u201cYou promise me shoes year after year, year after year, and yet I\nget no shoes!\u201d\n\n_Cock_\u2014\u201cYou shall have them, never fear Henny penny!\u201d\n\n_Hen_\u2014\u201cI lay egg after egg, egg after egg, and yet I go about barefoot!\u201d\n\n_Cock_\u2014\u201cWell, take your eggs, and be off to the tryst, and buy yourself\nshoes, and don\u2019t go any longer barefoot!\u201d\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE TWO STEP-SISTERS.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a couple, and each of them had a daughter by a\nformer marriage. The woman\u2019s daughter was dull and lazy, and could never\nturn her hand to anything, and the man\u2019s daughter was brisk and ready;\nbut somehow or other she could never do anything to her step-mother\u2019s\nliking, and both the woman and her daughter would have been glad to be\nrid of her.\n\nSo it fell one day the two girls were to go out and spin by the side of\nthe well, and the woman\u2019s daughter had flax to spin, but the man\u2019s\ndaughter got nothing to spin but bristles.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know how it is,\u201d said the woman\u2019s daughter, \u201cyou\u2019re always so\nquick and sharp, but still I\u2019m not afraid to spin a match with you.\u201d\n\nWell, they agreed that she whose thread first snapped, should go down\nthe well. So they span away; but just as they were hard at it, the man\u2019s\ndaughter\u2019s thread broke, and she had to go down the well. But when she\ngot to the bottom, she saw far and wide around her a fair green mead,\nand she hadn\u2019t hurt herself at all.\n\nSo she walked on a bit, till she came to a hedge which she had to cross.\n\n\u201cAh! don\u2019t tread hard on me, pray don\u2019t, and I\u2019ll help you another time,\nthat I will,\u201d said the Hedge.\n\nThen the lassie made herself as light as she could, and trode so\ncarefully she scarce touched a twig.\n\nSo she went on a bit further, till she came to a brindled cow, which\nwalked there with a milking-pail on her horns. \u2019Twas a large pretty cow,\nand her udder was so full and round.\n\n\u201cAh be so good as to milk me, pray,\u201d said the Cow; \u201cI\u2019m so full of milk.\nDrink as much as you please, and throw the rest over my hoofs, and see\nif I don\u2019t help you some day.\u201d\n\nSo the man\u2019s daughter did as the cow begged. As soon as she touched the\nteats, the milk spouted out into the pail. Then she drank till her\nthirst was slaked; and the rest she threw over the cow\u2019s hoofs, and the\nmilking-pail she hung on her horns again.\n\nSo when she had gone a bit further, a big wether met her, which had such\nthick long wool, it hung down and draggled after him on the ground, and\non one of his horns hung a great pair of shears.\n\n\u201cAh, please clip off my wool,\u201d said the Sheep, \u201cfor here I go about with\nall this wool, and catch up everything I meet, and besides it\u2019s so warm,\nI\u2019m almost choked. Take as much of the fleece as you please, and twist\nthe rest round my neck, and see if I don\u2019t help you some day.\u201d\n\nYes! she was willing enough, and the sheep lay down of himself on her\nlap, and kept quite still, and she clipped him so neatly, there wasn\u2019t a\nscratch on his skin. Then she took as much of the wool as she chose, and\nthe rest she twisted round the neck of the sheep.\n\nA little further on, she came to an apple tree, which was loaded with\napples; all its branches were bowed to the ground, and leaning against\nthe stem was a slender pole.\n\n\u201cAh! do be so good as to pluck my apples off me,\u201d said the Tree, \u201cso\nthat my branches may straighten themselves again, for it\u2019s bad work to\nstand so crooked; but when you beat them down, don\u2019t strike me too hard.\nThen eat as many as you please, lay the rest round my root, and see if I\ndon\u2019t help you some day or other.\u201d\n\nYes, she plucked all she could reach with her hands, and then she took\nthe pole and knocked down the rest, and afterwards she ate her fill, and\nthe rest she laid neatly round the root.\n\nSo she walked on a long, long way, and then she came to a great\nfarm-house, where an old hag of the Trolls lived with her daughter.\nThere she turned in to ask if she could get a place.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the old hag, \u201cit\u2019s no use your trying. We\u2019ve had ever so many\nmaids, but none of them was worth her salt.\u201d\n\nBut she begged so prettily that they would just take her on trial, that\nat last they let her stay. So the old hag gave her a sieve, and bade her\ngo and fetch water in it. She thought it strange to fetch water in a\nsieve, but still she went, and when she came to the well, the little\nbirds began to sing\u2014\n\n \u201cDaub in clay,\n Stuff in straw!\n Daub in clay,\n Stuff in straw.\u201d\n\nYes, she did so, and found she could carry water in a sieve well enough;\nbut when she got home with the water, and the old witch saw the sieve,\nshe cried out.\n\n\u201cTHIS YOU HAVEN\u2019T SUCKED OUT OF YOUR OWN BREAST.\u201d\n\nSo the old witch said, now she might go into the byre to pitch out dung\nand milk kine; but when she got there, she found a pitchfork so long and\nheavy, she couldn\u2019t stir it, much less work with it. She didn\u2019t know at\nall what to do, or what to make of it; but the little birds sung again\nthat she should take the broom-stick and toss out a little with that,\nand all the rest of the dung would fly after it. So she did that, and as\nsoon as ever she began with the broom-stick, the byre was as clean as if\nit had been swept and washed.\n\nNow she had to milk the kine, but they were so restless that they kicked\nand frisked; there was no getting near them to milk them.\n\nBut the little birds sung outside,\u2014\n\n \u201cA little drop, a tiny sup,\n For the little birds to drink it up.\u201d\n\nYes, she did that; she just milked a tiny drop, \u2019twas as much as she\ncould, for the little birds outside; and then all the cows stood still\nand let her milk them. They neither kicked nor frisked; they didn\u2019t even\nlift a leg.\n\nSo when the old witch saw her coming in with the milk, she cried out,\u2014\n\n\u201cTHIS YOU HAVEN\u2019T SUCKED OUT OF YOUR OWN BREAST. BUT NOW JUST TAKE THIS\nBLACK WOOL AND WASH IT WHITE.\u201d\n\nThis the lassie was at her wit\u2019s end to know how to do, for she had\nnever seen or heard of any one who could wash black wool white. Still\nshe said nothing, but took the wool and went down with it to the well.\nThere the little birds sung again, and told her to take the wool and dip\nit into the great butt that stood there; and she did so, and out it came\nas white as snow.\n\n\u201cWell! I never!\u201d said the old witch, when she came in with the wool,\n\u201cit\u2019s no good keeping you. You can do everything, and at last you\u2019ll be\nthe plague of my life. We\u2019d best part, so take your wages and be off.\u201d\n\nThen the old hag drew out three caskets, one red, one green, and one\nblue, and of these the lassie was to choose one as wages for her\nservice. Now she didn\u2019t know at all which to choose, but the little\nbirds sung\u2014\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t take the red, don\u2019t take the green,\n But take the blue, where may be seen\n Three little crosses all in a row,\n We saw the marks, and so we know.\u201d\n\nSo she took the blue casket, as the birds sang.\n\n\u201cBad luck to you, then,\u201d said the old witch; \u201csee if I don\u2019t make you\npay for this!\u201d\n\nSo when the man\u2019s daughter was just setting off, the old witch shot a\nred-hot bar of iron after her, but she sprang behind the door and hid\nherself, so that it missed her, for her friends, the little birds, had\ntold her beforehand how to behave. Then she walked on and on as fast as\never she could; but when she got to the apple tree, she heard an awful\nclatter behind her on the road, and that was the old witch and her\ndaughter coming after her.\n\nSo the lassie was so frightened and scared, she didn\u2019t know what to do.\n\n\u201cCome hither to me, lassie, do you hear,\u201d said the Apple Tree, \u201cI\u2019ll\nhelp you; get under my branches and hide, for if they catch you, they\u2019ll\ntear you to death, and take the casket from you.\u201d\n\nYes! she did so, and she had hardly hidden herself before up came the\nold witch and her daughter.\n\n\u201cHave you seen any lassie pass this way, you apple tree,\u201d said the old\nhag.\n\n\u201cYes, yes,\u201d said the Apple Tree; \u201cone ran by here an hour ago; but now\nshe\u2019s got so far a-head, you\u2019ll never catch her up.\u201d\n\nSo the old witch turned back and went home again.\n\nThen the lassie walked on a bit, but when she came just about where the\nsheep was, she heard an awful clatter beginning on the road behind her,\nand she didn\u2019t know what to do, she was so scared and frightened; for\nshe knew well enough it was the old witch who had thought better of it.\n\n\u201cCome hither to me, lassie,\u201d said the Wether, \u201cand I\u2019ll help you. Hide\nyourself under my fleece, and then they\u2019ll not see you; else they\u2019ll\ntake away the casket, and tear you to death.\u201d\n\nJust then up came the old witch, tearing along.\n\n\u201cHave you seen any lassie pass here, you sheep?\u201d she cried to the\nwether.\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d said the Wether, \u201cI saw one an hour ago, but she ran so fast,\nyou\u2019ll never catch her.\u201d\n\nSo the old witch turned round and went home.\n\nBut when the lassie had come to where she met the cow, she heard another\nawful clatter behind her.\n\n\u201cCome hither to me, lassie,\u201d said the Cow, \u201cand I\u2019ll help you to hide\nyourself under my udder, else the old hag will come and take away your\ncasket, and tear you to death.\u201d\n\nTrue enough, it wasn\u2019t long before she came up.\n\n\u201cHave you seen any lassie pass here, you cow?\u201d said the old hag.\n\n\u201cYes, I saw one an hour ago,\u201d said the Cow, \u201cbut she\u2019s far away now, for\nshe ran so fast I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll ever catch her up.\u201d\n\nSo the old hag turned round, and went back home again.\n\nWhen the lassie had walked a long, long way farther on, and was not far\nfrom the hedge, she heard again that awful clatter on the road behind\nher, and she got scared and frightened, for she knew well enough it was\nthe old hag and her daughter, who had changed their minds.\n\n\u201cCome hither to me, lassie,\u201d said the Hedge, \u201cand I\u2019ll help you. Creep\nunder my twigs, so that they can\u2019t see you; else they\u2019ll take the casket\nfrom you, and tear you to death.\u201d\n\nYes! she made all the haste she could to get under the twigs of the\nhedge.\n\n\u201cHave you seen any lassie pass this way, you hedge?\u201d said the old hag to\nthe hedge.\n\n\u201cNo, I haven\u2019t seen any lassie,\u201d answered the Hedge, and was as\nsmooth-tongued as if he had got melted butter in his mouth; but all the\nwhile he spread himself out, and made himself so big and tall, one had\nto think twice before crossing him. And so the old witch had no help for\nit but to turn round and go home again.\n\nSo when the man\u2019s daughter got home, her step-mother and her stepsister\nwere more spiteful against her than ever; for now she was much neater,\nand so smart, it was a joy to look at her. Still she couldn\u2019t get leave\nto live with them, but they drove her out into a pig-sty. That was to be\nher house. So she scrubbed it out so neat and clean, and then she opened\nher casket, just to see what she had got for her wages. But as soon as\never she unlocked it, she saw inside so much gold and silver, and lovely\nthings, which came streaming out till all the walls were hung with them,\nand at last the pig-sty was far grander than the grandest king\u2019s palace.\nAnd when the step-mother and her daughter came to see this, they almost\njumped out of their skin, and began to ask what kind of a place she had\ndown there?\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the lassie \u201ccan\u2019t you see when I have got such good wages.\n\u2019Twas such a family, and such a mistress to serve, you couldn\u2019t find\ntheir like anywhere.\u201d\n\nYes! the woman\u2019s daughter made up her mind to go out to serve too, that\nshe might get just such another gold casket. So they sat down to spin\nagain, and now the woman\u2019s daughter was to spin bristles, and the man\u2019s\ndaughter flax, and she whose thread first snapped, was to go down the\nwell. It wasn\u2019t long, as you may fancy, before the woman\u2019s daughter\u2019s\nthread snapped, and so they threw her down the well.\n\nSo the same thing happened. She fell to the bottom, but met with no\nharm, and found herself on a lovely green meadow. When she had walked a\nbit she came to the hedge.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t tread hard on me, pray, lassie, and I\u2019ll help you again,\u201d said\nthe Hedge.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said she, \u201cwhat should I care for a bundle of twigs?\u201d and tramped\nand stamped over the hedge till it cracked and groaned again.\n\nA little farther on she came to the cow, which walked about ready to\nburst for want of milking.\n\n\u201cBe so good as to milk me, lassie,\u201d said the Cow, \u201cand I\u2019ll help you\nagain. Drink as much as you please, but throw the rest over my hoofs.\u201d\n\nYes? she did that; she milked the cow, and drank till she could drink no\nmore; but when she left off, there was none left to throw over the cow\u2019s\nhoofs, and as for the pail, she tossed it down the hill and walked on.\n\nWhen she had gone a bit further, she came to the sheep which walked\nalong with his wool dragging after him.\n\n\u201cOh, be so good as to clip me, lassie,\u201d said the Sheep, \u201cAnd I\u2019ll serve\nyou again. Take as much of the wool as you will, but twist the rest\nround my neck.\u201d\n\nWell! she did that; but she went so carelessly to work, that she cut\ngreat pieces out of the poor sheep, and as for the wool, she carried it\nall away with her.\n\nA little while after she came to the apple tree, which stood there quite\ncrooked with fruit again.\n\n\u201cBe so good as to pluck the apples off me, that my limbs may grow\nstraight, for it\u2019s weary work to stand all awry,\u201d said the Apple Tree.\n\u201cBut please take care not to beat me too hard. Eat as many as you will,\nbut lay the rest neatly round my root, and I\u2019ll help you again.\u201d\n\nWell, she plucked those nearest to her, and thrashed down those she\ncouldn\u2019t reach with the pole, but she didn\u2019t care how she did it, and\nbroke off and tore down great boughs, and ate till she was as full as\nfull could be, and then she threw down the rest under the tree.\n\nSo when she had gone a good bit further, she came to the farm where the\nold witch lived. There she asked for a place, but the old hag said she\nwouldn\u2019t have any more maids, for they were either worth nothing, or\nwere too clever, and cheated her out of her goods. But the woman\u2019s\ndaughter was not to be put off, she _would_ have a place, so the old\nwitch said she\u2019d give her a trial, if she was fit for anything.\n\nThe first thing she had to do was to fetch water in a sieve. Well, off\nshe went to the well, and drew water in a sieve, but as fast as she got\nit in it ran out again. So the little birds sung\u2014\n\n \u201cDaub in clay,\n Put in straw;\n Daub in clay,\n Put in straw!\u201d\n\nBut she didn\u2019t care to listen to the birds\u2019 song, and pelted them with\nclay, till they flew off, far away. And so she had to go home with the\nempty sieve, and got well scolded by the old witch.\n\nThen she was to go into the byre to clean it, and milk the kine. But she\nwas too good for such dirty work, she thought. Still, she went out into\nthe byre, but when she got there, she couldn\u2019t get on at all with the\npitchfork, it was so big. The birds said the same to her as they had\nsaid to her step-sister, and told her to take the broom-stick and toss\nout a little dung, and then all the rest would fly after it; but all she\ndid with the broom-stick was to throw it at the birds. When she came to\nmilk, the kine were so unruly, they kicked and pushed, and every time\nshe got a little milk in the pail, over they kicked it. Then the birds\nsang again\u2014\n\n \u201cA little drop and a tiny sup\n For the little birds to drink it up.\u201d\n\nBut she beat and banged the cows about, and threw and pelted at the\nbirds everything she could lay hold of, and made such a to do, \u2019twas\nawful to see. So she didn\u2019t make much either of her pitching or milking,\nand when she came in-doors she got blows as well as hard words from the\nold witch, who sent her off to wash the black wool white; but that, too,\nshe did no better.\n\nThen the old witch thought this really too bad, so she set out the three\ncaskets, one red, one green, and one blue, and said she\u2019d no longer any\nneed of her services, for she wasn\u2019t worth keeping, but for wages she\nshould have leave to choose whichever casket she pleased.\n\nThen sung the little birds,\u2014\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t take the red, don\u2019t take the green,\n But choose the blue, where may be seen\n Three little crosses, all in a row;\n We saw the marks, and so we know.\u201d\n\nShe didn\u2019t care a pin for what the birds sang, but took the red, which\ncaught her eye most. And so she set out on her road home, and she went\nalong quietly and easily enough; there was no one who came after _her_.\n\nSo when she got home, her mother was ready to jump with joy, and the two\nwent at once into the ingle, and put the casket up there, for they made\nup their minds there could be nothing in it but pure silver and gold,\nand they thought to have all the walls and roof gilded like the pig-sty.\nBut lo! when they opened the casket there came tumbling out nothing but\ntoads, and frogs, and snakes; and worse than that, whenever the woman\u2019s\ndaughter opened her mouth, out popped a toad or a snake, and all the\nvermin one ever thought of, so that at last there was no living in the\nhouse with her.\n\nThat was all the wages _she_ got for going out to service with the old\nwitch.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n BUTTERCUP.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was an old wife who sat and baked. Now you must\nknow that this old wife had a little son, who was so plump and fat, and\nso fond of good things, that they called him Buttercup; she had a dog,\ntoo, whose name was Goldtooth, and as she was baking, all at once\nGoldtooth began to bark.\n\n\u201cRun out, Buttercup, there\u2019s a dear!\u201d said the old wife, \u201cand see what\nGoldtooth is barking at.\u201d\n\nSo the boy ran out, and came back crying out,\u2014\n\n\u201cOh, Heaven help us! here comes a great big witch, with her head under\nher arm, and a bag at her back.\u201d\n\n\u201cJump under the kneading-trough and hide yourself,\u201d said his mother.\n\nSo in came the old hag!\n\n\u201cGood day,\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cGod bless you,\u201d said Buttercup\u2019s mother.\n\n\u201cIsn\u2019t your Buttercup at home to-day?\u201d asked the hag.\n\n\u201cNo, that he isn\u2019t. He\u2019s out in the wood with his father, shooting\nptarmigan.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlague take it,\u201d said the hag, \u201cfor I had such a nice little silver\nknife I wanted to give him.\u201d\n\n\u201cPip, pip! here I am,\u201d said Buttercup under the kneading-trough, and out\nhe came.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m so old and stiff in the back,\u201d said the hag, \u201cyou must creep into\nthe bag and fetch it out for yourself.\u201d\n\nBut when Buttercup was well into the bag, the hag threw it over her back\nand strode off, and when they had gone a good bit of the way, the old\nhag got tired, and asked,\u2014\n\n\u201cHow far is it off to Snoring?\u201d\n\n\u201cHalf a mile,\u201d answered Buttercup.\n\nSo the hag put down the sack on the road and went aside by herself into\nthe wood, and lay down to sleep. Meantime Buttercup set to work and cut\na hole in the sack with his knife; then he crept out and put a great\nroot of a fir-tree into the sack, and ran home to his mother.\n\nWhen the hag got home and saw what there was in the sack, you may fancy\nshe was in a fine rage.\n\nNext day the old wife sat and baked again, and her dog began to bark\njust as he did the day before.\n\n\u201cRun out, Buttercup, my boy,\u201d said she, \u201cand see what Goldtooth is\nbarking at.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, I never!\u201d cried Buttercup, as soon as he got out; \u201cif there isn\u2019t\nthat ugly old beast coming again with her head under her arm, and a\ngreat sack at her back.\u201d\n\n\u201cUnder the kneading-trough with you and hide,\u201d said his mother.\n\n\u201cGood day,\u201d said the hag, \u201cis your Buttercup at home to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry to say he isn\u2019t,\u201d said his mother; \u201che\u2019s out in the wood with\nhis father shooting ptarmigan.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat a bore,\u201d said the hag; \u201chere I have a beautiful little silver\nspoon I want to give him.\u201d\n\n\u201cPip, pip! here I am,\u201d said Buttercup, and crept out.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m so stiff in the back,\u201d said the old witch \u201cyou must creep into the\nsack and fetch it out for yourself.\u201d\n\nSo when Buttercup, was well into the sack, the hag swung it over her\nshoulders and set off home as fast as her legs could carry her. But when\nthey had gone a good bit, she grew weary, and asked,\u2014\n\n\u201cHow far is it off to Snoring?\u201d\n\n\u201cA mile and a half,\u201d answered Buttercup.\n\nSo the hag set down the sack, and went aside into the wood to sleep a\nbit, but while she slept, Buttercup made a hole in the sack and got out,\nand put a great stone into it. Now, when the old witch got home, she\nmade a great fire on the hearth, and put a big pot on it, and got\neverything ready to boil Buttercup; but when she took the sack, and\nthought she was going to turn out Buttercup into the pot, down plumped\nthe stone and made a hole in the bottom of the pot, so that the water\nran out and quenched the fire. Then the old hag was in a dreadful rage,\nand said, \u201cIf he makes himself ever so heavy next time, he shan\u2019t take\nme in again.\u201d\n\nThe third day everything went just as it had gone twice before;\nGoldtooth began to bark, and Buttercup\u2019s mother said to him,\u2014\n\n\u201cDo run out and see what our dog is barking at.\u201d\n\nSo out he went, but he soon came back crying out,\u2014\n\n\u201cHeaven save us! Here comes the old hag again with her head under her\narm, and a sack at her back.\u201d\n\n\u201cJump under the kneading-trough and hide,\u201d said his mother.\n\n\u201cGood day!\u201d said the hag, as she came in at the door; \u201cis your Buttercup\nat home to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re very kind to ask after him,\u201d said his mother; \u201cbut he\u2019s out in\nthe wood with his father shooting ptarmigan.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat a bore now,\u201d said the old hag; \u201chere have I got such a beautiful\nlittle silver fork for him.\u201d\n\n\u201cPip, pip! here I am,\u201d said Buttercup, as he came out from under the\nkneading-trough.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m so stiff in the back,\u201d said the hag, \u201cyou must creep into the sack\nand fetch it out for yourself.\u201d\n\nBut when Buttercup was well inside the sack, the old hag swung it across\nher shoulders, and set off as fast as she could. This time she did not\nturn aside to sleep by the way, but went straight home with Buttercup in\nthe sack, and when she reached her house it was Sunday.\n\nSo the old hag said to her daughter,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow you must take Buttercup and kill him, and boil him nicely till I\ncome back, for I\u2019m off to church to bid my guests to dinner.\u201d\n\nSo, when all in the house were gone to church, the daughter was to take\nButtercup and kill him, but then she didn\u2019t know how to set about it at\nall.\n\n\u201cStop a bit,\u201d said Buttercup; \u201cI\u2019ll soon shew you how to do it; just lay\nyour head on the chopping-block, and you\u2019ll soon see.\u201d\n\nSo the poor silly thing laid her head down, and Buttercup took an axe\nand chopped her head off, just as if she had been a chicken. Then he\nlaid her head in the bed, and popped her body into the pot, and boiled\nit so nicely; and when he had done that, he climbed up on the roof, and\ndragged up with him the fir-tree root and the stone, and put the one\nover the door, and the other at the top of the chimney.\n\nSo when the household came back from church, and saw the head on the\nbed, they thought it was the daughter who lay there asleep; and then\nthey thought they would just taste the broth.\n\n \u201cGood, by my troth!\n Buttercup broth,\u201d\n\nsaid the old hag.\n\n \u201cGood by my troth!\n Daughter broth,\u201d\n\nsaid Buttercup down the chimney, but no one heeded him.\n\nSo the old hag\u2019s husband, who was every bit as bad as she, took the\nspoon to have a taste.\n\n \u201cGood by my troth!\n Buttercup broth,\u201d\n\nsaid he.\n\n \u201cGood, by my troth!\n Daughter broth,\u201d\n\nsaid Buttercup down the chimney pipe.\n\nThen they all began to wonder who it could be that chattered so, and ran\nout to see. But when they came out at the door, Buttercup threw down on\nthem the fir-tree root and the stone, and broke all their heads to bits.\nAfter that he took all the gold and silver that lay in the house, and\nwent home to his mother, and became a rich man.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n TAMING THE SHREW.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a king, and he had a daughter who was such a\nscold, and whose tongue went so fast, there was no stopping it. So he\ngave out that the man who could stop her tongue should have the Princess\nto wife, and half his kingdom into the bargain. Now, three brothers, who\nheard this, made up their minds to go and try their luck; and first of\nall the two elder went, for they thought they were the cleverest; but\nthey couldn\u2019t cope with her at all, and got well thrashed besides.\n\nThen Boots, the youngest, set off, and when he had gone a little way he\nfound an ozier band lying on the road, and he picked it up. When he had\ngone a little farther he found a piece of a broken plate, and he picked\nthat up too. A little farther on he found a dead magpie, and a little\nfarther on still, a crooked ram\u2019s horn; so he went on a bit and found\nthe fellow to the horn; and at last, just as he was crossing the fields\nby the king\u2019s palace, where they were pitching out dung, he found a\nworn-out shoe-sole. All these things he took with him into the palace,\nand went before the Princess.\n\n\u201cGood day,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cGood day,\u201d said she, and made a wry face.\n\n\u201cCan I get my magpie cooked here?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m afraid it will burst,\u201d answered the Princess.\n\n\u201cOh! never fear! for I\u2019ll just tie this ozier band round it,\u201d said the\nlad, as he pulled it out.\n\n\u201cThe fat will run out of it,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cThen I\u2019ll hold this under it,\u201d said the lad, and shewed her the piece\nof broken plate.\n\n\u201cYou are so crooked in your words,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cthere\u2019s no\nknowing where to have you.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I\u2019m not crooked,\u201d said the lad; but \u201cthis is,\u201d as he held up one of\nthe horns.\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the Princess, \u201cI never saw the match of this in all my\ndays.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, here you see the match to it,\u201d said the lad, as he pulled out the\nother ram\u2019s horn.\n\n\u201cI think,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cyou must have come here to wear out my\ntongue with your nonsense.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I have not,\u201d said the lad; \u201cbut this is worn out,\u201d as he pulled out\nthe shoe-sole.\n\nTo this the Princess hadn\u2019t a word to say, for she had fairly lost her\nvoice with rage.\n\n\u201cNow you are mine,\u201d said the lad; and so he got the Princess to wife,\nand half the kingdom.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n SHORTSHANKS.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a poor couple who lived in a tumble-down hut,\nin which there was nothing but black want, so that they hadn\u2019t a morsel\nto eat, nor a stick to burn. But though they had next to nothing of\nother things, they had God\u2019s blessing in the way of children, and every\nyear they had another babe. Now, when this story begins, they were just\nlooking out for a new child; and to tell the truth, the husband was\nrather cross, and he was always going about grumbling and growling, and\nsaying \u201cFor his part, he thought one might have too many of these God\u2019s\ngifts.\u201d So when the time came that the babe was to be born, he went off\ninto the wood to fetch fuel, saying \u201che didn\u2019t care to stop and see the\nyoung squaller; he\u2019d be sure to hear him soon enough, screaming for\nfood.\u201d\n\nNow when her husband was well out of the house, his wife gave birth to a\nbeautiful boy, who began to look about the room as soon as ever he came\ninto the world.\n\n\u201cOh! dear mother,\u201d he said, \u201cgive me some of my brother\u2019s cast-off\nclothes, and a few days\u2019 food, and I\u2019ll go out into the world and try my\nluck; you have children enough as it is, that I can see.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod help you, my son!\u201d answered his mother; \u201cthat can never be, you are\nfar too young yet.\u201d\n\nBut the tiny one stuck to what he said, and begged and prayed till his\nmother was forced to let him have a few old rags, and a little food tied\nup in a bundle, and off he went right merrily and manfully into the wide\nworld. But he was scarce out of the house before his mother had another\nboy, and he too looked about him, and said\u2014\n\n\u201cOh, dear mother! give me some of my brother\u2019s old clothes and a few\ndays\u2019 food, and I\u2019ll go out into the world to find my twin brother; you\nhave children enough already on your hands, that I can see.\u201d\n\n\u201cGod help you, my poor little fellow!\u201d said his mother; \u201cyou are far too\nlittle, this will never do.\u201d\n\nBut it was no good; the tiny one begged and prayed so hard, till he got\nsome old tattered rags and a bundle of food; and so he wandered out into\nthe world like a man, to find his twin-brother. Now, when the younger\nhad walked a while, he saw his brother a good bit on before him, so he\ncalled out to him to stop.\n\n\u201cHolloa! can\u2019t you stop? why you lay legs to the ground as if you were\nrunning a race. But you might just as well have stayed to see your\nyoungest brother before you set off into the world in such a hurry.\u201d\n\nSo the elder stopped and looked round; and when the younger had come up\nto him and told him the whole story, and how he was his brother, he went\non to say,\u2014\n\n\u201cBut let\u2019s sit down here and see what our mother has given us for food.\u201d\nSo they sat down together, and were soon great friends.\n\nNow, when they had gone a bit further on their way, they came to a brook\nwhich ran through a green meadow, and the youngest said now the time was\ncome to give one another names, \u201cSince we set off in such a hurry that\nwe hadn\u2019t time to do it at home, we may as well do it here.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the elder, \u201cand what shall your name be?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the younger, \u201cmy name shall be Shortshanks; and yours, what\nshall it be?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will be called King Sturdy,\u201d answered the eldest.\n\nSo they christened each other in the brook, and went on; but when they\nhad walked a while they came to a cross road, and agreed they should\npart there, and each take his own road. So they parted, but they hadn\u2019t\ngone half a mile before their roads met again. So they parted the second\ntime, and took each a road; but in a little while the same thing\nhappened, and they met again, they scarce knew how; and the same thing\nhappened a third time also. Then they agreed that they should each\nchoose a quarter of the heavens, and one was to go east and the other\nwest; but before they parted, the elder said,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf you ever fall into misfortune or need, call three times on me, and I\nwill come and help you; but mind you don\u2019t call on me till you are at\nthe last pinch.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cif that\u2019s to be the rule, I don\u2019t think we\nshall meet again very soon.\u201d\n\nAfter that they bade each other good-bye, and Shortshanks went east, and\nKing Sturdy west. Now, you must know, when Shortshanks had gone a good\nbit alone, he met an old, old crook-backed hag, who had only one eye,\nand Shortshanks snapped it up.\n\n\u201cOh! oh!\u201d screamed the hag, \u201cwhat has become of my eye?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat will you give me,\u201d asked Shortshanks, \u201cif you get your eye back?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you a sword, and such a sword! It will put a whole army to\nflight, be it ever so great,\u201d answered the old woman.\n\n\u201cOut with it, then!\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\nSo the old hag gave him the sword, and got her eye back again. After\nthat, Shortshanks wandered on a while, and another old, old crook-backed\nhag met him who had only one eye, which Shortshanks stole before she was\naware of him.\n\n\u201cOh, oh! whatever has become of my eye,\u201d screamed the hag.\n\n\u201cWhat will you give me to get your eye back?\u201d asked Shortshanks.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you a ship,\u201d said the woman, \u201cwhich can sail over fresh water\nand salt water, and over high hills and deep dales.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! out with it,\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\nSo the old woman gave him a little tiny ship, no bigger than he could\nput in his pocket, and she got her eye back again, and they each went\ntheir way. But when he had wandered on a long, long way, he met a third\ntime an old, old crook-backed hag, with only one eye. This eye, too,\nShortshanks stole; and when the hag screamed and made a great to-do,\nbawling out what had become of her eye, Shortshanks said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat will you give me to get back your eye?\u201d\n\nThen she answered,\u2014\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll give you the art how to brew a hundred lasts of malt at one\nstrike.\u201d\n\nWell! for teaching that art the old hag got back her eye, and they each\nwent their way.\n\nBut when Shortshanks had walked a little way, he thought it might be\nworth while to try his ship; so he took it out of his pocket, and put\nfirst one foot into it, and then the other; and as soon as ever he set\none foot into it, it began to grow bigger and bigger, and by the time he\nset the other foot into it, it was as big as other ships that sail on\nthe sea. Then Shortshanks said,\u2014\n\n\u201cOff and away, over fresh water and salt water, over high hills and deep\ndales, and don\u2019t stop till you come to the king\u2019s palace.\u201d\n\nAnd lo! away went the ship as swiftly as a bird through the air, till it\ncame down a little below the king\u2019s palace, and there it stopped. From\nthe palace windows people had stood and seen Shortshanks come sailing\nalong, and they were all so amazed that they ran down to see who it\ncould be that came sailing in a ship through the air. But while they\nwere running down, Shortshanks had stepped out of his ship and put it\ninto his pocket again; for as soon as he stepped out of it, it became as\nsmall as it was when he got it from the old woman. So those who had run\ndown from the palace saw no one but a ragged little boy standing down\nthere by the strand. Then the king asked whence he came, but the boy\nsaid he didn\u2019t know, nor could he tell them how he had got there. There\nhe was, and that was all they could get out of him; but he begged and\nprayed so prettily to get a place in the king\u2019s palace; saying, if there\nwas nothing else for him to do, he could carry in wood and water for the\nkitchen-maid, that their hearts were touched, and he got leave to stay\nthere.\n\nNow when Shortshanks came up to the palace, he saw how it was all hung\nwith black, both outside and in, wall and roof; so he asked the\nkitchen-maid what all that mourning meant?\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you know?\u201d said the kitchen-maid; \u201cI\u2019ll soon tell you: the king\u2019s\ndaughter was promised away a long time ago to three ogres, and next\nThursday evening one of them is coming to fetch her. Ritter Red, it is\ntrue, has given out that he is man enough to set her free, but God knows\nif he can do it; and now you know why we are all in grief and sorrow.\u201d\n\nSo when Thursday evening came, Ritter Red led the Princess down to the\nstrand, for there it was she was to meet the Ogre, and he was to stay by\nher there and watch; but he wasn\u2019t likely to do the Ogre much harm, I\nreckon, for as soon as ever the Princess had sat down on the strand,\nRitter Red climbed up into a great tree that stood there, and hid\nhimself as well as he could among the boughs. The Princess begged and\nprayed him not to leave her, but Ritter Red turned a deaf ear to her,\nand all he said was,\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis better for one to lose life than for two.\u201d That was what Ritter\nRed said.\n\nMeantime Shortshanks went to the kitchen-maid, and asked her so prettily\nif he mightn\u2019t go down to the strand for a bit?\n\n\u201cAnd what should take you down to the strand?\u201d asked the kitchen-maid.\n\u201cYou know you\u2019ve no business there.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, dear friend,\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cdo let me go? I should so like to\nrun down there and play a while with the other children; that I should.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well!\u201d said the kitchen-maid, \u201coff with you; but don\u2019t let me\ncatch you staying there a bit over the time when the brose for supper\nmust be set on the fire, and the roast put on the spit; and let me see;\nwhen you come back, mind you bring a good armful of wood with you.\u201d\n\nYes! Shortshanks would mind all that; so off he ran down to the strand.\n\nBut just as he reached the spot where the Princess sat, what should come\nbut the Ogre tearing along in his ship, so that the wind roared and\nhowled after him. He was so tall and stout it was awful to look on him,\nand he had five heads of his own.\n\n\u201cFire and flame!\u201d screamed the Ogre.\n\n\u201cFire and flame yourself!\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\n\u201cCan you fight?\u201d roared the Ogre.\n\n\u201cIf I can\u2019t, I can learn,\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\nSo the Ogre struck at him with a great thick iron club which he had in\nhis fist, and the earth and stones flew up five yards into the air after\nthe stroke.\n\n\u201cMy!\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cthat was something like a blow, but now you\nshall see a stroke of mine.\u201d\n\nThen he grasped the sword he had got from the old crook-backed hag, and\ncut at the Ogre; and away went all his five heads flying over the sand.\nSo when the Princess saw she was saved, she was so glad that she scarce\nknew what to do, and she jumped and danced for joy. \u201cCome, lie down, and\nsleep a little in my lap,\u201d she said to Shortshanks, and as he slept she\nthrew over him a tinsel robe.\n\nNow you must know, it wasn\u2019t long before Ritter Red crept down from the\ntree, as soon as he saw there was nothing to fear in the way, and he\nwent up to the Princess and threatened her until she promised to say it\nwas he who had saved her life; for if she wouldn\u2019t say so, he said he\nwould kill her on the spot. After that he cut out the Ogre\u2019s lungs and\ntongue, and wrapped them up in his handkerchief, and so led the Princess\nback to the palace, and whatever honours he had not before he got then,\nfor the king did not know how to find honour enough for him, and made\nhim sit every day on his right hand at dinner.\n\nAs for Shortshanks, he went first of all on board the Ogre\u2019s ship, and\ntook a whole heap of gold and silver rings, as large as hoops, and\ntrotted off with them as hard as he could to the palace. When the\nkitchen-maid set her eyes on all that gold and silver, she was quite\nscared, and asked him,\u2014\n\n\u201cBut dear, good, Shortshanks, wherever did you get all this from?\u201d for\nshe was rather afraid he hadn\u2019t come rightly by it.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d answered Shortshanks, \u201cI went home for a bit, and there I found\nthese hoops, which had fallen off some old pails of ours, so I laid\nhands on them for you, if you must know.\u201d\n\nWell! when the kitchen-maid heard they were for her, she said nothing\nmore about the matter, but thanked Shortshanks, and they were good\nfriends again.\n\nThe next Thursday evening it was the same story over again; all were in\ngrief and trouble, but Ritter Red said, as he had saved the Princess\nfrom one Ogre, it was hard if he couldn\u2019t save her from another; and\ndown he led her to the strand as brave as a lion. But he didn\u2019t do this\nOgre much harm either, for when the time came that they looked for the\nOgre, he said, as he had said before,\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis better one should lose life than two,\u201d and crept up into his tree\nagain. But Shortshanks begged the kitchen-maid to let him go down to the\nstrand for a little.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d asked the kitchen-maid, \u201cand what business have you down there?\u201d\n\n\u201cDear friend,\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cdo pray let me go. I long so to run\ndown and play a while with the other children.\u201d\n\nWell! the kitchen-maid gave him leave to go, but he must promise to be\nback by the time the roast was turned, and he was to mind and bring a\nbig bundle of wood with him. So Shortshanks had scarce got down to the\nstrand, when the Ogre came tearing along in his ship, so that the wind\nhowled and roared around him; he was twice as big as the other Ogre, and\nhe had ten heads on his shoulders.