Norwegian Folktales

by Peter Christen Asbjornsen

  Now, when all the high and mighty in the land had searched in vain, there were a captain and a lieutenant who wanted to try their luck. Well, the king furnished them with both silver and gold, and wished them God-speed into the bargain.

  Then there was a soldier who lived with his mother in a little cottage just beyond the king’s manor. He dreamed one night that he, too, was setting out to look for the princesses. In the morning he remembered what he had dreamed, and told his mother about it.

  So they begged and pestered the guard.

  “It may just be some witchcraft that has come your way,” said the old woman. “You must dream the same dream three nights in a row, or else it doesn’t count.”

  But the two following nights the same thing happened as on the first: both times he had the same dream again, and he felt he had to go out.

  So he washed himself and put on his uniform, and went up to the kitchen of the king’s manor. It was the day after the captain and the lieutenant had set out.

  “You go home again,” said the king. “The princesses are too far above you,” he said. “And besides, I’ve given out so much travel money that there’s no more left today. You’d better come back another day.”

  A little cottage just beyond the king’s manor.

  “If I’m going, I’ll go today,” said the soldier. “I need no travel money. I don’t want anything more than a dram in my flask and food in my knapsack,” he said. But he must have plenty in his knapsack, as much beef and pork as he could carry.

  Well, he would get that as long as there was nothing else he wanted.

  So he set off on the way, and he hadn’t gone many miles before he caught up with the captain and the lieutenant.

  “Where are you off to?” asked the captain when he saw the uniform.

  “I’m going out to try and find the king’s daughters,” replied the soldier.

  “So are we,” said the captain, “and as long as you’re on the same errand, you may as well come with us. After all, if we don’t find them, then you certainly won’t find them either, my boy!” he said.

  After they had been walking together for a while, the soldier turned off the highway along a footpath leading into the forest.

  “Hey! Where are you going?” said the captain. “It’s best to stick to the highway!” he said.

  “So it would seem,” said the soldier. “But this is the way I’m going.”

  He kept to the path, he did, and when the others saw that, they turned off the highway and came after him. The path took them away through the woods, over great moors and up narrow, out-of-the-way valleys. At last they saw daylight, and when they were out of the forest, they came to a long, long footbridge which they had to cross, and on that bridge stood a bear on guard. It reared up on its hind legs and came towards them as though it wanted to eat them.

  In the evening they came to a large and splendid manor.

  “What’ll we do now?” said the captain.

  “They say the bear is supposed to be wild about beef,” said the soldier, and threw it a haunch.

  In this way they managed to get past. But at the other end of the bridge stood a lion, and it roared and rushed at them with gaping jaws as though it were going to devour them.

  “Now we’d better turn our noses homeward! We’ll never get past here alive,” said the captain.

  “Oh, he can’t be so dangerous either,” said the soldier. “I’ve heard the lion is supposed to be crazy about pork, and in the knapsack I’ve got half a pig,” he said. So he threw a ham to the lion, and it started gnawing and eating, and so they got past that place too.

  In the evening they came to a large and splendid manor. Each room was finer than the next, and wherever they looked, it sparkled and shone. But that was not going to fill anyone’s belly, I can tell you. The captain and the lieutenant went about jingling their money, and would gladly have bought themselves something to eat. But not a soul did they see, nor a crumb of food did they find. So the soldier offered them beef and pork from his knapsack, and they soon pocketed their pride and fell to with a will. They helped themselves to what he had, as though they had never tasted food before.

  The next day the captain said they would have to go hunting and get themselves something to live on. Close to the manor was a dense forest, full of rabbits and wild fowl. The lieutenant was to stay at home and mind the house, and cook the rest of the provisions. In the meantime, the two others killed so much game that it was all they could do to carry it home. But when they came to the gate, the lieutenant was so feeble that he could hardly open it for them.

  “What’s happened to you?” asked the captain.

  Well, he told them that as soon as they had gone, there came a tiny little fellow, with a long, long beard, walking on crutches, and begging so piteously for a penny. But no sooner had he got it than it fell on the floor, and for all he scrambled after it, he just couldn’t get hold of it, so stiff and crooked was he.

  “I felt sorry for the old creature,” said the lieutenant, “so I bent down to pick up the penny. But all of a sudden he was neither stiff nor feeble any longer. He started using his crutches on me until I could hardly stir a limb.”

  “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you one of the king’s men, letting an old cripple give you a thrashing — and talking about it into the bargain!” said the captain. “Pooh! Tomorrow I’ll stay at home. Then it’ll be another story!”

  Next day the lieutenant and the soldier went hunting, and the captain stayed at home to cook the food and mind the house. But if he fared no worse, he certainly fared no better. As the day wore on, the old fellow turned up and begged for a penny. He dropped it as soon as he got it; and it was nowhere to be found. So he asked the captain to help him find it, and he had no better sense than to stoop down and look for it. But hardly had he bent down before the old fellow started whacking him with the crutches. And every time the captain tried to get up and hit back, he received such a blow that stars danced before his eyes. When the others came home in the evening, he was still lying in the same spot with a vacant look on his face.

