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Popular Tales from the Norse

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







THE LITTLE CHILD AND THE PUMPKIN TREE

There was once a poor widow who had six children. One day when she
was going out to look for something to eat, for she was very poor,
she met an old man sitting by the river side. He said to her 'Good
morning.'

And she answered, 'Good morning, father.'

He said to her, 'Will you wash my head?'

She said she would, so she washed it, and when she was going away, he
gave her a 'stampee'[A small coin], and told her to go a certain
distance, and she would see a large tree full of pumpkins; she was
then to dig a hole at the root of the tree and bury the money, and
when she had done so, she was to call for as many pumpkins as she
liked, and she should have them.

So the woman went, and did as she was told, and she called for six
pumpkins, one for each child, and six came down, and she carried them
home; and now they always had pumpkins enough to eat, for whenever
they wanted any, the woman had only to go to the tree and call, and
they had as many as they liked. One morning when she got up, she
found a little baby before the door, so she took it up and carried it
in, and took care of it. Every day she went out, but in the morning
she boiled enough pumpkins to serve the children all day. One day
when she came back she found the food was all gone, so she scolded
her children, and beat them for eating it all up. They told her they
had not taken any--that it was the baby--but she would not believe
them, and said, 'How could a little baby get up and help itself'; but
the children still persisted it was the baby. So one day when she was
going out, she put some pumpkin in a calabash, and set a trap over
it. When she was gone the baby got up as usual to eat the food, and
got its head fastened in the trap, so that it could not get out, and
began knocking its head about and crying out, 'Oh! do loose me, for
that woman will kill me when she comes back.' When the woman came in,
she found the baby fastened in the trap, so she beat it well, and
turned it out of doors, and begged her children's pardon for having
wronged them.

Then after she turned the baby out, he changed into a great big man,
and went to the river, where he saw the old man sitting by the river
side, who asked him to wash his head, as he had asked the poor woman,
but the man said:

'No, he would not wash his dirty head', and so he wished the old man
'good bye'.

Then the old man asked him if he would like to have a pumpkin, to
which he said 'yes', and the old man told him to go on till he saw a
large tree with plenty of pumpkins on it, and then he must ask for
one. So he went on till he got to the tree, and the pumpkins looked
so nice he could not be satisfied with one, so he called out, 'Ten
pumpkins come down', and the ten pumpkins fell and crushed him.




THE BROTHER AND HIS SISTERS

There were once upon a time three sisters and a brother. The sisters
were all proud, and one was very beautiful, and she did not like her
little brother, 'because', she said, 'he was dirty'. Now, this
beautiful sister was to be married, and the brother begged their
mother not to let her marry, as he was sure the man would kill her,
for he knew his house was full of bones. So the mother told her
daughter, but she would not believe it, and said, 'she wouldn't
listen to anything that such a dirty little scrub said', and so she
was married.

Now, it was agreed that one sister was to remain with their mother
and the other was to go with the bride, and so they set out on their
way. When they got to the beach, the husband picked up a beautiful
tortoise-shell comb, which he gave to his bride. Then they got into
his boat and rowed away over the sea, and when they reached their
home, they were so surprised to see their little brother, for the
comb had turned into their brother. They were not at all glad to see
him, and the husband thought to himself he would kill him without
telling his wife. When night came the boy told the husband that at
home his mother always put him to sleep in the blacksmith's shop, and
so the husband said he should sleep in the smithy.

In the middle of the night the man got up, intending to kill them
all, and went to his shop to get his irons ready, but the boy jumped
up as soon as he went in, and he said, 'Boy, what is the matter with
you?' So the boy said, when he was at home his mother always gave him
two bags of gold to put his head on. Then the man said, he should
have them, and went and fetched him two bags of gold, and told him to
go to sleep.

But the boy said, 'Now mind, when you hear me snore I'm not
asleep, but when I am not snoring, then I'm asleep.' Then the boy
went to sleep and began to snore, and as long as the man heard the
snoring, he blew his bellows; but as soon as the snoring stopped, the
man took his irons out of the fire, and the boy jumped up.

Then the man said, 'Why, what's the matter? why, can't you sleep?'

The boy said 'No; for at home my mother always gave me four bags of
money to lie upon.

