Once on a time there was a _King_ who had _seven sons_, and he loved
them so much that he could never bear to be without them all at once,
but one must always be with him. Now, when they were grown up, six
were to set off to woo, but as for the youngest, his father kept him
at home, and the others were to bring back a princess for him to the
palace. So the _King_ gave the six the finest clothes you ever set
eyes on, so fine that the light gleamed from them a long way off, and
each had his horse, which cost many, many hundred pounds, and so they
set off. Now, when they had been to many palaces, and seen many
princesses, at last they came to a _King_ who had _six daughters_;
such lovely king's daughters they had never seen, and so they fell to
wooing them, each one, and when they had got them for sweethearts,
they set off home again, but they quite forgot that they were to bring
back with them a sweetheart for _Boots_, their brother, who stayed at
home, for they were over head and ears in love with their own
sweethearts.
[Illustration: The six brothers riding out to woo.]
But when they had gone a good bit on their way, they passed close by a
steep hill-side, like a wall, where the _Giant's_ house was, and there
the _Giant_ came out, and set his eyes upon them, and turned them all
into stone, princes and princesses and all. Now the _King_ waited and
waited for his _six sons_, but the more he waited, the longer they
stayed away; so he fell into great trouble, and said he should never
know what it was to be glad again.
"And if I had not you left," he said to _Boots_, "I would live no
longer, so full of sorrow am I for the loss of your brothers."
"Well, but now I've been thinking to ask your leave to set out and
find them again; that's what I'm thinking of," said _Boots_.
"Nay, nay!" said his father; "that leave you shall never get, for then
you would stay away too."
But _Boots_ had set his heart upon it; go he would; and he begged and
prayed so long that the _King_ was forced to let him go. Now, you must
know the _King_ had no other horse to give _Boots_ but an old
broken-down jade, for his six other sons and their train had carried
off all his horses; but _Boots_ did not care a pin for that, he sprang
up on his sorry old steed.
"Farewell, father," said he; "I'll come back, never fear, and like
enough I shall bring my six brothers back with me;" and with that he
rode off.
So, when he had ridden a while, he came to a _Raven_, which lay in the
road and flapped its wings, and was not able to get out of the way, it
was so starved.
"Oh, dear friend," said the _Raven_, "give me a little food, and I'll
help you again at your utmost need."
"I haven't much food," said the _Prince_, "and I don't see how you'll
ever be able to help me much; but still I can spare you a little. I
see you want it."
So he gave the raven some of the food he had brought with him.
Now, when he had gone a bit further, he came to a brook, and in the
brook lay a great _Salmon_, which had got upon a dry place and dashed
itself about, and could not get into the water again.
"Oh, dear friend," said the _Salmon_ to the _Prince_; "shove me out
into the water again, and I'll help you again at your utmost need."
"Well!" said the _Prince_, "the help you'll give me will not be great,
I daresay, but it's a pity you should lie there and choke;" and with
that he shot the fish out into the stream again.
After that he went a long, long way, and there met him a _Wolf_ which
was so famished that it lay and crawled along the road on its belly.
"Dear friend, do let me have your horse," said the _Wolf_; "I'm so
hungry the wind whistles through my ribs; I've had nothing to eat
these two years."
"No," said _Boots_, "this will never do; first I came to a raven, and
I was forced to give him my food; next I came to a salmon, and him I
had to help into the water again; and now you will have my horse. It
can't be done, that it can't, for then I should have nothing to ride
on."
"Nay, dear friend, but you can help me," said _Graylegs_ the wolf;
"you can ride upon my back, and I'll help you again in your utmost
need."
"Well! the help I shall get from you will not be great, I'll be
bound," said the _Prince_; "but you may take my horse, since you are
in such need."
So when the _Wolf_ had eaten the horse, _Boots_ took the bit and put
it into the _Wolf's_ jaw, and laid the saddle on his back; and now the
_Wolf_ was so strong, after what he had got inside, that he set off
with the _Prince_ like nothing. So fast he had never ridden before.
"When we have gone a bit farther," said _Graylegs_, "I'll show you the
_Giant's_ house."
So after a while they came to it.
"See, here is the _Giant's_ house," said the _Wolf_; "and see, here
are your six brothers, whom the _Giant_ has turned into stone; and
see, here are their six brides, and away yonder is the door, and in
that door you must go."