\n\n\u201cFire and flame!\u201d screamed the Ogre.\n\n\u201cFire and flame yourself!\u201d answered Shortshanks.\n\n\u201cCan you fight?\u201d roared the Ogre.\n\n\u201cIf I can\u2019t, I can learn,\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\nThen the Ogre struck at him with his iron club; it was even bigger than\nthat which the first Ogre had, and the earth and stones flew up ten\nyards into the air.\n\n\u201cMy!\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cthat was something like a blow; now you shall\nsee a stroke of mine.\u201d Then he grasped his sword, and cut off all the\nOgre\u2019s ten heads at one blow, and sent them dancing away over the sand.\n\nThen the Princess said again to him, \u201cLie down and sleep a little while\non my lap;\u201d and while Shortshanks lay there, she threw over him a silver\nrobe. But as soon as Ritter Red marked that there was no more danger in\nthe way, he crept down from the tree, and threatened the Princess, till\nshe was forced to give her word, to say it was he who had set her free;\nafter that, he cut the lungs and tongue out of the Ogre, and wrapped\nthem in his handkerchief, and led the Princess back to the palace. Then\nyou may fancy what mirth and joy there was, and the King was at his\nwit\u2019s end to know how to shew Ritter Red honour and favour enough.\n\nThis time, too, Shortshanks took a whole armful of gold and silver rings\nfrom the Ogre\u2019s ship, and when he came back to the palace the\nkitchen-maid clapped her hands in wonder, asking wherever he got all\nthat gold and silver from. But Shortshanks answered that he had been\nhome a while, and that the hoops had fallen off some old pails, so he\nhad laid his hands on them for his friend the kitchen-maid.\n\nSo when the third Thursday evening came, everything happened as it had\nhappened twice before; the whole palace was hung with black, and all\nwent about mourning and weeping. But Ritter Red said he couldn\u2019t see\nwhat need they had to be so afraid; he had freed the Princess from two\nOgres, and he could very well free her from a third; so he led her down\nto the strand, but when the time drew near for the Ogre to come up, he\ncrept into his tree again, and hid himself. The Princess begged and\nprayed, but it was no good, for Ritter Red said again,\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis better that one should lose life than two.\u201d\n\nThat evening, too, Shortshanks begged for leave to go down to the\nstrand.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the kitchen-maid, \u201cwhat should take you down there?\u201d\n\nBut he begged and prayed so, that at last he got leave to go, only he\nhad to promise to be back in the kitchen again when the roast was to be\nturned. So off he went, but he had scarce reached the strand when the\nOgre came with the wind howling and roaring after him. He was much, much\nbigger than either of the other two, and he had fifteen heads on his\nshoulders.\n\n\u201cFire and flame!\u201d roared out the Ogre.\n\n\u201cFire and flame yourself,\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\n\u201cCan you fight?\u201d screamed the Ogre.\n\n\u201cIf I can\u2019t, I can learn,\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll soon teach you,\u201d screamed the Ogre, and struck at him with his\niron club, so that the earth and stones flew up fifteen yards into the\nair.\n\n\u201cMy!\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cthat was something like a blow; but now you\nshall see a stroke of mine.\u201d\n\nAs he said that, he grasped his sword, and cut off all the Ogre\u2019s\nfifteen heads at one blow, and sent them all dancing over the sand.\n\nSo the Princess was freed from all the Ogres, and she both blessed and\nthanked Shortshanks for saving her life.\n\n\u201cSleep now a while on my lap,\u201d she said; and he laid his head on her\nlap, and while he slept, she threw over him a golden robe.\n\n\u201cBut how shall we let it be known that it is you that have saved me?\u201d\nshe asked, when he awoke.\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019ll soon tell you,\u201d answered Shortshanks. \u201cWhen Ritter Red has led\nyou home again, and given himself out as the man who has saved you, you\nknow he is to have you to wife, and half the kingdom. Now, when they ask\nyou, on your wedding-day, whom you will have to be your cup-bearer, you\nmust say, \u2018I will have the ragged boy who does odd jobs in the kitchen,\nand carries in wood and water for the kitchen-maid.\u2019 So when I am\nfilling your cups, I will spill a drop on his plate, but none on yours;\nthen he will be wroth, and give me a blow, and the same thing will\nhappen three times. But the third time you must mind and say, \u2018Shame on\nyou! to strike my heart\u2019s darling; he it is who set me free, and him\nwill I have!\u2019\u201d\n\nAfter that Shortshanks ran back to the palace, as he had done before;\nbut he went first on board the Ogre\u2019s ship, and took a whole heap of\ngold, silver, and precious stones, and out of them he gave the\nkitchen-maid another great armful of gold and silver rings.\n\nWell! as for Ritter Red, as soon as ever he saw that all risk was over,\nhe crept down from his tree, and threatened the Princess till she was\nforced to promise she would say it was he who had saved her. After that\nhe led her back to the palace, and all the honour shown him before was\nnothing to what he got now, for the king thought of nothing else than\nhow he might best honour the man who had saved his daughter from the\nthree Ogres. As for his marrying her, and having half the kingdom, that\nwas a settled thing, the king said. But when the wedding-day came, the\nPrincess begged she might have the ragged boy who carried in wood and\nwater for the cook to be her cup-bearer at the bridal-feast.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t think why you should want to bring that filthy beggar boy in\nhere,\u201d said Ritter Red; but the Princess had a will of her own, and said\nshe would have him, and no one else, to pour out her wine; so she had\nher way at last. Now everything went as it had been agreed between\nShortshanks and the Princess; he spilled a drop on Ritter Red\u2019s plate,\nbut none on her\u2019s, and each time Ritter Red got wroth and struck him. At\nthe first blow Shortshank\u2019s rags fell off which he had worn in the\nkitchen; at the second the tinsel robe fell off; and at the third the\nsilver robe; and then he stood in his golden robe, all gleaming and\nglittering in the light. Then the Princess said,\u2014\n\n\u201cShame on you! to strike my heart\u2019s darling! he has saved me, and him\nwill I have!\u201d\n\nRitter Red cursed and swore it was he who had set her free; but the king\nput in his word, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cThe man who saved my daughter must have some token to show for it.\u201d\n\nYes! Ritter Red had something to show, and he ran off at once after his\nhandkerchief with the lungs and tongues in it, and Shortshanks fetched\nall the gold and silver, and precious things, he had taken out of the\nOgres\u2019 ships. So each laid his tokens before the king, and the king\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cThe man who has such precious stores of gold, and silver, and diamonds,\nmust have slain the Ogre, and spoiled his goods, for such things are not\nto be had elsewhere.\u201d\n\nSo Ritter Red was thrown into a pit full of snakes, and Shortshanks was\nto have the Princess and half the kingdom.\n\nOne day Shortshanks and the king were out walking, and Shortshanks asked\nthe king if he hadn\u2019t any more children?\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the king, \u201cI had another daughter; but the Ogre has taken\nher away, because there was no one who could save her. Now you are going\nto have one daughter, but if you can set the other free whom the Ogre\nhas carried off, you shall have her too with all my heart, and the other\nhalf of my kingdom.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cI may as well try; but I must have an iron\ncable, five hundred fathoms long, and five hundred men, and food for\nthem to last fifteen weeks, for I have a long voyage before me.\u201d\n\nYes! the king said he should have them, but he was afraid there wasn\u2019t a\nship in his kingdom big enough to carry such a freight.\n\n\u201cOh! if that\u2019s all,\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cI have a ship of my own.\u201d\n\nWith that he whipped out of his pocket the ship he had got from the old\nhag.\n\nThe king laughed, and thought it was all a joke; but Shortshanks begged\nhim only to give him what he asked, and he should soon see if it was a\njoke. So they got together what he wanted, and Shortshanks bade him put\nthe cable on board the ship first of all; but there was no one man who\ncould lift it, and there wasn\u2019t room for more than one at a time round\nthe tiny ship. Then Shortshanks took hold of the cable by one end, and\nlaid a link or two into the ship; and as he threw in the links, the ship\ngrew bigger and bigger, till at last it got so big, that there was room\nenough and to spare in it for the cable, and the five hundred men, and\ntheir food, and Shortshanks, and all. Then he said to the ship,\u2014\n\n\u201cOff and away, over fresh water and salt water, over high hill and deep\ndale, and don\u2019t stop till you come to where the king\u2019s daughter is.\u201d And\naway went the ship over land and sea, till the wind whistled after it.\n\nSo when they had sailed far, far away, the ship stood stock still in the\nmiddle of the sea.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cnow we have got so far; but how we are to get\nback is another story.\u201d\n\nThen he took the cable and tied one end of it round his waist, and\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, I must go to the bottom, but when I give the cable a good tug, and\nwant to come up again, mind you all hoist away with a will, or your\nlives will be lost as well as mine;\u201d and with these words overboard he\nleapt, and dived down, so that yellow waves rose round him in an eddy.\n\nWell, he sank and sank, and at last he came to the bottom, and there he\nsaw a great rock rising up with a door in it, so he opened the door and\nwent in. When he got inside, he saw another Princess, who sat and sewed,\nbut when she saw Shortshanks, she clasped her hands together and cried\nout,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, God be thanked! you are the first Christian man I\u2019ve set eyes on\nsince I came here.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery good,\u201d said Shortshanks; \u201cbut do you know I\u2019ve come to fetch you?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d she cried, \u201cyou\u2019ll never fetch me; you\u2019ll never have that luck,\nfor if the Ogre sees you, he\u2019ll kill you on the spot.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m glad you spoke of the Ogre,\u201d said Shortshanks; \u201c\u2019twould be fine fun\nto see him; whereabouts is he?\u201d\n\nThen the Princess told him the Ogre was out looking for some one who\ncould brew a hundred lasts of malt at one strike, for he was going to\ngive a great feast, and less drink wouldn\u2019t do.\n\n\u201cWell! I can do that,\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the Princess; \u201cif only the Ogre wasn\u2019t so hasty, I might tell\nhim about you; but he\u2019s so cross; I\u2019m afraid he\u2019ll tear you to pieces as\nsoon as he comes in, without waiting to hear my story. Let me see what\nis to be done. Oh! I have it; just hide yourself in the side-room\nyonder, and let us take our chance.\u201d\n\nWell! Shortshanks did as she told him, and he had scarce crept into the\nside-room before the Ogre came in.\n\n\u201cHUF!\u201d said the Ogre; \u201cwhat a horrid smell of Christian man\u2019s blood!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said the Princess, \u201cI know there is, for a bird flew over the\nhouse with a Christian man\u2019s bone in his bill and let it fall down the\nchimney. I made all the haste I could to get it out again, but I daresay\nit\u2019s that you smell.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the Ogre, \u201clike enough.\u201d\n\nThen the Princess asked the Ogre if he had laid hold of any one who\ncould brew a hundred lasts of malt at one strike?\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the Ogre, \u201cI can\u2019t hear of any one who can do it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d she said, \u201ca while ago, there was a chap in here who said he\ncould do it.\u201d\n\n\u201cJust like you with your wisdom!\u201d said the Ogre; \u201cwhy did you let him go\naway then, when you knew he was the very man I wanted?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell then, I didn\u2019t let him go,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cbut father\u2019s\ntemper is a little hot, so I hid him away in the side-room yonder; but\nif father hasn\u2019t hit upon any one, here he is.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Ogre, \u201clet him come in then.\u201d\n\nSo Shortshanks came in, and the Ogre asked him if it were true that he\ncould brew a hundred lasts of malt at a strike?\n\n\u201cYes it is,\u201d said Shortshanks.\n\n\u201c\u2019Twas good luck then to lay hands on you,\u201d said the Ogre \u201cand now fall\nto work this minute; but heaven help you if you don\u2019t brew the ale\nstrong enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cnever fear, it shall be stinging stuff;\u201d and\nwith that he began to brew without more fuss, but all at once he cried\nout,\u2014\n\n\u201cI must have more of you Ogres to help in the brewing, for these I have\ngot a\u2019nt half strong enough.\u201d\n\nWell, he got more\u2014so many that there was a whole swarm of them, and then\nthe brewing went on bravely. Now when the sweet-wort was ready, they\nwere all eager to taste it, you may guess; first of all the Ogre, and\nthen all his kith and kin. But Shortshanks had brewed the wort so strong\nthat they all fell down dead, one after another, like so many flies, as\nsoon as they had tasted it. At last there wasn\u2019t one of them left alive\nbut one vile old hag, who lay bed-ridden in the chimney-corner.\n\n\u201cOh, you poor old wretch,\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cyou may just as well taste\nthe wort along with the rest.\u201d\n\nSo he went and scooped up a little from the bottom of the copper in a\nscoop, and gave her a drink, and so he was rid of the whole pack of\nthem.\n\nAs he stood there and looked about him, he cast his eye on a great\nchest, so he took it and filled it with gold and silver; then he tied\nthe cable round himself and the Princess and the chest, and gave it a\ngood tug, and his men pulled them all up, safe and sound. As soon as\never Shortshanks was well up, he said to the ship.\n\n\u201cOff and away, over fresh water and salt water, high hill and deep dale,\nand don\u2019t stop till you come to the king\u2019s palace;\u201d and straightway the\nship held on her course, so that the yellow billows foamed round her.\nWhen the people in the palace saw the ship sailing up, they were not\nslow in meeting them with songs and music, welcoming Shortshanks with\ngreat joy; but the gladdest of all was the king, who had now got his\nother daughter back again.\n\nBut now Shortshanks was rather down-hearted for you must know that both\nthe princesses wanted to have him, and he would have no other than the\none he had first saved, and she was the youngest. So he walked up and\ndown, and thought and thought what he should do to get her, and yet do\nsomething to please her sister. Well, one day as he was turning the\nthing over in his mind, it struck him if he only had his brother King\nSturdy, who was so like him that no one could tell the one from the\nother, he would give up to him the other princess and half the kingdom,\nfor he thought one-half was quite enough.\n\nWell, as soon as ever this came into his mind he went outside the palace\nand called on King Sturdy, but no one came. So he called a second time a\nlittle louder, but still no one came. Then he called out the third time\n\u201cKing Sturdy\u201d with all his might, and there stood his brother before\nhim.\n\n\u201cDidn\u2019t I say!\u201d he said to Shortshanks, \u201cdidn\u2019t I say you were not to\ncall me except in your utmost need? and here there is not so much as a\ngnat to do you any harm,\u201d and with that he gave him such a box on the\near that Shortshanks tumbled head over heels on the grass.\n\n\u201cNow shame on you to hit so hard!\u201d said Shortshanks. \u201cFirst of all I won\na princess and half the kingdom, and then I won another princess and the\nother half of the kingdom; and now I\u2019m thinking to give you one of the\nprincesses and half the kingdom. Is there any rhyme or reason in giving\nme such a box on the ear?\u201d\n\nWhen King Sturdy heard that, he begged his brother to forgive him, and\nthey were soon as good friends as ever again.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said Shortshanks, \u201cyou know we are so much alike that no one can\ntell the one from the other; so just change clothes with me and go into\nthe palace; then the princesses will think it is I that am coming in,\nand the one that kisses you first you shall have for your wife, and I\nwill have the other for mine.\u201d\n\nAnd he said this because he knew well enough that the elder king\u2019s\ndaughter was the stronger, and so he could very well guess how things\nwould go. As for King Sturdy, he was willing enough, so he changed\nclothes with his brother and went into the palace. But when he came into\nthe princesses\u2019 bower they thought it was Shortshanks, and both ran up\nto him to kiss him; but the elder, who was stronger and bigger, pushed\nher sister on one side, and threw her arms round King Sturdy\u2019s neck, and\ngave him a kiss; and so he got her for his wife, and Shortshanks got the\nyounger Princess. Then they made ready for the wedding, and you may\nfancy what a grand one it was, when I tell you that the fame of it was\nnoised abroad over seven kingdoms.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n GUDBRAND ON THE HILL-SIDE.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a man whose name was Gudbrand; he had a farm\nwhich lay far, far away upon a hill-side, and so they called him\nGudbrand on the Hill-side.\n\nNow, you must know this man and his goodwife lived so happily together,\nand understood one another so well, that all the husband did the wife\nthought so well done there was nothing like it in the world, and she was\nalways glad whatever he turned his hand to. The farm was their own land,\nand they had a hundred dollars lying at the bottom of their chest, and\ntwo cows tethered up in a stall in their farm-yard.\n\nSo one day his wife said to Gudbrand,\u2014\n\n\u201cDo you know, dear, I think we ought to take one of our cows into town\nand sell it; that\u2019s what I think; for then we shall have some money in\nhand, and such well to-do people as we ought to have ready money like\nthe rest of the world. As for the hundred dollars at the bottom of the\nchest yonder, we can\u2019t make a hole in them, and I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t know\nwhat we want with more than one cow. Besides, we shall gain a little in\nanother way, for then I shall get off with only looking after one cow,\ninstead of having, as now, to feed and litter and water two.\u201d\n\nWell, Gudbrand thought his wife talked right good sense, so he set off\nat once with the cow on his way to town to sell her; but when he got to\nthe town, there was no one who would buy his cow.\n\n\u201cWell! well! never mind,\u201d said Gudbrand, \u201cat the worst, I can only go\nback home again with my cow. I\u2019ve both stable and tether for her, I\nshould think, and the road is no farther out than in;\u201d and with that he\nbegan to toddle home with his cow.\n\nBut when he had gone a bit of the way, a man met him who had a horse to\nsell, so Gudbrand thought \u2019twas better to have a horse than a cow, so he\nswopped with the man. A little farther on, he met a man walking along,\nand driving a fat pig before him, and he thought it better to have a fat\npig than a horse, so he swopped with the man. After that he went a\nlittle farther, and a man met him with a goat; so he thought it better\nto have a goat than a pig, and he swopped with the man that owned the\ngoat. Then he went on a good bit till he met a man who had a sheep, and\nhe swopped with him too, for he thought it always better to have a sheep\nthan a goat. After a while he met a man with a goose, and he swopped\naway the sheep for the goose; and when he had walked a long, long time,\nhe met a man with a cock, and he swopped with him, for he thought in\nthis wise, \u201c\u2019Tis surely better to have a cock than a goose.\u201d Then he\nwent on till the day was far spent, and he began to get very hungry, so\nhe sold the cock for a shilling, and bought food with the money, for,\nthought Gudbrand on the Hill-side, \u201c\u2019Tis always better to save one\u2019s\nlife than to have a cock.\u201d\n\nAfter that he went on home till he reached his nearest neighbour\u2019s\nhouse, where he turned in.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the owner of the house, \u201chow did things go with you in\ntown?\u201d\n\n\u201cRather so so,\u201d said Gudbrand; \u201cI can\u2019t praise my luck, nor do I blame\nit either,\u201d and with that he told the whole story from first to last.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said his friend, \u201cyou\u2019ll get nicely called over the coals, that\none can see, when you get home to your wife. Heaven help you, I wouldn\u2019t\nstand in your shoes for something.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said Gudbrand on the Hill-side, \u201cI think things might have gone\nmuch worse with me; but now, whether I have done wrong or not, I have so\nkind a goodwife, she never has a word to say against anything that I\ndo.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d answered his neighbour, \u201cI hear what you say, but I don\u2019t believe\nit for all that.\u201d\n\n\u201cShall we lay a bet upon it?\u201d asked Gudbrand on the Hill-side. \u201cI have a\nhundred dollars at the bottom of my chest at home; will you lay as many\nagainst them?\u201d\n\nYes! the friend was ready to bet; so Gudbrand stayed there till evening,\nwhen it began to get dark, and then they went together to his house, and\nthe neighbour was to stand outside the door and listen, while the man\nwent in to see his wife.\n\n\u201cGood evening!\u201d said Gudbrand on the Hill-side.\n\n\u201cGood evening!\u201d said the goodwife. \u201cOh! is that you? now, God be\npraised.\u201d\n\nYes! it was he. So the wife asked how things had gone with him in town?\n\n\u201cOh! only so so,\u201d answered Gudbrand; \u201cnot much to brag of. When I got to\nthe town there was no one who would buy the cow, so you must know I\nswopped it away for a horse.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor a horse!\u201d said his wife; \u201cwell that is good of you; thanks with all\nmy heart. We are so well to do that we may drive to church, just as well\nas other people; and if we choose to keep a horse we have a right to get\none, I should think. So run out, child, and put up the horse.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Gudbrand, \u201cbut you see I\u2019ve not got the horse after all; for\nwhen I got a bit farther on the road, I swopped it away for a pig.\u201d\n\n\u201cThink of that, now!\u201d said the wife; \u201cyou did just as I should have done\nmyself; a thousand thanks! Now I can have a bit of bacon in the house to\nset before people when they come to see me, that I can. What do we want\nwith a horse? People would only say we had got so proud that we couldn\u2019t\nwalk to church. Go out, child, and put up the pig in the stye.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019ve not got the pig either,\u201d said Gudbrand; \u201cfor when I got a\nlittle farther on, I swopped it away for a milch goat.\u201d\n\n\u201cBless us!\u201d cried his wife, \u201chow well you manage every thing! Now I\nthink it over, what should I do with a pig? People would only point at\nus and say, \u2018Yonder they eat up all they have got.\u2019 No! now I have got a\ngoat, and I shall have milk and cheese, and keep the goat too. Run out,\nchild, and put up the goat.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, but I haven\u2019t got the goat either,\u201d said Gudbrand, \u201cfor a little\nfarther on I swopped it away, and got a fine sheep instead.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t say so!\u201d cried his wife; \u201cwhy you do everything to please me,\njust as if I had been with you; what do we want with a goat? If I had it\nI should lose half my time in climbing up the hills to get it down. No!\nif I have a sheep, I shall have both wool and clothing, and fresh meat\nin the house. Run out, child, and put up the sheep.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I haven\u2019t got the sheep any more than the rest,\u201d said Gudbrand,\n\u201cfor when I had gone a bit farther, I swopped it away for a goose.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you! thank you! with all my heart,\u201d cried his wife; \u201cwhat should\nI do with a sheep? I have no spinning-wheel, nor carding-comb, nor\nshould I care to worry myself with cutting, and shaping, and sewing\nclothes. We can buy clothes now, as we have always done; and now I shall\nhave roast goose, which I have longed for so often; and, besides, down\nto stuff my little pillow with. Run out, child, and put up the goose.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Gudbrand, \u201cbut I haven\u2019t the goose either; for when I had\ngone a bit farther I swopped it away for a cock.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear me!\u201d cried his wife, \u201chow you think of everything! just as I\nshould have done myself. A cock! think of that! why it\u2019s as good as an\neight-day clock, for every morning the cock crows at four o\u2019clock, and\nwe shall be able to stir our stumps in good time. What should we do with\na goose? I don\u2019t know how to cook it; and as for my pillow, I can stuff\nit with cotton-grass. Run out, child, and put up the cock.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut, after all, I haven\u2019t got the cock,\u201d said Gudbrand; \u201cfor when I had\ngone a bit farther, I got as hungry as a hunter, so I was forced to sell\nthe cock for a shilling, for fear I should starve.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow, God be praised that you did so!\u201d cried his wife; \u201cwhatever you do,\nyou do it always just after my own heart. What should we do with the\ncock? We are our own masters, I should think, and can lie a-bed in the\nmorning as long as we like. Heaven be thanked that I have got you safe\nback again; you who do everything so well that I want neither cock nor\ngoose; neither pigs nor kine.\u201d\n\nThen Gudbrand opened the door and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWell, what do you say now? Have I won the hundred dollars?\u201d and his\nneighbour was forced to allow that he had.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE 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 where\ntwo paths met, and the lad asked his mother\u2019s leave to pick it up.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said she, \u201cmay be there\u2019s witchcraft in it;\u201d and so with threats\nshe forced him to follow her. But when they had gone a bit farther, the\nlad said he must turn aside a moment out of the road, and meanwhile his\nmother sat down on a tree-stump. But the lad was a long time gone, for\nas soon as he got so far into the wood, that the old dame could not see\nhim, he ran off to where the belt lay, took it up, tied it round his\nwaist, and lo! he felt as strong as if he could lift the whole hill.\nWhen he got back, the old dame was in a great rage, and wanted to know\nwhat he had been doing all that while. \u201cYou don\u2019t care how much time you\nwaste, and yet you know the night is drawing on, and we must cross the\nhill before it is dark!\u201d So on they tramped; but when they had got about\nhalf-way, the old dame grew weary, and said she must rest under a bush.\n\n\u201cDear mother,\u201d said the lad, \u201cmayn\u2019t I just go up to the top of this\nhigh crag while you rest, and try if I can\u2019t see some sign of folk\nhereabouts?\u201d\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\u201cWe must get on mother; we are near a house, for I see a bright light\nshining quite close to us in the north.\u201d Then she rose and shouldered\nher bag, and set off to see; but they hadn\u2019t gone far, before there\nstood a steep spur of the hill, right across their path.\n\n\u201cJust as I thought!\u201d said the old dame; \u201cnow we can\u2019t go a step farther;\na pretty bed we shall have here!\u201d\n\nBut the lad took the bag under one arm, and his mother under the other,\nand ran straight up the steep crag with them.\n\n\u201cNow, don\u2019t you see! don\u2019t you see that we are close to a house! don\u2019t\nyou see the bright light?\u201d\n\nBut the old dame said those were no Christian folk, but Trolls, for she\nwas at home in all that forest far and near, and knew there was not a\nliving soul in it, until you were well over the ridge, and had come down\non the other side. But they went on, and in a little while they came to\na great house which was all painted red.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the good?\u201d said the old dame, \u201cwe daren\u2019t go in, for here the\nTrolls live.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t say so; we must go in. There must be men where the lights shine\nso,\u201d 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\u201cGood evening, grandfather!\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cWell, here I\u2019ve sat three hundred years,\u201d said the man who sat on the\nbench, \u201cand no one has ever come and called me grandfather before.\u201d Then\nthe lad sat down by the man\u2019s side, and began to talk to him as if they\nhad been old friends.\n\n\u201cBut what\u2019s come over your mother?\u201d said the man, after they had\nchattered a while. \u201cI think she swooned away; you had better look after\nher.\u201d\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 of\nfirewood in the corner; but she was so frightened that she scarce dared\nto look one in the face.\n\nAfter a while, the lad asked if they could spend the night there.\n\n\u201cYes, to be sure,\u201d 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\u201cOf course,\u201d said the man, \u201cthat might be got too.\u201d And after he had sat\na while longer, he rose up and threw six loads of dry pitch-pine on the\nfire. This made the old hag still more afraid.\n\n\u201cOh! now he\u2019s going to roast us alive,\u201d she said, in the corner where\nshe sat.\n\nAnd when the wood had burned down to glowing embers, up got the man and\nstrode out of his house.\n\n\u201cHeaven bless and help us! what a stout heart you have got,\u201d said the\nold dame; \u201cdon\u2019t you see we have got amongst Trolls?\u201d\n\n\u201cStuff and nonsense!\u201d said the lad; \u201cno harm if we have.\u201d\n\nIn a little while back came the man with an ox so fat and big, the lad\nhad never seen its like, and he gave it one blow with his fist under the\near, and down it fell dead on the floor. When that was done, he took it\nup by all the four legs, and laid it on the glowing embers, and turned\nit and twisted it about till it was burnt brown outside. After that, he\nwent to a cupboard and took out a great silver dish, and laid the ox on\nit; and the dish was so big that none of the ox hung over on any side.\nThis he put on the table, and then he went down into the cellar, and\nfetched a cask of wine, knocked out the head, and put the cask on the\ntable, together with two knives, which were each six feet long. When\nthis was done, he bade them go and sit down to supper and eat. So they\nwent, the lad first and the old dame after, but she began to whimper and\nwail, and to wonder how she should ever use such knives. But her son\nseized one, and began to cut slices out of the thigh of the ox, which he\nplaced before his mother. And when they had eaten a bit, he took up the\ncask with both hands, and lifted it down to the floor; then he told his\nmother to come and drink, but it was still so high she couldn\u2019t reach up\nto it; so he caught her up, and held her up to the edge of the cask\nwhile she drank; as for himself, he clambered up and hung down like a\ncat inside the cask while he drank. So when he had quenched his thirst,\nhe took up the cask and put it back on the table, and thanked the man\nfor the good meal, and told his mother to come and thank him too, and\na-feared though she was, she dared do nothing else but thank the man.\nThen the lad sat down again alongside the man and began to gossip, and\nafter they had sat a while, the man said\u2014\n\n\u201cWell! I must just go and get a bit of supper too;\u201d and so he went to\nthe table and ate up the whole ox\u2014hoofs, and horns, and all\u2014and drained\nthe cask to the last drop, and then went back and sat on the bench.\n\n\u201cAs for beds,\u201d he said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s to be done. I\u2019ve only got\none bed and a cradle; but we could get on pretty well if you would sleep\nin the cradle, and then your mother might lie in the bed yonder.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you kindly, that\u2019ll do nicely,\u201d said the lad; and with that he\npulled off his clothes and lay down in the cradle; but, to tell you the\ntruth it was quite as big as a four-poster. As for the old dame, she had\nto follow the man who showed her to bed, though she was out of her wits\nfor fear.\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d thought the lad to himself, \u201c\u2019twill never do to go to sleep yet.\nI\u2019d best lie awake and listen how things go as the night wears on.\u201d\n\nSo after a while the man began to talk to the old dame, and at last he\nsaid\u2014\n\n\u201cWe two might live here so happily together, could we only be rid of\nthis son of yours.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut do you know how to settle him? Is that what you\u2019re thinking of?\u201d\nsaid she.\n\n\u201cNothing easier,\u201d 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\u2014for it was a Troll as clear as day\u2014asked if the old\ndame would stay and keep house for him a few days; and as the day went\non he took a great iron crowbar, and asked the lad if he had a mind to\ngo with him up the hill and quarry a few corner-stones. With all his\nheart, he said, and went with him; and so, after they had split a few\nstones, the Troll wanted him to go down below and look after cracks in\nthe rock; and while he was doing this, the Troll worked away, and\nwearied himself with his crowbar till he moved a whole crag out of its\nbed, which came rolling right down on the place where the lad was; but\nhe held it up till he could get on one side, and then let it roll on.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the lad to the Troll, \u201cnow I see what you mean to do with me.\nYou want to crush me to death; so just go down yourself and look after\nthe cracks and refts in the rock, and I\u2019ll stand up above.\u201d\n\nThe Troll did not dare to do otherwise than the lad bade him, and the\nend of it was that the lad rolled down a great rock, which fell upon the\nTroll, and broke one of his thighs.\n\n\u201cWell! you _are_ in a sad plight,\u201d 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 to\nbed, and there he lay in a sad pickle.\n\nWhen the night wore on the Troll began to talk to the old dame again,\nand to wonder how ever they could be rid of the lad.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the old dame, \u201cif you can\u2019t hit on a plan to get rid of\nhim, I\u2019m sure I can\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me see,\u201d said the Troll; \u201cI\u2019ve got twelve lions in a garden; if\nthey could only get hold of the lad they\u2019d soon tear him to pieces.\u201d\n\nSo the old dame said it would be easy enough to get him there. She would\nsham sick, and say she felt so poorly, nothing would do her any good but\nlion\u2019s milk. All that the lad lay and listened to; and when he got up in\nthe morning his mother said she was worse than she looked, and she\nthought she should never be right again unless she could get some lion\u2019s\nmilk.\n\n\u201cThen I\u2019m afraid you\u2019ll be poorly a long time, mother,\u201d said the lad,\n\u201cfor I\u2019m sure I don\u2019t know where any is to be got.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! if that be all,\u201d said the Troll, \u201cthere\u2019s no lack of lion\u2019s milk,\nif we only had the man to fetch it;\u201d and then he went on to say how his\nbrother had a garden with twelve lions in it, and how the lad might have\nthe key if he had a mind to milk the lions. So the lad took the key and\na milking-pail, and strode off; and when he unlocked the gate and got\ninto the garden, there stood all the twelve lions on their hind-paws,\nrampant and roaring at him. But the lad laid hold of the biggest, and\nled him about by the fore-paws, and dashed him against stocks and\nstones, till there wasn\u2019t a bit of him left but the two paws. So when\nthe rest saw that, they were so afraid that they crept up and lay at his\nfeet like so many curs. After that they followed him about where-ever he\nwent, and when he got home, they lay down outside the house, with their\nfore-paws on the door-sill.\n\n\u201cNow, mother, you\u2019ll soon be well,\u201d said the lad, when he went in, \u201cfor\nhere is the lion\u2019s milk.\u201d\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 the\nlad was not the man to milk lions.\n\nWhen the lad heard that, he forced the Troll to get out of bed, threw\nopen the door, and all the lions rose up and seized the Troll, and at\nlast the lad had to make them leave their hold.\n\nThat night the Troll began to talk to the old dame again. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\ncan\u2019t tell how to put this lad out of the way\u2014he is so awfully strong;\ncan\u2019t you think of some way?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d said the old dame, \u201cif you can\u2019t tell, I\u2019m sure I can\u2019t.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the Troll, \u201cI have two brothers in a castle; they are\ntwelve times as strong as I am, and that\u2019s why I was turned out and had\nto put up with this farm. They hold that castle, and round it there is\nan orchard with apples in it, and whoever eats those apples sleeps for\nthree days and three nights. If we could only get the lad to go for the\nfruit, he wouldn\u2019t be able to keep from tasting the apples, and as soon\nas ever he fell asleep my brothers would tear him in pieces.\u201d\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 heart\non them.\n\nAll this the lad lay and listened to.\n\nWhen the morning came the old dame was so poorly that she couldn\u2019t utter\na word but groans and sighs. She was sure she should never be well\nagain, unless she had some of those apples that grew in the orchard near\nthe castle where the man\u2019s brothers lived; only she had no one to send\nfor them.\n\nOh! the lad was ready to go that instant; but the eleven lions went with\nhim. So when he came to the orchard, he climbed up into the apple tree\nand ate as many apples as he could, and he had scarce got down before he\nfell into a deep sleep; but the lions all lay round him in a ring. The\nthird day came the Troll\u2019s brothers, but they did not come in man\u2019s\nshape. They came snorting like man-eating steeds, and wondered who it\nwas that dared to be there, and said they would tear him to pieces, so\nsmall that there should not be a bit of him left. But up rose the lions\nand tore the Trolls into small pieces, so that the place looked as if a\ndungheap had been tossed about it; and when they had finished the Trolls\nthey lay down again. The lad did not wake till late in the afternoon,\nand when he got on his knees and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he\nbegan to wonder what had been going on, when he saw the marks of hoofs.\nBut when he went towards the castle, a maiden looked out of a window who\nhad seen all that had happened, and she said,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou may thank your stars you weren\u2019t in that tussle, else you must have\nlost your life.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! I lose my life! no fear of that, I think,\u201d said the lad.\n\nSo she begged him to come in that she might talk with him, for she\nhadn\u2019t 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 came\nthat she, who was so lovely, could put up with those ugly Trolls. She\nnever wished it, she said; \u2019twas quite against her will. They had seized\nher by force, and she was the King of Arabia\u2019s daughter. So they talked\non, and at last she asked him what he would do; whether she should go\nback home, or whether he would have her to wife. Of course he would have\nher, and she shouldn\u2019t go home.\n\nAfter that they went round the castle, and at last they came to a great\nhall, where the Trolls\u2019 two great swords hung high up on the wall.\n\n\u201cI wonder if you are man enough to wield one of these,\u201d said the\nPrincess.\n\n\u201cWho?\u2014I?\u201d said the lad. \u201c\u2019Twould be a pretty thing if I couldn\u2019t wield\none of these.\u201d\n\nWith that he put two or three chairs one a-top of the other, jumped up,\nand touched the biggest sword with his finger tips, tossed it up in the\nair, and caught it again by the hilt; leapt down, and at the same time\ndealt such a blow with it on the floor, that the whole hall shook. After\nhe had thus got down, he thrust the sword under his arm, and carried it\nabout 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 had\nbecome of her; so they loaded a ship, and she set sail from the castle.\n\nAfter she had gone, and the lad had wandered about a little, he called\nto mind that he had been sent on an errand thither, and had come to\nfetch something for his mother\u2019s health; and though he said to himself,\n\u201cAfter all, the old dame was not so bad but she\u2019s all right by this\ntime,\u201d\u2014still he thought he ought to go and just see how she was. So he\nwent and found both the man and his mother quite fresh and hearty.\n\n\u201cWhat wretches you are to live in this beggarly hut,\u201d said the lad.\n\u201cCome with me up to my castle, and you shall see what a fine fellow I\nam.\u201d\n\nWell! they were both ready to go, and on the way his mother talked to\nhim, and asked, \u201cHow it was he had got so strong?