Popular Tales from the Norse Part 9

So the lad was willing enough; and when they reached the Troll's house, the Troll was to make up the fire, while the lad went to fetch water for their porridge, and there stood two iron pails so big and heavy, that he couldn't so much as lift them from the ground.

'Pooh!' said the lad, 'it isn't worth while to touch these finer- basins: I'll just go and fetch the spring itself.'

'Nay, nay, dear friend!' said the Troll; 'I can't afford to lose my spring; just you make up the fire, and I'll go and fetch the water.'

So when he came back with the water, they set to and boiled up a great pot of porridge.

'It's all the same to me', said the lad; 'but if you're of my mind, we'll eat a match!'

'With all my heart', said the Troll, for he thought he could surely hold his own in eating. So they sat down; but the lad took his scrip unawares to the Troll, and hung it before him, and so he spooned more into the scrip than he ate himself; and when the scrip was full, he took up his knife and made a slit in the scrip. The Troll looked on all the while, but said never a word. So when they had eaten a good bit longer, the Troll laid down his spoon, saying, 'Nay! but I can't eat a morsel more.'

'But you shall eat', said the youth; 'I'm only half done; why don't you do as I did, and cut a hole in your paunch? You'll be able to eat then as much as you please.'

'But doesn't it hurt one cruelly?' asked the Troll.

'Oh', said the youth, 'nothing to speak of.'

So the Troll did as the lad said, and then you must know very well that he lost his life; but the lad took all the silver and gold that he found in the hill-side, and went home with it, and you may fancy it went a great way to pay off the debt.

HACON GRIZZLEBEARD

Once on a time there was a princess who was so proud and pert that no suitor was good enough for her. She made game of them all, and sent them about their business, one after the other; but though she was so proud, still new suitors kept on coming to the palace, for she was a beauty, the wicked hussey!

So one day there came a prince to woo her, and his name was Hacon Grizzlebeard; but the first night he was there, the Princess bade the king's fool cut off the ears of one of the prince's horses, and slit the jaws of the other up to the ears. When the prince went out to drive next day, the Princess stood in the porch and looked at him.

'Well!' she cried, 'I never saw the like of this in all my life; the keen north wind that blows here has taken the ears off one of your horses, and the other has stood by and gaped at what was going on till his jaws have split right up to his ears.'

And with that she burst out into a roar of laughter, ran in, slammed to the door, and let him drive off.

So he drove home; but as he went, he thought to himself that he would pay her off one day. After a bit, he put on a great beard of moss, threw a great fur cloak over his clothes, and dressed himself up just like any beggar. He went to a goldsmith and bought a golden spinning wheel, and sat down with it under the Princess' window, and began to file away at his spinning wheel, and to turn it this way and that, for it wasn't quite in order, and, besides, it wanted a stand.

So when the Princess rose up in the morning, she came to the window and threw it up, and called out to the beggar if he would sell his golden spinning-wheel?

'No; it isn't for sale', said Hacon Grizzlebeard; 'but if I may have leave to sleep outside your bedroom door to-night, I'll give it you.'

Well, the Princess thought it a good bargain; there could be no danger in letting him sleep outside her door.

So she got the wheel, and at night Hacon Grizzlebeard lay down outside her bedroom. But as the night wore on he began to freeze.

'Hutetutetutetu! it is _so_ cold; do let me in', he cried.

'You've lost your wits outright, I think', said the Princess.

'Oh, hutetutetutetu! it is so bitter cold, pray do let me in', said Hacon Grizzlebeard again.

'Hush! hush! hold your tongue!' said the Princess; 'if my father were to know that there was a man in the house, I should be in a fine sc.r.a.pe.'

'Oh, hutetutetutetu! I'm almost frozen to death; only let me come inside and lie on the floor', said Hacon Grizzlebeard.

Yes! there was no help for it. She had to let him in, and when he was, he lay on the ground and slept like a top.

Some time after, Hacon came again with the stand to the spinning- wheel, and sat down under the Princess' window, and began to file at it, for it was not quite fit for use. When she heard him filing, she threw up the window and began to talk to him, and to ask what he had there.

