sister happened to her, she had to seat herself, and could not get up
again. In the meantime the youth and his comrade went about in the hill,
and the latter opened all the closets and drawers, until he found what
he had been searching for, a ball of golden twine. This he wished to
have, and promised he would release her from the chair if she would give
it to him. She told him he might have all she possessed; but that she
could not give him the ball, since it was her Three-Sisters Ball. But
when she heard that she would have to sit in the chair till the Day of
Judgment, she changed her mind. Then the comrade took the ball, and in
spite of it left her sitting where she was. Then they wandered for many
a day through wood and heath, until they came to a wall of rock. All
happened as it had twice before, the comrade knocked, the hill opened,
and inside a witch came to meet them with a chair, and bade them sit
down. The two had gone through many rooms before the comrade spied an
old hat hanging on a hook behind the door. The hat he must have, but the
old witch would not part with it, since it was her Three-Sisters Hat,
and if she gave it away she would be thoroughly unhappy. But when she
heard that she would have to sit there until the Day of Judgment if she
did not give up the hat, she at last agreed to do so. The comrade took
the hat, and then told her to keep on sitting where she sat, like her
sisters.
At length they came to a river. There the comrade took the ball of
golden twine and flung it against the hill on the other side of the
river with such force that it bounded back. And when it had flown back
and forth several times, there stood a bridge, and when they had reached
the other side, the comrade told the youth to wind up the golden twine
again as swiftly as possible, "for if we do not take it away quickly,
the three witches will cross and tear us to pieces." The youth wound as
quickly as he could, and just as he was at the last thread, the witches
rushed up, hissing, flung themselves into the water so that the foam
splashed high, and snatched at the end of the thread. But they could not
grasp it, and drowned in the river.
After they had again wandered on for a few days, the comrade said: "Now
we will soon reach the castle in which she lives, the princess of whom
you dreamed, and when we reach it, you must go to the castle and tell
the king what you dreamed, and your journey's aim." When they got there,
the youth did as he was told, and was very well received. He was given a
room for himself, and one for his servant, and when it was time to eat,
he was invited to the king's own table. When he saw the princess, he
recognized her at once as the vision of his dream. He told her, too, why
he was there, and she replied that she liked him quite well, and would
gladly take him, but first he must undergo three tests. When they had
eaten, she gave him a pair of gold shears and said: "The first test
is that you take these shears and keep them, and give them back to me
to-morrow noon. That is not a very severe test," she said, and smiled,
"but, if you cannot stand it, you must die, as the law demands, and you
will be in the same case as the suitors whose bones you may see lying
without the castle gate."
"That is no great feat," thought the youth to himself. But the princess
was so merry and active, and so full of fun and nonsense, that he
thought neither of the shears nor of himself, and while they were
laughing and joking, she secretly robbed him of the shears without his
noticing it. When he came to his room in the evening, and told what had
occurred, and what the princess had said to him, and about the shears
which she had given him to guard, his comrade asked: "And have you still
the shears?"
The youth looked through all his pockets; but his shears were not there,
and he was more than unhappy when he realized that he had lost them.
"Well, well, never mind. I will see whether I can get them back for
you," said his comrade, and went down into the stable. There stood an
enormous goat which belonged to the princess, and could fly through the
air more swiftly than he could walk on level ground. The comrade took
the Three-Sisters Sword, gave him a blow between the horns, and asked:
"At what time does the princess ride to meet her lover to-night?" The
goat bleated, and said he did not dare tell; but when the comrade had
given him another thump, he did say that the princess would come at
eleven o'clock sharp. Then the comrade put on the Three-Sisters Hat,
which made him invisible, and waited for the princess. When she came,
she anointed the goat with a salve she carried in a great horn, and
cried out: "Up, up! over gable and roof, over land and sea, over hill
and dale, to my dearest, who waits for me in the hill!"
