whole cart-load of handsome presents. But Ebe looked past them and paid
no attention to them.
"Brother Peter can scrape out his cook-pot when he has loaned it out,
and Brother Paul gets a crust of bread when he lends out his frying-pan;
but what am I to do with this wretched cat!" said he, and felt angry
and envious; but still he scratched the cat, and stroked her, and this
pleased her so much that she began to purr, and raised her tail in the
air.
"Wait, wait, I will help you yet," said the cat, "wait, wait, I will
help you yet!"
The next day they both set out again, the cat in the lead, and Ebe
following. After a while he turned back to see whether the folding-table
at home had been scoured. And the cat tripped on alone. After she had
gone her way, tipp, tapp, tipp, tapp, for a while, she came to a dense
forest slope. There she found an enormous herd of elk. The cat crept
softly up, and suddenly there she sat between the horns of one of the
stateliest of the bull elks.
"If you do not go where I want you to, I will scratch out your eyes,
and drive you over rock and precipice!" said the cat. The elk did not
dare do anything save what the cat wished, and so off they went, like
lightning, over stick and stone, from cliff to cliff, right past Ebe,
who stood before the house scouring the shutters, and with one bound
into the king's castle.
"I am to deliver a kind greeting from Ebe, and ask whether my lord king
might not care to have this bull elk for courier service." It was quite
clear that should the king want a swift messenger, some time, he could
not find a swifter in all his kingdom.
"This Ebe must be a most distinguished lord, since he finds such
presents for me," said the king.
"Yes, indeed, one might call him a distinguished lord," said the cat,
"his wealth is without end or limit." But no matter how many other
questions the king asked, he received no more explicit information.
"Tell him that I am much obliged, and to do me the honor to call when
he is passing here some time," said the king, and sent him a robe as
handsome as the one he himself was wearing, and three cartloads of
handsome presents. But Ebe did not even want to put on the royal robe,
and hardly looked at the other presents.
"Brother Peter can scrape out his cook-pot when he has loaned it out,
Brother Paul gets a crust of bread when he lends out his frying-pan; but
of what use is this wretched cat to me!" he said, in spite of all. Yet
he stroked the cat, and pressed her to his cheek, and scratched her, and
this pleased the cat so very much that she purred more than on the other
occasions, and stuck her tail up into the air as straight as a rod.
"Wait, wait, I will help you yet," said the cat, "wait, wait, I will
help you yet!"
On the third day they set out again, the cat in the lead, and Ebe
following. After a time it occurred to him to go back and let the mice
out of the house, so that they would not be altogether starved in the
old hut; and the cat tripped on alone. After she had gone her way, tipp,
tapp, tipp, tapp, for a while, she came to a dense pine forest, and
there she met a father bear, a mother bear and a baby bear. The cat
crept softly up to them, and all at once she was hanging by her claws to
the father bear's head.
"If you do not go where I want you to, I will scratch out your eyes, and
drive you over rock and precipice!" said the cat, and spit and arched
her back. Then the father bear did not dare do anything save what the
cat wished, and now they dashed past Ebe, who had just carried all the
young mice over the threshold, like a storm, over stick and stone, from
cliff to cliff, so that the earth trembled and shook. The king was just
standing in the hallway, and was not a little surprised to see such
guests arriving.
"I am to deliver a kind greeting from Ebe, and ask whether my lord king
might not care to have this bear for a general or royal counselor," said
the cat. The king was more than pleased to secure such a creature for
his nearest adviser, who could doubt it.
"Tell him that I am much obliged, but that I do not at all know how to
show my appreciation," said the king.
"Well, he would like to marry your youngest daughter!" said the cat.
"Yes, but that is asking a good deal," said the king. "He really ought
to pay me a visit."
"Ebe does not enter such plain houses," said the cat.
"Has he a handsomer castle than this?" asked the king.
"Handsomer? Why, your castle seems like the shabbiest hut in comparison
with his!" was the cat's reply.
"You dare come into my presence, and tell me that there is some one
living in my kingdom who is more handsomely housed than I, the king!"
shouted the king, beside himself with rage. He came near wringing the
cat's neck.
"You might wait until you see it," said the cat. And the king said yes,
he would wait. "But if you have told me a falsehood, you shall die, and
though you had seven lives," said he.
