Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924079597849 
 
CORNELL UNIVERSnY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 079 597 849 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 reformatted this volume 
 
 to digital files to preserve 
 
 the informational content 
 
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 The original volume was scanned 
 
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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 THE Tales contained in this volume form a series 
 of those " Popular Tales from the Norse," which 
 have been received with much favour in this 
 country, and of which three editions have been pub- 
 lished. A part of them appeared some years ago in Once 
 a Week, from which they have been reprinted by per- 
 mission of the proprietors — the Norse originals, from 
 which they were translated, having been communicated 
 by the translator's friend, P. Chr. Asbjomsen, to various 
 Christmas books published in Christiania. In 1871, 
 Mr. Asbjomsen collected those scattered Tales and 
 added some more to them, which he published under 
 the title "Norske Folke-Eventyr fortalte of P. Chr. 
 Asbjomsen, Ny Samling." It is from this new series, 
 
 as revised by the collector, that the present version has 
 
 b 
 
vi Preface 
 
 been made. In it the translator has trodden in the 
 path laid down in the first series of "Tales from the 
 Norse," and tried to turn his Norse original into mother 
 English, which any one that runs may read. 
 
 This plan has met with favour abroad as well as 
 at home, and it is grateful to him to find that in Nor- 
 way, the cradle of these beautiful stories, his efforts 
 have been warmly appreciated by Messrs. Asbjornsen 
 and Moe, who in their preface to the third edition, 
 Christiania, 1866, speak in the following terms of 
 his version : — " In France and England collections have 
 appeared in which our Tales have not only been cor- 
 rectly and faultlessly translated, but even rendered 
 with exemplary truth and care — nay, with thor- 
 ough mastery. The English translation, by George 
 Webbe Dasent, is the best and happiest rendering 
 of our Tales that has appeared, and it has in England 
 been more successful, and become far more widely 
 known, than the originals here at home." Then, 
 speaking of the Introduction, Messrs. Asbjornsen and 
 Moe go on to say, "We have here added the end 
 of this Introduction to show how the translator has 
 understood and grasped the relation in which these 
 Tales stand to Norse nature and the life of the people, 
 and how they have sprung out of both." 
 
 The title of this volume, "Tales from the Fjeld," 
 arose out of the form in which they were published 
 in Once a Week. The translator began- by setting 
 
Preface vii 
 
 them in a frame formed by the imaginary adventures 
 of English sportsmen on the Fjeld or Fells in Norway. 
 After a while he grew weary of the setting and 
 framework, and when about a third of the volume 
 had been thus framed, he resolved to let the Tales 
 speak for themselves, and stand alone, as in the first 
 series of " Popular Tales from the Norse." This frame- 
 work has been omitted in the present edition. 
 
 With regard to the bearing of these Tales on the 
 question of the diffusion of race and tradition, much 
 might be said, but he has already traversed the same 
 ground in the Introduction to the "Tales from the 
 Norse." It will be enough here to mention that 
 several of the Tales now published are variations, 
 though very interesting ones, from some of those in 
 the first series. Others are rather the harvest of 
 popular experience than mythical tales ; and on the 
 whole, the character of this volume is more jocose and 
 less poetical than that of its predecessor. In a word, 
 they are, many of them, what the Germans would call 
 " Schwanke." 
 
 Of this kind are the Tales called "The Charcoal- 
 Burner," "Our Parish Clerk," and "The Parson and 
 the Clerk." In "Goody 'Gainst-the-Stream," and 
 " Silly Men and Cunning Wives," the reader skilled 
 in popular fiction will find two tales of Indian 
 origin, both of which are widespread in the folk- 
 lore of the West, and make their appearance in the 
 
viii Preface 
 
 Facetiae of Poggio. The Beast Epic, in which Jacob 
 Grimm so delighted, is largely represented, and the 
 stories of that kind in this volume are among the 
 best that have been collected. One of the most 
 mythical, and at the same time one of the most 
 domestic, stories of those now published is, perhaps, 
 "The Father of the Family," which ought rather to 
 have been called "The Seventh, the Father of the 
 Family," as it is not till the wayfarer has inquired 
 seven times from as many generations of old men 
 that he finds the real father of the family. Mr. 
 Ralston, the accomplished writer and editor of 
 " Russian Popular Tales," has pointed out in an 
 article on these Norse Tales, which appeared in 
 Fraser's Magazine for December 1872, the probable 
 antiquity of this story, which he classes with the 
 Rigsmal of the Elder Edda. That it was known in 
 England two centuries ago, is proved by the curious 
 fact that it has got woven into the life of "Old 
 Jenkins," whose mythical age, as well as that of 
 "Old Parr," Mr. Thoms has recently demolished in 
 his book on the "Longevity of Man." The story as 
 quoted by Mr. Thoms, from Clarkson's " History 
 and Antiquities of Richmond," in Yorkshire, is so 
 curious, that it is worth while to give it at length. 
 There had been some legal dispute in which the 
 evidence of Old Jenkins, as confessedly "the oldest 
 inhabitant," was required, and the agent of Mrs. 
 
Preface ix 
 
 Wastell, one of the parties, went to visit the old 
 man. " Previous to Jenkins going to York," says 
 Mr. Clarkson, "when the agent of Mrs. Wastell went 
 to him to find out what account he could give of 
 the matter in dispute, he saw an old man sitting at 
 the door, to whom he told his business. The old 
 man said 'He could remember nothing about it, but 
 that he would find his father in the house, who 
 perhaps could satisfy him.' When he went in, he 
 saw another old man sitting over the fire, bowed 
 down with years, to whom he repeated his former 
 questions. With some difficulty he made him under- 
 stand what he had said, and after a little while got 
 the following answer, which surprised him very much : 
 ' That he knew nothing about it, but that if he would 
 go into the yard he would meet with his father, who 
 perhaps could tell him.' The agent upon this thought 
 that he had met with a race of Antediluvians. Plow- 
 ever into the yard he went, and, to his no small aston- 
 ishment, found a venerable man with a long beard, 
 and a broad leathern belt about him, chopping sticks. 
 To this man he again told his business, and received 
 such information as in the end recovered the royalty 
 in dispute. The fact is," adds Mr. Thorns, "that 
 the story of Jenkins' son and grandson is only a 
 Yorkshire version of the story as old or older than 
 Jenkins himself, namely, of the very old man who 
 was seen crying because his father had beaten him 
 
X Preface 
 
 for throwing stones at his grandfather." On which 
 it may be remarked, that however old Old Jenkins 
 may have been, this story has probably outlived as 
 many generations as popular belief gave years to his 
 life. Another old story is "Death and the Doctor," 
 which centuries ago got entangled with the history 
 of the family of Bethune in Scotland, who were sup- 
 posed to possess an hereditary gift of leechcraft, 
 derived in the same way. " Friend s in Life and 
 Death " is a Norse variation of Rip Van Winkle, 
 which is nothing more nor less than a Dutch popular 
 tale ; while the lassie who won the prince by fulfilling 
 his conditions of coming to him " not driving and not 
 riding, not walking and not carried, not fasting and 
 not full-fed, not naked and not clad, not by daylight 
 and not by night," has its variations in many lands. 
 It is no little proof of the wonderful skill of Hans 
 Christian Andersen, and at the same time of his power 
 to enter into the spirit of popular fiction, that he has 
 worked the tale of "The Companion" into one of his 
 most happy stories. 
 
 In this volume, as in the former one, the translator, 
 while striving to be as truthful as possible, has in the 
 case of some characters adopted the English equivalent 
 rather than a literal rendering from the Norse. Thus 
 " Askpot " is still " Boots," the youngest of the family, 
 on whom falls all the dirty work, and not "Cinder- 
 bob " or the Scottish " Ashiepet." " Tyrihans " he has 
 
Preface xi 
 
 rendered almost literally "Taper Tom," the name 
 meaning not slender or limber Tom, but Tom who 
 sits in the ingle and makes tapers or matchwood of 
 resinous fir to be used instead of candles. Some of 
 the Tales, such as "The Charcoal-Burner," "Our 
 Parish Clerk," and " The Sheep and the Pig who set 
 up House," are fille d_with proverbs which it was often 
 very difficult to render. On this and other points it 
 must be left to others to say whether he has succeeded 
 or not. But if his readers, young and old, will only 
 remember that things which seem easiest are often the 
 hardest to do, they will be as gentle readers as those 
 he desired to find for his first volume ; and so long as 
 they are of that spirit, he is sure to be well pleased. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 / OsBORN's Pipe . 
 
 The Haunted Mill . 
 
 Another Haunted Mill 
 
 The Honest Penny . 
 
 The Death of Chanticleer 
 
 The Greedy Cat 
 ' Grumblegizzard 
 
 Father Bruin in the Corner 
 
 Reynard and Chanticleer . 
 / The Companion 
 
 The Shopboy and his Cheese 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 15 
 17 
 
 21 
 
 28 
 
 33 
 42 
 61 
 
 65 
 68 
 90 
 
XIV 
 
 Contents 
 
 Peik 
 
 Death and the Doctor . 
 
 The Way of the World 
 
 The Pancake 
 
 Pork and Honey 
 
 The Hare and the Heiress . 
 
 'Slip Root, Catch Reynard's Foot 
 
 Bruin Goodfellow . 
 
 Bruin and Reynard Partners 
 
 Reynard wants to Taste Horse-: 
 
 Master Tobacco 
 
 The Charcoal-Burner . 
 
 'the Box with Something Pretty 
 
 The Three Lemons . 
 
 The Priest and the Clerk . 
 
 Friends in Life and Death . 
 
 The Father of the Family . 
 
 Three Years without Wages 
 
 Our Parish Clerk . 
 
 Silly Men and Cunning Wives 
 
 Taper Tom 
 
 The Trolls in Hedale Wood 
 The Skipper and Old Nick . 
 , Goody 'Gainst-the- Stream 
 How to Win a Prince . 
 Boots and the Beasts . 
 iThe Sweetheart in the Wood 
 
 flesh 
 
 PAGE 
 
 95 
 io8 
 ii6 
 
 121 
 126 
 128 
 129 
 130 
 
 135 
 137 
 146 
 
 158 
 168 
 171 
 176 
 179 
 
 195 
 209 
 213 
 222 
 226 
 230 
 235 
 237 
 247 
 
Contents 
 
 XV 
 
 How THEY GOT HAIRLOCK HOME . 
 
 OsBORN Boots and Mr. Glibtongue . 
 This is the Lad who Sold the Pig . 
 The Sheep and the Pig who set up House 
 The Golden Palace that Hung in the Air 
 Little Freddy with his Fiddle . 
 Mother Roundaboui-'s Daughter 
 
 The Green Knight 
 
 Boots and his Crew .... 
 The Town- Mouse and the Fell-Mouse 
 
 Silly Matt 
 
 King Valemon, the White Bear . 
 The Golden Bird 
 
 254 
 261 
 274 
 283 
 289 
 312 
 323 
 333 
 341 
 353 
 358 
 376 
 391 
 
^ iLucjs.r 
 
 PLATES 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ' ' The return after four hundred years " . . Frontispiece 
 
 " The queen would go herself and fetch the pipe " ii 
 
 " He must and would have the land-tax " . .51 
 
 "'Aye, aye; I have it,' said the lad " . . 85 
 
 " There sat Death at her pillow " ... . . 113 
 
 " I am so pretty " .... 163 
 
 The prince dismissing his sweetheart . . . . 234 
 
 The princess and the falcon . . . 240 
 " Outside the gate lay the dragons " . .... 298 
 
 "All that were there fell a-dancing at once " 320 
 
 " The trap-door tipped up with the bride " 389 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Initial letter . . . . 
 
 " Her nose stuck fast in a log of wood " 
 
 " He piped them all together " . 
 
 The princess ... 
 
 The king . 
 
 " He gaped so wide " 
 
 " Paws off, pussy " 
 
 ' ' An old wife came walking by " 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 " The cat sitting up at the mainmast head ' 
 
 7 
 
 9 
 
 13 
 
 IS 
 
 19 
 
 21 
 
 21 
 26 
 
XVlll 
 
 List of Illustrations 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 The handquern, the chair, and the door 
 The greedy cat .... 
 
 The squirrel 
 
 " So she rushed at the sun " 
 The five goodies and the egg 
 Grumblegizzard chips the egg . 
 Grumblegizzard cuts down the wood . 
 Old Nick beats his mother . 
 The castle by the lake 
 
 The bridge 
 
 The king in the air ... . 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 " ' Bow-wow, bow-wow,' it said " 
 
 ' ' So she crawled up on her knees " 
 
 Reynard and chanticleer 
 
 " Here comes a hunter " 
 
 Initial letter ... 
 
 " Be so good as to sit down " 
 
 " The goat set off " .... 
 
 " The princess was even more high and haughty 
 
 " She fondled the Troll " . 
 
 " He met two who had slain a man " . 
 
 " Kissed him all shaggy as he was " 
 
 Initial letter .... 
 
 " There stood the king in the porch " . 
 
 " Boiled the porridge on the block " . 
 
 " She fell on the floor as though she were di 
 
 " So he fell a-wrangling with the queen 
 
 " Miss Peik sewed and stitched " 
 
 " He was so dry and lean " 
 
 " He tilted up the stone " 
 
 " Now I'm coming to eat you " . 
 
 ** I can well sUp through your feet, Goosey Poocey " 
 
 " ' Ouf, ouf,' said the pig " . 
 
 The hare frisking .... 
 
 Initial letter .... 
 
 The little girl and the beggar-boy 
 
 " He saw aji old hag " 
 
 " So he went up to the mansion-house 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 " Tell me now what there is in this tankard " 
 Boy and the box 
 
 :ad 
 
 than before" 
 
 PAGE 
 
 28 
 29 
 
 33 
 35 
 40 
 42 
 43 
 46 
 S3 
 54 
 59 
 60 
 61 
 62 
 63 
 65 
 66 
 68 
 
 71 
 76 
 80 
 
 83 
 90 
 
 94 
 95 
 96 
 98 
 
 lOI 
 I02 
 104 
 
 no 
 
 116 
 118 
 124 
 
 125 
 128 
 137 
 137 
 140 
 
 14s 
 146 
 
 155 
 157 
 
List of Illustrations xix 
 
 page; 
 
 Initial letter 158 
 
 "Such a swarm of little Trolls' 160 
 
 "She was dressed and clad like a princess " . . . 165 
 
 ' ' The king met him out in the porch " 169 
 
 " He knocked at his grave " 171 
 
 " The old hag with her basket " 181 
 
 " So he took up a birch cudgel " . . . . .186 
 
 The king ....... . . 187 
 
 A ship 188 
 
 Initial letter . 195 
 
 " He lay snoring " . 198 
 
 " There he sat upright " 201 
 
 Two goodies who quarrelled . ... . 209 
 
 " Nothing ails me " . . 210 
 
 Initial letter . 213 
 
 " A wonderful figure of fun " ... . 215 
 
 " Hang on if you care to come " . . ... 220 
 
 Initial letter . . 222 
 
 Initial letter . 226 
 
 " Old Nick came on board in a gust of wind " . . . 227 
 
 " Pump, devil, pump " .... . . 228 
 
 " Shall we reap the field now ■ . 231 
 
 Initial letter 237 
 
 " ' Oh ! ' said the princess, ' there is some one here ' " . 241 
 
 The falcon 244 
 
 Initial letter 247 
 
 " She saw ever so many chests of drawers " . . 249 
 
 Initial letter 254 
 
 ' ' Go to the smith " . . . . . . 258 
 
 " He met the old wife " .... . 264 
 
 The king 266 
 
 " Out came her eldest daughter " . . 267 
 
 " Lay your head on my lap " . . . 268 
 
 " He caught the Troll " .... . 272 
 
 " His coat-tails were higher than his neck " . . 273 
 
 " Flogging the old hunks " . ... . . 277 
 
 " Dressed himself up as a doctor " . . . 278 
 
 Initial letter . 283 
 
 The pig .288 
 
 " Could only walk with a stick " . ... 289 
 
 ' ' The likeness of a young girl or princess " . . 291 
 
 A baby Troll . . 294 
 
 " There sat a princess spinning " ... . . 301 
 
XX 
 
 List of Illustrations 
 
 " There lay another princess " . 
 
 " A strange ship of war " . 
 
 The ass ... . . 
 
 " The sheriff began to dance " 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 " He had to jump over a bog-hole " . 
 " So the goody came out of doors " . 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 " The Green Knight came to her " . 
 
 " The princess stepped into the church porch " 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 " He met the same old man " 
 
 " I'm a dead-shot up to the world's end " 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 Silly Matt .... 
 
 " He set off and wooed a lass " 
 
 ' ' There sat that figure of fun " 
 
 Initial letter 
 
 The white bear . 
 
 The castle . 
 
 " She held the candle over him " 
 
 " In that town there was an inn ' 
 
 " One of the musicians" 
 
 ' ' He had got the bird on his fist ' 
 
 " I'll kill you on the spot " 
 
 " They came to the spot where the lovely maiden was ' 
 
 " Three Trolls came flying along " . . 
 
 The end . 
 
 PACE 
 306 
 
 3" 
 317 
 323 
 327 
 329 
 
 333 
 33S 
 338 
 341 
 34+ 
 346 
 353 
 358 
 367 
 370 
 376 
 377 
 379 
 381 
 392 
 396 
 397 
 398 
 400 
 401 
 403 
 
TALES FROM THE FJELD 
 
 Osborn's Pipe 
 
 NCE on a time there was a 
 poor tenant-farmer who 
 had to give up his farm 
 to his landlord; but, if 
 he had lost his farm, he 
 had three sons left, and 
 their names were Peter, 
 Paul, and Osborn Boots. 
 They stayed at home 
 and sauntered about, and 
 wouldn't do a stroke of 
 work ; that they thought was the right thing to do. 
 They thought, too, they were too good for everything, 
 and that nothing was good enough for them. 
 
 At last Peter had got to hear how the king would 
 have a keeper to watch his hares ; so he said to his 
 father that he would be off thither: the place would 
 just suit him, for he would serve no lower man than 
 the king; that was what he said. The old father 
 thought there might be work for which he was better 
 
2 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 fitted than that; for he that would keep the king's 
 hares must be light and lissom, and no lazy-bones, 
 and when the hares began to skip and frisk there 
 would be quite another dance than loitering about 
 from house to house. Well, it was all no good : 
 Peter would go, and must go, so he took his scrip 
 on his back, and toddled away down the hill; and 
 when he had gone far, and farther than far, he came 
 
 to an old wife, who stood there with her nose stuck 
 fast in a log of wood, and pulled and pulled at it ; and 
 as soon as he saw how she stood dragging and pulling 
 to get free he burst into a loud fit of laughter. 
 
 " Don't stand there and grin," said the old wife, 
 "but come and help an old cripple; I was to have 
 split asunder a little firewood, and I got my nose fast 
 down here, and so I have stood and tugged and torn 
 
OsborrCs Pipe 3 
 
 and not tasted a morsel of food for hundreds of years." 
 That was what she said. 
 
 But for all that Peter laughed more and more. 
 He thought it all fine fun. All he said was, as she 
 had stood so for hundreds of years she might hold 
 out for hundreds of years still. 
 
 When he got to the king's grange, they took him 
 for keeper at once. It was not bad serving there, 
 and he was to have good food and good pay, and 
 maybe the princess into the bargain; but if one of 
 the king's hares got lost, they were to cut three red 
 stripes out of his back and cast him into a pit of 
 snakes. 
 
 So long as Peter was in the byre and home-field 
 he kept all the hares in one flock : but as the day 
 wore on, and they got up into the wood, all the hares 
 began to frisk, and skip, and scuttle away up and 
 down the hillocks. Peter ran after them this way 
 and that, and nearly burst himself with running, 
 so long as he could make out that he had one of 
 them left, and when the last was gone he was almost 
 broken-winded. And after that he saw nothing more 
 of them. 
 
 When it drew towards evening he sauntered along 
 on his way home, and stood and called and called to 
 them at each fence, but no hares came ; and when he 
 got home to the king's grange, there stood the king 
 all ready with his knife, and he took and cut three 
 red stripes out of Peter's back, and then rubbed pepper 
 and salt into them, and cast him into a pit of snakes. 
 
 After a time, Paul was for going to the king's 
 grange to keep the king's hares. The old gaffer said 
 
4 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 the same thing to him, and even still more; but he 
 must and would set off; there was no help for it, 
 and things went neither better nor worse with him 
 than with Peter. The old wife stood there and tugged 
 and tore at her nose to get it out of the log; he 
 laughed, and thought it fine fun, and left her standing 
 and hacking there. He got the place at once ; no one 
 said him nay ; but the hares hopped and skipped away 
 from him down all the hillocks, while he rushed about 
 till he blew and panted like a collie-dog in the dog- 
 days; and when he got home at night to the king's 
 grange without a hare, the king stood ready with his 
 knife in the porch, and took and cut three broad red 
 stripes out of his back, and rubbed pepper and salt 
 into them, and so down he went into the pit of 
 snakes. 
 
 Now, when a little while had passed, Osborn Boots 
 was all for setting off to keep the king's hares, and he 
 told his mind to the gaffer. He thought it would be 
 just the right work for him to go into the woods and 
 fields, and along the wild strawberry brakes, and to 
 drag a flock of hares with him, and between whiles to 
 lie and sleep and warm himself on the sunny hillsides. 
 
 The gaffer thought there might be work which 
 suited him better ; if it didn't go worse, it was sure not 
 to go better with him than with his two brothers. The 
 man to keep the king's hares must not dawdle about 
 like a lazy-bones with leaden soles to his stockings, 
 or like a fly in a tar-pot ; for when they fell to frisking 
 and skipping on the sunny slopes, it would be quite 
 another dance to catching fleas with gloves on. No ; 
 he that would get rid of that work with a whole back 
 
Osborns Pipe 5 
 
 had need to be more than lithe and lissom, and he 
 must fly about faster than a bladder or a bird's wing. 
 
 "Well, well, it was all no good, however bad it 
 might be," said Osborn Boots. He would go to the 
 king's grange and serve the king, for no lesser man 
 would he serve, and he would soon keep the hares. 
 They couldn't well be worse than the goat and calf at 
 home. So Boots threw his scrip on his shoulder, and 
 down the hill he toddled. 
 
 So when he had gone far, and farther than far, 
 and had begun to get right down hungry, he too came 
 to the old wife, who stood with her nose fast in the 
 log, who tugged, and tore, and tried to get loose. 
 
 "Good-day, grandmother," said Boots. "Are you 
 standing there whetting your nose, poor old cripple 
 that you are ? " 
 
 " Now, not a soul has called me ' mother ' for hun- 
 dreds of years," said the old wife. " Do come and help 
 me to get free, and give me something to live on ; for 
 I haven't had meat in my mouth all that time. See 
 if I don't do you a motherly turn afterwards," 
 
 Yes; he thought she might well ask for a bit of 
 food and a drop of drink. 
 
 So he cleft the log for her, that she might get her 
 nose out of the split, and sat down to eat and drink 
 with her; and as the old wife had a good appetite, 
 you may fancy she got the lion's share of the meal. 
 
