(30) From the Icelandic.
Once upon a time there was a King and his Queen in their kingdom.
They had one daughter, who was called Ingiborg, and one son, whose name
was Ring. He was less fond of adventures than men of rank usually were
in those days, and was not famous for strength or feats of arms. When he
was twelve years old, one fine winter day he rode into the forest along
with his men to enjoy himself. They went on a long way, until they
caught sight of a hind with a gold ring on its horns. The Prince was
eager to catch it, if possible, so they gave chase and rode on without
stopping until all the horses began to founder beneath them. At last the
Prince’s horse gave way too, and then there came over them a darkness so
black that they could no longer see the hind. By this time they were far
away from any house, and thought it was high time to be making their way
home again, but they found they had got lost now. At first they all kept
together, but soon each began to think that he knew the right way best;
so they separated, and all went in different directions.
The Prince, too, had got lost like the rest, and wandered on for a time
until he came to a little clearing in the forest not far from the sea,
where he saw a woman sitting on a chair and a big barrel standing
beside her. The Prince went up to her and saluted her politely, and she
received him very graciously. He looked down into the barrel then, and
saw lying at the bottom an unusually beautiful gold ring, which pleased
him so much that he could not take his eyes off it. The woman saw this,
and said that he might have it if he would take the trouble to get it;
for which the Prince thanked her, and said it was at least worth trying.
So he leaned over into the barrel, which did not seem very deep, and
thought he would easily reach the ring; but the more he stretched down
after it the deeper grew the barrel. As he was thus bending down into it
the woman suddenly rose up and pushed him in head first, saying that
now he could take up his quarters there. Then she fixed the top on the
barrel and threw it out into the sea.
The Prince thought himself in a bad plight now, as he felt the barrel
floating out from the land and tossing about on the waves.
How many days he spent thus he could not tell, but at last he felt that
the barrel was knocking against rocks, at which he was a little cheered,
thinking it was probably land and not merely a reef in the sea. Being
something of a swimmer, he at last made up his mind to kick the bottom
out of the barrel, and having done so he was able to get on shore, for
the rocks by the sea were smooth and level; but overhead there were high
cliffs. It seemed difficult to get up these, but he went along the foot
of them for a little, till at last he tried to climb up, which at last
he did.
Having got to the top, he looked round about him and saw that he was
on an island, which was covered with forest, with apples growing, and
altogether pleasant as far as the land was concerned. After he had been
there several days, he one day heard a great noise in the forest, which
made him terribly afraid, so that he ran to hide himself among the
trees. Then he saw a Giant approaching, dragging a sledge loaded with
wood, and making straight for him, so that he could see nothing for it
but to lie down just where he was. When the Giant came across him, he
stood still and looked at the Prince for a little; then he took him up
in his arms and carried him home to his house, and was exceedingly kind
to him. He gave him to his wife, saying he had found this child in the
wood, and she could have it to help her in the house. The old woman was
greatly pleased, and began to fondle the Prince with the utmost delight.
He stayed there with them, and was very willing and obedient to them in
everything, while they grew kinder to him every day.
One day the Giant took him round and showed him all his rooms except the
parlour; this made the Prince curious to have a look into it, thinking
there must be some very rare treasure there. So one day, when the Giant
had gone into the forest, he tried to get into the parlour, and managed
to get the door open half-way. Then he saw that some living creature
moved inside and ran along the floor towards him and said something,
which made him so frightened that he sprang back from the door and shut
it again. As soon as the fright began to pass off he tried it again, for
he thought it would be interesting to hear what it said; but things went
just as before with him. He then got angry with himself, and, summoning
up all his courage, tried it a third time, and opened the door of the
room and stood firm. Then he saw that it was a big Dog, which spoke to
him and said:
‘Choose me, Prince Ring.’
The Prince went away rather afraid, thinking with himself that it was no
great treasure after all; but all the same what it had said to him stuck
in his mind.
It is not said how long the Prince stayed with the Giant, but one
day the latter came to him and said he would now take him over to the
mainland out of the island, for he himself had no long time to live. He
also thanked him for his good service, and told him to choose some-one
of his possessions, for he would get whatever he wanted. Ring thanked
him heartily, and said there was no need to pay him for his services,
they were so little worth; but if he did wish to give him anything he
would choose what was in the parlour. The Giant was taken by surprise,
and said:
‘There, you chose my old woman’s right hand; but I must not break my
word.’