  On the third day the soldier was to stay at home while the two others went hunting. The captain told him to take good care, “for the old fellow will certainly beat you to death, my boy!” he said.

  “Oh, I’m too fond of life to let an old cripple deprive me of it,” thought the soldier.

  They were no sooner out of the gate than the old fellow was there begging for a penny again.

  “Money I’ve never had,” said the soldier, “but food you shall have as soon as it’s ready,” he said. “But if we’re going to get a fire going, you must chop some wood.”

  “I can’t,” said the fellow.

  “If you can’t then you can certainly learn,” said the soldier. “That’s soon done. Just come along down to the woodshed.”

  There he dragged out a huge log, cut a crack in it, and drove in a wedge so that it became a long, deep split.

  “Now you must lie down and sight carefully along the crack. Then you’ll soon learn how to chop wood,” said the soldier. “In the meantime, I’ll start chopping.”

  Well, the old fellow was fool enough to do as he was told: he lay down and sighted along the log. When the soldier saw that his beard was well down in the crack, he knocked out the wedge and started soundly thrashing the fellow with the axe handle. Then he swung the axe over his head and swore he would split his skull if he didn’t tell him that very instant where the king’s daughters were.

  “Spare my life! Spare my life! I’ll tell you!” shouted the fellow. “East of the manor there’s a big mound,” he said. “On top of the mound you’re to dig loose a square piece of turf. Then you’ll see a huge slab of rock, and under it is a deep hole. You must lower yourself down the hole. Then you’ll come to another world, and there you’ll find the princesses with the Mountain Trolls. But it’s deep, and it’s dark down there, and you must pass through both water and fire.”

  But
if he fared no worse, he certainly fared no better.

  When the soldier had found out what he wanted to know, he released the old fellow from the log, and he wasn’t slow in bidding farewell.

  When the captain and the lieutenant came home, they were amazed to find the soldier alive. Well, he told them how he had fared from first to last, and where the king’s daughters were, and how they were to find them. They were as happy as though they had already found them, and when they had had some food, they took a basket and all the rope and cord they could find, and went to the mound — all three of them. There they first cut loose the turf, just as the fellow had said. Underneath they found a great big stone slab, and it was all they could do to roll it aside. Then they tried to find out how deep the hole was. They tied the pieces of rope together, first two lengths and then three, but they found no more bottom the last time than the first. At last they had to tie together all the pieces they had, both thick and thin; then they felt it reach all the way to the bottom.

  The captain wanted to be the first to descend, you may be sure. “But when I tug on the rope, you must be quick and haul me up again,” he said.

  The hole was both dark and dismal, but he thought he had better go through with it, as long as it got no worse. But all at once cold water started spouting about his ears; at that he was frightened to death and started tugging on the rope.

  Then the lieutenant wanted to try, but he didn’t fare much better. When he was well past the flood of water, he caught sight of flames blazing away below him, and he was so frightened that he, too, had to turn around and return to the top of the shaft.

  Then the soldier climbed into the basket. He kept going through both fire and water, all the way to the bottom. Down there it was so pitch black that he could not see his hand in front of his nose. Nor did he dare let go the basket either, but went round in a circle groping and fumbling about.

  Then he caught sight of a tiny glimmer of light a long, long way off, just like the dawn. He walked toward it, and when he had gone part of the way it started growing brighter about him, and it wasn’t long before he saw a golden sun rise in the heavens, and the daylight was as bright and clear as in the real world. First he came to a great herd of cattle, with cows so fat and sleek that they glistened. And when he had passed them, he came to a large and splendid castle.

  There he walked through many rooms before he met anyone. At last he heard the whirring of a spinning wheel, and when he went in, there sat the king’s eldest daughter spinning copper yarn; and the room and everything in it were of burnished copper.

  “My! Have Christian folk come here?” exclaimed the princess. “Lord have mercy upon you! What do you want here?”

  “I want to rescue you from the mountain,” replied the soldier.

  “My good fellow, begone! If the Troll comes home, he’ll put an end to you right away. He has three heads!” she said.

  “I don’t care if he has four!” said the soldier. “Now that I’ve come, I’m going to stay!”

  “Well, since you’re so stubborn, I suppose I’d better see if I can help you,” said the king’s daughter. Then she told him to crawl behind the big brewing vat which stood out in the hall. In the meantime, she would make the Troll welcome, and stroke his heads until he fell asleep. “Then, when I go out and call in the hens, you must come in as quickly as you can,” she said. “Now go out and try to swing the sword that’s lying on the table.”

  But the sword was too heavy; he couldn’t so much as budge it. So he had to take a strength-giving draught from the drinking-horn that was hanging behind the hall door. Then he could just raise the sword from the table. He took another swig, and now he could lift it; so he took a really big one, and was able to swing the sword as easily as could be.

  All at once the Troll came rushing in with a noise that shook the castle.