 When they were done, she gave Boots a pipe, 
 which was in this wise: when he blew into one end 
 of it, anything that he wished away was scattered to 
 the four winds, and when he blew into the other, all 
 things gathered themselves together again ; and if the 
 
6 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 pipe were lost or taken from him, he had only to wish 
 for it, and it came back to him. 
 
 " Something like a pipe, this," said Osbom Boots. 
 
 When he got to the king's grange, they chose 
 him for keeper on the spot. It was no bad service 
 there, and food and wages he should have, and, if he 
 were man enough to keep the king's hares, he might, 
 perhaps, get the princess too ; but if one of them got 
 away, if it were only a leveret, they were to cut three 
 red stripes out of his back. And the king was so sure 
 of this that he went pff at once and ground his knife. 
 
 It would be a small thing to keep these hares, 
 thought Osbom Boots ; for when they set out they 
 were almost as tame as a flock of sheep, and so long 
 as he was in the lane and in the home-field, he had 
 them all easily in a flock and following ; but when they 
 got upon the hill by the wood, and it looked towards 
 midday, and the sun began to burn and shine on the 
 slopes and hillsides, all the hares fell to frisking and 
 skipping about, and away over the hills. 
 
 " Ho, ho ! stop ! will you all go ? Go, then ! " said 
 Boots ; and he blew into one end of the pipe, so that 
 they ran off on all sides, and there was not one of them 
 left. But as he went on, and came to an old charcoal 
 pit, he blew into the other end of the pipe ; and before 
 he knew where he was, the hares were all there, and 
 stood in lines and rows, so that he could take them all 
 in at a glance, just like a troop of soldiers on parade. 
 "Something like a pipe, this," said Osborn Boots; and 
 with that he laid him down to sleep away under a sunny 
 slope, and the hares frisked and frolicked about till 
 eventide. Then he piped them all together again, and 
 
Osborris Pipe y 
 
 came down to the king's grange with them, Hke a flock 
 of sheep. 
 
 The king and the queen, and the princess, too, all 
 stood in the porch, and wondered what sort of fellow 
 this was who so kept the hares that he brought them 
 home again ; and the king told and reckoned them on 
 his fingers, and counted them over and over again; 
 
 but there was not one of them missing — no ! not so 
 much as a leveret. 
 
 " Something hke a lad, this," said the princess. 
 
 Next day he went off to the wood, and was to 
 keep the hares again ; but as he lay and rested him- 
 self on a strawberry brake, they sent the maid after 
 him from the grange that she might find out how it 
 
8 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 was that he was man enough to keep the king's hares 
 so well. 
 
 So he took out the pipe and showed it her, and 
 then he blew into one end and made them fly like the 
 wind over all the hills and dales ; and then he blew into 
 the other end, and they all came scampering back to 
 the brake, and all stood in row and rank again. 
 
 "What a pretty pipe," said the maid. She would 
 willingly give a hundred dollars for it, if he would sell 
 it, she said. 
 
 " Yes ! it is something like a pipe," said Osborn 
 Boots; "and it was not to be had for money alone; 
 but if she would give him the hundred dollars, and a 
 kiss for each dollar, she should have it," he said. 
 
 Well ! why not ? of course she would ; she would will- 
 ingly give him two for each dollar, and thanks besides. 
 
 So she got the pipe; but when she had got as far 
 as the king's grange, the pipe was gone, for Osborn 
 Boots had wished for it back, and so, when it drew 
 towards eventide, home he came with his hares just 
 like any other flock of sheep; and for all the king's 
 counting or telling, there was no help, — not a hair of 
 the hares was missing. 
 
 The third day that he kept the hares, they sent the 
 princess on her way to try and get the pipe from him. 
 She made herself as blithe as a lark, and she bade him 
 two hundred dollars if he would sell her the pipe and 
 tell her how she was to behave to bring it safe home 
 with her. 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! it is something like a pipe," said Os- 
 born Boots ; " and it was not for sale," he said, " but 
 all the same, he would do it for her sake, if she would 
 
Osborns Pipe 
 
 give him two hundred dollars, and a kiss into the bar- 
 gain for each dollar; then she might have the pipe. 
 If she wished to keep it, she must look sharp after it. 
 That was her look-out." 
 
 " This is a very high price for a hare-pipe," thought 
 the princess ; and she made mouths at giving him the 
 kisses ; " but, after all," she said, " it's far away in the 
 wood, no one can see it or hear it 
 — it can't be helped; for I must 
 and will have the pipe." 
 
 So when Osborn Boots had got 
 all he was to have, she got the 
 pipe, and off she went, and held 
 it fast with her fingers the whole 
 way; but when she came to the 
 grange, and was going to take it 
 out, it slipped through her fingers 
 and was gone ! 
 
 Next day the queen would go 
 herself and fetch the pipe from 
 him. She made sure she would 
 bring the pipe back with her. 
 
 Now she was more stingy about the money, and 
 bade no more than fifty dollars ; but she had to raise 
 her price till it came to three hundred. Boots said it 
 was something like a pipe, and it was no price at all ; 
 still for her sake it might go, if she would give him 
 three hundred dollars, and a smacking kiss for each 
 dollar into the bargain ; then she might have it. And 
 he got the kisses well paid, for on that part of the bar- 
 gain she was not so squeamish. 
 
 So when she had got the pipe, she both bound it 
 
I o Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 fast, and looked after it well ; but she was not a hair 
 better off than the others, for when she was going to 
 pull it out at home, the pipe was gone ; and at even 
 down came Osborn Boots, driving the king's hares 
 home for all the world like a flock of tame sheep. 
 
 " It is all stuff," said the king ; " I see I must set 
 off myself, if we are to get this wretched pipe from 
 him; there's no other help for it, I can see." And 
 when Osborn Boots had got well into the woods next 
 day with the hares, the king stole after him, and found 
 him lying on the same sunny hillside, where the women 
 had tried their hands on him. 
 
 Well! they were good friends and very happy; 
 and Osborn Boots showed him the pipe, and blew 
 first on one end and then on the other, and the king 
 thought it a pretty pipe, and wanted at last to buy it, 
 even though he gave a thousand dollars for it. 
 
 " Yes ! it is something like a pipe," said Boots, " and 
 it's not to be had for money ; but do you see that white 
 horse yonder down there ? " and he pointed away into 
 the wood. 
 
 " See it ! of course I see it ; it's my own horse 
 Whitey," said the king. No one had need to tell him 
 that. 
 
 " Well ! if you will give me a thousand dollars, and 
 then go and kiss yon white horse down in the marsh 
 there, behind the big fir-tree, you shall have my pipe." 
 
 " Isn't it to be had for any other price ? " asked the 
 king. 
 
 " No, it is not," said Osborn. 
 
 "Well! but I may put my silken pocket-handker- 
 chief between us ? " said the king. 
 
" The queen would go herself and fetch the pipe." — Page g. 
 
Osborns Pipe 
 
 13 
 
 " Very good ; he might have leave to do that." And 
 so he got the pipe, and put it into his purse. And the 
 purse he put into his pocket, and buttoned it up tight ; 
 and so off he strode to his home. But when he reached 
 the grange, and was 
 going to pull out 
 his pipe, he fared 
 no better than the 
 women folk ; he 
 hadn't the pipe any 
 more than they, and 
 there came Osborn 
 Boots driving home 
 the flock of hares, 
 and not a hair was 
 missing. 
 
 The king was 
 both spiteful and 
 wroth, to think 
 that he had fooled 
 them all round, and 
 cheated him out of 
 the pipe as well; 
 
 and now he said Boots must lose his life, there was no 
 question of it, and the queen said the same : it was 
 best to put such a rogue out of the way red-handed. 
 
 Osborn thought it neither fair nor right, for he 
 had done nothing but what they told him to do ; and 
 so he had guarded his back and life as best he might. 
 
 So the king said there was no help for it; but if 
 he could lie the great brewing-vat so full of lies that 
 it ran over, then he might keep his life. 
 
1 4 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 That was neither a long nor perilous piece of 
 work: he was quite game to do that, said Osborn 
 Boots. So he began to tell how it had all happened 
 from the very first. He told about the old wife and 
 her nose in the log, and then he went on to say, " Well, 
 but I must lie faster if the vat is to be full." So he 
 went on to tell of the pipe and how he got it ; and of 
 the maid, how she came to him and wanted to buy 
 it for a hundred dollars, and of all the kisses she had to 
 give besides, away there in the wood. Then he told of 
 the princess how she came and kissed him so sweetly 
 for the pipe when no one could see or hear it all 
 away there in the wood. Then he stopped and said, 
 " I must lie faster if the vat is ever to be full." So he 
 told of the queen, how close she was about the money 
 and how overflowing she was with her smacks. " You 
 know I must lie hard to get the vat full," said Osborn. 
 
 " For my part," said the queen, " I think it's pretty 
 full already." 
 
 " No ! no ! it isn't," said the king. 
 
 So he fell to telling how the king came to him, and 
 about the white horse down on the marsh, and how, if 
 the king was to have the pipe, he must — "Yes, your 
 majesty, if the vat is ever to be full I must go on and 
 lie hard," said Osborn Boots. 
 
 " Hold ! hold, lad ! It's full to the brim," roared out 
 the king ; " don't you see how it is foaming over ? " 
 
 So both the king and the queen thought it best 
 he should have the princess to wife and half the king- 
 dom. There was no help for it. 
 
 "That was something like a pipe," said Osborn 
 Boots. 
 
The Haunted Mill 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a man who had a mill 
 by the side of a force, and in the mill there 
 was a brownie. Whether the man, as is the 
 custom in most places, gave the brownie porridge and 
 ale at Yule to bring grist to the mill, I can't say, but 
 I don't think he did, for every time he turned the 
 water on the mill, the brownie 
 took hold of the spindle and 
 stopped the mill, so that he 
 couldn't grind a sack. 
 
 The man knew well enough 
 it was all the brownie's work, 
 and at last one evening, when 
 he went into the mill, he took 
 a pot full of pitch and tar, and 
 lit a fire under it. Well ! when 
 he turned the water on the 
 wheel, it went round awhile, 
 but soon after it made a dead 
 
 stop. So he turned, and twisted, and put his shoulder 
 to the top of the wheel, but it was all no good. By 
 this time the pot of pitch was boiling hot, and then he 
 opened the trap-door which opened on to the ladder 
 that went down into the wheel, and if he didn't see 
 
1 6 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 the brownie standing on the steps of the ladder with 
 his jaws all a-gape, and he gaped so wide that his 
 mouth filled up the whole trap-door. 
 
 " Did you ever see such a wide mouth ? " said the 
 brownie. 
 
 But the man was handy with his pitch. He caught 
 up the pot and threw it, pitch and all, into the gaping 
 jaws. 
 
 " Did you ever feel such hot pitch ? " 
 
 Then the brownie let the wheel go, and yelled and 
 howled frightfully. Since then he has been never 
 known to stop the wheel in that mill, and there they 
 grind in peace. 
 
Another Haunted Mill 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a mill ; this mill was 
 not in these parts, it was somewhere up the 
 country; but wherever it was, north of the 
 Fells or south of the Fells, it was not canny. No 
 one could grind a grain of corn in it for weeks to- 
 gether, when something came and haunted it. But 
 the worst was that, besides haunting it, the trolls, 
 or whatever they were, took to burning the mill down. 
 Two Whitsun-eves running it had caught fire and 
 burned to the ground. 
 
 Well, the third year, as Whitsuntide was drawing 
 on, the man had a tailor in his house hard by the mill, 
 who was making Sunday-clothes for the miller. 
 
 " I wonder, now," said the man on Whitsun-eve, 
 "whether the mill will burn down this Whitsuntide, 
 too ? " 
 
 " No, it shan't," said the tailor. " Why should it ? 
 Give me the keys : I'll watch the mill." 
 
 Well, the man thought that brave, and so, as the 
 evening drew on, he gave the tailor the keys, and 
 showed him into the mill. It was empty, you know, 
 for it was just new-built, and so the tailor sat down 
 in the middle of the floor, and took out his chalk and 
 chalked a great circle round about him, and outside 
 
 '7, B 
 
1 8 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 the ring all round he wrote the Lord's Prayer, and 
 when he had done that he wasn't afraid — no, not if 
 Old Nick himself came. 
 
 So at dead of night the door flew open with a 
 bang, and there came in such a swarm of black cats 
 you couldn't count them ; they were as thick as ants. 
 They were not long before they had put a big pot 
 on the fireplace and set light under it, and the pot 
 began to boil and bubble, and as for the broth, it 
 was for all the world like pitch and tar. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! " thought the tailor, " that's your game, 
 is it ! " 
 
 And he had hardly thought this before one of the 
 cats thrust her paw under the pot and tried to up- 
 set it. 
 
 "Paws off, pussy," said the tailor, "you'll burn 
 your whiskers." 
 
 " Hark to the tailor, who says ' Paws off, pussy,' 
 to me," said the cat to the other cats, and in a trice 
 they all ran away from the fireplace, and began to 
 dance and jump round the circle; and then all at 
 once the same cat stole off to the fireplace and tried 
 to upset the pot. 
 
 " Paws off, pussy, you'll burn your whiskers," 
 bawled out the tailor again, and again he scared them 
 from the fireplace. 
 
 "Hark to the tailor, who says 'Paws off, pussy,'" 
 said the cat to the others, and again they all began 
 to dance and jump round the circle, and then all at 
 once they were off again to the pot, trying to upset it. 
 
 "Paws off, pussy, you'll burn your whiskers," 
 screamed out the tailor the third time, and this time 
 
Another Haunted Mill 
 
 19 
 
 he gave them such a fright that they tumbled head 
 over heels on the floor, and began dancing and jump- 
 ing as before. 
 
 Then they closed round the circle, and danced 
 faster and faster: so fast at last that the tailor's 
 head began to turn round, and they glared at him 
 with such big ugly eyes, as though they would 
 swallow him up alive. 
 
 Now just as they were at the fastest, the same 
 
 cat which had tried so often to upset the pot, stuck 
 her paw inside the circle, as though she meant to 
 claw the tailor. But as soon as the tailor saw that, 
 he drew his knife out of the sheath and held it ready ; 
 just then the cat thrust her paw in again, and in a 
 trice the tailor chopped it off, and then, pop ! all the 
 cats took to their heels as fast as they could, with 
 yells and caterwauls, right out at the door. 
 
 But the tailor lay down inside his circle, and slept 
 till the sun shone bright in upon the floor. Then 
 
2o Tales from the Fjetd 
 
 he rose, locked the mill, and went away to the miller's 
 house. 
 
 When he got there, both the miller and his wife 
 were stiU abed, for you know it was Whitsunday 
 morning. 
 
 " Good morning," said the tailor, as he went to the 
 bedside, and held out his hand to the miller. 
 
 "Good morning," said the miller, who was both 
 glad and astonished to see the tailor safe and sound, 
 you must know. 
 
 " Good morning, mother ! " said the tailor, and held 
 out his hand to the wife. 
 
 " Good morning," said she ; but she looked so wan 
 and worried ; and as for her hand, she hid it under 
 the quilt ; but at last she stuck out the left. Then the 
 tailor saw plainly how things stood, but what he said 
 to the man and what was done to the wife, I never 
 heard. 
 
^-Ms. 
 
 The Honest Penm 
 
 NCE on a time there was 
 a poor woman who lived 
 in a tumble-down hut 
 far away in the wood. 
 Little had she to eat, 
 and nothing at all to 
 burn, and so she sent 
 a little boy she had out 
 into the wood to gather 
 fuel. He ran and jumped, and jumped and ran, to 
 keep himself warm, for it was a cold grey autumn 
 day, and every time he found a bough or a root for 
 his billet, he had to beat his arms across his breast, 
 for his fists were as red as the cranberries over 
 which he walked, for very cold. So when he had got 
 his billet of wood and was off home, he came upon 
 
22 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 a clearing of stumps on the hillside, and there he 
 saw a white crooked stone. 
 
 " Ah ! you poor old stone," said the boy ; " how 
 white and wan you are ! I'll be bound you are 
 frozen to death ; " and with that he took off his jacket 
 and laid it on the stone. So when he got home with 
 his billet of wood his mother asked what it all meant 
 that he walked about in wintry weather in his shirt- 
 sleeves. Then he told her how he had seen an old 
 crooked stone which was all white and wan for frost, 
 and how he had given it his jacket. 
 
 " What a fool you are ! " said his mother ; " do you 
 think a stone can freeze ? But even if it froze till it 
 shook again, know this — every one is nearest to his 
 own self. It costs quite enough to get clothes to your 
 back, without your going and hanging them on stones 
 in the clearings ; " and as she said that, she hunted the 
 boy out of the house to fetch his jacket. 
 
 So when he came where the stone stood, lo ! it 
 had turned itself and lifted itself up on one side from 
 the ground. "Yes! yes! this is since you got the 
 jacket, poor old thing," said the boy. 
 
 But when he looked a little closer at the stone, 
 he saw a money-box, full of bright silver, under it. 
 
 " This is stolen money, no doubt," thought the boy; 
 " no one puts money, come by honestly, under a stone 
 away in the wood." 
 
 So he took the money-box and bore it down to a tarn 
 hard by and threw the whole hoard into the tarn ; but 
 one silver penny-piece floated on the top of the water. 
 
 "Ah! ah ! that is honest," said the lad; "for what 
 is honest never sinks." 
 
The Honest Penny 23 
 
 So he took the silver penny and went home with 
 it and his jacket. Then he told his mother how it had 
 all happened, how the stone had turned itself, and 
 how he had found a money-box full of silver money, 
 which he had thrown out into the tarn because it was 
 stolen money, and how one silver penny floated on 
 the top. 
 
 "That I took," said the boy, "because it was 
 honest." 
 
 " You are a born fool," said his mother, for she was 
 very angry ; "were naught else honest than what floats 
 on water, there wouldn't be much honesty in the 
 world. And even though the money were stolen ten 
 times over, still you had found it ; and I tell you again 
 what I told you before, every one is nearest to his 
 own self. Had you only taken that money we might 
 have lived well and happy all our days. But a ne'er- 
 do-weel thou art, and a ne'er-do-weel thou wilt be, 
 and now I won't drag on any longer toiling and moiling 
 for thee. Be off with thee into the world and earn 
 thine own bread." 
 
 So the lad had to go out into the wide world, 
 and he went both far and long seeking a place. But 
 wherever he came, folk thought him too little and 
 weak, and said they could put him to no use. At 
 last he came to a merchant, and there he got leave 
 to be in the kitchen and carry in wood and water for 
 the cook. Well, after he had been there a long time, 
 the merchant had to make a journey into foreign 
 lands, and so he asked all his servants what he 
 should buy and bring home for each of them. So, 
 when all had said what they would have, the turn 
 
24 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 came to the scullion too, who brought in wood and 
 water for the cook. Then he held out his penny. 
 
 " Well, what shall I buy with this ? " asked the 
 merchant ; " there won't be much time lost over this 
 bargain." 
 
 "Buy what I can get for it. It is honest, that I 
 know," said the lad. 
 
 That his master gave his word to do, and so he 
 sailed away. 
 
 So when the merchant had unladed his ship 
 and laded her again in foreign lands, and bought 
 what he had promised his servants to buy, he came 
 down to his ship, and was just going to shove off 
 from the wharf. Then all at once it came into his 
 head that the scullion had sent out a silver penny 
 with him, that he might buy something for him. 
 
 " Must I go all the way back to the town for the 
 sake of a silver penny? One would then have small 
 gain in taking such a beggar into one's house," thought 
 the merchant. 
 
 Just then an old wife came walking by with a bag 
 at her back. 
 
 " What have you got in your bag, mother ? " asked 
 the merchant. 
 
 " Oh ! nothing else than a cat. I can't afford to 
 feed it any longer, so I thought I would throw it into 
 the sea, and make away with it," answered the woman. 
 
 Then the merchant said to himself, " Didn't the lad 
 say I was to buy what I could get for his penny ? " 
 So he asked the old wife if she would take four 
 farthings for her cat. Yes ! the goody was not slow 
 to say " done," and so the bargain was soon struck. 
 
The Honest Penny 25 
 
 Now when the merchant had sailed a bit, fearful 
 weather fell on him, and such a storm, there was 
 nothing for it but to drive and drive till he did not 
 know whither he was going. At last he came to a 
 land on which he had never set foot before, and so 
 up he went into the town. 
 
 At the inn where he turned in, the board was laid 
 with a rod for each man who sat at it. The merchant 
 thought it very strange, for he couldn't at all make 
 out what they were to do with all these rods; but 
 he sat him down, and thought he would watch well 
 what the others did, and do like them. Well! as 
 soon as the meat was set on the board, he saw well 
 enough what the rods meant ; for out swarmed mice in 
 thousands, and each one who sat at the board had 
 to take to his rod and flog and flap about him, and 
 naught else could be heard than one cut of the rod 
 harder than the one which went before it. Sometimes 
 they whipped one another in the face, and just gave 
 themselves time to say, " Beg pardon," and then at it 
 again. 
 
 " Hard work to dine in this land ! " said the mer- 
 chant. " But don't folk keep cats here ? " 
 
 " Cats ? " they all asked, for they did not know what 
 cats were. 
 
 So the merchant sent and fetched the cat he had 
 bought for the scullion, and as soon as the cat got on the 
 table, off ran the mice to their holes, and folks had never 
 in the memory of man had such rest at their meat. 
 
 Then they begged and prayed the merchant to sell 
 them the cat, and at last, after a long, long time, he 
 promised to let them have it ; but he would have a 
 
26 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 hundred dollars for it; and that sum they gave and 
 thanks besides. 
 
 So the merchant sailed off again ; but he had scarce 
 got good sea-room before he saw the cat sitting up at 
 the mainmast head, and all at once again came foul 
 weather and a storm worse than the first, and he 
 drove and drove till he got to a country where he had 
 never been before. The merchant went up to an inn, 
 and here, too, the board was spread 
 ith rods ; but they were much bigger 
 and longer than the first. And, to 
 tell the truth, they had need to be ; 
 for here the mice were many 
 more, and every mouse was 
 twice as big as those he 
 had before seen. 
 
 So he sold the cat 
 again, and this time 
 he got two hundred dol- 
 lars for it, and that without 
 jling. 
 
 en he had sailed away from 
 that land and got a bit out at sea, 
 there sat Grimalkin again at the masthead; and the 
 bad weather began at once again, and the end of it 
 was, he was again driven to a land where he had 
 never been before. 
 
 He went ashore, up to the town, and turned into an 
 inn. There, too, the board was laid with rods, but 
 every rod was an ell and a half long, and as thick as a 
 small broom ; and the folk said that to sit at meat was 
 the hardest trial they had, for there were thousands of 
 
The Honest Penny 27 
 
 big ugly rats, so that it was only with sore toil and 
 trouble one could get a morsel into one's mouth, 'twas 
 such hard work to keep off the rats. So the cat had to 
 be fetched up from the ship once more, and then folks 
 got their food in peace. Then they all begged and 
 prayed the merchant, for heaven's sake, to sell them 
 his cat. For a long time he said " No ; " but at last he 
 gave his word to take three hundred dollars for it. 
 That sum they paid down at once, and thanked him 
 and blessed him for it into the bargain. 
 