Upon this he went to get the Dog, which came running with signs of great
delight; but the Prince was so much afraid of it that it was all he
could do to keep from showing his alarm.
After this the Giant accompanied him down to the sea, where he saw a
stone boat which was just big enough to hold the two of them and the
Dog. On reaching the mainland the Giant took a friendly farewell of
Ring, and told him he might take possession of all that was in the
island after he and his wife died, which would happen within two weeks
from that time. The Prince thanked him for this and for all his other
kindnesses, and the Giant returned home, while Ring went up some
distance from the sea; but he did not know what land he had come to, and
was afraid to speak to the Dog. After he had walked on in silence for a
time the Dog spoke to him and said:
‘You don’t seem to have much curiosity, seeing you never ask my name.’
The Prince then forced himself to ask, ‘What is your name?’
‘You had best call me Snati-Snati,’ said the Dog. ‘Now we are coming to
a King’s seat, and you must ask the King to keep us all winter, and to
give you a little room for both of us.’
The Prince now began to be less afraid of the Dog. They came to the King
and asked him to keep them all the winter, to which he agreed. When the
King’s men saw the Dog they began to laugh at it, and make as if they
would tease it; but when the Prince saw this he advised them not to do
it, or they might have the worst of it. They replied that they didn’t
care a bit what he thought.
After Ring had been with the King for some days the latter began to
think there was a great deal in him, and esteemed him more than the
others. The King, however, had a counsellor called Red, who became very
jealous when he saw how much the King esteemed Ring; and one day he
talked to him, and said he could not understand why he had so good an
opinion of this stranger, who had not yet shown himself superior to
other men in anything. The King replied that it was only a short time
since he had come there. Red then asked him to send them both to cut
down wood next morning, and see which of them could do most work.
Snati-Snati heard this and told it to Ring, advising him to ask the King
for two axes, so that he might have one in reserve if the first one
got broken. Next morning the King asked Ring and Red to go and cut down
trees for him, and both agreed. Ring got the two axes, and each went his
own way; but when the Prince had got out into the wood Snati took one of
the axes and began to hew along with him. In the evening the King came
to look over their day’s work, as Red had proposed, and found that
Ring’s wood-heap was more than twice as big.
‘I suspected,’ said the King, ‘that Ring was not quite useless; never
have I seen such a day’s work.’
Ring was now in far greater esteem with the King than before, and Red
was all the more discontented. One day he came to the King and said, ‘If
Ring is such a mighty man, I think you might ask him to kill the wild
oxen in the wood here, and flay them the same day, and bring you the
horns and the hides in the evening.’
‘Don’t you think that a desperate errand?’ said the King, ‘seeing they
are so dangerous, and no one has ever yet ventured to go against them?’
Red answered that he had only one life to lose, and it would be
interesting to see how brave he was; besides, the King would have good
reason to ennoble him if he overcame them. The King at last allowed
himself, though rather unwillingly, to be won over by Red’s persistency,
and one day asked Ring to go and kill the oxen that were in the wood for
him, and bring their horns and hides to him in the evening. Not knowing
how dangerous the oxen were, Ring was quite ready, and went off at once,
to the great delight of Red, who was now sure of his death.
As soon as Ring came in sight of the oxen they came bellowing to meet
him; one of them was tremendously big, the other rather less. Ring grew
terribly afraid.
‘How do you like them?’ asked Snati.
‘Not well at all,’ said the Prince.
‘We can do nothing else,’ said Snati, ‘than attack them, if it is to go
well; you will go against the little one, and I shall take the other.’
With this Snati leapt at the big one, and was not long in bringing
him down. Meanwhile the Prince went against the other with fear and
trembling, and by the time Snati came to help him the ox had nearly got
him under, but Snati was not slow in helping his master to kill it.
Each of them then began to flay their own ox, but Ring was only half
through by the time Snati had finished his. In the evening, after they
had finished this task, the Prince thought himself unfit to carry all
the horns and both the hides, so Snati told him to lay them all on his
back until they got to the Palace gate.
The Prince agreed, and laid everything on the Dog except the skin of the
smaller ox, which he staggered along with himself. At the Palace gate he
left everything lying, went before the King, and asked him to come that
length with him, and there handed over to him the hides and horns of the
oxen. The King was greatly surprised at his valour, and said he knew no
one like him, and thanked him heartily for what he had done.
After this the King set Ring next to himself, and all esteemed him
highly, and held him to be a great hero; nor could Red any longer say
anything against him, though he grew still more determined to destroy
him. One day a good idea came into his head. He came to the King and
said he had something to say to him.