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you must know, it came of that blue belt which lay on the hill-side\nthat time when you and I were out begging,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cHave you got it still!\u201d asked she.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d\u2014he had. It was tied round his waist.\n\n\u201cMight she see it?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, she might;\u201d and with that he pulled open his waistcoat and shirt\nto show it her.\n\nThen she seized it with both hands, tore it off, and twisted it round\nher fist.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d she cried, \u201cwhat shall I do with such a wretch as you? I\u2019ll just\ngive you one blow, and dash your brains out!\u201d\n\n\u201cFar too good a death for such a scamp,\u201d said the Troll. \u201cNo! let\u2019s\nfirst burn out his eyes, and then turn him adrift in a little boat.\u201d\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 tumbled\nhead over heels across the field right into a spring; but lo! when it\ncame out of the spring it saw its way quite plain, and so saved its\nlife.\n\n\u201cSo, so!\u201d thought the lion, and went and dragged the lad to the spring,\nand dipped him over head and ears in it. So, when he had got his sight\nagain, he went down to the shore and made signs to the lions that they\nshould all lie close together like a raft; then he stood upon their\nbacks while they swam with him to the mainland. When he had reached the\nshore he went up into a birchen copse, and made the lions lie quiet.\nThen he stole up to the castle, like a thief, to see if he couldn\u2019t lay\nhands on his belt; and when he got to the door, he peeped through the\nkey-hole, and there he saw his belt hanging up over a door in the\nkitchen. So he crept softly in across the floor, for there was no one\nthere; but as soon as he had got hold of the belt, he began to kick and\nstamp about as though he were mad. Just then his mother came rushing\nout,\u2014\n\n\u201cDear heart, my darling little boy! do give me the belt again,\u201d she\nsaid.\n\n\u201cThank you kindly,\u201d said he. \u201cNow you shall have the doom you passed on\nme,\u201d and he fulfilled it on the spot. When the old Troll heard that, he\ncame in and begged and prayed so prettily that he might not be smitten\nto death.\n\n\u201cWell, you may live,\u201d said the lad, \u201cbut you shall undergo the same\npunishment you gave me;\u201d and so he burned out the Troll\u2019s 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 the\nPrincess; at last he could bear it no longer; he must set out to seek\nher, his heart was so bent on having her. So he loaded four ships and\nset sail for Arabia. For some time they had fair wind and fine weather,\nbut after that they lay wind-bound under a rocky island. So the sailors\nwent ashore and strolled about to spend the time, and there they found a\nhuge egg, almost as big as a little house. So they began to knock it\nabout with large stones, but after all, they couldn\u2019t crack the shell.\nThen the lad came up with his sword to see what all the noise was about,\nand when he saw the egg, he thought it a trifle to crack it; so he gave\nit one blow and the egg split, and out came a chicken as big as an\nelephant.\n\n\u201cNow we have done wrong,\u201d said the lad; \u201cthis can cost us all our\nlives;\u201d and then he asked his sailors if they were men enough to sail to\nArabia in four and twenty hours, if they got a fine breeze. Yes! they\nwere good to do that, they said, so they set sail with a fine breeze,\nand got to Arabia in three-and-twenty hours. As soon as they landed, the\nlad ordered all the sailors to go and bury themselves up to the eyes in\na sandhill, so that they could barely see the ships. The lad and the\ncaptains climbed a high crag and sat down under a fir. In a little while\ncame a great bird flying with an island in its claws and let it fall\ndown on the fleet, and sunk every ship. After it had done that, it flew\nup to the sandhill and flapped its wings, so that the wind nearly took\noff the heads of the sailors, and it flew past the fir with such force\nthat it turned the lad right about, but he was ready with his sword, and\ngave the bird one blow and brought it down dead.\n\nAfter that he went to the town, where every one was glad because the\nking had got his daughter back; but now the king had hidden her away\nsomewhere himself, and promised her hand as a reward to any one who\ncould find her, and this though she was betrothed before. Now as the lad\nwent along he met a man who had white bear-skins for sale, so he bought\none of the hides and put it on; and one of the captains was to take an\niron chain and lead him about, and so he went into the town and began to\nplay pranks. At last the news came to the king\u2019s ears, that there never\nhad been such fun in the town before, for here was a white bear that\ndanced and cut capers just as it was bid. So a messenger came to say the\nbear must come to the castle at once, for the king wanted to see its\ntricks. So when it got to the castle every one was afraid, for such a\nbeast they had never seen before; but the captain said there was no\ndanger unless they laughed at it. They mustn\u2019t do that, else it would\ntear them to pieces. When the king heard that, he warned all the court\nnot to laugh. But while the fun was going on, in came one of the king\u2019s\nmaids, and began to laugh and make game of the bear, and the bear flew\nat her and tore her, so that there was scarce a rag of her left. Then\nall the court began to bewail, and the captain most of all.\n\n\u201cStuff and nonsense!\u201d said the king; \u201cshe\u2019s only a maid, besides it\u2019s\nmore my affair than yours.\u201d\n\nWhen the show was over, it was late at night. \u201cIt\u2019s no good your going\naway, when it\u2019s so late,\u201d said the king. \u201cThe bear had best sleep here.\u201d\n\n\u201cPerhaps it might sleep in the ingle by the kitchen fire,\u201d said the\ncaptain.\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said the king, \u201cit shall sleep up here, and it shall have pillows\nand cushions to sleep on.\u201d So a whole heap of pillows and cushions was\nbrought, 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 bunch\nof keys, and carried off the white bear. He passed along gallery after\ngallery, through doors and rooms, up-stairs and down-stairs, till at\nlast he came to a pier which ran out into the sea. Then the king began\nto pull and haul at posts and pins, this one up and that one down, till\nat last a little house floated up to the water\u2019s edge. There he kept his\ndaughter, for she was so dear to him, that he had hid her, so that no\none could find her out. He left the white bear outside while he went in\nand told her how it had danced and played its pranks. She said she was\nafraid and dared not look at it; but he talked her over, saying there\nwas no danger, if she only wouldn\u2019t laugh. So they brought the bear in,\nand locked the door, and it danced and played its tricks; but just when\nthe fun was at its height, the Princess\u2019s maid began to laugh. Then the\nlad flew at her and tore her to bits, and the Princess began to cry and\nsob.\n\n\u201cStuff and nonsense,\u201d cried the king; \u201call this fuss about a maid! I\u2019ll\nget you just as good a one again. But now I think the bear had best stay\nhere till morning, for I don\u2019t care to have to go and lead it along all\nthose galleries and stairs at this time of night.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the Princess, \u201cif it sleeps here, I\u2019m sure I won\u2019t.\u201d\n\nBut just then the bear curled himself up and lay down by the stove; and\nit was settled at last that the Princess should sleep there too, with a\nlight burning. But as soon as the king was well gone, the white bear\ncame and begged her to undo his collar. The Princess was so scared she\nalmost swooned away; but she felt about till she found the collar, and\nshe had scarce undone it before the bear pulled his head off. Then she\nknew him again, and was so glad there was no end to her joy, and she\nwanted to tell her father at once that her deliverer was come. But the\nlad would not hear of it; he would earn her once more, he said. So in\nthe morning, when they heard the king rattling at the posts outside, the\nlad drew on the hide and lay down by the stove.\n\n\u201cWell, has it lain still?\u201d the king asked.\n\n\u201cI should think so,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cit hasn\u2019t so much as turned or\nstretched itself once.\u201d\n\nWhen they got up to the castle again, the captain took the bear and led\nit away, and then the lad threw off the hide, and went to a tailor and\nordered clothes fit for a prince; and when they were fitted on he went\nto the king, and said he wanted to find the Princess.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re not the first who has wished the same thing,\u201d said the king,\n\u201cbut they have all lost their lives; for if any one who tries can\u2019t find\nher in four and twenty hours his life is forfeited.\u201d\n\nYes; the lad knew all that. Still he wished to try, and if he couldn\u2019t\nfind her, \u2019twas his look-out. Now in the castle there was a band that\nplayed sweet tunes, and there were fair maids to dance with, and so the\nlad danced away. When twelve hours were gone, the king said,\u2014\n\n\u201cI pity you with all my heart. You\u2019re so poor a hand at seeking; you\nwill surely lose your life.\u201d\n\n\u201cStuff!\u201d said the lad; \u201cwhile there\u2019s life there\u2019s hope! So long as\nthere\u2019s breath in the body there\u2019s no fear; we have lots of time;\u201d and\nso he went on dancing till there was only one hour left.\n\nThen he said he would begin to search.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s no use now,\u201d said the king; \u201ctime\u2019s up.\u201d\n\n\u201cLight your lamp; out with your big bunch of keys,\u201d said the lad, \u201cand\nfollow me whither I wish to go. There is still a whole hour left.\u201d\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 down\nto the pier which ran out into the sea.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all no use, I tell you,\u201d said the king; \u201ctime\u2019s up, and this will\nonly lead you right out into the sea.\u201d\n\n\u201cStill five minutes more,\u201d said the lad, as he pulled and pushed at the\nposts and pins, and the house floated up.\n\n\u201cNow the time is up,\u201d bawled the king; \u201ccome hither, headsman, and take\noff his head.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, nay!\u201d said the lad; \u201cstop a bit, there are still three minutes!\nOut with the key, and let me get into this house.\u201d\n\nBut there stood the king and fumbled with his keys, to draw out the\ntime. At last he said he hadn\u2019t any key.\n\n\u201cWell, if you haven\u2019t, I _have_,\u201d said the lad, as he gave the door such\na 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 king\u2019s daughter of Arabia.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n WHY THE BEAR IS STUMPY-TAILED.\n\n\nONE day the Bear met the Fox, who came slinking along with a string of\nfish he had stolen.\n\n\u201cWhence did you get those from?\u201d asked the Bear.\n\n\u201cOh! my Lord Bruin, I\u2019ve been out fishing and caught them,\u201d said the\nFox.\n\nSo the Bear had a mind to learn to fish too, and bade the Fox tell him\nhow he was to set about it.\n\n\u201cOh! it\u2019s an easy craft for you,\u201d answered the Fox, \u201cand soon learnt.\nYou\u2019ve only got to go upon the ice, and cut a hole and stick your tail\ndown into it; and so you must go on holding it there as long as you can.\nYou\u2019re not to mind if your tail smarts a little; that\u2019s when the fish\nbite. The longer you hold it there the more fish you\u2019ll get; and then\nall at once out with it, with a cross pull sideways, and with a strong\npull too.\u201d\n\nYes; the Bear did as the Fox had said, and held his tail a long, long\ntime down in the hole, till it was fast frozen in. Then he pulled it out\nwith a cross pull, and it snapped short off. That\u2019s why Bruin goes about\nwith a stumpy tail this very day.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n NOT A PIN TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THEM.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a man, and he had a wife. Now this couple\nwanted to sow their fields, but they had neither seed-corn nor money to\nbuy it with. But they had a cow, and the man was to drive it into town\nand sell it, to get money to buy corn for seed. But when it came to the\npinch, the wife dared not let her husband start for fear he should spend\nthe money in drink, so she set off herself with the cow, and took\nbesides a hen with her.\n\nClose by the town she met a butcher, who asked,\u2014\n\n\u201cWill you sell that cow, Goody?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, that I will,\u201d she answered.\n\n\u201cWell, what do you want for her?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! I must have five shillings for the cow, but you shall have the hen\nfor ten pound.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery good!\u201d said the man; \u201cI don\u2019t want the hen, and you\u2019ll soon get it\noff your hands in the town, but I\u2019ll give you five shillings for the\ncow.\n\nWell, she sold her cow for five shillings, but there was no one in the\ntown who would give ten pound for a lean tough old hen, so she went back\nto the butcher, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cDo all I can, I can\u2019t get rid of this hen, master! you must take it\ntoo, as you took the cow.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the butcher, \u201ccome along and we\u2019ll see about it.\u201d Then he\ntreated her both with meat and drink, and gave her so much brandy that\nshe lost her head, and didn\u2019t know what she was about, and fell fast\nasleep. But while she slept, the butcher took and dipped her into a\ntar-barrel, and then laid her down on a heap of feathers; and when she\nwoke up, she was feathered all over, and began to wonder what had\nbefallen her.\n\n\u201cIs it me, or is it not me? No, it can never be me; it must be some\ngreat strange bird. But what shall I do to find out whether it is me or\nnot. Oh! I know how I shall be able to tell whether it is me; if the\ncalves come and lick me, and our dog Tray doesn\u2019t bark at me when I get\nhome, then it must be me, and no one else.\u201d\n\nNow, Tray, her dog, had scarce set his eyes on the strange monster which\ncame through the gate, than he set up such a barking, one would have\nthought all the rogues and robbers in the world were in the yard.\n\n\u201cAh, deary me,\u201d said she, \u201cI thought so; it can\u2019t be me surely.\u201d So she\nwent to the straw-yard, and the calves wouldn\u2019t lick her, when they\nsnuffed in the strong smell of tar.\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d she said, \u201cit can\u2019t be me; it must be some strange outlandish\nbird.\u201d\n\nSo she crept up on the roof of the safe, and began to flap her arms, as\nif they had been wings, and was just going to fly off.\n\nWhen her husband saw all this, out he came with his rifle, and began to\ntake aim at her.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d cried his wife, \u201cdon\u2019t shoot, don\u2019t shoot! it is only me.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it\u2019s you,\u201d said her husband, \u201cdon\u2019t stand up there like a goat on a\nhouse-top, but come down and let me hear what you have to say for\nyourself.\u201d\n\nSo she crawled down again, but she hadn\u2019t a shilling to shew, for the\ncrown she had got from the butcher she had thrown away in her\ndrunkenness. When her husband heard her story, he said, \u201cYou\u2019re only\ntwice as silly as you were before,\u201d and he got so angry that he made up\nhis mind to go away from her altogether, and never to come back till he\nhad found three other Goodies as silly as his own.\n\nSo he toddled off, and when he had walked a little way he saw a Goody,\nwho was running in and out of a newly-built wooden cottage with an empty\nsieve, and every time she ran in, she threw her apron over the sieve\njust as if she had something in it, and when she got in she turned it\nupside down on the floor.\n\n\u201cWhy, Goody!\u201d he asked, \u201cwhat are you doing!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d she answered, \u201cI\u2019m only carrying in a little sun; but I don\u2019t know\nhow it is, when I\u2019m outside, I have the sun in my sieve, but when I get\ninside, somehow or other I\u2019ve thrown it away. But in my old cottage I\nhad plenty of sun, though I never carried in the least bit. I only wish\nI knew some one who would bring the sun inside; I\u2019d give him three\nhundred dollars and welcome.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you got an axe?\u201d asked the man. \u201cIf you have, I\u2019ll soon bring the\nsun inside.\u201d\n\nSo he got an axe, and cut windows in the cottage, for the carpenters had\nforgotten them; then the sun shone in, and he got his three hundred\ndollars.\n\n\u201cThat was one of them,\u201d said the man to himself, as he went on his way.\n\nAfter a while he passed by a house, out of which came an awful screaming\nand bellowing; so he turned in and saw a Goody, who was hard at work\nbanging her husband across the head with a beetle, and over his head she\nhad drawn a shirt without any slit for the neck.\n\n\u201cWhy, Goody!\u201d he asked, \u201cwill you beat your husband to death?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d she said, \u201cI only must have a hole in this shirt for his neck to\ncome through.\u201d\n\nAll the while the husband kept on screaming and calling out,\u2014\n\n\u201cHeaven help and comfort all who try on new shirts. If any one would\nteach my Goody another way of making a slit for the neck in my new\nshirts, I\u2019d give him three hundred dollars down and welcome.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll do it in the twinkling of an eye,\u201d said the man, \u201cif you\u2019ll only\ngive me a pair of scissors.\u201d\n\nSo he got a pair of scissors, and snipped a hole in the neck, and went\noff with his three hundred dollars.\n\n\u201cThat was another of them,\u201d he said to himself, as he walked along.\n\nLast of all, he came to a farm, where he made up his mind to rest a bit.\nSo when he went in, the mistress asked him,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhence do you come, master?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said he, \u201cI come from Paradise Place,\u201d for that was the name of\nhis farm.\n\n\u201cFrom Paradise Place!\u201d she cried, \u201cyou don\u2019t say so! Why, then you must\nknow my second husband Peter, who is dead and gone, God rest his soul.\u201d\n\nFor you must know this Goody had been married three times, and as her\nfirst and last husbands had been bad, she had made up her mind that the\nsecond only was gone to heaven.\n\n\u201cOh yes,\u201d said the man; \u201cI know him very well.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d asked the Goody, \u201chow do things go with him, poor dear soul?\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly middling,\u201d was the answer; \u201che goes about begging from house to\nhouse, and has neither food nor a rag to his back. As for money, he\nhasn\u2019t a sixpence to bless himself with.\u201d\n\n\u201cMercy on me!\u201d cried out the Goody; \u201che never ought to go about such a\nfigure when he left so much behind him. Why, there\u2019s a whole cupboard\nfull of old clothes up-stairs which belonged to him, besides a great\nchest full of money yonder. Now, if you will take them with you, you\nshall have a horse and cart to carry them. As for the horse, he can keep\nit, and sit on the cart, and drive about from house to house, and then\nhe needn\u2019t trudge on foot.\u201d\n\nSo the man got a whole cart-load of clothes, and a chest full of shining\ndollars, and as much meat and drink as he would; and when he had got all\nhe wanted, he jumped into the cart and drove off.\n\n\u201cThat was the third,\u201d he said to himself, as he went along.\n\nNow this Goody\u2019s third husband was a little way off in a field\nploughing, and when he saw a strange man driving off from the farm with\nhis horse and cart, he went home and asked his wife who that was that\nhad just started with the black horse.\n\n\u201cOh, do you mean him?\u201d said the Goody; \u201cwhy, that was a man from\nParadise, who said that Peter, my dear second husband, who is dead and\ngone, is in a sad plight, and that he goes from house to house begging,\nand has neither clothes nor money; so I just sent him all those old\nclothes he left behind him, and the old money-box with the dollars in\nit.\u201d\n\nThe man saw how the land lay in a trice, so he saddled his horse and\nrode off from the farm at full gallop. It wasn\u2019t long before he was\nclose behind the man who sat and drove the cart; but when the latter saw\nthis he drove the cart into a thicket by the side of the road, pulled\nout a handfull of hair from the horse\u2019s tail, jumped up on a little rise\nin the wood, where he tied the hair fast to a birch, and then lay down\nunder it, and began to peer and stare up at the sky.\n\n\u201cWell, well, if I ever!\u201d he said, as Peter the third came riding up.\n\u201cNo! I never saw the like of this in all my born days!\u201d\n\nThen Peter stood and looked at him for some time, wondering what had\ncome over him; but at last he asked,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat do you lie there staring at?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d kept on the man, \u201cI never did see anything like it!\u2014here is a man\ngoing straight up to heaven on a black horse, and here you see his\nhorse\u2019s tail still hanging in this birch; and yonder up in the sky you\nsee the black horse.\u201d\n\nPeter looked first at the man, and then at the sky, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cI see nothing but the horse hair in the birch; that\u2019s all I see!\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course you can\u2019t where you stand,\u201d said the man; \u201cbut just come and\nlie down here, and stare straight up, and mind you don\u2019t take your eyes\noff the sky; and then you shall see what you shall see.\u201d\n\nBut while Peter the third lay and stared up at the sky till his eyes\nfilled with tears, the man from Paradise Place took his horse and jumped\non its back, and rode off both with it and the cart and horse.\n\nWhen the hoofs thundered along the road Peter the third jumped up; but\nhe was so taken aback when he found the man had gone off with his horse\nthat he hadn\u2019t the sense to run after him till it was too late.\n\nHe was rather down in the mouth when he got home to his Goody; but when\nshe asked him what he had done with the horse, he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cI gave it to the man too for Peter the second, for I thought it wasn\u2019t\nright he should sit in a cart, and scramble about from house to house;\nso now he can sell the cart and buy himself a coach to drive about in.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you heartily!\u201d said his wife; \u201cI never thought you could be so\nkind.\u201d\n\nWell, when the man reached home, who had got the six hundred dollars and\nthe cart-load of clothes and money, he saw that all his fields were\nploughed and sown, and the first thing he asked his wife was, where she\nhad got the seed-corn from.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d she said, \u201cI have always heard that what a man sows he shall reap,\nso I sowed the salt which our friends the north-country men laid up here\nwith us, and if we only have rain I fancy it will come up nicely.\u201d\n\n\u201cSilly you are,\u201d said her husband, \u201cand silly you will be so long as you\nlive; but that is all one now, for the rest are not a bit wiser than\nyou. There is not a pin to choose between you.\u201d\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n ONE\u2019S OWN CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PRETTIEST.\n\n\nA SPORTSMAN went out once into a wood to shoot, and he met a Snipe.\n\n\u201cDear friend,\u201d said the Snipe, \u201cdon\u2019t shoot my children!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow shall I know your children?\u201d asked the Sportsman; \u201cwhat are they\nlike?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the Snipe, \u201cmine are the prettiest children in all the wood.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the Sportsman, \u201cI\u2019ll not shoot them; don\u2019t be afraid.\u201d\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\u201cOh, oh!\u201d said the Snipe, \u201cwhy did you shoot my children after all?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! these your children!\u201d said the Sportsman; \u201cwhy, I shot the\nugliest I could find, that I did!\u201d\n\n\u201cWoe is me!\u201d said the Snipe; \u201cdon\u2019t you know that each one thinks his\nown children the prettiest in the world?\u201d\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE 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\u2019s table. One day when he was out fishing he just\ncaught nothing. Do what he would\u2014however he tried with bait and\nangle\u2014there was never a sprat on his hook. But when the day was far\nspent a head bobbed up out of the water, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf I may have what your wife bears under her girdle, you shall catch\nfish enough.\u201d\n\nSo the man answered boldly, \u201cYes;\u201d for he did not know that his wife was\ngoing to have a child. After that, as was like enough, he caught plenty\nof fish of all kinds. But when he got home at night, and told his story,\nhow he had got all that fish, his wife fell a weeping and moaning, and\nwas beside herself for the promise which her husband had made, for she\nsaid, \u201cI bear a babe under my girdle.\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND\n]\n\nWell the story soon spread, and came up to the castle; and when the king\nheard the woman\u2019s grief and its cause, he sent down to say he would take\ncare of the child, and see if he couldn\u2019t save it.\n\nSo the months went on and on, and when her time came the fisher\u2019s 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 the\nking wouldn\u2019t hear of it, but at last the lad had his way, and went. So\nhe and his father were out the whole day, and all went right and well\ntill they landed at night. Then the lad remembered he had left his\nhandkerchief, and went to look for it; but as soon as ever he got into\nthe boat, it began to move off with him at such speed that the water\nroared under the bow, and all the lad could do in rowing against it with\nthe oars was no use; so he went and went the whole night, and at last he\ncame 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\u201cWhat\u2019s the name of this land?\u201d asked the lad.\n\n\u201cWhiteland,\u201d 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\u201cAy, ay!\u201d said the man; \u201cnow when you have walked a little farther along\nthe strand here, you\u2019ll come to three Princesses, whom you will see\nstanding in the earth up to their necks, with only their heads out. Then\nthe first\u2014she is the eldest\u2014will call out and beg you so prettily to\ncome and help her; and the second will do the same; to neither of these\nshall you go; make haste past them, as if you neither saw nor heard\nanything. But the third you shall go to, and do what she asks. If you do\nthis you\u2019ll have good luck\u2014that\u2019s all.\u201d\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 saw\nher not. In the same way he passed by the second; but to the third he\nwent straight up.\n\n\u201cIf you\u2019ll do what I bid you,\u201d she said, \u201cyou may have which of us you\nplease.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes;\u201d he was willing enough; so she told him how three Trolls had set\nthem down in the earth there; but before they had lived in the castle up\namong the trees.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d she said, \u201cyou must go into that castle, and let the Trolls whip\nyou each one night for each of us. If you can bear that you\u2019ll set us\nfree.\u201d\n\nWell, the lad said he was ready to try.\n\n\u201cWhen you go in,\u201d the Princess went on to say, \u201cyou\u2019ll see two lions\nstanding at the gate; but if you\u2019ll only go right in the middle between\nthem they\u2019ll do you no harm. Then go straight on into a little dark\nroom, and make your bed. Then the Troll will come to whip you; but if\nyou take the flask which hangs on the wall, and rub yourself with the\nointment that\u2019s in it wherever his lash falls, you\u2019ll be as sound as\never. Then grasp the sword that hangs by the side of the flask and\nstrike the Troll dead.\u201d\n\nYes, he did as the Princess told him; he passed in the midst between the\nlions, as if he hadn\u2019t seen them, and went straight into the little\nroom, and there he lay down to sleep. The first night there came a Troll\nwith three heads and three rods, and whipped the lad soundly; but he\nstood it till the Troll was done; then he took the flask and rubbed\nhimself, and grasped the sword and slew the Troll.\n\nSo, when he went out next morning, the Princesses stood out of the earth\nup to their waists.\n\nThe next night \u2019twas the same story over again, only this time the Troll\nhad six heads and six rods, and he whipped him far worse than the first;\nbut when he went out next morning, the Princesses stood out of the earth\nas far as the knee.\n\nThe third night there came a Troll that had nine heads and nine rods,\nand he whipped and flogged the lad so long that he fainted away; then\nthe Troll took him up and dashed him against the wall; but the shock\nbrought down the flask, which fell on the lad, burst, and spilled the\nointment all over him, and so he became as strong and sound as ever\nagain. Then he wasn\u2019t slow; he grasped the sword and slew the Troll; and\nnext morning when he went out of the castle the Princesses stood before\nhim with all their bodies out of the earth. So he took the youngest for\nhis Queen, and lived well and happily with her for some time.\n\nAt last he began to long to go home for a little to see his parents. His\nQueen did not like this: but at last his heart was so set on it, and he\nlonged and longed so much, there was no holding him back, so she said,\u2014\n\n\u201cOne thing you must promise me. This.\u2014Only to do what your father begs\nyou to do, and not what your mother wishes;\u201d 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 had\nbecome.\n\nNow, when he had been at home some days, his mother wished him to go up\nto the palace and shew the king what a fine fellow he had come to be.\nBut his father said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNo! don\u2019t let him do that; if he does, we shan\u2019t have any more joy of\nhim this time.\u201d\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\u2019t quite like this, and\nat last he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cAll very fine; but here you can see my queen, what like she is, but I\ncan\u2019t see yours, that I can\u2019t. Do you know, I scarce think she\u2019s so\ngood-looking as mine.\u201d\n\n\u201cWould to Heaven,\u201d said the young king, \u201cshe were standing here, then\nyou\u2019d see what she was like.\u201d And that instant there she stood before\nthem.\n\nBut she was very woeful, and said to him,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhy 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.\u201d\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. \u201cI\u2019ll just\ntry,\u201d he thought, \u201cif I can\u2019t learn where Whiteland lies;\u201d and so he\nwent out into the world to ask. So when he had gone a good way, he came\nto a high hill, and there he met one who was lord over all the beasts of\nthe wood, for they all came home to him when he blew his horn; so the\nking asked if he knew where Whiteland was?\n\n\u201cNo, I don\u2019t,\u201d said he, \u201cbut I\u2019ll ask my beasts.\u201d Then he blew his horn\nand called them, and asked if any of them knew where Whiteland lay? but\nthere was no beast that knew.\n\nSo the man gave him a pair of snow-shoes.\n\n\u201cWhen you get on these,\u201d he said, \u201cyou\u2019ll come to my brother, who lives\nhundreds of miles off; he is lord over all the birds of the air. Ask\nhim. When you reach his house, just turn the shoes, so that the toes\npoint this way, and they\u2019ll come home of themselves.\u201d So when the king\nreached the house, he turned the shoes as the lord of the beasts had\nsaid, and away they went home of themselves.\n\nSo he asked again after Whiteland, and the man called all the birds with\na blast of his horn, and asked if any of them knew where Whiteland lay;\nbut none of the birds knew. Now, long, long after the rest of the birds,\ncame an old eagle, which had been away ten round years, but he couldn\u2019t\ntell any more than the rest.\n\n\u201cWell! well!\u201d said the man, \u201cI\u2019ll lend you a pair of snow-shoes, and\nwhen you get them on, they\u2019ll carry you to my brother, who lives\nhundreds of miles off; he\u2019s lord of all the fish in the sea; you\u2019d\nbetter ask him. But don\u2019t forget to turn the toes of the shoes this\nway.\u201d\n\nThe king was full of thanks, got on the shoes, and when he came to the\nman who was lord over the fish of the sea, he turned the toes round, and\nso off they went home like the other pair. After that, he asked again\nafter Whiteland.\n\nSo the man called the fish with a blast, but no fish could tell where it\nlay. At last came an old pike which they had great work to call home, he\nwas such a way off. So when they asked him he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cKnow it! I should think I did. I\u2019ve been cook there ten years, and\nto-morrow I\u2019m going there again; for now, the queen of Whiteland, whose\nking is away, is going to wed another husband.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the man, \u201cas this is so, I\u2019ll 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 boots.\nIf any one has these three things, he can make himself invisible, and\nwish himself anywhere he pleases. You can tell them you wish to try the\nthings, and after that, you\u2019ll pass judgment between them, whose they\nshall be.\u201d\n\nYes! the king thanked the man, and went and did as he told him.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s all this?\u201d he said to the brothers. \u201cWhy do you stand here\nfighting for ever and a day? Just let me try these things, and I\u2019ll give\njudgment whose they shall be.\u201d\n\nThey were very willing to do this; but as soon as he had got the hat,\ncloak, and boots, he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhen we meet next time I\u2019ll tell you my judgment,\u201d and with these words\nhe wished himself away.\n\nSo as he went along up in the air, he came up with the North Wind.\n\n\u201cWhither away?\u201d roared the North Wind.\n\n\u201cTo Whiteland,\u201d said the king; and then he told him all that had\nbefallen him.\n\n\u201cAh,\u201d said the North Wind, \u201cyou go faster than I\u2014you do; for you can go\nstraight, while I have to puff and blow round every turn and corner. But\nwhen you get there, just place yourself on the stairs by the side of the\ndoor, and then I\u2019ll come storming in, as though I were going to blow\ndown the whole castle. And then when the prince, who is to have your\nqueen, comes out to see what\u2019s the matter, just you take him by the\ncollar and pitch him out of doors; then I\u2019ll look after him, and see if\nI can\u2019t carry him off.\u201d\n\nWell\u2014the 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 to\nsee what was the matter. But as soon as ever he came, the king caught\nhim by the collar and pitched him out of doors, and then the North Wind\ncaught him up, and carried him off. So when there was an end of him, the\nking went into the castle, and at first his queen didn\u2019t know him, he\nwas so wan and thin, through wandering so far and being so woeful; but\nwhen he shewed her the ring, she was as glad as glad could be; and so\nthe rightful wedding was held, and the fame of it spread far and wide.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE 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 money\nto pay the parson\u2019s fees. So one day the father went out to see if he\ncould find any one who was willing to stand for the child and pay the\nfees; but though he walked about the whole day from one house to\nanother, and though all said they were willing enough to stand, no one\nthought himself bound to pay the fees. Now, when he was going home\nagain, a lovely lady met him, dressed so fine, and who 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 he\ngot home and told his story, the wife said, right out, \u201cNo!\u201d\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. And\nagain as he went home, towards evening the same lovely lady met him, who\nlooked so sweet and good, and she made him the same offer. So he told\nhis wife again how he had fared, and this time she said, if he couldn\u2019t\nget any one to stand for his babe next day, they must just let the lady\nhave her way, since she seemed so kind and good.\n\nThe third day, the man went about, but he couldn\u2019t get any one to stand;\nand so when, towards evening, he met the kind lady again, he gave his\nword she should have the babe if she would only get it christened at the\nfont. So next morning she came to the place where the man lived,\nfollowed by two men to stand godfathers, took the babe and carried it to\nchurch, and there it was christened. After that she took it to her own\nhouse, and there the little girl lived with her several years, and her\nfoster-mother was always kind and friendly to her.\n\nNow, when the lassie had grown to be big enough to know right and wrong,\nher foster-mother got ready to go on a journey.\n\n\u201cYou have my leave,\u201d she said, \u201cto go all over the house, except those\nrooms which I shew you;\u201d and when she had said that, away she went.\n\nBut the lassie could not forbear just to open one of the doors a little\nbit, when\u2014Pop! out flew a Star.\n\nWhen her foster-mother came back, she was very vexed to find that the\nstar had flown out, and she got very angry with her foster-daughter, and\nthreatened to send her away; but the child cried and begged so hard that\nshe got leave to stay.\n\nNow, after a while, the foster-mother had to go on another journey; and,\nbefore she went, she forbade the lassie to go into those two rooms into\nwhich she had never been. She promised to beware; but when she was left\nalone, she began to think and to wonder what there could be in the\nsecond room, and at last she could not help setting the door a little\na-jar, just to peep in, when\u2014Pop! 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 not\nstay with her any longer. But the lassie wept so bitterly, and prayed so\nheartily for forgiveness, that this time, too, she got leave to stay.\n\nSome time after, the foster-mother had to go away again, and she charged\nthe lassie, who by this time was half grown up, most earnestly that she\nmustn\u2019t try to go into, or to peep into, the third room. But when her\nfoster-mother had been gone some time, and the lassie was weary of\nwalking about alone, all at once she thought, \u201cDear me, what fun it\nwould be just to peep a little into that third room.\u201d Then she thought\nshe mustn\u2019t do it for her foster-mother\u2019s sake; but when the bad thought\ncame the second time, she could hold out no longer; come what might, she\nmust and would look into the room; so she just opened the door a tiny\nbit, when\u2014POP! 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, \u201cNow, there was no help for\nit, the lassie must and should go away; she couldn\u2019t hear of her staying\nany longer.\u201d Now the lassie cried her eyes out, and begged and prayed so\nprettily; but it was all no good.\n\n\u201cNay! but I must punish you!\u201d said her foster-mother; \u201cbut you may have\nyour choice, either to be the loveliest woman in the world, and not to\nbe able to speak, or to keep your speech, and be the ugliest of all\nwomen; but away from me you must go.\u201d\n\nAnd the lassie said, \u201cI would sooner be lovely.\u201d So she became all at\nonce wondrous fair; but from that day forth she was dumb.\n\nSo, when she went away from her foster-mother, she walked and wandered\nthrough a great, great wood; but the farther she went, the farther off\nthe end seemed to be. So, when the evening came on, she clomb up into a\ntall tree, which grew over a spring, and there she made herself up to\nsleep that night. Close by lay a castle, and from that castle came early\nevery morning a maid to draw water, to make the Prince\u2019s tea, from the\nspring over which the lassie was sitting. So the maid looked down into\nthe spring, saw the lovely face in the water, and thought it was her\nown; then she flung away the pitcher, and ran home; and, when she got\nthere, she tossed up her head and said, \u201cIf I\u2019m so pretty, I\u2019m far too\ngood to go and fetch water.\u201d\n\nSo another maid had to go for the water, but the same thing happened to\nher; she went back and said she was far too pretty and too good to fetch\nwater from the spring for the Prince. Then the Prince went himself, for\nhe had a mind to see what all this could mean. So, when he reached the\nspring, he too saw the image in the water; but he looked up at once, and\nbecame aware of the lovely lassie who sat there up in the tree. Then he\ncoaxed her down and took her home; and at last made up his mind to have\nher for his queen, because she was so lovely; but his mother, who was\nstill alive, was against it.\n\n\u201cShe can\u2019t speak,\u201d she said, \u201cand maybe she\u2019s a wicked witch.\u201d\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 round 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\u2019s mouth\nwith the blood; and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow you shall be as grieved as I was when you let out the star;\u201d 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 but\nthe Prince was so fond of her that at last he begged her off, but he had\nhard work to set her free.\n\nSo the next time the young Queen was to have a child, twice as strong a\nwatch was set as the first time, but the same thing happened over again,\nonly this time her foster-mother said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow you shall be as grieved as I was when you let the moon out.\u201d\n\nAnd the Queen begged, and prayed, and wept; for when her foster-mother\nwas there, she could speak\u2014but it was all no good.