"Nay, but I daren't go in," said the _Prince_; "he'll take my life."
"No! no!" said the _Wolf_; "when you get in you'll find a _Princess_,
and she'll tell you what to do to make an end of the _Giant_. Only
mind and do as she bids you."
Well! _Boots_ went in, but, truth to say, he was very much afraid.
When he came in the _Giant_ was away, but in one of the rooms sat the
_Princess_, just as the _Wolf_ had said, and so lovely a princess
_Boots_ had never yet set eyes on.
"Oh! heaven help you! whence have you come?" said the _Princess_, as
she saw him; "it will surely be your death. No one can make an end of
the _Giant_ who lives here, for he has no heart in his body."
"Well! well!" said _Boots_; "but now that I am here, I may as well try
what I can do with him; and I will see if I can't free my brothers,
who are standing turned to stone out of doors; and you, too, I will
try to save, that I will."
"Well, if you must, you must," said the _Princess_; "and so let us see
if we can't hit on a plan. Just creep under the bed yonder, and mind
and listen to what he and I talk about. But, pray, do lie as still as
a mouse."
So he crept under the bed, and he had scarce got well underneath it,
before the _Giant_ came.
"Ha!" roared the _Giant_, "what a smell of Christian blood there is in
the house!"
"Yes, I know there is," said the _Princess_, "for there came a magpie
flying with a man's bone, and let it fall down the chimney. I made all
the haste I could to get it out, but all one can do, the smell doesn't
go off so soon."
So the _Giant_ said no more about it, and when night came, they went
to bed. After they had lain a while, the _Princess_ said:
"There is one thing I'd be so glad to ask you about, if I only
dared."
"What thing is that?" asked the _Giant_.
"Only where it is you keep your heart, since you don't carry it about
you," said the _Princess_.
"Ah! that's a thing you've no business to ask about; but if you must
know, it lies under the door-sill," said the _Giant_.
"Ho! ho!" said _Boots_ to himself under the bed, "then we'll soon see
if we can't find it."
Next morning the _Giant_ got up cruelly early, and strode off to the
wood; but he was hardly out of the house before _Boots_ and the
_Princess_ set to work to look under the door-sill for his heart; but
the more they dug, and the more they hunted, the more they couldn't
find it.
"He has baulked us this time," said the _Princess_, "but we'll try him
once more."
So she picked all the prettiest flowers she could find, and strewed
them over the door-sill, which they had laid in its right place again;
and when the time came for the _Giant_ to come home again, _Boots_
crept under the bed. Just as he was well under, back came the
_Giant_.
Snuff--snuff, went the _Giant's_ nose. "My eyes and limbs, what a
smell of Christian blood there is in here," said he.
"I know there is," said the _Princess_, "for there came a magpie
flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the
chimney. I made as much haste as I could to get it out, but I daresay
it's that you smell."
So the _Giant_ held his peace, and said no more about it. A little
while after, he asked who it was that had strewed flowers about the
door-sill.
"Oh, I, of course," said the _Princess_.
"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this?" said the _Giant_.
"Ah!" said the _Princess_, "I'm so fond of you that I couldn't help
strewing them, when I knew that your heart lay under there."
"You don't say so," said the _Giant_; "but after all it doesn't lie
there at all."
So when they went to bed again in the evening, the _Princess_ asked
the _Giant_ again where his heart was, for she said she would so like
to know.
"Well," said the _Giant_, "if you must know, it lies away yonder in
the cupboard against the wall."
"So, so!" thought _Boots_ and the _Princess_; "then we'll soon try to
find it."
Next morning the _Giant_ was away early, and strode off to the wood,
and so soon as he was gone _Boots_ and the _Princess_ were in the
cupboard hunting for his heart, but the more they sought for it, the
less they found it.
"Well," said the _Princess_, "we'll just try him once more."
So she decked out the cupboard with flowers and garlands, and when the
time came for the _Giant_ to come home, _Boots_ crept under the bed
again.
Then back came the _Giant_.
Snuff--snuff! "My eyes and limbs, what a smell of Christian blood
there is in here!"
