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Popular Tales from the Norse

S >> Sir George Webbe Dasent >> Popular Tales from the Norse




'Just like you, with your wisdom!' said the Ogre; 'why did you let
him go away then, when you knew he was the very man I wanted?'

'Well then, I didn't let him go', said the Princess; 'but father's
temper is a little hot, so I hid him away in the side-room yonder;
but if father hasn't hit upon any one, here he is.'

'Well', said the Ogre, 'let him come in then.'

So Shortshanks came in, and the Ogre asked him if it were true that
he could brew a hundred lasts of malt at a strike?

'Yes it is', said Shortshanks.

'Twas good luck then to lay hands on you', said the Ogre, 'and now
fall to work this minute; but heaven help you if you don't brew the
ale strong enough.'

'Oh', said Shortshanks, 'never fear, it shall be stinging stuff'; and
with that he began to brew without more fuss, but all at once he
cried out:

'I must have more of you Ogres to help in the brewing, for these I
have got a'nt half strong enough.'

Well, he got more--so many, that there was a whole swarm of them, and
then the brewing went on bravely. Now when the sweet-wort was ready,
they were all eager to taste it, you may guess; first of all the
Ogre, and then all his kith and kin. But Shortshanks had brewed the
wort so strong that they all fell down dead, one after another, like
so many flies, as soon as they had tasted it. At last there wasn't
one of them left alive but one vile old hag, who lay bed-ridden in
the chimney-corner.

'Oh you poor old wretch', said Shortshanks, 'you may just as well
taste the wort along with the rest.'

So, he went and scooped up a little from the bottom of the copper in
a scoop, and gave her a drink, and so he was rid of the whole pack of
them.

As he stood there and looked about him, he cast his eye on a great
chest, so he took it and filled it with gold and silver; then he tied
the cable round himself and the Princess and the chest, and gave it a
good tug, and his men pulled them all up, safe and sound. As soon as
ever Shortshanks was well up, he said to the ship,

'Off and away, over fresh water and salt water, high hill and deep
dale, and don't stop till you come to the king's palace'; and
straightway the ship held on her course, so that the yellow billows
foamed round her. When the people in the palace saw the ship sailing
up, they were not slow in meeting them with songs and music,
welcoming Shortshanks with great joy; but the gladdest of all was the
king, who had now got his other daughter back again.

But now Shortshanks was rather down-hearted, for you must know that
both the princesses wanted to have him, and he would have no other
than the one he had first saved, and she was the youngest. So he
walked up and down, and thought and thought what he should do to get
her, and yet do something to please her sister. Well, one day as he
was turning the thing over in his mind, it struck him if he only had
his brother King Sturdy, who was so like him that no one could tell
the one from the other, he would give up to him the other princess
and half the kingdom, for he thought one-half was quite enough.

Well, as soon as ever this came into his mind, he went outside the
palace and called on King Sturdy, but no one came. So he called a
second time a little louder, but still no one came. Then he called
out the third time 'King Sturdy' with all his might, and there stood
his brother before him. 'Didn't I say!' he said to Shortshanks,
'didn't I say you were not to call me except in your utmost need? and
here there is not so much as a gnat to do you any harm', and with
that he gave him such a box on the ear that Shortshanks tumbled head
over heels on the grass.

'Now shame on you to 'hit so hard!' said Shortshanks. 'First of all I
won a princess and half the kingdom, and then I won another princess
and the other half of the kingdom; and now I'm thinking to give you
one of the princesses and half the kingdom. Is there any rhyme or
reason in giving me such a box on the ear?'

When King Sturdy heard that, he begged his brother to forgive him,
and they were soon as good friends as ever again.

'Now', said Shortshanks, 'you know, we are so much alike, that no one
can tell the one from the other; so just change clothes with me and
go into the palace; then the princesses will think it is I that am
coming in, and the one that kisses you first you shall have for your
wife, and I will have the other for mine.'

And he said this because he knew well enough that the elder king's
daughter was the stronger, and so he could very well guess how things
would go. As for King Sturdy, he was willing enough, so he changed
clothes with his brother and went into the palace. But when he came
into the Princesses' bower they thought it was Shortshanks, and both
ran up to him to kiss him; but the elder, who was stronger and
bigger, pushed her sister on one side, and threw her arms round King
Sturdy's neck, and gave him a kiss; and so he got her for his wife,
and Shortshanks got the younger Princess. Then they made ready for
the wedding, and you may fancy what a grand one it was, when I tell
you, that the fame of it was noised abroad over seven kingdoms.