\n\nAnd now the old queen said she must be burnt, but the Prince found means\nto beg her off. But when the third child was to be born, a watch was set\nthree times as strong as the first, but just the same thing happened.\nHer foster-mother came while the watch slept, took the babe and cut its\nlittle finger, and smeared the Queen\u2019s mouth with the blood, telling her\nnow she should be as grieved as she had been when the lassie let out the\nsun.\n\nAnd now the Prince could not save her any longer. She must and should be\nburnt. But just as they were leading her to the stake, all at once they\nsaw her foster-mother, who came with all three children\u2014two she led by\nthe hand, and the third she had on her arm; and so she went up to the\nyoung Queen and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cHere are your children; now you shall have them again. I am the Virgin\nMary, and so grieved as you have been, so grieved was I when you let out\nsun, and moon, and star. Now you have been punished for what you did,\nand henceforth you shall have your speech.\u201d\n\nHow glad the Queen and Prince now were, all may easily think, but no one\ncan tell. After that they were always happy; and from that day even the\nPrince\u2019s mother was very fond of the young Queen.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n[Illustration:\n\n THE THREE AUNTS\n]\n\n\n\n\n THE THREE AUNTS.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a poor man who lived in a hut far away in the\nwood, and got his living by shooting. He had an only daughter who was\nvery pretty, and as she had lost her mother when she was a child, and\nwas now half grown up, she said she would go out into the world and earn\nher bread.\n\n\u201cWell, lassie!\u201d said the father, \u201ctrue enough you have learnt nothing\nhere but how to pluck birds and roast them, but still you may as well\ntry to earn your bread.\u201d\n\nSo the girl went off to seek a place, and when she had gone a little\nwhile, she came to a palace. There she stayed and got a place, and the\nqueen liked her so well, that all the other maids got envious of her. So\nthey made up their minds to tell the queen how the lassie said she was\ngood to spin a pound of flax in four and twenty hours, for you must know\nthe queen was a great housewife, and thought much of good work.\n\n\u201cHave you said this? then you shall do it,\u201d said the queen; \u201cbut you may\nhave a little longer time if you choose.\u201d\n\nNow, the poor lassie dared not say she had never spun in all her life,\nbut she only begged for a room to herself. That she got, and the wheel\nand the flax were brought up to her. There she sat sad and weeping, and\nknew not how to help herself. She pulled the wheel this way and that,\nand twisted and turned it about, but she made a poor hand of it, for she\nhad never even seen a spinning-wheel in her life.\n\nBut all at once, as she sat there, in came an old woman to her.\n\n\u201cWhat ails you child?\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the lassie, with a deep sigh, \u201cit\u2019s no good to tell you, for\nyou\u2019ll never be able to help me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho knows?\u201d said the old wife. \u201cMay be I know how to help you after\nall.\u201d\n\nWell, thought the lassie to herself, I may as well tell her, and so she\ntold her how her fellow-servants had given out that she was good to spin\na pound of flax in four and twenty hours.\n\n\u201cAnd here am I, wretch that I am, shut up to spin all that heap in a day\nand a night, when I have never even seen a spinning-wheel in all my born\ndays.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, never mind, child,\u201d said the old woman, \u201cif you\u2019ll call me Aunt\non the happiest day of your life, I\u2019ll spin this flax for you, and so\nyou may just go away and lie down to sleep.\u201d\n\nYes the lassie was willing enough, and off she went and lay down to\nsleep.\n\nNext morning when she awoke, there lay all the flax spun on the table,\nand that so clean and fine, no one had ever seen such even and pretty\nyarn. The queen was very glad to get such nice yarn, and she set greater\nstore by the lassie than ever. But the rest were still more envious, and\nagreed to tell the queen how the lassie had said she was good to weave\nthe yarn she had spun in four and twenty hours. So the queen said again,\nas she had said it she must do it; but if she couldn\u2019t quite finish it\nin four and twenty hours, she wouldn\u2019t be too hard upon her, she might\nhave a little more time. This time, too, the lassie dared not say No,\nbut begged for a room to herself, and then she would try. There she sat\nagain, sobbing and crying, and not knowing which way to turn, when\nanother old woman came in and asked,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhat ails you, child?\u201d\n\nAt first the lassie wouldn\u2019t say, but at last she told her the whole\nstory of her grief.\n\n\u201cWell, well!\u201d said the old wife, \u201cnever mind. If you\u2019ll call me Aunt on\nthe happiest day of your life, I\u2019ll weave this yarn for you, and so you\nmay just be off, and lie down to sleep.\u201d\n\nYes, the lassie was willing enough; so she went away and lay down to\nsleep. When she awoke, there lay the piece of linen on the table, woven\nso neat and close, no woof could be better. So the lassie took the piece\nand ran down to the queen, who was very glad to get such beautiful\nlinen, and set greater store than ever by the lassie. But as for the\nothers, they grew still more bitter against her, and thought of nothing\nbut how to find out something to tell about her.\n\nAt last they told the queen the lassie had said she was good to make up\nthe piece of linen into shirts in four and twenty hours. Well, all\nhappened as before; the lassie dared not say she couldn\u2019t sew; so she\nwas shut up again in a room by herself, and there she sat in tears and\ngrief. But then another old wife came, who said she would sew the shirts\nfor her if she would call her Aunt on the happiest day of her life. The\nlassie was only too glad to do this, and then she did as the old wife\ntold her, and went and lay down to sleep.\n\nNext morning when she woke she found the piece of linen made up into\nshirts, which lay on the table\u2014and such beautiful work no one had ever\nset eyes on; and more than that, the shirts were all marked and ready\nfor wear. So when the queen saw the work, she was so glad at the way in\nwhich it was sewn, that she clapped her hands and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cSuch sewing I never had, nor even saw in all my born days;\u201d and after\nthat she was as fond of the lassie as of her own children; and she said\nto her,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, if you like to have the Prince for your husband, you shall have\nhim; for you will never need to hire workwomen. You can sew, and spin,\nand weave all yourself.\u201d\n\nSo as the lassie was pretty, and the Prince was glad to have her, the\nwedding soon came on. But just as the Prince was going to sit down with\nthe bride to the bridal feast, in came an ugly old hag with a long\nnose\u2014I\u2019m sure it was three ells long.\n\nSo up got the bride and made a curtsey, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cGood-day, Auntie.\u201d\n\n\u201c_That_ Auntie to my bride,\u201d said the Prince.\n\n\u201cYes, she was!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, then, she\u2019d better sit down with us to the feast,\u201d said the\nPrince; but, to tell you the truth, both he and the rest thought she was\na loathsome woman to have next you.\n\nBut just then in came another ugly old hag. She had a back so humped and\nbroad, she had hard work to get through the door. Up jumped the bride in\na trice, and greeted her with \u201cGood-day, Auntie!\u201d\n\nAnd the Prince asked again if that were his bride\u2019s aunt. They both said\nYes; so the Prince said, if that were so, she too had better sit down\nwith them to the feast.\n\nBut they had scarce taken their seats before another ugly old hag came\nin, with eyes as large as saucers, and so red and bleared, \u2019twas\ngruesome to look at her. But up jumped the bride again, with her\n\u201cGood-day, Auntie,\u201d and her, too, the Prince asked to sit down; but I\ncan\u2019t say he was very glad, for he thought to himself,\u2014\n\n\u201cHeaven shield me from such Aunties as my bride has!\u201d So when he had sat\na while, he could not keep his thoughts to himself any longer, but\nasked,\u2014\n\n\u201cBut how, in all the world, can my bride, who is such a lovely lassie,\nhave such loathsome, misshapen Aunts?\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll soon tell you how it is,\u201d said the first. \u201cI was just as\ngood-looking when I was her age; but the reason why I\u2019ve got this long\nnose is, because I was always kept sitting, and poking, and nodding over\nmy spinning, and so my nose got stretched and stretched, until it got as\nlong as you now see it.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I,\u201d said the second, \u201cever since I was young, I have sat and\nscuttled backwards and forwards over my loom, and that\u2019s how my back has\ngot so broad and humped, as you now see it.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I,\u201d said the third, \u201cever since I was little, I have sat, and\nstared, and sewn, and sewn and stared, night and day; and that\u2019s why my\neyes have got so ugly and red, and now there\u2019s no help for them.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo! so!\u201d said the Prince, \u201c\u2019twas lucky I came to know this; for if folk\ncan get so ugly and loathsome by all this, then my bride shall neither\nspin, nor weave, nor sew, all her life long.\u201d\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE COCK, THE CUCKOO, AND THE BLACK-COCK.\n\n [This is another of those tales in which the birds\u2019 notes must be\n imitated.]\n\n\nONCE on a time the Cock, the Cuckoo, and the Black-cock bought a cow\nbetween them. But when they came to share it, and couldn\u2019t agree which\nshould buy the others out, they settled that he who woke first in the\nmorning should have the cow.\n\nSo the Cock woke first.\n\n\u201cNow the cow\u2019s mine! Now the cow\u2019s mine! Hurrah! hurrah!\u201d he crew, and\nas he crew, up woke the Cuckoo.\n\n\u201cHalf cow! Half cow!\u201d sang the Cuckoo, and woke up the Black-cock.\n\n\u201cA like share, a like share; dear friends, that\u2019s only fair! Saw see!\nSee saw!\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s what the Black-cock said.\n\nAnd now, can you tell me which of them ought to have the cow?\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n RICH PETER THE PEDLAR.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a man whom they called Rich Peter the Pedlar,\nbecause he used to travel about with a pack, and got so much money, that\nhe became quite rich. This Rich Peter had a daughter, whom he held so\ndear that all who came to woo her, were sent about their business, for\nno one was good enough for her, he thought. Well, this went on and on,\nand at last no one came to woo her, and as years rolled on, Peter began\nto be afraid that she would die an old maid.\n\n\u201cI wonder now,\u201d he said to his wife, \u201cwhy suitors no longer come to woo\nour lass, who is so rich. \u2019Twould be odd if nobody cared to have her,\nfor money she has, and more she shall have. I think I\u2019d better just go\noff to the Stargazers, and ask them whom she shall have, for not a soul\ncomes to us now.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how,\u201d asked the wife, \u201ccan the Stargazers answer that?\u201d\n\n[Illustration:\n\n RICH PETER THE PEDLAR\n]\n\n\u201cCan\u2019t they?\u201d said Peter; \u201cwhy! they read all things in the stars.\u201d\n\nSo he took with him a great bag of money, and set off to the Stargazers,\nand asked them to be so good as to look at the stars, and tell him the\nhusband his daughter was to have.\n\nWell! the Stargazers looked and looked, but they said they could see\nnothing about it. But Peter begged them to look better, and to tell him\nthe truth; he would pay them well for it. So the Stargazers looked\nbetter, and at last they said that his daughter\u2019s husband was to be the\nmiller\u2019s son, who was only just born, down at the mill below Rich\nPeter\u2019s house. Then Peter gave the Stargazers a hundred dollars, and\nwent home with the answer he had got.\n\nNow, he thought it too good a joke that his daughter should wed one so\nnewly born, and of such poor estate. He said this to his wife, and\nadded,\u2014\n\n\u201cI wonder now if they would sell me the boy; then I\u2019d soon put him out\nof the way?\u201d\n\n\u201cI daresay they would,\u201d said his wife; \u201cyou know they\u2019re very poor.\u201d\n\nSo Peter went down to the mill, and asked the miller\u2019s wife whether she\nwould sell him her son; she should get a heap of money for him.\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d that she wouldn\u2019t.\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said Peter, \u201cI\u2019m sure I can\u2019t see why you shouldn\u2019t; you\u2019ve hard\nwork enough as it is to keep hunger out of the house, and the boy won\u2019t\nmake it easier, I think.\u201d\n\nBut the mother was so proud of the boy, she couldn\u2019t part with him. So\nwhen the miller came home, Peter said the same thing to him, and gave\nhis word to pay six hundred dollars for the boy, so that they might buy\nthemselves a farm of their own, and not have to grind other folks\u2019 corn,\nand to starve when they ran short of water. The miller thought it was a\ngood bargain, and he talked over his wife; and the end was, that Rich\nPeter got the boy. The mother cried and sobbed, but Peter comforted her\nby saying, the boy should be well cared for; only they had to promise\nnever to ask after him, for he said he meant to send him far away to\nother lands, so that he might learn foreign tongues.\n\nSo when Peter the Pedlar got home with the boy, he sent for a carpenter,\nand had a little chest made, which was so tidy and neat, \u2019twas a joy to\nsee. This he made water-tight with pitch, put the miller\u2019s boy into it,\nlocked it up, and threw it into the river, where the stream carried it\naway.\n\n\u201cNow, I\u2019m rid of him,\u201d thought Peter the Pedlar.\n\nBut when the chest had floated ever so far down the stream, it came into\nthe mill-head of another mill, and ran down and hampered the shaft of\nthe wheel, and stopped it. Out came the miller to see what stopped the\nmill, found the chest, and took it up. So when he came home to dinner to\nhis wife, he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cI wonder now whatever there can be inside this chest which came\nfloating down the mill-head, and stopped our mill to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat we\u2019ll soon know,\u201d said his wife; \u201csee there\u2019s the key in the lock,\njust turn it.\u201d\n\nSo they turned the key and opened the chest, and lo! there lay the\nprettiest child you ever set eyes on. So they were both glad, and were\nready to keep the child, for they had no children of their own, and were\nso old, they could now hope for none.\n\n\u201cNow, after a little while Peter the Pedlar began to wonder how it was\nno one came to woo his daughter, who was so rich in land, and had so\nmuch ready money. At last, when no one came, off he went again to the\nStargazers, and offered them a heap of money if they could tell him whom\nhis daughter was to have for a husband.\n\n\u201cWhy! we have told you already, that she is to have the miller\u2019s son\ndown yonder,\u201d said the Stargazers.\n\n\u201cAll very true I daresay,\u201d said Peter the Pedlar; \u201cbut it so happens\nhe\u2019s dead; but if you can tell me whom she\u2019s to have, I\u2019ll give you two\nhundred dollars, and welcome.\u201d\n\nSo the Stargazers looked at the stars again, but they got quite cross,\nand said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWe told you before, and we tell you now, she is to have the miller\u2019s\nson, whom you threw into the river, and wished to make an end of; for he\nis alive, safe and sound, in such and such a mill, far down the stream.\u201d\n\nSo Peter the Pedlar gave them two hundred dollars for this news, and\nthought how he could best be rid of the miller\u2019s son. The first thing\nPeter did when he got home, was to set off for the mill. By that time\nthe boy was so big that he had been confirmed, and went about the mill\nand helped the miller. Such a pretty boy you never saw.\n\n\u201cCan\u2019t you spare me that lad yonder?\u201d said Peter the Pedlar to the\nmiller.\n\n\u201cNo! that I can\u2019t,\u201d he answered; \u201cI\u2019ve brought him up as my own son, and\nhe has turned out so well, that now he\u2019s a great help and aid to me in\nthe mill, for I\u2019m getting old and past work.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s just the same with me,\u201d said Peter the Pedlar; \u201cthat\u2019s why I\u2019d\nlike to have some one to learn my trade. Now, if you\u2019ll give him up to\nme, I\u2019ll give you six hundred dollars, and then you can buy yourself a\nfarm, and live in peace and quiet the rest of your days.\u201d\n\nYes! when the miller heard that, he let Peter the Pedlar have the lad.\n\nThen the two travelled about far and wide with their packs and wares,\ntill they came to an inn, which lay by the edge of a great wood. From\nthis Peter the Pedlar sent the lad home with a letter to his wife, for\nthe way was not so long if you took the short cut across the wood, and\ntold him to tell her she was to be sure and do what was written in the\nletter as quickly as she could. But it was written in the letter, that\nshe was to have a great pile made there and then, fire it, and cast the\nmiller\u2019s son into it. If she didn\u2019t do that, he\u2019d burn her alive himself\nwhen he came back. So the lad set off with the letter across the wood,\nand when evening came on he reached a house far, far away in the wood,\ninto which he went; but inside he found no one. In one of the rooms was\na bed ready made, so he threw himself across it and fell asleep. The\nletter he had stuck into his hat-band, and the hat he pulled over his\nface. So when the robbers came back\u2014for in that house twelve robbers had\ntheir abode\u2014and saw the lad lying on the bed, they began to wonder who\nhe could be, and one of them took the letter and broke it open and read\nit.\n\n\u201cHo! ho!\u201d said he; \u201cthis comes from Peter the Pedlar, does it? Now we\u2019ll\nplay him a trick. It would be a pity if the old niggard made an end of\nsuch a pretty lad.\u201d\n\nSo the robbers wrote another letter to Peter the Pedlar\u2019s wife, and\nfastened it under his hat-band while he slept; and in that they wrote,\nthat as soon as ever she got it she was to make a wedding for her\ndaughter and the miller\u2019s boy, and give them horses and cattle, and\nhousehold stuff, and set them up for themselves in the farm which he had\nunder the hill; and if he didn\u2019t find all this done by the time he came\nback, she\u2019d smart for it\u2014that was all.\n\nNext day the robbers let the lad go, and when he came home and delivered\nthe letter, he said he was to greet her kindly from Peter the Pedlar,\nand to say that she was to carry out what was written in the letter as\nsoon as ever she could.\n\n\u201cYou must have behaved very well then,\u201d said Peter the Pedlar\u2019s wife to\nthe miller\u2019s boy, \u201cif he can write so about you now, for when you set\noff, he was so mad against you, he didn\u2019t know how to put you out of the\nway.\u201d So she married them on the spot, and set them up for themselves,\nwith horses, and cattle, and household stuff, in the farm up under the\nhill.\n\nNo long time after Peter the Pedlar came home, and the first thing he\nasked was, if she had done what he had written in his letter.\n\n\u201cAy! ay!\u201d she said; \u201cI thought it rather odd, but I dared not do\nanything else;\u201d and so Peter asked where his daughter was.\n\n\u201cWhy, you know well enough where she is,\u201d said his wife. \u201cWhere should\nshe be but up at the farm under the hill, as you wrote in the letter.\u201d\n\nSo when Peter the Pedlar came to hear the whole story, and came to see\nthe letter, he got so angry he was ready to burst with rage, and off he\nran up to the farm to the young couple.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s all very well, my son, to say you have got my daughter,\u201d he said\nto the miller\u2019s lad; \u201cbut if you wish to keep her, you must go to the\nDragon of Deepferry, and get me three feathers out of his tail; for he\nwho has them may get anything he chooses.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut where shall I find him?\u201d said his son-in-law.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure I can\u2019t tell,\u201d said Peter the Pedlar; \u201cthat\u2019s your look-out,\nnot mine.\u201d\n\nSo the lad set off with a stout heart, and after he had walked some way,\nhe came to a king\u2019s palace.\n\n\u201cHere I\u2019ll just step in and ask,\u201d he said to himself; \u201cfor such great\nfolk know more about the world than others, and perhaps I may here learn\nthe way to the Dragon.\u201d\n\nThen the King asked him whence he came, and whither he was going?\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the lad, \u201cI\u2019m going to the Dragon of Deepferry to pluck three\nfeathers out of his tail, if I only knew where to find him.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou must take luck with you, then,\u201d said the King, \u201cfor I never heard\nof any one who came back from that search. But if you find him, just ask\nhim from me why I can\u2019t get clear water in my well; for I\u2019ve dug it out\ntime after time, and still I can\u2019t get a drop of clear water.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I\u2019ll be sure to ask him,\u201d said the lad. So he lived on the fat of\nthe land at the palace, and got money and food when he left it.\n\nAt even he came to another king\u2019s palace, and when he went into the\nkitchen, the King came out of the parlour, and asked whence he came, and\non what errand he was bound?\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the lad, \u201cI\u2019m going to the Dragon of Deepferry to pluck three\nfeathers out of his tail.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you must take luck with you,\u201d said the King, \u201cfor I never yet\nheard that any one came back who went to look for him. But if you find\nhim, be so good as to ask him from me where my daughter is, who has been\nlost so many years. I have hunted for her, and had her name given out in\nevery church in the country, but no one can tell me anything about her.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I\u2019ll mind and do that,\u201d said the lad; and in that palace too he\nlived on the best, and when he went away he got both money and food.\n\nSo when evening drew on again he came at last to another king\u2019s palace.\nHere who should come out into the kitchen but the Queen and she asked\nhim whence he came, and on what errand he was bound?\n\n\u201cI\u2019m going to the Dragon of Deepferry to pluck three feathers out of his\ntail,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cThen you\u2019d better take a good piece of luck with you,\u201d said the Queen,\n\u201cfor I never heard of any one that came back from him. But if you find\nhim, just be good enough to ask him from me where I shall find my gold\nkeys which I have lost.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! I\u2019ll be sure to ask him,\u201d said the lad.\n\nWell! when he left the palace he came to a great broad river; and while\nhe stood there and wondered whether he should cross it, or go down along\nthe bank, an old hunchbacked man came up, and asked whither he was\ngoing?\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m going to the Dragon of Deepferry, if I could only find any one\nto tell where I can find him.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can tell you that,\u201d said the man; \u201cfor here I go backwards and\nforwards, and carry those over who are going to see him. He lives just\nacross, and when you climb the hill you\u2019ll see his castle; but mind, if\nyou come to talk with him, to ask him from me how long I\u2019m to stop here\nand carry folk over.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll be sure to ask him,\u201d said the lad.\n\nSo the man took him on his back and carried him over the river; and when\nhe climbed the hill, he saw the castle, and went in.\n\nHe found there a Princess who lived with the Dragon all alone; and she\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cBut, dear friend, how can Christian folk dare to come hither? None have\nbeen here since I came, and you\u2019d best be off as fast as you can; for as\nsoon as the Dragon comes home, he\u2019ll smell you out, and gobble you up in\na trice, and that\u2019ll make me so unhappy.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay! nay!\u201d said the lad; \u201cI can\u2019t go before I\u2019ve got three feathers out\nof his tail.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll never get them,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cyou\u2019d best be off.\u201d\n\nBut the lad wouldn\u2019t go; he would wait for the Dragon, and get the\nfeathers, and an answer to all his questions.\n\n\u201cWell, since you\u2019re so steadfast, I\u2019ll see what I can do to help you,\u201d\nsaid the Princess; \u201cjust try to lift that sword that hangs on the wall\nyonder.\u201d\n\nNo; the lad could not even stir it.\n\n\u201cI thought so,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cbut just take a drink out of this\nflask.\u201d\n\nSo when the lad had sat a while, he was to try again; and then he could\njust stir it.\n\n\u201cWell! you must take another drink,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cand then you\nmay as well tell me your errand hither.\u201d\n\nSo he took another drink, and then he told her how one king had begged\nhim to ask the Dragon, how it was he couldn\u2019t get clean water in his\nwell?\u2014how another had bidden him ask, what had become of his daughter,\nwho had been lost many years since?\u2014and how a queen had begged him to\nask the Dragon what had become of her gold keys?\u2014and, last of all, how\nthe ferryman had begged him to ask the Dragon, how long he was to stop\nthere and carry folk over? When he had done his story, and took hold of\nthe sword, he could lift it; and when he had taken another drink, he\ncould brandish it.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cif you don\u2019t want the Dragon to make an end\nof you, you\u2019d best creep under the bed, for night is drawing on, and\nhe\u2019ll soon be home, and then you must lie as still as you can, lest he\nshould find you out. And when we have gone to bed, I\u2019ll ask him, but you\nmust keep your ears open, and snap up all that he says; and under the\nbed you must lie till all is still, and the Dragon falls asleep; then\ncreep out softly and seize the sword, and as soon as he rises, look out\nto hew off his head at one stroke, and at the same time pluck out the\nthree feathers, for else he\u2019ll tear them out himself, that no one may\nget any good by them.\u201d\n\nSo the lad crept under the bed, and the Dragon came home.\n\n\u201cWhat a smell of Christian flesh,\u201d said the Dragon.\n\n\u201cOh yes,\u201d said the Princess, \u201ca raven came flying with a man\u2019s bone in\nhis bill, and perched on the roof. No doubt it\u2019s that you smell.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo it is, I daresay,\u201d said the Dragon.\n\nSo the Princess served supper; and after they had eaten, they went to\nbed. But after they had lain a while, the Princess began to toss about,\nand all at once she started up and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cAh! ah!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d said the Dragon.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cI can\u2019t rest at all, and I\u2019ve had such a\nstrange dream.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat did you dream about? Let\u2019s hear?\u201d said the Dragon.\n\n\u201cI thought a king came here, and asked you what he must do to get clear\nwater in his well.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the Dragon, \u201che might just as well have found that out for\nhimself. If he dug the well out, and took out the old rotten stump which\nlies at the bottom, he\u2019d get clean water fast enough. But be still now,\nand don\u2019t dream any more.\u201d\n\nWhen the Princess had lain a while, she began to toss about, and at last\nshe started up with her\n\n\u201cAh! ah!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the matter now?\u201d said the Dragon.\n\n\u201cOh! I can\u2019t get any rest at all, and I\u2019ve had such a strange dream,\u201d\nsaid the Princess.\n\n\u201cWhy, you seem full of dreams to-night,\u201d said the Dragon; \u201cwhat was your\ndream now?\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought a king came here, and asked you what had become of his\ndaughter who had been lost many years since,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cWhy, you are she,\u201d said the Dragon; \u201cbut he\u2019ll never set eyes on you\nagain. But now, do pray be still, and let me get some rest, and don\u2019t\nlet\u2019s have any more dreams, else I\u2019ll break your ribs.\u201d\n\nWell, the Princess hadn\u2019t lain much longer before she began to toss\nabout again. At last she started up with her\n\n\u201cAh! ah!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! Are you at it again?\u201d said the Dragon. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter now?\u201d\nfor he was wild and sleep-surly, so that he was ready to fly to pieces.\n\n\u201cOh, don\u2019t be angry,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cbut I\u2019ve had such a strange\ndream.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe deuce take your dreams,\u201d roared the Dragon; \u201cwhat did you dream\nthis time?\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought a queen came here, who asked you to tell her where she would\nfind her gold keys, which she has lost.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said the Dragon, \u201cshe\u2019ll find them soon enough if she looks among\nthe bushes where she lay that time she wots of. But do now let me have\nno more dreams, but sleep in peace.\u201d\n\nSo they slept a while; but then the Princess was just as restless as\never, and at last she screamed out\u2014\n\n\u201cAh! ah!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou\u2019ll never behave till I break your neck,\u201d said the Dragon, who was\nnow so wroth that sparks of fire flew out of his eyes. \u201cWhat\u2019s the\nmatter now?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, don\u2019t be so angry,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cI can\u2019t bear that; but I\u2019ve\nhad such a strange dream.\u201d\n\n\u201cBless me!\u201d said the Dragon, \u201cif I ever heard the like of these\ndreams\u2014there\u2019s no end to them. And pray, what did you dream now?\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought the ferryman down at the ferry came and asked how long he was\nto stop there and carry folk over,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cThe dull fool!\u201d said the Dragon; \u201che\u2019d soon be free, if he chose. When\nany one comes who wants to go across, he has only to take and throw him\ninto the river, and say, \u2018Now, carry folk over yourself till some one\nsets you free.\u2019 But now, pray let\u2019s have an end of these dreams, else\nI\u2019ll lead you a pretty dance.\u201d\n\nSo the Princess let him sleep on. But as soon as all was still, and the\nmiller\u2019s lad heard that the Dragon snored, he crept out. Before it was\nlight the Dragon rose; but he had scarce set both his feet on the floor\nbefore the lad cut off his head, and plucked three feathers out of his\ntail. Then came great joy, and both the lad and the Princess took as\nmuch gold and silver, and money, and precious things as they could\ncarry; and when they came down to the ford, they so puzzled the ferryman\nwith all they had to tell, that he quite forgot to ask what the Dragon\nhad said about him till they had got across.\n\n\u201cHalloa, you sir,\u201d he said, as they were going off, \u201cdid you ask the\nDragon what I begged you to ask?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes I did,\u201d said the lad, \u201cand he said, \u2018When any one comes and wants\nto go over, you must throw him into the midst of the river, and say,\n\u2018Now, carry folk over yourself till some one comes to set you free,\u2019\u2019\nand then you\u2019ll be free.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, bad luck to you,\u201d said the ferryman; \u201chad you told me that before,\nyou might have set me free yourself.\u201d\n\nSo, when they got to the first palace, the Queen asked if he had spoken\nto the Dragon about her gold keys?\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the lad, and whispered in the Queen\u2019s ear, \u201che said you must\nlook among the bushes where you lay the day you wot of.\u201d\n\n\u201cHush! hush! Don\u2019t say a word,\u201d said the Queen, and gave the lad a\nhundred dollars.\n\nWhen they came to the second palace, the King asked if he had spoken to\nthe Dragon of what he begged him?\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the lad, \u201cI did; and see, here is your daughter.\u201d\n\nAt that the King was so glad, he would gladly have given the Princess to\nthe miller\u2019s lad to wife, and half the kingdom beside; but as he was\nmarried already, he gave him two hundred dollars, and coaches and\nhorses, and as much gold and silver as he could carry away.\n\nWhen he came to the third King\u2019s palace, out came the King and asked if\nhe had asked the Dragon of what he begged him?\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the lad, \u201cand he said you must dig out the well, and take\nout the rotten old stump which lies at the bottom, and then you\u2019ll get\nplenty of clear water.\u201d\n\nThen the King gave him three hundred dollars, and he set out home; but\nhe was so loaded with gold and silver, and so grandly clothed, that it\ngleamed and glistened from him, and he was now far richer than Peter the\nPedlar.\n\nWhen Peter got the feathers he hadn\u2019t a word more to say against the\nwedding; but when he saw all that wealth, he asked if there was much\nstill left at the Dragon\u2019s castle.\n\n\u201cYes, I should think so,\u201d said the lad; \u201cthere was much more than I\ncould carry with me\u2014so much, that you might load many horses with it;\nand if you choose to go, you may be sure there\u2019ll be enough for you.\u201d\n\nSo his son-in-law told him the way so clearly, that he hadn\u2019t to ask it\nof any one.\n\n\u201cBut the horses,\u201d said the lad, \u201cyou\u2019d best leave this side the river;\nfor the old ferryman, he\u2019ll carry you over safe enough.\u201d\n\nSo Peter set off, and took with him great store of food and many horses;\nbut these he left behind him on the river\u2019s brink, as the lad had said.\nAnd the old ferryman took him upon his back; but when they had come a\nbit out into the stream, he cast him into the midst of the river, and\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow you may go backwards and forwards, here, and carry folk over till\nyou are set free.\u201d\n\nAnd unless some one has set him free, there goes Rich Peter the Pedlar\nbackwards and forwards, and carries folk across this very day.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n BOOTS AND THE TROLL.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a poor man who had three sons. When he died,\nthe two elder set off into the world to try their luck, but the youngest\nthey wouldn\u2019t have with them at any price.\n\n\u201cAs for you,\u201d they said, \u201cyou\u2019re fit for nothing but to sit and poke\nabout in the ashes.\u201d\n\nSo the two went off and got places at a palace\u2014the one under the\ncoachman, and the other under the gardener. But Boots, he set off too,\nand took with him a great kneading-trough, which was the only thing his\nparents left behind them, but which the other two would not bother\nthemselves with. It was heavy to carry, but he did not like to leave it\nbehind, and so, after he had trudged a bit, he too came to the palace,\nand asked for a place. So they told him they did not want him, but he\nbegged so prettily that at last he got leave to be in the kitchen, and\ncarry in wood and water for the kitchen-maid. He was quick and ready,\nand in a little while every one liked him; but the two others were dull,\nand so they got more kicks than halfpence, and grew quite envious of\nBoots, when they saw how much better he got on.\n\nJust opposite the Palace, across a lake, lived a Troll, who had seven\nsilver ducks which swam on the lake, so that they could be seen from the\npalace. These the king had often longed for; and so the two elder\nbrothers told the coachman,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf our brother only chose, he has said he could easily get the king\nthose seven silver ducks.\u201d\n\nYou may fancy it wasn\u2019t long before the coachman told this to the king;\nand the king called Boots before him, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cYour brothers say you can get me the silver ducks; so now go and fetch\nthem.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure I never thought or said anything of the kind,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cYou did say so, and you shall fetch them,\u201d said the king, who would\nhold his own.\n\n\u201cWell! well!\u201d said the lad; \u201cneeds must, I suppose; but give me a bushel\nof rye, and a bushel of wheat, and I\u2019ll try what I can do.\u201d\n\nSo he got the rye and the wheat, and put them into the kneading trough\nhe had brought with him from home, got in, and rowed across the lake.\nWhen he reached the other side he began to walk along the shore, and to\nsprinkle and strew the grain, and at last he coaxed the ducks into his\nkneading-trough, and rowed back as fast as ever he could.\n\nWhen he got half over, the Troll came out of his house, and set eyes on\nhim.\n\n\u201cHALLOA!\u201d roared out the Troll; \u201cis it you that has gone off with my\nseven silver ducks?\u201d\n\n\u201cAYE! AYE!\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cShall you be back soon?\u201d asked the Troll.\n\n\u201cVery likely,\u201d said the lad.\n\nSo when he got back to the king, with the seven silver ducks, he was\nmore liked than ever, and even the king was pleased to say, \u201cWell done!\u201d\nBut at this his brothers grew more and more spiteful and envious; and so\nthey went and told the coachman that their brother had said, if he\nchose, he was man enough to get the king the Troll\u2019s bed-quilt, which\nhad a gold patch and a silver patch, and a silver patch and a gold\npatch; and this time, too, the coachman was not slow in telling all this\nto the king. So the king said to the lad, how his brothers had said he\nwas good to steal the Troll\u2019s bed-quilt, with gold and silver patches;\nso now he must go and do it, or lose his life.\n\nBoots answered, he had never thought or said any such thing; but when he\nfound there was no help for it, he begged for three days to think over\nthe matter.\n\nSo when the three days were gone, he rowed over in his kneading-trough,\nand went spying about. At last he saw those in the Troll\u2019s cave come out\nand hang the quilt out to air, and as soon as ever they had gone back\ninto the face of the rock, Boots pulled the quilt down, and rowed away\nwith it as fast as he could.\n\nAnd when he was half across, out came the Troll and set eyes on him, and\nroared out,\u2014\n\n\u201cHALLOA! It is you who took my seven silver ducks?\u201d\n\n\u201cAYE! AYE!\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cAnd now, have you taken my bed-quilt, with silver patches and gold\npatches, and gold patches and silver patches?\u201d\n\n\u201cAye! aye!\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cShall you come back again?\u201d\n\n\u201cVery likely,\u201d said the lad.\n\nBut when he got back with the gold and silver patch-work quilt, every\none was fonder of him than ever, and he was made the king\u2019s\nbody-servant.\n\nAt this, the other two were still more vexed, and to be revenged they\nwent and told the coachman,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, our brother has said, he is man enough to get the king the gold\nharp which the Troll has, and that harp is of such a kind, that all who\nlisten when it is played grow glad, however sad they may be.\u201d\n\nYes! the coachman went and told the king, and he said to the lad,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf you have said this, you shall do it. If you do it, you shall have\nthe Princess and half the kingdom. If you don\u2019t, you shall lose your\nlife.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m sure I never thought or said anything of the kind,\u201d said the lad;\n\u201cbut if there\u2019s no help for it, I may as well try; but I must have six\ndays to think about it.\u201d\n\nYes! he might have six days, but when they were over he must set out.\n\nThen he took a tenpenny nail, a birch-pin, and a waxen taper-end in his\npocket, and rowed across, and walked up and down before the Troll\u2019s\ncave, looking stealthily about him. So when the Troll came out, he saw\nhim at once.\n\n\u201cHO, HO!\u201d roared the Troll; \u201cis it you who took my seven silver ducks?\u201d\n\n\u201cAYE! AYE!\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cAnd it is you who took my bed-quilt, with the gold and silver patches?\u201d\nasked the Troll.\n\n\u201cAye! aye!\u201d said the lad.\n\nSo the Troll caught hold of him at once, and took him off into the cave\nin the face of the rock.\n\n\u201cNow, daughter dear,\u201d said the Troll, \u201cI\u2019ve caught the fellow who stole\nthe silver ducks and my bed-quilt with gold and silver patches; put him\ninto the fattening coop; and when he\u2019s fat we\u2019ll kill him, and make a\nfeast for our friends.\u201d\n\nShe was willing enough, and put him at once into the fattening coop, and\nthere he stayed eight days, fed on the best, both in meat and drink, and\nas much as he could cram. So, when the eight days were over, the Troll\nsaid to his daughter to go down and cut him in his little finger, that\nthey might see if he were fat. Down she came to the coop.\n\n\u201cOut with your little finger!\u201d she said.\n\nBut Boots stuck out his tenpenny-nail, and she cut at it.\n\n\u201cNay! nay! he\u2019s as hard as iron still,\u201d said the Troll\u2019s daughter, when\nshe got back to her father; \u201cwe can\u2019t take him yet.