There were once a king and a queen who had no children, and they took it so to heart that they hardly ever had a happy moment. One day the king was standing on the porch of his house, looking out over his broad acres and everything he owned. There was plenty, and well it looked, too, but he did not feel that he could enjoy it, as long as he did not know what would become if it all after his death. As he stood there pondering, up came a poor old woman who went around begging for a pittance in God's name. She greeted him and curtsied, and asked what ailed the king since he looked so unhappy. "Nothing you can do anything about, my good woman!" said the king. "There 's no use telling you." "There just might be," said the beggar woman. "A mere trifle is often enough when luck is on your side. The king is thinking that he has no heir to his land and kingdom, but he need not grieve over that," She said. She told him his queen would have three daughters, but he must take good care never to let them out into the open before they were fifteen years old, or else a snowflurry would come and take them.
When her time came, the queen was brought to bed and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. The following year she had a second daughter, and the third year one more. The king and the queen were happy beyond words, but for all his joy ,the king remembered to place a guard at the hall door so that the princesses would not be able to go outside.
As the princesses grew, they became both pretty and graceful, and they were happy in every way, except for the fact that they were never allowed to go outside and play like other children. But for all they begged and pleaded with their parents, and for all they pestered the guard, they were told they must not go out before all three were fifteen years old.
One day, not long before the youngest princess reached her fifteenth birthday, the king and queen were out driving in the fine weather, and the princesses were standing at the window gazing out. The sun was shining , and everything was so green and pretty that they felt they had to go out - come what might! So they begged and pestered the guard, and pleaded with him to let them go out into the garden. He could see for himself how warm and sunny it was - winter weather could never come on such a day.
No, that didn't seem very likely to the guard either; and if they really insisted on going outside, they might as well, he said. But only for a tiny, little while; and he would go with them himself, and keep an eye on them. When they came into the garden, they ran hither and thither, and picked armfuls of flowers and greenery - they had never set eyes on anything so lovely. At last they couldn't pick any more, but just as they were to go inside again, they caught sight of a big rose at the other and of the garden. It was far, far lovelier than any of the other flowers they had found, so they simply had to have it. But at the very moment they leaned over to pick the rose, a big snowflurry came, and they were gone.
There was great sorrow throughout the land, and the king had it proclaimed in all the churches that the one who could rescue the princesses should get half the kingdom, and his golden crown, and whichever of them he wanted for a wife. There were plenty who wanted to win half a kingdom and a princess into the bargain, you may be sure, and highborn and lowborn set out and searched in every corner of the land. But there was not one who could find the king's daughters, or even so much as a trace of them.
Now, when all the high and mighty in the land had searched in vain, there were a captain and a lieutenant who wanted to try their luck. Well, the king furnished them with both silver and gold, and wished them Godspeed into the bargain
Then there was a soldier who lived with his mother in a little cottage just beyond the kings manor. He dreamed one night that he, too, was setting out to look for the princesses. In the morning he remembered what he had dreamed, and told his mother about it. "It may just be some witchcraft that has come your way," said the old woman. "You must dream the same dream three night in a row, or else it doesn't count." But the two following nights the same thing happened as on the first: both times he had the same dream again, and he felt he had to go out.
So he washed himself and put on his uniform, and went up to the kitchen of the king's manor. It was the day after the captain and the lieutenant had set out.
"You go home again," said the king. "The princesses are too far above you," he said. "And besides, I've given out so much travel money that there 's no left today. You'd better come back another day." "If I'm going, I'll go today," said the soldier. "I need no travel money. I don't want anything than a dram in my flask and food in my knapsack," he said. "But I must have plenty in my knapsack, as much beef and pork I can carry". Well, he would get that as long as there was nothing else he wanted. So he set off on the way, and he hadn't gone many miles before he caught up with the captain and the lieutenant. "Where are you off to?" asked the lieutenant. "I'm going out to try to find the king's daughters," replied the soldier. "So are we," said the captain, " and as long as you're on the same errand, you may as well come with us. After all, if we don't find them, then you certainly won't find them either, my boy! He said.