Well, the man said he should have them, and brought him four bags of
money. Then the boy told him again the same thing about his snoring
and the man bade him go to sleep, and he began to snore, and the man
to blow his bellows until the snoring stopped. Then the man took out
his irons again, and the boy jumped up, and the man dropped the
irons, saying, 'Why, what's the matter now that you can't sleep?'

The boy said, 'At home my mother always gave me two bushels of corn.'

So the man said he should have the corn, and went and brought it, and
told him to go to sleep. Then the boy snored, and the man blew his
bellows till the snoring stopped, when he again took out his irons,
and the boy jumped up, and the man said, 'Why, what's it now?'

The boy said, 'At home my mother always goes to the river with a
sieve to bring me some water.'

So the man said 'Very well, I will go, but I have a cock here, and
before I go, I must speak to it.'

Then the man told the cock if he saw any one moving in the house, he
must crow; that the cock promised to do, and the man set off.

Now when the boy thought the man was gone far away, he got up, and
gave the cock some of the corn; then he woke up his sisters and
showed them all the bones the man had in the house, and they were
very frightened. Then he took the two bags of gold on his shoulders,
and told his sisters to follow him. He took them to the bay, and put
them into the boat with the bags of gold, and left them whilst he
went back for the four bags of money. When he was leaving the house
he emptied the bags of corn to the cock, who was so busy eating, he
forget to crow, until they had got quite away.

When the man returned home and could not find them in the house, he
went to the river, where he found his boat gone, and so he had no way
of going after them. When they landed at their own place, the boy
turned the boat over and stove it in, so that it was of no use any
more; and he took his sisters home, and told their mother all that
had happened, and his sisters loved him, and they lived very happily
together ever afterwards, and do so still if they are not dead.




THE GIRL AND THE FISH

There was once a girl who used to go to the river to fetch water, but
when she went she was never in a hurry to come back, but staid so
long, that they made up their minds to watch her. So one day they
followed her to the river, and found when she got there, she said
something (the reciter forgets the words), and a fish came up and
talked to her; and she did not like to leave it, for it was her
sweetheart. So next day they went to the river to see if the fish
would come up, for they remembered what the girl said and used the
same words. Then up came the fish immediately, and they caught it,
and took it home, and cooked it for dinner--and a part they set by,
and gave to the girl when she came in. Whilst she was eating, a voice
said, 'Do you know what you are eating? I am he you have so often
talked with. If you look in the pig's tub, you will see my heart.'
Then the voice told her to take the heart, and wrap it up in a
handkerchief, and carry it to the river. When she got to the river
she would see three stones in the water, she was to stand on the
middle stone, and dip the handkerchief three times into the water.
All this she did, and then she sank suddenly, and was carried down to
a beautiful place, where she found her lover changed from a fish into
his proper form, and there she lived happily with him for ever. And
this is the reason why there are mermaids in the water.




THE LION, THE GOAT, AND THE BABOON

A Lion had a Goat for his wife. One day Goat went out to market, and
while she was gone, Lion went out in the wood, where he met with
Baboon, who made friends with Lion, for fear he would eat him, and
asked him to go home with him; but the Lion thought it would be a
good chance, so he asked the Baboon to go home with him and see his
little ones. When they got home, the Baboon said to the Lion.

'Why, you have got plenty of little goats here.'

The Lion said, 'Yes, they are my children.'

So the Baboon said, 'If they are, they are little goats, and they are
very good meat.'

So the Lion said, 'Don't make a noise; their mother will come
presently, and we will see.'

So these little goats took no notice, but went out to meet their
mother, and told her what had passed.

Their mother said to them, 'Go back, take no notice, and I shall come
home presently, and shall do for him.'

So she went and bought some molasses, and took it home with her. The
Lion said, 'Are you come; what news?'

'Oh!' she said, 'good news, taste here.' He tasted, and said, 'It's
very good, it's honey.'

And she said, 'It's baboon's blood; they have been killing one to-
day, the blood is running in the street, and every one is carrying it
away.'

The Lion said, 'Hush, there's one in the house, and we shall have
him.'

At this the Baboon rushed off, and when they looked for him, he was
gone, and never came near them again, which saved the little goats'
lives.




ANANZI AND BABOON

Ananzi and Baboon were disputing one day which was fattest. Ananzi
said he was sure he was fat, but Baboon declared he was fatter. Then
Ananzi proposed that they should prove it; so they made a fire, and
agreed that they should hang up before it, and see which would drop
most fat.