\u201d\n\nAfter another eight days the same thing happened, and this time Boots\nstuck out his birchen pin.\n\n\u201cWell, he\u2019s a little better,\u201d she said, when she got back to the Troll;\n\u201cbut still he\u2019ll be as hard as wood to chew.\u201d\n\nBut when another eight days were gone, the Troll told his daughter to go\ndown and see if he wasn\u2019t fat now.\n\n\u201cOut with your little finger,\u201d said the Troll\u2019s daughter, when she\nreached the coop, and this time Boots stuck out the taper end.\n\n\u201cNow he\u2019ll do nicely,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cWill he?\u201d said the Troll. \u201cWell, then, I\u2019ll just set off and ask the\nguests; meantime you must kill him, and roast half and boil half.\u201d\n\nSo when the Troll had been gone a little while, the daughter began to\nsharpen a great long knife.\n\n\u201cIs that what you\u2019re going to kill me with?\u201d asked the lad.\n\n\u201cYes it is,\u201d said she.\n\n\u201cBut it isn\u2019t sharp,\u201d said the lad. \u201cJust let me sharpen it for you, and\nthen you\u2019ll find it easier work to kill me.\u201d\n\nSo she let him have the knife, and he began to rub and sharpen it on the\nwhetstone.\n\n\u201cJust let me try it on one of your hair plaits; I think it\u2019s about right\nnow.\u201d\n\nSo he got leave to do that; but at the same time that he grasped the\nplait of hair, he pulled back her head, and at one gash, cut off the\nTroll\u2019s daughter\u2019s head; and half of her he roasted and half of her he\nboiled, and served it all up.\n\nAfter that he dressed himself in her clothes, and sat away in the\ncorner.\n\nSo when the Troll came home with his guests, he called out to his\ndaughter\u2014for he thought all the time it was his daughter\u2014to come and\ntake a snack.\n\n\u201cNo thank you,\u201d said the lad, \u201cI don\u2019t care for food, I\u2019m so sad and\ndowncast.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the Troll, \u201cif that\u2019s all, you know the cure; take the harp\nand play a tune on it.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said the lad; \u201cbut where has it got to; I can\u2019t find it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, you know well enough,\u201d said the Troll; \u201cyou used it last; where\nshould it be but over the door yonder?\u201d\n\nThe lad did not wait to be told twice; he took down the harp, and went\nin and out playing tunes; but, all at once he shoved off the kneading\ntrough, jumped into it, and rowed off, so that the foam flew around the\ntrough.\n\nAfter a while the Troll thought his daughter was a long while gone, and\nwent out to see what ailed her; and then he saw the lad in the trough,\nfar, far out on the lake.\n\n\u201cHALLOA! Is it you,\u201d he roared, \u201cthat took my seven silver ducks?\u201d\n\n\u201cAYE, AYE!\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cIs it you that took my bed-quilt with the gold and silver patches?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cAnd now you have taken off my gold harp?\u201d screamed the Troll.\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said the lad; \u201cI\u2019ve got it, sure enough.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd haven\u2019t I eaten you up after all, then?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no! \u2019twas your own daughter you ate,\u201d answered the lad.\n\nBut when the Troll heard that, he was so sorry, he burst; and then Boots\nrowed back, and took a whole heap of gold and silver with him, as much\nas the trough could carry. And so, when he came to the palace with the\ngold harp, he got the Princess and half the kingdom as the king had\npromised him; and, as for his brothers, he treated them well, for he\nthought they had only wished his good when they said what they had said.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE 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 into\nthe safe for more; but when he came out again on the steps, if the North\nWind didn\u2019t come again and carry off the meal with a puff; and more than\nthat, he did so the third time. At this the lad got very angry; and as\nhe thought it hard that the North Wind should behave so, he thought he\u2019d\njust look him up, and ask him to give up his 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\u2019s house.\n\n\u201cGood day!\u201d said the lad, \u201cand thank you for coming to see us\nyesterday.\u201d\n\n\u201cGOOD DAY!\u201d answered the North Wind, for his voice was loud and gruff,\n\u201cAND THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE ME. WHAT DO YOU WANT?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d answered the lad, \u201cI only wished to ask you to be so good as to\nlet me have back that meal you took from me on the safe steps, for we\nhaven\u2019t much to live on; and if you\u2019re to go on snapping up the morsel\nwe have, there\u2019ll be nothing for it but to starve.\u201d\n\n\u201cI haven\u2019t got your meal,\u201d said the North Wind; \u201cbut if you are in such\nneed, I\u2019ll give you a cloth which will get you everything you want, if\nyou only say \u2018Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kind of good\ndishes!\u2019\u201d\n\nWith this the lad was well content. But, as the way was so long he\ncouldn\u2019t 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 table\nwhich stood in the corner, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cCloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes.\u201d\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, when\nall were fast asleep, at dead of night, she took the lad\u2019s cloth, and\nput another in its stead, just like the one he had got from the North\nWind, but which couldn\u2019t so much as serve up a bit of dry bread.\n\nSo, when the lad woke, he took his cloth and went off with it, and that\nday he got home to his mother.\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said he, \u201cI\u2019ve been to the North Wind\u2019s house, and a good fellow\nhe is, for he gave me this cloth, and when I only say to it, \u2018Cloth,\nspread yourself, and serve up all kind of good dishes,\u2019 I get any sort\nof food I please.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll very true, I dare say,\u201d said his mother; \u201cbut seeing is believing,\nand I shan\u2019t believe it till I see it.\u201d\n\nSo the lad made haste, drew out a table, laid the cloth on it, and\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cCloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kind of good dishes.\u201d\n\nBut never a bit of dry bread did the cloth serve up.\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the lad, \u201cthere\u2019s no help for it but to go to the North\nWind again;\u201d and away he went.\n\nSo he came to where the North Wind lived late in the afternoon.\n\n\u201cGood evening!\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cGood evening!\u201d said the North Wind.\n\n\u201cI want my rights for that meal of ours which you took,\u201d said the lad;\n\u201cfor, as for that cloth I got, it isn\u2019t worth a penny.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve got no meal,\u201d said the North Wind; \u201cbut yonder you have a ram\nwhich coins nothing but golden ducats as soon as you say to it,\u2014\n\n\u201cRam, ram! make money!\u201d\n\nSo the lad thought this a fine thing; but as it was too far to get home\nthat day, he turned in for the night to the same inn where he had slept\nbefore.\n\nBefore he called for anything, he tried the truth of what the North Wind\nhad said of the ram, and found it all right; but, when the landlord saw\nthat, he thought it was a famous ram, and, when the lad had fallen\nasleep, he took another which couldn\u2019t coin gold ducats, and changed the\ntwo.\n\nNext morning off went the lad; and when he got home to his mother, he\nsaid,\u2014\n\n\u201cAfter all, the North Wind is a jolly fellow; for now he has given me a\nram which can coin golden ducats if I only say, \u2018Ram, ram! make money.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cAll very true, I daresay,\u201d said his mother; \u201cbut I shan\u2019t believe any\nsuch stuff until I see the ducats made.\u201d\n\n\u201cRam, ram! make money!\u201d said the lad! but if the ram made anything it\nwasn\u2019t money.\n\nSo the lad went back again to the North Wind and blew him up, and said\nthe ram was worth nothing, and he must have his rights for the meal.\n\n\u201cWell!\u201d said the North Wind; \u201cI\u2019ve nothing else to give up but that old\nstick in the corner yonder; but it\u2019s a stick of that kind that if you\nsay,\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018Stick, stick! lay on!\u2019 it lays on till you say,\u2014\n\n\u201c\u2018Stick, stick! now stop!\u2019\u201d\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 snore\nas if he were asleep.\n\nNow the landlord, who easily saw that the stick must be worth something,\nhunted up one which was like it, and when he heard the lad snore was\ngoing to change the two; but, just as the landlord was about to take it,\nthe lad bawled out,\u2014\n\n\u201cStick, stick! lay on!\u201d\n\nSo the stick began to beat the landlord, till he jumped over chairs, and\ntables, and benches, and yelled and roared,\u2014\n\n\u201cOh 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.\u201d\n\nWhen the lad thought the landlord had got enough, he said,\n\n\u201cStick, stick! now stop.\u201d\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 so\nhe got his rights for the meal he had lost.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE BEST WISH.\n\n\nONCE on a time there were three brothers; I don\u2019t quite know how it\nhappened, but each of them had got the right to wish one thing, whatever\nhe chose. So the two elder were not long a-thinking; they wished that\nevery time they put their hands in their pockets they might pull out a\npiece of money; for, said they,\u2014\n\n\u201cThe man who has as much money as he wishes for is always sure to get on\nin the world.\u201d\n\nBut the youngest wished something better still. He wished that every\nwoman he saw might fall in love with him as soon as she saw him; and you\nshall soon hear how far better this was than gold and goods.\n\nSo, when they had all wished their wishes, the two elder were for\nsetting out to see the world; and Boots, their youngest brother, asked\nif he mightn\u2019t go along with them; but they wouldn\u2019t hear of such a\nthing.\n\n\u201cWherever we go,\u201d they said, \u201cwe shall be treated as counts and kings;\nbut you, you starveling wretch, who haven\u2019t a penny, and never will have\none, who do you think will care a bit about you?\n\n\u201cWell, but in spite of that, I\u2019d like to go with you,\u201d said Boots;\n\u201cperhaps a dainty bit may fall to my share too off the plates of such\nhigh and mighty lords.\u201d\n\nAt last, after begging and praying, he got leave to go with them, if he\nwould be their servant, else they wouldn\u2019t hear of it.\n\nSo when they had gone a day or so, they came to an inn, where the two\nwho had the money alighted, and called for fish, and flesh, and fowl,\nand brandy and mead, and everything that was good; but Boots, poor\nfellow, had to look after their luggage and all that belonged to the two\ngreat people. Now, as he went to and fro outside, and loitered about in\nthe inn-yard, the innkeeper\u2019s wife looked out of window and saw the\nservant of the gentlemen up stairs; and, all at once, she thought she\nhad never set eyes on such a handsome chap. So she stared and stared,\nand the longer she looked the handsomer he seemed.\n\n\u201cWhy what, by the Deil\u2019s skin and bones, is it that you are standing\nthere gaping at out of the window?\u201d said her husband. \u201cI think \u2019twould\nbe better if you just looked how the sucking pig is getting on, instead\nof hanging out of window in that way. Don\u2019t you know what grand folk we\nhave in the house to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said his old dame, \u201cI don\u2019t care a farthing about such a pack of\nrubbish; if they don\u2019t like it they may lump it, and be off; but just do\ncome and look at this lad out in the yard, so handsome a fellow I never\nsaw in all my born days; and, if you\u2019ll do as I wish, we\u2019ll ask him to\nstep in and treat him a little, for, poor lad, he seems to have a hard\nfight of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you lost the little brains you had Goody?\u201d said the husband, whose\neyes glistened with rage; \u201cinto the kitchen with you, and mind the fire;\nbut don\u2019t stand there glowering after strange men.\u201d\n\nSo the wife had nothing left for it but to go into the kitchen, and look\nafter the cooking; as for the lad outside, she couldn\u2019t get leave to ask\nhim in, or to treat him either; but just as she was about spitting the\npig in the kitchen, she made an excuse for running out into the yard,\nand then and there she gave Boots a pair of scissors, of such a kind\nthat they cut of themselves out of the air the loveliest clothes any one\never saw, silk and satin, and all that was fine.\n\n\u201cThis you shall have because you are so handsome,\u201d said the innkeeper\u2019s\nwife.\n\nSo when the two elder brothers had crammed themselves with roast and\nboiled, they wished to be off again, and Boots had to stand behind their\ncarriage, and be their servant; and so they travelled a good way, till\nthey came to another inn.\n\nThere the two brothers again alighted and went in-doors, but Boots, who\nhad no money, they wouldn\u2019t have inside with them; no, he must wait\noutside and watch the luggage.\n\n\u201cAnd mind,\u201d they said, \u201cif any one asks whose servant you are, say we\nare two foreign Princes.\u201d\n\nBut the same thing happened now as it happened before; while Boots stood\nhanging about out in the yard, the innkeeper\u2019s wife came to the window\nand saw him, and she too fell in love with him, just like the first\ninnkeeper\u2019s wife; and there she stood and stared, for she thought she\ncould never have her fill of looking at him. Then her husband came\nrunning through the room with something the two Princes had ordered.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t stand there staring like a cow at a barn-door, but take this into\nthe kitchen, and look after your fish-kettle, Goody,\u201d said the man;\n\u201cdon\u2019t you see what grand people we have in the house to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t care a farthing for such a pack of rubbish,\u201d said the wife; \u201cif\nthey don\u2019t like what they get they may lump it, and eat what they\nbrought with them. But just do come here, and see what you shall see!\nSuch a handsome fellow as walks here, out in the yard, I never saw in\nall my born days. Shan\u2019t we ask him in and treat him a little; he looks\nas if he needed it, poor chap?\u201d and then she went on,\u2014\n\n\u201cSuch a love! such a love!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou never had much wit, and the little you had is clean gone, I can\nsee,\u201d said the man, who was much more angry than the first innkeeper,\nand chased his wife back, neck and crop, into the kitchen.\n\n\u201cInto the kitchen with you, and don\u2019t stand glowering after lads,\u201d he\nsaid.\n\nSo she had to go in and mind her fish-kettle, and she dared not treat\nBoots, for she was afraid of her old man; but as she stood there making\nup the fire, she made an excuse for running out into the yard, and then\nand there she gave Boots a table-cloth, which was such that it covered\nitself with the best dishes you could think of, as soon as it was spread\nout.\n\n\u201cThis you shall have,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause you\u2019re so handsome.\u201d\n\nSo when the two brothers had eaten and drank of all that was in the\nhouse, and had paid the bill in hard cash, they set off again, and Boots\nstood up behind their carriage. But when they had gone so far that they\ngrew hungry again, they turned into a third inn, and called for the best\nand dearest they could think of.\n\n\u201cFor,\u201d said they, \u201cwe are two kings on our travels, and as for our\nmoney, it grows like grass.\u201d\n\nWell, when the innkeeper heard that, there was such a roasting, and\nbaking, and boiling; why! you might smell the dinner at the next\nneighbour\u2019s house, though it wasn\u2019t so very near; and the innkeeper was\nat his wit\u2019s end to find all he wished to put before the two kings. But\nBoots, he had to stand outside here too, and look after the things in\nthe carriage.\n\nSo it was the same story over again. The innkeeper\u2019s wife came to the\nwindow and peeped out, and there she saw the servant standing by the\ncarriage. Such a handsome chap she had never set eyes on before; so she\nlooked and looked, and the more she stared the handsomer he seemed to\nthe innkeeper\u2019s wife. Then out came the innkeeper, scampering through\nthe room, with some dainty which the travelling kings had ordered, and\nhe wasn\u2019t very soft-tongued when he saw his old dame standing and\nglowering out of the window.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you know better than to stand gaping and staring there, when we\nhave such great folk in the house,\u201d he said; \u201cback into the kitchen with\nyou this minute, to your custards.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! well!\u201d she said, \u201cas for them, I don\u2019t care a pin. If they can\u2019t\nwait till the custards are baked, they may go without\u2014that\u2019s all. But\ndo, pray, come here, and you\u2019ll see such a lovely lad standing out here\nin the yard. Why, I never saw such a pretty fellow in my life. Shan\u2019t we\nask him in now, and treat him a little, for he looks as if it would do\nhim good. Oh! what a darling! What a darling!\u201d\n\n\u201cA wanton gadabout you\u2019ve been all your days, and so you are still,\u201d\nsaid her husband, who was in such a rage he scarce knew which leg to\nstand on; but if you don\u2019t be off to your custards this minute, I\u2019ll\nsoon find out how to make you stir your stumps; see if I don\u2019t.\u201d\n\nSo the wife had off to her custards as fast as she could, for she knew\nthat her husband would stand no nonsense; but as she stood there over\nthe fire she stole out into the yard, and gave Boots a tap.\n\n\u201cIf you only turn this tap,\u201d she said; \u201cyou\u2019ll get the finest drink of\nwhatever kind you choose, both mead, and wine, and brandy; and this you\nshall have because you are so handsome.\u201d\n\nSo when the two brothers had eaten and drunk all they could, they\nstarted from the inn, and Boots stood up behind again as their servant,\nand thus they drove far and wide till they came to a king\u2019s palace.\nThere the two elder gave themselves out for two emperor\u2019s sons, and as\nthey had plenty of money, and were so fine that their clothes shone\nagain ever so far off, they were well treated. They had rooms in the\npalace, and the king couldn\u2019t tell how to make enough of them. But\nBoots, who went about in the same rags he stood in when he left home,\nand who had never a penny in his pocket, he was taken up by the king\u2019s\nguard, and put across to an island, whither they used to row over all\nthe beggars and rogues that came to the palace. This the king had\nordered, because he wouldn\u2019t have the mirth at the palace spoilt by\nthose dirty blackguards; and thither, too, only just as much food as\nwould keep body and soul together was sent over every day. Now Boots\u2019\nbrothers saw very well that the guard was rowing him over to the island,\nbut they were glad to be rid of him, and didn\u2019t pay the least heed to\nhim.\n\nBut when Boots got over there, he just pulled out his scissors and began\nto snip and cut in the air; so the scissors cut out the finest clothes\nany one would wish to see; silk and satin both, and all the beggars on\nthe island were soon dressed far finer than the king and all his guests\nin the palace. After that, Boots pulled out his table-cloth, and spread\nit out, and so they got food too, the poor beggars. Such a feast had\nnever been seen at the king\u2019s palace, as was served that day at the\nBeggar\u2019s Isle.\n\n\u201cThirsty, too, I\u2019ll be bound you all are,\u201d said Boots, and out with his\ntap, gave it a turn, and so the beggars got all a drop to drink; and\nsuch ale and mead the king himself had never tasted in all his life.\n\nSo, next morning, when those who were to bring the beggars their food on\nthe island, came rowing over with the scrapings of the porridge-pots and\ncheese parings\u2014that was what the poor wretches had\u2014the beggars wouldn\u2019t\nso much as taste them, and the king\u2019s men fell to wondering what it\ncould mean; but they wondered much more when they got a good look at the\nbeggars, for they were so fine the guard thought they must be Emperors\nor Popes at least, and that they must have rowed to a wrong island; but\nwhen they looked better about them, they saw they were come to the old\nplace.\n\nThen they soon found out it must be he whom they had rowed out the day\nbefore who had brought the beggars on the island all this state and\nbravery; and as soon as they got back to the palace, they were not slow\nto tell how the man, whom they had rowed over the day before, had\ndressed out all the beggars so fine and grand that precious things fell\nfrom their clothes.\n\n\u201cAnd as for the porridge and cheese we took, they wouldn\u2019t even taste\nthem, so proud have they got,\u201d they said.\n\nOne of them, too, had smelt out that the lad had a pair of scissors\nwhich he cut out the clothes with.\n\n\u201cWhen he only snips with those scissors up in the air he snips and cuts\nout nothing but silk and satin,\u201d said he.\n\nSo, when the Princess heard that, she had neither peace nor rest till\nshe saw the lad and his scissors that cut out silk and satin from the\nair; such a pair was worth having, she thought, for with its help she\nwould soon get all the finery she wished for. Well, she begged the king\nso long and hard, he was forced to send a messenger for the lad who\nowned the scissors; and when he came to the palace, the Princess asked\nhim if it were true that he had such and such a pair of scissors, and if\nhe would sell it to her. Yes, it was all true he had such a pair, said\nBoots, but sell it he wouldn\u2019t; and with that he took the scissors out\nof his pocket, and snipped and snipped with them in the air till strips\nof silk and satin flew all about him.\n\n\u201cNay, but you must sell me these scissors,\u201d said the Princess. \u201cYou may\nask what you please for them, but have them I must.\u201d\n\nNo! such a pair of scissors he wouldn\u2019t sell at any price, for he could\nnever get such a pair again; and while they stood and haggled for the\nscissors, the Princess had time to look better at Boots, and she too\nthought with the innkeepers\u2019 wives that she had never seen such a\nhandsome fellow before. So she began to bargain for the scissors over\nagain, and begged and prayed Boots to let her have them; he might ask\nmany, many hundred dollars for them, \u2019twas all the same to her, so she\ngot them.\n\n\u201cNo! sell them I won\u2019t,\u201d said Boots; \u201cbut all the same, if I can get\nleave to sleep one night on the floor of the Princess\u2019 bed-room, close\nby the door, I\u2019ll give her the scissors. I\u2019ll do her no harm, but if\nshe\u2019s afraid, she may have two men to watch inside the room.\u201d\n\nYes! the Princess was glad enough to give him leave, for she was ready\nto grant him anything if she only got the scissors. So Boots lay on the\nfloor inside the Princess\u2019 bed-room that night, and two men stood watch\nthere too; but the Princess didn\u2019t get much rest after all; for when she\nought to have been asleep, she must open her eyes to look at Boots, and\nso it went on the whole night. If she shut her eyes for a minute, she\npeeped out at him again the next, such a handsome fellow he seemed to\nher to be.\n\nNext morning Boots was rowed over to the Beggar\u2019s Isle again; but when\nthey came with the porridge scrapings and cheese parings from the\npalace, there was no one who would taste them that day either, and so\nthose who brought the food were more astonished than ever. But one of\nthose who brought the food contrived to smell out that the lad who had\nowned the scissors owned also a table-cloth, which he only needed to\nspread out, and it was covered with all the good things he could wish\nfor. So when he got back to the palace, he wasn\u2019t long before he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cSuch hot joints and such custards I never saw the like of in the king\u2019s\npalace.\u201d\n\nAnd when the Princess heard that, she told it to the king, and begged\nand prayed so long, that he was forced to send a messenger out to the\nisland to fetch the lad who owned the table-cloth; and so Boots came\nback to the palace. The Princess must and would have the cloth of him,\nand offered him gold and green woods for it, but Boots wouldn\u2019t sell it\nat any price.\n\n\u201cBut if I may have leave to lie on the bench by the Princess\u2019 bed-side\nto night, she shall have the cloth; but if she\u2019s afraid, she is welcome\nto set four men to watch inside the room.\u201d\n\nYes! the Princess agreed to this, so Boots lay down on the bench by the\nbed-side, and the four men watched; but if the Princess hadn\u2019t much\nsleep the night before, she had much less this, for she could scarce get\na wink of sleep; there she lay wide awake looking at the lovely lad the\nwhole night through, and after all, the night seemed too short.\n\nNext morning Boots was rowed off again to the Beggars\u2019 Island, though\nsorely against the Princess\u2019 will, so happy was she to be near him; but\nit was past praying for; to the island he must go, and there was an end\nof it. But when those who brought the food to the beggars came with the\nporridge scrapings and cheese parings, there wasn\u2019t one of them who\nwould even look at what the king sent, and those who brought it didn\u2019t\nwonder either; though they all thought it strange that none of them were\nthirsty. But just then one of the king\u2019s guard smelled out that the lad\nwho had owned the scissors and the table-cloth had a tap besides, which,\nif one only turned it a little, gave out the rarest drink, both ale, and\nmead, and wine. So when he came back to the palace, he couldn\u2019t keep his\nmouth shut this time any more than before; he went about telling high\nand low about the tap, and how easy it was to draw all sorts of drink\nout of it.\n\n\u201cAnd as for that mead and ale, I\u2019ve never tasted the like of them in the\nking\u2019s palace; honey and syrup are nothing to them for sweetness.\u201d\n\nSo when the Princess heard that, she was all for getting the tap, and\nwas nothing loath to strike a bargain with the owner either. So she went\nagain to the king, and begged him to send a messenger to the Beggars\u2019\nIsle after the lad who had owned the scissors and cloth, for now he had\nanother thing worth having, she said; and when the king heard it was a\ntap, that was good to give the best ale and wine any one could drink,\nwhen one gave it a turn, he wasn\u2019t long in sending the messenger, I\nshould think.\n\nSo when Boots came up to the palace, the Princess asked whether it were\ntrue he had a tap which could do such and such things? \u201cYes! he had such\na tap in his waistcoat pocket,\u201d said Boots; but when the Princess wished\nwith all her might to buy it, Boots said, as he had said twice before,\nhe wouldn\u2019t sell it, even if the Princess bade half the kingdom for it.\n\n\u201cBut all the same,\u201d said Boots; \u201cif I may have leave to sleep on the\nPrincess\u2019 bed to-night, outside the quilt, she shall have my tap. I\u2019ll\nnot do her any harm; but, if she\u2019s afraid, she may set eight men to\nwatch in her room.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no!\u201d said the Princess, \u201cthere was no need of that, she knew him\nnow so well;\u201d and so Boots lay outside the Princess\u2019 bed that night. But\nif she hadn\u2019t slept much the two nights before, she had less sleep that\nnight; for she couldn\u2019t shut her eyes the livelong night, but lay and\nlooked at Boots, who lay alongside her outside the quilt.\n\nSo, when she got up in the morning, and they were going to row Boots\nback to the island, she begged them to hold hard a little bit; and in\nshe ran to the king, and begged him so prettily to let her have Boots\nfor a husband, she was so fond of him, and, unless she had him, she did\nnot care to live.\n\n\u201cWell, well!\u201d said the king, \u201cyou shall have him if you must; for he who\nhas such things is just as rich as you are.\u201d\n\nSo Boots got the Princess and half the kingdom\u2014the other half he was to\nhave when the king died; and so everything went smooth and well; but as\nfor his brothers, who had always been so bad to him, he packed them off\nto the Beggars\u2019 Island.\n\n\u201cThere,\u201d said Boots, \u201cperhaps they may find out which is best off, the\nman who has his pockets full of money, or the man whom all women fall in\nlove with.\u201d\n\nNor, to tell you the truth, do I think it would help them much to wander\nabout upon the Beggars\u2019 Island pulling pieces of money out of their\npockets; and so, if Boots hasn\u2019t taken them off the island, there they\nare still walking about to this very day, eating cheese parings and the\nscrapings of the porridge-pots.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE THREE BILLY-GOATS GRUFF.\n\n\nONCE on a time there were three Billy-goats who were to go up to the\nhill-side to make themselves fat, and the name of all three was \u201cGruff.\u201d\n\nOn the way up was a bridge over a burn they had to cross; and under the\nbridge lived a great ugly Troll, with eyes as big as saucers, and a nose\nas long as a poker.\n\nSo first of all came the youngest billy-goat Gruff to cross the bridge.\n\n\u201cTrip, trap; trip, trap!\u201d went the bridge.\n\n\u201cWHO\u2019S THAT tripping over my bridge?\u201d roared the Troll.\n\n\u201cOh! it is only I, the tiniest billy-goat Gruff; and I\u2019m going up to the\nhill-side to make myself fat,\u201d said the billy-goat, with such a small\nvoice.\n\n\u201cNow, I\u2019m coming to gobble you up,\u201d said the Troll.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n THE THREE BILLY-GOATS GRUFF\n]\n\n\u201cOh, no! pray don\u2019t take me. I\u2019m too little, that I am,\u201d said the\nbilly-goat; \u201cwait a bit till the second billy-goat Gruff comes, he\u2019s\nmuch bigger.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell! be off with you,\u201d said the Troll.\n\nA little while after came the second billy-goat Gruff to cross the\nbridge.\n\n\u201cTRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP!\u201d went the bridge.\n\n\u201cWHO\u2019S THAT tripping over my bridge?\u201d roared the Troll.\n\n\u201cOh! it\u2019s the second billy-goat Gruff, and I\u2019m going up to the hill-side\nto make myself fat,\u201d said the billy-goat, who hadn\u2019t such a small voice.\n\n\u201cNow, I\u2019m coming to gobble you up,\u201d said the Troll.\n\n\u201cOh, no! don\u2019t take me, wait a little till the big billy-goat Gruff\ncomes, he\u2019s much bigger.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well! be off with you,\u201d said the Troll.\n\nBut just then up came the big billy-goat Gruff.\n\n\u201cTRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP! TRIP, TRAP!\u201d went the bridge, for the\nbilly-goat was so heavy that the bridge creaked and groaned under him.\n\n\u201cWHO\u2019S THAT tramping over my bridge?\u201d roared the Troll.\n\n\u201cIT\u2019S I! THE BIG BILLY-GOAT GRUFF,\u201d said the billy-goat, who had an ugly\nhoarse voice of his own.\n\n\u201cNow, I\u2019m coming to gobble you up,\u201d roared the Troll.\n\n \u201cWell, come along! I\u2019ve got two spears,\n And I\u2019ll poke your eyeballs out at your ears;\n I\u2019ve got besides two curling stones,\n And I\u2019ll crush you to bits, body and bones.\u201d\n\nThat was what the big billy-goat said; and so he flew at the Troll and\npoked his eyes out with his horns, and crushed him to bits, body and\nbones, and tossed him out into the burn, and after that he went up to\nthe hill-side. There the billy-goats got so fat they were scarce able to\nwalk home again; and if the fat hasn\u2019t fallen off them, why they\u2019re\nstill fat; and so,\u2014\n\n \u201cSnip, snap, snout,\n This tale\u2019s told out.\u201d\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n WELL DONE AND ILL PAID.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a man who had to drive his sledge to the wood\nfor fuel. So a bear met him.\n\n\u201cOut with your horse,\u201d said the Bear, \u201cor I\u2019ll strike all your sheep\ndead by summer.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! heaven help me then,\u201d said the man; \u201cthere\u2019s not a stick of\nfirewood in the house; you must let me drive home a load of fuel, else\nwe shall be frozen to death. I\u2019ll bring the horse to you to-morrow\nmorning.\u201d\n\nYes! on those terms he might drive the wood home, that was a bargain;\nbut Bruin said, \u201cif he didn\u2019t come back, he should lose all his sheep by\nsummer.\u201d\n\nSo the man got the wood on the sledge and rattled homewards, but he\nwasn\u2019t over pleased at the bargain you may fancy. So just then a fox met\nhim.\n\n\u201cWhy, what\u2019s the matter?\u201d said the Fox; \u201cwhy are you so down in the\nmouth?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, if you want to know,\u201d said the man; \u201cI met a bear up yonder in the\nwood, and I had to give my word to him to bring Dobbin back to-morrow,\nat this very hour; for if he didn\u2019t get him, he said he would tear all\nmy sheep to death by summer.\u201d\n\n\u201cStuff, nothing worse than that,\u201d said the Fox; \u201cif you\u2019ll give me your\nfattest wether, I\u2019ll soon set you free; see if I don\u2019t.\u201d\n\nYes! the man gave his word, and swore he would keep it too.\n\n\u201cWell, when you come with Dobbin to-morrow for the bear,\u201d said the Fox,\n\u201cI\u2019ll make a clatter up in that heap of stones yonder, and so when the\nbear asks what that noise is, you must say \u2019tis Peter the Marksman, who\nis the best shot in the world; and after that you must help yourself.\u201d\n\nNext day off set the man, and when he met the Bear, something began to\nmake a clatter up in the heap of stones.\n\n\u201cHist! what\u2019s that?\u201d said the Bear.\n\n\u201cOh! that\u2019s Peter the Marksman, to be sure,\u201d said the man; \u201che\u2019s the\nbest shot in the world. I know him by his voice.\u201d\n\n\u201cHave you seen any bears about here, Eric?\u201d shouted out a voice in the\nwood.\n\n\u201cSay, no!\u201d said the Bear.\n\n\u201cNo, I haven\u2019t seen any,\u201d said Eric.\n\n\u201cWhat\u2019s that, then, that stands alongside your sledge?\u201d bawled out the\nvoice in the wood.\n\n\u201cSay it\u2019s an old fir-stump,\u201d said the Bear.\n\n\u201cOh, it\u2019s only an old fir-stump,\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cSuch fir-stumps we take in our country and roll them on our sledges,\u201d\nbawled out the voice; \u201cif you can\u2019t do it yourself, I\u2019ll come and help\nyou.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay you can help yourself, and roll me up on the sledge,\u201d said the\nBear.\n\n\u201cNo, thank ye, I can help myself well enough,\u201d said the man, and rolled\nthe Bear on to the sledge.\n\n\u201cSuch fir-stumps we always bind fast on our sledges in our part of the\nworld,\u201d bawled out the voice; \u201cshall I come and help you?\u201d\n\n\u201cSay you can help yourself, and bind me fast, do,\u201d said the Bear.\n\n\u201cNo, thanks, I can help myself well enough,\u201d said the man, who set to\nbinding Bruin fast with all the ropes he had, so that at last the bear\ncouldn\u2019t stir a paw.\n\n\u201cSuch fir-stumps we always drive our axes into, in our part of the\nworld,\u201d bawled out the voice; \u201cfor then we guide them better going down\nthe steep pitches.\u201d\n\n\u201cPretend to drive your axe into me, do now,\u201d said the bear.\n\nThen the man took up his axe, and at one blow split the bear\u2019s skull, so\nthat Bruin lay dead in a trice, and so the man and the Fox were great\nfriends, and on the best terms. But when they came near the farm, the\nFox said,\u2014\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve no mind to go right home with you, for I can\u2019t say I like your\ntykes; so I\u2019ll just wait here, and you can bring the wether to me, but\nmind and pick out one nice and fat.\n\nYes! the man would be sure to do that, and thanked the Fox much for his\nhelp. So when he had put up Dobbin, he went across to the sheep-stall.\n\n\u201cWhither away, now?\u201d asked his old dame.\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d said the man, \u201cI\u2019m only going to the sheep-stall to fetch a fat\nwether for that cunning Fox, who set our Dobbin free. I gave him my word\nI would.\u201d\n\n\u201cWether, indeed,\u201d said the old dame; \u201cnever a one shall that thief of a\nFox get. Haven\u2019t we got Dobbin safe, and the bear into the bargain; and\nas for the Fox, I\u2019ll be bound he\u2019s stolen more of our geese than the\nwether is worth; and even if he hasn\u2019t stolen them, he will. No, no;\ntake a brace of your swiftest hounds in a sack, and slip them loose\nafter him; and then perhaps we shall be rid of this robbing Reynard.\u201d\n\nWell, the man thought that good advice; so he took two fleet red hounds,\nput them into a sack and set off with them.\n\n\u201cHave you brought the wether?\u201d said the Fox.\n\n\u201cYes, come and take it,\u201d said the man, as he untied the sack and let\nslip the hounds.\n\n\u201cHUF,\u201d said the Fox, and gave a great spring; \u201ctrue it is what the old\nsaw says, \u2018Well done is often ill paid;\u2019 and now, too, I see the truth\nof another saying, \u2018The worst foes are those of one\u2019s own house.\u2019\u201d That\nwas what the Fox said as he ran off, and saw the red foxy hounds at his\nheels.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE HUSBAND WHO WAS TO MIND THE HOUSE.\n\n\nONCE on a time, there was a man so surly and cross, he never thought his\nwife did anything right in the house. So, one evening, in hay-making\ntime, he came home, scolding and swearing, and showing his teeth and\nmaking a dust.\n\n\u201cDear love, don\u2019t be so angry; there\u2019s a good man,\u201d said his goody;\n\u201cto-morrow let\u2019s change our work. I\u2019ll go out with the mowers and mow,\nand you shall mind the house at home.\u201d\n\nYes! the husband thought that would do very well. He was quite willing,\nhe said.\n\nSo, early next morning, his goody took a scythe over her neck, and went\nout into the hayfield with the mowers, and began to mow; but the man was\nto 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 off\nhe ran up the cellar steps, with the tap in his hand, as fast as he\ncould, to look after the pig lest it should upset the churn; but when he\ngot up, and saw the pig had already knocked the churn over, and stood\nthere, routing and grunting amongst the cream which was running all over\nthe floor, he got so wild with rage that he quite forgot the ale-barrel,\nand ran at the pig as hard as he could. He caught it, too, just as it\nran out of doors, and gave it such a kick, that piggy lay for dead on\nthe spot. Then all at once he remembered he had the tap in his hand; but\nwhen he got down to the cellar, every drop of ale had run out of the\ncask.\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 cow\nwas still shut up in the byre and hadn\u2019t had a bit to eat or a drop to\ndrink all the morning, though the sun was high. Then all at once he\nthought \u2019twas too far to take her down to the meadow, so he\u2019d just get\nher up on the house-top\u2014for the house, you must know, was thatched with\nsods, and a fine crop of grass was growing there. Now their house lay\nclose up against a steep down, and he thought if he laid a plank across\nto the thatch at the back he\u2019d easily get the cow up.\n\nBut still he couldn\u2019t leave the churn, for there was his little babe\ncrawling about on the floor, and \u201cif I leave it,\u201d he thought, \u201cthe child\nis safe to upset it.\u201d So he took the churn on his back, and went out\nwith it; but then he thought he\u2019d better first water the cow before he\nturned her out on the thatch; so he took up a bucket to draw water out\nof the well; but as he stooped down at the well\u2019s brink, all the cream\nran out of the churn over his shoulders, and so down into the well.\n\nNow it was near dinner-time, and he hadn\u2019t even got the butter yet; so\nhe thought he\u2019d 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 he\ngot up on the house to tie her up. One end of the rope he made fast to\nthe cow\u2019s neck, and the other he slipped down the chimney and tied round\nhis own thigh; and he had to make haste, for the water now began to boil\nin 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 up\nthe chimney by the rope. There he stuck fast; and as for the cow, she\nhung half way down the wall, swinging between heaven and earth, for she\ncould neither get down nor up.\n\nAnd now the goody had waited seven lengths and seven breadths for her\nhusband to come and call them home to dinner; but never a call they had.\nAt last she thought she\u2019d waited long enough, and went home. But when\nshe got there and saw the cow hanging in such an ugly place, she ran up\nand cut the rope in two with her scythe. But as she did this, down came\nher husband out of the chimney; and so when his old dame came inside the\nkitchen, there she found him standing on his head in the porridge pot.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n DAPPLEGRIM.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a rich couple who had twelve sons; but the\nyoungest, when he was grown up, said he wouldn\u2019t stay any longer at\nhome, but be off into the world to try his luck. His father and mother\nsaid he did very well at home, and had better stay where he was. But no,\nhe couldn\u2019t rest; away he must and would go. So at last they gave him\nleave. And when he had walked a good bit, he came to a king\u2019s palace,\nwhere he asked for a place, and got it.\n\nNow the daughter of the king of that land had been carried off into the\nhill by a Troll, and the king had no other children; so he and all his\nland were in great grief and sorrow, and the king gave his word that any\none who could set her free, should have the Princess and half the\nkingdom. But there was no one who could do it, though many tried.