"I know there is," said the _Princess_; "for a little while since
there came a magpie flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it
fall down the chimney. I made all the haste I could to get it out of
the house again; but after all my pains, I daresay it's that you
smell."
When the _Giant_ heard that, he said no more about it; but a little
while after, he saw how the cupboard was all decked about with flowers
and garlands; so he asked who it was that had done that? Who could it
be but the _Princess_?
"And, pray, what's the meaning of all this tomfoolery?" asked the
_Giant_.
"Oh, I'm so fond of you, I couldn't help doing it when I knew that
your heart lay there," said the _Princess_.
"How can you be so silly as to believe any such thing?" said the
_Giant_.
"Oh yes; how can I help believing it, when you say it?" said the
_Princess_.
"You're a goose," said the _Giant_; "where my heart is, you will never
come."
"Well," said the _Princess_; "but for all that, 'twould be such a
pleasure to know where it really lies."
Then the poor _Giant_ could hold out no longer, but was forced to
say:
[Illustration: "On that island stands a church; in that church is a well;
in that well swims a duck."]
"Far, far away in a lake lies an island; on that island stands a
church; in that church is a well; in that well swims a duck; in that
duck there is an egg, and in that egg there lies my heart,--you
darling!"
In the morning early, while it was still grey dawn, the _Giant_ strode
off to the wood.
[Illustration: He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and when he
got out of the Giant's door, there stood the Wolf waiting for him.]
"Yes! now I must set off too," said _Boots_; "if I only knew how to
find the way." He took a long, long farewell of the _Princess_, and
when he got out of the _Giant's_ door, there stood the _Wolf_ waiting
for him. So _Boots_ told him all that had happened inside the house,
and said now he wished to ride to the well in the church, if he only
knew the way. So the _Wolf_ bade him jump on his back, he'd soon find
the way; and away they went, till the wind whistled after them, over
hedge and field, over hill and dale. After they had travelled many,
many days, they came at last to the lake. Then the _Prince_ did not
know how to get over it, but the _Wolf_ bade him only not be afraid,
but stick on, and so he jumped into the lake with the _Prince_ on his
back, and swam over to the island. So they came to the church; but the
church keys hung high, high up on the top of the tower, and at first
the _Prince_ did not know how to get them down.
"You must call on the raven," said the _Wolf_.
So the _Prince_ called on the raven, and in a trice the raven came,
and flew up and fetched the keys, and so the _Prince_ got into the
church. But when he came to the well, there lay the duck, and swam
about backwards and forwards, just as the _Giant_ had said. So the
_Prince_ stood and coaxed it, till it came to him, and he grasped it
in his hand; but just as he lifted it up from the water the duck
dropped the egg into the well, and then _Boots_ was beside himself to
know how to get it out again.
"Well, now you must call on the salmon to be sure," said the _Wolf_;
and the king's son called on the salmon, and the salmon came and
fetched up the egg from the bottom of the well.
Then the _Wolf_ told him to squeeze the egg, and as soon as ever he
squeezed it the _Giant_ screamed out.
"Squeeze it again," said the _Wolf_; and when the _Prince_ did so, the
_Giant_ screamed still more piteously, and begged and prayed so
prettily to be spared, saying he would do all that the _Prince_ wished
if he would only not squeeze his heart in two.
"Tell him, if he will restore to life again your six brothers and
their brides, whom he has turned to stone, you will spare his life,"
said the _Wolf_. Yes, the _Giant_ was ready to do that, and he turned
the six brothers into king's sons again, and their brides into king's
daughters.
"Now, squeeze the egg in two," said the _Wolf_. So _Boots_ squeezed
the egg to pieces, and the _Giant_ burst at once.
Now, when he had made an end of the _Giant_, _Boots_ rode back again
on the _Wolf_ to the _Giant's_ house, and there stood all his six
brothers alive and merry, with their brides. Then _Boots_ went into
the hill-side after his bride, and so they all set off home again to
their father's house. And you may fancy how glad the old king was when
he saw all his seven sons come back, each with his bride--"But the
loveliest bride of all is the bride of _Boots_, after all," said the
king, "and he shall sit uppermost at the table, with her by his
side."
So he sent out, and called a great wedding-feast, and the mirth was
both loud and long, and if they have not done feasting, why, they are
still at it.