‘What is that?’ said the King.
Red said that he had just remembered the gold cloak, gold chess-board,
and bright gold piece that the King had lost about a year before.
‘Don’t remind me of them!’ said the King.
Red, however, went on to say that, since Ring was such a mighty man that
he could do everything, it had occurred to him to advise the King to
ask him to search for these treasures, and come back with them before
Christmas; in return the King should promise him his daughter.
The King replied that he thought it altogether unbecoming to propose
such a thing to Ring, seeing that he could not tell him where the things
were; but Red pretended not to hear the King’s excuses, and went on
talking about it until the King gave in to him. One day, a month or so
before Christmas, the King spoke to Ring, saying that he wished to ask a
great favour of him.
‘What is that?’ said Ring.
‘It is this,’ said the King: ‘that you find for me my gold cloak, my
gold chess-board, and my bright gold piece, that were stolen from me
about a year ago. If you can bring them to me before Christmas I will
give you my daughter in marriage.’
‘Where am I to look for them, then?’ said Ring.
‘That you must find out for yourself,’ said the King: ‘I don’t know.’
Ring now left the King, and was very silent, for he saw he was in a
great difficulty: but, on the other hand, he thought it was excellent
to have such a chance of winning the King’s daughter. Snati noticed that
his master was at a loss, and said to him that he should not disregard
what the King had asked him to do; but he would have to act upon his
advice, otherwise he would get into great difficulties. The Prince
assented to this, and began to prepare for the journey.
After he had taken leave of the King, and was setting out on the
search, Snati said to him, ‘Now you must first of all go about the
neighbourhood, and gather as much salt as ever you can.’ The Prince did
so, and gathered so much salt that he could hardly carry it; but Snati
said, ‘Throw it on my back,’ which he accordingly did, and the Dog then
ran on before the Prince, until they came to the foot of a steep cliff.
‘We must go up here,’ said Snati.
‘I don’t think that will be child’s play,’ said the Prince.
‘Hold fast by my tail,’ said Snati; and in this way he pulled Ring up on
the lowest shelf of the rock. The Prince began to get giddy, but up went
Snati on to the second shelf. Ring was nearly swooning by this time, but
Snati made a third effort and reached the top of the cliff, where the
Prince fell down in a faint. After a little, however, he recovered
again, and they went a short distance along a level plain, until they
came to a cave. This was on Christmas Eve. They went up above the cave,
and found a window in it, through which they looked, and saw four
trolls lying asleep beside the fire, over which a large porridge-pot was
hanging.
‘Now you must empty all the salt into the porridge-pot,’ said Snati.
Ring did so, and soon the trolls wakened up. The old hag, who was the
most frightful of them all, went first to taste the porridge.
‘How comes this?’ she said; ‘the porridge is salt! I got the milk by
witchcraft yesterday out of four kingdoms, and now it is salt!’
All the others then came to taste the porridge, and thought it nice, but
after they had finished it the old hag grew so thirsty that she could
stand it no longer, and asked her daughter to go out and bring her some
water from the river that ran near by.
‘I won’t go,’ said she, ‘unless you lend me your bright gold piece.’
‘Though I should die you shan’t have that,’ said the hag.
‘Die, then,’ said the girl.
‘Well, then, take it, you brat,’ said the old hag, ‘and be off with you,
and make haste with the water.’
The girl took the gold and ran out with it, and it was so bright that it
shone all over the plain. As soon as she came to the river she lay down
to take a drink of the water, but meanwhile the two of them had got down
off the roof and thrust her, head first, into the river.
The old hag began now to long for the water, and said that the girl
would be running about with the gold piece all over the plain, so she
asked her son to go and get her a drop of water.
‘I won’t go,’ said he, ‘unless I get the gold cloak.’
‘Though I should die you shan’t have that,’ said the hag.
‘Die, then,’ said the son.
‘Well, then, take it,’ said the old hag, ‘and be off with you, but you
must make haste with the water.’
He put on the cloak, and when he came outside it shone so bright that he
could see to go with it. On reaching the river he went to take a drink
like his sister, but at that moment Ring and Snati sprang upon him, took
the cloak from him, and threw him into the river.
The old hag could stand the thirst no longer, and asked her husband
to go for a drink for her; the brats, she said, were of course running
about and playing themselves, just as she had expected they would,
little wretches that they were.