As the goat flew upward, the comrade swung himself up in back, and
then they were off like the wind through the clouds: it was not a long
journey. Suddenly they stood before a wall of rock, she knocked, and
then they took their way into the interior of the hill, to the troll who
was her dearest. "And now a new suitor has come who wants to win me,
sweetheart," said she. "He is young and handsome, but I will have none
but you," she went on, and made a great time over the troll. "I have set
him a test, and here are the shears that he was to keep and guard. You
shall keep them now!" Then both of them laughed as though the youth had
already lost his head. "Yes, I will keep them, and take good care of
them, and a kiss from you shall pledge the truth, when crows are cawing
around the youth!" said the troll; and he laid the shears in an iron
chest with three locks. But at the moment he was dropping the shears
into the chest, the comrade caught them up. None could see him, for he
was wearing the Three-Sisters Hat. So the troll carefully locked the
empty chest, and put the key into a hollow double-tooth, where he kept
other magic things. "The suitor could hardly find it there," said he.
After midnight the princess set out for home. The comrade swung himself
up in back again, and the trip home did not take long.
The following noon the youth was invited to dine at the king's table.
But this time the princess kept her nose in the air, and was so haughty
and snappish that she hardly condescended to glance in the youth's
direction. But after they had eaten, she looked very solemn, and asked
in the sweetest manner: "You probably still have the shears I gave you
to take care of yesterday?"
"Yes, here they are," said the youth; and he flung them on the table so
that they rang. The princess could not have been more frightened had he
thrown the shears in her face. But she tried to make the best of a bad
bargain, and said in a sweet voice: "Since you have taken such good care
of the shears, you will not find it hard to keep my ball of gold twine
for me. I should like to have it back by to-morrow noon; but if you
cannot give it to me then, you must die, according to the law." The
youth thought it would not be so very hard, and put the ball of gold
twine in his pocket. Yet the princess once more began to toy and joke
with him, so that he thought neither of himself nor of the ball of gold
twine, and while they were in the midst of their merry play she stole
the golden ball from him, and then dismissed him.
When he came up into his room, and told what she had said and done, his
comrade asked: "And have you still the ball of gold twine?"
"Yes, indeed," said the youth, and thrust his hand into the pocket in
which he had placed it. But there was no ball in it, and he fell into
such despair that he did not know what to do.
"Do not worry," said his comrade. "I will see whether I cannot get it
back for you." He took his sword and his hat, and went to a smith and
had him weld twelve extra pounds of iron to his sword. Then, when he
entered the stable, he gave the goat such a blow between the horns with
it that he staggered, and asked: "At what time does the princess ride to
her dearest to-night?"
"At twelve o'clock sharp," said the goat.
The comrade once more put on his Three-Sisters Hat, and waited until the
princess came with the horn of ointment and anointed the goat. Then she
repeated what she had already said: "Up, up! over gable and tower, over
land and sea, over hill and dale, to my dearest who waits for me in the
hill!" And when the goat arose, the comrade swung himself up in back,
and off they were like lightning through the air. Soon they had reached
the troll-hill, and when she had knocked thrice they passed through the
interior of the hill till they met the troll who was her dearest.
"What manner of care did you take of the golden shears I gave you
yesterday, my friend?" asked the princess. "The suitor had them, and he
gave them back to me."
That was quite impossible, said the troll, for he had locked them up in
a chest with three locks, and had thrust the key into his hollow tooth.
But when they had unlocked the chest and looked, there were no shears
there. Then the princess told him that she had now given him her ball of
golden twine.
"Here it is," said she. "I took it away from him again without his
having noticed it; but what are we to do if he is a master of such
arts?"
The troll could not think of anything to suggest; but after they had
reflected a while they hit on the idea of lighting a great fire, and
burning the ball of gold twine, for then the suitor could surely not
regain it. Yet when she threw it into the flames, the comrade leaped
forward and caught it, without being seen, for he was wearing the
Three-Sisters Hat. After the princess had stayed a little while she
returned home, and again the comrade sat up behind, and the trip home
was swiftly and safely made. When the youth was asked to the king's
table, the comrade gave him the ball. The princess was still more sharp
and disdainful in her remarks than before, and after they had eaten she
pinched her lips, and said: "Would it not be possible for me to get my
ball of gold twine again, which I gave you yesterday?"
"Yes," said the youth, "you can have it; there it is!" and he flung it
on the table with such a thud that the king leaped up in the air with
fright.