\n\n[Illustration:\n\n DAPPLEGRIM\n]\n\nSo when the lad had been there a year or so, he longed to go home again\nand see his father and mother, and back he went; but when he got home\nhis father and mother were dead, and his brothers had shared all that\nthe old people owned between them, and so there was nothing left for the\nlad.\n\n\u201cShan\u2019t I have anything at all, then, out of father\u2019s and mother\u2019s\ngoods?\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cWho could tell you were still alive, when you went gadding and\nwandering about so long?\u201d said his brothers. \u201cBut all the same; there\nare twelve mares up on the hill, which we haven\u2019t yet shared among us;\nif you choose to take them for your share, you\u2019re quite welcome.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad was quite content; so he thanked his brothers, and went at\nonce up on the hill, where the twelve mares were out at grass. And when\nhe got up there and found them, each of them had a foal at her side, and\none of them had besides, along with her, a big dapple-gray foal, which\nwas so sleek that the sun shone from its coat.\n\n\u201cA fine fellow you are, my little foal,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the foal; \u201cbut if you\u2019ll only kill all the other foals, so\nthat I may run and suck all the mares one year more, you\u2019ll see how big\nand sleek I\u2019ll be then.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad was ready to do that; so he killed all those twelve foals,\nand went home again.\n\nSo when he came back the next year to look after his foal and mares, the\nfoal was so fat and sleek, that the sun shone from its coat, and it had\ngrown so big, the lad had hard work to mount it. As for the mares, they\nhad each of them another foal.\n\n\u201cWell, it\u2019s quite plain I lost nothing by letting you suck all my twelve\nmares,\u201d said the lad to the yearling, \u201cbut now you\u2019re big enough to come\nalong with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the colt, \u201cI must bide here a year longer; and now kill all\nthe twelve foals, that I may suck all the mares this year too, and\nyou\u2019ll see how big and sleek I\u2019ll be by summer.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad did that; and next year when he went up on the hill to look\nafter his colt and the mares, each mare had her foal, but the dapple\ncolt was so tall the lad couldn\u2019t reach up to his crest when he wanted\nto feel how fat he was; and so sleek he was too, that his coat glistened\nin the sunshine.\n\n\u201cBig and beautiful you were last year, my colt,\u201d said the lad, \u201cbut this\nyear you\u2019re far grander. There\u2019s no such horse in the king\u2019s stable. But\nnow you must come along with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Dapple again, \u201cI must stay here one year more. Kill the\ntwelve foals as before, that I may suck the mares the whole year, and\nthen just come and look at me when the summer comes.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad did that; he killed the foals, and went away home.\n\nBut when he went up next year to look after Dapple and the mares, he was\nquite astonished. So tall, and stout, and sturdy, he never thought a\nhorse could be; for Dapple had to lay down on all fours before the lad\ncould bestride him, and it was hard work to get up even then, although\nhe lay flat; and his coat was so smooth and sleek, the sunbeams shone\nfrom it as from a looking-glass.\n\nThis time Dapple was willing enough to follow the lad, so he jumped up\non his back and when he came riding home to his brothers, they all\nclapped their hands and crossed themselves, for such a horse they had\nnever heard of nor seen before.\n\n\u201cIf you will only get me the best shoes you can for my horse, and the\ngrandest saddle and bridle that are to be found,\u201d said the lad, \u201cyou may\nhave my twelve mares that graze up on the hill yonder, and their twelve\nfoals into the bargain.\u201d For you must know that this year too every mare\nhad her foal.\n\nYes, his brothers were ready to do that, and so the lad got such strong\nshoes under his horse, that the stones flew high aloft as he rode away\nacross the hills; and he had a golden saddle and a golden bridle, which\ngleamed and glistened a long way off.\n\n\u201cNow we\u2019re off to the king\u2019s palace,\u201d said Dapplegrim\u2014that was his name;\n\u201cbut mind you ask the king for a good stable and good fodder for me.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad said he would mind; he\u2019d be sure not to forget; and when he\nrode off from his brothers\u2019 house, you may be sure it wasn\u2019t long, with\nsuch a horse under him, before he got to the king\u2019s palace.\n\nWhen he came there the king was standing on the steps, and stared and\nstared at the man who came riding along.\n\n\u201cNay, nay!\u201d said he, \u201csuch a man and such a horse I never yet saw in all\nmy life.\u201d\n\nBut when the lad asked if he could get a place in the king\u2019s household,\nthe king was so glad he was ready to jump and dance as he stood on the\nsteps.\n\nWell, they said, perhaps he might get a place there.\n\n\u201cAye,\u201d said the lad, \u201cbut I must have good stable-room for my horse, and\nfodder that one can trust.\u201d\n\nYes! he should have meadow-hay and oats, as much as Dapple could cram,\nand all the other knights had to lead their horses out of the stable\nthat Dapplegrim might stand alone, and have it all to himself.\n\nBut it wasn\u2019t long before all the others in the king\u2019s household began\nto be jealous of the lad, and there was no end to the bad things they\nwould have done to him, if they had only dared. At last they thought of\ntelling the king he had said he was man enough to set the king\u2019s\ndaughter free\u2014whom the Troll had long since carried away into the\nhill\u2014if he only chose. The King called the lad before him, and said he\nhad heard the lad said he was good to do so and so; so now he must go\nand do it. If he did it he knew how the king had promised his daughter\nand half the kingdom, and that promise would be faithfully kept; if he\ndidn\u2019t, he should be killed.\n\nThe lad kept on saying he never said any such thing; but it was no\ngood,\u2014the king wouldn\u2019t even listen to him; and so the end of it was, he\nwas forced to say he\u2019d go and try.\n\nSo he went into the stable, down in the mouth and heavy-hearted, and\nthen Dapplegrim asked him at once why he was in such dumps.\n\nThen the lad told him all, and how he couldn\u2019t tell which way to turn,\u2014\n\n\u201cFor as for setting the Princess free, that\u2019s downright stuff.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! but it might be done, perhaps,\u201d said Dapplegrim. \u201cI\u2019ll help you\nthrough; but you must first have me well shod. You must go and ask for\nten pound of iron and twelve pound of steel for the shoes, and one smith\nto hammer and another to hold.\u201d\n\nYes, the lad did that, and got for answer \u201cYes!\u201d He got both the iron\nand the steel, and the smiths, and so Dapplegrim was shod both strong\nand well, and off went the lad from the court-yard in a cloud of dust.\n\nBut when he came to the hill into which the Princess had been carried,\nthe pinch was how to get up the steep wall of rock where the Troll\u2019s\ncave was, in which the Princess had been hid. For you must know the hill\nstood straight up and down right on end, as upright as a house-wall, and\nas smooth as a sheet of glass.\n\nThe first time the lad went at it he got a little way up; but then\nDapple\u2019s forelegs slipped, and down they went again, with a sound like\nthunder on the hill.\n\nThe second time he rode at it he got some way further up; but then one\nforeleg slipped, and down they went with a crash like a landslip.\n\nBut the third time Dapple said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow we must show our mettle;\u201d and went at it again till the stones flew\nheaven-high about them, and so they got up.\n\nThen the lad rode right into the cave at full speed and caught up the\nPrincess, and threw her over his saddle-bow, and out and down again\nbefore the Troll had time even to get on his legs; and so the Princess\nwas freed.\n\nWhen the lad came back to the palace, the king was both happy and glad\nto get his daughter back; that you may well believe; but some how or\nother, though I don\u2019t know how, the others about the court had so\nbrought it about that the king was angry with the lad after all.\n\n\u201cThanks you shall have for freeing my Princess,\u201d said he to the lad,\nwhen he brought the Princess into the hall, and made his bow.\n\n\u201cShe ought to be mine as well as yours; for you\u2019re a word-fast man, I\nhope,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cAye, aye!\u201d said the king, \u201chave her you shall, since I said it; but\nfirst of all, you must make the sun shine into my palace hall.\u201d\n\nNow you must know there was a high steep ridge of rock close outside the\nwindows, which threw such a shade over the hall that never a sunbeam\nshone into it.\n\n\u201cThat wasn\u2019t in our bargain,\u201d answered the lad; \u201cbut I see this is past\npraying against; I must e\u2019en go and try my luck, for the Princess I must\nand will have.\u201d\n\nSo down he went to Dapple, and told him what the king wanted, and\nDapplegrim thought it might easily be done, but first of all he must be\nnew shod; and for that ten pound of iron, and twelve pound of steel\nbesides, were needed, and two smiths, one to hammer and the other to\nhold, and then they\u2019d soon get the sun to shine into the palace hall.\n\nSo when the lad asked for all these things, he got them at once\u2014the king\ncouldn\u2019t say nay for very shame; and so Dapplegrim got new shoes, and\nsuch shoes! Then the lad jumped upon his back, and off they went again;\nand for every leap that Dapplegrim gave, down sank the ridge fifteen\nells into the earth, and so they went on till there was nothing left of\nthe ridge for the king to see.\n\nWhen the lad got back to the king\u2019s palace, he asked the king if the\nPrincess were not his now; for now no one could say that the sun didn\u2019t\nshine into the hall. But then the others set the king\u2019s back up again,\nand he answered the lad should have her of course, he had never thought\nof any thing else; but first of all he must get as grand a horse for the\nbride to ride on to church as the bridegroom had himself.\n\nThe lad said the king hadn\u2019t spoken a word about this before, and that\nhe thought he had now fairly earned the Princess; but the king held to\nhis own; and more, if the lad couldn\u2019t do that he should lose his life;\nthat was what the king said. So the lad went down to the stable in\ndoleful dumps, as you may well fancy, and there he told Dapplegrim all\nabout it; how the king had laid that task on him, to find the bride as\ngood a horse as the bridegroom had himself, else he would lose his life.\n\n\u201cBut that\u2019s not so easy,\u201d he said, \u201cfor your match isn\u2019t to be found in\nthe wide world.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh yes, I have a match,\u201d said Dapplegrim; \u201cbut \u2019tisn\u2019t so easy to find\nhim, for he abides in Hell. Still, we\u2019ll try. And now you must go up to\nthe king and ask for new shoes for me, ten pound of iron, and twelve\npound of steel; and two smiths, one to hammer and one to hold; and mind\nyou see that the points and ends of these shoes are sharp; and twelve\nsacks of rye, and twelve sacks of barley, and twelve slaughtered oxen,\nwe must have with us; and mind, we must have the twelve ox-hides, with\ntwelve hundred spikes driven into each; and, let me see, a big\ntar-barrel;\u2014that\u2019s all we want.\u201d\n\nSo the lad went up to the king and asked for all that Dapplegrim had\nsaid, and the king again thought he couldn\u2019t say nay, for shame\u2019s sake,\nand so the lad got all he wanted.\n\nWell, he jumped up on Dapplegrim\u2019s back, and rode away from the palace,\nand when he had ridden far far over hill and heath, Dapple asked,\u2014\n\n\u201cDo you hear anything?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I hear an awful hissing and rustling up in the air,\u201d said the lad;\n\u201cI think I\u2019m getting afraid.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s all the wild birds that fly through the wood. They are sent to\nstop us; but just cut a hole in the corn-sacks, and then they\u2019ll have so\nmuch to do with the corn, they\u2019ll forget us quite.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad did that; he cut holes in the corn-sacks, so that the rye\nand barley ran out on all sides. Then all the wild birds that were in\nthe wood came flying round them so thick that the sunbeams grew dark;\nbut as soon as they saw the corn, they couldn\u2019t keep to their purpose,\nbut flew down and began to pick and scratch at the rye and barley, and\nafter that, they began to fight among themselves. As for Dapplegrim and\nthe lad, they forgot all about them, and did them no harm.\n\nSo the lad rode on and on\u2014far far over mountain and dale, over\nsand-hills and moor. Then Dapplegrim began to prick up his ears again,\nand at last he asked the lad if he heard anything?\n\n\u201cYes! now I hear such an ugly roaring and howling in the wood all round,\nit makes me quite afraid.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh?\u201d said Dapplegrim, \u201cthat\u2019s all the wild beasts that range through\nthe wood, and they\u2019re sent out to stop us. But just cast out the twelve\ncarcasses of the oxen, that will give them enough to do, and so they\u2019ll\nforget us outright.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad cast out the carcasses, and then all the wild beasts in the\nwood, both bears, and wolves, and lions\u2014all fell beasts of all\nkinds\u2014came after them. But when they saw the carcasses, they began to\nfight for them among themselves, till blood flowed in streams; but\nDapplegrim and the lad they quite forgot.\n\nSo the lad rode far away, and they changed the landscape many, many\ntimes, for Dapplegrim didn\u2019t let the grass grow under him, as you may\nfancy. At last Dapple gave a great neigh.\n\n\u201cDo you hear anything?\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cYes, I hear something like a colt neighing loud, a long, long way off,\u201d\nanswered the lad.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a full-grown colt then,\u201d said Dapplegrim, \u201cif we hear him neigh\nso loud such a long way off.\u201d\n\nAfter that they travelled a good bit, changing the landscape once or\ntwice, maybe. Then Dapplegrim gave another neigh.\n\n\u201cNow listen, and tell me if you hear anything,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cYes, now I hear a neigh like a full-grown horse,\u201d answered the lad.\n\n\u201cAye! aye!\u201d said Dapplegrim, \u201cyou\u2019ll hear him once again soon, and then\nyou\u2019ll hear he\u2019s got a voice of his own.\u201d\n\nSo they travelled on and on, and changed the landscape once or twice,\nperhaps, and then Dapplegrim neighed the third time; but before he could\nask the lad if he heard anything, something gave such a neigh across the\nheathy hill-side, the lad thought hill and rock would surely be rent\nasunder.\n\n\u201cNow he\u2019s here!\u201d said Dapplegrim; \u201cmake haste, now, and throw the ox\nhides, with the spikes in them, over me, and throw down the tar-barrel\non the plain; then climb up into that great spruce-fir yonder. When it\ncomes, fire will flash out of both nostrils, and then the tar-barrel\nwill catch fire. Now, mind what I say. If the flame rises, I win; if it\nfalls, I lose; but if you see me winning, take and cast the bridle\u2014you\nmust take it off me\u2014over its head, and then it will be tame enough.\u201d\n\nSo just as the lad had done throwing the ox hides, with the spikes, over\nDapplegrim, and had cast down the tar-barrel on the plain, and had got\nwell up into the spruce-fir, up galloped a horse, with fire flashing out\nof his nostrils, and the flame caught the tar-barrel at once. Then\nDapplegrim and the strange horse began to fight till the stones flew\nheaven high. They fought, and bit, and kicked, both with fore-feet and\nhind-feet, and sometimes the lad could see them, and sometimes he\ncouldn\u2019t; but at last the flame began to rise; for wherever the strange\nhorse kicked or bit, he met the spiked hides, and at last he had to\nyield. When the lad saw that, he wasn\u2019t long in getting down from the\ntree, and in throwing the bridle over its head, and then it was so tame\nyou could hold it with a pack-thread.\n\nAnd what do you think? that horse was dappled too, and so like\nDapplegrim, you couldn\u2019t tell which was which. Then the lad bestrode the\nnew Dapple he had broken, and rode home to the palace, and old\nDapplegrim ran loose by his side. So when he got home, there stood the\nking out in the yard.\n\n\u201cCan you tell me now,\u201d said the lad, \u201cwhich is the horse I have caught\nand broken, and which is the one I had before. If you can\u2019t, I think\nyour daughter is fairly mine.\u201d\n\nThen the king went and looked at both Dapples, high and low, before and\nbehind, but there wasn\u2019t a hair on one which wasn\u2019t on the other as\nwell.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the king, \u201cthat I can\u2019t; and since you\u2019ve got my daughter\nsuch a grand horse for her wedding, you shall have her with all my\nheart. But still we\u2019ll have one trial more, just to see whether you\u2019re\nfated to have her. First, she shall hide herself twice, and then you\nshall hide yourself twice. If you can find out her hiding-place, and she\ncan\u2019t find out yours, why then you\u2019re fated to have her, and so you\nshall have her.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not in the bargain either,\u201d said the lad; \u201cbut we must just try,\nsince it must be so;\u201d and so the Princess went off to hide herself\nfirst.\n\nSo she turned herself into a duck, and lay swimming on a pond that was\nclose to the palace. But the lad only ran down to the stable, and asked\nDapplegrim what she had done with herself.\n\n\u201cOh, you only need to take your gun,\u201d said Dapplegrim, \u201cand go down to\nthe brink of the pond, and aim at the duck which lies swimming about\nthere, and she\u2019ll soon show herself.\u201d\n\nSo the lad snatched up his gun and ran off to the pond. \u201cI\u2019ll just take\na pop at this duck,\u201d he said, and began to aim at it.\n\n\u201cNay, nay, dear friend, don\u2019t shoot. It\u2019s I,\u201d said the Princess.\n\nSo he had found her once.\n\nThe second time the Princess turned herself into a loaf of bread, and\nlaid herself on the table among four other loaves; and so like was she\nto the others, no one could say which was which.\n\nBut the lad went again down to the stable to Dapplegrim, and said how\nthe Princess had hidden herself again, and he couldn\u2019t tell at all what\nhad become of her.\n\n\u201cOh, just take and sharpen a good breadknife,\u201d said Dapplegrim, \u201cand do\nas if you were going to cut in two the third loaf on the left hand of\nthose four loaves which are lying on the dresser in the king\u2019s kitchen,\nand you\u2019ll find her soon enough.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad was down in the kitchen in no time, and began to sharpen\nthe biggest breadknife he could lay hands on; then he caught hold of the\nthird loaf on the left hand, and put the knife to it, as though he was\ngoing to cut it in two.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll just have a slice off this loaf,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cNay, dear friend,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cdon\u2019t cut. It\u2019s I.\u201d\n\nSo he had found her twice.\n\nThen he was to go and hide; but he and Dapplegrim had settled it all so\nwell beforehand, it wasn\u2019t easy to find him. First he turned himself\ninto a tick, and hid himself in Dapplegrim\u2019s left nostril; and the\nPrincess went about hunting him everywhere, high and low; at last she\nwanted to go into Dapplegrim\u2019s stall, but he began to bite and kick, so\nthat she daren\u2019t go near him, and so she couldn\u2019t find the lad.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d she said, \u201csince I can\u2019t find you, you must show where you are\nyourself;\u201d and in a trice the lad stood there on the stable floor.\n\nThe second time Dapplegrim told him again what to do; and then he turned\nhimself into a clod of earth, and stuck himself between Dapple\u2019s hoof\nand shoe on the near forefoot. So the Princess hunted up and down, out\nand in, everywhere; at last she came into the stable, and wanted to go\ninto Dapplegrim\u2019s loose-box. This time he let her come up to him, and\nshe pried high and low, but under his hoofs she couldn\u2019t come, for he\nstood firm as a rock on his feet, and so she couldn\u2019t find the lad.\n\n\u201cWell; you must just show yourself, for I\u2019m sure I can\u2019t find you,\u201d said\nthe Princess, and as she spoke the lad stood by her side on the stable\nfloor.\n\n\u201cNow you are mine indeed,\u201d said the lad; \u201cfor now you can see I\u2019m fated\nto have you.\u201d This he said both to the father and daughter.\n\n\u201cYes; it is so fated,\u201d said the king; \u201cso it must be.\u201d\n\nThen they got ready the wedding in right down earnest, and lost no time\nabout it; and the lad got on Dapplegrim, and the Princess on\nDapplegrim\u2019s match, and then you may fancy they were not long on their\nway to the church.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n[Illustration:\n\n THE SEVEN FOALS\n]\n\n\n\n\n THE SEVEN FOALS.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a poor couple who lived in a wretched hut, far,\nfar away in the wood. How they lived I can\u2019t tell, but I\u2019m sure it was\nfrom hand to mouth, and hard work even then; but they had three sons,\nand the youngest of them was Boots, of course, for he did little else\nthan lie there and poke about in the ashes.\n\nSo one day the eldest lad said he would go out to earn his bread, and he\nsoon got leave, and wandered out into the world. There he walked and\nwalked the whole day, and when evening drew in, he came to a king\u2019s\npalace, and there stood the king out on the steps, and asked whither he\nwas bound.\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m going about, looking after a place,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cWill you serve me?\u201d asked the king, \u201cand watch my seven foals. If you\ncan watch them one whole day, and tell me at night what they eat and\nwhat they drink, you shall have the Princess to wife, and half my\nkingdom; but if you can\u2019t, I\u2019ll cut three red stripes out of your back.\nDo you hear?\u201d\n\nYes! that was an easy task, the lad thought, he\u2019d do that fast enough,\nnever fear.\n\nSo next morning, as soon as the first peep of dawn came, the king\u2019s\ncoachman let out the seven foals. Away they went and the lad after them.\nYou may fancy how they tore over hill and dale, through bush and bog.\nWhen the lad had run so a long time, he began to get weary, and when he\nhad held on a while longer, he had more than enough of his watching, and\njust there, he came to a cleft in a rock, where an old hag sat and spun\nwith a distaff. As soon as she saw the lad who was running after the\nfoals till the sweat ran down his brow, this old hag bawled out,\u2014\n\n\u201cCome hither, come hither, my pretty son, and let me comb your hair.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad was willing enough; so he sat down in the cleft of the rock\nwith the old hag, and laid his head on her lap, and she combed his hair\nall day whilst he lay there, and stretched his lazy bones.\n\nSo, when evening drew on, the lad wanted to go away.\n\n\u201cI may just as well toddle straight home now,\u201d said he, \u201cfor it\u2019s no use\nmy going back to the palace.\u201d\n\n\u201cStop a bit till it\u2019s dark,\u201d said the old hag, \u201cand then the king\u2019s\nfoals will pass by here again, and then you can run home with them, and\nthen no one will know that you have lain here all day long, instead of\nwatching the foals.\u201d\n\nSo, when they came, she gave the lad a flask of water and a clod of\nturf. Those he was to show to the king, and say that was what his seven\nfoals ate and drank.\n\n\u201cHave you watched true and well the whole day, now?\u201d asked the King,\nwhen the lad came before him in the evening.\n\n\u201cYes, I should think so,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cThen you can tell me what my seven foals eat and drink,\u201d said the King.\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d and so the lad pulled out the flask of water and the clod of\nturf, which the old hag had given him.\n\n\u201cHere you see their meat, and here you see their drink,\u201d said the lad.\n\nBut then the king saw plain enough how he had watched, and he got so\nwroth, he ordered his men to chase him away home on the spot; but first\nthey were to cut three red stripes out of his back, and rub salt into\nthem. So when the lad got home again, you may fancy what a temper he was\nin. He\u2019d gone out once to get a place, he said, but he\u2019d never do so\nagain.\n\nNext day the second son said he would go out into the world to try his\nluck. His father and mother said \u201cNo,\u201d and bade him look at his\nbrother\u2019s back; but the lad wouldn\u2019t give in; he held to his own, and at\nlast he got leave to go, and set off. So when he had walked the whole\nday, he, too, came to the king\u2019s palace. There stood the King out on the\nsteps, and asked whither he was bound? and when the lad said he was\nlooking about for a place, the King said he might have a place there,\nand watch his seven foals. But the king laid down the same punishment,\nand the same reward, as he had settled for his brother. Well, the lad\nwas willing enough; he took the place at once with the King, for he\nthought he\u2019d soon watch the foals, and tell the king what they ate and\ndrank.\n\nSo, in the gray of the morning, the coachman let out the seven foals,\nand off they went again over hill and dale, and the lad after them. But\nthe same thing happened to him as had befallen his brother. When he had\nrun after the foals a long long time, till he was both warm and weary,\nhe passed by the cleft in a rock, where an old hag sat and spun with a\ndistaff, and she bawled out to the lad,\u2014\n\n\u201cCome hither, come hither, my pretty son, and let me comb your hair.\u201d\n\nThat the lad thought a good offer, so he let the foals run on their way,\nand sat down in the cleft with the old hag. There he sat, and there he\nlay, taking his ease, and stretching his lazy bones the whole day.\n\nWhen the foals came back at nightfall, he too got a flask of water and\nclod of turf from the old hag to show to the king. But when the king\nasked the lad,\u2014\n\n\u201cCan you tell me now, what my seven foals eat and drink?\u201d and the lad\npulled out the flask and the clod, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cHere you see their meat, and here you see their drink.\u201d\n\nThen the king got wroth again, and ordered them to cut three red stripes\nout of the lad\u2019s back, and rub salt in, and chase him home that very\nminute. And so when the lad got home, he also told how he had fared, and\nsaid, he had gone out once to get a place, but he\u2019d never do so any\nmore.\n\nThe third day Boots wanted to set out; he had a great mind to try and\nwatch the seven foals, he said. The others laughed at him, and made game\nof him, saying,\u2014\n\n\u201cWhen we fared so ill, you\u2019ll do it better\u2014a fine joke; you look like\nit\u2014you who have never done anything but lie there and poke about in the\nashes.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d said Boots, \u201cI don\u2019t see why I shouldn\u2019t go, for I\u2019ve got it into\nmy head, and can\u2019t get it out again.\u201d\n\nAnd so, in spite of all the jeers of the others and the prayers of the\nold people, there was no help for it, and Boots set out.\n\nSo after he had walked the whole day, he too came at dusk to the king\u2019s\npalace. There stood the king out on the steps, and asked whither he was\nbound.\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Boots, \u201cI\u2019m going about seeing if I can hear of a place.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhence do you come, then?\u201d said the King, for he wanted to know a\nlittle more about them before he took any one into his service.\n\nSo Boots said whence he came, and how he was brother to those two who\nhad watched the king\u2019s seven foals, and ended by asking if he might try\nto watch them next day.\n\n\u201cOh, stuff!\u201d said the King, for he got quite cross if he even thought of\nthem; \u201cif you\u2019re brother to those two, you\u2019re not worth much, I\u2019ll be\nbound. I\u2019ve had enough of such scamps.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Boots; \u201cbut since I\u2019ve come so far, I may just as well get\nleave to try, I too.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, very well; with all my heart,\u201d said the King, \u201cif you _will_ have\nyour back flayed, you\u2019re quite welcome.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019d much rather have the Princess,\u201d said Boots.\n\nSo next morning, at gray of dawn, the coachman let out the seven foals\nagain, and away they went over hill and dale, through bush and bog, and\nBoots behind them. And so, when he too had run a long while, he came to\nthe cleft in the rock, where the old hag sat, spinning at her distaft.\nSo she bawled out to Boots,\u2014\n\n\u201cCome hither, come hither, my pretty son, and let me comb your hair.\u201d\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you wish you may catch me,\u201d said Boots. \u201cDon\u2019t you wish you may\ncatch me,\u201d as he ran along, leaping and jumping, and holding on by one\nof the foals\u2019 tails. And when he had got well past the cleft in the\nrock, the youngest foal said,\u2014\n\n\u201cJump up on my back, my lad, for we\u2019ve a long way before us still.\u201d\n\nSo Boots jumped up on his back.\n\nSo they went on, and on, a long long way.\n\n\u201cDo you see anything now?\u201d said the Foal.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Boots.\n\nSo they went on a good bit farther.\n\n\u201cDo you see anything now?\u201d asked the Foal.\n\n\u201cOh no,\u201d said the lad.\n\nSo when they had gone a great, great way farther\u2014I\u2019m sure I can\u2019t tell\nhow far\u2014the Foal asked again,\u2014\n\n\u201cDo you see anything now?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Boots; \u201cnow I see something that looks white\u2014just like a\ntall, big birch trunk.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the Foal; \u201cwe\u2019re going into that trunk.\u201d\n\nSo when they got to the trunk, the eldest foal took and pushed it on one\nside, and then they saw a door where it had stood, and inside the door\nwas a little room, and in the room there was scarce anything but a\nlittle fire-place and one or two benches; but behind the door hung a\ngreat rusty sword and a little pitcher.\n\n\u201cCan you brandish the sword?\u201d said the Foals; \u201ctry.\u201d\n\nSo Boots tried, but he couldn\u2019t; then they made him take a pull at the\npitcher; first once, then twice, and then thrice, and then he could\nwield it like anything.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the Foals, \u201cnow you may take the sword with you, and with it\nyou must cut off all our seven heads on your wedding-day, and then we\u2019ll\nbe princes again as we were before. For we are brothers of that Princess\nwhom you are to have when you can tell the king what we eat and drink;\nbut an ugly Troll has thrown this shape over us. Now mind, when you have\nhewn off our heads, to take care to lay each head at the tail of the\ntrunk which it belonged to before, and then the spell will have no more\npower over us.\u201d\n\nYes! Boots promised all that, and then on they went.\n\nAnd when they had travelled a long long way, the Foal asked,\u2014\n\n\u201cDo you see anything?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said Boots.\n\nSo they travelled a good bit still.\n\n\u201cAnd now?\u201d asked the Foal.\n\n\u201cNo, I see nothing,\u201d said Boots.\n\nSo they travelled many many miles again, over hill and dale.\n\n\u201cNow then,\u201d said the Foal, \u201cdo you see anything now?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Boots, \u201cnow I see something like a blue stripe, far, far\naway.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the Foal, \u201cthat\u2019s a river we\u2019ve got to cross.\u201d\n\nOver the river was a long grand bridge; and when they had got over to\nthe other side, they travelled on a long, long way. At last the Foal\nasked again,\u2014\n\n\u201cIf Boots didn\u2019t see anything?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, this time he saw something that looked black far, far away, just\nas though it were a church steeple.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the Foal, \u201cthat\u2019s where we\u2019re going to turn in.\u201d\n\nSo when the foals got into the churchyard, they became men again, and\nlooked like Princes, with such fine clothes that it glistened from them;\nand so they went into the church, and took the bread and wine from the\npriest who stood at the altar. And Boots he went in too; but when the\npriest had laid his hands on the Princes, and given them the blessing,\nthey went out of the church again, and Boots went out too; but he took\nwith him a flask of wine and a wafer. And as soon as ever the seven\nPrinces came out into the churchyard, they were turned into foals again,\nand so Boots got up on the back of the youngest, and so they all went\nback the same way that they had come, only they went much, much faster.\nFirst they crossed the bridge, next they passed the trunk, and then they\npassed the old hag, who sat at the cleft and span, and they went by her\nso fast, that Boots couldn\u2019t hear what the old hag screeched after him;\nbut he heard so much as to know she was in an awful rage.\n\nIt was almost dark when they got back to the palace, and the King\nhimself stood out on the steps and waited for them.\n\n\u201cHave you watched well and true the whole day?\u201d said he to Boots.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve done my best,\u201d answered Boots.\n\n\u201cThen you can tell me what my seven foals eat and drink,\u201d said the King.\n\nThen Boots pulled out the flask of wine and the wafer, and showed them\nto the King.\n\n\u201cHere you see their meat, and here you see their drink,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the King, \u201cyou have watched true and well, and you shall\nhave the Princess and half the kingdom.\u201d\n\nSo they made ready the wedding-feast, and the King said it should be\nsuch a grand one, it should be the talk far and near.\n\nBut when they sat down to the bridal feast, the bridegroom got up and\nwent down to the stable, for he said he had forgotten something, and\nmust go to fetch it. And when he got down there, he did as the foals had\nsaid, and hewed their heads off all seven, the eldest first, and the\nothers after him; and at the same time he took care to lay each head at\nthe tail of the foal to which it belonged; and as he did this, lo! they\nall became Princes again.\n\nSo when he went into the bridal hall with the seven princes, the King\nwas so glad he both kissed Boots and patted him on the back, and his\nbride was still more glad of him than she had been before.\n\n\u201cHalf the kingdom you have got already,\u201d said the King, \u201cand the other\nhalf you shall have after my death; for my sons can easily get\nthemselves lands and wealth, now they are princes again.\u201d\n\nAnd so, like enough, there was mirth and fun at that wedding. I was\nthere too; but there was no one to care for poor me; and so I got\nnothing but a bit of bread and butter, and I laid it down on the stove,\nand the bread was burnt and the butter ran, and so I didn\u2019t get even the\nsmallest crumb. Wasn\u2019t that a great shame?\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n THE WIDOW\u2019S SON.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a poor, poor widow who had an only son. She\ndragged on with the boy till he had been confirmed, and then she said\nshe couldn\u2019t feed him any longer, he must just go out and earn his own\nbread. So the lad wandered out into the world, and when he had walked a\nday or so, a strange man met him.\n\n\u201cWhither away?\u201d asked the man.\n\n\u201cOh, I\u2019m going out into the world to try and get a place,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cWill you come and serve me?\u201d said the man.\n\n\u201cOh yes; just as soon you as any one else,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cWell, you\u2019ll have a good place with me,\u201d said the man; \u201cfor you\u2019ll only\nhave to keep me company, and do nothing at all else beside.\u201d\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\u2019s house.\n\nSo one day the man said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow, I\u2019m going off for eight days, and that time you\u2019ll have to spend\nhere all alone; but you must not go into any one of these four rooms\nhere. If you do, I\u2019ll take your life when I come back.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the lad,\u2014he\u2019d be sure not to do that. But when the man had\nbeen gone three or four days, the lad couldn\u2019t bear it any longer, but\nwent into the first room, and when he got inside he looked round, but he\nsaw nothing but a shelf over the door where a bramble-bush rod lay.\n\nWell, indeed! thought the lad; a pretty thing to forbid my seeing this.\n\nSo when the eight days were out, the man came home, and the first thing\nhe said was,\u2014\n\n\u201cYou haven\u2019t been into any of these rooms, of course.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no; that I haven\u2019t,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll soon see that,\u201d said the man, and went at once into the room where\nthe lad had been.\n\n\u201cNay, but you have been in here,\u201d said he; \u201cand now you shall lose your\nlife.\u201d\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 were\nas 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 again,\nexcept that the lad stood out eight days before he went in. In this\nroom, too, he saw nothing but a shelf over the door, and a big stone,\nand a pitcher of water on it. Well, after all, there\u2019s not much to be\nafraid 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\u2019t done anything of the kind.\n\n\u201cWell, well; I\u2019ll soon see that,\u201d said the man; and when he saw that the\nlad had been in them after all, he said,\u2014\n\n\u201cAh! now I\u2019ll spare you no longer; now you must lose your life.\u201d\n\nBut the lad begged and prayed for himself again, and so this time too he\ngot off with stripes; though he got as many as his skin could carry. But\nwhen he got sound and well again, he led just as easy a life as ever,\nand 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 he\nshould be away three weeks, and he forbade the lad anew to go into the\nthird room, for if he went in there he might just make up his mind at\nonce to lose his life. Then after fourteen days the lad couldn\u2019t bear\nit, but crept into the room, but he saw nothing at all in there but a\ntrap door on the floor; and when he lifted it up and looked down, there\nstood a great copper cauldron which bubbled and boiled away down there;\nbut he saw no fire under it.\n\n\u201cWell, I should just like to know if it\u2019s hot,\u201d thought the lad, and\nstuck his finger down into the broth, and when he pulled it out again,\nlo! it was gilded all over. So the lad scraped and scrubbed it, but the\ngilding wouldn\u2019t go off, so he bound a piece of rag round it; and when\nthe man came back and asked what was the matter with his finger, the lad\nsaid he\u2019d given it such a bad cut. But the man tore off the rag, and\nthen he soon saw what was the matter with the finger. First he wanted to\nkill the lad outright, but when he wept and begged, he only gave him\nsuch a thrashing that he had to keep his bed three days. After that the\nman took down a pot from the wall, and rubbed him over with some stuff\nout of it, and so the lad was sound 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\u2019t\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, and\nput the hay at his head. Then said the horse,\u2014\n\n\u201cSince you are so good at heart as to let me have some food, I\u2019ll set\nyou free, that I will. For if the Troll comes back and finds you here,\nhe\u2019ll kill you outright. But now you must go up to the room which lies\njust over this, and take a coat of mail out of those that hang there;\nand mind, whatever you do, don\u2019t take any of the bright ones, but the\nmost rusty of all you see, that\u2019s the one to take; and sword and saddle\nyou must choose for yourself just in the same way.\u201d\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 get\ninto the cauldron which stood and boiled in the other room, and bathe\nhimself there. \u201cIf I do,\u201d thought the lad, \u201cI shall look an awful\nfright;\u201d but for all that, he did as he was told. So when he had taken\nhis bath, he became so handsome and sleek, and as red and white as milk\nand blood, and much stronger than he had been before.\n\n\u201cDo you feel any change?\u201d asked the Horse.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the lad.\n\n\u201cTry to lift me then,\u201d said the Horse.\n\nOh yes! he could do that, and as for the sword, he brandished it like a\nfeather.\n\n\u201cNow saddle me,\u201d said the Horse, \u201cand put on the coat of mail, and then\ntake the bramble-bush rod, and the stone, and the pitcher of water, and\nthe pot of ointment, and then we\u2019ll be off as fast as we can.\u201d\n\nSo when the lad had got on the horse, off they went at such a rate, he\ncouldn\u2019t at all tell how they went. But when he had ridden awhile, the\nHorse said,\n\n\u201cI think I hear a noise; look round! can you see anything?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; there are ever so many coming after us, at least a score,\u201d said\nthe lad.\n\n\u201cAye, aye, that\u2019s the Troll coming,\u201d said the Horse; \u201cnow he\u2019s after us\nwith his pack.\u201d\n\nSo they rode on a while, until those who followed were close behind\nthem.\n\n\u201cNow throw your bramble-bush rod behind you, over your shoulder,\u201d said\nthe Horse; \u201cbut mind you throw it a good way off my back.\u201d\n\nSo the lad did that, and all at once a close, thick bramble-wood grew up\nbehind them. So the lad rode on a long, long time, while the Troll and\nhis crew had to go home to fetch something to hew their way through the\nwood. But at last, the horse said again.