After they had been walking together for a while, the soldier turned off the highway along a footpath leading into the forest. "Hey! Where are you going?" said the captain. "It's best to stick to the highway!" he said. "So it would seem," said the soldier. "But this is the way I'm going" He kept to the path, he did, and when the others saw that, they turned off the highway and came after him. The path took them away through the woods, over great moors and up narrow, out-of-the-way valleys. At last they saw daylight, and when they were out of the forest, they came to a long, long footbridge which they had to cross, and on that bridge stood a bear on guard. It reared up on its hind legs and came towards them as thought it wanted to eat them. "What'll we do now?" said the captain. "They say the bear is supposed to be wild about beef," said the soldier, and threw it a haunch. In this way they managed to get past. But at the other end of the bridge stood a lion, and it roared and rushed at them with gaping jaws as though it were going to devour them. "Now we'd better turn out noses homeward! We'll never get past here alive," said the captain. "Oh, he can't be so dangerous either," said the soldier. "I've heard the lion is supposed to be crazy about pork, and in the knapsack I've got half a pig," he said. So he threw a ham to the lion, and it started gnawing and eating, and so they got past that place too.
In the evening they came to a large splendid manor. Each room was finer than the next, and wherever they looked, it sparkled and shone. But that was not going to fill anyone's belly, I can tell you. The captain and the lieutenant went about jingling their money, and would gladly have bought themselves something to eat. But not a soul did they see, nor a crumb of food did they find. So the soldier offered them beef and pork from the knapsack, and they soon pocketed their pride and fell to with a will. They helped themselves to what he had, as thought they had never tasted food before.
The next day the captain said they would have to go hunting and get themselves something to live on. Close to the manor was a dense forest, full of rabbits and wild fowl. The lieutenant was to stay at home and mind the house, and cook the rest of the provisions. In the meantime, the two others killed so much game that it was all they could do to carry it home. But when they came to the gate, the lieutenant was so feeble that he could hardly open it for them. "What has happened to you?" asked the captain. Well, he told them as soon as they had gone, there came a tiny little fellow, with a long, long beard, walking on crutches, and begging so piteously for a penny. But no sooner had he got it than it fell on the floor, and for all he scrambled after it, he just couldn't get hold of it, so stiff and crooked was he.
"I felt sorry for the old creature," said the lieutenant, "so I bent down to pick up the penny. But all of a sudden he was neither stiff nor feeble any longer. He started using his crutches on me until I could hardly stir a limb". "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you one of the king's men, letting an old cripple give you a thrashing - and talking about it into the bargain!" said the captain. "Pooh? Tomorrow I'll stay at home. Then it'll be another story!".
Next day the lieutenant and the soldier went hunting, and the captain stayed at home to cook the food and mind the house. But if he fared no worse, he certainly fared no better. As the day wore on, the old fellow turned up and begged for a penny. He dropped it as soon as he got it, and it was nowhere to be found. So he asked the captain to help him find it, and he had no better sense than to stoop down and look for it. But hardly had he bent down before the old fellow started whacking him with the crutches. And every time the captain tried to get up and hit back, he received such a blow that stars danced before his eyes. When the others came home in the evening, he was still lying in the same spot with a vacant look on his face.
On the third day the soldier was to stay at home while the two others went hunting. The captain told him to take good care, "for the old fellow will certainly beat you to death, my boy!" he said. "Oh, I'm too fond of life to let an old crippled deprive me of it," thought the soldier.
They were no sooner out of the gate than the old fellow was there begging for a penny again. "Money I've never had" said the soldier, "but food you shall have as soon as it's ready", he said. "But if we're going to get a fire going, you must chop some wood." "I can't , said the fellow. "If you can't then you can certainly learn," said the soldier. "That's soon done. Just come along down to the woodshed". There he dragged out a huge log, cut a crack in it, and drove in a wedge to that it became a long, deep split. "Now you must lie down and sight carefully along the crack. Then you'll soon learn to chop wood," said the soldier. "In the meantime, I'll start chopping".
Well, the old fellow was fool enough to do as he was told; he lay down and sighted along the log. When the soldier saw that his beard was well down in the crack, he knocked out the wedge and started soundly thrashing the fellow with the ax handle. Then he swung the ax over his head and swore he would split his skull if he didn't tell him that very instant where the king's daughters were.