The princess grew as pale as a corpse; but she made the best of a bad
bargain, and said that he had done well. Now there was only one more
little test for him to undergo. "If you can bring me what I am thinking
about by to-morrow noon, then you may have me and keep me."
The youth felt as though he had been condemned to death; for it seemed
altogether impossible for him to know of what the princess was thinking,
and still more impossible to bring her the thing in question. And when
he came to his room his comrade could scarcely quiet him. He said he
would take the matter in hand, as he had done on the other occasions,
and at last the youth grew calmer, and lay down to sleep. In the
meantime the comrade went to the smith, and had him weld an additional
twenty-four pounds of iron on his sword. When this had been done, he
went to the stable, and gave the goat such a smashing blow between the
horns that he flew to the other side of the wall.
"At what time does the princess ride to her dearest to-night?" said he.
"At one o'clock sharp," bleated the goat.
When the time came, the comrade was standing in the stable, wearing his
Three-Sisters Hat, and after the princess had anointed the goat and
spoken her formula, off they went through the air as before, with the
comrade sitting in back. But this time he was anything but gentle, and
kept giving the princess a cuff here, and a cuff there, until she had
received a terrible drubbing. When she reached the wall of rock, she
knocked three times, the hill opened, and they flew through it to her
dearest.
She complained bitterly to him, and said she would never have thought it
possible that the weather could affect one so; it had seemed to her as
though some one were flying along with them, beating her and the goat,
and her whole body must be covered with black and blue spots, so badly
had she been thrashed. And then she told how the suitor had again had
the ball of twine. How he had managed to get it, neither she nor the
troll could guess.
"But do you know the thought that came to me?" said she. Of course the
troll did not.
"Well," said she, "I have told him he is to bring me the thing I am
thinking of by to-morrow noon, and that thing is your head. Do you
think, dear friend, that he will be able to bring it to me?" and she
made a great time over the troll.
"I do not think he can," said the troll, who felt quite sure of himself,
and laughed and chortled with pleasure in the most malicious way. For he
and the princess were firmly convinced that the youth would be more apt
to lose his own head, and be left to the ravens, than that he would be
able to bring the princess the head of the troll.
Toward morning the princess wanted to fly home again, but she did not
venture to ride alone; the troll must accompany her. He was quite ready
to do so, took his goat from the stable--he had one just like that of
the princess--and anointed him between the horns. When the troll had
mounted, the comrade swung up in back of him, and off they were through
the air in the direction of the king's castle. But on the way the
comrade beat away lustily at the troll and his goat, and gave him thump
after thump, and blow after blow with his sword, until they were flying
lower and lower, and at last nearly fell into the sea across which their
journey led them. When the troll noticed how stormy the weather was, he
accompanied the princess to the castle, and waited outside to make sure
that she really came home safely. But the moment when the door closed on
the princess, the comrade hewed off his head, and went up with it to
the youth's room.
"Here is the thing of which the princess was thinking," said he. Then
everything was in apple-pie order, and when the youth was invited to the
king's table and they had eaten, the princess grew as merry as a lark.
"Have you, perhaps, the thing of which I was thinking?" "To be sure,"
said the youth, and he drew forth the head from beneath his coat, and
flung it on the table so that the table and all that was on it fell
over. The princess looked as though she had come from the grave; yet she
could not deny that this was the thing of which she had thought, and
now she had to take the youth, as she had promised. So the wedding was
celebrated, and there was great joy throughout the kingdom.
But the comrade took the youth aside, and said that on their
wedding-night he might close his eyes and pretend to sleep, but that,
if he loved his life, and followed his advice, he would not sleep a
wink until the princess was freed from her troll-skin. He must whip it
off with nine new switches of birch-wood, and strip it off with three
milk-baths beside; first he must scrub it off in a tub of year-old whey,
then he must rub it off in a tub of sour milk, and finally, he must
sponge it off in a tub of sweet milk. He had laid the birch switches
beneath the bed, and had stood the tubs of milk in the corner; all was
prepared. The youth promised to follow his advice, and do as he had
told him. When night came, and he lay in his bed, the princess raised
herself on her elbows, to see if he were really asleep, and she tickled
him under the nose; but he was sleeping quite soundly. Then she pulled
his hair and his beard. But it seemed to her that he slept like a log.
