Popular Tales from the Norse Part 26

'Well! I can do that', said Shortshanks.

'Ah!' said the Princess, 'if only the Ogre wasn't so hasty, I might tell him about you; but he's so cross; I'm afraid he'll tear you to pieces as soon as he comes in, without waiting to hear my story. Let me see what is to be done. Oh! I have it; just hide yourself in the side-room yonder, and let us take our chance.'

Well! Shortshanks did as she told him, and he had scarce crept into the side-room before the Ogre came in.

'HUF!' said the Ogre; 'what a horrid smell of Christian man's blood!'

'Yes!' said the Princess, 'I know there is, for a bird flew over the house with a Christian man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the chimney. I made all the haste I could to get it out again, but I dare say it's that you smell.'

'Ah!' said the Ogre, 'like enough.'

Then the Princess asked the Ogre if he had laid hold of any one who could brew a hundred lasts of malt at one strike?

'No', said the Ogre, 'I can't hear of any one who can do it.'

'Well', she said, 'a while ago, there was a chap in here who said he could do it.'

'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 St.u.r.dy, 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 St.u.r.dy, 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 St.u.r.dy' 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 gra.s.s.

'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 St.u.r.dy 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 St.u.r.dy, 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 St.u.r.dy'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 c.o.c.k, and he swopped with him, for he thought in this wise, ''Tis surely better to have a c.o.c.k than a goose.' Then he went on till the day was far spent, and he began to get very hungry, so he sold the c.o.c.k 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 c.o.c.k.'

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 G.o.d 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.'