"Spare my life! Spare my life! I'll tell you!" shouted the fellow. "East of the manor there's a big mound," he said. "Oh top of the mound you're to dig loose a square piece of turf. Then you'll see a huge slab of rock, and under it is a deep hole. You must lower yourself down the hole. Then you'll come to another world, and there you'll find the princesses with the Mountain Trolls. But it's deep, and it's dark down there, and you must pass through both water and fire." When the soldier had found out what he wanted to know, he released the fellow from the log, and he wasn't slow bidding farewell.
When the captain and the lieutenant came home, they were amazed to find the soldier alive. Well, he told them how he had fared from first to last, and where the king's daughters were, and how they were to find them. They were as happy as though they had already found them, and when they had had some food, they took a basket and all the rope they could find, and went to the mound - all three of them. There they first cut loose the turf, as the fellow had said. Underneath they found a great big stone slab, and it was all they could do to roll it aside. Then they tried to find out how deep the hole was. They tied the pieces of rope together, first two lengths and then three, but they found no more bottom the last time than the first. At last they had to tie together all the pieces they had , both thick and thin; then they felt it reached all the way to the bottom.
The captain wanted to be the first to descend, you may be sure. "But when I tug on the rope, you must be quick and haul me up again," he said. The hole was both dark and dismal, but he thought he had better go through it, as long it got no worse. But all at once cold water started spouting about his ears; at that he was frightened to death and started tugging on the rope.
Then the lieutenant wanted to try , but he didn't fare much better. When he was well past the flood of water, he caught sight of flames blazing away below him, and he was so frightened that he, too, had to turn around and return to the top of the shaft.
The soldier climbed into the basket. He kept going trough both fire and water, all the way to the bottom. Down there it was so pitch black that he could not see his hand in front of his nose. Nor did he dare let go the basket either, but went round in a circle groping and fumbling about. When he caught of a tiny glimmer go light a long, long way off, just like the dawn. He walked towards it, and when he had gone part of the way it started growing brighter about him, and it wasn't long before he saw a golden sun rise in the heavens, and the daylight was as bright and clear as in the real world. First he came to a great herd of cattle, with cows so fat and sleek that they glistened. And when he had passed them, he came to a large and splendid castle.
There he walked through many rooms before he met anyone. At last he heard the whirring of a spinning wheel, and when he went in, there sat the king's eldest daughters spinning copper yarn; and the room and everything in it were of burnished copper.
"My! Have Christian folk come here?" exclaimed the princess "Lord have mercy upon you! What do you want here?" "I want to rescue you from the mountain", replied the soldier. "My good fellow, be gone! If the Troll comes home, he'll put an end to you right away. He has three heads!" she said. "I don't care if he has four!" said the soldier. "Now that I've come, I'm going to stay!" "Well, since you're so stubborn, I suppose I'd better see if I can help you" said the king's daughter. Then she told him to crawl behind the big brewing vat which stood out in the hall. In the meantime, she would make the Troll welcome , and stroke his heads until he fell asleep. "Then, when I go out and call in the hens, you must come in as quickly as you can," she said. "Now go out and try to swing the sword that 's lying on the table":
But the sword was too heavy; he couldn't so much as budge it. So he had to tale a strength-giving draught from the drinking-horn that was hanging behind the hall door. Then he could just raise the sword from the table. He took another swig, and now he could lift it.; so he took a really big one, and was able to swing the sword as easily as could be.
All at once the Troll came rushing in with a noise that shook the castle. "Fie!Fie! I smell the blood and bones of a Christian in my house!" he said. "Yes, a raven flew past just now," said the king's daughter, "and it had a man's bone in its beak, which it dropped down the chimney. I threw it out, right away , and swept up after it, too, but I suppose it still smells". "I can smell it, all right!" said the Troll. "But come now, I'm going to stroke your heads," said the princess. "Then it'll be better when you wake up." The Troll agreed right away, and it wasn't long before he was so sound asleep that he snored. When she saw that he had fallen asleep, she propped up his heads with chairs and quilts, and started calling the hens. Then the soldier tip-toed in with the sword, and cut off all three of the Troll's heads with a single blow.
The princess was as merry as a fiddle, and went along with him to her sisters so that he could rescue them from the mountain too. First they crossed a courtyard, and then passed through many great halls until they came to a huge door. "This is where you must go in," said the princess. "Here it is." When he opened the door, he saw a great hall, and everything inside was if the finest silver. There sat the middle sister spinning on a silver spinning wheel.