In the morning the king and the whole court set out to travel to Ebe
Ashpeter's castle. The cat was in the little hut, and called for Ebe,
thinking it would be best if both of them got underway an hour earlier.
After they had gone a while, they met some folk who were herding sheep;
and the sheep were bleating and grazing over the whole plain. They
were as large as full-grown calves, and their wool was so long that it
dragged along the ground after them. "To whom do the sheep belong?"
asked the cat. "To Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill," said the shepherds.
"The court is coming past in a moment," said the cat, "and if then you
do not at once say that they belong to Ebe, I will scratch out your
eyes, and drive you over rock and precipice!" said the cat, and spat
and arched her back, and showed her teeth. Then the shepherds were so
frightened that they at once promised to do as the cat had ordered.
"But to whom do all these sheep belong?" asked the king, when he came by
with the court somewhat later. "They are every bit as handsome as my
own!"
"They belong to Ebe," said the shepherds.
Then the cat and Ebe wandered on for a while, and came to a dense forest
slope. There they met folk who were tending goats. The goats skipped and
leaped about everywhere, and gave such fine milk that better could no
where be found.
"To whom do the goats belong?" asked the cat.
"To Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill," said the herdsmen. Then the cat again
went through her ferocious preparations, and the herdsmen were so
frightened that they did not dare oppose her wishes.
"Now who in the world can be the owner of so many goats?" asked the
king. "I myself have none finer!"
"They belong to Ebe," said the herdsmen.
Then they wandered on for a while, and met folk who were tending cows:
wherever one looked the cows lowed and glistened, and each yielded milk
enough for three. When the cat heard that these herdsmen were also in
the service of Helge-Hal of the Blue Hill, she spat once more, and
arched her back, and then all the herdsmen were ready that moment to
say what she wished.
"But in heaven's name, to whom do all these beautiful cattle belong?"
asked the king. "There are no such cattle in my whole kingdom!"
"They belong to Lord Ebe," said the herdsmen.
Then they wandered on for a long, long time. At last they came to a
great plain, and there they met horse-herders; and horses whinnied and
disported themselves over the whole plain, and their coats were so fine
that they glistened as though gilded, and each horse was worth a whole
castle.
"For whom do you herd these horses?" asked the cat.
"For Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill," the herders replied.
"Well, the court will come by here in a little while," said the cat,
"and if you do not say you are herding them for Ebe, I will scratch out
your eyes, and drive you over rock and precipice!" said the cat, and she
spat, and showed her teeth and claws, and grew so angry her hair stood
up all along her back. Then the herders were terribly frightened, and
did not dare do anything but what the cat wished.
"But in the name of heaven, to whom do all these horses belong?" asked
the king, when he came by with his court.
"They belong to Ebe," said the herders.
"I never have seen or heard anything like it in all my life!" cried the
king. "This Ebe is such a distinguished lord that it is past my
understanding!"
The cat and Ebe had long since gone on their way, and had wandered far
and ever farther over hill and rock. In the evening, at dusk, they came
to a royal castle that glittered and shimmered as though it were of the
purest silver and gold--which it was. Yet it was gloomy and depressing,
and lonely and barren there, and nowhere was there a sign of life.
Here they went in, and the cat stood with a cake of rye meal just below
the door. Suddenly there came a thundering and a thumping so that the
earth trembled, and the whole castle shook, and that was the troll who
was coming home. And suddenly all was quiet again, and before they knew
it, Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill had thrust his three great horrible heads
in at the door.
"Let me in! Let me in!" he cried, so that every one shivered. "Wait,
wait a bit while I tell you what the rye had to go through before he was
made into this cake," said the cat, and spoke to him in the sweetest
way. "First he was threshed, and then he was beaten, and then he was
pounded, and then he was thumped, and then he was thrown from one wall
to another, and then he was sifted through a sieve...."
"Let me in! Let me in, you chatterbox!" cried the troll, and he was so
furious that the sparks flew from him.
"Wait a bit, wait a bit. I will tell you what the rye had to go through
before he was made into this cake!" said the cat, and he spoke to him
still more sweetly.
"First he was threshed, and then he was beaten, and then he was pounded,
and then he was thumped, and then he was thrown from one wall to
another, and then he was sifted through a sieve, and shaken here and
there, and then he was put on the drying-board, and then in the stove,
until it grew so hot that he puffed up more and more, and wanted to get
out, but could not," said the cat, and took her time.
