and no sooner had he gone than the prince and the king's daughter set
about looking for the heart under the threshold of the door. Yet no
matter how much they dug and searched--they found nothing. "This time he
has fooled us," said the princess. "We'll have to try again." And she
picked the loveliest flowers she could find and strewed them over the
threshold--which they had put to rights again--and when the time drew
near for the giant's return, the king's son crept under the bed once
more. When he was beneath it, the giant came. "Hu hu, I smell human
flesh!" he cried. "Yes," said the princess. "A jackdaw flew by with a
human bone in her beak, and she let it fall down the chimney. I threw it
out at once, but I suppose one can still smell it." Then the giant held
his tongue, and said no more about it. After a time he asked who had
strewn the flowers over the threshold. "O, I did that," said the
princess. "What does it mean?" the giant then asked. "O, I am so fond of
you that I had to do it, because I know that is where your heart lies."
"Yes, of course," said the giant, "but it does not happen to lie there
at all."
When he had gone to bed, the princess sat looking out of the window, and
again asked the giant where he kept his heart, for she was so fond of
him, said she, that she wanted to know above all things. "O, it is in
the wardrobe there by the wall," said the giant. "Aha," thought the
king's son under the bed, "that is where we will find it!"
The next morning the giant got up early, and went into the forest, and
no sooner had he gone than the prince and the king's daughter set about
looking for his heart in the wardrobe. Yet no matter how much they
looked, they did not find it. "Well, well," said the princess, "we will
have to try once more." Then she adorned the wardrobe with flowers and
wreaths, and toward evening the king's youngest son again crawled under
the bed. Then the giant came: "Hu hu, it smells of human flesh here!" he
cried. "Yes," said the princess. "A jackdaw just this moment flew by
with a human bone in her beak, and she let it fall down the chimney. I
threw it out again at once, but it may be that you can still smell it."
When the giant heard this, he had nothing further to say about it. But
not long afterward he noticed that the wardrobe was adorned with flowers
and wreaths, and asked who had done it. "I," said the princess. "What do
you mean by such tomfoolery?" asked the giant. "O, I am so fond of you
that I had to do it, since I know that is where your heart lies," was
the reply of the princess. "Are you really so stupid as to believe
that?" cried the giant. "Yes, surely, I must believe it," said the
princess, "when you tell me so." "How silly you are," said the giant,
"you could never reach the place where I keep my heart." "But still I
would like to know where it is," answered the princess. Then the giant
could no longer resist, and at last had to tell her the truth. "Far,
far away, in a lake there lies an island," said he, "and on the island
stands a church, and in the church there is a well, and in the well
floats a duck, and in the duck there is an egg, and in the egg--is my
heart!"
The next morning, before dawn, the giant went to the forest again.
"Well, now I must get under way," said the prince, "and it is a way I
wish I could find." So he said farewell to the princess for the time
being, and when he stepped out of the door, the wolf was standing there
waiting for him. He told him what had happened at the giant's, and said
that now he would go to the well in the church, if only he knew the way.
The wolf told him to climb on his back. He would manage to find the
way, said he. And then they were off as though they had wings, over rock
and wood, over hill and dale. After they had been underway for many,
many days, they at last reached the lake. Then the king's son did not
know how they were to get across. But the wolf told him not to worry,
and swam across with the prince to the island. Then they came to the
church. But the church-key hung high up in the tower, and at first the
king's son did not at all know how they were to get it down. "You must
call the raven," said the wolf, and that is what the king's son did. And
the raven came at once, and flew right down with the key, and now the
prince could enter the church. Then, when he came to the well, there was
the duck, sure enough, swimming about as the giant had said. He stood by
the well and called the duck, and at last he lured her near him, and
seized her. But at the moment he grasped her and lifted her out of the
water, she let the egg fall into the well, and now the prince again did
not know how he was to get hold of it. "Well, you must call the salmon,"
said the wolf. That is what the king's son did, and the salmon came at
once, and brought up the egg from the bottom of the well. Then the wolf
told him to squeeze the egg a little. And when the prince squeezed, the
giant cried out. "Squeeze it again!" said the wolf, and when the prince
did so, the giant cried out far more dolefully, and fearfully and
tearfully begged for his life. He would do all the king's son asked him
to, said he, if only he would not squeeze his heart in two. "Tell him
to give back their original form to your six brothers, whom he turned to
stone, and to their brides, as well; and that then you will spare his
life," said the wolf, and the prince did so. The troll at once agreed,
and changed the six brothers into princes, and their brides into kings'
daughters. "Now squash the egg!" cried the wolf. Then the prince
squeezed the egg in two, and the giant burst into pieces.