GUDBRAND ON THE HILL-SIDE

Once on a time there was a man whose name was Gudbrand; he had a farm
which lay far, far away upon a hill-side, and so they called him
Gudbrand on the Hill-side.

Now, you must know this man and his goodwife lived so happily
together, and understood one another so well, that all the husband
did the wife thought so well done there was nothing like it in the
world, and she was always glad whatever he turned his hand to. The
farm was their own land, and they had a hundred dollars lying at the
bottom of their chest, and two cows tethered up in a stall in their
farm-yard.

So one day his wife said to Gudbrand:

'Do you know, dear, I think we ought to take one of our cows into
town, and sell it; that's what I think; for then we shall have some
money in hand, and such well-to-do people as we ought to have ready
money like the rest of the world. As for the hundred dollars at the
bottom of the chest yonder, we can't make a hole in them, and I'm
sure I don't know what we want with more than one cow. Besides, we
shall gain a little in another way, for then I shall get off with
only looking after one cow, instead of having, as now, to feed and
litter and water two.'

Well, Gudbrand thought his wife talked right good sense, so he set
off at once with the cow on his way to town to sell her; but when he
got to the town, there was no one who would buy his cow.

'Well! well! never mind', said Gudbrand, 'at the worst, I can only go
back home again with my cow. I've both stable and tether for her, I
should think, and the road is no farther out than in'; and with that
he began to toddle home with his cow.

But when he had gone a bit of the way, a man met him who had a horse
to sell, so Gudbrand thought 'twas better to have a horse than a cow,
so he swopped with the man. A little farther on he met a man walking
along and driving a fat pig before him, and he thought it better to
have a fat pig than a horse, so he swopped with the man. After that
he went a little farther, and a man met him with a goat; so he
thought it better to have a goat than a pig, and he swopped with the
man that owned the goat. Then he went on a good bit till he met a man
who had a sheep, and he swopped with him too, for he thought it
always better to have a sheep than a goat. After a while he met a man
with a goose, and he swopped away the sheep for the goose; and when
he had walked a long, long time, he met a man with a cock, and he
swopped with him, for he thought in this wise, ''Tis surely better to
have a cock than a goose.' Then he went on till the day was far
spent, and he began to get very hungry, so he sold the cock for a
shilling, and bought food with the money, for, thought Gudbrand on
the Hill-side, ''Tis always better to save one's life than to have a
cock.'

After that he went on home till he reached his nearest neighbour's
house, where he turned in.

'Well', said the owner of the house, 'how did things go with you in
town?'

'Rather so so', said Gudbrand, 'I can't praise my luck, nor do I
blame it either', and with that he told the whole story from first to
last.

'Ah!' said his friend, 'you'll get nicely called over the coals, that
one can see, when you get home to your wife. Heaven help you, I
wouldn't stand in your shoes for something.'

'Well!' said Gudbrand on the Hill-side, 'I think things might have
gone much worse with me; but now, whether I have done wrong or not, I
have so kind a goodwife, she never has a word to say against anything
that I do.'

'Oh!' answered his neighbour, 'I hear what you say, but I don't
believe it for all that.'

'Shall we lay a bet upon it?' asked Gudbrand on the Hill-side. 'I
have a hundred dollars at the bottom of my chest at home; will you
lay as many against them?'

Yes! the friend was ready to bet; so Gudbrand stayed there till
evening, when it began to get dark, and then they went together to
his house, and the neighbour was to stand outside the door and
listen, while the man went in to see his wife.

'Good evening!' said Gudbrand on the Hill-side.

'Good evening!' said the goodwife. 'Oh! is that you? now God be
praised.'

Yes! it was he. So the wife asked how things had gone with him in
town?

'Oh! only so so', answered Gudbrand; 'not much to brag of. When I got
to the town there was no one who would buy the cow, so you must know
I swopped it away for a horse.'

'For a horse', said his wife; 'well that is good of you; thanks with
all my heart. We are so well to do that we may drive to church, just
as well as other people; and if we choose to keep a horse we have a
right to get one, I should think. So run out, child, and put up the
horse.'

'Ah!' said Gudbrand, 'but you see I've not got the horse after all;
for when I got a bit farther on the road, I swopped it away for a
pig.'