"Get out of the way and let me in!" cried the troll once more, and
nearly burst with rage; but the cat acted as though she did not hear
him, and talked down the blue from the sky, and went up and down the
while, and whenever the troll tried to come in, she met him beneath the
door with the cake.
"O, but do take a look at the shining maiden coming up there behind
the mountain!" said the cat, after she had talked at length about the
sufferings of the rye. And Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill turned his three
heads around in order to see the beautiful maiden, too. Then the sun
rose, and the troll stiffened into stone. Now Ebe obtained all the
riches that the troll had possessed, the sheep and goats, the cows and
all the spirited horses, and the handsome golden castle, and some big
bags of money besides.
"Here come the king and all his court," said the cat. "Just go out
before the door and receive them!" So Ebe got up and went to meet them.
"You are indeed a very distinguished lord!" said the king to him. "So
far as I am concerned you may have the youngest princess!"
Then they started brewing and baking on a large scale in the greatest
haste, and everything was made ready for the wedding. On the first day
of the feast the cat came and begged the bridegroom to cut off her
head. This he did not at all want to do; but the cat spat and showed her
teeth, and then Ebe did not dare disobey her. But when the head fell to
the ground, the cat turned into a most handsome prince. He married the
second princess, and as the wedding procession was on its way to church,
they met a third prince who was looking for a wife, and he took the
oldest princess. Then they all three celebrated their weddings so that
the story went the rounds in twelve kingdoms.
"Spin, span, spun,
Now our tale is done!"
NOTE
The tale of "Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill" (Bergh, No. 2, p. 19) is
delightfully told. There is the timid, abidingly helpless nit-wit,
and the wise and energetic cat, who is quite at home in the
ancient wisdom that enables her to render trolls harmless. Their
attention must be held through the night by means of some pretext,
a meaningless tale, for instance, until the first ray of the
rising sun falls on them, when they turn to stone, or have to
burst. In the Edda this is what happens to the dwarf Alvis, so
full of sinister lore.
XXVII
THE LORD OF THE HILL AND JOHN BLESSOM
John Blessom once upon a time had gone down to Copenhagen to carry on a
suit at law, for in those days one could not get justice in the land of
Norroway; and if a man wanted his rights, there was nothing left for him
to do but to travel to Copenhagen. This is what Blessom had done, and
what his son did after him, for he, too, carried on a law-suit. Now it
chanced that on Christmas Eve John had had speech with the gentleman in
authority, and had attended to his business, and was going along the
street in a low-spirited manner, for he was homesick. And as he went
along, a man from Vaage, in a white blouse, with a knapsack, and buttons
as big as silver dollars, passed him. He was a large, heavily-built man.
It seemed to Blessom that he must know him; but he was walking very
fast.
"You are walking very fast," said John.
"Yes, but then I'm in a hurry," answered the man. "I have to get back to
Vaage this very evening."
"I only wish that I could get there!" sighed John.
"You can stand on the runner of my sledge," said the man, "for I have a
horse that covers a mile in twelve steps."
So they set out, and Blessom had all that he could do to hold fast to
the runner of the sledge; for they went through weather and wind, and he
could see neither heaven nor earth.
Once they stopped and rested. He could not tell exactly where it was,
but when they began to hurry on again, he thought that he spied a skull
on a pole. After they had gone on a while, John Blessom began to freeze.
"Alas, I forgot one of my gloves where we stopped, and now my hand is
freezing!" said he.
"Well, Blessom, you'll have to make the best of it," said the man. "We
are not far from Vaage now. When we stopped to rest we had covered half
the way."
When they crossed the Finnebridge, the man stopped and set John down.
"Now you are not far from home," said he, "but you must promise me that
you will not look around, when you hear a roaring and notice a flare of
light."
John promised, and thanked him for the quick journey. The man drove off
on his way, and John crossed the hill to his home. As he went he heard
a roaring in the Jutulsberg, and the path before him suddenly grew so
bright that one could have picked a needle from the ground. And he
forgot what he had promised, and turned his head to see what was
happening. There stood the giant gate of the Jutulsberg wide open, and
out of it streamed a light and radiance as of thousands of candles. In
the midst of it all stood the giant, and he was the man with whom he
had driven. But from that time forward John's head was twisted, and so
it remained as long as he lived.
