Sacred Texts: Legends and Sagas

Popular Tales from the Norse: Popular Tales from the Norse: The Seven Foals

Summary only - full text stays on its own separately-gated source. Read the full text at the source »

This is a Norwegian folk tale collected and translated by George Webbe Dasent, published in his 1904 anthology *Popular Tales from the Norse* — a foundational work in the Victorian-era scholarly collection of Scandinavian folklore. The story follows the classic "three brothers" structure: a king offers his daughter and half his kingdom to anyone who can watch his seven foals and report what they eat and drink, but punishes failures with flogging. The two elder brothers both fail by succumbing to a roadside hag's offer of rest and deception, while the youngest son, Boots — the archetypal underestimated fool-hero of Norse tradition — succeeds by ignoring her temptation. The tale's distinctive turn comes when the foals themselves reward Boots's persistence by revealing they are enchanted princes, guiding him to a hidden room with a magic sword and a strengthening pitcher, and instructing him to decapitate them on his wedding day to break the troll's spell. What sets this apart from simpler reward-tales is the embedded quest within the quest: the "right answer" Boots brings back (communion wine and a communion wafer) is not something he discovers through cleverness alone, but through faithfully following the foals' lead on a journey involving symbolic Christian sacraments and an enchanted transformation. The story rewards loyalty, courage, and refusal of easy comfort over cleverness or strength.

Popular Tales from the Norse: Popular Tales from the Norse: The Seven Foals

Related pages View as graph →