'Think of that, now!' said the wife; 'you did just as I should have
done myself; a thousand thanks! Now I can have a bit of bacon in the
house to set before people when they come to see me, that I can. What
do we want with a horse? People would only say we had got so proud
that we couldn't walk to church. Go out, child, and put up the pig in
the sty.'

'But I've not got the pig either', said Gudbrand; 'for when I got a
little farther on, I swopped it away for a milch goat.'

'Bless us!' cried his wife, 'how well you manage everything! Now I
think it over, what should I do with a pig? People would only point
at us and say, "Yonder they eat up all they have got." No! now I have
got a goat, and I shall have milk and cheese, and keep the goat too.
Run out, child, and put up the goat.'

'Nay, but I haven't got the goat either', said Gudbrand, 'for a
little farther on I swopped it away, and got a fine sheep instead.'

'You don't say so!' cried his wife; 'why, you do everything to please
me, just as if I had been with you; what do we want with a goat? If I
had it I should lose half my time in climbing up the hills to get it
down. No! if I have a sheep, I shall have both wool and clothing, and
fresh meat in the house. Run out, child, and put up the sheep.'

'But I haven't got the sheep any more than the rest', said Gudbrand;
'for when I had gone a bit farther, I swopped it away for a goose.'

'Thank you! thank you! with all my heart', cried his wife; 'what
should I do with a sheep? I have no spinning-wheel, nor carding-comb,
nor should I care to worry myself with cutting, and shaping, and
sewing clothes. We can buy clothes now, as we have always done; and
now I shall have roast goose, which I have longed for so often; and,
besides, down to stuff my little pillow with. Run out, child, and put
up the goose.'

'Ah!' said Gudbrand, 'but I haven't the goose either; for when I had
gone a bit farther I swopped it away for a cock.'

'Dear me!' cried his wife, 'how you think of everything! just as I
should have done myself. A cock! think of that! why it's as good as
an eight-day clock, for every morning the cock crows at four o'clock,
and we shall be able to stir our stumps in good time. What should we
do with a goose? I don't know how to cook it; and as for my pillow, I
can stuff it with cotton-grass. Run out, child, and put up the cock.'

'But, after all, I haven't got the cock', said Gudbrand; 'for when I
had gone a bit farther, I got as hungry as a hunter, so I was forced
to sell the cock for a shilling, for fear I should starve.'

'Now, God be praised that you did so!' cried his wife; 'whatever you
do, you do it always just after my own heart. What should we do with
the cock? We are our own masters, I should think, and can lie a-bed
in the morning as long as we like. Heaven be thanked that I have got
you safe back again; you who do everything so well that I want
neither cock nor goose; neither pigs nor kine.'

Then Gudbrand opened the door and said; 'Well, what do you say now?
Have I won the hundred dollars?' and his neighbour was forced to
allow that he had.




THE BLUE BELT

Once on a time there was an old beggar-woman, who had gone out to
beg. She had a little lad with her, and when she had got her bag
full, she struck across the hills towards her own home. So when they
had gone a bit up the hill-side, they came upon a little blue belt,
which lay where two paths met, and the lad asked his mother's leave
to pick it up.

'No', said she, 'maybe there's witchcraft in it'; and so with threats
she forced him to follow her. But when they had gone a bit further,
the lad said he must turn aside a moment out of the road, and
meanwhile his mother sat down on a tree-stump. But the lad was a long
time gone, for as soon as he got so far into the wood, that the old
dame could not see him, he ran off to where the belt lay, took it up,
tied it round his waist, and lo! he felt as strong as if he could
lift the whole hill. When he got back, the old dame was in a great
rage, and wanted to know what he had been doing all that while. You
don't care how much time you waste, and yet you know the night is
drawing on, and we must cross the hill before it is dark!' So on they
tramped; but when they had got about half-way, the old dame grew
weary, and said she must rest under a bush.

'Dear mother', said the lad, 'mayn't I just go up to the top of this
high crag while you rest, and try if I can't see some sign of folk
hereabouts?'

Yes! he might do that; so when he had got to the top, he saw a light
shining from the north. So he ran down and told his mother.

'We must get on, mother; we are near a house, for I see a bright
light shining quite close to us in the north.' Then she rose and
shouldered her bag, and set off to see; but they hadn't gone far,
before there stood a steep spur of the hill, right across their path.