 Now, when the merchant got out to sea, he fell a- 
 thinking how much the lad had made out of the penny 
 he had sent out with him. 
 
 " Yes, yes, some of the money he shall have," said 
 the merchant to himself, " but not all. Me it is that 
 he has to thank for the cat I bought; and besides, 
 every man is nearest to his own self." 
 
 But as soon as ever the merchant thought this, such 
 a storm and gale arose that every one thought the ship 
 must founder. So the merchant saw there was no 
 help for it, and he had to vow that the lad should have 
 every penny ; and no sooner had he vowed this vow, 
 than the weather turned good, and he got a snoring 
 breeze fair for home. 
 
 So, when he got to land, he gave the lad the six hun- 
 dred dollars, and his daughter besides; for now the 
 little scullion was just as rich as his master, the mer- 
 chant, and even richer; and, after that, the lad lived 
 all his days in mirth and jollity ; and he sent for his 
 mother, and treated her as well as or better than he 
 treated himself; "for," said the lad, " I don't think that 
 every one is nearest to his own self" 
 
The Death of Chanticleer 
 
 NCE on a time there was 
 a Cock and a Hen, who 
 walked out into the field, 
 'V^ and scratched, and scraped, 
 and scrabbled. All at once 
 Chanticleer found a burr of 
 hop, and Partlet found a 
 barleycorn ; and they said 
 they would make malt and 
 brew Yule ale. 
 
 "Oh! I pluck barley, 
 
 and I malt malt, and I brew 
 
 ale, and the ale is good," 
 
 cackled dame Partlet. 
 
 "Is the wort strong enough?" crew Chanticleer; 
 
 and as he crowed he flew up on the edge of the cask, 
 
 and tried to have a taste ; but, just as he bent over 
 
 to drink a drop, he took to flapping his wings, and so 
 
 he fell head over heels into the cask, and was drowned. 
 
 When dame Partlet saw that, she clean lost her 
 
 wits, and flew up into the chimney-corner, and fell 
 
 a-screaming and screeching out. " Harm in the house ! 
 
 harm in the house ! " she screeched out all in a breath, 
 
 and there was no stopping her. 
 
 z8 
 
The Death of Chanticleer 
 
 29 
 
 "What ails you, dame Partlet, that you sit there 
 sobbing and sighing?" said the Handquern. 
 
 " Why not," said dame Partlet, " when goodman 
 Chanticleer has fallen into the cask and drowned him- 
 self, and lies dead ? That's why I sigh and sob." 
 
 "Well, if I can do naught else, I will grind and 
 groan," said the Handquern ; and so it fell to grinding 
 as fast as it could. 
 
 When the Chair heard that, it said — 
 
 
 "What ails you, Handquern, that you grind and 
 groan so fast and oft ? " 
 
 "Why not, when goodman Chanticleer has fallen 
 into the cask and drowned himself; and dame Partlet 
 sits in the ingle and sighs and sobs ? That's why I 
 grind and groan," said the Handquern. 
 
 " If I can do naught else I will crack," said the 
 Chair ; and with that he fell to creaking and cracking. 
 
 When the Door heard that, it said — 
 
 "What's the matter? Why do you creak and 
 crack so, Mr. Chair?" 
 
 " Why not ? " said the Chair ; " goodman Chanticleer 
 
30 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 has fallen into the cask and drowned himself; dame 
 Partlet sits in the ingle sighing and sobbing; and the 
 Handquern grinds and groans. That's why I creak 
 and crackle, and croak and crack." 
 
 "Well," said the Door, "if I can do naught else, I 
 can rattle and bang, and whistle and slam ; " and with 
 that it began to open and shut, and bang and slam, 
 it deaved one to hear, and all one's teeth chattered. 
 
 All this the Stove heard, and it opened its mouth 
 and called out — 
 
 " Door ! Door ! why all this slamming and banging ? " 
 
 " Why not," said the Door, " when goodman Chanti- 
 cleer has fallen into the cask and drowned himself; 
 dame Partlet sits in the ingle sighing and sobbing; 
 the Handquern grinds and groans; and the Chair 
 creaks and cracks. That's why I bang and slam." 
 
 "Well," said the Stove, "if I can do naught else, 
 I can smoulder and smoke ; " and so it fell a-smoking 
 and steaming till the room was all in a cloud. 
 
 The Axe saw this as it stood outside, and peeped 
 with its shaft through the window. 
 
 "What's all this smoke about, Mrs. Stove?" said 
 the Axe in a sharp voice. 
 
 "Why not," said the Stove, "when goodman 
 Chanticleer has fallen into the cask and drowned 
 himself; dame Partlet sits in the ingle sighing and 
 sobbing ; the Handquern grinds and groans ; the Chair 
 creaks and cracks; and the Door bangs and slams. 
 That's why I smoke and steam." 
 
 "Well, if I can do naught else, I can rive and rend," 
 said the Axe; and with that it fell to riving and 
 rending all around about. 
 
The Death of Chanticleer 3 1 
 
 This the Aspen stood by and saw. 
 
 " Why do you rive and rend everything so, Mr. 
 Axe ? " said the Aspen. 
 
 " Goodman Chanticleer has fallen into the ale-cask 
 and drowned himself," said the Axe ; " dame Partlet 
 sits in the ingle sighing and sobbing ; the Handquern 
 grinds and groans ; the Chair creaks and cracks ; the 
 Door slams and bangs; and the Stove smokes and 
 steams. That's why I rive and rend all about." 
 
 "Well, if I can do naught else," said the Aspen, 
 " I can quiver and quake in all my leaves ; " so it grew 
 all of a quake. 
 
 The Birds saw this, and twittered out — 
 
 " Why do you quiver and quake. Miss Aspen ? " 
 
 "Goodman Chanticleer has fallen into the ale-cask 
 and drowned himself," said the Aspen, with a trembling 
 voice; "dame Partlet sits in the ingle sighing and 
 sobbing; the Handquern grinds and groans; the 
 Chair creaks and cracks ; the Door slams and bangs ; 
 the Stove steams and smokes ; and the Axe rives and 
 rends. That's why I quiver and quake." 
 
 "Well, if we can do naught else, we will pluck 
 off all our feathers," said the Birds; and with that 
 they fell a-pilling and plucking themselves till the 
 room was full of feathers. 
 
 This the Master stood by and saw, and, when the 
 feathers flew about like fun, he asked the Birds — 
 
 "Why do you pluck off all your feathers, you 
 Birds ? " 
 
 "Oh! goodman Chanticleer has fallen into the ale- 
 cask and drowned himself," twittered out the Birds; 
 "dame Partlet sits sighing and sobbing in the ingle; 
 
3 2 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 the Handquern grinds and groans; the Chair creaks 
 and cracks; the Door slams and bangs; the Stove 
 smokes and steams; the Axe rives and rends; and 
 the Aspen quivers and quakes. That's why we are 
 pilling and plucking all our feathers off." 
 
 "Well, if I can do nothing else, I can tear the 
 brooms asunder," said the man ; and with that he fell 
 tearing and tossing the brooms till the birch-twigs 
 flew about east and west. 
 
 The goody stood cooking porridge for supper, and 
 saw all this. 
 
 " Why, man ! " she called out, " what are you tear- 
 ing the brooms to bits for?" 
 
 " Oh ! " said the man, " goodman Chanticleer has 
 fallen into the ale-vat and drowned himself; dame 
 Partlet sits sighing and sobbing in the ingle; the 
 Handquern grinds and groans ; the Chair cracks and 
 creaks ; the Door slams and bangs ; the Stove smokes 
 and steams ; the Axe rives and rends ; the Aspen 
 quivers and quakes ; the Birds are pilling and pluck- 
 ing all their feathers off; and that's why I am tearing 
 the besoms to bits." 
 
 " So, so ! " said the goody ; " then I'll dash the 
 porridge over all the walls," and she did it; for she 
 took one spoonful after the other, and dashed it 
 against the walls, so that no one could see what 
 they were made of for very porridge. 
 
 That was how they drank the burial ale after 
 goodman Chanticleer, who fell into the brewing-vat 
 and was drowned; and, if you don't believe it, you 
 may set off thither and have a taste both of the ale 
 and the porridge. 
 
The Greedy Cat 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a man who had a 
 cat, and she was so awfully big, and such a 
 beast to eat, he couldn't keep her any longer. 
 So she was to go down to the river with a stone 
 round her neck, but before she started she was to 
 have a meal of meat. So the goody set before her 
 a bowl of porridge and a little trough of fat. That 
 she crammed into her, and ran off and jumped through 
 the window. Outside stood the goodman by the barn 
 door threshing. 
 
 " Good day, goodman," said'the cat. 
 
34 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Good day, pussy," said the goodman; "have you 
 had any food to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge and a trough 
 of fat — and, now I think of it, I'll take you too," and 
 so she took the goodman and gobbled him up. 
 
 When she had done that, she went into the byre, 
 and there sat the goody milking. 
 
 " Good day, goody," said the cat. 
 
 "Good day, pussy," said the goody; "are you here, 
 and have you eaten up your food yet ? " 
 
 "Oh, I've eaten a little to-day, but I'm 'most fast- 
 ing," said pussy ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, 
 and a trough of fat, and the goodman — and, now I 
 think of it, I'll take you too," and so she took the 
 goody and gobbled her up. 
 
 " Good day, you cow at the manger," said the cat 
 to Daisy the cow. 
 
 "Good day, pussy," said the bell-cow; "have you 
 had any food to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat; "I've only had a bowl of pomdge, and a 
 trough of fat, and the goodman, and the goody — and, 
 now I think of it, I'll take you too," and so she took 
 the cow and gobbled her up. 
 
 Then off she set up into the home-field, and there 
 stood a man picking up leaves. 
 
 "Good day, you leaf-picker in the field," said the 
 cat. 
 
 " Good day, pussy ; have you had anything to eat 
 to-day ? " said the leaf-picker. 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 
The Greedy Cat 
 
 35 
 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and Daisy the 
 cow — and, now I think of it, I'll take you too." So 
 she took the leaf-picker and gobbled him up. 
 
 Then she came to a heap of stones, and there 
 stood a stoat and peeped out. 
 
 " Good day, Mr. Stoat of Stoneheap," said the cat. 
 
 "Good day, Mrs. Pussy; have you had anything 
 to eat to-day ? " 
 
 "Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of 
 porridge, and a trough of fat, 
 and the goodman, and the goody, 
 and the cow, and the leaf-picker 
 — and, now I think of it, I'll 
 take you too." So she took the 
 stoat and gobbled him up. 
 
 When she had gone a bit 
 farther, she came to a hazel- 
 brake, and there sat a squirrel 
 gathering nuts. 
 
 " Good day. Sir Squirrel of 
 the Brake," said the cat. 
 
 " Good day, Mrs. Pussy ; have you had anything 
 to eat to-day ? " 
 
 "Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat; "it was only a bowl of porridge, and a 
 trough of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and 
 the cow, and the leaf-picker, and the stoat — and, now 
 I think of it, I'll take you too." So she took the 
 squirrel and gobbled him up. 
 
 When she had gone a little farther, she saw Reynard 
 
36 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 the Fox, who was prowling about by the wood- 
 side. 
 
 " Good day, Reynard Slyboots," said the cat. 
 
 "Good day, Mrs. Pussy; have you had anything 
 to eat to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat; "it was only a bowl of porridge, and a 
 trough of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and 
 the cow, and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the 
 squirrel — and, now I think of it, I'll take you too." 
 So she took Reynard and gobbled him up. 
 
 When she had gone a while farther she met Long 
 Ears the Hare. 
 
 " Good day, Mr. Hopper the Hare," said the cat. 
 Good day, Mrs. Pussy; have you had anything 
 to eat to-day ? " 
 
 "Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting,'' said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and the cow, 
 and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the squirrel, 
 and the fox — and, now I think of it, I'll take you too." 
 So she took the hare and gobbled him up. 
 
 When she had gone a bit farther she met a wolf. 
 
 "Good day, you Greedy Greylegs," said the 
 cat. 
 
 "Good day, Mrs. Pussy; have you had anything 
 to eat to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and the cow, 
 and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the squirrel, 
 and the fox and the hare — and, now I think of it, I 
 
The Greedy Cat 37 
 
 may as well take ,you too." So she took and gobbled 
 up Greylegs too. 
 
 So she went on into the wood, and when she had 
 gone far and farther than far, o'er hill and dale, she 
 met a bear-cub. 
 
 " Good day, you bare-breeched bear," said the cat. 
 
 "Good day, Mrs. Pussy," said the bear-cub; "have 
 you had anything to eat to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and the cow, 
 and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the squirrel, and 
 the fox, and the hare, and the wolf — and, now I think 
 of it, I may as well take you too," and so she took the 
 bear-cub and gobbled him up. 
 
 When the cat had gone a bit farther, she met a 
 she-bear, who was tearing away at a stump till the 
 splinters flew, so angry was she at having lost her cub, 
 
 " Good day, you Mrs. Bruin," said the cat. 
 
 " Good day, Mrs. Pussy ; have you had anything to 
 eat to-day ? " 
 
 "Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat; "it was only a bowl of porridge, and a 
 trough of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, 
 and the cow, and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and 
 the squirrel, and the fox, and the hare, and the wolf, 
 and the bear-cub — and, now I think of it, I'll take 
 you too," and so she took Mrs. Bruin and gobbled 
 her up too. 
 
 When the cat got still farther on, she met Baron 
 Bruin himself. 
 
 " Good day, you Baron Bruin," said the cat. 
 
38 Tales from the tjeld 
 
 "Good day, Mrs. Pussy," said Bruin; "have you 
 had anything to eat to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and the cow, 
 and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the squirrel, and 
 the fox, and the hare, and the wolf, and the bear-cub, 
 and the she-bear — and, now I think of it, I'll take you 
 too," and so she took Bruin and ate him up too. 
 
 So the cat went on and on, and farther than far, till 
 she came to the abodes of men again, and there she 
 met a bridal train on the road. 
 
 "Good day, you bridal train on the king's high- 
 way," said she. 
 
 "Good day, Mrs. Pussy; have you had anything 
 to eat to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and the cow, 
 and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the squirrel, and 
 the fox, and the hare, and the wolf, and the bear-cub, 
 and the she-bear, and the he-bear — and, now I think 
 of it, I'll take you too," and so she rushed at them, and 
 gobbled up both the bride and bridegroom, and the 
 whole train, with the cook and the fiddler, and the 
 horses and all. 
 
 When she had gone still farther, she came to a 
 church, and there she met a funeral. 
 
 " Good day, you funeral train," said she. 
 
 " Good day, Mrs. Pussy ; have you had anything to 
 eat to-day ? " 
 
 "Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 
The Greedy Cat 39 
 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and the cow, 
 and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the squirrel, and 
 the fox, and the hare, and the wolt, and the bear-cub, 
 and the she-bear, and the he-bear, and the bride and 
 bridegroom, and the whole train — and, now, I don't 
 mind if I take you too," and so she fell on the funeral 
 train and gobbled up both the body and the bearers. 
 
 Now when the cat had got the body in her, she was 
 taken up to the sky, and when she had gone a long, 
 long way, she met the moon. 
 
 "Good day, Mrs. Moon," said the cat. 
 
 " Good day, Mrs. Pussy ; have you had anything to 
 eat to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and the cow, 
 and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the squirrel, and 
 the fox, and the hare, and the wolf, and the bear-cub, 
 and the she-bear, and the he-bear, and the bride and 
 bridegroom, and the whole train, and the funeral train — 
 and, now I think of it, I don't mind if I take you too," 
 and so she seized hold of the moon, and gobbled her 
 up, both new and full. 
 
 So the cat went a long way still, and then she met 
 the sun. 
 
 " Good day, you Sun in heaven." 
 
 "Good-day, Mrs. Pussy," said the sun; "have you 
 had anything to eat to-day ? " 
 
 "Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting," said 
 the cat ; " it was only a bowl of porridge, and a trough 
 of fat, and the goodman, and the goody, and the cow, 
 
4° 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 and the leaf-picker, and the stoat, and the squirrel, and 
 the fox, and the hare, and the wolf, and the bear-cub, 
 and the she-bear, and the he-bear, and the bride and 
 bridegroom, and the whole train, and the funeral train, 
 and the moon — and, now I think of it, I don't mind if I 
 take you too," and so she rushed at the sun in heaven 
 and gobbled him up. 
 
 So the cat went far and farther than far, till she came 
 to a bridge, and on it she met a big billy-goat. 
 
 "Good day, you Billy-goat on Broad-bridge," said 
 the cat. 
 
 " Good-day, Mrs. Pussy ; have you had anything to 
 eat to-day ? " said the billy-goat. 
 
 " Oh, I've had a little, but I'm 'most fasting ; I've only 
 had a bowl of porridge, and a trough of fat, and the 
 goodman, and the goody in the byre, and Daisy the 
 cow at the manger, and the leaf-picker in the home- 
 
The Greedy Cat 41 
 
 field, and Mr. Stoat of Stoneheap, and Sir Squirrel of 
 the Brake, and Reynard Slyboots, and Mr. Hopper 
 the hare, and Greedy Greylegs the wolf, and Bare- 
 breech the bear-cub, and Mrs. Bruin, and Baron Bruin, 
 and a bridal train on the king's highway, and a funeral 
 at the church, and Lady Moon in the sky, and Lord 
 Sun in heaven — and, now I think of it, I'll take you 
 too." 
 
 "That we'll fight about," said the billy-goat, and 
 butted at the cat till she fell right over the bridge into 
 the river, and there she burst. 
 
 So they all crept out one after the other, and went 
 about their business, and were just as good as ever, 
 all that the cat had gobbled up. The goodman of 
 the house, and the goody in the byre, and Daisy the 
 cow at the manger, and the leaf-picker in the home- 
 field, and Mr. Stoat of Stoneheap, and Sir Squirrel 
 of the Brake, and Reynard Slyboots, and Mr. Hopper 
 the hare, and Greedy Greylegs the wolf, and Bare- 
 breech the bear-cub, and Mrs. Bruin, and Baron Bruin, 
 and the bridal train on the highway, and the funeral 
 train at the church, and Lady Moon in the sky, and 
 Lord Sun in heaven. 
 
Grumblegizzard 
 
 ONCE on a time there were five goodies, who 
 were all reaping in a field ; they were all child- 
 less, and all wished to have a bairn. All at 
 once they set eyes on a strangely big goose-egg, 
 almost as big as a man's head. 
 " I saw it first," said one. 
 
 " I saw it just as soon as you," screamed another. 
 "Heaven help me, but I will have it," swore the 
 third ; " I was the first to see it." 
 
 So they flocked round it and squabbled so much 
 about the egg that they were tearing one another's 
 hair. But at last they agreed that they would own 
 it in common, all five of them, and each was to sit on 
 
Qrumblegizzara 
 
 43 
 
 it in turn like a goose, and so hatch the gosling. The 
 first lay sitting eight days, and sat and sat, but nothing 
 came of it ; meanwhile the others had to drag about 
 to find food both for themselves and her. At last 
 one of them began to scold her. 
 
 "Well," said the one that sat, "you did not chip 
 the egg yourself before you could cry, not you; but 
 this egg, I think, has something in it, for it seems 
 to me to mumble, and this is what it says, ' Herrings 
 
 and brose, porridge and milk, all at once.' And now 
 you may come and sit for eight days too, and we will 
 change and change about and get food for you." 
 
 So when all five had sat on it eight days, the fifth 
 heard plainly that there was a gosling in the egg, 
 which screeched out, " Herrings and brose, porridge 
 and milk." So she picked a hole in it, but instead 
 of a gosling out came a man child, and awfully ugly 
 it was, with a big head and little body. And the 
 
44 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 first thing it bawled out when it chipped the egg was, 
 " Herrings and brose, porridge and milk." 
 
 So they called it " Grumblegizzard." 
 
 Ugly as it was, they were still glad to have it, at 
 first ; but it was not long before it got so greedy that 
 it ate up all the meat in their house. When they 
 boiled a kettle of soup or a pot of porridge, which they 
 thought would be enough for all six, it tossed it all 
 down its own throat. So they would not keep it any 
 longer. 
 
 " I've not known what it is to have a full meal since 
 this changeling crept out of the egg-shell," said one 
 of them, and when Grumblegizzard heard all the rest 
 were of the same mind, he said he was quite willing 
 to be off. If they did not care for him, he didn't care 
 for them ; and with that he strode off from the farm. 
 
 After a long time he came to a farmer's house, 
 which lay in a stone country, and there he asked for 
 a place. Well, they wanted a labourer, and the good- 
 man set him to pick up stones off the field. Yes ! 
 Grumblegizzard gathered the stones from the field, 
 and he took them so big that there were many horse- 
 loads in them, and whether they were big or little, 
 he stuffed them all into his pocket. 'Twas not long 
 before he was done with that work, and then he 
 wanted to know what he was to do next. 
 
 "I've told you to pluck out the stones from the 
 field," said the goodman; "you can't be done before 
 you begin, I trow." 
 
 But Grumblegizzard turned out his pockets and 
 threw the stones in a heap. Then the goodman saw 
 that he had done his work, and felt he ought to keep a 
 
Grumblegizzard 45 
 
 workman who was so strong. He had better come 
 in and have something to eat, he said. Grumble- 
 gizzard thought so too, and he alone ate all that was 
 ready for the master and mistress and for the servants, 
 and after all he was not half full. 
 
 " That was a man and a half to work, but a fearful 
 fellow to eat, too; there was no stopping him," said 
 the goodman. "Such a labourer would eat a poor 
 farmer out of house and home before one could turn 
 round." 
 
 So he told him he had no more work for him. He 
 had best be off to the king's grange. 
 
 Then Grumblegizzard strode on to the king, and 
 got a place at once. In the king's grange there was 
 enough both of work and food. He was to be odd 
 man, and help the lasses to bring in wood and water, 
 and other small jobs. So he asked what he was to 
 do first. 
 
 " Oh, if you would be so good as to chop us a little 
 firewood." 
 
 Yes. Grumblegizzard fell to chopping and hewing 
 till the splinters flew about him. 'Twas not long 
 before he had chopped up all that there was, both 
 of firewood and timber, both planks and beams ; and 
 when he had done, he came back and asked what he 
 was to do now. 
 
 " Go on chopping wood," they said. 
 
 " There's no more left to chop," said he. 
 
 " That couldn't be true," said the king's grieve, and 
 he went and looked out in the wood-yard. But it was 
 quite true : Grumblegizzard had chopped everything 
 up ; he had made firewood both of sawn planks and 
 
46 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 y 
 
 hewn beams. That was bad work the grieve said, and 
 he told him he should not taste a morsel of food till 
 he had gone into the forest and cut down as much 
 timber as he had chopped up into firewood. 
 