'Oh! only the stand to that spinning-wheel which your royal highness bought; for I thought, as you had the wheel, you might like to have the stand too.'

'What do you want for it?' asked the Princess; but it was not for sale any more than the wheel, but she might have them if she would give him leave to sleep on the floor of her bedroom next night.

Well! she gave him leave, only he was to be sure to lie still, and not to shiver and call out 'hutetu', or any such stuff. Hacon Grizzlebeard promised fair enough, but as the night wore on he began to shiver and shake, and to ask whether he might not come nearer, and lie on the floor alongside the Princess' bed.

There was no help for it; she had to give him leave, lest the king should hear the noise he made. So Hacon Grizzlebeard lay alongside the Princess' bed, and slept like a top.

It was a long while before Hacon Grizzlebeard came again; but when he came he had with him a golden wool-winder, and he sat down and began to file away at it under the Princess' window. Then came the old story over again. When the Princess heard what was going on, she came to the window, and asked him how he did, and whether he would sell the golden wool-winder?

'It is not to be had for money; but if you'll give me leave to sleep to-night in your bedroom, with my head on your bedstead, you shall have it for nothing', said Hacon Grizzlebeard.

Well! she would give him leave, if he only gave his word to be quiet, and make no noise. So he said he would do his best to be still; but as the night wore on, he began to shiver and shake so, that his teeth chattered again.

'Hutetutetutetu! it is so bitter cold! Oh, do let me get into bed and warm myself a little', said Hacon Grizzlebeard.

'Get into bed!' said the Princess; 'why, you must have lost your wits.'

'Hutetutetutetu!' said Hacon; 'do let me get into bed.

Hutetutetutetu.'

'Hush! hush! be still for G.o.d's sake', said the Princess; 'if father knows there is a man in here, I shall be in a sad plight. I'm sure he'll kill me on the spot.'

'Hutetutetutetu! let me get into bed', said Hacon Grizzlebeard, who kept on shivering so that the whole room shook.

Well! there was no help for it; she had to let him get into bed, where he slept both sound and soft; but a little while after the Princess had a child, at which the king grew so wild with rage, that he was near making an end of both mother and babe. Just after this happened, came Hacon Grizzlebeard tramping that way once more, as if by chance, and took his seat down in the kitchen, like any other beggar.

So when the Princess came out and saw him, she cried, 'Ah, G.o.d have mercy on me, for the ill-luck you have brought on me; father is ready to burst with rage; do let me follow you to your home.'

'Oh! I'll be bound you're too well bred to follow me', said Hacon, 'for I have nothing but a log but to live in; and how I shall ever get food for you I can't tell, for it's just as much as I can do to get food for myself.'

'Oh yes! it's all the same to me how you get it, or whether you get it at all', she said; 'only let me be with you, for if I stay here any longer, my father will be sure to take my life.'

So she got leave to be with the beggar, as she called him, and they walked a long, long way, though she was but a poor hand at tramping.

When she pa.s.sed out of her father's land into another, she asked whose it was?

'Oh! this is Hacon Grizzlebeard's, if you must know', said he.

'Indeed!' said the Princess; 'I might have married him if I chose, and then I should not have had to walk about like a beggar's wife.'

So, whenever they came to grand castles, and woods, and parks, and she asked whose they were? the beggar's answer was still the same: 'Oh: they are Hacon Grizzlebeard's.' And the Princess was in a sad way that she had not chosen the man who had such broad lands. Last of all, they came to a palace, where he said he was known, and where he thought he could get her work, so that they might have something to live on; so he built up a cabin by the woodside for them to dwell in; and every day he went to the king's palace, as he said, to hew wood and draw water for the cook, and when he came back he brought a few sc.r.a.ps of meat; but they did not go very far. One day, when he came home from the palace, he said: 'To-morrow I will stay at home and look after the baby, but you must get ready to go to the palace, do you hear! for the Prince said you were to come and try your hand at baking.'