  “Fie! Fie! I smell the blood and bones of a Christian in my house!” he said.

  “Yes, a raven flew past just now,” said the king’s daughter, “and it had a man’s bone in its beak, which it dropped down the chimney. I threw it out, right away, and swept up after it, too, but I suppose it still smells.”

  “I can smell it, all right!” said the Troll.

  “But come now, I’m going to stroke your heads,” said the princess. “Then it’ll be better when you wake up.”

  The Troll agreed right away, and it wasn’t long before he was so sound asleep that he snored. When she saw that he had fallen asleep, she propped up his heads with chairs and quilts, and started calling the hens. Then the soldier tip-toed in with the sword, and cut off all three of the Troll’s heads with a single blow.

  The princess was as merry as a fiddle, and went along with him to her sisters so that he could rescue them from the mountain too. First they crossed a courtyard, and then passed through many great halls until they came to a huge door.

  “This is where you must go in,” said the princess. “Here it is.”

  When he opened the door, he saw a great hall, and everything inside was of the finest silver. There sat the middle sister spinning on a silver spinning wheel.

  “Oh, save you!” she said. “What do you want here?”

  “To rescue you from the Troll,” said the soldier.

  “My good fellow, begone!” said the princess. “If he finds you here, he’ll take your life on the spot!”

  “That’s too bad — but suppose I take his first!” said the soldier.

  “Well, if you really want to,” she said, “then you must crawl behind the big vat out in the hall. But you must hurry and come as soon as you hear me calling the hens.”

  But first he had to see if he were strong enough to swing the Troll-sword which lay on the table. It was much bigger and heavier than the first one, and it was all he could do to budge it. So he took three swigs from the horn, and then he was able to lift it. And when he had taken three more, he could brandish it as though it were a pancake turner.

  After a short while there was a terrible rumbling and crashing, and immediately after, in came a Troll with six heads!

  “Fie! Fie!” he said, as soon as he had put his noses inside the door. “I smell the blood and bones of a Christian in my house!”

  “Yes, just fancy, a little while ago a raven came flying past with a thighbone, and dropped it down the chimney!” said the king’s daughter. “I threw it out, and the raven dropped it down the chimney again. At last I got rid of it, and hurried to smoke the smell out, but it still seems to be lingering,” she said.

  “I can smell it, all right!” said the Troll.

  But he was tired, so he laid his heads in the princess’s lap, and she stroked them until all the heads were snoring. Then she called in the hens, and the soldier came and chopped off all six heads as though they were growing on cabbage stalks.

  She was no less happy than her sister, as you can imagine; but in the midst of their dancing and singing they remembered their youngest sister, and so they led the soldier across one more large courtyard, and through a great many rooms, until he came to the third princess in the golden hall.

  She was sitting, spinning golden yarn on a golden spinning wheel, and from floor to ceiling the room glittered so that it hurt to look at it.

  “Preserve and help both you and me!” said the princess who was sitting there. “Go! Go! Or else he’ll kill us both!”

  “Just as well two as one,” said the soldier.

  The princess wept and pleaded, but it was not the slightest use. He had made up his mind to stay, and that was that! As there was no other way out, she told him to try the Troll-sword out on the table in the hall. But he could only just budge it — it was even bigger and heavier than the other two. So he had to take down the drinking-horn from the wall, and take three swigs from it. But even then he could only just lift the sword. When he had taken three more strength-giving swigs, he swung it as easily as a feather. Then she made the same plan with the soldier as her two sisters had made: when the Troll had fallen f
ast asleep, she would call in the hens, and then he must come quickly and do away with him.

  All at once there was a booming and a shaking as though the walls and ceiling were about to fall down.

  “Fie! Fie! I smell the blood and bones of a Christian in my house!” said the Troll, sniffing the air with all his nine noses.

  “Yes, would you believe it! Just now a raven flew past and dropped a man’s bone down the chimney. I threw it out, and the raven threw it in, and back and forth it went,” said the princess. But in the end she had buried it, she said, and had aired the room thoroughly, but a little of the odor still lingered.

  “I can smell it, all right,” said the Troll.

  “Come here and lay your heads in my lap,” said the princess. “Then it’ll probably be better after you’ve had a nap.”

  He did just as she said, and when he was snoring like a beast, she propped up the heads with benches and quilts so that she could get away, and started calling the hens. Then the soldier tiptoed in in his stockinged feet, and struck out at the Troll so that eight heads flew off at the same time — the sword was too short and didn’t reach any farther.

  The ninth head woke up and started roaring, “Fie! Fie! I smell a Christian here!”

  “Yes, and here is the Christian!” replied the soldier, and before the Troll could get up and grab hold of him, the soldier gave one more blow so that the last head rolled off.

  You may be sure the princesses were glad now that they didn’t have to sit and scratch the Trolls’ heads any longer; there was no end to the kindnesses they wanted to do for the man who had freed them, and the youngest princess wrenched off her golden ring and knotted it into his hair. Then they gathered up as much gold and silver as they thought they could carry, and started for home.