'Just as I thought!' said the old dame; 'now we can't go a step
farther; a pretty bed we shall have here!'

But the lad took the bag under one arm, and his mother under the
other, and ran straight up the steep crag with them.

'Now, don't you see! don't you see that we are close to a house!
don't you see the bright light?'

But the old dame said those were no Christian folk, but Trolls, for
she was at home in all that forest far and near, and knew there was
not a living soul in it, until you were well over the ridge, and had
come down on the other side. But they went on, and in a little while
they came to a great house which was all painted red.

'What's the good?' said the old dame, 'we daren't go in, for here the
Trolls live.'

'Don't say so; we must go in. There must be men where the lights
shine so', said the lad. So in he went, and his mother after him, but
he had scarce opened the door before she swooned away, for there she
saw a great stout man, at least twenty feet high, sitting on the
bench.

'Good evening, grandfather!' said the lad.

'Well, here I've sat three hundred years', said the man who sat on
the bench, 'and no one has ever come and called me grandfather
before.' Then the lad sat down by the man's side, and began to talk
to him as if they had been old friends.

'But what's come over your mother?' said the man, after they had
chattered a while. 'I think she swooned away; you had better look
after her.'

So the lad went and took hold of the old dame; and dragged her up the
hall along the floor. That brought her to herself, and she kicked,
and scratched, and flung herself about, and at last sat down upon a
heap of firewood in the corner; but she was so frightened that she
scarce dared to look one in the face.

After a while, the lad asked if they could spend the night there.

'Yes, to be sure', said the man.

So they went on talking again, but the lad soon got hungry, and
wanted to know if they could get food as well as lodging.

'Of course', said the man, 'that might be got too.' And after he had
sat a while longer, he rose up and threw six loads of dry pitch-pine
on the fire. This made the old hag still more afraid.

'Oh! now he's going to roast us alive', she said, in the corner where
she sat.

And when the wood had burned down to glowing embers, up got the man
and strode out of his house.

'Heaven bless and help us! what a stout heart you have got', said the
old dame; 'don't you see we have got amongst Trolls?'

'Stuff and nonsense!' said the lad; 'no harm if we have.'

In a little while back came the man with an ox so fat and big, the
lad had never seen its like, and he gave it one blow with his fist
under the ear, and down it fell dead on the floor. When that was
done, he took it up by all the four legs, and laid it on the glowing
embers, and turned it and twisted it about till it was burnt brown
outside. After that, he went to a cupboard and took out a great
silver dish, and laid the ox on it; and the dish was so big that none
of the ox hung over on any side. This he put on the table, and then
he went down into the cellar, and fetched a cask of wine, knocked out
the head, and put the cask on the table, together with two knives,
which were each six feet long. When this was done, he bade them go
and sit down to supper and eat. So they went, the lad first and the
old dame after, but she began to whimper and wail, and to wonder how
she should ever use such knives. But her son seized one, and began to
cut slices out of the thigh of the ox, which he placed before his
mother. And when they had eaten a bit, he took up the cask with both
hands, and lifted it down to the floor; then he told his mother to
come and drink, but it was still so high she couldn't reach up to it;
so he caught her up, and held her up to the edge of the cask while
she drank; as for himself, he clambered up and hung down like a cat
inside the cask while he drank. So when he had quenched his thirst,
he took up the cask and put it back on the table, and thanked the man
for the good meal, and told his mother to come and thank him too, and
a-feared though she was, she dared do nothing else but thank the man.
Then the lad sat down again alongside the man and began to gossip,
and after they had sat a while, the man said,

'Well! I must just go and get a bit of supper too'; and so he went to
the table and ate up the whole ox--hoofs, and horns, and all--and
drained the cask to the last drop, and then went back and sat on the
bench.

As for beds', he said, 'I don't know what's to be done. I've only got
one bed and a cradle; but we could get on pretty well if you would
sleep in the cradle, and then your mother might lie in the bed
yonder.'

'Thank you kindly, that'll do nicely', said the lad; and with that he
pulled off his clothes and lay down in the cradle; but, to tell you
the truth; it was quite as big as a four-poster. As for the old dame,
she had to follow the man who showed her to bed, though she was out
of her wits for fear.

'Well!' thought the lad to himself, ''twill never do to go to sleep
yet. I'd best lie awake and listen how things go as the night wears
on.'