[Illustration: "THEY AT LAST REACHED THE LAKE."
--_Page 108_]
When the king's youngest son had put an end to the giant in this way, he
rode back on his wolf to the giant's home; and there stood his six
brothers as much alive as ever they had been, together with, their
brides. Then the prince went into the hill to get his own bride, and
they all rode home together. And great was the joy of the old king when
his seven sons all returned, each with his bride. "But the bride of my
youngest is the most beautiful, after all, and he shall sit with her at
the head of the table!" said the king. And then they had a feast that
lasted for weeks, and if they have not stopped, they are feasting to
this very day.
NOTE
The fairy-tale, "The Giant Who Did Not Have His Heart About Him"
(Asbjoernsen and Moe, N.F.E., p. 171, No. 36), is founded on the
very ancient belief of the corporealization of the soul, and its
existence without the body. It is a belief widely current among
primitive peoples, and Koschei the Deathless of Russian fairy-tale
resembles our giant, though in his case the egg which holds his
soul is shattered on the ground, whereupon he dies at once.
XVII
THE THREE PRINCESSES IN WHITELAND
Once upon a time there was a fisherman, who lived near the king's
castle, and caught fish for the king's table. One day when he had gone
fishing, he could not catch a thing. Try as he might, no matter how he
baited or flung, not the tiniest fish would bite; but when this had gone
on for a while, a head rose from the water and said: "If you will give
me the first new thing that has come into your house, you shall catch
fish a-plenty!" Then the man agreed quickly, for he could think of no
new thing that might have come into the house. So he caught fish all day
long, and as many as he could wish for, as may well be imagined. But
when he got home, he found that heaven had sent him a little son, the
first new thing to come into the house since he had made his promise.
And when he told his wife about it, she began to weep and wail, and pray
to God because of the vow her husband had made. And the woman's grief
was reported at the castle, and when it came to the king's ears, and he
learned the reason, he promised to take the boy and see if he could not
save him. And so the king took him and brought him up as though he were
his own son, until he was grown. Then one day the boy asked whether he
might not go out fishing with his father, he wanted to so very much,
said he. The king would not hear of it; but at last he was given
permission, so he went to his father, and everything went well all day
long, until they came home in the evening. Then the son found he had
forgotten his handkerchief, and went down to the boat to get it. But no
sooner was he in the boat than it moved off with a rush, and no matter
how hard the youth worked against it with the oars, it was all in vain.
The boat drove on and on, all night long, and at last he came to a white
strand, far, far away. He stepped ashore, and after he had gone a while
he met an old man with a great, white beard. "What is this country
called?" asked the youth. "Whiteland," was the man's answer, and he
asked the youth where he came from, and what he wanted, and the latter
told him. "If you keep right on along the shore," said the man, "you
will come to three princesses, buried in the earth so that only their
heads show. Then the first will call you--and she is the oldest--and beg
you very hard to come to her and help her; and the next will do the
same; but you must go to neither of them; walk quickly past them, and
act as though you neither saw nor heard them. But go up to the third,
and do what she asks of you, for then you will make your fortune."
When the youth came to the first princess, she called out to him, and
begged him most earnestly to come to her; but he went on as though he
had not seen her. And he passed the next one in the same manner; but
went over to the third. "If you will do what I tell you to, you shall
have whichever one of us you want," said she. Yes, he would do what she
wanted. So she told him that three trolls had wished them into the earth
where they were; but that formerly they had dwelt in the castle he saw
on the edge of the forest.
"Now you must go to the castle, and let the trolls whip you one night
through for each one of us," said she, "and if you can hold out, you
will have delivered us." "Yes," said the youth, he could manage that.