 Grumblegizzard went off to the smithy, and got the 
 smith to help him to make an axe of fifteen 
 pounds of iron ; and so he went into the 
 forest and began to clear it ; down toppled 
 tall spruces and firs fit for 
 Everything went down 
 that he found either 
 
 on the king's or 
 his neighbour's 
 ground ; he did not 
 stay to top or lop 
 them, and there 
 they lay like so 
 many windfalls. 
 Then he laid a good 
 load on a sledge, 
 and put all the 
 horses to it, but 
 they could not stir 
 the load from the 
 spot, and when he 
 took them by the 
 heads and wished to set them a-going, he pulled their 
 heads off. Then he tumbled the horses out of the 
 traces on to the ground, and drew the load home by 
 himself. 
 
 When he came down to the king's grange, the king 
 and his wood-grieve stood in the gallery to take him 
 
Grumblegizzard 47 
 
 to task for having been so wasteful in the forest — the 
 wood-grieve had been up to see what he was at — but 
 when Grumblegizzard came along dragging back half 
 a wood of timber, the king got both angry and afraid, 
 and he thought he must be careful with him, since he 
 was so strong. 
 
 " That I call a workman, and no mistake," said the 
 king ; " but how much do you eat at once, for now you 
 may well be hungry ? " 
 
 " When he was to have a good meal of porridge, he 
 could do with twelve barrels of meal," said Grumble- 
 gizzard ; " but when he had got so much inside him, 
 he could hold out for some time." 
 
 It took time to get the porridge boiled, and, mean- 
 time, he was to draw in a little wood for the cook ; so 
 he laid the whole pile of wood on a sledge, but when 
 he was to get through the doorway with it, he got into 
 a scrape again. The house was so shaken that it gave 
 way at every joist, and he was within an ace of drag- 
 ging the whole grange over on end. 
 
 When the hour drew near for dinner, they sent him 
 out to call home the folk from the field; he bawled 
 and bellowed so that the rocks and hills rang again; 
 but they did not come quick enough for him, so he fell 
 out with them, and slew twelve of them on the spot. 
 
 " He has slain twelve men," said the king; "and he 
 eats for twelve times twelve. But for how many do 
 you work, I should like to know ? " 
 
 " For twelve times twelve too," said Grumble- 
 gizzard. 
 
 When he had eaten his dinner, he was to go out 
 into the barn to thrash ; so he took off the roof-tree and 
 
48 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 made a flail out of it; and when the roof was just 
 about to fall, he took a great spruce fir, branches and 
 all, and stuck- it up for a roof-tree; and then he 
 thrashed the floor and the straw and hay altogether. 
 He did great harm, for the grain and chaff and beard 
 flew about together, and a cloud arose over the whole 
 grange. 
 
 When he was nearly done thrashing, enemies came 
 into the land, and there was to be war. So the king 
 told him to take folk with him and go on the way to 
 meet the foe and fight them, for he thought they 
 would put him to death. " No ! he would have no 
 folk with him to be slain ; he would fight alone, that 
 he would," said Grumblegizzard. 
 
 " All the better ; I shall be sooner rid of him," said 
 the king. 
 
 But he must have a mighty club. 
 They sent off to the smith to forge a club of fifty 
 pounds. "That might do very weU to crack nuts," 
 said Grumblegizzard. So they smithied him one of a 
 hundred pounds. "That might do well enough to 
 nail shoes with," he said. Well, the smith couldn't 
 smithy it any bigger with all his men. So Grumble- 
 gizzard went ofi" to the smithy himself, and forged a 
 club of fifteen tons, and it took a hundred men to 
 turn it on the anvil. " That might do," said Grumble- 
 gizzard. 
 
 Besides, he must have a scrip for food; and he 
 made one out of fifteen ox-hides, and stuffed it full of 
 food. And so he toddled ofi" down the hill with his 
 scrip at his back and his club on his shoulder. 
 
 So, when he had got so far that the enem3rsaw him, 
 
Grumblegizzard 49 
 
 they sent out a man to ask if he were coming against 
 them. 
 
 "Bide a bit, till I have had my dinner," said 
 Grumblegizzard, as he threw himself down on the 
 road, and fell to eating behind his great scrip. 
 
 But they couldn't wait, and began to shoot at him 
 at once, so that it rained and hailed rifle bullets. 
 
 "These bilberries I don't mind a bit," said Grumble- 
 gizzard, and fell to eating harder than ever. 
 
 Neither lead nor iron could touch him, and before 
 him was his scrip, like a wall, and kept off the fire. 
 
 So they took to throwing shells at him, and to fire 
 cannons at him ; and he just grinned a little every 
 time they hit him. 
 
 "Ah ! ah ! it's all no good," he said. But just then 
 he got a bombshell right down his throat. 
 
 " Fie ! " he said, and spat it out again ; and then 
 came a chain-shot and made its way into his butter- 
 box, and another took the bit he was just going to eat 
 from between his fingers. Then he got angry, and rose 
 up, and took his club, and dashed it on the ground, 
 and asked if they were going to snatch the bread out 
 of his mouth with their bilberries, which they puffed 
 out of big peashooters. Then he gave a few more 
 strokes, till the rocks and hills shook, and the enemy 
 flew into the air like chaff, and so the war was over. 
 
 When Grumblegizzard got home again and wanted 
 more work, the king was in a sad way, for he thought 
 he should have been rid of him that time, and now 
 he could think of nothing but to send him to hell. 
 
 " You must be off to Old Nick, and ask for my land- 
 tax." 
 
 D 
 
50 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Grumblegizzard set off from the grange, with his 
 scrip on his back and his club on his shoulder. He 
 lost no time on the way, but when he got there, Old 
 Nick was gone to serve on a jury. There was no one 
 at home but his mother, and she said she had never 
 in her born days heard talk of any land-tax ; he had 
 better come again another day. 
 
 "Yes, yes ! come to me to-morrow ! " said Grumble- 
 gizzard. "That's all stuff and nonsense, for to-mor- 
 row never comes." Now he was there, he would stay 
 there. He must and would have the land-tax, and 
 he had lots of time to wait. 
 
 But when he had eaten up all his food, the time 
 hung heavy, and so he went and asked the old dame 
 to give him the land-tax. She must pay it down. 
 
 "No," she said, "she couldn't do it. That stood 
 as fast as the old fir-tree," she said, " that grew outside 
 the gate of hell, and was so big that fifteen men could 
 scarcely span it when they held hands." 
 
 But Grumblegizzard climbed up to the top of it, and 
 twisted and turned it about like an osier ; and then he 
 asked if she were ready with the land-tax. 
 
 Yes, she dared not do anything else, and found 
 so many pence as he thought he could carry in his 
 scrip. 
 
 And now he started for home with the land-tax; 
 but, as soon as he was off. Old Nick came back. 
 When he heard that Grumblegizzard had stridden off 
 from his house with his big scrip full of money, he 
 first of all beat and banged his mother, and then ran 
 after him to catch him on the way. 
 
 And he caught him up too, for he ran light, and 
 
' He must and would have the land-tax." 
 
Grumblegizzard 
 
 53 
 
 used his wings, while Grumblegizzard had to keep 
 to the ground under the weight of the big scrip ; but, 
 just as Old Nick was at his heels, he began to run and 
 jump as fast as he could ; and he held his club behind 
 him to keep Old Nick off. 
 
 And so they went along, Grumblegizzard holding 
 the haft, and Old Nick clawing at the head, till they 
 
 came to a deep dale ; there Grumblegizzard leapt from 
 one hill-top to the other, and Old Nick v/as so hot to 
 follow, that he tripped over the club and fell down into 
 the dale, and broke his leg, and so there he lay. 
 
 " Here you have the land-tax," said Grumblegizzard, 
 as he came to the king's grange, and dashed down 
 the scripful of money before the king, so that the 
 whole gallery creaked and cracked. 
 
54 
 
 Jales Jrom the Fjeld 
 
 The king thanked him, and put a good face on it, 
 and promised him good pay and a safe pass home if 
 he cared to have it ; but all Grumblegizzard wanted 
 was more work. 
 
 " What shall I do now ? " he asked. Well, when 
 the king had thought about it, he said he had better 
 travel to the Hill Troll, who had carried off his grand- 
 father's sword to that castle he had 
 by the lake, whither no one dared 
 to go. 
 
 So Grumblegizzard got several 
 
 loads of food into his big scrip, 
 
 and set off again; and 
 
 I IW he fared both far and 
 
 k- :^ 'ong) over wood and 
 
 L=sS?l^.'^ ' fell, and wild wastes, 
 
 )■/ till he came to some 
 
 high hills, where the 
 
 Troll was said to dwell 
 
 who had taken the king's 
 
 grandfather's sword. 
 
 But the Troll was not 
 to be seen under bare sky, 
 and the hill was fast shut, so that even Grumble- 
 gizzard was not man enough to get in. 
 
 So he joined fellowship with some quarrymen, who 
 were living at a hill farm, and who lay up there quarry- 
 ing stone in those hills. Such help they never yet had, 
 for he beat and battered the fell till the rocks were rent, 
 and great stones were rolled down as big as houses ; 
 but when he was to rest at noon, and take out one 
 load of food, the whole scrip was clean eaten out. 
 
Grumblegizzard 5 5 
 
 " I'm a pretty good trencherman myself," said 
 Grumblegizzard ; " but whoever has been here, has 
 a sharper tooth, for he has eaten up bones and all." 
 
 That was how things went the first day, and it was 
 no better the next. The third day he set oif to quarry 
 stones again, and took with him the third meal of 
 food ; but he lay down behind it, and shammed sleep. 
 
 Just then there came out of the hill a Troll with 
 seven heads, and began to munch and eat his food. 
 
 " Now the board is laid, and I will eat," said the 
 Troll. 
 
 " That we'll have a tussle for," said Grumblegizzard ; 
 and gave him a blow with his club, and knocked off 
 all his seven heads at once. 
 
 So he went into the hill, out of which the Troll 
 had come, and in there stood a horse, which ate out 
 of a tub of glowing coals, and at its heels stood a 
 tub of oats. 
 
 "Why don't you eat out of the tub of oats?" said 
 Grumblegizzard. 
 
 "Because I am not able to turn round," said the 
 horse. 
 
 " I'll soon turn you," said he. 
 
 " Rather strike off my head," said the horse. 
 
 " So he struck it off, and then the horse was turned 
 into a handsome man. He said he had been taken 
 into the hill by the Troll, and turned into a horse, and 
 then he helped him to find the sword, which the Troll 
 had hidden at the bottom of his bed, and upon the 
 bed lay the Troll's old mother, asleep and snoring. 
 
 Home again they went by water, and when they 
 had got well out, the old witch came after them ; as 
 
56 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 she could not catch them, she fell to drinking the lake 
 dry, and she drank and drank, till the water in the 
 lake fell ; but she could not drink the sea dry, and 
 so she burst. 
 
 When they came to shore, Grumblegizzard sent a 
 message to the king, to come and fetch his sword. 
 He sent four horses. No! they could not stir it; 
 he sent eight, and he sent twelve; but the sword 
 stayed where it was, they could not move it an inch. 
 But Grumblegizzard took it up alone, and bore it 
 along. 
 
 The king could not believe his eyes when he saw 
 Grumblegizzard again; but he put a good face on it, 
 and promised him gold and green woods ; -and when 
 Grumblegizzard wanted more work, he said he had 
 better set off for a haunted castle he had, where no 
 one dared to be, and there he must sleep till he had 
 built a bridge over the Sound, so that folk could pass 
 oyer. If he were good to do that he would pay him 
 well ; nay, he would be glad to give him his daughter 
 to wife. 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! I am good to do that," said Grumble- 
 gizzard. 
 
 No man had ever left that castle ahve ; those who 
 reached it lay there slain and torn to bits, and the king 
 thought he should never see him more, if he only got 
 him to go thither. 
 
 But Grumblegizzard set off; and he took with him 
 his scrip of food, a .very tough and twisted stump of 
 a fir-tree, an axe, a wedge, and a few matches, and 
 besides, he took the workhouse boy from the king's 
 grange. 
 
Grumblegizzard ^j 
 
 When they got to the Sound, the river ran full of 
 ice, and was as headlong as a force; but he stuck 
 his legs fast at the bottom, and waded on till he got 
 over at last. 
 
 When he had lighted a fire and warmed himself, and 
 got a bit of food, he tried to sleep ; but it was not long 
 before there was such a noise and din, as though the 
 whole castle was turned topsy-turvy. The door blew 
 back against the wall, and he saw nothing but a gaping 
 jaw, from the threshold up to the lintel. 
 
 " There, you have a bit — taste that ! " said Grumble- 
 gizzard, as he threw the workhouse boy into the gaping 
 maw. 
 
 " Now let me see you, what kind you are. Maybe 
 we are old friends." 
 
 So it was, for it was Old Nick, who was outside. 
 Then they took to playing cards, for the Old One 
 wanted to try and win back some of the land-tax, 
 which Grumblegizzard had squeezed out of his mother, 
 when he went to ask it for the king; but whichever 
 way they cut the cards, Grumblegizzard won, for he 
 put a cross on all the court cards, and when he had 
 won all his ready money, Old Nick was forced to give 
 Grumblegizzard some of the gold and silver that was 
 in the castle. 
 
 Just as they were hard at it the fire went out, so 
 that they could not tell one card from another. 
 
 " Now we must chop wood," said Grumblegizzard, 
 and with that he drove his axe- into the fir-stump, and 
 thrust the wedge in ; but the gnarled root was tough, 
 and would not split at once, however much he twisted 
 and turned his axe. 
 
58 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "They say you are very strong," he said to Old 
 Nick ; " spit in your fists and bear a hand with your 
 claws, and rive and rend, and let me see the stuff you 
 are made of." 
 
 Old Nick did so, and put both his fists into the 
 split, and strove to rend it with might and main, but, 
 at the same time, Grumblegizzard struck the wedge 
 out, and Old Nick was caught in a trap; and then 
 Grumblegizzard tried his back with his axe. Old 
 Nick begged and prayed so prettily to be let go, but 
 Grumblegizzard was hard of hearing on that side till 
 he gave his word never to come there again and make 
 a noise. And so he too had to promise to build a 
 bridge over the Sound, so that folks could pass over it 
 at all times of the year, and it was to be ready when 
 the ice was gone. 
 
 "This is a hard bargain," said Old Nick. But there 
 was no help for it, if he wished to get out. He had to 
 give his word ; only he bargained he was to have the 
 first soul that passed over the bridge. That was to 
 be the Sound due. 
 
 "That he should have," said Grumblegizzard. So 
 he got loose, and went home ; but Grumblegizzard lay 
 down to sleep, and slept till far on next day. 
 
 So when the king came to see if he was hacked to 
 pieces or torn to bits, he had to wade through heaps 
 of money before he could get to the bed. It lay in 
 piles and sacks high up the wall : but Grumblegizzard 
 lay in the bed asleep and snoring. 
 
 " God help both me and my daughter," said the king 
 when he saw that Grumblegizzard was alive and rich. 
 Yes, all was good and well done ; there was no gain- 
 
Grumbkgizzard 
 
 59 
 
 saying that. But it was not worth while talking of the 
 wedding till the bridge was ready. 
 
 So one day the bridge stood ready, and Old Nick 
 stood on it to take the toll he had bargained for. 
 
 Now Grumblegizzard wanted to take the king with 
 him to try the bridge, but he had no mind to do that. 
 So he got up himself on a horse, and threw the fat 
 milkmaid from the king's grange upon the pommel 
 before him — she looked for all the world like a big fir- 
 
 
 Stump — and then he rode over till the bridge thundered 
 under him. 
 
 "Where is the Sound due? Where have you put 
 the soul ? " screamed Old Nick. 
 
 " It sits inside this stump. If you want it, spit in 
 your fists and take it," said Grumblegizzard. 
 
 " Nay, nay ! many thanks," said Old Nick. " If she 
 doesn't take me, I'll not take her. You caught me once, 
 and you shan't catch me again in a cleft stick ; " and 
 with that he flew off straight home to his old mother ; 
 and since then he has never been seen or heard in 
 those parts. 
 
6o 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 But Grumblegizzard went home to the king's grange, 
 and wanted the wages the king had promised him ; and 
 when the king tried to wriggle out of it, and would not 
 keep his word, Grumblegizzard said he had better pack 
 up a good scrip of food, for he was going to take his 
 wages himself. Yes, the king did that : and, when all 
 was ready, Grumblegizzard took the king out before 
 the door, and gave him a good push and sent him flying 
 up into the air. As for the scrip, he threw it after him, 
 that he might have something to eat. And, if he hasn't 
 come down again, there he is still hanging with his 
 scrip between heaven and earth, to this very day that 
 now is. 
 
Father Bruin in the Corner 
 
 a time there was a man who 
 lived far, far away in 
 the wood. He had 
 many, many goats and 
 sheep, but never a one 
 could he keep for fear 
 of Greylegs, the wolf 
 At last he said, " I'll 
 soon trap Grey- 
 boots," and so he 
 set to work digging a pitfall. When he had dug it 
 deep enough, he put a pole down in the midst of the 
 pit, and on the top of the pole he set a board, and on 
 the board he put a little dog. Over the pit itself he 
 spread boughs and branches and leaves, and other 
 rubbish, and a-top of all he strewed snow, so that 
 Greylegs might not see there was a pit underneath. 
 
 So when it got on in the night, the little dog grew 
 weary of sitting there : " Bow-wow, bow-wow," it said, 
 and bayed at the moon. Just then up came a fox, 
 slouching and sneaking, and thought here was a fine 
 time for marketing, and with that gave a jump — head 
 over heels down into the pitfall. 
 
 And when it got a little farther on in the night, the 
 
 6i 
 
62 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 little dog got so weary and so hungry, and it fell to 
 yelping and howling : " Bow-wow, bow-wow," it cried 
 out. Just at that very moment up came Greylegs, 
 trotting and trotting. He too thought he should get 
 a fat steak, and he too made a spring — head over heels 
 down into the pitfall. 
 
 When it was getting on towards grey dawn in the 
 morning, down fell snow, with a north wind, and it 
 
 grew so cold that the 
 little dog stood and 
 froze, and shivered and 
 shook; it was so weary 
 and hungry, " Bow- 
 wow, bow-wow, bow- 
 wow," it called out, 
 C^ and barked and yelped 
 and howled. Then up 
 , --> came a bear, tramping 
 and tramping along, 
 and thought to him- 
 self how he could get a morsel for breakfast at the 
 very top of the morning, and so he thought and 
 thought among the boughs and branches till he too 
 went bump — head over heels down into the pitfall. 
 
 So when it got a little farther on in the morning, 
 an old beggar wife came walking by, who toddled 
 from farm to farm with a bag on her back. When 
 she set eyes on the little dog that stood there and 
 howled, she couldn't help going near to look and see 
 if any wild beasts had fallen into the pit during the 
 night. So she crawled up on her knees and peeped 
 down into it. 
 
Father Bruin in the Corner 
 
 63 
 
 " Art thou come into the pit at last, Reynard ? " 
 she said to the fox, for he was the first she saw ; " a 
 very good place, too, for such a hen-roost robber as 
 thou : and thou, too, Greypaw," she said to the wolf; 
 " many a goat and sheep hast thou torn and rent, and 
 now thou shalt be plagued and punished to death. 
 Bless my heart ! Thou, too, Bruin ! art thou, too, 
 sitting in this room, thou mare-flayer? Thee, too, 
 will we strip, and thee shall we flay, and thy skull 
 shall be nailed up on the wall." All this the old lass 
 screeched out as she 
 bent over towards the 
 bear. But just then 
 her bag fell over her 
 ears, and dragged her 
 down, and slap ! down 
 went the old crone — 
 head over heels into 
 the pitfall. 
 
 So there they all 
 four sat and glared at 
 
 one another, each in a corner — the fox in one. Grey- 
 legs in another, Bruin in a third, and the old crone 
 in a fourth. 
 
 But as soon as it was broad daylight, Reynard 
 began to peep and peer, and to twist and turn about, 
 for he thought he might as well try to get out. 
 
 But the old lass cfiied out, " Canst thou not sit still, 
 thou whirligig thief, and not go twisting and turning ? 
 Only look at Father Bruin himself in the comer, how 
 he sits as grave as a judge," for now she thought she 
 might as well make friends with the bear. But just 
 
64 Tales jrom the Fjeld 
 
 then up came the man who owned the pitfall. First 
 he drew up the old wife, and after that he slew all 
 the beasts, and neither spared Father Bruin himself in 
 the corner, nor Greylegs, nor Reynard the whirligig 
 thief. That night, at least, he thought he had made a 
 good haul. 
 
Reynard and Chanticleer 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a cock who stood on 
 a dung-heap and crew and flapped his wings. 
 Then the fox came by. 
 
 " Good day," said Reynard. " I heard you crowing 
 so nicely; but- can you stand on one leg and crow, 
 and wink your eyes ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Chanticleer, " I can do that very 
 well." So he stood on one leg and crew; but he 
 winked only with one eye, and when he had done 
 that he made himself big and flapped his wings, as 
 though he had done a great thing. 
 
 " Very pretty, to be sure," said Reynard. " Almost 
 as pretty as when the parson preaches in church ; but 
 can you stand on one leg and wink both your eyes 
 at once ? I hardly think you can." 
 
 " Can't I, though ! " said Chanticleer, and stood on 
 one leg, and winked both his eyes, and crew. But 
 
 65 E 
 
66 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Reynard caught hold of him, took him by the threat, 
 and threw him over his back, so that he was off to 
 the wood before he had crowed his crow out, as fast 
 as Reynard could lay legs to the ground. 
 
 When they had come under an old spruce fir, 
 Reynard threw Chanticleer on the ground, and set his 
 paw on his breast, and was going to take a bite ! 
 
 " You are a heathen, Reynard ! " 
 said Chanticleer. " Good Christians 
 say grace, and ask a blessing before 
 they eat." 
 
 But Reynard would be no 
 heathen. God forbid it! So 
 he let go his hold, and was 
 about to fold his paws over 
 his breast and say grace — but 
 pop! up flew Chanticleer into 
 a tree. 
 
 "You shan't get off for 
 all that," said Reynard 
 to himself. So he went 
 away, and came again 
 with a few chips which 
 the woodcutters had 
 left. Chanticleer peeped and peered to see what they 
 could be. 
 
 " Whatever have you got there ? " he asked. 
 " These are letters I have just got," said Reynard ; 
 " won't you help me to read them, for I don't know 
 how to read writing ? " 
 
 "I'd be so happy, but I dare not read them 
 now," said Chanticleer, "for here comes a hunter; 
 
Reynard and Chanticleer 6j 
 
 I see him, I see him, as I sit by the tree 
 trunk." 
 
 When Reynard heard Chanticleer chattering about 
 a hunter, he took to his heels as quick as he 
 could. 
 
 This time it was Reynard who was made game of. 
 
