Once upon a time there lived a peasant who had three sons. The two elder
ones used to go with him to the field and to the forest, and helped him
in his work, but the youngest remained at home with his mother, to help
her in the house. His brothers despised him for doing this, and whenever
they had a chance they used him badly.
At length the father and mother died, and the sons divided the property
among them. As might have been looked for, the elder brothers took all
that was of any value for themselves, leaving nothing to the youngest
but an old cracked kneading-trough, which neither of them thought worth
the having.
"The old trough," said one of the brothers, "will do very well for our
young brother, for he is always baking and scrubbing."
The boy thought this, as was only natural, a poor thing to inherit, but
he could do nothing, and he now recognised that it would be no use his
remaining at home, so he wished his brothers good-bye, and went off to
seek his fortune. On coming to the side of a lake he made his trough
water-tight with oakum, and converted it into a little boat. Then he
found two sticks, and using these as oars rowed away.
When he had crossed the water, he saw a large palace, and entering it,
he asked to speak with the king. The king questioned him respecting his
family and the purpose of his visit.
"I," said the boy, "am the son of a poor peasant, and all I have in the
world is an old kneading-trough. I have come here to seek work."
The king laughed when he heard this.
"Indeed," said he, "you have not inherited much, but fortune works many
a change."
He took the lad to be one of his servants, and he became a favourite for
his courage and honesty.
Now the king who owned this palace had an only daughter, who was so
beautiful and so clever that she was talked of all through the kingdom,
and many came from the east and from the west to ask her hand in
marriage. The princess, however, rejected them all, saying that none
should have her for his wife unless he brought her for a wedding-present
four valuable things belonging to a giant who lived on the other side of
the lake. These four treasures were a gold sword, three gold hens, a
gold lantern, and a gold harp.
Many king's sons and many good warriors tried to win these treasures,
but none of them came back, for the giant caught them all and eat them.
The king was very sorrowful, for he feared that at this rate his
daughter would never get a husband, and so he would not have a
son-in-law to whom to leave his kingdom.
The boy when he heard of this thought that it might be well worth his
while to try to win the king's beautiful daughter. So he went to the
king one day, and told him what he meant to do. When the king heard him,
he got angry, and said--
"Do you think that you, who are only a servant, can do what great
warriors have failed in?"
The boy, however, was not to be dissuaded, and begged him so to let him
go that at last the king grew calmer and gave him his permission. "But,"
said he, "you will lose your life, and I shall be sorry to miss you."
With that they parted.
The boy went down to the shore of the lake, and, having found his
trough, he looked it over very closely. Then he got into it and rowed
across the lake, and coming to the giant's dwelling he hid himself, and
stayed the night there.
Very early in the morning, before it was light, the giant went to his
barn, and began to thrash, making such a noise that the mountains all
around echoed again. When the boy heard this he collected some stones
and put them in his pouch. Then he climbed up on to the roof of the barn
and made a little hole so that he could look in. Now the giant had by
his side his golden sword, which had the strange property that it
clanked whenever the giant was angry. While the giant was busy thrashing
at full speed, the boy threw a little stone which hit the sword, and
caused it to clank.
"Why do you clank?" said the giant. "I am not angry."
He went on thrashing, but the next moment the sword clanked again. Once
more the giant pursued his work, and the sword clanked a third time.
Then the giant got so angry that he undid the belt, and threw the sword
out of the barn door.
"Lie there," said he, "till I have done my thrashing."
The lad waited no longer, but slipping down from the roof seized on the
sword, ran to his boat, and rowed across the water. On reaching the
other side he hid his treasure, and was full of glee at the success of
his adventure.
The next day he filled his pouch with corn, put a bundle of bast-twine
in his boat, and once more set off to the giant's dwelling. He lay
hiding for a time, and then he saw the giant's three golden hens walking
about on the shore, and spreading their feathers, which sparkled
beautifully in the bright sunshine. He was soon near them, and began to
softly lead them on, scattering corn for them out of his pouch. While
they were picking the boy gradually led them to the water, till at last
he got them into his little boat. Then he jumped in himself, secured the
fowl with his twine, pushed out from the shore, and rowed as quickly as
he could to the other side of the water.
The third day he put some lumps of salt into his pouch, and again rowed
across the lake. As night came on he noticed how the smoke rose from
the giant's dwelling, and concluded that the giant's wife was busy
getting ready his food. He crept up on to the roof, and, looking down
through the hole by which the smoke escaped, saw a large caldron boiling
on the fire. Then he took the lumps of salt out of his pouch, and threw
them one by one into the pot. Having done this, he crept down from the
roof, and waited to see what would follow.
Soon after the giant's wife took the caldron off the fire, poured out
the porridge into a bowl, and put it on the table. The giant was hungry,
and he fell to at once, but scarcely had he tasted the porridge when he
found it too salt. He got very angry, and started from his seat. The old
woman made what excuse she could, and said that the porridge must be
good; but the giant declared he would eat no more of the stuff, and told
her to taste it for herself. She did so, and pulled a terrible face, for
she had never in her life tasted such abominable stuff.
There was nothing for it but she must make some new porridge. So she
seized a can, took the gold lantern down from the wall, and went as fast
as she could to the well to draw some water. She put the lantern down by
the side of the well, and was stooping down to get the water, when the
boy ran to her, and, laying hold of her by the feet, threw her head over
heels into the well. He seized hold of the golden lantern, ran away as
fast as he could to his boat, and rowed across the water in safety.
The giant sat for a long time wondering why his wife was away so long.
At last he went to look for her, but nothing could he see of her. Then
he heard a splashing in the well, and finding she was in the water, he,
with a lot of work, got her out.
"Where is my gold lantern?" was the first thing he asked, as the old
woman came round a little.
"I don't know," answered she. "Somebody came, caught me by the feet, and
threw me into the well."
The giant was very angry at this.
"Three of my treasures," said he, "have gone, and I have now only my
golden harp left. But, whoever the thief may be, he shall not have that;
I will keep that safe under twelve locks."
While these things occurred at the giant's dwelling, the boy sat on the
other side of the water, rejoicing that he had got on so well.
The most difficult task, however, had yet to be done, and for a long
time he thought over how he could get the golden harp. At length he
determined to row over to the giant's place and see if fortune would
favour him.
No sooner said than done. He rowed over and went to a hiding-place. The
giant had, however, been on the watch, and had seen him. So he rushed
forward in a terrible rage and seized the boy, saying--
"So I have caught you at last, you young rascal. You it was who stole my
sword, my three gold hens, and my gold lantern."
The boy was terribly afraid, for he thought his last hour was come.
"Spare my life, father," said he humbly, "and I will never come here
again."
"No," replied the giant, "I will do the same with you as with the
others. No one slips alive out of my hands."
He then shut the boy up in a sty, and fed him with nuts and sweet milk,
so as to get him nice and fat preparatory to killing and eating him.
The lad was a prisoner, but he ate and drank and made himself as easy as
he could. After some time the giant wanted to find out if he were fat
enough to be killed. So he went to the sty, made a little hole in the
wall, and told the boy to put his finger through it. The lad knew what
he wanted; so instead of putting out his finger he poked out a little
peeled alder twig. The giant cut the twig, and the red sap ran out. Then
he thought the boy must be yet very lean since his flesh was so hard, so
he caused a greater supply of milk and nuts to be given to him.
Some time after, the giant again visited the sty, and ordered the boy to
put his finger through the hole in the wall. The lad now poked out a
cabbage-stalk, and the giant, having cut it with his knife, concluded
that the lad must be fat enough, his flesh seemed so soft.