"When you go in," added the princess, "you will find two lions standing
by the door; but if you pass directly between them, they will do you no
harm. Go on into a dark little room and lie down, and then the troll
will come and beat you; but after that you must take the bottle that
hangs on the wall, and anoint yourself where he has beaten you, and you
will be whole again. And take the sword that hangs beside the bottle,
and kill the troll with it." He did as the princess had told him, passed
between the lions as though he did not see them, and right into the
little room, where he lay down. The first night a troll with three heads
and three whips came, and beat the youth badly; but he held out, and
when the troll had finished, he took the bottle and anointed himself,
grasped the sword and killed the troll. When he came out in the morning
the princesses were out of the ground up to their waists. The next night
it was the same; but the troll who came this time had six heads and six
whips, and beat him worse than the first one. But when he came out in
the morning, the princesses were out of the ground up to their ankles.
The third night came a troll who had nine heads and nine whips, and he
beat and whipped the youth so severely that at last he fainted. Then the
troll took him and flung him against the wall, and as he did so the
bottle fell down, and its whole contents poured over the youth, and he
was at once sound and whole again. Then he did not delay, but grasped
the sword, killed the troll, and when he came out in the morning, the
princesses were entirely out of the ground. So he chose the youngest of
them to be his queen, and lived long with her in peace and happiness.
But at last he was minded to travel home, and see how his parents fared.
This did not suit his queen; but since he wanted to go so badly, and
finally was on the point of departure, she said to him: "One thing you
must promise me, that you will only do what your father tells you to do,
but not what your mother tells you to do." And this he promised. Then
she gave him a ring which had the power of granting two wishes to the
one who wore it. So he wished himself home, and his parents could not
get over their surprise at seeing how fine and handsome he had become.
When he had been home a few days, his mother wanted him to go up to the
castle and show the king what a man he had grown to be. His father said:
"No, he had better not do that, for we will have to do without him in
the meantime." But there was no help for it, the mother begged and
pleaded until he went. When he got there he was more splendidly dressed
and fitted out than the other king. This did not suit the latter, and he
said: "You can see what my queen looks like, but I cannot see yours; and
I do not believe yours is as beautiful as mine." "God grant she were
standing here, then you would see soon enough!" said the young king, and
there she stood that very minute. But she was very sad, and said to him:
"Why did you not follow my advice and listen to your father? Now I must
go straight home, and you have used up both of your wishes." With that
she bound a ring with her name on it in his hair, and wished herself
home.
Then the young king grew very sad, and went about day in, day out, with
no other thought than getting back to his queen. "I must try and see
whether I cannot find out where Whiteland is," thought he, and wandered
forth into the wide world. After he had gone a while he came to a
hill; and there he met one who was the lord of all the beasts of the
forest--for they came when he blew his horn--and him the king asked
where Whiteland was. "That I do not know," said he, "but I will ask my
beasts." Then he called them up with his horn, and asked whether any of
them knew where Whiteland might be; but none of them knew anything about
it.
Then the man gave him a pair of snowshoes. "If you stand in them," said
he, "you will come to my brother, who lives a hundred miles further on.
He is the lord of the birds of the air. Ask him. When you have found
him, turn the snowshoes around so that they point this way, and they
will come back home of their own accord." When the king got there, he
turned the snowshoes around, as the lord of the beasts had told him, and
they ran home again. He asked about Whiteland, and the man called up
all the birds with his horn, and asked whether any of them knew where
Whiteland might be. But none of them knew. Long after the rest an old
eagle came along; and he had been out for some ten years, but did not
know either.
"Well," said the man, "I will lend you a pair of snowshoes. When you
stand in them you will come to my brother, who lives a hundred miles
further on. He is the lord of all the fishes in the sea. Ask him. But do
not forget to turn the snowshoes around again." The king thanked him,
stepped into the snowshoes, and when he came to the one who was lord of
all the fishes in the sea, he turned them around, and they ran back like
the others. There he once more asked about Whiteland.