\n\n\u201cLook behind you! can you see anything now?\n\n\u201cYes, ever so many,\u201d said the lad, \u201cas many as would fill a large\nchurch.\u201d\n\n\u201cAye, aye, that\u2019s the Troll and his crew,\u201d said the Horse; \u201cnow he\u2019s got\nmore to back him; but now throw down the stone, and mind you throw it\nfar behind me.\u201d\n\nAnd as soon as the lad did what the horse said, up rose a great black\nhill of rock behind him. So the Troll had to be off home to fetch\nsomething to mine his way through the rock; and while the Troll did\nthat, the lad rode a good bit further on. But still the Horse begged him\nto look behind him, and then he saw a troop like a whole army behind\nhim, and they glistened in the sunbeams.\n\n\u201cAye, aye,\u201d said the Horse, \u201cthat\u2019s the Troll, and now he\u2019s got his\nwhole band with him, so throw the pitcher of water behind you, but mind\nyou don\u2019t spill any of it upon me.\u201d\n\nSo the lad did that; but in spite of all the pains he took, he still\nspilt one drop on the horse\u2019s flank. So it became a great deep lake; and\nbecause of that one drop, the horse found himself far out in it, but\nstill he swam safe to land. But when the Trolls came to the lake, they\nlay down to drink it dry; and so they swilled and swilled till they\nburst.\n\n\u201cNow we\u2019re rid of them,\u201d said the Horse.\n\nSo when they had gone a long long while, they came to a green patch in a\nwood.\n\n\u201cNow strip off all your arms,\u201d said the Horse, \u201cand only put on your\nragged clothes, and take the saddle off me, and let me loose, and hang\nall my clothing and your arms up inside that great hollow lime-tree\nyonder. Then make yourself a wig of fir-moss, and go up to the king\u2019s\npalace which lies close here, and ask for a place. Whenever you need me,\nonly come here and shake the bridle, and I\u2019ll come to you.\u201d\n\nYes! the lad did all his Horse told him, and as soon as ever he put on\nthe wig of moss he became so ugly, and pale, and miserable to look at,\nno one would have known him again. Then he went up to the king\u2019s palace,\nand begged first for leave to be in the kitchen, and bring in wood and\nwater for the cook, but then the kitchen-maid asked him\u2014\n\n\u201cWhy do you wear that ugly wig? Off with it. I won\u2019t have such a fright\nin here.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I can\u2019t do that,\u201d said the lad; \u201cfor I\u2019m not quite right in my\nhead.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you think, then, I\u2019ll have you in here about the food,\u201d cried the\ncook. \u201cAway with you to the coachman; you\u2019re best fit to go and clean\nthe stable.\u201d\n\nBut when the coachman begged him to take his wig off, he got the same\nanswer, and he wouldn\u2019t have him either.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019d best go down to the gardener,\u201d said he; \u201cyou\u2019re best fit to go\nabout and dig in the garden.\u201d\n\nSo he got leave to be with the gardener, but none of the other servants\nwould sleep with him, and so he had to sleep by himself under the steps\nof the summer-house. It stood upon beams, and had a high staircase.\nUnder that he got some turf for his bed, and there he lay as well as he\ncould.\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 and\nwashed himself, and then he was so handsome, it was a joy to look at\nhim.\n\nSo the Princess saw from her window the lovely gardener\u2019s 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\u201cOh,\u201d said the gardener, \u201cnone of his fellow-servants will sleep with\nhim; that\u2019s why.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet him come up to-night, and lie at the door inside my bed-room, and\nthen they\u2019ll not refuse to sleep with him any more,\u201d said the Princess.\n\nSo the gardener told that to the lad.\n\n\u201cDo you think I\u2019ll do any such thing?\u201d said the lad. \u201cWhy they\u2019d say\nnext there was something between me and the Princess.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the gardener, \u201cyou\u2019ve good reason to fear any such thing,\nyou who are so handsome.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well,\u201d said the lad, \u201csince it\u2019s her will, I suppose I must go.\u201d\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 the\nKing should come to know it. So he came into the Princess\u2019 bed-room, lay\ndown, and began to snore at once. Then the Princess said to her maid,\u2014\n\n\u201cGo gently, and just pull his wig off;\u201d 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, and\nthis time she whisked off the wig; and there lay the lad so lovely, and\nwhite and red, just as the Princess had seen him in the morning sun.\n\nAfter that the lad slept every night in the Princess\u2019 bed-room.\n\nBut it wasn\u2019t long before the King came to hear how the gardener\u2019s lad\nslept every night in the Princess\u2019 bed-room; and he got so wroth he\nalmost took the lad\u2019s life. He didn\u2019t do that, however, but threw him\ninto the prison tower; and as for his daughter, he shut her up in her\nown room, whence she never got leave to stir day or night. All that she\nbegged, and all that she prayed, for the lad and herself, was no good.\nThe King was only more wroth than ever.\n\nSome time after came a war and uproar in the land, and the king had to\ntake up arms against another king who wished to take the kingdom from\nhim. So when the lad heard that, he begged the gaoler to go to the king\nand ask for a coat of mail and a sword, and for leave to go to the war.\nAll the rest laughed when the gaoler told his errand, and begged the\nking to let him have an old worn-out suit, that they might have the fun\nof seeing such a wretch in battle. So he got that, and an old\nbroken-down hack besides, which went upon three legs, and dragged the\nfourth after it.\n\nThen they went out to meet the foe; but they hadn\u2019t 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, \u201cGee up, gee up!\u201d to his hack. And\nall the rest had their fun out of this, and laughed, and made game of\nthe lad as they rode past him. But they were scarcely gone, before he\nran to the lime-tree, threw on his coat of mail, and shook the bridle,\nand there came the horse in a trice, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cDo now your best, and I\u2019ll do mine.\u201d\n\nBut when the lad came up the battle had begun, and the king was in a sad\npinch; but no sooner had the lad rushed into the thick of it than the\nfoe was beaten back, and put to flight. The king and his men wondered\nand wondered who it could be who had come to help them, but none of them\ngot so near him as to be able to talk to him, and as soon as the fight\nwas over he was gone. When they went back, there sat the lad still in\nthe bog, and dug his spurs into his three-legged hack, and they all\nlaughed again.\n\n\u201cNo! only just look,\u201d they said; \u201cthere the fool sits still.\u201d\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 as\never they had ridden by, the lad ran again to the lime-tree, and all\nhappened as on the first day. Every one wondered what strange champion\nit could be that had helped them, but no one got so near him as to say a\nword to him; and no one guessed it could be the lad; that\u2019s easy to\nunderstand.\n\nSo when they went home at night, and saw the lad still sitting there on\nhis hack, they burst out laughing at him again, and one of them shot an\narrow at him and hit him in the leg. So he began to shriek and to\nbewail; \u2019twas enough to break one\u2019s heart; and so the king threw his\npocket-handkerchief to him to bind his wound.\n\nWhen they went out to battle the third day, the lad still sat there.\n\n\u201cGee up! gee up!\u201d he said to his hack.\n\n\u201cNay, nay,\u201d said the king\u2019s men; \u201cif he won\u2019t stick there till he\u2019s\nstarved to death.\u201d\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\u2019s 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\u2019t hard\nto find him out. So they took him with great joy between them to the\npalace, and the Princess, who saw him from her window, got so glad, no\none can believe it.\n\n\u201cHere comes my own true love,\u201d 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 in\na moment.\n\nSo he got the Princess to wife; but when he went down into the stable\nwhere his horse was on the day the wedding was to be, there it stood so\ndull and heavy, and hung its ears down, and wouldn\u2019t eat its corn. So\nwhen the young king\u2014for he was now a king, and had got half the\nkingdom\u2014spoke to him, and asked what ailed him, the Horse said,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow I have helped you on, and now I won\u2019t live any longer. So just take\nthe sword, and cut my head off.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I\u2019ll do nothing of the kind,\u201d said the young king; \u201cbut you shall\nhave all you want, and rest all your life.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the Horse, \u201cif you don\u2019t do as I tell you, see if I don\u2019t\ntake your life somehow.\u201d\n\nSo the king had to do what he asked; but when he swung the sword and was\nto cut his head off, he was so sorry he turned away his face, for he\nwould not see the stroke fall. But as soon as ever he had cut off the\nhead, there stood the loveliest Prince on the spot where the horse had\nstood.\n\n\u201cWhy, where in all the world did you come from?\u201d asked the king.\n\n\u201cIt was I who was a horse,\u201d said the Prince; \u201cfor I was king of that\nland whose king you slew yesterday. He it was who threw this Troll\u2019s\nshape over me, and sold me to the Troll. But now he is slain I get my\nown again, and you and I will be neighbour kings, but war we will never\nmake on one another.\u201d\n\nAnd they didn\u2019t either; for they were friends as long as they lived, and\neach paid the other very many visits.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n BUSHY BRIDE.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a widower, who had a son and a daughter by his\nfirst marriage.\n\nBoth were good children, and loved each other dearly. Some time after\nthe man married a widow, who had a daughter by her first husband, and\nshe was both ugly and bad, like her mother. So from the day the new wife\ncame into the house there was no peace for her step-children in any\ncorner; and at last the lad thought he\u2019d best go out into the world, and\ntry to earn his own bread. And when he had wandered a while he came to a\nking\u2019s palace, and got a place under the coachman, and quick and willing\nhe was, and the horses he looked after were so sleek and clean that\ntheir coats shone again.\n\nBut the sister who staid at home was treated worse than bad; both her\nstep-mother and stepsister were always at her, and wherever she went,\nand whatever she did, they scolded and snarled so, the poor lassie\nhadn\u2019t an hour\u2019s peace. All the hard work she was forced to do, and\nearly and late she got nothing but bad words, and little food besides.\n\nSo one day they had sent her to the burn to fetch water; and what do you\nthink? up popped an ugly, ugly head out of the pool, and said,\u2014\n\n\u201cWash me, you lassie.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, with all my heart I\u2019ll wash you,\u201d said the lassie.\n\nSo she began to wash and scrub the ugly head; but truth to say, she\nthought it nasty work.\n\n\u201cWell, as soon as she had done washing it, up popped another head out of\nthe pool, and this was uglier still.\n\n\u201cBrush me, you lassie,\u201d said the head.\n\n\u201cYes, with all my heart I\u2019ll brush you.\u201d\n\nAnd with that she took in hand the matted locks, and you may fancy she\nhadn\u2019t very pleasant work with them.\n\nBut when she had got over that, if a third head didn\u2019t pop out of the\npool, and this was far more ugly and loathsome than both the others put\ntogether.\n\n\u201cKiss me, you lassie.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I\u2019ll kiss you,\u201d said the lassie, and she did it too, though she\nthought it the worst work she had ever had to do in her life.\n\nThen the heads began to chatter together, and each asked what they\nshould do for the lassie who was so kind and gentle.\n\n\u201cThat she be the prettiest lassie in the world, and as fair as the\nbright day,\u201d said the first head.\n\n\u201cThat gold shall drop from her hair, every time she brushes it,\u201d said\nthe second head.\n\n\u201cThat gold shall fall from her mouth every time she speaks,\u201d said the\nthird head.\n\nSo when the lassie came home looking so lovely, and beaming as the\nbright day itself; her step-mother and her stepsister got more and more\ncross, and they got worse still when she began to talk, and they saw how\ngolden guineas fell from her mouth. As for the step-mother, she got so\nmad with rage, she chased the lassie into the pig-sty. That was the\nright place for all her gold stuff, but as for coming into the house,\nshe wouldn\u2019t hear of it.\n\nWell, it wasn\u2019t long before the step-mother wished her own daughter to\ngo to the burn to fetch water. So when she came to the water\u2019s edge with\nher buckets, up popped the first head.\n\n\u201cWash me, you lassie,\u201d it said.\n\n\u201cThe Deil wash you,\u201d said the stepdaughter. So the second head popped\nup.\n\n\u201cBrush me, you lassie,\u201d it said.\n\n\u201cThe Deil brush you,\u201d said the stepdaughter.\n\nSo down it went to the bottom, and the third head popped up.\n\n\u201cKiss me, you lassie,\u201d said the head.\n\n\u201cThe Deil kiss you, you pig\u2019s-snout,\u201d said the girl.\n\nThen the heads chattered together again, and asked what they should do\nto the girl who was so spiteful and cross-grained; and they all agreed\nshe should have a nose four ells long, and a snout three ells long, and\na pine bush right in the midst of her forehead, and every time she\nspoke, ashes were to fall out of her mouth.\n\nSo when she got home with her buckets, she bawled out to her mother\u2014\n\n\u201cOpen the door.\u201d\n\n\u201cOpen it yourself, my darling child,\u201d said the mother.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t reach it because of my nose,\u201d said the daughter.\n\nSo, when the mother came out and saw her, you may fancy what a way she\nwas in, and how she screamed and groaned; but, for all that, there were\nthe nose and the snout and the pine bush, and they got no smaller for\nall her grief.\n\nNow the brother, who had got the place in the King\u2019s stable, had taken a\nlittle sketch of his sister, which he carried away with him, and every\nmorning and every evening he knelt down before the picture and prayed to\nOur Lord for his sister, whom he loved so dearly. The other grooms had\nheard him praying, so they peeped through the key-hole of his room, and\nthere they saw him on his knees before the picture. So they went about\nsaying how the lad every morning and every evening knelt down and prayed\nto an idol which he had, and at last they went to the king himself and\nbegged him only to peep through the key-hole, and then His Majesty would\nsee the lad, and what things he did. At first the king wouldn\u2019t believe\nit, but at last they talked him over, and he crept on tiptoe to the door\nand peeped in. Yes, there was the lad on his knees before the picture,\nwhich hung on the wall, praying with clasped hands.\n\n\u201cOpen the door!\u201d called out the King; but the lad didn\u2019t hear him.\n\nSo the King called out in a louder voice, but the lad was so deep in his\nprayers he couldn\u2019t hear him this time either.\n\n\u201cOPEN THE DOOR, I SAY!\u201d roared out the King; \u201cIt\u2019s I the King who want\nto come in.\u201d\n\nWell, up jumped the lad and ran to the door and unlocked it, but in his\nhurry he forgot to hide the picture.\n\nBut when the King came in and saw the picture, he stood there as if he\nwere fettered, and couldn\u2019t stir from the spot, so lovely he thought the\npicture.\n\n\u201cSo lovely a woman there isn\u2019t in all the wide world,\u201d said the King.\n\nBut the lad told him she was his sister whom he had drawn, and if she\nwasn\u2019t prettier than that, at least she wasn\u2019t uglier.\n\n\u201cWell, if she\u2019s so lovely,\u201d said the King, \u201cI\u2019ll have her for my queen;\u201d\nand then he ordered the lad to set off home that minute, and not be long\non the road either. So the lad promised to make as much haste as he\ncould, and started off from the King\u2019s palace.\n\nWhen the brother came home to fetch his sister, the step-mother and\nstepsister said they must go too. So they all set out, and the good\nlassie had a casket in which she kept her gold, and a little dog, whose\nname was \u201cLittle Flo;\u201d those two things were all her mother left her.\nAnd when they had gone a while, they came to a lake which they had to\ncross; so the brother sat down at the helm, and the step-mother and the\ntwo girls sat in the bow forward, and so they sailed a long, long way.\n\nAt last they caught sight of land.\n\n\u201cThere,\u201d said the brother, \u201cwhere you see the white strand yonder,\nthere\u2019s where we\u2019re to land;\u201d and as he said this he pointed across the\nwater.\n\n\u201cWhat is it my brother says?\u201d asked the good lassie.\n\n\u201cHe says you must throw your casket overboard,\u201d said the step-mother.\n\n\u201cWell, when my brother says it, I must do it,\u201d said the lassie, and\noverboard went the casket,\n\nWhen they had sailed a bit further, the brother pointed again across the\nlake.\n\n\u201cThere you see the castle we\u2019re going to.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is it my brother says?\u201d asked the lassie.\n\n\u201cHe says now you must throw your little dog overboard,\u201d said the\nstep-mother.\n\nThen the lassie wept and was sore grieved, for little Flo was the\ndearest thing she had in the world, but at last she threw him overboard.\n\n\u201cWhen my brother says it, I must do it, but heaven knows how it hurts me\nto throw you over Little Flo,\u201d she said.\n\nSo they sailed on a good bit still.\n\n\u201cThere you see the King coming down to meet us,\u201d said the brother, and\npointed towards the strand.\n\n\u201cWhat is it my brother says?\u201d asked the lassie.\n\n\u201cNow he says you must make haste and throw yourself overboard,\u201d said the\nstep-mother.\n\nWell, the lassie wept and moaned; but when her brother told her to do\nthat, she thought she ought to do it, and so she leapt down into the\nlake.\n\nBut when they came to the palace, and the King saw the loathly bride,\nwith a nose four ells long, and a snout three ells long, and a pine bush\nin the midst of her forehead, he was quite scared out of his wits; but\nthe wedding was all ready, both in brewing and baking, and there sat all\nthe wedding guests, waiting for the bride; and so the King couldn\u2019t help\nhimself, but was forced to take her for better for worse. But angry he\nwas, that any one can forgive him, and so he had the brother thrown into\na pit full of snakes.\n\nWell, the first Thursday evening after the wedding, about midnight, in\ncame a lovely lady into the palace-kitchen, and begged the kitchen-maid,\nwho slept there, so prettily to lend her a brush. That she got, and then\nshe brushed her hair, and as she brushed, down dropped gold. A little\ndog was at her heel, and to him she said,\u2014\n\n\u201cRun out, little Flo, and see if it will soon be day.\u201d\n\nThis she said three times, and the third time she sent the dog it was\njust about the time the dawn begins to peep. Then she had to go, but as\nshe went she sung,\u2014\n\n \u201cOut on you, ugly Bushy Bride,\n Lying so warm by the King\u2019s left side;\n While I on sand and gravel sleep,\n And over my brother adders creep,\n And all without a tear.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow I come twice more, and then never again.\u201d\n\nSo next morning the kitchen-maid told what she had seen and heard, and\nthe King said he\u2019d watch himself next Thursday night in the kitchen, and\nsee if it were true, and as soon as it got dark, out he went into the\nkitchen to the kitchen-maid. But all he could do, and however much he\nrubbed his eyes and tried to keep himself awake, it was no good; for the\nBushy Bride chaunted and sung till his eyes closed, and so when the\nlovely lady came, there he slept and snored. This time, too, as before,\nshe borrowed a brush, and brushed her hair till the gold dropped, and\nsent her dog out three times, and as soon as it was gray dawn, away she\nwent singing the same words, and adding,\u2014\n\n\u201cNow I come once more, and then never again.\u201d\n\nThe third Thursday evening the King said he would watch again; and he\nset two men to hold him, one under each arm, who were to shake and jog\nhim every time he wanted to fall asleep; and two men he set to watch his\nBushy Bride. But when the night wore on, the Bushy Bride began to chaunt\nand sing, so that his eyes began to wink, and his head hung down on his\nshoulders. Then in came the lovely lady, and got the brush and brushed\nher hair, till the gold dropped from it; after that she sent Little Flo\nout again to see if it would soon be day, and this she did three times.\nThe third time it began to get gray in the east; then she sang\u2014\n\n \u201cOut on you, ugly Bushy Bride,\n Lying so warm by the King\u2019s left side;\n While I on sand and gravel sleep,\n And over my brother adders creep,\n And all without a tear.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow I come back never more,\u201d she said, and went towards the door. But\nthe two men who held the King under the arms, clenched his hands\ntogether, and put a knife into his grasp, and so, somehow or other, they\ngot him to cut her in her little finger, and drew blood. Then the true\nbride was freed, and the King woke up, and she told him now the whole\nstory, and how her step-mother and sister had deceived her. So the King\nsent at once and took her brother out of the pit of snakes, and the\nadders hadn\u2019t done him the least harm, but the step-mother and her\ndaughter were thrown into it in his stead.\n\nAnd now no one can tell how glad the King was to be rid of that ugly\nBushy Bride, and to get a Queen who was so lovely and bright as the day\nitself. So the true wedding was held, and every one talked of it over\nseven kingdoms; and then the King drove to church in their coach, and\nLittle Flo went inside with them too, and when the blessing was given\nthey drove back again, and after that I saw nothing more of them.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n BOOTS AND HIS BROTHERS.\n\n\nONCE on a time there was a man who had three sons, Peter, Paul, and\nJohn. John was Boots, of course, because he was the youngest. I can\u2019t\nsay the man had anything more than these three sons, for he hadn\u2019t one\npenny to rub against another; and so he told his sons over and over\nagain they must go out into the world and try to earn their bread, for\nthere at home there was nothing to be looked for but starving to death.\n\nNow, a bit off the man\u2019s cottage was the king\u2019s palace, and you must\nknow, just against the king\u2019s windows a great oak had sprung up, which\nwas so stout and big that it took away all the light from the king\u2019s\npalace. The king had said he would give many, many dollars to the man\nwho could fell the oak, but no one was man enough for that, for as soon\nas ever one chip of the oak\u2019s trunk flew off, two grew in its stead. A\nwell, too, the King had dug, which was to hold water for the whole year;\nfor all his neighbours had wells, but he hadn\u2019t any, and that he thought\na shame. So the King said he would give any one who could dig him such a\nwell as would hold water for a whole year round, both money and goods;\nbut no one could do it, for the king\u2019s palace lay high, high up on a\nhill, and they hadn\u2019t dug a few inches, before they came upon the living\nrock.\n\nBut as the King had set his heart on having these two things done, he\nhad it given out far and wide, in all the churches of his kingdom, that\nhe who could fell the big oak in the king\u2019s court-yard, and get him a\nwell that would hold water the whole year round, should have the\nPrincess and half the kingdom. Well! you may easily know there was many\na man who came to try his luck; but for all their hacking and hewing,\nand all their digging and delving, it was no good. The oak got bigger\nand stouter at every stroke, and the rock didn\u2019t get softer either. So\none day those three brothers thought they\u2019d set off and try too, and\ntheir father hadn\u2019t a word against it; for even if they didn\u2019t get the\nPrincess and half the kingdom, it might happen they might get a place\nsomewhere with a good master; and that was all he wanted. So when the\nbrothers said they thought of going to the palace, their father said\n\u201cyes\u201d at once. So Peter, Paul, and Jack went off from their home.\n\nWell! they hadn\u2019t gone far before they came to a fir-wood, and up along\none side of it rose a steep hill-side, and as they went, they heard\nsomething hewing and hacking away up on the hill among the trees.\n\n\u201cI wonder now what it is that is hewing away up yonder?\u201d said Jack.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re always so clever with your wonderings,\u201d said Peter and Paul both\nat once. \u201cWhat wonder is it, pray, that a woodcutter should stand and\nhack up on a hill-side?\u201d\n\n\u201cStill, I\u2019d like to see what it is, after all,\u201d said Jack; and up he\nwent.\n\n\u201cOh, if you\u2019re such a child, \u2019twill do you good to go and take a\nlesson,\u201d bawled out his brothers after him.\n\nBut Jack didn\u2019t care for what they said; he climbed the steep hill-side\ntowards where the noise came, and when he reached the place, what do you\nthink he saw? why, an axe that stood there hacking and hewing, all of\nitself, at the trunk of a fir.\n\n\u201cGood day!\u201d said Jack. \u201cSo you stand here all alone and hew, do you?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; here I\u2019ve stood and hewed and hacked a long long time, waiting for\nyou,\u201d said the Axe.\n\n\u201cWell, here I am at last,\u201d said Jack, as he took the axe, pulled it off\nits haft, and stuffed both head and haft into his wallet.\n\nSo when he got down again to his brothers they began to jeer and laugh\nat him.\n\n\u201cAnd now, what funny thing was it you saw up yonder on the hill-side?\u201d\nthey said.\n\n\u201cOh, it was only an axe we heard,\u201d said Jack.\n\nSo when they had gone a bit farther, they came under a steep spur of\nrock, and up there they heard something digging and shovelling.\n\n\u201cI wonder now,\u201d said Jack, \u201cwhat it is digging and shovelling up yonder\nat the top of the rock.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh, you\u2019re always so clever with your wonderings,\u201d said Peter and Paul\nagain, \u201cas if you\u2019d never heard a woodpecker hacking and pecking at a\nhollow tree.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well,\u201d said Jack, \u201cI think it would be a piece of fun just to see\nwhat it really is.\u201d\n\nAnd so off he set to climb the rock, while the others laughed and made\ngame of him. But he didn\u2019t care a bit for that; up he clomb, and when he\ngot near the top, what do you think he saw? Why, a spade that stood\nthere digging and delving.\n\n\u201cGood day!\u201d said Jack. \u201cSo you stand here all alone, and dig and delve?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, that\u2019s what I do,\u201d said the Spade, \u201cand that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done this\nmany a long day, waiting for you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, here I am,\u201d said Jack again, as he took the spade and knocked it\noff its handle, and put it into his wallet, and then down again to his\nbrothers.\n\n\u201cWell, what was it, so rare and strange,\u201d said Peter and Paul, \u201cthat you\nsaw up there at the top of the rock?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh,\u201d said Jack, \u201cnothing more than a spade; that was what we heard.\u201d\n\nSo they went on again a good bit, till they came to a brook. They were\nthirsty, all three, after their long walk, and so they lay down beside\nthe brook to have a drink.\n\n\u201cI wonder now,\u201d said Jack, \u201cwhere all this water comes from.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wonder if you\u2019re right in your head,\u201d said Peter and Paul, in one\nbreath. \u201cIf you\u2019re not mad already, you\u2019ll go mad very soon, with your\nwonderings. Where the brook comes from, indeed! Have you never heard how\nwater rises from a spring in the earth?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! but still I\u2019ve a great fancy to see where this brook comes from,\u201d\nsaid Jack.\n\nSo up alongside the brook he went, in spite of all that his brothers\nbawled after him. Nothing could stop him. On he went. So, as he went up\nand up, the brook got smaller and smaller, and at last, a little way\nfarther on, what do you think he saw? Why, a great walnut, and out of\nthat the water trickled.\n\n\u201cGood-day!\u201d said Jack again. \u201cSo you lie here, and trickle and run down\nall alone?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I do,\u201d said the Walnut; \u201cand here have I trickled and run this\nmany a long day, waiting for you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, here I am,\u201d said Jack, as he took up a lump of moss, and plugged\nup the hole, that the water mightn\u2019t run out. Then he put the walnut\ninto his wallet, and ran down to his brothers.\n\n\u201cWell now,\u201d said Peter and Paul, \u201chave you found out where the water\ncomes from? A rare sight it must have been!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, after all, it was only a hole it ran out of,\u201d said Jack; and so the\nothers laughed and made game of him again, but Jack didn\u2019t mind that a\nbit.\n\n\u201cAfter all I had the fun of seeing it,\u201d said he.\n\nSo when they had gone a bit further, they came to the king\u2019s palace; but\nas every one in the kingdom had heard how they might win the Princess\nand half the realm, if they could only fell the big oak and dig the\nking\u2019s well, so many had come to try their luck that the oak was now\ntwice as stout and big as it had been at first, for two chips grew for\nevery one they hewed out with their axes, as I dare say you all bear in\nmind. So the King had now laid it down as a punishment, that if any one\ntried and couldn\u2019t fell the oak, he should be put on a barren island,\nand both his ears were to be clipped off. But the two brothers didn\u2019t\nlet themselves be scared by that; they were quite sure they could fell\nthe oak, and Peter as he was eldest, was to try his hand first; but it\nwent with him as with all the rest who had hewn at the oak; for every\nchip he cut out, two grew in its place. So the king\u2019s men seized him,\nand clipped off both his ears, and put him out on the island.\n\nNow Paul, he was to try his luck, but he fared just the same; when he\nhad hewn two or three strokes, they began to see the oak grow, and so\nthe king\u2019s men seized him too, and clipped his ears, and put him out on\nthe island; and his ears they clipped closer, because they said he ought\nto have taken a lesson from his brother.\n\nSo now Jack was to try.\n\n\u201cIf you _will_ look like a marked sheep, we\u2019re quite ready to clip your\nears at once, and then you\u2019ll save yourself some bother,\u201d said the King,\nfor he was angry with him for his brothers\u2019 sake.\n\n\u201cWell, I\u2019d like just to try first,\u201d said Jack, and so he got leave. Then\nhe took his axe out of his wallet and fitted it to its haft.\n\n\u201cHew away!\u201d said he to his axe; and away it hewed, making the chips fly\nagain, so that it wasn\u2019t long before down came the oak.\n\nWhen that was done, Jack pulled out his spade, and fitted it to its\nhandle.\n\n\u201cDig away!\u201d said he to the spade; and so the spade began to dig and\ndelve till the earth and rock flew out in splinters, and so he had the\nwell soon dug out, you may think.\n\nAnd when he had got it as big and deep as he chose, Jack took out his\nwalnut and laid it in one corner of the well, and pulled the plug of\nmoss out.\n\n\u201cTrickle and run,\u201d said Jack; and so the nut trickled and ran, till the\nwater gushed out of the hole in a stream, and in a short time the well\nwas brimfull.\n\nThen Jack had felled the oak which shaded the king\u2019s palace, and dug a\nwell in the palace-yard, and so he got the Princess and half the\nkingdom, as the King had said; but it was lucky for Peter and Paul that\nthey had lost their ears, else they had heard each hour and day, how\nevery one said, \u201cWell, after all, Jack wasn\u2019t so much out of his mind\nwhen he took to wondering.\u201d\n\n\n FINIS.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n _Works by the Same Author._\n\nThe Story of Burnt Njal; or, Life in Iceland at the end of the Tenth\n Century. From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga. By G. W. DASENT,\n D.C.L. In 2 vols. 8vo, with Maps and Plans, price 28s.\n\n \u201cConsidered as a picture of manners, customs, and characters, the\n Njala has a merit equal in our eyes to that of the Homeric poems\n themselves.\u201d\u2014_Edinburgh Review, October 1861._\n\n \u201cThe majority of English readers would have been surprised to be\n told that in the literature of Iceland there was preserved a story\n of life and manners in the heroic age, which for simple force and\n truthfulness is, as far as we know, unequalled in European history\n and poetry, and is not unworthy of being compared, not indeed for\n its poetic richness and power, but for the insight which it gives\n into ancient society, with the Homeric poems.\u201d\u2014_Guardian, May 1._\n\n \u201cA work, of which we gladly repeat the judgment of a distinguished\n American writer, that it is unsurpassed by any existing monument in\n the narrative department of any literature, ancient or\n modern.\u201d\u2014_Saturday Review._\n\n \u201cAn historical romance of the tenth century, first narrated almost\n at the very time and by the very people to whom it refers, nearly\n true as to essential facts, and quite true in its pictures of the\n customs and the temper of the old Norsemen, about whom it tells, is\n in these volumes edited with the soundest scholarship by Dr. Dasent.\n There was need of a thorough study of the life and language of the\n early colonists of Iceland for the effective setting forth of this\n Njala, or saga of Njal.\u201d\u2014_Examiner, March 30._\n\n \u201cThis \u2018Story of Burnt Njal\u2019 is worthy of the translator of the Norse\n Tales: a work of interest to the antiquary and the lover of\n legendary lore\u2014that is, to every one capable of appreciating those\n sources of history which are at once the most poetic and the most\n illustrative of the character and growth of nations. The events of\n the story happened while the conflict of the two creeds of Christ\n and Odin was yet going on in the minds of the Northmen. We must pass\n the book over to the reader\u2019s attentive consideration, for there are\n few portions of it that are not pregnant with interest and\n instruction for a reflective mind.\u201d\u2014_Athen\u00e6um._\n\n\nPopular Tales from the Norse. Second Edition, greatly Enlarged, Price\n 10s. 6d., containing Thirteen New Tales, and an Appendix consisting\n of Ananzi Stories, as told by the Negroes in the West Indies.\n\n\n _Contents of Introduction._\n\n I. The ORIGIN OF POPULAR TALES\u2014Comparative Philology\u2014the Aryan Race.\n\n II. DIFFUSION OF POPULAR TALES\u2014Tell\u2019s Mastershot and Gellert\u2019s\n Grave\u2014Sanscrit Literature\u2014the Pantcha Tantra, and Calila and\n Dinma, Somadeva\u2019s Stories\u2014Modern African and Ananzi\n Stories\u2014Origin of Human Race.\n\n III. NORSE MYTHOLOGY\u2014The \u00c6sir and Frost Giants\u2014The Wondrous Volsung\n Tale (The Elder Version of the Nibelungen Lied)\u2014The Norseman\u2019s\n Gods and Faith\u2014Christianity in the North\u2014The Heathen Gods\u2014The\n Wild Huntsman\u2014The Church of Rome.\n\n IV. NORSE POPULAR TALES\u2014The Gods on Earth\u2014Heathen Gods in Christian\n Garb\u2014The Norseman\u2019s God\u2014The God of Wish and Wishing\n Things\u2014Frodi\u2019s Quern\u2014The Devil and Hel\u2014The Norseman\u2019s Hell\u2014Dame\n Habonde and Herodias\u2014Witchcraft and the Medi\u00e6val\n Witch\u2014Transformation into Beasts\u2014Were Wolves\u2014Were Bears\u2014The\n Beast Epic in the North\u2014The Wolf, Horse, Bull, Dog\u2014The Goat and\n Little Birds\u2014Giants and Trolls\u2014The Trolls are Finns and\n Lapps\u2014The Naked Sword.\n\n V. CONCLUSION\u2014Literature of Popular Tales\u2014Characters in Norse\n Tales\u2014Norse Nature.\n\n\u201cThe loves and feuds of the Powers of Nature, after they had been told,\nfirst of gods, then of heroes, appear in the tales of the people as the\nflirting and teasing of fairies and imps. Christianity had destroyed the\nold gods of the Teutonic tribes, and supplied new heroes in the saints\nand martyrs of the Church. The gods were dead, and the heroes, the sons\nof the gods, forgotten. But the stories told of them would not die, and\nin spite of the excommunications of the priests, they were welcomed\nwherever they appeared in their strange disguises. Kind-hearted grannies\nwould tell the pretty stories of old, if it was only to keep their\nlittle folk quiet. They did not tell them of the gods; for those gods\nwere dead; or, worse than that, had been changed into devils. They told\nthem of nobody; ay, sometimes they would tell them of the very saints\nand martyrs, and the apostles themselves have had to wear some of the\nold rags that belonged by right to Odin and other heathen gods. The\noddest figure is that of the Devil in his half-Christian and\nhalf-heathen garb. The Aryan nations had no Devil. Pluto, though of a\nsombre character, was a very respectable personage; and Loki, though a\nmischievous person, was not a fiend. The German goddess, Hell, too\u2014like\nProserpina\u2014had once seen better days. Thus, when the Germans were\nindoctrinated with the idea of a real Devil, the Semitic Satan or\nDiabolus, they treated him in the most good-humoured manner. They\nascribed to him all the mischievous tricks of their most mischievous\ngods. But while the old Northern story-tellers delighted in the success\nof cunning, the new generation felt in duty bound to represent the Devil\nin the end as always defeated. He was outwitted in all the tricks which\nhad formerly proved successful, and thus quite a new character was\nproduced\u2014the poor or stupid Devil, who appears not unfrequently in the\nGerman and in Norwegian tales.\n\nAll this Mr. Dasent has described very tersely and graphically in his\nIntroduction, and we recommend the readers of his tales not to treat\nthat Introduction as most introductions are treated.\u201d\u2014_Saturday Review,\nJanuary 15, 1859._\n\n\nAPPENDIX\u2014Ananzi Stories. Why the Jack Spaniard\u2019s Waist is Small\u2014Ananzi\n and the Lion\u2014Ananzi and Quanqua\u2014The Ear of Corn and the Twelve\n Men\u2014The King and the Ant\u2019s Tree\u2014The Little Child and the Pumpkin\n Tree\u2014The Brother and his Sisters\u2014The Girl and the Fish\u2014The Lion, the\n Goat, and the Baboon\u2014Ananzi and Baboon\u2014The Man and the Doukana\n Tree\u2014Nancy Fairy\u2014The Dancing Gang.\n\n\n _In preparation._\n\nThe Prose, or Younger Edda. Commonly ascribed to Snorri Sturluson.\n Translated from the Old Norse, by GEORGE WEBBE DASENT, D.C.L. A New\n Edition, with an Introduction, in one volume crown 8vo.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n _Books Suitable for Children._\n\n -------\n\n In One Vol., fcap. 8vo, Price 5s.\n\nAunt Ailie, by the late Catherine D. Bell, Author of \u201cCousin Kate\u2019s\n Story,\u201d etc. etc. etc. Second Edition 16mo., Cloth, Price 3s. 6d.\n Cloth, Extra Gilt, 4s.\n\n\nLittle Ella and the Fire-King, and other Fairy Tales, by M. W., with\n Illustrations by Henry Warren. In fcap. 8vo, with Coloured\n Illustrations, Price 5s.\n\n\nThe Diary of Three Children; or, Fifty-Two Saturdays. In One Vol., Small\n 4to, with Illustrations by J. B.\n\n\nHistory of Sir Thomas Thumb, by the Author of \u201cThe Heir of Redcliffe,\u201d\n \u201cHeartsease,\u201d \u201cLittle Duke,\u201d etc. etc. Royal 16mo, Price 3s. 6d.\n\n\nCharlie and Ernest; or, Play and Work. A story of Hazlehurst School,\n with four Illustrations by J. D. 4to, Boards, Price 2s. 6d.\n\n\nThe Giants, the Knights, and the Princess Verbena. A fairy story, with\n Illustrations by Hunkil Phranc.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n LIST OF WORKS\n\n PUBLISHED BY\n\n EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS,\n\n 88 PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH.\n\n -------\n\n LORD DUNFERMLINE.\n\nMemoir of Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, K. B., 1793-1801. By\n his Son JAMES LORD DUNFERMLINE. In 1 vol. demy 8vo.\n\n \u201cIt is peculiarly refreshing to meet with a biography of an\n individual so illustrious as Sir Ralph Abercromby, from the pen\n of one so eminent in many respects as the late Lord\n Dunfermline.\u201d\u2014_Caledonian Mercury, October 3._\n\n \u201cHis grandson, the present Lord Dunfermline, by causing this memoir\n to be printed and published, has conferred a benefit upon all\u2014and\n they are fortunately many\u2014who treasure the memory of distinguished\n men.\u201d\u2014_Literary Gazette, October 5._\n\n\n JOHN ABERCROMBIE, M.D., Late First Physician to the Queen for Scotland.\n\nEssays and Tracts:\u2014\n\n I. Culture and Discipline of the Mind.\n\n II. Harmony of Christian Faith and Christian Character.\n\n III. Think on these things.\n\n IV. The Contest and the Armour.\n\n V. The Messiah as an Example.\n\n VI. Elements of Sacred Truth for the Young.\n\n Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n\n JOHN ANDERSON, D.D., F.G.S., E.P.S., &c., Author of\n \u2018The Course of Creation,\u2019 \u2018Geology of Scotland,\u2019 &c.\n\nDura Den, a Monograph of the Yellow Sandstone and its remarkable Fossil\n remains. Royal 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d.\n\n\nArch\u00e6ological Catalogue:\u2014 A Catalogue of Antiquities, Works of Arts, and\n Historical Scottish Relics, exhibited in Museum of the Arch\u00e6ological\n Institute of Great Britain and Ireland during their annual meeting,\n held in Edinburgh, July 1856, under the patronage of H. R. H. The\n Prince Consort, K.G., comprising notices of the portraits of Mary\n Queen of Scots, collected on that occasion. Illustrated, royal 8vo,\n cloth, 21s.\n\n\nAngelo Sanmartino, a Tale of Lombardy in 1859. Crown 8vo, cloth, 10s.\n 6d.