NOTE
"The Lord of the Hill and John Blessom" (Asbjoernsen,
_Huldreeventyr_ I, p. 189. From Gudbrandsdal, told by an old
peasant of the valley) is a tale of one of those kindly beings
among the helpful underground folk, who nevertheless severely
punish any disobedience to their command.
XXVIII
THE YOUNG FELLOW AND THE DEVIL
Once upon a time there was a young fellow, who was going along cracking
nuts. He found a wormy one, and at the selfsame moment he met the devil.
"Is it true," said the young fellow, "that the devil can make himself
as small as he likes, and can slip through the eye of a needle, as the
people say?" "Yes," answered the devil. "Well, I should certainly like
to see you crawl into that nut!" said the young fellow. The devil did
so. But when he had crawled through the hole, the young fellow stopped
it up with a bit of wood. "Now I've got you!" said he, and put the nut
in his pocket. After he had gone a while, he came to a smithy, and went
in and asked the smith to break the nut for him. "Why, that is a mere
trifle!" said the smith, took his smallest hammer, laid the nut on
the anvil, and struck it; but the nut would not break. Then he took a
somewhat larger hammer; but that was not heavy enough either. Then
he took a still larger one, but could do nothing with it at all, and
thereupon he grew angry, and took his heaviest hammer. "I'll break
you yet!" said he, and struck it with all his might. And then the nut
cracked, so that half the smithy roof was carried away, and there was a
crash as though the whole hut were falling in. "I believe the devil was
in that nut!" said the smith. "And so he was!" answered the young
fellow.
NOTE
This getting the better of the devil, as in "The Young Fellow and
the Devil" (Asbjoernsen and Moe, N.F.E., p. 133, No. 30), already
occurs in the fairy-tale from the "Thousand and One Nights," where
a spirit slips, not into a nut, but into a bottle, in order to
show what he can do. Ibsen, too, allows Per Gynt to dwell on this
fairy-tale.
XXIX
FARTHER SOUTH THAN SOUTH, AND FARTHER NORTH THAN NORTH, AND IN THE GREAT
HILL OF GOLD
Once upon a time there was a peasant who had a wheat-field, which was
trampled down every Saturday night. Now the peasant had three sons, and
he told each one of them to spend a Saturday night in the field, and to
watch and see who trampled it down. The oldest was to make the first
trial. So he lay down by the upper ridge of the field, and after he had
lain there a while he fell asleep. The following morning the whole field
had been trampled down, and the young fellow was unable to tell how it
had happened.
Now the second son was to make the attempt; but he had the same
experience. After he had lain a while he fell asleep, and in the morning
he was unable to tell how the field had come to be trampled down.
Now it was the turn of John by the Ashes. He did not lie down by the
upper ridge of the field; but lower down, and stayed awake. After he had
lain there a while, three doves came flying along. They settled in the
field, and that very moment shook off all their feathers, and turned
into the most beautiful maidens one might wish to see. They danced with
each other over the whole field; and while they did so, the young fellow
gathered up all their feathers. Toward morning they wanted to put on
their feathers again, but could not find them anywhere. Then they were
frightened, and wept and searched and searched and wept. Finally, they
discovered the young fellow, and begged him to give them back their
feathers. "But why do you dance in our wheat-field?" said the young
fellow. "Alas, it is not our fault," said the maidens. "The troll who
has enchanted us sends us here every Saturday night to trample the
field. But now give us our feathers, for morning is near." And they
begged for them in the sweetest way. "I do not know about that," said
the young fellow, "you have trampled down the field so very badly;
perhaps--if I might choose and have one of you?" "That would please us,"
returned the maidens, "but it would not be possible; for three trolls
guard us, one with three, one with six and one with nine heads, and they
kill all who come to the mountain." But the young fellow said that one
of them pleased him so very much that he would make the attempt, in
spite of what they had told him. So he chose the middle one, for she
seemed the most beautiful to him, and she gave him a ring and put it on
his finger. And then the maidens at once put on their garments of dove
feathers, and flew back across forest and hill.