Then she drew a great butcher's knife out from beneath her pillow, and
wanted to cut off his head. But the youth leaped up, struck the knife
from her hand, seized her by the hair, whipped her with the switches,
and did not stop until not one was left. Thereupon he threw her into the
tub of whey, and then he saw what sort of creature she really was, for
her whole body was coal-black. But when he had scrubbed her in the whey,
and rubbed her in the sour milk, and sponged her in the sweet milk, the
troll-skin had altogether disappeared, and she was lovelier than she had
ever been before.
On the following day the comrade said that now they must get on their
way. The youth was ready to set forth, and the princess, too, for her
dower had long since been made ready. During the night the comrade had
brought all the gold and silver, and all the valuables which the troll
had left in the hill to the castle, and when they wanted to start in
the morning, the castle court-yard was so full they could scarcely get
through. The dower supplied by the troll was worth more than the king's
whole country, and they did not know how they were to take it home. But
the comrade found a way out of the difficulty. The troll had also left
six goats who could fly through the air. These he loaded so heavily
with gold and silver that they had to walk on the ground, and were not
strong enough to rise into the air; and what the goats could not carry,
had to be left at the castle. Thus they traveled for a long time, but at
last the goats grew so weary and wretched that they could go no further.
The youth and the princess did not know what to do; but when the comrade
saw that they could not move from the spot, he took the whole treasure
on his back, topped it with the goats, and carried it all until they
were no more than half a mile from the youth's home. Then the comrade
said: "Now I must part from you, for I can stay with you no longer." But
the youth would not hear of parting, and would not let him go at any
price.
So he went along another half mile, but further than that he could not
go, and when the youth pressed him, and insisted that he come home with
him, and stay there; or that he at least celebrate their home-coming,
he merely said no, he could not do so. Then the youth asked him what he
wished in the way of payment for his company and aid. "If I am to wish
for something, then I would like to have half of all that you may gain
in the course of the next five years," said his comrade. And this was
promised him.
Now when the comrade had gone, the youth hid all his treasure, and went
straight home. And there they celebrated a home-coming feast that was
talked about in seven kingdoms; and when that was over they spent the
whole winter going back and forth with the goats, and his father's
twelve horses, bringing all the gold and silver home.
After five years the comrade came again and asked for his share. Then
the man divided all his possessions into two equal parts.
"Yet there is one thing you have not divided," said the comrade.
"What could that be?" asked the man. "I thought I had divided
everything."
"You have been blessed with a child," said the comrade, "and that you
must also divide into two equal parts."
Yes, such was really the case. Then he took up his sword, but when he
raised it and was about to divide the child, his comrade seized the
point of the sword so that he could not strike.
"Are you not happy, since you need not strike?" said he.
"Yes, indeed, I never was happier," said the man.
"That is how happy I was when you delivered me out of the block of
ice," said the comrade. "Keep all you have: I need nothing, for I am a
disembodied spirit." And he told him he was the wine-dealer who had lain
in the block of ice before the church door, spat upon by all; and that
he had become his comrade, and had aided him, because the youth had
sacrificed all he had in order that he might have peace, and a burial in
consecrated ground. He had been permitted to accompany him for the space
of a year, and the time had run out when he had first parted with him.
Now he had once more been allowed to visit him; yet on this occasion he
would have to part for all time, for the bells of heaven were calling
him.
NOTE
In no event originally Norse, but thousands of years old, current
in many lands, and even recounted in the book of Tobias--though in
other words--is the story of the grateful dead man, "The Comrade."
(Asbjoernsen, N.F.E., No. 100, p. 201. From Aadal, together with
variants from Valders and Aamot.)
VII
ASPENCLOG
Aspenclog's mother was an aspen-tree. He slew the man who had chopped
her down. Then he went to the king and asked whether he could give him
work. He wanted no other pay than the right to give the king three good
thumps on the back when there was no more work for him to do. The king
agreed to this condition, for he thought he would always have enough
work for him to do. Then he sent him to the forest to gather wood. But
Aspenclog piled up such a tremendous load that two horses could not pull
the wagon. So he took two polar bears, harnessed them to the wagon,
drove it home, and left the bears in the stable, where they ate up all
the king's cattle.