The Companion 
 
 NCE on a time there 
 was a farmer's son who 
 dreamt that he was to 
 marry a princess far, 
 far out in the world. 
 She was as red and 
 white as milk and 
 blood, and so rich 
 there was no end to 
 her riches. When he 
 awoke he seemed to 
 see her still standing bright and living before him, 
 and he thought her so sweet and lovely that his life 
 was not worth having unless he had her too. So he 
 sold all he had, and set off into the world to find her 
 out. Well, he went far, and farther than far, and 
 about winter he came to a land where all the high- 
 roads lay right straight on end ; there wasn't a bend 
 in any of them. When he wandered on and on for 
 a quarter of a year he came to a town, and outside 
 the church door lay a big block of ice, in which there 
 stood a dead body, and the whole parish spat on it 
 as they passed by to church. The lad wondered at 
 
The Companion 69 
 
 this, and when the priest came out of church he asked 
 him what it all meant. 
 
 " It is a great wrong-doer," said the priest. " He 
 has been executed for his ungodliness, and set up 
 there to be mocked and spat upon." 
 
 " But what was his wrong-doing ? " asked the lad. 
 
 "When he was alive here he was a vintner," said 
 the priest, " and he mixed water with his wine." 
 
 The lad thought that no such dreadful sin. 
 
 "Well," he said, "after he had atoned for it with 
 his life, you might as well have let him have Christian 
 burial and peace after death." 
 
 But the priest said that could not be in any wise, 
 for there must be folk to break him out of the ice, 
 and money to buy a grave from the church ; then the 
 gravedigger must be paid for digging the grave, and 
 the sexton for tolling the bell, and the clerk for 
 singing the hymns, and the priest for sprinkling dust 
 over him. 
 
 " Do you think now there would be any one who 
 would be willing to pay all this for an executed 
 sinner?" 
 
 Yes," said the lad. " If he could only get him 
 buried in Christian earth, he would be sure to pay 
 for his funeral ale out of his scanty means." 
 
 Even after that the priest hemmed and hawed ; 
 but when the lad came with two witnesses, and asked 
 him right out in their hearing if he could refuse to 
 sprinkle dust over the corpse, he was forced to answer 
 that he could not. 
 
 So they broke the vintner out of the block of ice, 
 and laid him in Christian earth, and they tolled the 
 
70 Tales from the Fjela 
 
 bell and sang hymns over him, and the priest sprinkled 
 dust over him, and they drank his funeral ale till they 
 wept and laughed by turns ; but when the lad had paid 
 for the ale he hadn't many pence left in his pocket. 
 
 He set off on his way again, but he hadn't got far 
 ere a man overtook him, who asked if he didn't think 
 it dull work walking on all alone. 
 
 No ; the lad did not think it dull. " I have always 
 something to think about," he said. 
 
 Then the man asked if he wouldn't like to have a 
 servant. 
 
 " No," said the lad ; " I am wont to be my own 
 servant, therefore I have need of none ; and even if I 
 wanted one ever so much, I have no means to get one, 
 for I have no money to pay for his food and wages." 
 
 "You do need a servant, that I know better than 
 you," said the man, " and you have need of one whom 
 you can trust in life and death. If you won't have me 
 as a servant, you may take me as your companion ; I 
 give you my word I will stand you in good stead, and 
 it shan't cost you a penny. I will pay my own fare, 
 and as for food and clothing, you shall have no trouble 
 about them." 
 
 Well, on those terms he was willing enough to have 
 him as his companion ; so after that they travelled 
 together, and the man for the most part went on ahead 
 and showed the lad the way. 
 
 So after they had travelled on and on from land to 
 land, over hill and wood, they came to a crossfell that 
 stopped the way. There the companion went up and 
 knocked, and bade them open the door ; and the rock 
 opened sure enough, and when they got inside the 
 
The Companion 
 
 71 
 
 hill up came an old witch with a chair, and asked 
 them, " Be so good as to sit down. No doubt ye are 
 weary." 
 
 "Sit on it yourself," said the man. So she was 
 
 forced to take her seat, and as soon as she sat down 
 she stuck fast, for the chair was such that it let no one 
 loose that came near it. Meanwhile they went about 
 inside the hill, and the companion looked round till he 
 saw a sword hanging over the door. That he would 
 
72 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 have, and if he got it he gaye his word to the old 
 witch that he would let her loose out of the chair. 
 
 "Nay, nay," she screeched out; "ask me anything 
 else. Anything else you may have, but not that, for it 
 is my Three-Sister Sword ; we are three sisters who 
 own it together." 
 
 " Very well ; then you may sit there till the end of 
 the world," said the man. But when she heard that, 
 she said he might have it if he would set her free. 
 
 So he took the sword and went off with it, and left 
 her still sitting there. 
 
 When they had gone far, far away over naked 
 fells and wide wastes, they came to another crossfell. 
 There, too, the companion knocked and bade them 
 open the door, and the same thing happened as 
 happened before ; the rock opened, and when they had 
 got a good way into the hill another old witch came up 
 to them with a chair and begged them to sit down. 
 " Ye may well be weary," she said. 
 
 "Sit down yourself," said the companion. And 
 so she fared as her sister had fared; she did not 
 dare to say nay, and as soon as she sat down on 
 the chair she stuck fast. Meanwhile the lad and his 
 companion went about in the hill, and the man broke 
 open all the chests and drawers till he found what 
 he sought, and that was a golden ball of yarn. That 
 he set his heart on, and he promised the old witch 
 to set her free if she would give him the golden ball. 
 She said he might take all she had, but that she 
 could not part with; it was her Three-Sister Ball. 
 But when she heard that she should sit there till 
 doomsday unless he got it, she said he might take 
 
The Companion 73 
 
 it all the same if he would only set her free. So 
 the companion took the golden ball, but he left her 
 sitting where she sat. 
 
 So on they went for many days, over waste and 
 wood, till they came to a third crossfell. There all 
 went as it had gone twice before. The companion 
 knocked, the rock opened, and inside the hill an old 
 witch came up, and asked them to sit on her chair, 
 they must be tired. But the companion said again, 
 "Sit on it yourself," and there she sat. They had 
 not gone through many rooms before they saw an 
 old hat which hung on a peg behind the door. That 
 the companion must and would have; but the old 
 witch couldn't part with it. It was her Three-Sister 
 Hat, and if she gave it away, all her luck would be 
 lost. But when she heard that she would have to 
 sit there till the end of the world unless he got it, 
 she said he might take it if he would only let her 
 loose. When the companion had got well hold of 
 the hat, he went off, and bade her sit there still, 
 like the rest of her sisters. 
 
 After a long, long time, they came to a Sound ; then 
 the companion took the ball of yarn, and threw it so 
 hard against the rock on the other side of the stream, 
 that it bounded back, and after he had thrown it back- 
 wards and forwards a few times it became a bridge. 
 On that bridge they went over the Sound, and when 
 they reached the other side, the man bade the lad 
 to be quick and wind up the yarn again as soon as 
 he could, for, said he — 
 
 " If we don't wind it up quick, all those witches 
 will come after us, and tear us to bits." 
 
74 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 So the lad wound and wound with all his might 
 and main, and when there was no more to wind than 
 the very last thread, up came the old witches on the 
 wings of the wind. They flew to the water, so that 
 the spray rose before them, and snatched at the end 
 of the thread; but they could not quite get hold of 
 it, and so they were drowned in the Sound. 
 
 When they had gone on a few days farther, the 
 companion said, " Now we are soon coming to the 
 castle where she is, the princess of whom you dreamt, 
 and when we get there, you must go in and tell 
 the king what you dreamt, and what it is you are 
 seeking." 
 
 So when they reached it he did what the man told 
 him, and was very heartily welcomed. He had a 
 room for himself, and another for his companion, 
 which they were to live in, and when dinner-time 
 drew near, he was bidden to dine at the king's own 
 board. As soon as ever he set eyes on the princess 
 he knew her at once, and saw it was she of whom 
 he had dreamt as his bride. Then he told her his 
 business, and she answered that she liked him well 
 enough, and would gladly have him; but first he 
 must undergo three trials. So when they had dined 
 she gave him a pair of golden scissors, and said — 
 
 " The first proof is that you must take these scissors 
 and keep them, and give them to me at mid-day to- 
 morrow. It is not so very great a trial, I fancy," she 
 said, and made a face, " but if you can't stand it you 
 lose your life ; it is the law, and so you will be drawn 
 and quartered, and your body will be stuck on stakes, 
 and your head over the gate, just like those lovers of 
 
The Companion J^ 
 
 mine, whose skulls and skeletons you see outside the 
 king's castle." 
 
 "That is no such great art," thought the lad. 
 
 But the princess was so merry and mad, and flirted 
 so much with him, that he forgot all about the scissors 
 and himself, and so while they played and sported, she 
 stole the scissors away from him without his knowing 
 it. When he went up to his room at night, and told 
 how he had fared, and what she had said to him, and 
 about the scissors she gave him to keep, the companion 
 said — 
 
 " Of course you have the scissors safe and sure ? " 
 
 Then he searched in all his pockets, but there were 
 no scissors, and the lad was in a sad way when he 
 found them wanting. 
 
 "Well! well!" said the companion; "I'll see if I 
 can't get you them again." 
 
 With that he went down into the stable, and there 
 stood a big, fat Billygoat, which belonged to the 
 princess, and it was of that breed that it could fly 
 many times faster through the air than it could run 
 on land. So he took the Three-Sister Sword, and gave 
 it a stroke between the horns, and said — 
 
 "When rides the princess to see her lover to- 
 night ? " 
 
 The Billygoat baaed, and said it dared not say, but 
 when it had another stroke, it said the princess was 
 coming at eleven o'clock. Then the companion put 
 on the Three-Sister Hat, and all at once he became 
 invisible, and so he waited for her. When she came^ 
 she took and rubbed the Billygoat with an ointment 
 which she had in a great horn, and said — 
 
76 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Away, away, o'er roof-tree and steeple, o'er land, 
 o'er sea, o'er hill, o'er dale, to my true love who awaits 
 me in the fell this night." 
 
 At the very moment that the goat set off, the com- 
 panion threw himself on behind, and away they went 
 like a blast through the air. They were not long on 
 
 the way, and in a trice they came to a crossfell. There 
 she knocked, and so the goat passed through the fell to 
 the Troll, who was her lover. 
 
 " Now, my dear," she said, " a new lover is come, 
 whose heart is set on having me. He is young and 
 handsome, but I will have no other than you," and so 
 she coaxed and petted the Troll. ' 
 
 " So I set him a trial, and here are the scissors he 
 
The Companion yy 
 
 was to watch and keep ; now do you keep them," she 
 said. 
 
 So the two laughed heartily, just as though they 
 had the lad already on wheel and stake. 
 
 "Yes! yes!" said the Troll; "I'll keep them safe 
 enough." 
 
 " And I shall sleep on the bride's white arm, 
 While ravens round his skeleton swarm." 
 
 And so he laid the scissors in an iron chest with 
 three locks ; but just as he dropped them into the 
 chest, the companion snapped them up. Neither of 
 them could see him, for he had on the Three-Sister 
 Hat ; and so the Troll locked up the chest for naught, 
 and he hid the keys he had in the hollow eye-tooth in 
 which he had the toothache. There it would be hard 
 work for any one to find them, the Troll thought. 
 
 So when midnight was passed she set off home 
 again. The companion got up behind the goat, and 
 they lost no time on the way back. 
 
 Next day, about noon, the lad was asked down to 
 the king's board; but then the princess gave herself 
 such airs, and was so high and mighty, she would 
 scarce look towards the side where the lad sat. After 
 they had dined, she dressed her face in holiday garb, 
 and said, as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth — 
 
 " May be you have those scissors which I begged 
 you to keep yesterday ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes, I have," said the lad, "and here they 
 are," and with that he pulled them out, and drove 
 them into the board till it jumped again. The 
 princess could not have been more vexed had he 
 
yS Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 driven the scissors into her face; but for all that 
 she made herself soft and gentle, and said — 
 
 " Since you have kept the scissors so well, it won't 
 be any trouble to you to keep my golden ball of yarn, 
 and take care you give it me to-morrow at noon ; but 
 if you have lost it, you shall lose your life on the 
 scaffold. It is the law." 
 
 The lad thought that an easy thing, so he took and 
 put the golden ball into his pocket. But she fell a- 
 playing and flirting with him again, so that he forgot 
 both himself and the golden ball, and while they were 
 at the height of their games and pranks, she stole it 
 from him, and sent him ^ to bed. 
 
 Then when he caifiie up to his bedroom, and told 
 what they had said and done, his companion asked — 
 
 "Of course you have the golden ball she gave 
 you ? " 
 
 " Yes ! yes ! " said the lad, and felt in his pocket 
 where he had put it; but no, there was no ball to 
 be found, and he fell again into such an ill mood, and 
 knew not which way to turn. 
 
 " Well ! well ! bear up a bit," said the companion. 
 " I'll see if I can't lay hands on it ; " and with that he 
 took the sword and hat and strode off to a smith, and 
 got twelve pounds of iron welded on to the back of the 
 sword-blade. Then he went down to the stable, and 
 gave the Billygoat a stroke between his horns, so that 
 the brute went head over heels, and he asked — 
 
 "When rides the princess to see her lover to- 
 night?" 
 
 " At twelve o'clock," baaed the Billygoat. 
 
 So the companion put on the Three-Sister Hat 
 
The Companion 79 
 
 again, and waited till she came, tearing along with 
 her horn of ointment, and greased the Billygoat. Then 
 she said, as she had said the first time — 
 
 "Away, away, o'er roof-tree and steeple, o'er land, 
 o'er sea, o'er hill, o'er dale, to my true love who 
 awaits me in the fell this night." 
 
 In a trice they were oflf, and the companion threw 
 himself on behind the Billygoat, and away they went 
 like a blast through the air. In the twinkling of an 
 eye they came to the Troll's hill, and, when she had 
 knocked three times, they passed through the rock to 
 the Troll, who was her lover. 
 
 " Where was it you hid the golden scissors I gave 
 you yesterday, my darling ? " cried out the princess. 
 " My wooer had it and gave it back to me." 
 
 " That was quite impossible," said the Troll ; " for 
 he had locked it up in a chest with three locks and 
 hidden the keys in the hollow of his eye-tooth." But 
 when they unlocked the chest and looked for it, the 
 Troll had no scissors in his chest. 
 
 So the princess told him how she had given her 
 suitor her golden ball. 
 
 " And here it is," she said ; " for I took it from him 
 again without his knowing it. But what shall we hit 
 upon now, since he is master of such craft ? " 
 
 Well, the Troll hardly knew; but, after they had 
 thought a bit, they made up their minds to light a 
 large fire and burn the golden ball ; and so they would 
 be cocksure that he could not get at it. But, just as 
 she tossed it into the fire, the companion stood ready 
 and caught it; and neither of them saw him, for he 
 had on the Three-Sister Hat. 
 
8o 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 When the princess had been with the Troll a little 
 while, and it began to grow towards dawn, she set off 
 home again, and the companion got up behind her on 
 the goat, and they got back fast and safe. 
 
 i»iiiW!!)l!!!|i|l!l!ill)!!l!l!fil!!l!i))»)^ 
 
 Next day, when the lad was bidden down to dinner, 
 the companion gave him the ball. The princess was 
 even more high and haughty than the day before, 
 and, after they had dined, she perked up her mouth, 
 and said in a dainty voice — 
 
The Companion 8 1 
 
 " Perhaps it is too much to look for that you should 
 give me back my golden ball, which I gave you to 
 keep yesterday ? " 
 
 " Is it ? " said the lad. " You shall soon have it. 
 Here it is, safe enough;" and as he said that he 
 threw it down on the board so hard, that it shook 
 again; and as for the king, he gave a jump high up 
 into the air. 
 
 The princess got as pale as a corpse, but she soon 
 came to herself again, and said, in a sweet, small voice — 
 
 " Well done ! well done ! " Now he had only one 
 more trial left, and it was this : 
 
 " If you are so clever as to bring me what I am now 
 thinking of by dinner-time to-morrow, you shall win 
 me, and have me to wife." 
 
 That was what she said. 
 
 The lad felt like one doomed to death, for he thought 
 it quite impossible to know what she was thinking 
 about, and still harder to bring it to her ; and so, when 
 he went up to his bedroom, it was hard work to com- 
 fort him at all. His companion told him to be easy, 
 he would see if he could not get the right end of the 
 stick this time too, as he had done twice before. So 
 the lad at last took heart, and lay down to sleep. 
 
 Meanwhile, the companion went to the smith and got 
 twenty-four pounds of iron welded on to his sword ; 
 and, when that was done, he went down to the stable 
 and let fly at the Billygoat between the horns with 
 such a blow, that he went right head over heels against 
 the wall. 
 
 "When rides the princess to her lover to-night?" 
 he asked. 
 
82 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "At one o'clock," baaed the Billygoat. 
 
 So when the hour drew near, the companion stood 
 in the stable with his Three-Sister Hat on ; and, when 
 she had greased the goat, and uttered the same words 
 that they were to fly through the air to her true love, 
 who was waiting for her in the fell, off they went again 
 on the wings of the wind ; and, all the while, the com- 
 panion sat behind. 
 
 But he was not light-handed this time; for, every 
 now and then he gave the princess a slap, so that he 
 almost beat the breath out of her body. 
 
 And when they came to the wall of rock, she knocked 
 at the door, and it opened, and they passed on into the 
 fell to her lover. 
 
 As soon as she got there, she fell to bewailing, and 
 was very cross, and said she never knew the air could 
 deal such buffets; she almost thought, indeed, that 
 some one sat behind, who beat both the Billygoat and 
 herself; she was sure she was black and blue all over 
 her body, such a hard flight had she had through the 
 air. 
 
 Then she went on to tell how her lover had brought 
 her the golden ball too ; how it happened, neither she 
 nor the Troll could tell. 
 
 " But now do you know what I have hit upon ? " 
 
 No, the Troll did not. 
 
 " Well," she went on, " I have told him to bring me 
 what I was then thinking of by dinner-time to-morrow, 
 and what I thought of was your head. Do you think 
 he can get that, my darling ? " said the princess, and 
 began to fondle the Troll. 
 
 " No, I don't think he can," said the Troll. " He 
 
The Companion 
 
 83 
 
 would take his oath he couldn't ; " and then the Troll 
 burst out laughing, and scunnered worse than any 
 ghost, and both the princess and the Troll thought 
 the lad would be drawn and quartered, and that the 
 crows would peck out his eyes, before he could get the 
 Troll's head. 
 
 So when it turned towards dawn, she had to set off 
 
 home again; but she was afraid, she said, for she 
 thought there was some one behind her, and so she 
 was afraid to ride home alone. The Troll must go 
 with her on the way. Yes, the Troll would go with 
 her, and he led out his Billygoat (for he had one 
 that matched the princess's), and he smeared it and 
 greased it between the horns. And when the Troll 
 got up, the companion crept on behind, and so off 
 
84 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 they set through the air to the king's grange. But 
 all the way the companion thrashed the Troll and 
 his Billygoat, and gave them cut and thrust and 
 thrust and cut with his sword, till they got weaker 
 and weaker, and at last were well on the way to 
 sink down into the sea over which they passed. 
 Now the Troll thought the weather was so wild, 
 he went right home with the princess up to the 
 king's grange, and stood outside to see that she 
 got home safe and well. But just as she shut the 
 door behind her, the companion struck off the Troll's 
 head and ran up with it to the lad's bedroom. 
 " Here is what the princess thought of," said he. 
 Well, they were merry and joyful, one may think, 
 and when the lad was bidden down to dinner, and 
 they had dined, the princess was as lively as a lark. 
 
 "No doubt you have got what I thought of?" said 
 she. 
 
 "Aye, aye; I have it," said the lad, and he tore 
 it out from under his coat, and threw it down on 
 the board with such a thump that the board, trestles 
 and all, was upset. As for the princess, she was 
 as though she had been dead and buried; but she 
 could not say that this was not what she was think- 
 ing of, and so now he was to have her to wife, as 
 she had given her word. So they made a bridal 
 feast, and there was drinking and gladness all over 
 the kingdom. 
 
 But the companion took the lad on one side, and 
 told him that he must just shut his eyes and sham 
 sleep on the bridal night; but if he held his life 
 dear, and would listen to him, he wouldn't let a 
 
' Aye, aye ; I have it,' said the lad,' ' 
 
The Companion 87 
 
 wink come over them till he had stripped her of 
 her troll-skin, which had been thrown over her, but 
 he must flog it off her with a rod made of nine new 
 birch twigs, and he must tear it off her in three tubs 
 of milk : first he was to scrub her in a tub of year- 
 old whey, and then he was to scour her in the 
 tub of buttermilk, and lastly, he was to rub her in 
 a tub of new milk. The birch twigs lay under the 
 bed, and the tubs he had set in the corner of the 
 room. Everything was ready to his hand. Yes; 
 the lad gave his word to do as he was bid, and to 
 listen to him. So when they got into the bridal 
 bed at even, the lad shammed as though he had 
 given himself up to sleep. Then the princess raised 
 herself up on her elbow and looked at him to see 
 if he slept, and tickled him under the nose ; but 
 the lad slept on still. Then she tugged his hair 
 and his beard ; but he lay like a log, as she thought. 
 After that she drew out a big butcher's knife from 
 under the bolster, and was just going to hack off 
 his head; but the lad jumped up, dashed the knife 
 out of her hand, and caught her by the hair. Then 
 he flogged her with the birch rods, and wore them 
 out upon her till there was not a twig left. When 
 that was over he tumbled her into the tub of whey, 
 and then he got to see what sort of beast she was : 
 she was black as a raven all over her body; but 
 when he scrubbed her well in the whey, and scoured 
 her with buttermilk, and rubbed her well in new 
 milk, her troll-skin dropped off her, and she was 
 fair and lovely and gentle ; so lovely she had never 
 looked before. 
 
88 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Next day the companion said they must set off home. 
 Yes ; the lad was ready enough, and the princess too, 
 for her dower had been long waiting. In the night the 
 companion fetched to the king's grange all the gold and 
 silver and precious things which the Troll had left 
 behind him in the fell, and when they were ready to 
 start in the morning the whole grange was so full of 
 silver, and gold, and jewels, there was no walking 
 without treading on them. That dower was worth 
 more than all the king's land and realm, and they were 
 at their wits' end to know how to carry it with them. 
 But the companion knew a way out of every strait. 
 The Troll left behind him six billygoats, who could 
 all fly through the air. Those he so laded with silver 
 and gold that they were forced to walk along the 
 ground, and had no strength to mount aloft and fly, 
 and what the billygoats could not carry had to stay 
 behind in the king's grange. So they travelled far 
 and farther than far, but at last the billygoats got so 
 footsore and tired they could not go another step. The 
 lad and the princess knew not what to do ; but when 
 the companion saw they could not get on, he took the 
 whole dower on his back, and the billygoats a-top of it, 
 and bore it all so far on that there was only half a mile 
 left to the lad's home. 
 
 Then the companion said, " Now we must part. I 
 can't stay with you any longer." 
 