When the young fellow returned home, he told what he had seen. "And now
I must set out and try my luck," said he. "I do not know whether I will
return, but I must make the venture." "O John, John by the Ashes!" said
his brothers, and laughed at him. "Well, it makes no difference, even
though I am worthless," said John by the Ashes. "I must try my luck." So
the young fellow set out to wander to the place where the maidens lived.
They had told him it was farther south than south, and farther north
than north, in the great hill of gold. After he had gone a while, he met
two poor lads who were quarreling with each other about a pair of old
shoes and a bamboo cane, which their mother had left them. The young
fellow said it was not worth quarreling about such things, and that
he had better shoes and better canes at home. "You cannot say that,"
returned the brothers, "for whoever has these shoes on can cover a
thousand miles in a single step, and whatever is touched with this cane
must die at once." The young fellow went on to ask whether they would
sell the things. They said that they ought to get a great deal for them.
"But what you say of them is not true at all," the young fellow replied.
"Yes, indeed, it is absolutely true," they answered. "Just let me see
whether the boots will fit me," said the young fellow. So they let him
try them on. But no sooner did the young fellow have the boots on his
feet, and the cane in his hand, than he took a step and off he was, a
thousand miles away.
A little later he met two young fellows who were quarreling over an old
fiddle, which had been left them. "Now is that worth while doing?" said
the young fellow. "I have a brand-new fiddle at home." "But I doubt if
it has such a tone as ours," said one of the youths, "for if some one
is dead, and you play this fiddle, he will come to life again." "That
really is a good deal," said the young fellow. "May I draw the bow
across the strings?" They told him he might, but no sooner did he have
the fiddle in his hand than he took a step, and suddenly he was a
thousand miles away.
A little later he met an old man, and him he asked whether he knew where
the place might be that was "farther south than south, and farther north
than north, and in the great hill of gold." The man said yes, he knew
well enough, but it would not do the young fellow much good to get
there, for the troll who lived there killed every one. "O, I have to
make the attempt, whether it lead to life or death," said the young
fellow, for he was fonder than fond of the middle one of the three
maidens. So he learned the way from the old man, and finally reached the
hill. There he had to pass through three rooms, before he came into the
hall to the maidens. And there were locks on every door, and at each
stood a watchman. "Where do you want to go?" asked the first watchman.
"In to the maidens," said the young fellow. "In you may go, but you'll
not get out again," said the watchman, "for now the troll will be along
before long." But the young fellow said that, at any rate, he would make
the attempt, and went on. So he came to the second watchman. "Where do
you want to go?" asked the latter. "In to the maidens," said the
young fellow. "In you may go, but you'll not get out again," said the
watchman, "for the troll will be here any minute." "And yet I will make
the attempt," said the young fellow, and the watchman let him pass. So
he came to the third watchman. "Where do you want to go?" the latter
asked him. "In to the maidens," said the young fellow. "In you may go,
but you'll never get out again, for the troll will be here in three
shakes of a lamb's tail," said the watchman. "And yet I will make the
attempt," said the young fellow, and this watchman also let him pass.
Then he reached the inner chamber where the maidens sat. They were
so beautiful and distinguished, and the room was so full of gold and
silver, that the young fellow never could have imagined anything like
it. Then he showed the ring, and asked whether the maidens recognized
it. Indeed they did recognize him and the ring. "But you poor
unfortunate, this is the end of us and of you!" said they. "The troll
with three heads will be along before long, and you had better hide
behind the door!" "O, I'm so frightened, I'm so frightened!" wailed the
maiden whom the young fellow had chosen. "Just you stop crying," said
the young fellow. "I think fortune will favor us!"
The troll came that very moment and thrust his three heads into the
door. "Uff, it smells like Christian blood here!" said he. The young
fellow struck at the heads with his bamboo cane, and the troll was dead
in a minute. So they carried out the body and hid it. A little later the
troll with six heads came home. "Uff, it smells like Christian blood
here!" said he. "Some one must have crept into the place! But what has
become of the other troll?" said he, when he did not see the troll with
three heads. "He has not yet come home," said the maidens. "He must have
come home," said the troll. "Perhaps he has gone to look for the fellow
who crept in here." At that moment the young fellow struck all six of
his heads with his bamboo cane, and the troll at once fell dead to the
ground. Then they dragged out the corpse.