Then he was told to keep a mill grinding which the evil one often
brought to a stop. No sooner had Aspenclog commenced to grind than, sure
enough, the mill stopped. Aspenclog took a candle and made a search. No
doubt of it, the evil one had wedged his leg between the mill-stones. No
sooner had Aspenclog seen the leg, than he chopped it off with his club.
Then the evil one came hobbling up on one leg, and begged fearfully and
tearfully for the leg he had lost. No, he could not have it, said the
youth, unless he gave him a bushel of money for it. But when the evil
one had to pay Aspenclog the money, he thought to cheat him, and said
that they would wager bushel against bushel, as to which of them could
throw the highest. They argued a while about which was to throw first.
At last Aspenclog had to begin. Now the evil one had a ball with which
they were to throw. Aspenclog stood a long time looking at the moon.
"Why do you do that?" asked the evil one. "Well, I would like to see
whether I cannot throw the ball into the moon," said Aspenclog. "Do you
see those black spots? Those are the balls I have already thrown up into
the moon." Then the evil one was afraid of losing his ball, and he did
not dare to let Aspenclog throw.
So they wagered bushel against bushel as to which one of them could
blow the highest note. "You may blow first," said Aspenclog. "No, you!"
Finally it was decided that Aspenclog should blow first. Then he went to
a hill, took an enormous fir-tree and wound it around his horn like a
reed. "Why do you do that?" asked the evil one. "Well, if I don't, the
horn will burst when I blow it," was Aspenclog's answer. Now the evil
one began to get frightened, and Aspenclog came home with half a ton of
money.
But soon the king had no corn left to grind. And war broke out in the
land. "Now he will have work enough to last him a lifetime," thought the
king. And he told Aspenclog to go out against the enemy. Aspenclog was
quite ready to do so; but wanted to have plenty of provisions to take
with him. Then he set forth, and when he saw the enemy he sat down to
eat. The enemy shot at him as hard as they could, but their bullets did
not touch him. When Aspenclog had satisfied his hunger, he stood up,
tore out an enormous oak by the roots, and lay about him with it. Before
very long he had hewn down all of the enemy. Then he went back home to
the king.
"Have you any more work for me?" he asked. "No, now I have no work
left," said the king. "Then I will give you three good thumps on the
back," said Aspenclog. The king begged permission to bolster himself up
with pillows. "Yes, take as many as you want," said Aspenclog. Then he
thumped, and at his first thump the king burst into pieces.
NOTE
"Aspenclog" (Kristoffer Janson, _Folkeeventyr, uppskrivene i
Sandeherad_, Christiania, 1878, No. 8, p. 29) is a giant related
to Murmur Goose-Egg, of whom we have still to hear. The laconic
account of his origin is one of the beliefs of primitive peoples:
that the first human beings were descended from trees, and the
_Voluspa_ even calls the first two human beings Aspen and Elm (Ask
and Embla). Aspenclog is one of these mysterious tree-people.
VIII
THE TROLL WEDDING
One summer, a long, long time ago, the folk of Melbustad went up to the
hill pastures with their herd. But they had been there only a short time
when the cattle began to grow so restless that it was impossible to keep
them in order. A number of different maidens tried to manage them, but
without avail; until one came who was betrothed, and whose betrothal had
but recently been celebrated. Then the cattle suddenly quieted down, and
were easy to handle. So the maiden remained alone in the hills with no
other company than a dog. And one afternoon as she sat in the hut, it
seemed to her that her sweetheart came, sat down beside her, and began
to talk about their getting married at once. But she sat still and made
no reply, for she noticed a strangeness about him. By and by, more and
more people came in, and they began to cover the table with silverware,
and bring on dishes, and the bridesmaids brought the bridal crown, and
the ornaments, and a handsome bridal gown, and they dressed her, and put
the crown on her head, as was the custom in those days, and they put
rings on her hands.