"Oh, save you!" she said. "What do you want here?" "To rescue you from the Troll," said the soldier. "My good fellow, be gone!" said the princess. "If he finds you here, he'll take your life on the spot!" "That's too bad - but suppose I take his first!" said the soldier." Well, if you really want to," she said . "then you must crawl behind the big vat out of the hall. But you must hurry and come as soon as you hear me calling the hens". But first he had to see if he were strong enough to swing the Troll-sword which lay on the table. It was much bigger and heavier than the first one, and it was all he could do to budge it. So he took three swigs from the horn, and then he was able to lift it. And when he had taken three more, he could brandish it as through it were a pancake turner. After a short while there was a terrible rumbling and crashing, and immediately after, in came a Troll with six heads!
"Fie!Fie!" he said, as soon as he had put his noses inside the door. "I smell the blood and bones of a Christian in my house!" "Yes, just fancy, a little while ago a raven came flying past with a thighbone, and dropped it down the chimney!" said the king's daughter. "I threw it out, and the raven dropped it down the chimney again. At last I got rid of it, and hurried to smoke the smell out, but it still seems to be lingering", she said. "I can smell it, all right!" said the Troll. But he was tired, so he laid his heads in the princess' lap, and she stroked them until all the heads were snoring. Then she called in the hens, and the soldier came chopped off all six heads as trough they were growing on cabbage stalks.
So she was no less happy than her sister, as you can imagine; but in the midst of their dance and singing they remembered their youngest sister, and so they led the soldier across one more large courtyard ,and though a great many rooms, until he came to the third princess in the golden hall. She was sitting, spinning golden yarn on a golden spinning wheel, and from floor to ceiling the room glittered so that it hurt to look at it. "Preserve and help both you and me!" said the princess who was sitting there. "Go!Go! Or else he'll kill us both!" "just as well two as one," said the soldier. The princess wept and pleaded, but it was not the slightest use. He had made up his mind to stay, and that was that! As there was no other way out, she told him to try the Troll-sword out on the table in the hall. But he could only just budge it - it was even digger and heavier than the other two. So he had to take down the drinking-horn from the wall, and take three swigs from it. But even then he could only just lift the sword. When he had taken three more strength-giving swigs, he swung it as easily as a feather. Then she made the same plan with the soldier as her two sisters had made; when the Troll had fallen fast asleep, she would call in the hens, and then he must come quickly and do away with him. All at once there was a booming and a shaking as though the walls and ceiling were about to fall down. "Fie!Fie! I smell the blood and bones of a Christian in my house!" said the Troll, sniffing the air with all his nine noses. "Yes, would you believe it! Just now a raven flew past and dropped a man's bone down the chimney. I threw it out, and the raven threw it in, and back and forth it went," said the princess. But in the end she had buried it, she said, and had aired the room thoroughly , but a little of the odor still lingered. "I can smell it, all right," said the Troll "Come here and lay your heads in my lap," said the princess. "Then it'll probably be better after you've had a nap."
He did just as she said , and when he was snoring like a beast, she propped up the heads with benches and quilts so that she could get away, and started calling the hens. Then the soldier tiptoed in his stockinged feet, and struck out at the Troll so that eight heads flew at the same time - the sword was too short and didn't reach any farther. The ninth head woke up and started roaring. "Fie!Fie!! I smell a Christian here!" "Yes, and here is the Christian!" replied the soldier, and before the Troll could get up and grab hold of him, the soldier gave one more blow so that the last head rolled off.
You may be sure the princesses were glad now that they didn't have to sit and scratch the Troll's heads any longer; there was no end to the kindness they wanted to do for the man who had freed them, and the youngest princess wrenched off her golden ring and knotted it into his hair. Then they gathered up as much gold and silver as they thought they could carry, and started for home.
As soon as they tugged on the rope, the captain and the lieutenant hauled up the princesses one after the other. But when they were safely up, the soldier realized that he had been foolish not to seat himself in the basket, and go up ahead of the princesses, for he didn't trust his comrades at all. Now he decided to try them, so he put a huge hump of gold in the basket and jumped to one side. When it was a good halfway up, they cut the rope so that the basket crashed down on to the rock and the pieces flew about his ears. "Now we're rid of him!" they said. Then they threatened to kill the princesses if they didn't say that they were the ones that had rescued them from the Trolls. The princesses didn't like it one bit, especially the youngest one; but life is precious, so the captain and the lieutenant had it their own way.
