Popular Tales from the Norse Part 31

'Silly you are', said her husband, 'and silly you will be so long as you live; but that is all one now, for the rest are not a bit wiser than you. There is not a pin to choose between you.'

ONE'S OWN CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PRETTIEST

A sportsman went out once into a wood to shoot, and he met a Snipe.

'Dear friend', said the Snipe, 'don't shoot my children!'

'How shall I know your children?' asked the Sportsman; 'what are they like?'

'Oh!' said the Snipe, 'mine are the prettiest children in all the wood.'

'Very well', said the Sportsman, 'I'll not shoot them; don't be afraid.'

But for all that, when he came back, there he had a whole string of young snipes in his hand which he had shot.

'Oh, oh!' said the Snipe, 'why did you shoot my children after all?'

'What! these your children!' said the Sportsman; 'why, I shot the ugliest I could find, that I did!'

'Woe is me!' said the Snipe; 'don't you know that each one thinks his own children the prettiest in the world?'

THE THREE PRINCESSES OF WHITELAND

Once on a time there was a fisherman who lived close by a palace, and fished for the king's table. One day when he was out fishing he just caught nothing. Do what he would--however he tried with bait and angle--there was never a sprat on his hook. But when the day was far spent a head bobbed up out of the water, and said:

'If I may have what your wife bears under her girdle, you shall catch fish enough.'

So the man answered boldly, 'Yes'; for he did not know that his wife was going to have a child. After that, as was like enough, he caught plenty of fish of all kinds. But when he got home at night and told his story, how he had got all that fish, his wife fell a-weeping and moaning, and was beside herself for the promise which her husband had made, for she said, 'I bear a babe under my girdle.'

Well, the story soon spread, and came up to the castle; and when the king heard the woman's grief and its cause, he sent down to say he would take care of the child, and see if he couldn't save it.

So the months went on and on, and when her time came the fisher's wife had a boy; so the king took it at once, and brought it up as his own son, until the lad grew up. Then he begged leave one day to go out fishing with his father; he had such a mind to go, he said. At first the king wouldn't hear of it, but at last the lad had his way, and went. So he and his father were out the whole day, and all went right and well till they landed at night. Then the lad remembered he had left his handkerchief, and went to look for it; but as soon as ever he got into the boat, it began to move off with him at such speed that the water roared under the bow, and all the lad could do in rowing against it with the oars was no use; so he went and went the whole night, and at last he came to a white strand, far far away.

There he went ash.o.r.e, and when he had walked about a bit, an old, old man met him, with a long white beard.

'What's the name of this land?' asked the lad.

'Whiteland', said the man, who went on to ask the lad whence he came, and what he was going to do. So the lad told him all.

'Aye, aye!' said the man; 'now when you have walked a little farther along the strand here, you'll come to three Princesses, whom you will see standing in the earth up to their necks, with only their heads out. Then the first--she is the eldest--will call out and beg you so prettily to come and help her; and the second will do the same; to neither of these shall you go; make haste past them, as if you neither saw nor heard anything. But the third you shall go to, and do what she asks. If you do this, you'll have good luck--that's all.'

When the lad came to the first Princess, she called out to him, and begged him so prettily to come to her, but he pa.s.sed on as though he saw her not. In the same way he pa.s.sed by the second; but to the third he went straight up.

'If you'll do what I bid you', she said, 'you may have which of us you please.'

'Yes'; he was willing enough; so she told him how three Trolls had set them down in the earth there; but before they had lived in the castle up among the trees.

'Now', she said, 'you must go into that castle, and let the Trolls whip you each one night for each of us. If you can bear that, you'll set us free.'

Well, the lad said he was ready to try.

'When you go in', the Princess went on to say, 'you'll see two lions standing at the gate; but if you'll only go right in the middle between them they'll do you no harm. Then go straight on into a little dark room, and make your bed. Then the Troll will come to whip you; but if you take the flask which hangs on the wall, and rub yourself with the ointment that's in it, wherever his lash falls, you'll be as sound as ever. Then grasp the sword that hangs by the side of the flask and strike the Troll dead.'

