There was once a great famine in the country; the poor could not
procure the necessaries of life, and even the rich suffered great
privation. At that time a poor peasant dwelt out on the heath. One day
he said to his son, that he could no longer support him, and that he
must go out in the world, and provide for himself. Niels, therefore,
left home and wandered forth.
Towards evening he found himself in a large forest, and climbed up into
a tree, lest the wild beasts might do him harm during the night. When
he had slept about an hour or perhaps more, a little man came running
towards the tree. He was hunch-backed, had crooked legs, a long beard,
and a red cap on his head. He was pursued by a werewolf, which attacked
him just under the tree in which Niels was sitting. The little man
began to scream; he bit and scratched, and defended himself as well as
he could, but all to no purpose, the werewolf was his master, and would
have torn him in pieces, if Niels had not sprung down from the tree,
and come to his assistance. As soon as the werewolf saw that he had two
to contend with, he was afraid, and fled back into the forest.
The Troll then said to Niels: “Thou hast preserved my life, and done
me good service; in return I will also give thee something that will
be beneficial to thee. See! here is a hammer, and all the smith’s work
which thou doest with it, no one shall be able to equal. Continue thy
way, and things will go better than thou thinkest.” When the Troll had
spoken these words, he sank into the ground before Niels.
The next day the boy wandered on, until he came to the neighbourhood of
the royal palace, and here he engaged himself to a smith.
Now it just happened, that a few days previously a thief had broken
into the king’s treasury and stolen a large bag of money. All the
smiths in the city were, therefore, sent for to the palace, and the
king promised that he who could make the best and securest lock,
should be appointed court locksmith, and have a considerable reward
into the bargain. But the lock must be finished in eight days, and so
constructed that it could not be picked by any one.
When the smith, with whom Niels lived, returned home and related
this, the boy thought he should like to try whether his hammer really
possessed those qualities which the Troll had said. He therefore begged
his master to allow him to make a lock, and promised that it should be
finished by the appointed time. Although the smith had no great opinion
of the boy’s ability, he, nevertheless, allowed him to make the trial.
Niels then requested to have a separate workshop, locked himself in,
and then began hammering the iron. One day went, and then another, and
the master began to be inquisitive; but Niels let no one come in, and
the smith was obliged to remain outside, and peep through the key-hole.
The work, however, succeeded far better than the boy himself had
expected; and, without his really knowing how it came to pass, the lock
was finished on the evening of the third day.
The following morning he went down to his master and asked him for some
money. “Yesterday I worked hard,” said he, “and to-day I will make
myself merry.” Hereupon he went out of the city, and did not return to
the workshop till late in the evening. The next day he did the same,
and idled away the rest of the week. His master was, consequently,
very angry, and threatened to turn him away, unless he finished his
work at the appointed time. But Niels told him to be quite easy, and
engaged that his lock should be the best. When the day arrived,
Niels brought his work forth, and carried it up to the palace, and it
appeared that his lock was so ingenious and delicately made, that it
far excelled all the others. The consequence was, that Niels’ master
was acknowledged as the most skilful, and received the promised office
and reward.
[Illustration: See here is a hammer]
The smith was delighted, but he took good care not to confess to any
one who it was that had made the curious lock. He now received one work
after another from the king, and let Niels do them all, and he soon
became a wealthy man.
In the meantime, the report spread from place to place of the ingenious
lock the king had got for his treasury. Travellers came from a great
distance to see it, and it happened that a foreign king came also to
the palace. When he had examined the work for a long time, he said,
that the man who could make such a lock deserved to be honoured and
respected. “But however good a smith he may be,” added the king, “I
have got his master at home.” He continued boasting in this manner,
till at length the king offered to wager with him which could execute
the most skilful piece of workmanship. The smiths were sent for, and
the two kings determined that each smith should make a knife. He who
won was to have a considerable reward. The smith related to Niels what
had passed, and desired him to try whether he could not make as good a
knife as he had a lock. Niels promised that he would, although his last
work had not benefited him much. The smith was in truth an avaricious
man, and treated him so niggardly, that at times he had not enough to
eat and drink.