Now when the captain and the lieutenant came home with the princesses, there was indeed great rejoicing At the king's manor. The king was so happy that he didn't know which foot to stand on. He took his best bottle of wine out of cupboard and poured out a cup of welcome for the two of them; and if they hadn't been made much of before, they were now, I can tell you. And they strutted back and forth, and preened themselves like gentlemen the whole day, now that they were getting the king himself for a father-in-law; for it was clear that each would wed a princess - whichever one he wanted - and that they would divide half the kingdom between them. They both wanted they youngest ; but for all they begged and threatened, they got nowhere. She wouldn't have them in any shape or form. So they talked to the king about setting twelve men to guard her; she had been so gloomy ever since she had been in the mountain, they said, and they were afraid she might do herself some harm. This the king agreed to do; and he told the guard to take good care of her, and to follow her wherever she went day and night.
And now a feast was to be prepared for the two eldest princesses, with much brewing and baking. This was to be a wedding the like of which had never before been seen nor heard of; and they brewed and they baked, and they butchered as though it would never come to an end.
In the meantime ,the soldier wandered aimless back and forth in the other world. He was sad to thing that he would never again see a human face nor the light of day; but he had to keep himself busy with something, he thought, and so he went from room to room, one day and two days and many more. He rummaged in all the cupboards and drawers, and pocked about in the shelves, and looked at all the fine things that were there. After a while he came to a drawer in a table; he pulled it out, and inside lay a golden key. SO he tried the key in all the locks there were, but not one did it fit until he came to a little wall cupboard over the bed, and in that he found a rusty old whistle.
"It might be worth trying to see if there's any sound in it," he thought, and put it to his mouth. Before he knew what was happening , there was a whirring and a rushing on al sides, and, all o a sudden, down swooped a flock of birds so large that the ground was black.. "What does our master which today?" they asked. Well, if he was their master, said the soldier, then he'd certainly like to know if they could tell him how to get back to the earth. No, there was not one who could, "-but our mother hasn't come yet," they said. "If she can't help you, then there's so way!"
So he blew the whistle once more, and after a little while he heard something beating its wings a long way off. At the same time a wind started blowing so hard., that he was thrown from one wall of the courtyard to another like a wisp of hay, and if he hadn't grabbed hold of the rail fence he would almost certainly have blown away at once. Thereupon an eagle glided down in front of him, so big that it was beyond words to describe. "You come hard, y9ou do!" said the soldier. "I come the way you blow!" said the eagle. Then he asked if she knew of a way for him to escape out of the world they were in now. "Nestlings can't get away from here," said the eagle, "but if you'll slaughter twelve oxen for me, so that I can eat my fill, I'll try to help you, I will!" Have you a knife?" "No, but I have a sword," said the soldier.
When the eagle had finished off the twelve oxen, she bade him slaughter one more and take it along as provisions for the journey. "Every time I open my beak, you must be quick and throw a piece in," she said, "or else I won't be able to carry you aloft."
Well, he did as she asked, and hung two big sacks of meat around her neck, and he snuggled down among her feathers. Then the eagle flapped her wings, and with that they were off like a wind so that the air whistled past. The soldier had all he could do to hold on tight, and it was only by the skin of his teeth that he managed to fling the pieces of meat into the eagle's beak each time she opened it. At last daylight began to glimmer above them; but now the eagle was losing speed and began fluttering her wings. The soldier was ready, and grabbed the last haunch and threw it to her. Then she got back her strength and flew on. And after she had sat and rested for a while in the top of a big tree, she set off with him again so fast that they flashed past land and sea, wherever they went. Close by the king's manor he climbed down, and the eagle flew home again; but first she said that if there was anything he wanted, he had only to blow the whistle and she would come at once.
In the meantime everything was in readiness at the king's manor, and the day was approaching when the captain and the lieutenant were to wed the two eldest princesses. But they were not much happier than the youngest sister. Never a day went by that they didn't grieve and cry, and the closer they came to the wedding day, the sadder they grew. As last the king asked what was wrong with them. He thought it more than strange that they were not happy and gay now that they were free and saved, and were to be married as well. They had to say nothing, so the eldest princess said they would never be happy again if they couldn't get a board-game like the one they had played with in the Mountain-in-the-Blue.