So after a while the man began to talk to the old dame, and at last
he said:

'We two might live here so happily together, could we only be rid of
this son of yours.'

'But do you know how to settle him? Is that what you're thinking
of?' said she.

'Nothing easier', said he; at any rate he would try. He would just
say he wished the old dame would stay and keep house for him a day or
two, and then he would take the lad out with him up the hill to
quarry corner-stones, and roll down a great rock on him. All this the
lad lay and listened to.

Next day the Troll--for it was a Troll as clear as day--asked if the
old dame would stay and keep house for him a few days; and as the day
went on he took a great iron crowbar, and asked the lad if he had a
mind to go with him up the hill and quarry a few corner-stones. With
all his heart, he said, and went with him; and so, after they had
split a few stones, the Troll wanted him to go down below and look
after cracks in the rock; and while he was doing this, the Troll
worked away, and wearied himself with his crowbar till he moved a
whole crag out of its bed, which came rolling right down on the place
where the lad was; but he held it up till he could get on one side,
and then let it roll on.

'Oh!' said the lad to the Troll, 'now I see what you mean to do with
me. You want to crush me to death; so just go down yourself and look
after the cracks and refts in the rock, and I'll stand up above.'

The Troll did not dare to do otherwise than the lad bade him, and the
end of it was that the lad rolled down a great rock, which fell upon
the Troll, and broke one of his thighs.

'Well! you are in a sad plight', said the lad, as he strode down,
lifted up the rock, and set the man free. After that he had to put
him on his back and carry him home; so he ran with him as fast as a
horse, and shook him so that the Troll screamed and screeched as if a
knife were run into him. And when he got home, they had to put the
Troll to bed, and there he lay in a sad pickle.

When the night wore on the Troll began to talk to the old dame again,
and to wonder how ever they could be rid of the lad.

'Well', said the old dame, 'if you can't hit on a plan to get rid of
him, I'm sure I can't.'

'Let me see', said the Troll; 'I've got twelve lions in a garden; if
they could only get hold of the lad they'd soon tear him to pieces.'

So the old dame said it would be easy enough to get him there. She
would sham sick, and say she felt so poorly, nothing would do her any
good but lion's milk. All that the lad lay and listened to; and when
he got up in the morning his mother said she was worse than she
looked, and she thought she should never be right again unless she
could get some lion's milk.

'Then I'm afraid you'll be poorly a long time, mother', said the lad,
'for I'm sure I don't know where any is to be got.'

'Oh! if that be all', said the Troll, 'there's no lack of lion's
milk, if we only had the man to fetch it'; and then he went on to say
how his brother had a garden with twelve lions in it, and how the lad
might have the key if he had a mind to milk the lions. So the lad
took the key and a milking pail, and strode off; and when he unlocked
the gate and got into the garden, there stood all the twelve lions on
their hind-paws, rampant and roaring at him. But the lad laid hold of
the biggest, and led him about by the fore-paws, and dashed him
against stocks and stones, till there wasn't a bit of him left but
the two paws. So when the rest saw that, they were so afraid that
they crept up and lay at his feet like so many curs. After that they
followed him about wherever he went, and when he got home, they lay
down outside the house, with their fore-paws on the door sill.

'Now, mother, you'll soon be well', said the lad, when he went in,
'for here is the lion's milk.'

He had just milked a drop in the pail.

But the Troll, as he lay in bed, swore it was all a lie. He was sure
the lad was not the man to milk lions.

When the lad heard that, he forced the Troll to get out of bed, threw
open the door, and all the lions rose up and seized the Troll, and at
last the lad had to make them leave their hold.

That night the Troll began to talk to the old dame again.

'I'm sure I can't tell how to put this lad out of the way--he is so
awfully strong; can't you think of some way?

'No,' said the old dame, 'if you can't tell, I'm sure I can't.'

'Well!' said the Troll, 'I have two brothers in a castle; they are
twelve times as strong as I am, and that's why I was turned out and
had to put up with this farm. They hold that castle, and round it
there is an orchard with apples in it, and whoever eats those apples
sleeps for three days and three nights. If we could only get the lad
to go for the fruit, he wouldn't be able to keep from tasting the
apples, and as soon as ever he fell asleep my brothers would tear him
in pieces.'

The old dame said she would sham sick, and say she could never be
herself again unless she tasted those apples; for she had set her
heart on them.

All this the lad lay and listened to.

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