 But the lad would not part from him, he would not 
 lose him for much or little. Well, he went with them 
 a quarter of a mile more, but farther he could not go, 
 and when the lad begged and prayed him to go home 
 and stay with him altogether, or at least as long as they 
 
The Companion 89 
 
 had drunk his home-coming ale in his father's house, 
 the companion said, " No. That could not be. Now 
 he must part, for he heard heaven's bells ringing for 
 him." He was the vintner who had stood in the block 
 of ice outside the church door, whom all spat upon ; 
 and he had been his companion and helped him because 
 he had given all he had to get him peace and rest in 
 Christian earth. 
 
 "I had leave," he said, "to follow you a year, and 
 now the year is out." 
 
 When he was gone, the lad laid together all his 
 wealth in a safe place, and went home without any 
 baggage. Then they drank his home-coming ale, till 
 the news spread far and wide over seveh kingdoms, 
 and when they had got to the end of the feast, they 
 had carting and carrying all the winter both with the 
 billygoats and the twelve horses which his father had 
 before they got all that gold and silver safely carted 
 home. 
 
The Shopboy and his Cheese 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a shopboy who was 
 so well liked by all who knew him, that they 
 thought him too good to stand behind the 
 counter with a yard measure, and weights and scales. 
 So they made up their minds to send him out with 
 a venture to foreign parts, and they let him choose 
 what he would take out. He chose old cheese, and 
 set off with it to Turkey. There he sold his cheeses 
 very well ; but as he was on his way home, he met 
 two who had slain a man, and it was not enough 
 that they had slain him in this life, but they ill-treated 
 his body after he was dead. This the shopboy could 
 not bear to see, how wickedly they behaved ; so he 
 bought the body of them, and got a grave with his 
 
The Shopboy and his Cheese 91 
 
 money, and buried it, and then he had spent all he 
 had. 
 
 After a long, long time, he got safe home, and was 
 both illcome and welcome. Some of those who had 
 helped and fitted him out thought he had done a good 
 deed ; but others were ill-pleased that he should have 
 so thrown away his money. But for all that they were 
 ready to try if he could not do better another time, so 
 they let him choose his lading again. He chose the 
 same freight, and took the same way, and sold his 
 cheese even better than before. But, as he was on 
 his way home, he met two who had stolen a king's 
 daughter, and they had put harness on her, and had 
 got so far as to drive her; they had stripped off her 
 clothes to the waist, and one went on either side of 
 her and whipped her. The lad's heart melted at this, 
 for she was a lovely lass. So he asked if they would 
 sell her. Yes, if he would pay down her weight in 
 silver he might have her, and there was no long bar- 
 gaining : he paid all they asked. 
 
 After a long, long time, he got safe home ; but those 
 who had fitted him out were one and all so ill-pleased 
 at his dealing, that they banished him the land. So he 
 had to set off to England. There he stayed for four 
 years with his sweetheart, and the way they got their 
 living was by her weaving ribbons, which she wove so 
 well that he sold two shillings' worth a day. 
 
 One day he met two who were foes, and one wished 
 to thrash the other because he owed him eighteenpence. 
 That seemed to the lad wrong, and he paid the debt for 
 him. Another day he met two travellers, who began 
 to talk with him, and asked if he had anything to sell. 
 
92 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Nothing but ribbons," he said. Well, they would 
 have three shillings' worth, and asked him where he 
 lived, and fixed a day to come and fetch them; and 
 when the day came, they came too, and lo ! when they 
 came, if one of them was not the princess's brother, 
 and the other an emperor's son, to whom she was 
 betrothed. So they got the ribbons for which they had 
 bargained, and wanted to take her home with them. 
 But she wouldn't go unless they would let him go with 
 them, and take care of him ; for she would not forsake 
 the man who had freed her, so long as she had breath 
 in her body. So they had to give way to her if they 
 were to take her at all. But when they were to go on 
 board ship, the brother and sister went first into the 
 boat, and when the emperor's son was to get into her, 
 he shoved her oif, and jumped into her himself, and 
 so the lad was left standing on the shore. The ship 
 lay ready for sea, and they sailed as soon as ever they 
 came on board. But then up came the man for whom 
 the lad had paid eighteenpence, in a boat and put him 
 on board. Then the princess was so glad, and took a 
 gold ring off her finger and gave it to him, and made 
 him go down into the cabin where she lay. 
 
 Well, they sailed many days, till they came to a 
 desert island, where they landed to look for game, and 
 they settled things so that the brother, and the Norse- 
 man who had saved the princess's life, were to go each 
 on his side of the island, and the emperor's son in the 
 middle, and when the lad was well gone, so that they 
 could neither see him nor he them, they got on board, 
 and he was left to walk about the island alone. Then 
 he saw there was no help for it but to stay there ; and 
 
The Shopboy and his Cheese 93 
 
 there he stayed seven years. He got his food from 
 a fruit-bearing tree which he found, and when the 
 seven years were up, an old, old man came to him and 
 said — 
 
 "To-day your true love is to be married. They 
 have not got a kind word out of her these seven years, 
 since you parted; but for all that the emperor's son 
 wants to marry her, for that he knows she is wise 
 and witty, and for that she is so rich." 
 
 After that the man asked if he had not a mind to 
 be at the wedding. So he said — well ! what he said 
 any one can guess, but he saw no way of getting there. 
 But lo! in a little while there he stood in the palace 
 where the wedding was to be. Then he wanted to 
 know what kind of man that was who had brought 
 him thither. " He was no man," he said, " but a spirit." 
 He it was whose body he had bought and buried in 
 Turkey. 
 
 After that, he gave him a glass and a bottle, with 
 wine in it, and told him to send some one in with a 
 message to the cook to come out to him. 
 
 "When he comes, you must first pour out a glass 
 and drink it yourself; and then another, and give it to 
 the cook ; and then you must pour out a third, and send 
 it to the bride ; but first of all you must take the ring 
 off your finger, and put it into the glass which you 
 send her." 
 
 So when the cook came in with the glass, they all 
 cried out, "She mustn't drink." But the cook said, 
 " First he drank, and then I drank, so she may very 
 safely drink the wine." 
 
 And when she drank the glass out, she saw the 
 
94 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 ring that lay at the bottom, and ran out, and as soon 
 as she got outside she knew him again, and fell on 
 his neck and kissed him, all shaggy as he was, for 
 you may fancy, he had neither lather nor razor on 
 his beard for seven years. 
 
 But now the king came after, and wanted to know 
 the meaning of all this fondling be- 
 tween them. So they were brought 
 into a room, and told the whole 
 story from first to last. Then the 
 king bade them go and fetch a 
 barber, and scrape the bristles off 
 him, and trim him, and a tailor with 
 a new court dress, and then the king 
 went into the bridal hall, and asked 
 the bridegroom, that emperor's son, 
 what doom should be passed 
 on one who had robbed a 
 man both of life and honour. 
 He answered, "Such a 
 scoundrel should be first hanged on a gallows, and 
 then his body should be burnt quick." 
 
 So he was taken at his word, and suffered the doom 
 that he uttered over himself, and the shopboy was 
 wedded to the king's daughter, and lived both long 
 and luckily. 
 
Peik 
 
 NCE on a time there was a man, 
 and he had a wife; they had a 
 son and a daughter who were 
 twins, and they were so like, no 
 one could tell the one from the 
 other by anything else than their 
 clothing. The boy they called 
 Peik. He was of little good 
 while his father and mother 
 lived, for he had no mood to do aught else than to 
 befool folk, and he was so full of tricks and pranks 
 that no one could be at peace for him ; but when they 
 were dead it got worse and worse, he wouldn't turn his 
 hand to anything ; all he would do was to squander 
 what they left behind them, and as for his neighbours 
 he fell out with all of them. His sister toiled and 
 moiled all she could, but it helped little ; so at last she 
 said to him how silly this was that he would do naught 
 for the house, and ended by asking him — 
 
 "What shall we have to live on when you have 
 wasted everything ? " 
 
 "Oh, I'Jl go out and befool somebody," said Peik. 
 "Yes, Peik, I'll be bound you'll do that soon 
 enough," said his sister. 
 
96 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Well, I'll try," said Peik. 
 
 So at last they had nothing more, for there was an 
 end of everything; and Peik trotted off, and walked 
 
 -iK&5i!Mill|llSi^^^5. 
 
 and walked till he came to the King's Grange. There 
 stood the King in the porch, and as soon as he set 
 eyes on the lad, he said — 
 
Peik 97 
 
 " Whither away to-day, Peik ? " 
 
 " Oh, I was going out to see if I could befool any- 
 body," said Peik. 
 
 " Can't you befool me, now ? " said the King. 
 
 " No, I'm sure I can't," said Peik, " for I've for- 
 gotten my fooling rods at home." 
 
 "Can't you go and fetch them?" said the King, 
 "for I should be very glad to see if you are such a 
 trickster as folks say." 
 
 " I've no strength to walk," said Peik. 
 
 " I'll lend you a horse and saddle," said the King. 
 
 " But I can't ride either," said Peik. 
 
 "Then we'll lift you up," said the King; "then 
 you'll be able to stick on." 
 
 Well, Peik stood and clawed and scratched his 
 head, as though he would pull the hair off, and let 
 them lift him up into the saddle, and there he sat 
 swinging this side and that so long as the King could 
 see him, and the King laughed till the tears came 
 into his eyes, for such a tailor on horseback he had 
 never before seen. But when Peik was come well 
 into the wood behind the hill, so that he was out of 
 the King's sight, he sat as though he were nailed to 
 the horse, and off he rode as though he had stolen 
 both steed and bridle, and when he got to the town 
 he sold both horse and saddle. 
 
 All the while the King walked up and down, and 
 loitered and waited for Peik to come tottering back 
 again with his fooling rods ; and every now and then 
 he laughed when he called to mind how wretched 
 he looked as he sat swinging about on the horse like 
 a sack of com, not knowing on which side to fall off; 
 
 G 
 
98 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 but this lasted for seven lengths and seven breadths 
 and no Peik came, and so at last the King saw that 
 he was fooled and cheated out of his horse and saddle, 
 even though Peik had not his fooling rods with him. 
 And so there was another story, for the King got 
 wroth, and was all for setting off to kill Peik. 
 
 But Peik had found out the day he was coming. 
 
 and told his sister she must put on the big boiler 
 with a drop of water in it. But just as the King 
 came in Peik dragged the boiler off the fire and ran 
 ofif with it to the chopping-block, and so boiled the 
 porridge on the block. 
 
 The King wondered at that, and wondered on and 
 on so much that he clean forgot what brought him 
 there. 
 
Peik 99 
 
 " What do you want for that pot ? " said he. 
 
 " I can't spare it," said Peik. 
 
 "Why not?" said the King; "I'll pay what you 
 ask." 
 
 " No, no!" said Peik. "It saves me time and money, 
 wood hire and chopping hire, carting and carrying." 
 
 "Never mind," said the King, "I'll give you a 
 hundred dollars. It's true you've fooled me out of 
 a horse and saddle, and bridle besides, but all that 
 shall go for nothing if I can only get the pot." 
 
 " Well ! if you must have it you must," said Peik. 
 
 When the King got home he asked guests and made 
 a feast, but the meat was to be boiled in the new pot, 
 and so he took it up and set it in the middle of the 
 floor. The guests thought the King had lost his wits, 
 and went about elbowing one another, and laughing 
 at him. But he walked round and round the pot, and 
 cackled and chattered, saying all in a breath — 
 
 " Well, well ! bide a bit, bide a bit ! 'twill boil in a 
 minute." 
 
 But there was no boiling. So he saw that Peik had 
 been out again with his fooling rods and cheated him, 
 and now he would set off at once and slay him. 
 
 When the King came, Peik stood out by the barn 
 door. " Wouldn't it boil ? " he asked. 
 
 " No, it would not," said the King ; " but now you 
 shall smart for it," and so he was just going to un- 
 sheath his knife. 
 
 " I can well believe that," said Peik, " for you did 
 not take the block too." 
 
 "I wish I thought," said the King, "you weren't 
 teUing me a pack of lies." 
 
loo Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " I tell you it's all because of the block it stands on ; 
 it won't boil without it," said Peik. 
 
 "Well, what did he want for it?" It was well 
 worth three hundred dollars ; but for the King's sake 
 it should go for two. So he got the block and travelled 
 home with it, and bade guests again, and made a feast, 
 and set the pot on the chopping-block in the middle of 
 the room. The guests thought he was both daft and 
 mad, and they went about making game of him, while 
 he cackled and chattered round the pot, calling out, 
 " Bide a bit ! now it boils ! now it boils in a trice." 
 
 But it wouldn't boil a bit more on the block than on 
 the bare floor. So he saw again that Peik had been 
 out with his fooling rods this time too. Then he 
 fell a-tearing his hair, and swore he would set off at 
 once and slay him. He wouldn't spare him this time, 
 whether he put a good or a bad face on it. 
 
 But Peik had taken steps to meet him again. He 
 slaughtered a wether and caught the blood in the 
 bladder, and stuffed it into his sister's bosom, and 
 told her what to say and do. 
 
 " Where's Peik ! " screeched out the King. He was 
 in such a rage that his tongue faltered. 
 
 " He is so poorly that he can't stir hand or foot," 
 she said, "and now he's trying to get a nap." 
 
 " Wake him up," said the King. 
 
 " Nay, I daren't ; he is so hasty," said the sister. 
 
 "Well! I'm hastier still," said the King, "and if 
 you don't wake him, I will," and with that he tapped 
 his side where his knife hung. 
 
 " Well ! she would go and wake him ; " but Peik 
 turned hastily in his bed, drew out a little knife, and 
 
Feik 
 
 101 
 
 ripped open the bladder in her bosom, so that a stream 
 of blood gushed out, and down she fell on the floor as 
 though she were dead. 
 
 " What a daredevil you are, Peik ! " said the King, 
 " if you haven't stabbed your sister to death, and here 
 I stood by and saw it with my own eyes ! " 
 
 " There's no risk with her body so long as there's 
 breath in my nostrils ; " and with that he pulled out a 
 
 ram's-horn and began to toot upon it, and when he had 
 tooted a bridal tune, he put the end to her body, and 
 blew life into her again, and up she rose as though 
 there was naught the matter with her. 
 
 " Bless me, Peik ! can you kill folk and blow life into 
 them again ? Can you do that ? " said the King. 
 
 " Why ! " said Peik, " how could I get on at all if I 
 couldn't ? I'm always killing every one I come near ; 
 don't you know I'm very hasty ? " 
 
I02 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " So am I hot-tempered," said the King, " and that 
 horn I must have. I'll give you a hundred dollars for it, 
 and besides I'll forgive you for cheating me out of my 
 horse, and for fooling me about the pot and the block, 
 and all else." 
 
 Peik was very loth to part with it, but for his sake 
 he would let him have it ; and so the King went off 
 home with it, and he had hardly got back before he 
 
 must try it. So he fell a-wrangling and quarrelling 
 with the Queen and his eldest daughter, and they paid 
 him back in the same coin ; but before they knew a 
 word about it, he whipped out his knife and cut their 
 throats, so that they fell down stone dead, and every 
 one else ran out of the room, they were so afraid. 
 
 The King walked and paced about the floor for a 
 while, and kept chattering that there was no harm done 
 so long as there was breath in him, and a pack of such 
 
Peik 103 
 
 stuff which had flowed out of Peik's mouth, and then 
 he pulled out the horn and began to blow " Toot-i-too, 
 To6t-i-too," but though he blew and tooted as hard as he 
 could all that day and the next too, he couldn't blow 
 life into them again. Dead they were, and dead they 
 stayed, both the Queen and his daughter, and he was 
 forced to buy graves for them in the churchyard, and 
 to spend money on their funeral ale into the bargain. 
 
 So he must and would go and cut Peik off; but Peik 
 had his spies out, and knew when the King was coming, 
 and then he said to his sister — 
 
 "Now you must change clothes with me and set 
 off. If you will do that, you may have all we have 
 got." 
 
 Well, she changed clothes with him, and packed up 
 and started off as fast as she could ; but Peik sat all 
 alone in his sister's clothes. 
 
 " Where is that Peik ? " said the King as he came 
 in a towering rage through the door. 
 
 " He has run away," said Peik. 
 
 "Ah! had he been at home," said the King, "I'd 
 have slain him on the spot. It's no good sparing the 
 life of such a rogue." 
 
 " Yes ! he knew by his spies that your Majesty was 
 coming, and was going to take his life for his wicked 
 tricks ; but he has left me all alone without a morsel of 
 bread or a penny in my purse," said Peik, who made 
 himself as soft and mealy-mouthed as a young lady. 
 
 "Come along, then, to the King's Grange, and you 
 shall have enough to live on. There's no good sitting 
 here and starving in this cabin by yourself," said the 
 King. 
 
1 04 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Yes ! he was glad to do that ; so the King took 
 him with him, and had him taught everything, and 
 treated him as his own daughter, and it was almost 
 as if the King had his three daughters again, for 
 Miss Peik sewed and stitched, and sung and played 
 with the others, and was with them early and late. 
 
 After a time a king's son came to look for a wife. 
 
 "Yes! I have three daughters," said the King; "it 
 rests with you which you will have." 
 
 So he got leave to go up to their bower to make 
 friends with them, and the end was that he liked 
 Miss Peik best, and threw a silk kerchief into her 
 lap as a love token. So they set to work to get 
 ready the bridal feast, and in a little while his kins- 
 folk came, and the King's men, and they all fell to 
 feasting and drinking on the bridal eve ; but as night 
 was falling Miss Peik daren't stay longer, but ran 
 
Peik 105 
 
 away from the King's Grange, out into the wide 
 world, and the bride was lost. 
 
 The King got both wroth and sorrowful, and began 
 to wonder if it wasn't Peik again that had a finger in 
 this pie. 
 
 So he mounted his horse and rode out, for he 
 thought it dull work staying at home ; but when he 
 got out among the ploughed fields, there sat Peik on 
 a stone playing on a Jew's harp. 
 
 " What ! are you sitting there, Peik ? " said the King. 
 
 " Here I sit, sure enough," said Peik ; " where else 
 should I sit ?■" 
 
 " Now you have cheated me foully time after time," 
 said the King, " but now you must come along home 
 with me, and I'll kill you." 
 
 "Well, well!" said Peik, "if it can't be helped it 
 can't ; I suppose I must go along with you." 
 
 When they got home to the King's Grange they 
 got ready a cask which Peik was to be put in, and 
 when it was ready they carted it up to a high fell ; 
 there he was to lie three days thinking on all the 
 evil he had done, then they were to roll him down 
 the fell into the firth. 
 
 The third day a rich man passed by, but Peik sat. 
 inside the cask and sang — 
 
 " To heaven's bliss and Paradise, 
 To heaven's bliss and Paradise." 
 
 " I'd sooner far stay here and not be made an 
 angel." 
 
 When the man heard that, he asked what he would 
 take to change places with him. 
 
io6 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 m 
 
 " It ought to be a good sum," said Peik, " for there 
 
 wasn't a coach ready to start for Paradise every day." 
 
 So the man said he would give all he had ; and so 
 he knocked out the head of the cask and crept into it 
 instead of Peik. 
 
 " A happy journey ! " said the King when he came 
 to roll him down ; " now you'll go faster to the firth 
 than if you were in a sledge with reindeer; and now 
 it's all over with you and your fooling rods." 
 
 Before the cask was half-way down the fell, there 
 wasn't a whole stave of it left, nor a limb of him who 
 was inside. But when the King came back to the 
 Grange, Peik was there before him, and sat in the 
 courtyard playing on the Jew's harp. 
 
 " What ! you sitting here, you, Peik ? " 
 
 " Yes ! here I sit, sure enough ; where else should 1 
 sit ? " said Peik. " Maybe I can get house-room here 
 for all my horses and sheep and money." 
 
 " But whither was it that I rolled you that you got 
 all this wealth ? " asked the King. 
 
 "Oh, you rolled me into the firth," said Peik, "and 
 when I got to the bottom there was more than enough 
 and to spare, both of horses and sheep and of gold 
 and silver. The cattle went about in great flocks, and 
 the gold and silver lay in large heaps as big as houses." 
 
 "What will you take to roll me down the same 
 way ? " asked the King. 
 
 " Oh," said Peik, " it costs little or nothing to do it. 
 Besides, you took nothing from me, and so I'll take 
 nothing from you either." 
 
 So he stuffed the King into a cask and rolled him 
 over, and when he had given him a ride down to 
 
Peik 1 07 
 
 the firth for nothing, he went home to the King's 
 Grange. Then he began to hold his bridal feast with 
 the youngest princess, and afterwards he ruled both 
 land and realm, but he kept his fooling rods to him- 
 self, and kept them so well that nothing was ever after- 
 wards heard of Peik and his tricks, but only of " OUR- 
 SELF THE KING." 
 
Death and the Doctor 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a lad who had lived 
 as a servant a long time with a man of the 
 North Country. This man was a master at 
 ale-brewing; it was so out-of-the-way good the like 
 of it was not to be found. So, when the lad was to 
 leave his place and the man was to pay him the wages 
 he had earned, he would take no other pay than a keg 
 of Yule-ale. Well, he got it and set off with it, and he 
 carried it both far and long, but the longer he carried 
 the keg the heavier it got, and so he began to look 
 about to see if any one were coming with whom he 
 might have a drink, that the ale might lessen and the 
 keg lighten. And after a long, long time, he met an 
 old man with a big beard. 
 
 " Good day," said the man. 
 
 " Good day to you," said the lad. 
 
 " Whither away ? " asked the man. 
 
 " I'm looking after some one to drink with, and get 
 my keg lightened," said the lad. 
 
 " Can't you drink as well with me as with any one 
 else ? " said the man. " I have fared both far and 
 wide, and I am both tired and thirsty." 
 
 "Well! why shouldn't I?" said the lad; "but tell 
 
Death and the Doctor 109 
 
 me, whence do you come, and what sort of man are 
 you?" 
 
 "I am 'Our Lord,' and come from Heaven," said 
 the man. 
 
 " Thee will I not drink with," said the lad ; " for thou 
 makest such distinction between persons here in the 
 world, and sharest rights so unevenly that some get 
 so rich and some so poor. No ! with thee I will not 
 drink," and as he said this he trotted off with his keg 
 again. 
 
 So when he had gone a bit farther the keg grew 
 too heavy again ; he thought he never could carry it 
 any longer unless some one came with whom he might 
 drink, and so lessen the ale in the keg. Yes ! he met 
 an ugly, scrawny man who came along fast and furious. 
 
 " Good day," said the man. 
 
 " Good day to you," said the lad. 
 
 " Whither away ? " asked the man. 
 
 "Oh, I'm looking for some one to drink with, and 
 get my keg lightened," said the lad. 
 
 " Can't you drink with me as well as with any one 
 else ? " said the man ; " I have fared both far and wide, 
 and I am tired and thirsty." 
 
 " Well, why not ? " said the lad; " but who are you, 
 and whence do you come ? " 
 
 " Who am I ? I am the De'il, and I come from 
 Hell ; that's where I come from," said the man. 
 