‘I won’t go,’ said the old troll, ‘unless you lend me the gold
chess-board.’
‘Though I should die you shan’t have that,’ said the hag.
‘I think you may just as well do that,’ said he, ‘since you won’t grant
me such a little favour.’
‘Take it, then, you utter disgrace!’ said the old hag, ‘since you are
just like these two brats.’
The old troll now went out with the gold chess-board, and down to the
river, and was about to take a drink, when Ring and Snati came upon him,
took the chess-board from him, and threw him into the river. Before they
had got back again, however, and up on top of the cave, they saw
the poor old fellow’s ghost come marching up from the river. Snati
immediately sprang upon him, and Ring assisted in the attack, and after
a hard struggle they mastered him a second time. When they got back
again to the window they saw that the old hag was moving towards the
door.
‘Now we must go in at once,’ said Snati, ‘and try to master her there,
for if she once gets out we shall have no chance with her. She is the
worst witch that ever lived, and no iron can cut her. One of us must
pour boiling porridge out of the pot on her, and the other punch her
with red-hot iron.’
In they went then, and no sooner did the hag see them than she said,
‘So you have come, Prince Ring; you must have seen to my husband and
children.’
Snati saw that she was about to attack them, and sprang at her with a
red-hot iron from the fire, while Ring kept pouring boiling porridge on
her without stopping, and in this way they at last got her killed. Then
they burned the old troll and her to ashes, and explored the cave, where
they found plenty of gold and treasures. The most valuable of these they
carried with them as far as the cliff, and left them there. Then they
hastened home to the King with his three treasures, where they arrived
late on Christmas night, and Ring handed them over to him.
The King was beside himself with joy, and was astonished at how clever
a man Ring was in all kinds of feats, so that he esteemed him still more
highly than before, and betrothed his daughter to him; and the feast
for this was to last all through Christmastide. Ring thanked the King
courteously for this and all his other kindnesses, and as soon as he had
finished eating and drinking in the hall went off to sleep in his own
room. Snati, however, asked permission to sleep in the Prince’s bed for
that night, while the Prince should sleep where the Dog usually lay.
Ring said he was welcome to do so, and that he deserved more from him
than that came to. So Snati went up into the Prince’s bed, but after a
time he came back, and told Ring he could go there himself now, but to
take care not to meddle with anything that was in the bed.
Now the story comes back to Red, who came into the hall and showed the
King his right arm wanting the hand, and said that now he could see what
kind of a man his intended son-in-law was, for he had done this to him
without any cause whatever. The King became very angry, and said he
would soon find out the truth about it, and if Ring had cut off his hand
without good cause he should be hanged; but if it was otherwise, then
Red should die. So the King sent for Ring and asked him for what reason
he had done this. Snati, however, had just told Ring what had happened
during the night, and in reply he asked the King to go with him and he
would show him something. The King went with him to his sleeping-room,
and saw lying on the bed a man’s hand holding a sword.
‘This hand,’ said Ring, ‘came over the partition during the night, and
was about to run me through in my bed, if I had not defended myself.’
The King answered that in that case he could not blame him for
protecting his own life, and that Red was well worthy of death. So Red
was hanged, and Ring married the King’s daughter.
The first night that they went to bed together Snati asked Ring to allow
him to lie at their feet, and this Ring allowed him to do. During the
night he heard a howling and outcry beside them, struck a light in a
hurry and saw an ugly dog’s skin lying near him, and a beautiful Prince
in the bed. Ring instantly took the skin and burned it, and then shook
the Prince, who was lying unconscious, until he woke up. The bridegroom
then asked his name; he replied that he was called Ring, and was a
King’s son. In his youth he had lost his mother, and in her place his
father had married a witch, who had laid a spell on him that he should
turn into a dog, and never be released from the spell unless a Prince
of the same name as himself allowed him to sleep at his feet the first
night after his marriage. He added further, ‘As soon as she knew that
you were my namesake she tried to get you destroyed, so that you
might not free me from the spell. She was the hind that you and your
companions chased; she was the woman that you found in the clearing with
the barrel, and the old hag that we just now killed in the cave.’
After the feasting was over the two namesakes, along with other men,
went to the cliff and brought all the treasure home to the Palace. Then
they went to the island and removed all that was valuable from it.
Ring gave to his namesake, whom he had freed from the spell, his sister
Ingiborg and his father’s kingdom to look after, but he himself stayed
with his father-in-law the King, and had half the kingdom while he lived
and the whole of it after his death.