The king thought he could certainly get one for them, so he sent word to all the best and most skilled goldsmiths in the land to make a board-game of gold for the princesses. But, for all they tried, there was not one who was able to make such a game. At last all the goldsmiths in the land had been asked save one, and he was a feeble old man who hadn't turned out a proper piece of work for many years, but only tinkered with a little silver work - just enough to keep himself alive. So the soldier went and apprenticed himself to him, and the old man was so happy to get an apprentice - he hadn't had one for a year and a day - that he dug out a flask from his cupboard and sat down to drink with the soldier. It wasn't long before the spirits had gone to his head, and when the soldier saw that, he persuaded the smith to go to the king and tell him that he could make the game for the princesses. The old man agreed to this on the spot, for he had made things just as fine and fancy in his day, he had!
When the king heard there was someone outside who could make a copy of the board-game, he wasn't slow in coming out. "Is it true, what they say, that you can make a game like the one my daughters want?" he asked. Yes, that was quite true, replied the smith, and he stuck to his story. "That's good," said the king . "Here is some gold for you to make it from. But if you fail, you shall lose your life, seeing that you have come forward of your own accord!" And the old man was given three days to make the game in.
Next morning ,when the goldsmith , had slept off his befuddlement, he wasn't anywhere near so proud. He cried and carried on, and swore at his apprentice who had caused him to get himself into mischief while he was tipsy. Now the only way out would be for him to do away with himself right away, for there was no point in pleading for his life. If the most skillful goldsmiths couldn't make such a game, it wasn't likely that he could manage it.
"Don't worry about it, just hand over the gold," said the soldier, "I'll get the game all right. But I want a room to myself to work in," he said. This he got, and the old man's thanks into the bargain. But time dragged on and on, and he did nothing, and the goldsmith went about moaning because he would never get on with his tasks. "Never bother yourself about that ," said the soldier, "It's a long time to the hour. If you're not satisfied with what I've promised, you can make the game yourself!" It was the same tale that day and the next day; and when the smith heard neither hammer nor file from his room all the last day either, he gave up all hope, for now there was no longer any change of saving his life , he thought.
But as night drew on, the soldier opened his window and blew his whistle. In a trice the eagle appeared, and asked what he wanted. "The golden board-game which the princesses used in the Mountain-in-the Blue," said the soldier. "But no doubt you want something to eat first?" Out of the barn I've got a couple of ox carcasses for you. You can have them," he said. When the eagle ad eaten them, she didn't lose much time, and long before the sun rose she was back with the game. Then the soldier put it under his bed, and lay down to sleep. At the crack of dawn next morning the goldsmith came and pondered on his door. "You've been doing quite a bit of running," said the soldier. "All day you've rushed around as if you were completely mad. If I'm not going to be allowed to have a night's rest, you'll have to get another apprentice!"
But this time neither pleading nor praying was any use; the goldsmith insisted on being admitted, and at last he pushed up the latch. And you can imagine that there was an end to his whining! But even more delighted than the goldsmith were the princesses, when he came up to the king's manor with the game, and most delighted of them all was the youngest princess. "Have you made that game yourself" she asked. "No. To tell the truth, I haven't ", he said . "It's an apprentice I have." "I would like to see that apprentice," said the princess. All three of them wanted to meet him, and, if he valued his life, he had better come. The soldier feared n Either lords nor ladies, and if it gave them any pleasure to look at his rags, they might as well have their wish gratified. The king's youngest daughter knew him again right away, she pushed aside the guard, ran over and offered him her hand, and said: "Good day, how nice to see you again" Then she said to the king, "Here's the man who rescued us from the Trolls in the mountain! He's the one I want to marry!" And she swept off his cap and showed them the ring she had fastened in his hair. Well, then the full story of the way the captain and the lieutenant had carried on came light,. They had to pay for it with their lives, and that was the end of them. But the soldier got the golden crown, and half the kingdom, and wed the king's youngest daughter. And at the wedding they drank and reveled both long and merrily, for all who were there could revel - even if they couldn't all rescue the king's daughters. And it they haven't drunk their fill, they must be sitting and drinking and reveling still!