 " No ! " said the lad ; "thou only pinest and plaguest 
 poor folk, and if there is any unhappiness astir, they 
 always say it is thy fault. Thee I will not drink with." 
 
 So he went far and farther than far again with his 
 ale-keg on his back, till he thought it grew so heavy 
 
no 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 there was no carrying it any farther. He began to look 
 round again if any one were coming with whom he 
 could drink and lighten his keg. So after a long, long 
 
 1^'-. 
 
 time, another man came, and he was so dry and lean 
 'twas a wonder his bones hung together. 
 
 " Good day," said the man. 
 
 " Good day to you," said the lad. 
 
 "Whither away?" asked the man. 
 
 " Oh, I was only looking about to see if I could find 
 
Death and the Doctor 1 1 1 
 
 some one to drink with, that my keg might be lightened 
 a little, it is so heavy to carry." 
 
 " Can't you drink as well with me as with any one 
 else ? " said the man. 
 
 " Yes ; why not ? " said the lad. " But what sort of 
 man are you ? " 
 
 " They call me Death," said the man. 
 
 " The very man for my money," said the lad. " Thee 
 I am glad to drink with," and as he said this he 
 put down his keg, and began to tap the ale into a 
 bowl. "Thou art an honest, trustworthy man, for 
 thou treatest all alike, both rich and poor." 
 
 So he drank his health, and Death drank his health, 
 and Death said he had never tasted such drink, and 
 as the lad was fond of him, they drank bowl and 
 bowl about, till the ale was lessened, and the keg grew 
 light. 
 
 At last Death said, " I have never known drink 
 which smacked better, or did me so much good as this 
 ale that you have given me, and I scarce know what 
 to give you in return." But, after he had thought 
 awhile, he said the keg should never get empty, how- 
 ever much they drank out of it, and the ale that was 
 in it should become a healing drink, by which the 
 lad could make the sick whole again better than any 
 doctor. And he also said that when the lad came into 
 the sick man's room. Death would always be there, and 
 show himself to him, and it should be to him for a 
 sure token if he saw Death at the foot of the bed that 
 he could cure the sick with a draught from the keg; 
 but if he sat by the pillow, there was no healing nor 
 medicine, for then the sick belonged to Death. 
 
112 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Well, the lad soon grew famous, and was called in 
 far and near, and he helped many to health again who 
 had been given over. When he came in and saw how 
 Death sat by the sick man's bed, he foretold either 
 life or death, and his foretelling was never Avrong. He 
 got both a rich and powerful man, and at last he was 
 called in to a king's daughter far, far away in the 
 world. She was so dangerously ill no doctor thought 
 he could do her any good, and so they promised him all 
 that he cared either to ask or have if he would only 
 save her life. 
 
 Now, when he came into the princess's room, there 
 sat Death at her pillow ; but as he sat he dozed and • 
 nodded, and while he did this she felt herself better. 
 
 "Now, life or death is at stake," said the doctor; 
 " and I fear, from what I see, there is no hope." 
 
 But they said he must save her, if it cost land and 
 realm. So he looked at Death, and while he sat there 
 and dozed again, he made a sign to the servants to 
 turn the bed round so quickly that Death was left 
 sitting at the foot, and at the very moment they turned 
 the bed, the doctor gave her the draught, and her life 
 was saved. 
 
 " Now you have cheated me," said Death, " and we 
 are quits." 
 
 "I was forced to do it," said the doctor, "unless I 
 wished to lose land and realm." 
 
 "That shan't help you much," said Death; "your 
 time is up, for now you belong to me." 
 
 " Well," said the lad, " what must be must be ; but 
 you'll let me have time to read the Lord's Prayer 
 first?" 
 
Ojje "pnncess 
 
 'i^^^^'^ J — ^ 
 
 ' There sat Death at her pillow 
 
Death and the Doctor 1 1 5 
 
 Yes, he might have leave to do that ; but he took 
 very good care not to read the Lord's Prayer ; every- 
 thing else he read, but the Lord's Prayer never crossed 
 his lips, and at last he thought he had cheated Death 
 for good and all. But when Death thought he had 
 really waited too long, he went to the lad's house 
 one night, and hung up a great tablet with the Lord's 
 Prayer painted on it over against his bed. So when 
 the lad woke in the morning he began to read the 
 tablet, and did not quite see what he was about till 
 he came to Amen; but then it was just too late, and 
 Death had him. 
 
The Way of the World 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a man who went into 
 the wood to cut hop-poles, but he could find 
 no trees so long and straight and slender as 
 he wanted, till he came high up under a great heap 
 of stones. There he heard groans and moans as 
 though some one were at Death's doori So he went 
 
 up to see who it was 
 that needed help, 
 and then he heard 
 that the noise 
 came from under 
 a great flat stone 
 which lay upon 
 the heap. It was so 
 heavy it would have 
 taken many a man to 
 lift it. But the man 
 went down again into 
 the wood and cut down 
 a tree, which he turned into a lever, and with that he 
 tilted up the stone, and lo ! out from under it crawled 
 a Dragon, and made at the man to swallow him up. 
 But the man said he had saved the Dragon's life, and 
 
The Way of the World iiy 
 
 it was shameful thanklessness in him to want to eat 
 him up. 
 
 " May be," said the Dragon, " but you might very 
 well know I must be starved when I have been here 
 hundreds of years and never tasted meat. Besides, 
 it's the way of the world — that's how it pays its 
 debts." 
 
 The man pleaded his cause stoutly, and begged 
 prettily for his life; and at last they agreed to take 
 the first living thing that came for a daysman, and 
 if his doom went the other way the man should not 
 lose his life, but if he said the same as the Dragon, the 
 Dragon should eat the man. 
 
 The first thing that came was an old hound, who 
 ran along the road down below under the hillside. 
 Him they spoke to, and begged him to be judge. 
 
 " God knows," said the hound, " I have served my 
 master truly ever since I was a little whelp. I have 
 watched and watched many and many a night through 
 while he lay warm asleep on his ear, and I have saved 
 house and home from fire and thieves more than once ; 
 but now I can neither see nor hear any more, and he 
 wants to shoot me. . And so I must run away, and 
 slink from house to house, and beg for my living till I 
 die of hunger. No ! it's the way of the world," said 
 the hound ; " that's how it pays its debts.'' 
 
 " Now I am coming to eat you up," said the Dragon, 
 and tried to swallow the man again. But the man 
 begged and prayed hard for his life, till they agreed 
 to take the next comer for a judge ; and if he said 
 the same as the Dragon and the hound, the Dragon 
 was to eat him, and get a meal of man's meat ; but if 
 
ii8 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 he did not say so, the man was to get off with his 
 life. 
 
 So there came an old horse limping down along 
 the road which ran under the hill. Him they called 
 out to come and settle the dispute. Yes ; he was quite 
 ready to do that. 
 
 " Now, I have served my master," said the horse, 
 " as long as I could draw or carry. 1 have slaved and 
 striven for him till the sweat trickled from every hair, 
 
 and I have worked till I have grown lame, and halt, 
 and worn out with toil and age; now I am fit for 
 nothing. I am not worth my food, and so I am to 
 have a bullet through me, he says. Nay ! nay ! It's 
 the way of the world. That's how the world pays its 
 debts." 
 
 "Well, now I'm coming to eat you," said the Dragon, 
 who gaped wide, and wanted to swallow the man. But 
 he begged again hard for his life. 
 
 But the Dragon said he must have a mouthful of 
 
The Way of the World 1 1 9 
 
 man's meat ; he was so hungry, he couldn't bear it any 
 longer. 
 
 "See, yonder comes one who looks as if he was 
 sent to be a judge between us," said the man, as he 
 pointed to Reynard the fox, who came stealing between 
 the stones of the heap. 
 
 " All good things are three," said the man ; " let me 
 ask him, too, and if he gives doom like the others, eat 
 me up on the spot." 
 
 " Very well," said the Dragon. He, too, had heard 
 that all good things were three, and so it should be a 
 bargain. So the man talked to the fox as he had talked 
 to the others. 
 
 " Yes, yes," said Reynard, " I see how it all is ; " 
 but as he said this he took the man a. little on one 
 side. 
 
 "What will you give me if I free you from the 
 Dragon ? " he whispered into the man's ear. 
 
 "You shall be free to come to my house, and to 
 be lord and master over my hens and geese every 
 Thursday night," said the man. 
 
 " Well, my dear Dragon," said Reynard, " this is a 
 very hard nut to crack. I can't get it into my head 
 how you, who are so big and mighty a beast, could 
 find room to lie under yon stone." 
 
 "Can't you?" said the Dragon; "well, I lay under 
 the hill-side, and sunned myself, and down came a 
 landslip, and hurled the stone over me." 
 
 "All very likely, I dare say," said Reynard; "but 
 still I can't understand it, and what's more I won't 
 believe it till I see it." 
 
 So the man said they had better prove it, and the 
 
1 20 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Dragon crawled down into his hole again ; but in the 
 twinkling of an eye they whipped out the lever, and 
 down the stone crashed again on the Dragon. 
 
 " Lie now there till doomsday," said the fox. " You 
 would eat the man, would you, who saved your life ? " 
 
 The Dragon groaned, and moaned, and begged hard 
 to come out ; but the two went their way and left him 
 alone. 
 
 The very first Thursday night Reynard came to be 
 lord and master over the hen-roost, and hid himself 
 behind a great pile of wood hard by. When the maid 
 went to feed the fowls, in stole Reynard. She neither 
 saw nor heard anything of him ; but her back was 
 scarce turned before he had sucked blood enough for 
 a week, and stuffed himself so that he couldn't stir. 
 So when she came again in the morning, there Reynard 
 lay and snored, and slept in the morning sun, with all 
 four legs stretched straight ; and he was as sleek and 
 round as a German sausage. 
 
 Away ran the lassie for the goody, and she came, 
 and all the lasses with her, with sticks and brooms 
 to beat Reynard; and, to tell the truth, they nearly 
 banged the life out of him ; but, just as it was almost 
 all over with him, and he thought his last hour was 
 come, he found a hole in the floor, and so he crept out, 
 and limped and hobbled off to the wood. 
 
 "Oh, oh," said Reynard; "how true it is. 'Tis the 
 way of the world ; and this is how it pays its debts." 
 
The Pancake 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a goody who had seven 
 hungry bairns, and she was frying a pancake 
 for them. It was a sweet-milk pancake, and 
 there it lay in the pan bubbling and frizzling so thick 
 and good, it was a sight for sore eyes to look at. And 
 the bairns stood round about, and the goodman sat by 
 and looked on. 
 
 " Oh, give me a bit of pancake, mother, dear ; I am 
 so hungry," said one bairn. 
 
 " Oh, darling mother," said the second. 
 
 "Oh, darling, good mother," said the third. 
 
 " Oh, darling, good, nice mother," said the fourth. 
 
 " Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice mother," said the 
 fifth. 
 
 "Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice, clever mother," 
 said the sixth. 
 
 " Oh, darling, pretty, good, nice, clever, sweet 
 mother," said the seventh. 
 
 So they begged for the pancake all round, the one 
 more prettily than the other ; for they were so hungry 
 and so good. 
 
 " Yes, yes, bairns, only bide a bit till it turns itself," 
 . — she ought to have said, " till I can get it turned," — 
 
122 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " and then you shall all have some — a lovely sweet- 
 milk pancake; only look how fat and happy it lies 
 there." 
 
 When the pancake heard that it got afraid, and in a 
 trice it turned itself all of itself, and tried to jump out 
 of the pan ; but it fell back into it again t'other side 
 up, and so when it had been fried a little on the other 
 side too, till it got firmer in its flesh, it sprang out on 
 the floor, and rolled off" like a wheel through the door 
 and down the hill. 
 
 " Holloa ! Stop, pancake ! " and away went the 
 goody after it, with the frying-pan in one hand and 
 the ladle in the other, as fast as she could, and her 
 bairns behind her, while the goodman limped after 
 them last of all. 
 
 " Hi ! won't 3'ou stop ? Seize it. Stop, pancake," 
 they all screamed out, one after the other, and tried to 
 catch it on the run and hold it ; but the pancake rolled 
 on and on, and in the twinkling of an eye it was so far 
 ahead that they couldn't see it, for the pancake was 
 faster on its feet than any of them. 
 
 So when it had rolled awhile it met a man. 
 
 " Good day, pancake," said the man. 
 
 " God bless you, Manny Panny ! " said the pancake. 
 
 " Dear pancake," said the man, " don't roll so fast ; 
 stop a little and let me eat you." 
 
 "When I have given the slip to Goody Poody, and 
 the goodman, and seven squalling children, I may well 
 slip through your fingers, Manny Panny," said the 
 pancake, and rolled on and on till it met a hen. 
 
 " Good day, pancake," said the hen. 
 
 " The same to you, Henny Penny," said the pancake. 
 
The Pancake 123 
 
 " Pancake, dear, don't roll so fast ; bide a bit and let 
 me eat you up," said the hen. 
 
 "When I have given the slip to Goody Poody, and 
 the goodman, and seven squalling children, and Manny 
 Panny, I may well slip through your claws, Henny 
 Penny," said the pancake, and so it rolled on like a 
 wheel down the road. 
 
 Just then it met a cock. 
 
 " Good day, pancake," said the cock. 
 
 "The same to you. Cocky Locky," said the pan- 
 cake. 
 
 " Pancake, dear, don't roll so fast, but bide a bit and 
 let me eat you up." 
 
 " When I have given the slip to Goody Poody, and 
 the goodman, and seven squalling children, and to 
 Manny Panny, and Henny Penny, I may well slip 
 through your claws. Cocky Locky," said the pancake, 
 and off it set rolling away as fast as it could; and 
 when it had rolled a long way it met a duck. 
 
 " Good day, pancake," said the duck. 
 
 " The same to you. Ducky Lucky." 
 
 " Pancake, dear, don't roll away so fast ; bide a bit 
 and let me eat you up." 
 
 " When I have given the slip to Goody Poody, and 
 the goodman, and seven squalling children, and Manny 
 Panny, and Henny Penny, and Cocky Locky, I may 
 well slip through your fingers, Ducky Lucky," said the 
 pancake, and with that it took to rolling and rolling 
 faster than ever ; and when it had rolled a long, long 
 while, it met a goose. 
 
 " Good day, pancake," said the goose. 
 
 " The same to you. Goosey Poosey." 
 
124 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " Pancake, dear, don't roll so fast ; bide a bit and let 
 me eat you up." 
 
 " When I have given the slip to Goody Poody, and 
 the goodman, and seven squalling children, and Manny 
 Panny, and Henny Penny, and Cocky Locky, and 
 
 Ducky Lucky, I can 
 well slip through 
 your feet, Goosey 
 Poosey," said the 
 pancake, and off it 
 rolled. 
 
 So when it had 
 rolled a long, long 
 way farther, it met a 
 gander. 
 " Good day, pancake," said the gander. 
 " The same to you. Gander Pander," said the pan- 
 cake. 
 
 " Pancake, dear, don't roll so fast ; bide a bit and let 
 me eat you up." 
 
 "When I have given the slip to Goody Poody, and 
 the goodman, and seven squalling children, and Manny 
 Panny, and Henny Penny, and Cocky Locky, and 
 Ducky Lucky, and Goosey Poosey, I may well slip 
 through your feet, Gander Pander," said the pancake, 
 which rolled off as fast as ever. 
 
 So when it had rolled a long, long time, it met a pig. 
 "Good day, pancake," said the pig. 
 "The same to you. Piggy Wiggy," said the pancake, 
 which, without a word more, began to roll and roll like 
 mad. 
 
 " Nay, nay," said the pig, " you needn't be in such a 
 
The Pancake 
 
 125 
 
 hurry ; we two can then go side by side and see one 
 another over the wood ; they say it is not too safe in 
 there." 
 
 The pancake thought there might be something in 
 that, and so they kept company. But when they had 
 gone awhile, they came to a brook. As for Piggy, he 
 was so fat he swam safe across, it was nothing to him ; 
 but the poor pancake couldn't get over. 
 
 " Seat yourself on my snout," said the pig, " and I'll 
 carry you over." 
 
 So the pancake did that. 
 
 " Ouf, ouf," said the pig, and swallowed the pancake 
 at one gulp ; and then, as the poor pancake could go 
 no farther, why — this story can go no farther either. 
 
Pork and Honey 
 
 AT dawn the other day, when Bruin came tramping 
 /A over the bog with a fat pig, Reynard sat up on 
 a stone by the moorside. 
 
 " Good day, grandsire," said the fox ; " what's that 
 so nice that you have there ? " 
 
 " Pork," said Bruin. 
 
 "Well, I have got a dainty bit too," said Reynard. 
 
 " What is that ? " asked the bear. 
 
 " The biggest wild bee's comb I ever saw in my life," 
 said Reynard. 
 
 " Indeed, you don't say so," said Bruin, who grinned 
 and licked his lips. He thought it would be so nice to 
 taste a little honey. At last he said, " Shall we swop 
 our fare ? " 
 
 " Nay, nay ! " said Reynard, " I can't do that." 
 
 The end was that they made a bet, and agreed to 
 name three trees. If the fox could say them off faster 
 than the bear, he was to have leave to take one bite of 
 the bacon ; but if the bear could say them faster, he 
 was to have leave to take one sup out of the comb. 
 Greedy Bruin thought he was sure to sup out all the 
 honey at one breath. 
 
 " Well," said Reynard, " it's all fair and right, no 
 
 126 
 
Pork and Honey izj 
 
 doubt, but all I say is, if I win, you shall be bound 
 to tear off the bristles where I am to bite." 
 
 " Of course," said Bruin, " I'll help you, as you can't 
 help yourself." 
 
 So they were to begin and name the trees. 
 
 " Fir, Scotch Fir, Spruce," growled out Bruin, 
 for he was gruff in his tongue, that he was. But for 
 all that he only named two trees, for Fir and Scotch 
 Fir are both the same. 
 
 ''Ash, Aspen, Oak," screamed Reynard, so that the 
 wood rang again. 
 
 So he had won the wager, and down he ran and 
 took the heart out of the pig at one bite, and was just 
 running off with it. But Bruin was angry because 
 he had taken the best bit out of the whole pig, and 
 so he laid hold of his tail and held him fast. 
 
 " Stop a bit, stop a bit," he said, and was wild with 
 rage. 
 
 " Never mind," said the fox, " it's all right ; let me 
 go, grandsire, and I'll give you a taste of my honey." 
 
 When Bruin heard that, he let go his hold, and 
 away went Reynard after the honey. 
 
 " Here, on this honeycomb," said Reynard, " lies a 
 leaf, and under this leaf is a hole, and that hole you 
 are to suck.'' 
 
 As he said this he held up the comb under the 
 bear's nose, took off the leaf, jumped up on a stone, 
 and began to gibber and laugh, for there was neither 
 honey nor honeycomb, but a wasp's nest, as big as a 
 man's head, full of wasps, and out swarmed the wasps 
 and settled on Bruin's head, and stung him in his eyes 
 and ears, and mouth and snout. And he had such 
 
128 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 hard work to rid himself of them that he had no time 
 to think of Reynard. 
 
 And that's why, ever since that day, Bruin is so 
 afraid of wasps. 
 
 The Hare and the Heiress 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a hare, who was frisk- 
 ing up and down under the greenwood tree. 
 " Oh ! hurrah ! hip, hip, hurrah ! " he cried, 
 and leapt and sprang, and all at once he threw a somer- 
 sault and stood upon his hind-legs. Just then a fox 
 came slouching by. 
 
 " Good day, good day," said the hare ; " I'm so 
 merry to-day, for you must 
 know 1 was married this morn- 
 mg. 
 
 " Lucky fellow you," said the 
 fox. 
 
 " Ah, no ! not so lucky after 
 all," said the hare, "for she 
 was very heavy-handed, and it 
 was an old witch I got to wife." 
 " Then you were an unlucky 
 fellow," said the fox. 
 
 " Oh, not so unlucky either," 
 said the hare, "for she was an heiress. She had a 
 cottage of her own." 
 
 " Then you were lucky after all," said the fox. 
 
Slip Root, Catch Reynard's Foot 129 
 
 " No, no ! not so lucky either," said the hare, " for 
 the cottage caught fire and was burnt, and all we had 
 with it." 
 
 " That I call downright unlucky," said the fox. 
 
 "Oh, no; not so very unlucky after all," said the 
 hare, "for my witch of a wife was burnt along with 
 her cottage." 
 
 Slip Root, Catch Reynard's Foot 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a bear, who sat on 
 a hillside in the sun and slept. Just then Rey- 
 nard came slouching by and caught sight of him. 
 "There you sit taking your ease, grandsire," said 
 the fox. " Now, see if I don't play you a trick." So 
 he went and caught three field-mice and laid them on a 
 stump close under Bruin's nose, and then he bawled 
 out into his ear, " Bo ! Bruin, here's Peter the Hunter, 
 just behind this stump ; " and as he bawled this out he 
 ran off through the wood as fast as ever he could. 
 
 Bruin woke up with a start, and when he saw the 
 three little mice, he was as mad as a March hare, and was 
 going to lift up his paw and crush them, for he thought 
 it was they who had bellowed in his ear. 
 
 But just as he lifted it he caught sight of Reynard's 
 tail among the bushes by the woodside, and away he 
 set after him, so that the underwood crackled as he 
 went, and, to tell the truth. Bruin was so close upon 
 Reynard, that he caught hold of his off hind-foot just 
 
130 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 as he was crawling into an earth under a pine-root. 
 So there was Reynard in a pinch ; but for all that he 
 had his wits about him, for he screeched out, "SLIP 
 THE PINE-ROOT AND CATCH ReYNARD'S FOOT," and 
 so the silly bear let his foot slip and laid hold of the 
 root instead. But by that time Reynard was safe 
 inside the earth, and called out — 
 
 " I cheated you that time, too, didn't I, grandsire ! " 
 "Out of sight isn't out of mind," growled Bruin 
 down the earth, and was wild with rage. 
 
 Bruin Goodfellow 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a husbandman who 
 travelled ever so far up to the fells to fetch a 
 load of leaves for litter for his cattle in winter. 
 So when he got to where the litter lay, he backed the 
 sledge close up to the heap, and began to roll down the 
 leaves on to the sledge. But under the heap lay a 
 bear who had made his winter lair there, and when he 
 felt the man trampling about he jumped outright down 
 on to the sledge. 
 
 As soon as the horse got wind of Bruin he was 
 afraid, and ran off as though he had stolen both bear 
 and sledge, and he went back faster by many times 
 than he had come up. 
 
 Bruin, they say, is a brave fellow, but even he was 
 not quite pleased with his drive this time. So there he 
 
Bruin Goodfellow 131 
 
 sat, holding fast as well as he could, and he glared and 
 grinned on all sides, and he thought of throwing him- 
 self off, but he was not used to sledge travelling, and 
 so he made up his mind to sit still where he was. 
 
 So when he had driven a good bit he met a pedlar. 
 