It happened one day, as Niels was gone out to buy steel to make the
knife, that he met a man from his own village, and, in the course of
conversation, learnt from him that his father went begging from door to
door, and was in great want and misery. When Niels heard this he asked
his master for some money to help his father; but his master answered,
that he should not have a shilling before he had made the knife.
Hereupon Niels shut himself up in the workshop, worked a whole day,
and, as on the former occasion, the knife was made without his knowing
how it happened.
When the day arrived on which the work was to be exhibited, Niels
dressed himself in his best clothes, and went with his master up to
the palace, where the two kings were expecting them. The strange smith
first showed his knife. It was so beautiful, and so curiously wrought,
that it was a pleasure to look at it; it was, moreover, so sharp and
well tempered, that it could cut through a millstone to the very
centre, as if it had been only a cheese, and that without the edge
being in the least blunted. Niels’ knife, on the contrary, looked very
poor and common. The king already began to think he had lost his wager,
and spoke harshly to the master-smith, when his boy begged leave to
examine the stranger’s knife a little more closely. After having looked
at it for some time, he said: “This is a beautiful piece of workmanship
which you have made, and shame on those who would say otherwise; but my
master is, nevertheless, your superior, as you shall soon experience.”
Saying this, he took the stranger’s knife and split it lengthwise from
the point to the handle with his own knife, as easily as one splits a
twig of willow. The kings could scarcely believe their eyes; and the
consequence was, that the Danish smith was declared the victor, and got
a large bag of money to carry home with him.
When Niels asked for payment, his master refused to give him anything,
although he well knew that the poor boy only wanted the money to
help his father. Upon this Niels grew angry, went up to the king,
and related the whole story to him, how it was he who had made both
the lock and the knife. The master was now called, but he denied
everything, and accused Niels of being an idle boy, whom he had taken
into his service out of charity and compassion.
“The truth of this story we shall soon find out,” said the king, who
sided with the master. “Since thou sayest it is thou who hast made
this wonderful knife, and thy master says it is he who has done it, I
will adjudge each of you to make a sword for me within eight days. He
who can make the most perfect one shall be my master-smith; but he who
loses, shall forfeit his life.”
Niels was well satisfied with this agreement. He went home, packed up
all his things, and bade his master farewell. The smith was now in
great straits, and would gladly have made all good again; but Niels
appeared not to understand him, and went his way, and engaged with
another master, where he cheerfully began to work on the sword.
When the appointed day arrived, they both met at the palace, and the
master produced a sword of the most elaborate workmanship that any
one could wish to see, besides being inlaid with gold, and set with
precious stones. The king was greatly delighted with it.
“Now, little Niels,” said he, “what dost thou say to this sword?”
“Certainly,” answered the boy, “it is not so badly made as one might
expect from such a bungler.”
“Canst thou show anything like it?” asked the king.
“I believe I can,” answered Niels.
“Well, produce thy sword; where is it?” said the king.
“I have it in my waistcoat pocket,” replied Niels.
Hereupon there was a general laugh, which was increased when they saw
the boy take a little packet out of his waistcoat pocket. Niels opened
the paper, in which the blade was rolled up like a watch-spring. “Here
is my work,” said he, “will you just cut the thread, master?”
The smith did it willingly, and in a moment the blade straightened
itself and struck him in the face.
Niels took out of his other pocket a hilt of gold, and screwed it fast
to the blade; then presented the sword to the king; and all present
were obliged to confess that they never before had seen such matchless
workmanship.
Niels was unanimously declared the victor, and the master was obliged
to acknowledge that the boy had made both the lock and the knife.
[Illustration: The blade struck him in the face]
The king in his indignation would have had the master executed, if the
boy had not begged for mercy on the culprit. Niels received a handsome
reward from the king, and from that day all the work from the palace
was intrusted to him. He took his old father to reside with him, and
lived in competence and happiness till his death.
* * * * *
When the Swedish Troll had gone back to his place after telling with
much self-satisfaction how one of his fellows had befriended the poor
apprentice, a Norwegian fairy came forward to tell how three of her
companions had similarly served a young princess, and she named her
story
[Illustration: The Norwegian Fairy]
[Illustration: The three little crones]