Then Baboon hung up Ananzi first, but no fat dropped.

Then Ananzi hung up Baboon, and very soon the fat began to drop,
which smelt so good that Ananzi cut a slice out of Baboon, and said,

'Oh! brother Baboon, you're fat for true.'

But Baboon didn't speak.

So Ananzi said, 'Well, speak or not speak, I'll eat you every bit to-
day', which he really did. But when he had eaten up all Baboon, the
bits joined themselves together in his stomach, and began to pull him
about so much that he had no rest, and was obliged to go to a doctor.

The doctor told him not to eat anything for some days, then he was to
get a ripe banana, and hold it to his mouth; when the Baboon, who
would be hungry, smelt the banana, he would be sure to run up to eat
it, and so he would run out of his mouth.

So Ananzi starved himself, and got the banana, and did as the doctor
told him; but when he put the banana to his mouth, he was so hungry
he couldn't help eating it. So he didn't get rid of the Baboon, which
went on pulling him about till he was obliged to go back to the
doctor, who told him he would soon cure him; and he took the banana,
and held it to Ananzi's mouth, and very soon the Baboon jumped up to
catch it, and ran out of his mouth; and Ananzi was very glad to get
rid of him. And Baboons to this very day like bananas.




THE MAN AND THE DOUKANA TREE

There was once a man and his wife, who were very poor, and they had a
great many children. The man was very lazy, and would do nothing to
help his family. The poor mother did all she could. In the wood close
by grew a Doukana Tree, which was full of fruit. Every day the man
went and ate some of the fruit, but never took any home, so he ate
and he ate, until there were only two Doukanas left on the Tree. One
he ate, and left the other. Next day, when he went for that one, he
was obliged to climb up the tree to reach it; but when he got up, the
Doukana fell down; when he got down the Doukana jumped up; and so it
went on until he was quite tired.

Then he asked all the animals that passed by to help him, but they
all made some excuse. They all had something to do. The horse had his
work to do, or he would have no grass to eat. The donkey brayed. Last
came a dog, and the man begged him hard to help him; so the dog said
he would. Then the man climbed up the tree, and the Doukana jumped to
the ground again, when the dog picked it up and ran off with it The
man was very vexed, and ran after the dog, but it ran all the faster,
so that the man could not overtake him. The dog, seeing the man after
him, ran to the sea shore, and scratching a hole in the ground,
buried himself all but his nose, which he left sticking out.

Soon after the man came up, and seeing the nose, cried out that he
had 'never seen ground have nose'; and catching hold of it he tugged
till he pulled out the dog, when he squeezed him with all his might
to make him give up the Doukana. And that's why dogs are so small in
their bodies to this very day.




NANCY FAIRY

There was once an old woman called 'Nancy Fairy'. She was a witch,
and used to steal all the little babies as soon as they were born,
and eat them. One day she stole a little baby, who was so beautiful
that she had not the heart to eat her; but she took her home and
brought her up. She called her 'daughter', named her 'Nancy Fairy',
after herself, and the girl called the old woman 'Granny'.

So the girl grew up, and the more she grew the more beautiful she
got.

The old woman never let her daughter know of her doings; but one day
when she had brought a baby home, and had locked herself in a room,
her daughter peeped through a chink to see what she was about, and
the old woman saw her shadow, and thought her daughter had seen what
she was doing, and the daughter thought her granny had seen her, and
was very much afraid.

So the old woman asked her, 'Nancy Fairy, did you see what I was
doing?'

'No, Granny.'

She asked the girl several times, 'Nancy Fairy, did you see what I
was doing?' and the girl always said, 'No, Granny.'

So the old woman took her up to a hut in a wood, and left her there
as a punishment; and she took her food every day.

One day it happened that the king's servant, going that way, saw the
beautiful girl come out of the hut. Next day he went again and saw
the same beautiful girl again. So he went home and told the prince
that he could show him in the wood a girl more beautiful than he had
ever seen. The prince went and saw the girl, and then sent a band of
soldiers to fetch her home, and took her for his bride.

A year after she had a baby. Soldiers were set to keep guard at the
gate, and the room was full of nurses; but in the middle of the night
the old woman came in a whirlwind and put them all to sleep. She
stole the child, and on going away gave the mother a slap on the
mouth which made her dumb.