The man called up his fishes with his horn, but none of them knew
anything about it. At last there came an old, old carp, whom he had
called with his horn only at the cost of much trouble. When he asked
him, he said: "Yes, I know it well, for I was cook there for fully ten
years. To-morrow I have to go back again, because our queen, whose king
has not come home again, is going to marry some one else." "If such be
the case," said the man, "I'll give you a bit of advice. Out there by
the wall three brothers have been standing for the last hundred years,
fighting with each other about a hat, a cloak and a pair of boots. Any
one who has these three things can make himself invisible, and wish
himself away as far as ever he will. You might say that you would test
their possessions, and then decide their quarrel for them." Then the
king thanked him, and did as he said. "Why do you stand there fighting
till the end of time?" said he to the brothers. "Let me test your
possessions if I am to decide your quarrel." That suited them; but when
he had hat, cloak and boots, he told them: "I will give you my decision
the next time we meet!" and with that he wished himself far away. While
he was flying through the air he happened to meet the North Wind. "And
where are you going?" asked the North Wind. "To Whiteland," said the
king, and then he told him what had happened to him. "Well," said the
North Wind, "you are traveling a little quicker than I am; for I must
sweep and blow out every corner. But when you come to your journey's
end, stand on the steps beside the door, and then I'll come roaring up
as though I were going to tear down the whole castle. And when the
prince who is to have the queen comes and looks out to see what it all
means, I'll just take him along with me."
The king did as the North Wind told him. He stationed himself on the
steps; and when the North Wind came roaring and rushing up, and laid
hold of the castle walls till they fairly shook, the prince came out to
see what it was all about. But that very moment the king seized him by
the collar, and threw him out, and the North Wind took him and carried
him off. When he had borne him away, the king went into the castle. At
first the queen did not recognize him, for he had grown thin and pale
because he had wandered so long in his great distress; but when he
showed her the ring, she grew glad at heart, and then they had a wedding
which was such a wedding that the news of it spread far and wide.
NOTE
"The Three Princesses in Whiteland" (Asbjoernsen and Moe, N.F.E.,
p. 38, No. 9), tells a story rich in incident, of the youth who
could not hold his tongue.
XVIII
TROUBLE AND CARE
Far, far from here there once lived a king, who had three beautiful
daughters. But he had no sons, and therefore he grew so fond of the
three princesses that he granted their every wish. But in time the enemy
invaded the country, and the king had to go to war. When he set out,
the oldest princess begged him to buy her a ring that would prevent her
dying as long as she wore it. The second princess asked him for a wreath
that would make her happy whenever she looked at it, no matter how sad
and troubled her heart might be. "Buy me trouble and care!" said the
youngest. And the king promised everything.
When he had driven the enemy out of his own land, and out of the
neighboring land as well, and was about to set out for home, he
remembered what he had promised the three princesses. The ring and the
wreath were easy enough to obtain; but trouble and care were to be had
neither in one place nor in another, for all the people were so happy
that the enemy had been driven out, that there was no sorrow nor care
to be found in the entire kingdom. And since he could not buy it, it
was not to be had at all, and he had to travel home without it, loathe
as he was to do so.
When he was not far from the castle, his way took him through a thick
forest. And there sat a squirrel in a tree by the road. "Buy me! buy me!
My name is trouble and care!" it said. Thought the king to himself, It
is better to have a squirrel than two empty hands, so he brought it
along for his youngest daughter. And she was quite as well pleased with
her present as her two sisters were with the ring and the wreath. The
squirrel played about in her room, sometimes it balanced itself on the
bed-posts, at others it would sit on the top of the wardrobe, and it
always had a great deal to chatter about.
But as soon as it grew dark, it turned into a man. And he told her how
an evil and malicious giantess dwelt in the golden forest, who had
turned him into a squirrel because he would not marry her. During the
night she had no power over him; but every morning at daybreak he had
to slip back into his squirrel form.
And in the course of time the princess actually wanted to marry Trouble
and Care; but when they were betrothed, he begged her earnestly, and as
best he knew how, never to light a light at night, and try to look at
him, "for then both of us would be unhappy," said he. No, said she, she
would be quite sure not to do so.