Yes, he did as the Princess told him; he pa.s.sed in the midst between the lions, as if he hadn't seen them, and went straight into the little room, and there he lay down to sleep. The first night there came a Troll with three heads and three rods, and whipped the lad soundly; but he stood it till the Troll was done; then he took the flask and rubbed himself, and grasped the sword and slew the Troll.

So, when he went out next morning, the Princesses stood out of the earth up to their waists.

The next night 'twas the same story over again, only this time the Troll had six heads and six rods, and he whipped him far worse than the first; but when he went out next morning, the Princesses stood out of the earth as far as the knee. The third night there came a Troll that had nine heads and nine rods, and he whipped and flogged the lad so long that he fainted away; then the Troll took him up and dashed him against the wall; but the shock brought down the flask, which fell on the lad, burst, and spilled the ointment all over him, and so he became as strong and sound as ever again. Then he wasn't slow; he grasped the sword and slew the Troll; and next morning when he went out of the castle the Princesses stood before him with all their bodies out of the earth. So he took the youngest for his Queen, and lived well and happily with her for some time.

At last he began to long to go home for a little to see his parents.

His Queen did not like this; but at last his heart was so set on it, and he longed and longed so much, there was no holding him back, so she said,

'One thing you must promise me. This--Only to do what your father begs you to do, and not what your mother wishes'; and that he promised.

Then she gave him a ring, which was of that kind that any one who wore it might wish two wishes. So he wished himself home, and when he got home his parents could not wonder enough what a grand man their son had become.

Now, when he had been at home some days, his mother wished him to go up to the palace and show the king what a fine fellow he had come to be. But his father said:

'No! don't let him do that; if he does, we shan't have any more joy of him this time.'

But it was no good, the mother begged and prayed so long, that at last he went. So when he got up to the palace, he was far braver, both in clothes and array, than the other king, who didn't quite like this, and at last he said:

'All very fine; but here you can see my queen, what like she is, but I can't see yours, that I can't. Do you know, I scarce think she's so good-looking as mine.'

'Would to Heaven', said the young king, 'she were standing here, then you'd see what she was like.' And that instant there she stood before them.

But she was very woeful, and said to him:

'Why did you not mind what I told you; and why did you not listen to what your father said? Now, I must away home, and as for you, you have had both your wishes.'

With that she knitted a ring among his hair with her name on it, and wished herself home, and was off.

Then the young king was cut to the heart, and went, day out day in, thinking and thinking how he should get back to his queen. 'I'll just try', he thought, 'if I can't learn where Whiteland lies'; and so he went out into the world to ask. So when he had gone a good way, he came to a high hill, and there he met one who was lord over all the beasts of the wood, for they all came home to him when he blew his horn; so the king asked if he knew where Whiteland was?

'No, I don't', said he, 'but I'll ask my beasts.' Then he blew his horn and called them, and asked if any of them knew where Whiteland lay? but there was no beast that knew.

So the man gave him a pair of snow-shoes.

'When you get on these', he said, 'you'll come to my brother, who lives hundreds of miles off; he is lord over all the birds of the air. Ask him. When you reach his house, just turn the shoes, so that the toes point this way, and they'll come home of themselves.' So when the king reached the house, he turned the shoes as the lord of the beasts had said, and away they went home of themselves.

So he asked again after Whiteland, and the man called all the birds with a blast of his horn, and asked if any of them knew where Whiteland lay; but none of the birds knew. Now, long, long after the rest of the birds, came an old eagle, which had been away ten round years, but he couldn't tell any more than the rest.

'Well! well!' said the man, 'I'll lend you a pair of snow-shoes, and when you get them on, they'll carry you to my brother, who lives hundreds of miles off; he's lord of all the fish in the sea; you'd better ask him. But don't forget to turn the toes of the shoes this way.'