Next morning there was a great stir, and they said the mother had
eaten the child. There was a trial, but the mother was let off that
time.

Next year she had another baby, and the same thing happened again.
The old woman came in the middle of the night in a whirlwind, and put
them all to sleep. She stole the child, and struck the mother on the
mouth, which made it bleed.

In the morning there was a stir; and the servant maid, who was
jealous, said the mother had eaten the child. All believed it, as her
mouth was covered with blood; and, besides, what would be expected of
a girl brought out of the wood? So she was tried again, and condemned
to be hanged.

Invitations were sent out to all the grand folk to come and see her
hanged; so many fine carriages came driving up. At last, just before
the time, there came a very grand carriage, all of gold, which
glistened in the sun. In it were the old woman and two children,
dressed in fine clothes, with the king's star on them. When the queen
saw this grand carriage she got her speech and sung,

'Do spare me till I see that grand carriage.'

The old woman came into the courtyard, and asked the people if they
saw any likeness to any one in the children. They said, 'they were
like the prince', and asked her how she came by them, and told her
she had stolen them. She said she had not stolen them; she had taken
them, for they were her own; the prince had taken away her daughter
without her leave, and so she had taken his children; but she was
willing to give them back, if they would allow that she was right.

So they consented, and the old woman made the prince and his queen a
present of the grand carriage, and so they lived happily. The old
woman was allowed to come and see the children whenever she liked.
But the servant girl, who said the queen had eaten her babies, was
hanged.




'THE DANCING GANG'

A water carrier once went to the river to fetch water. She dipped in
her calabash, and brought out a cray-fish. The cray-fish began
beating his claws on the calabash, and played such a beautiful tune,
that the girl began dancing, and could not stop.

The driver of the gang wondered why she did not come, and sent
another to see after her. When she came, she too began to dance. So
the driver sent another, who also began to dance when she heard the
music and the cray-fish singing:

Vaitsi, Vaitsi, O sulli Van.
Stay for us, stay for us, how long will you stay for us?

Then the driver sent another and another, till he had sent the whole
gang.

At last he went himself, and when he found the whole gang dancing, he
too began to dance; and they all danced till night, when the cray-
fish went back into the water; and if they haven't done dancing, they
are dancing still.



FOOTNOTES TO INTRODUCTION

[1]

How strange is the terror of Natural Science, which seems to possess,
with a religious possession, so many good and pious people! How
rigidly do they bind themselves hand and foot with the mere letter of
the law, forgetting Him who came to teach us, that 'the letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life!' What are we to say of those
who, when the old crust which clogs and hampers human knowledge is
cracking and breaking all around them, when the shell is too narrow
an abode for the life within it, which is preparing to cast it off,
still cling to the crust and shell, looking, like the disciples by
the sepulchre, at the linen clothes lying, and know not that He has
risen in glory? These are they who obstinately refuse to believe in
the 'Testimony of the Rocks', who deny Geology the thousands, nay
millions, of years which she requires to make her deposits in
Nature's great saving-bank. These are they for whom the Nile, as he
brings down year by year his tribute to the sea from Central Africa,
lays down in vain layer after layer of alluvial deposit, which can be
measured to an inch for tens of thousands of years. These are they to
whom the comparatively younger growth of trees, the dragon tree of
Orotava, and the cedars of California, plead in vain when they show,
year after year, ring on ring of wood for thousands of years. 'No;
the world is only five or six thousands of years old, or thereabouts.
The Old Testament'--the dates in which have been confessedly tampered
with, and in some cases forged and fabricated by Hebrew scribes--
'says so. We believe in it--we will believe in nothing else, not even
in our senses. We will believe literally in the first chapter of
Genesis, in working days and nights of twenty-four hours, even before
the sun and moon were made, on the fourth day, "to divide the day
from the night", and to be "for signs and for seasons, and for days
and years". We will not hear of ages or periods, but "days", because
the "letter" says so'. This is what our Western Brahmins say; but if
they remembered that He who set sun and moon also planted the eye and
ear, that he gave sense, and speech, and mind; if they considered
that faith is a lively thing, elastic and expansive; that it embraces
a thousand or a million years as easily as a moment of time; that
bonds cannot fetter it, nor distance darken and dismay it; that it is
given to man to grow with his growth and strengthen with his
strength; that it rises at doubts and difficulties, and surmounts
them; they would cease to condemn all the world to wear their own
strait-waistcoat, cut and sewn by rabbis and doctors some thousand
years ago; a garment which the human intellect has altogether
outgrown, which it is ridiculous to wear, which careless and impious
men laugh at when it is seen in the streets; and might begin to see
that spirit is spirit, and flesh is flesh; that while one lives for
ever, the other is corruptible and passes away; that there are
developments in faith as in every thing else; that as man's intellect
and human knowledge have grown and expanded, so his faith must grow
and expand too; that it really matters nothing at all, as an act of
faith, whether the world is six thousand or six million years old;
that it must have had a beginning; that there must be one great first
cause, God. Surely there is no better way to bring His goodness into
question, to throw doubt on His revelation, and to make it the
laughing stock of the irreligious, than thus to clip the wings of
faith, to throw her into a dungeon, to keep her from the light of
day, to make her read through. Hebrew spectacles, and to force her to
be a laggard and dullard, instead of a bright and volatile spirit,
forward and foremost in the race of life.