And every evening, when the princess had lain down and blown out the
light, she would hear a man go into Trouble and Care's room; but when
morning dawned, the squirrel sat on her bed-post and greeted her, and
chattered and babbled about all sorts of things.
Once, when she thought Trouble and Care had gone to sleep, she could not
help herself; but stood up quietly, lit a light and crept softly into
his room and to his bed, and when the ray of light fell on him, she saw
that he was far, far handsomer than the most handsome prince. He was
so surpassingly handsome that she bent over him in order to see more
clearly, and finally she could not help herself, but had to kiss him.
And then, three drops of wax from the candle fell on his chest, and he
awoke.
"But how could you have done this!" he cried, and was quite unhappy.
"Had you only waited three days longer, I should have been free!" said
he. "But now I must return to the evil giantess and marry her, and all
is over between us." "Can I not follow you there?" asked the princess.
"No, that is something you could not do in all your days, for if you
rest or even so much as bend your knees to sit down, you will go back
during the night as far as you came forward during the day," said he;
leaped to the door, and disappeared.
Then the princess wept and wailed, and waited for him to return; but she
heard and saw nothing more of him. After a few days she grew so restless
and wretched that she could no longer remain at home, and implored her
maid to go along with her to search for the golden forest. The girl
finally allowed herself to be moved; but she would not agree to set out
until she had gotten together a yard of drilling, a yard of ticking,
and a yard of fine linen; and she got them at once, as you may imagine,
for there was no shortage of such things in the castle.
So they set out and wandered far, and ever farther, until their feet
ached, and their spirits fell. Toward evening they came into the middle
of a thick, dark forest; and climbed up into a high tree. The princess
was so tired that the maid had to hold her in her arms while she slept a
little. But during the night the ground about the tree grew alive with
wolves, in the most sinister fashion, and they howled and cried, so that
the princess did not venture to close her eyes another moment. But when
daylight appeared in the skies, it seemed as though the wolves had
suddenly all been blown away.
The following day they wandered far and ever farther, until their feet
ached more, and their spirits sank lower. Toward evening they again came
to the middle of a thick, dark forest. And they once more climbed into a
high, high tree; but the princess was so tired that the maid had to hold
her in her arms while she slept a little. When it grew darker, a most
alarming number of bears flocked together under the tree, and began to
dance and turn in a circle, with alarming speed, and all at once they
tried to climb the tree. So the princess and her maid had to stand up in
the tree-top the whole night through, and could not close an eye; but
when day came, it seemed as though the bears sank into the earth in a
single moment.
The third day they wandered far and ever farther, and then a bit more.
Toward evening they again came to a thick, dark forest. There they again
climbed into a high, high tree; but no sooner were they up in the tree
than the ground beneath the tree and the whole forest were alive with
lions, and they all roared and howled together in such a gruesome way
that the echoes came back from rock and woodland. Suddenly they began
to dance and whirl around in such a terrible fashion that the earth
trembled, and in between they would clutch the tree again, and try to
shake and loosen it, as though they would pull it out root and branch.
The princess and her maid had to stand up in the very tree-top, and
though they were so tired they could have fallen down from time to time,
neither of them dared think of sleeping. But the moment day dawned, the
lions all suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth, where they
were, walking and standing.
Then they stumbled along, this way and that, the whole day long, until
their feet ached harder than hard, and their spirits sank lower than
low. They lost path and direction, and though they hunted north and
south and east and west, they could not find the way out of the great,
dark forest.
At last the princess grew tired and sad beyond all measure, and wanted
to sit down every moment, in order to rest a little; but the maid held
her and dragged her forward, and never let her bend her knees for a
moment to sit down, because then they would have gone back just as far
as they had come that day; for you must know that the giantess in the
golden forest had so arranged matters.
In the evening they came to an enormous, horrible rock. "I will knock
here," said the maid, and tapped and knocked. "O no," said the princess,
"please don't knock here, you can see how ugly everything is here!"
"Who is knocking there at my door?" cried the giantess in the rock, in
a loud, harsh manner, opened the door, and stuck her nose--it was all of
a yard long--out through the crack.
"The youngest princess and her maid, they want to get to a prince in the
golden forest, whose name is Trouble and Care," was the maid's reply.