\n\n \u201cA pretty story enough, and vraisemblable enough for the effect\n desired to be produced by the author, which is to awaken in the\n minds of ordinary English novel readers a lively feeling for the\n cause of Italian independence.\u201d\u2014_Spectator, December 29._\n\n \u201cWe admire the character of Angelo, and heartily commend it to\n public favour; it is admirably written; the subject is one dear to\n every lover of freedom and honour.\u2014_Commonwealth, December 15,\n 1860._\n\n\nOdal Rights and Feudal Wrongs: a Memorial for Orkney. By DAVID BALFOUR\n of Balfour and Trenaby. 1 vol. 8vo, price 6s.\n\n \u201cWe gather from the book that Mr. Balfour is an Orcadian Laird,\n Odaller, or whatever the proper title may be now-a-days. Certainly\n he is a sound and careful antiquary, well versed in the local\n history of the old Jarldom, and fully entitled to a hearing for\n anything which he may say about it.\u201d\u2014_Saturday Review, March 1861._\n\n \u201cTo antiquarians, and especially those connected with Orkney, this\n book will be a rich acquisition.\u2014_Orkney Herald, October 23, 1860._\n\n \u201cThis book is an interesting contribution to Scottish\n history.\u201d\u2014_Athen\u00e6um, January 27._\n\n JAMES BALLANTINE.\n\nPoems. Fcap. 8vo, cloth extra, 3s. 6d.\n\n\n R. M. BALLANTYNE.\n\nHow Not to Do It. A Manual for the Awkward Squad; or, A Handbook of\n Directions, written for the instruction of Raw Recruits in our Rifle\n Volunteer Regiments. With Illustrations. Fcap., sewed, 6d.\n\n\nThe Volunteer Levee; or, the Remarkable Experience of Ensign Sopht.\n Written and Illustrated by Himself. Edited by the Author of \u2018How Not\n to do It.\u2019 Fcap. 8vo, sewed, 1s.\n\n\n CATHARINE D. BELL, Author of \u2018Cousin Kate\u2019s Story,\u2019\n \u2018Margaret Cecil,\u2019 &c.\n\nAunt Ailie. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 5s.\n\n\nThe Diary of Three Children; or, Fifty-two Saturdays. Fcap. 8vo, 5s.\n\n\n M. BETHAM EDWARDS, Author of \u2018The White House by the Sea.\u2019\n\nNow or Never, a Novel. Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d.\n\n\nCharlie and Ernest; or, Play and Work. A Story of Hazlehurst School,\n with Four Illustrations by J. D. Royal 16mo, 3s. 6d.\n\n\n J. B.\n\nBritish Birds drawn from Nature. By Mrs. BLACKBURN. In 1 vol. folio.\n\n\n JOHN STUART BLACKIE.\n\nOn Beauty. Three discourses delivered in the University of Edinburgh,\n with an Exposition of the Doctrine of the Beautiful according to\n Plato. By J. S. BLACKIE, Professor of Greek in the University, and\n of Ancient Literature to the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh.\n Crown 8vo, cloth, 8s. 6d.\n\n\nLyrical Poems. By J. S. Blackie. Crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d.\n\n\nOn Greek Pronunciation. By J. S. Blackie. Demy 8vo, 3s. 6d.\n\n\n SIR DAVID BREWSTER, K.H., A.M., LL.D., D.C.L, F.R.S., &c., &c.\n\nMemoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton. With\n Portraits. New and Cheaper Edition, 2 vols., fcap. 8vo, cloth, 12s.\n\n \u201cSir David Brewster\u2019s \u2018Life of Sir Isaac Newton\u2019 is a valuable\n contribution to English literature. It is an account of the life,\n writings, and discoveries of one of the greatest men that ever\n lived, by a gentleman distinguished for his profound scholarship and\n scientific knowledge. The book is worthy of the subject to which it\n is devoted.\u201d\u2014_London Review, December 15._\n\n \u201cSuch works as Sir David Brewster\u2019s careful, though rather partial,\n biography, are of the utmost value in presenting a faithful summary\n of all that materially illustrates the character of the mind of our\n great philosopher.\u201d\u2014_Quarterly Review, October 1861._\n\n\n MARGARET MARIA GORDON (BREWSTER).\n\nLady Elinor Mordaunt; or, Sunbeams in the Castle. Crown 8vo, cloth, 9s.\n\n\u201cTo say of this book, that it is written in a style which is worthy of\nits theme is no greater praise than it merits.\u201d\u2014_Morning Post, January\n10._\n\n\u201cThe kindly and generous spirit of the book, its quiet and impressive\nreligiousness, the earnestness which characterizes every page, and the\nsunny cheerfulness which make it the pleasantest of reading, cannot fail\nto endear it to many of those for whom it has been written. We thank\nMrs. Gordon for this last and best of her books most sincerely and\ncordially.\u201d\u2014_The Scottish Press, January 9._\n\n\nLetters from Cannes and Nice. Illustrated by a Lady. 8vo, cloth, 12s.\n\n\nWork; or, Plenty to do and How to do it. Thirty-second thousand. Fcap.\n 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d.\n\n\nLittle Millie and her Four Places. Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. \u2014\u2014 Cheap\n Edition. Forty-second thousand. Limp, 1s.\n\n\nSunbeams in the Cottage; or, What Women may do. A narrative chiefly\n addressed to the Working Classes. Cheap Edition. Thirty-sixth\n thousand. Cloth limp, 1s.\n\n\nThe Word and the World. Tenth Edition, 18mo, sewed, 2d.\n\n\nLeaves of Healing for the Sick and Sorrowful. Fcap. 4to, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n\nThe Motherless Boy; with an Illustration by J. Noel Paton, R.S.A. Cheap\n Edition, limp cloth, 1s.\n\n\n Rev. JAMES D. BURNS, M.A.\n\nThe Vision of Prophecy, and other Poems. Second Edition, fcap. 8vo,\n cloth, 6s.\n\n\n JOHN BROWN, M.D., F.R.S.E.\n\nHor\u00e6 Subseciv\u00e6; Locke and Sydenham, with other occasional Papers. 2\n vols., fcap. 8vo, 7s. 6d. each.\n\n \u201cOf all the John Browns commend us to Dr. John Brown\u2014the physician,\n the man of genius, the humourist, the student of men, women, and\n dogs. By means of two beautiful volumes he has given the public a\n share of his bye-hours, and more pleasant hours than these it would\n be difficult to find in any life.\n\n \u201cDr. Brown\u2019s masterpiece is the story of a dog called \u2018Rab.\u2019 The\n tale moves from the most tragic pathos to the most reckless humour,\n and could not have been written but by a man of genius. Whether it\n moves tears or laughter, it is perfect in its way, and immortalizes\n its author.\u201d\u2014_Times, October 21, 1861._\n\n \u201cWith his pen Dr. Brown has depicted dogs as powerfully and humanly\n as Landseer has done with his pencil.\u201d\u2014_Oriental Budget, April 1,\n 1861._\n\n \u201cThe work now before us will be so generally read in Scotland that\n it is superfluous to describe its contents to the public.\u201d\u2014_Courant,\n June 6, 1861._\n\n\nSupplementary Chapter to the Life of the Rev. John Brown, D.D. A Letter\n to the Rev. John Cairns, D.D. Second Edition, crown 8vo, sewed, 2s.\n\n \u201cIt forms an indispensable appendix to the admirable memoir of Dr.\n Cairns, and it will, if possible, increase the love with which Dr.\n Brown\u2019s memory is cherished.\u201d\u2014_Scottish Guardian, January 5._\n\n \u201cThere is a fresh luxuriance in the style, that charms and\n fascinates the reader.\u201d\u2014_Glasgow Saturday Post, January 5._\n\n\nRab and his Friends; Extracted from \u2018Hor\u00e6 Subseciv\u00e6.\u2019 Eighteenth\n thousand. Fcap. sewed, 6d.\n\n\nRab and his Friends. By John Brown, M.D. With Illustrations by George\n Harvey, R.S.A., J. Noel Paton, R.S.A., and J. B. In 1 vol. small\n 4to, price 6s.\n\n\n\u201cWith Brains, Sir;\u201d Extracted from \u2018Hor\u00e6 Subseciv\u00e6,\u2019 Fourth thousand.\n Fcap. sewed, 6d.\n\n\n JOHN CAIRNS, D.D.\n\nMemoirs of John Brown, D.D., senior Minister of the United Presbyterian\n Congregation, Broughton Place, Edinburgh, and Professor of\n Exegetical Theology to the United Presbyterian Church, with\n Supplementary Chapter by his Son, John Brown, M.D. Fcap. 8vo, cloth,\n 9s. 6d.\n\n \u201cThe Memoir is exceedingly well written.\u201d \u201cEvery one should read the\n last chapter of Dr. Cairns\u2019 Memoir, giving an account of the closing\n scene of Dr. Brown\u2019s life.\u201d\u2014_Scotsman, September 11._\n\n \u201cIn preparing and publishing these memoirs, Dr. Cairns has conferred\n upon us a most valuable gift, and has fulfilled his own part with\n great discrimination and ability\u201d\u2014_Evan. Christendom._\n\n\n SAMUEL BROWN.\n\nLectures on the Atomic Theory, and Essays, Scientific and Literary, 2\n vols., crown 8vo, cloth, 15s.\n\n\n Rev. JOHN BRUCE, D.D., Minister of Free St. Andrew\u2019s Church, Edinburgh.\n\nThe Biography of Samson. Illustrated and Applied. Second Edition. 18mo,\n cloth, 2s.\n\n\n J. F. CAMPBELL.\n\nPopular Tales of the West Highlands, orally collected, with a\n Translation by J. F. Campbell. 2 vols., extra fcap., cloth, 16s.\n\n \u201cMr. Campbell has published a collection of tales, which will be\n regarded as one of the greatest literary surprises of the present\n century. It is the first instalment of what was to be expected from\n any fair statement of the scientific value of popular tales.... It\n required some striking demonstration of the real worth of popular\n tales to arouse Gaelic scholars from their apathy. They have been\n aroused, and here is the first fruit, in a work that is most\n admirably edited by the head of a family beloved and honoured in\n those breezy western isles, who has produced a book which will be\n equally prized in the nursery, in the drawing-room, and in the\n library.\u201d\u2014_Times, November 5th._\n\n \u201cThey are the \u2018Arabian Nights of Celtic Scotland,\u2019 and as such we\n recommend them as a present for the young.\u201d\u2014_Critic, November 24th._\n\n \u201cWe feel assured that Mr. Campbell\u2019s labours will be rewarded with\n such signal success as shall encourage him to extend them in every\n direction over the rich field which he has been the first to explore\n and cultivate.\u201d\u2014_Spectator, November 24th._\n\n \u201cThe book is one that no modern student can afford to miss, and that\n few persons of any age or degree of culture would not come to again\n and again.\u2014_Daily News, December 28th._\n\n\nA New Volume of West Highland Tales. By J. F. CAMPBELL. Crown 8vo. [_In\n the press._\n\n\n F. H. CARTER.\n\nBook-keeping, adapted to Commercial and Judicial Accounting, with\n Styles. By F. H. CARTER, Member of the Society of Chartered\n Accountants, Edinburgh. 8vo, cloth, price 10s.\n\n\n Rev. THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D., LL.D.\n\n_Life and Works of Rev. Thomas Chalmers;_ Memoirs by Rev. W. Hanna,\n LL.D. 4 vols., 8vo, cloth, \u00a32: 2s. \u2014\u2014 Cheap Edition, 2 vols., crown\n 8vo, cloth, 12s.\n\n\nA Selection from the Correspondence of Dr. Chalmers, uniform with the\n Memoirs. Crown 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d.\n\n Posthumous Works, 9 vols., 8vo.\u2014\n\n Daily Scripture Readings. 3 vols., \u00a31:11:6.\n Sabbath Scripture Readings. 2 vols., \u00a31:1s.\n Sermons. 1 vol., 10s. 6d.\n Institutes of Theology. 2 vols., \u00a31:1s.\n Prelections on Butler\u2019s Analogy, etc. 1 vol., 10s. 6d.\n\n Sabbath Scripture Readings. _Cheap Edition_, 2 vols., crown 8vo,\n 10s.\n\n Daily Scripture Readings. _Cheap Edition_, 2 vols., crown 8vo, 10s.\n\n Astronomical Discourses. _New Edition_, cloth, 2s. 6d.\n\nLectures on the Romans. 2 vols., crown 8vo, 12s.\n\nInstitutes of Theology. 2 vols., crown 8vo, 12s.\n\nPolitical Economy. Crown 8vo, 6s.\n\nSelect Works, in 12 vols., crown 8vo, cloth, per vol. 6s.\n\n Vols. I. and II.\u2014Lectures on the Romans, 2 vols.\n Vols. III. and IV.\u2014Sermons, 2 vols.\n Vol. V.\u2014Natural Theology, Lectures on Butler\u2019s Analogy, &c.\n Vol. VI.\u2014Christian Evidences, Lectures on Paley\u2019s Evidences, &c.\n Vols. VII. and VIII.\u2014Institutes of Theology, 2 vols.\n Vol. IX.\u2014Political Economy; with Cognate Essays.\n Vol. X.\u2014Polity of a Nation.\n Vol. XI.\u2014Church and College Establishments.\n Vol. XII.\u2014Moral Philosophy, Introductory Essays, Index, &c.\n\nCharacteristics of Old Church Architecture, etc., in the Mainland and\n Western Islands of Scotland. In one vol. 4to, with Illustrations,\n price 25s.\n\n \u201cAlighting on a book that has discoveries in it is pretty nearly as\n good as making the discoveries for one\u2019s self. In either case, there\n is an impulse to come forward and let the fact be known, lest some\n other should be the first to make the revelation. It is thus that we\n are tempted, with more than usual promptitude, to notice this book,\n which contains valuable and striking novelties from an untrodden\n arch\u00e6ological ground.... That something might be found in the west\n had been hinted, in accounts of some curious relics, by Professor\n Innes and his friend, Dr. Reeves, but it has fallen to the author of\n the present volume to go thoroughly to work and excavate the\n neglected treasure.\u201d\u2014_Scotsman, April 24._\n\n \u201cThis volume certainly fulfils its title, and gives us an excellent\n idea of the Characteristics of the Ancient Religious Architecture of\n the Mainland and Western Isles of Scotland.\u201d\u2014_Saturday Review, July\n 27, 1861._\n\n\n NATHANIEL CULVERWELL, M.A.\n\nOf the Light of Nature, a Discourse by Nathaniel Culverwell, M.A. Edited\n by John Brown, D.D., with a critical Essay on the Discourse by John\n Cairns, D.D. 8vo, cloth, 12s.\n\n\n PROFESSOR DALZEL.\n\nThe Annals of the University of Edinburgh. By ANDREW DALZEL, formerly\n Professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh; with a Memoir of\n the Compiler, and Portrait after Raeburn. In one vol. demy 8vo. [_In\n preparation._\n\n\n GEORGE WEBBE DASENT, D.C.L.\n\nThe Story of Burnt Njal; or, Life in Iceland at the end of the Tenth\n Century. From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga. By G. W. DASENT,\n D.C.L. In 2 vols. 8vo, with Maps and Plans, price 28s.\n\n \u201cConsidered as a picture of manners, customs, and characters, the\n Njala has a merit equal in our eyes to that of the Homeric poems\n themselves.\u201d\u2014_Edinburgh Review, October 1861._\n\n \u201cThe majority of English readers would have been surprised to be\n told that in the literature of Iceland there was preserved a story\n of life and manners in the heroic age, which for simple force and\n truthfulness is, as far as we know, unequalled in European history\n and poetry, and is not unworthy of being compared, not indeed for\n its poetic richness and power, but for the insight which it gives\n into ancient society, with the Homeric poems.\u201d\u2014_Guardian, May 1._\n\n \u201cA work, of which we gladly repeat the judgment of a distinguished\n American writer, that it is unsurpassed by any existing monument in\n the narrative department of any literature, ancient or\n modern.\u201d\u2014_Saturday Review._\n\n \u201cAn historical romance of the tenth century, first narrated almost\n at the very time and by the very people to whom it refers, nearly\n true as to essential facts, and quite true in its pictures of the\n customs and the temper of the old Norsemen, about whom it tells, is\n in these volumes edited with the soundest scholarship by Dr. Dasent.\n There was need of a thorough study of the life and language of the\n early colonists of Iceland for the effective setting forth of this\n Njala, or saga of Njal.\u201d\u2014_Examiner, March 30._\n\n \u201cThis \u2018Story of Burnt Njal\u2019 is worthy of the translator of the Norse\n Tales: a work of interest to the antiquary and the lover of\n legendary lore\u2014that is, to every one capable of appreciating those\n sources of history which are at once the most poetic and the most\n illustrative of the character and growth of nations. The events of\n the story happened while the conflict of the two creeds of Christ\n and Odin was yet going on in the minds of the Northmen. We must pass\n the book over to the reader\u2019s attentive consideration, for there are\n few portions of it that are not pregnant with interest and\n instruction for a reflective mind.\u201d\u2014_Athen\u00e6um._\n\n \u201cHurriedly and imperfectly as we have traced the course of this tale\n divine, it must be evident to all who have accompanied us in our\n progress that there is real Homeric stuff in it. The Saga has a\n double value, an \u00e6sthetic and an historic value. Through it we may\n learn how men and women in Iceland, near a thousand years ago,\n lived, loved, and died.\u201d\u2014_Spectator, April 20._\n\n \u201cMr. Dasent has given us a thoroughly faithful and accurate\n translation of the \u2018Njala; or, the Story of Njal,\u2019 the longest and\n certainly the best of all the Icelandic Sagas. The style is that\n pure Saxon idiom with which the readers of his \u2018Norse Popular Tales\u2019\n are familiar. To the translation are prefixed disquisitions on\n Iceland; its religion, constitution, and public and private life;\n and the appendix contains a very amusing essay on piracy and the\n Vikings, the biography of Gunnhillda, the wicked queen of Eric of\n the Bloody-axe, king of Norway, and afterwards warder of\n Northumberland, and a disquisition on the old Icelandic currency.\u201d\u2014\n\n\n GEORGE WEBBE DASENT, D.C.L.\n\nPopular Tales from the Norse, with an Introductory Essay on the origin\n and diffusion of Popular Tales. Second Edition, enlarged. Crown 8vo,\n 10s. 6d.\n\nA Selection from Dasent\u2019s Popular Tales from the Norse. With\n Illustrations. 1 vol. crown 8vo.\n\nThe Prose, or Younger Edda. Commonly ascribed to Snorri Sturluson.\n Translated from the Old Norse, by GEORGE WEBBE DASENT, D.C.L. A New\n Edition, with an Introduction, in one volume, crown 8vo. [_In\n preparation._\n\n\n JAMES DODDS.\n\nThe Fifty Years\u2019 Struggle of the Scottish Covenanters, 1638-88. Third\n Edition, fcap., cloth, 5s.\n\n \u201cThe volume before us is by a Mr. Dodds, with whose name we were not\n previously acquainted. His Lectures on the Covenanters were\n addressed to popular audiences, and they are calculated to be\n exceedingly popular.... They have merits of their own; they are in\n passages very eloquent; they are full of graphic touches; they\n appeal with no small success to our sympathies; and, though we\n cannot endorse the leading idea of the book, we must do it all\n honour as an advance upon previous ideas on the same\n subject.\u201d\u2014_Times._\n\n \u201cThis is an excellent little book, written in a large-hearted,\n earnest, pious, and thoroughly manly spirit.... The style is\n forcible, graphic, and robust; now and then perhaps a little stiff,\n sometimes pseudo-rhetorical, but, in general, well suited to the\n subject.... These men, whatever be the reader\u2019s prepossessions, are\n really worth reading about. There was manhood in them.\u201d\u2014_Spectator._\n\n\n DUNBAR.\n\nFrom London to Nice. A Journey through France, and Winter in the Sunny\n South. By Rev. W. B. DUNBAR, of Glencairn. 12mo, cloth, price 3s.\n\n\nEdinburgh University Calendar, 1861-1862, Corrected to October 15, 1861,\n and containing all the new Lists for Examination in Medicine and\n Arts. Authorized by the Senatus Academicus. 12mo, price 1s. 6d.\n\n\n M. LAM\u00c9 FLEURY, Auteur de plusieurs ouvrages d\u2019education.\n\nL\u2019Histoire d\u2019Angleterre racont\u00e9e \u00e0 la Jeunesse, augment\u00e9e d\u2019une table\n analitique. 18mo, cloth, 2s. 6d.\n\n\nL\u2019Histoire de France, racont\u00e9e \u00e0 la Jeunesse. 18mo, cloth, 2s. 6d.\n\n\n Rev. A. L. R. FOOTE, author of \u201cIncidents in the Life of our Saviour.\u201d\n\nChristianity viewed in some of its Leading Aspects. Fcap., cloth, 3s.\n\n\u201cIt may seem high praise, when we state that sometimes, in the\nfreshness, breadth, and definiteness of the author\u2019s thinking, we have\nbeen reminded of the posthumous lecture of Foster.\u201d\u2014_News of the\nChurches._\n\n\nFragments of Truth, being the exposition of several passages of\n Scripture. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo., cloth, price 5s.\n\n\n DR. W. T. GAIRDNER.\n\nPublic Health in relation to Air and Water. By W. T. GAIRDNER, M.D.,\n Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, and Lecturer\n on the Practice of Medicine. In one vol. fcap. 8vo.\n\n\n By same Author.\n\nMedicine and Medical Education. Three Lectures, with Notes and Appendix.\n 12mo, cloth, price 2s. 6d.\n\n\nClinical and Pathological Notes on Pericarditis. 8vo, sewed, price 1s.\n\n\n ARCHIBALD GEIKIE of the Geological Survey of Great Britain.\n\nThe Story of a Boulder, or Gleanings from the Note Book of a Field\n Geologist. Illustrated with woodcuts. Fcap., cloth, 5s.\n\n \u201cWe do not know a more readable book on a scientific subject, and it\n will be invaluable to young people, as well as interesting to those\n who are already acquainted with the subject it treats of.\u201d\u2014_Clerical\n Journal._\n\n\nThe Giants, the Knights, and the Princess Verbena. A Fairy Story, with\n illustrations by Hunkil Phranc. 4to, boards, 2s. 6d.\n\n\n GEORGE GRUB, A.M.\n\nAn Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, from the Introduction of\n Christianity to the Present Time. By GEORGE GRUB, A.M. In 4 vols.,\n demy 8vo, 42s. Fine Paper Copies, 52s. 6d.\n\n\n Rev. WILLIAM HANNA, LL.D., author of\n \u2018Memoirs of Thomas Chalmers, D.D., LL.D.\u2019\n\nWycliffe and the Huguenots; or, Sketches of the rise of the Reformation\n in England, and of the Early History of Protestantism in France.\n Fcap., cloth, 5s.\n\n\nThe Healing Art, the Right Hand of the Church: or, Practical Medicine an\n Essential Element in the Christian System. Crown 8vo, cloth, price\n 5s.\n\n\nHomely Hints from the Fireside, by the author of \u2018Little Things.\u2019 Fcap.,\n cloth, 2s.\n\n \u201cA collection of excellent counsel on everyday subjects.\u201d\u2014_Courant._\n\n \u201cMany readers will be grateful for its advice, and delighted with\n its homeliness and pleasant gossip.\u201d\u2014_Scottish Press._\n\n \u201cThis little volume contains many \u2018homely hints\u2019 of the most truly\n valuable kind.\u201d\u2014_Falkirk Herald._\n\n \u201cSome of the \u2018hints\u2019 will be found most acceptable to those who have\n to regulate the domestic economy of a household, whether large or\n small; and other parts of the book contain advice which cannot fail\n to be of service to most people.\u201d\u2014_Court Journal._\n\n\n Miss SUSAN HORNER, translator of \u2018Colletas Naples.\u2019\n\nA Century of Despotism in Naples and Sicily, 1759-1859. Fcap., cloth,\n 2s. 6d.\n\n\n COSMO INNES, Professor of History in the University of Edinburgh.\n\nSketches of Early Scottish Social Life. By Professor C. INNES. Contents:\n 1. On the Old Scotch Law of Marriage and Divorce. 2. A Sketch of the\n State of Society before and immediately after the Reformation in\n Scotland. 3. A Chapter on Old Scotch Topography and Statistics.\n\n\nScotland in the Middle Ages. Sketches of Early Scotch History and Social\n Progress. By Professor C. INNES. With Maps Illustrative of the Civil\n and Ecclesiastical Divisions in the Tenth and Thirteenth Centuries.\n 8vo, cloth, 10s. 6d.\n\n \u201cAll who wish to learn what early Scotland really was, will prize it\n highly.\u201d\u2014_Scotsman, January 7._\n\n \u201cThe students of the Edinburgh University have reason to be\n congratulated on the qualities of their Professor of History, and\n the general public ought to be thankful for this volume.\u201d... \u201cMore\n of real history may here be learned in a few hours than from some\n more pretentious works in as many weeks; and, what is still better,\n ingenuous youth, if ingenuous indeed, will here take a noble\n enthusiasm, which will stimulate to long, laborious, and delightful\n research.\u201d\u2014_Dial, November 9._\n\n\nSketches of Early Scotch History. By COSMO INNES, F.S.A., Professor of\n History in the University of Edinburgh. 1. The Church; its Old\n Organisation, Parochial and Monastic. 2. Universities. 3. Family\n History. In one vol., 8vo, price 16s.\n\n \u201cIt is since Scottish writers have abandoned the search of a lost\n political history, have dropped their enthusiasm for a timid and\n turbulent ecclesiastical history, and have been content to depict\n the domestic annals of the people, to enter their shops and their\n houses, to follow them in the streets and the fields, and to record\n their every-day life\u2014their eating and their drinking, their dress,\n their pleasures, their marriages, their wealth and their\n science\u2014that Scottish history has become an enticing study.... In\n this new path none has been more active than Mr. Cosmo\n Innes.\u201d\u2014_Times, April 3._\n\n \u201cThis is a valuable collection of materials, from which future\n historians of Scotland may extract a solid basis for many portions\n of their work.... This recapitulation of the contents of the\n volume before us shews that it is a treasury of valuable\n documents, from which may be framed a better domestic history of\n Scotland during the middle ages than we yet possess. It reveals\n many inner characteristics of a shrewd, enterprising, yet cautious\n people, as they were floating down the stream of time to blend\n with their co-civic races in an amicable fusion of political\n interests.\u201d\u2014_Morning Post, April 8._\n\n \u201cMr. INNES, who is favourably known to us as the author of a work\n entitled \u2018Scotland in the Middle Ages,\u2019 has attempted, in his\n \u2018_Sketches of Early Scotch History_,\u2019 to open up the still tangled\n wild of his country\u2019s annals, down to a later period, joining modern\n thought and customs to medi\u00e6val beliefs and usages.... Of the home\n life in Scotland, Mr. Innes gives us some very attractive notices,\n passing in review no less than four collections of family\n documents\u2014the Morton, the Breadalbane, the Cawdor, and the Kilravock\n papers. Abounding, as these papers do, in social illustrations, and\n sketching, as they do, the character and spirit of the age, the\n condition and customs of the people, they cannot fail to instruct\n and entertain. Touches of reality, pleasant bits of gossip, records\n of wind and weather, household doings and sayings, are all to be\n found scattered over these family papers.\u201d\u2014_Spectator, April 6._\n\n ... \u201cThe length of our quotations prevents us from dwelling on the\n encomiums this work so really deserves. The charms of literary\n composition are hardly expected in antiquarian researches. Knowledge\n and judgment are more looked for, but how well Mr. Innes has\n combined acumen with the power of investing his subject with\n interest, the most casual inspection will prove. He has added an\n important volume to the literature of his country, and doubtless\n will have many followers in a branch of authorship which is at once\n instructive and amusing.\u201d\u2014_Glasgow Courier, March 28._\n\n\nConcerning Some Scotch Surnames. 1 vol., small 4to, cloth antique, 5s.\n\n \u201cWe can safely recommend this volume to those who are interested in\n the subject.\u201d\u2014_Caledonian Mercury, October 26._\n\n \u201cThose fond of etymological pursuits will find in it matter to\n interest them; and the general reader cannot open it without finding\n in it something that will suit even his capricious taste.\u201d\u2014_Atlas,\n October 27._\n\n\nInstructive Picture Books. 3 vols., folio, boards, 10s. 6d. each.\n\n\n I.\n\n The Instructive Picture Book. A few Attractive Lessons from the\n Natural History of Animals. By ADAM WHITE, Assistant, Zoological\n Department, British Museum. With 58 folio coloured Plates. Fourth\n Edition, containing many new Illustrations by J. B., J. Stewart, and\n others.\n\n\n II.\n\n The Instructive Picture Book. Lessons from the Vegetable World. By\n the Author of \u201cThe Heir of Redcliffe,\u201d \u201cThe Herb of the Field,\u201d &c.\n 62 folio coloured Plates, arranged by Robert M. Stark, Edinburgh.\n\n\n III.\n\n The Instructive Picture Book. Lessons from the Geographical\n Distribution of Animals; or, The Natural History of the Quadrupeds\n which Characterize the Principal Divisions of the Globe. By M. H. H.\n J. 60 folio coloured Illustrations.\n\n\nThe New Picture Book. Pictorial Lessons on Form, Comparison, and Number,\n for Children under Seven Years of Age. With Explanations by NICHOLAS\n BOHNY. 36 oblong folio coloured Illustrations. Price 10s. 6d.\n\n\n DR. IRVING.\n\nThe History of Scottish Poetry, from the Middle Ages to the Close of the\n Seventeenth Century. By the late DAVID IRVING, LL.D. Edited by JOHN\n AITKEN\n\n\nCARLYLE, M.D. With a Memoir and Glossary. In one vol. demy 8vo, 16s.\n\n \u201cSuch a book was demanded to supply a gap in Scottish literature,\n and being executed with adequate knowledge of the subject, must be\n recognised as a standard work.\u201d\u2014_Spectator, October 19._\n\n \u201cThe book seems to us to exhaust the subject, and is therefore of\n permanent value.\u201d\u2014_Dumfries Herald, October 25._\n\n LORD KINLOCH.\n\nA Hand-book of Faith, framed out of a Layman\u2019s experience. By the\n Honourable LORD KINLOCH. Second Edition. In one volume, fcap. 8vo,\n price 4s. 6d.\n\n\n Dr. J. G. KURR, Professor of Natural History in the\n Polytechnic Institution of Stuttgart.\n\nThe Mineral Kingdom, with Coloured Illustrations of the most important\n Minerals, Rocks, and Petrefactions, folio, half-bound, 31s. 6d.\n\n\n THE DEAN OF LISMORE\u2019S BOOK.\n\nSpecimens of Ancient Gaelic Poetry. Collected between the years 1512 and\n 1529 by the Rev. JAMES M\u2019GREGOR, Dean of Lismore\u2014illustrative of the\n Language and Literature of the Scottish Highlands prior to the\n Sixteenth Century. Edited, with a Translation and Notes, by the Rev.\n THOMAS MACLAUCHLAN. The Introduction and additional Notes by WILLIAM\n F. SKENE. In one vol. demy 8vo.\n\n\nLittle Ella and the Fire-King, and other Fairy Tales, by M. W., with\n Illustrations by Henry Warren. Second Edition. 16mo, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n Cloth extra, gilt edges, 4s.\n\n\n Rev. NORMAN M\u2018LEOD, D.D.\n\nThe Earnest Student; being Memorials of JOHN MACKINTOSH. By the Rev.\n NORMAN M\u2019LEOD, D.D. 10th Edition, fcap., cloth, 6s.\n\n \u201cFull of the most instructive materials, and admirably compiled. We\n are sure that a career of unusual popularity awaits it. Nor can any\n student peruse it without being quickened by its example of candour,\n assiduity, and happy self-consecration.\u201d\u2014_Excelcior._\n\n\nDeborah; or Christian Principles for Domestic Servants; with Extract\n Readings for the Fireside. Fcap., cloth, 3s. 6d. Cheap Edition, limp\n cloth, 1s.\n\n \u201cAltogether this work is well worthy of its author.\u201d\u2014_Glasgow\n Herald._\n\n\n Rev. Dr. M\u2018COSH and Dr. DICKIE.\n\nTypical Forms and Special Ends in Creation. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d.\n\n \u201cWe are glad to find this work in its second edition. It is an able\n and satisfactory examination of one of the most interesting yet\n difficult problems of modern science.\u201d\u2014_Bradford Review._\n\n\nMemoirs of Francis L. Mackenzie; late of Trinity College, Cambridge;\n with Notices of Henry Mackenzie, B.A., Scholar of Trinity College,\n Cambridge. By Rev. CHARLES POPHAM MILES, M.A., M.D., F.L.S. Fcap.,\n cloth, 6s.\n\n\n JOHN G. MACVICAR, D.D. Author of \u2018An Inquiry into Human Nature,\u2019 &c.\n\nThe Philosophy of the Beautiful. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth,\n 6s. 6d.\n\n\nFirst Lines of Science Simplified, and the Structure of Molecules\n Attempted, by the Rev. J. G. MACVICAR, D.D. 8vo, cloth, price 7s.\n\n\n HERMANN MEYER, M.D., Professor of Anatomy in the University of Zurich.\n\nThe correct form of Shoes. Why the Shoe Pinches. A contribution to\n Applied Anatomy. Translated from the German by JOHN STIRLING CRAIG,\n L.R.C.P.E., L.R.C.S.E. Third Edition. Fcap., sewed, 6d.\n\n \u201cA sixpenny pamphlet which should be profoundly studied by all who\n suffer on their toes.\u201d\u2014_Examiner, August 8._\n\n \u201cThe English translation of Dr. Meyer\u2019s essay (published by\n Edmonston and Douglas), exact in detail and clearly illustrated by\n drawings, is enough to enable any man to lay down the law clearly to\n his bootmaker. It is sixpennyworth of knowledge, that will, we hope,\n be the ruin of the fashion that has put thousands of people into\n actual torment of pain, and denies to most of us the full and free\n use of our legs.\u201d\u2014_All the Year Round, August._\n\n \u201cWe cannot too earnestly recommend to all readers the attentive\n perusal of the little work before us.\u201d\u2014_London Review, October 15._\n\n\nNuggets from the Oldest Diggings; or Researches in the Mosaic Creation.\n Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.\n\n\n ORWELL.\n\nThe Bishop\u2019s Walk and The Bishop\u2019s Times. By ORWELL. In one vol., fcap.\n 8vo, price 5s.\n\n\n J. PAYN.\n\nRichard Arbour; or, the Scapegrace of the Family. By JAMES PAYN. 1 vol.,\n crown 8vo, price 9s.\n\n \u201cAs might be expected, Mr. Payn displays in his more familiar\n passages the habit of much observation as regards both men and\n things, which contributes so much to give reality and life to\n novelists\u2019 conception.\u201d\u2014_Manchester Weekly Express._\n\n \u201cThe above is a work which we can recommend to those readers who\n have a penchant for a good work of fiction.\u201d\u2014_Lincoln Herald, August\n 20._\n\n E. B. RAMSAY, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.E., Dean of Edinburgh.\n\n\nReminiscences of Scottish Life and Character. Two vols., fcap. 8vo., 6s.\n each.\n\n\n C. T. PERTHES, Professor of Law at Bonn.\n\nMemoirs of Frederick Perthes; or Literary, Religions, and Political Life\n in Germany from 1789 to 1843. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.\n\n \u201cWe regard this volume as among the most interesting that has been\n published of late years.\u201d\u2014_Dundee Advertiser._\n\n\n A. HENRY RHIND, F.S.A., &c.\n\nEgypt; its Climate, Character, and Resources as a Winter Resort. With an\n Appendix of Meteorological Notes. Fcap., cloth, 3s.\n\n\n JOHN RUFFINI.\n\nDoctor Antonio; a Tale. Crown 8vo, cloth, 4 s. \u2014\u2014 Cheap Edition. Crown\n 8vo, boards, 2s. 6d.\n\n \u201cThis is a very charming story.\u201d\u2014_Leeds Mercury._\n\n\nLorenzo Benoni; or, Passages in the Life of an Italian, with\n Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 5s. \u2014\u2014 Cheap Edition, crown\n 8vo, boards, 2s. 6d.\n\n\nThe Paragreens; or, a Visit to the Paris Universal Exhibition. With\n Illustrations by John Leech. Fcap. cloth, 4s.\n\n\n JOHN SCARTH.\n\nTwelve Years in China; the People, the Rebels, and the Mandarins, by a\n British Resident. With coloured Illustrations. Second Edition. With\n an Appendix. Crown 8vo, cloth, price 10s. 6d.\n\n \u201cOne of the most interesting books that has been published on that\n most mysterious country.\u201d\u2014_Morning Post, April 9._\n\n \u201cWhether Mr. Scarth be right or not in his political\n conclusions\u2014and he certainly leaves a strong impression upon our\n minds that he _is_ right\u2014we have to thank him for a very\n interesting volume.\u201d\u2014_Chambers\u2019s Journal, April 14._\n\n \u201cOne of the most amusing and original volumes ever published on\n China.... He has been at great pains to form correct opinions, and\n in many cases appears to have succeeded. But the external relations\n of so vast an empire are too important to be discussed and dismissed\n in a paragraph. We therefore advise all those who desire to\n understand the question to study Mr. Scarth\u2019s volume.\u201d\u2014_Daily\n Telegraph, March 21._\n\n \u201cThis volume is very readable, sketching the Chinese and their ways\n in a correct yet lively manner, and containing many judicious\n extracts and observations on such general subjects as the character\n and religion of the Chinese.\u201d\u2014_Hong-Kong China Mail, April 25._\n\n \u201cMr. Scarth\u2019s little work will modify the opinions of many among its\n readers concerning the Chinese Empire. Even for those who have as\n yet committed themselves to no definite opinions and felt no special\n interest in regard to the Flowery Land, it is a volume which will\n repay perusal. It is written from a new point of view, and in a new\n spirit; and the Chinese question is one with at least two sides. The\n point of view may be fixed in a few words by saying that a \u2018British\n Resident\u2019 of twelve years in China is not a British\n official.\u201d\u2014_Saturday Review, May 5._\n\n\n GEORGE SETON, Advocate, M.A., Oxon.\n\nPractical Analysis of the Acts relating to the Registration of Births,\n Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland. (17 and 18 Vict., c. 80; 18\n Vict., c. 29; and 23 and 24 Vict., c. 85). With an Appendix,\n containing the Statute, Sheriff\u2019s Forms, Tables of Burghs,\n Sheriffdoms, Fees, Penalties, &c., and a copious Index. Fifth\n Edition. 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d.\n\n\nCauses of Illegitimacy, particularly in Scotland. With relative\n Appendices. Being a paper read in Glasgow at the Fourth Annual\n Meeting of the \u2018National Association for the Promotion of Social\n Science,\u2019 on the 28th of September 1860. 8vo, sewed, 1s.\n\n\nThe Law and Practice of Heraldry in Scotland, by G. Seton. [_In\n preparation._\n\n\n SHIRLEY.\n\n\u201cAt the Seaside.\u201d Essays by Shirley, Reprinted from Fraser\u2019s Magazine. 1\n vol., crown 8vo.\n\n\n PROFESSOR SIMPSON.\n\nAemona and the Islands of the Forth. Notes on an Ancient Oratory or\n Stone-roofed Cell discovered in the Island of Inchcolme, &c. &c. By\n J. Y. SIMPSON, Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries. In one\n vol. [_In preparation._\n\n\n _By the same Author._\n\nArch\u00e6ology: its Past and its Future Work. An Address given to the\n Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In 8vo, price 1s. [_Ready._\n\n\nThe Skip Jack, or Wireworm, and the Slug. With notices of the\n Microscope, Barometer, and Thermometer for the use of Schools.\n Fcap., cloth limp, 9d.\n\n\n DR. SOMERVILLE. 1741-1813.\n\nMy Life and Times; being the Autobiography of the Rev. THOS. SOMERVILLE,\n Minister of Jedburgh, and one of His Majesty\u2019s Chaplains. 1 vol.\n crown 8vo, price 9s.\n\n \u201cHis book is eminently graphic and readable, and it is no mean proof\n of its singular excellence that, following so close in the wake of\n his more imposing friend, Dr. Somerville should be able to hold his\n own with perfect ease.... Such, then, are a few of the points of\n interest afforded by this curious work, which we accept as a most\n valuable addition to a most interesting species of literature. The\n style of the book is flowing and graceful; the spirit of it refined\n and genial. It is excellently edited by a man who knows when to\n speak and when to be silent\u2014when a foot-note is required and when it\n is not. We may expect that such a book will become a favourite among\n those who read for amusement, and, endowed as it is with a careful\n index, a standard work of reference to those who are in search of\n facts.\u2014_Times, May 24._\n\n \u201cThe concluding chapters of this volume teem with interest\u201d\u2014_Critic,\n April 20._\n\n\nDugald Stewart\u2019s Collected Works\u2014Vols. I. to X. 8vo, cloth, each 12s.\n\n Vol. I.\u2014Dissertation.\n\n Vols. II., III., and IV.\u2014Elements of the Philosophy of the Human\n Mind. 3 vols.\n\n Vol. V.\u2014Philosophical Essays.\n\n Vols. VI. and VII.\u2014Philosophy of the Active and Moral Powers of Man.\n 2 vols.\n\n Vols. VIII. and IX.\u2014Lectures on Political Economy. 2 vols.\n\n Vol. X.\u2014Biographical Memoirs of Adam Smith, LL.D., William\n Robertson, D.D., and Thomas Reid, D.D. To which is prefixed a Memoir\n of Dugald Stewart, with Selections from his Correspondence, by John\n Veitch, M.A.\n\n Supplementary Vol.\u2014Translations of the Passages in Foreign Languages\n contained in the Collected Works; with General Index, _gratis_.\n\n\n PROFESSOR SYME.\n\nObservations in Clinical Surgery. By JAMES SYME, Professor of Clinical\n Surgery in the University of Edinburgh. In one vol. 8vo. Price 8s.\n 6d.\n\n\n _By the same Author._\n\nStricture of the Urethra, and Fistula in Perineo. 8vo, 4s. 6d.\n\n\nTreatise on the Excision of Diseased Joints. 8vo, 5s.\n\n\nOn Diseases of the Rectum. 8vo, 4s. 6d.\n\n\nIllustration of Medical Evidence and Trial by Jury in Scotland. 8vo,\n sewed, 1s.\n\n\n The Right Reverend The Lord Bishop of London.\n\nLessons for School Life; being Selections from Sermons preached in the\n Chapel of Rugby School during his Head Mastership. Fcap., cloth, 5s.\n\n\nHistory of Sir Thomas Thumb, by the author of \u2018The Heir of Redcliffe,\u2019\n \u2018Heartsease,\u2019 \u2018Little Duke,\u2019 &c. &c. Illustrated by J. B. 4to,\n boards, 2s.\n\n\nThe Two Cosmos. A Tale of Fifty Years Ago. 1 vol., crown 8vo, 10s. 6d.\n\n \u201cIt excels in what we most of all desire in a novel\u2014freshness....\n There is in some passages a good deal of pathos in it; and a writer\n who is capable of pathos\u2014not mere maudlin, but genuine, manly\n feeling\u2014belongs to the higher ranks of authorship. Many men have\n true tenderness of feeling, but, perhaps, the rarest thing in\n literature is the art of expressing this tenderness without being\n ridiculous, and of drawing tears of which the reader is not ashamed.\n Our author has not much indulged his faculty in this way but in one\n little scene\u2014the deathbed of the elder Cosmo\u2019s mother. He has been\n so successful that one cannot help feeling his superiority.\u201d\u2014_Times,\n January 10th._\n\n \u201cTo call it merely a good novel is to do an injustice to the\n narrator, to say that it is the best of the season would not be\n absolutely correct, but would not be far from the truth. Every one\n should read it\u2014all who read it will heartily recommend it to their\n friends.\u201d\u2014_Morning Herald, February 2d._\n\n\nMemoir of George Wilson, M.D., F.R.S.E., Regius Professor of Technology\n in the University of Edinburgh, and Director of the Industrial\n Museum of Scotland. By his Sister, Jessie Aitken Wilson. 8vo, cloth,\n 14s.\n\n \u201cWe lay down the book gratefully and lovingly. To read of such a\n life is refreshing, and strengthening, and inspiring. It is long\n since we read any biography with equal pleasure; and assured of its\n general acceptance, we pass it on to our readers with our heartiest\n commendation.\u201d\u2014_The Scottish Press._\n\n\nA Memoir of John Wilson (Christopher North), late Professor of Moral\n Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh; compiled from Family\n Papers, with a Selection from his Correspondence. By his Daughter,\n Mrs. GORDON. [_In Preparation._\n\n\n THE BISHOP OF ST. ANDREWS.\n\nA United Church of Scotland, England, and Ireland, Advocated. A\n Discourse on the Scottish Reformation, to which are added Proofs and\n Illustrations, designed to form a manual of Reformation Facts and\n Principles. By the Right Reverend CHARLES WORDSWORTH, Bishop of St.\n Andrews.\n\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\n\n\n \u25cf Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n \u25cb Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.\n \u25cb Typographical errors were silently corrected.\n \u25cb Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only\n when a predominant form was found in this book.\n \u25cb Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).","title":"A Selection from the Norse Tales for the Use of Children","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":82306}