[2]

But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be
sorry it had so noble a godfather, and never after _ear_ so
barren a land, for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest'--
SHAKESPEARE, _Dedication to Venus and Adonis_.

[3]

As a specimen of their thoughtful turn of mind, even in the
_Vedas_, at a time before the monstrous avatars of the Hindoo
Pantheon were imagined, and when their system of philosophy,
properly so called, had no existence, the following metrical translation
of the 129th hymn of the 10th book of the _Rig-Veda_ may be
quoted, which Professor Müller assures us is of a very early date:

Nor aught nor naught existed; yon bright sky
Was not, nor Heaven's broad woof outstretched above.
What covered all? what sheltered? what concealed?
Was it the water's fathomless abyss?
There was not death--yet was there nought immortal.
There was no confine betwixt day and night;
The only One breathed breathless by itself,
Other than It there nothing since has been.
Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled
In gloom profound--an ocean without light--
The germ that still lay covered in the husk
Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat.
Then first came love upon it, the new spring
Of mind--yea, poets in their hearts discerned,
Pondering, this bond between created things
And uncreated. Comes this spark from earth,
Piercing and all pervading, or from Heaven?
Then seeds were sown, and mighty powers arose--
Nature below, and power and will above--
Who knows the secret? who proclaimed it here,
Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang?
The Gods themselves came later into being--
Who knows from whence this great creation sprang?
He from whom all this great creation came,
Whether His will created or was mute,
The Most High Seer that is in highest heaven,
He knows it--or perchance even he knows not.

If we reflect that this hymn was composed centuries before the time
of Hesiod, we shall be better able to appreciate the speculative
character of the Indian mind in its earliest stage.

[4]

'A Brahmin, who had vowed a sacrifice, went to the market to buy a
goat. Three thieves saw him, and wanted to get hold of the goat. They
stationed themselves at intervals on the high road. When the Brahmin,
who carried the goat on his back, approached the first thief, the
thief said, "Brahmin, why do you carry a dog on your back?" The
Brahmin replied: "It is not a dog, it is a goat." A little while
after, he was accosted by the second thief, who said, "Brahmin, why
do you carry a dog on your back?" The Brahmin felt perplexed, put the
goat down, examined it, and walked on. Soon after he was stopped by
the third thief, who said, "Brahmin, why do you carry a dog on your
back?" Then the Brahmin was frightened, threw down the goat, and
walked home to perform his ablutions for having touched an unclean
animal. The thieves took the goat and ate it.' See the notice of
the Norse Tales in _The Saturday Review_, January 15. In Max
Müller's translation of the _Hitopadesa_, the story has a
different ending. See also _Le Piacevoli Notti_, di M. Giovan
Francesco Straparola da Caravaggio (Venice, 1567), Notte Prima,
Favola III: 'Pre Scarpacifico da tre malandrini una sol volta
gabbato, tre fiate gabba loro, finalmente vittorioso con la sua Nina
lietamente rimane'. In which tale the beginning is a parallel to the
first part of 'The Master Thief', while the end answers exactly to
the Norse tale added in this edition, and called Big Peter and Little
Peter'.

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