 " Whither, in heaven's name, is the sheriff bound to- 
 day ? He has surely little time and a long way, he 
 drives so fast." 
 
 But Bruin said never a word, for all he could do was 
 to stick fast. 
 
 A little farther on a beggar-woman met him. She 
 nodded to him and greeted him, and begged for a 
 penny in God's name. But Bruin said never a word, 
 but stuck fast and drove on faster than ever. 
 
 So w^hen he had gone a bit farther, Reynard the fox 
 met him. 
 
 "Ho! ho!" said Reynard, "are you out taking a 
 drive ? Stop a bit, and let me get up behind and be 
 your postboy." 
 
 But still Bruin said never a word, but held on like 
 grim death, and drove on as fast as the horse could lay 
 legs to the ground. 
 
 "Well, well," screamed Reynard after him, "if you 
 won't take me with you I'll spae your fortune ; and 
 that is, though you drive like a daredevil to-day, you'll 
 be hanging up to-morrow with the hide off your back." 
 
 But Bruin never heard a word that Reynard said. 
 On and on he drove just as fast ; but when the horse 
 got to the farm, he galloped into the open stable door 
 at full speed, so that he tore off both sledge and harness, 
 and as for poor Bruin, he knocked his skull against the 
 lintel, and there he lay dead on the spot. 
 
132 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 All this time the man knew nothing of what had 
 happened. He rolled down bundle after bundle of 
 leaves, and when he thought he had enough to load 
 his sledge, and went down to bind on the bundles, he 
 could find neither horse nor sledge. 
 
 So he had to tramp along the road to find his horse 
 again, and after a while he met the pedlar. 
 
 " Have you met my horse and sledge ? " he asked. 
 
 " No," said the pedlar ; " but lower down along the 
 road I met the sheriff; he drove so fast, he was surely 
 going to lay some one by the heels." 
 
 A while after he met the beggar-woman. 
 
 " Have you seen my horse and sledge ? " said the 
 man. 
 
 " No," said the beggar-woman ; " but 1 met the 
 parson lower down yonder ; he was surely going to a 
 parish meeting, he drove so fast, and he had a bor- 
 rowed horse." 
 
 A while after the man met the fox. 
 
 " Have you seen my horse and sledge ? " 
 
 "Yes, I have," said the fox; "and Bruin Good- 
 fellow sat on it and drove just as though he had stolen 
 both horse and harness." 
 
 " De'il take him," said the man, " I'll be bound he'll 
 drive my horse to death." 
 
 "If he does, flay him," said Reynard, "and roast 
 him before the fire ! But if you get your horse again 
 you may give me a lift over the fell, for I can ride 
 well, and besides I have a fancy to see how it feels 
 when one has four legs before one." 
 
 " What will you give for the lift ? " said the man. 
 
 "You can have what you Hke," said Reynard; 
 
Bruin and Reynard Partners 133 
 
 " either wet or dry. You may be sure you'll always 
 get more out of me than out of Bruin Goodfellow, for 
 he is a rough carle to pay off when he takes a fancy to 
 riding and hangs on a horse's back." 
 
 " Well ! you shall have a lift over the fell," said 
 the man, " if you will only meet me at this spot to- 
 morrow." 
 
 But he knew that Reynard was only playing off some 
 of his tricks upon him, and so he took with him a loaded 
 gun on the sledge, and when Reynard came, thinking 
 to get a lift for nothing, he got instead a charge of 
 shot in his body, and so the husbandman flayed the 
 coat off him too, and then he had gotten both Bruin's 
 hide and Reynard's skin. 
 
 Bruin and Reynard Partners 
 
 ONCE on a time Bruin and Reynard were to own a 
 field in common. They had a little clearing up 
 in the wood, and the first year they sowed rye. 
 " Now we must share the crop as is fair and right," 
 said Reynard. " If you like to have the root, I'll take 
 the top." 
 
 Yes, Bruin was ready to do that ; but when they had 
 threshed out the crop, Reynard got all the corn, but 
 Bruin got nothing but roots and rubbish. He did not 
 like that at all ; but Reynard said it was how they had 
 agreed to share it. 
 
1 34 Tales from the .Fjeld 
 
 "This year I have the gain," said Reynard ; "next 
 year it will be your turn. Then you shall have the 
 top, and I shall have to put up with the root." 
 
 But when spring came, and it was time to sow, 
 Reynard asked Bruin what he thought of turnips. 
 
 "Aye, aye!" said Bruin, "that's better food than 
 corn;" and so Reynard thought also. But when 
 harvest came Reynard got the roots, while Bruin 
 got the turnip-tops. And then Bruin was so angry 
 with Reynard that he put an end at once to his 
 partnership with him. 
 
Reynard wants to Taste Horse-flesh 
 
 ONE day as Bruin lay by a horse which he had 
 slain, and was hard at work eating it, Reynard 
 was out that day too, and came up spying about 
 and licking his lips, if he might get a taste of the 
 horse-flesh. So he doubled and turned till he got just 
 behind Bruin's back, and then he jumped on the other 
 side of the carcass and snapped a mouthful as he ran 
 by. Bruin was not slow either, for he made a grab at 
 Reynard and caught the tip of his red brush in his 
 paw ; and ever since then Reynard's brush is white 
 at the tip, as any one may see. 
 
 But that day Bruin was merry, and called out — 
 
 " Bide a bit, Reynard ; and come hither, and I'll tell 
 you how to catch a horse for yourself" 
 
 Yes, Reynard was ready enough to learn, but he 
 did not for all that trust himself to go very close to 
 Bruin. 
 
 " Listen," said Bruin, " when you see a horse 
 asleep, sunning himself in the sunshine, you must 
 mind and bind yourself fast by the hair of his tail 
 to your brush, and then you must make your teeth 
 meet in the flesh of his thigh." 
 
 As you may fancy, it was not long before Reynard 
 
136 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 found out a horse that lay asleep in the sunshine, and 
 then he did as Bruin had told him ; for he knotted 
 and bound himself well into the hair of his tail, and 
 made his teeth meet in the horse's thigh. 
 
 Up sprang the horse, and began to kick and rear 
 and gallop, so that Reynard was dashed against stock 
 and stone, and got battered black and blue, so that 
 he was not far off losing both wit and sense. And 
 while the horse galloped, they passed Jack Longears, 
 the hare. 
 
 "Whither away so fast, Reynard?" cried Jack 
 Longears. 
 
 "Post-haste, on business of life and death, dear 
 Jack," cried Reynard. 
 
 And with that Jack stood up on his hind-legs, and 
 laughed till his sides ached and his jaws split right 
 up to his ears. It was so funny to see Reynard ride 
 post-haste. 
 
 But you must know, since that ride Reynard has 
 never thought of catching a horse for himself For 
 that once at least it was Bruin who had the best of it 
 in wit, though they do say he is most often as simple- 
 minded as the Trolls. 
 
Master Tobacco 
 
 NCE upon a time there 
 was a poor woman who 
 went about begging with 
 her son ; for at home she 
 had neither a morsel to 
 eat nor a stick to burn. 
 First she tried the coun- 
 try, and went from parish 
 to parish; but it was 
 poor work, and so she 
 came into the town. 
 There she went about 
 from house to house for awhile, and at last she came 
 to the Lord Mayor. He was both open-hearted and 
 open-handed, and he was married 
 to the daughter of the richest mer- 
 chant in the town, and they had 
 one little daughter. As they had 
 no more children, you may fancy 
 she was sugar and spice and all 
 that's nice, and in a word there 
 was nothing too good for her. 
 This little girl soon came to know 
 the beggar-boy as he went about 
 with his mother; and as the Lord 
 Mayor was a wise man, as soon as 
 he saw what friends the two were, 
 he took the boy into his house, that 
 
138 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 he might be his daughter's playmate. Yes, they 
 played and read and went to school together, and 
 never had so much as one quarrel. 
 
 One day the Lady Mayoress stood at the window, 
 and watched the children as they were trudging off 
 to school. There had been a shower of rain, and 
 the street was flooded, and she saw how the boy 
 first carried the basket with their dinner over the 
 stream, and then he went back and lifted the little 
 girl over, and when he set her down he gave her 
 a kiss. 
 
 When the Lady Mayoress saw this, she got very 
 angry. "To think of such a ragamuffin kissing our 
 daughter — we who are the best people in the place ! " 
 That was what she said. Her husband did his best 
 to stop her tongue. "No one knew," he said, 
 " how children would turn out in life, or what might 
 befall his own : the boy was a clever, handy lad, and 
 often and often a great tree sprang from a slender 
 plant." 
 
 But no! it was all the same, whatever he said 
 and whichever way he put it. The Lady Mayoress 
 held her own, and said beggars on horseback always 
 rode their cattle to death, and that no one had ever 
 heard of a silk purse being made out of a sow's 
 ear; adding, that a penny would never turn into 
 a shilling, even though it glittered like a guinea. 
 The end of it all was that the poor lad was turned 
 out of the house, and had to pack up his rags and 
 be off. 
 
 When the Lord Mayor saw there was no help for it, 
 he sent him away with a trader who had come thither 
 
Master Tobacco 139 
 
 with a ship, and he was to be cabin-boy on board her. 
 He told his wife he had sold the boy for a roll of 
 tobacco. 
 
 But before he went the Lord Mayor's daughter broke 
 her ring into two bits, and gave the boy one bit, that it 
 might be a token to know him by if they ever met 
 again ; and so the ship sailed away, and the lad came 
 to a town, far, far off in the world, and to that town a 
 priest had just come who was so good a preacher that 
 every one went to church to hear him, and the crew of 
 the ship went with the rest the Sunday after to hear 
 the sermon. As for the lad, he was left behind to 
 mind the ship and to cook the dinner. So while he 
 was hard at work he heard some one calling out across 
 the water on an island. So he took the boat and 
 rowed across, and there he saw an old hag, who called 
 and roared. 
 
 "Aye," she said, "you have come at last! Here 
 have I stood a hundred years calling and bawling, and 
 thinking how I should ever get over this water; but 
 no one has ever heard or heeded but you, and you 
 shall be well paid if you will put me over to the other 
 side." 
 
 So the lad had to row her to her sister's house, who 
 lived on a hill on the other side close by; and when 
 they got there, she told him to beg for the old table- 
 cloth which lay on the dresser. Yes ! he would beg for 
 it ; and when the old witch who lived there knew that 
 he had helped her sister over the water, she said he 
 might have whatever he chose to ask. 
 
 "Oh," said the boy, "then I won't have anything 
 else than that old table-cloth on the dresser yonder." 
 
140 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Oh," said the old witch, "that you never asked 
 out of your own wits." 
 
 "Now I must be off," said the lad, "to cook the 
 Sunday dinner for the church-goers." 
 
 " Never mind that," said the first old hag ; " it will 
 cook itself while you are away. Stop with me, and 
 
 I will pay you better still. Here have I stood and 
 called and bawled for a hundred years, but no one 
 has ever heeded me but you." 
 
 The end was he had to go with her to another sister, 
 and when he got there the old hag said he was to be 
 sure and ask for the old sword, which was such that 
 he could put it into his pocket and it became a knife, 
 
Master Tobacco 141 
 
 and when he drew it out it was a long sword again. 
 One edge was black and the other white ; and if he 
 smote with the black edge everything fell dead, and if 
 with the white everything came to life again. So when 
 they came over, and the second old witch heard how 
 he had helped her sister across, she said he might 
 have anything he chose to ask for her fare. 
 
 " Oh," said the lad, " then I will have nothing else 
 but that old sword which hangs up over the cupboard." 
 
 " That you never asked out of your own wits," said 
 the old witch ; but for all that he got the sword. 
 
 Then the old hag said again, " Come on with me to 
 my third sister. Here have I stood and called and 
 bawled for a hundred years, and no one has heeded 
 me but you. Come on to my third sister, and you 
 shall have better pay still." 
 
 So he went with her, and on the way she told him 
 he was to ask for the old hymn-book ; and that was 
 such a book that when any one was sick and the nurse 
 sang one of the hymns, the sickness passed away, and 
 they were well again. Well ! when they got across, 
 and the third old witch heard he had helped her sister 
 across, she said he was to have whatever he chose to 
 ask for his fare. 
 
 " Oh," said the lad, " then I won't have anything else 
 but granny's old hymn-book." 
 
 "That," said the old hag, "you never asked out ol 
 your own wits." 
 
 When he got back to the ship the crew were still at 
 church, so he tried his table-cloth, and spread just a 
 little bit of it out, for he wanted to see what good it was 
 before he laid it on the table. Yes ! in a trice it was 
 
142 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 covered with good food and strong drink, enough and 
 to spare. So he just took a little snack, and then he 
 gave the ship's dog as much as it could eat. 
 
 When the church-goers came on board, the captain 
 said, "Wherever did you get all that food for the 
 dog ? Why, he's as round as a sausage, and as lazy 
 as a snail." 
 
 " Oh, if you must know," said the lad, " I gave him 
 the bones." 
 
 "Good boy," said the captain, "to think of the 
 dog." 
 
 So he spread out the cloth, and at once the whole 
 table was covered all over with such brave meat and 
 drink as they had never before seen in all their bom 
 days. 
 
 Now when the boy was again alone with the dog, he 
 wanted to try the sword, so he smote at the dog with 
 the black edge, and it fell daad on the deck ; but when 
 he turned the blade and smote with the white edge, 
 the dog came to life again and wagged his tail and 
 fawned on his playmate. But the book — that he could 
 not get tried just then. 
 
 Then they sailed well and far till a storm overtook 
 them, which lasted many days; so they lay to and 
 drove till they were quite out of their course, and 
 could not tell where they were. At last the wind fell, 
 and then they came to a country far, far off, that none 
 of them knew; but they could easily see there was 
 great grief there, as well there might be, for the king's 
 daughter was a leper. The king came down to the 
 shore, and asked was there any one on board who could 
 cure her and make her well again. 
 
Master Tobacco 143 
 
 " No, there was not." That was what they all said 
 who were on deck. 
 
 " Is there no one else on board the ship than those I 
 see ? " asked the king. 
 
 "Yes; there's a little beggar-boy." 
 
 "Well," said the king, "let him come on deck." 
 
 So when he came, and heard what the king wanted, 
 he said he thought he might cure her; and then the 
 captain got so wroth and mad with rage that he ran 
 round and round like a squirrel in a cage, for he thought 
 the boy was only putting himself forward to do some- 
 thing in which he was sure to fail, and he told the king 
 not to listen to such childish chatter. 
 
 But the king only said that wit came as children 
 grew, and that there was the making of a man in 
 every bairn. The boy had said he could do it, and 
 he might as well try. After all, there were many who 
 had tried and failed before him. So he took him home 
 to his daughter, and the lad sang a hymn once. Then 
 the princess could lift her arm. Once again he sang 
 it, and she could sit up in bed. And when he had sung 
 it thrice the king's daughter was as well as you and 
 I are. 
 
 The king was so glad, he wanted to give him half 
 his kingdom and the princess to wife. 
 
 " Yes," said the lad, " land and power are fine 
 things to have half of," and was very grateful ; " but 
 as for the princess, he was betrothed to another," he 
 said, " and he could not take her to wife." 
 
 So he stayed there awhile, and got half the kingdom ; 
 and when he had not been very long there, war broke 
 out, and the lad went out to battle with the rest, and 
 
1 44 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 you may fancy he did not spare the black edge of his 
 sword. The enemy's soldiers fell before him like flies, 
 and the king won the day. But when they had con- 
 quered, he turned the white edge, and they all rose up 
 alive and became the king's soldiers, who had granted 
 them their lives. But then there were so many of them 
 that they were badly off for food, though the king 
 wished to send them away full, both of meat and drink. 
 So the lad had to bring out his table-cloth, and then 
 there was not a man that lacked anything. 
 
 Now when he had lived a little longer with the king, 
 he began to long to see the Lord Mayor's daughter. So 
 he fitted out four ships of war and set sail ; and when 
 he came off the town where the Lord Mayor lived, he 
 fired off his cannon like thunder, till half the panes of 
 glass in the town were shivered. On board those ships 
 everything was as grand as in a king's palace ; and as 
 for himself, he had gold on every seam of his coat, so 
 fine he was. It was not long before the Lord Mayor 
 came down to the shore and asked if the foreign lord 
 would not be so good as to come up and dine with 
 him. " Yes, he would go," he said ; and so he went up 
 to the mansion-house where the Lord Mayor lived, and 
 there he took his seat between the Lady Mayoress and 
 her daughter. 
 
 So as they sat there in the greatest state, and ate 
 and drank and were merry, he threw the half of the 
 ring into the daughter's glass, and no one saw it ; but 
 she was not slow to find out what he meant, and ex- 
 cused herself from the feast and went out and fitted his 
 half to her half. Her mother saw there was something 
 in the wind and hurried after her as fast as she could. 
 
Master Tobacco 
 
 145 
 
 " Do you know who that is in there, mother ? " said 
 the daughter. 
 
 " No ! " said the Lady Mayoress. 
 
 " He whom papa sold for a roll of tobacco," said the 
 daughter. 
 
 At these words the Lady Mayoress fainted and fell 
 down flat on the floor. 
 
 In a little while the Lord Mayor came out to see 
 
 ' '■Kl»l>-W 
 
 what was the matter, and when he heard how things 
 stood he was almost as uneasy as his wife. 
 
 " There is nothing to make a fuss about,'' said Master 
 Tobacco. " I have only come to claim the Uttle girl 
 I kissed as we were going to school." 
 
 But to the Lady Mayoress he said — 
 
 " You should never despise the children of the poor 
 and needy, for none can tell how they may turn out ; for 
 there is the making of a man in every child of man, and 
 wit and wisdom come with growth and strength." 
 
The Charcoal-Burner 
 
 NCE on a time there 
 was a charcoal-burner, 
 who had a son, who 
 was a charcoal-burner 
 too. When the father 
 was dead, the son took 
 him a wife ; but he was 
 lazy and would turn his 
 hand to nothing. He 
 was careless in mind- 
 ing his pits too, and 
 the end was no one would have him to burn char- 
 coal for them. 
 
 It so fell out that one day he had burned a pit full 
 for himself, and set off to the town with a few loads 
 and sold them; and when he had done selling, he 
 loitered in the street and looked about him. On his 
 way home he fell in with townsmen and neighbours, 
 and made merry, and drank, and chattered of all he 
 had seen in the town. " The prettiest thing I saw," 
 he said, "was a great crowd of priests, and all the 
 folks greeted them and took off their hats to them. 
 
 I only wish I were a priest myself; then maybe they 
 
 146 
 
The Charcoal-Burner 147 
 
 would take off their hats to me too. As it was, they 
 looked as though they did not even see me at all." 
 
 " Well, well ! " said his friends, " if you are nothing 
 else, you can't say you're not as black as a priest. 
 And now we are about it, we can go to the sale of 
 the old priest, who is dead, and have a glass, and 
 meanwhile you can buy his gown and hood." That 
 was what the neighbours said ; and what they said he 
 did, and when he got home he had not so much as 
 a penny left. 
 
 "Now you have both means and money, I dare 
 say," said his goody, when she heard he had sold his 
 charcoal. 
 
 " I should think so. Means, indeed ! " said the 
 charcoal-burner, " for you must know I have been 
 ordained priest. Here you see both gown and hood." 
 
 " Nay, I'll never believe that," said the goody ; 
 " strong ale makes big words. You are just as bad, 
 whichever end of you turns up ; that you are," she said. 
 
 " You shall neither scold nor sorrow for the pit, for 
 its last coal is quenched and cold," said the charcoal- 
 burner. 
 
 It fell out one day that many people in priests' robes 
 passed by the charcoal-burner's cottage on their way 
 to the king's palace, so that it was easy to see that 
 these was something in the wind there. Yes ! the char- 
 coal burner would go too, and so he put on his gown 
 and hood. 
 
 His goody thought it would be far better to stay at 
 home ; for even if he chanced to hold a horse for some 
 great man, the drink-money he got would only go 
 down his throat, hke so much before it. 
 
1 48 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " There are many, mother, who talk of drink," said 
 the man, " who never think of thirst. All I know is, 
 the more one drinks the more one thirsts ; " and with 
 that he set off for the palace. When he got there, all 
 the strangers were bidden to come in, and the charcoal- 
 burner followed with the rest. So the king made 
 them a speech, and said he had lost his costliest ring, 
 and was quite sure it had been stolen. That was 
 why he had summoned all the learned priests in the 
 land, to see if there were one of them who could tell 
 him who the thief was. And he made a vow there 
 and then, and said what reward he would give to the 
 man who found out the thief. If he were a curate, 
 he should have a living ; if he were a rector, he should 
 be made a dean; if he were a dean, he should be 
 made a bishop ; and if he were a bishop, he should 
 become the first man in the kingdom after the king. 
 
 So the king went round and round among them all, 
 from one to the other, asking them if they could find 
 the thief; and when he came to the charcoal-burner he 
 said — 
 
 " Who are you ? " 
 
 " I am the wise priest and the true prophet," said the 
 charcoal-burner. 
 
 " Then you can tell me," said the king, " who has 
 taken my ring ? " * 
 
 " Yes ! " said the charcoal-burner ; " it isn't so right 
 against rhyme and reason that what has happened in 
 darkness should come to light ; but it isn't every year 
 that salmon spawn in fir-tree tops. Here have I been 
 a curate for seven years, trying to feed myself cind my 
 children, and I haven't got a living yet. If that thief is 
 
The Charcoal-Burner 149 
 
 to be found out, I must have lots of time and reams of 
 paper; for I must write and reckon, and track him out 
 through many lands." 
 
 Yes ! he should have as much time and paper as 
 he chose, if he would only lay his finger on the thief. 
 
 So they shut him up by himself in a room in the 
 king's palace, and it was not long before they found out 
 that he must know much more than his Lord's Prayer ; 
 for he scribbled over so much paper that it lay in great 
 heaps and rolls, and yet there was not a man who 
 could make out a word of what he wrote, for it looked 
 like nothing else than pot-hooks and hangers. But, as 
 he did this, time went on, and still there was not a trace 
 of the thief. At last the king got weary, and so he said 
 that if the priest couldn't find the thief in three days 
 he should lose his life. 
 
 " More haste, worse speed. You can't cart coal till 
 the pit is cool," said the charcoal-burner. But the king 
 stuck to his word — that he did ; and the charcoal-burner 
 felt his life wasn't worth much 
 
 Now there were three of the king's servants who 
 waited on the charcoal-burner day by day in turn, and 
 these three fellows had stolen the ring between them. 
 So when one of these servants came into the room and 
 cleared the table when he had eaten his supper, and was 
 going out again, the charcoal-burner heaved a deep sigh 
 as he looked after him, and said — 
 
 " There goes the first of them ! " But he only 
 meant the first of the three days he had still to live. 
 
 " That priest knows more than how to fill his mouth," 
 said the servant, when he was alone with his fellows ; 
 " for he said I was the first of them." 
 
150 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 The next day, the second servant was to mark what 
 the prisoner said when he waited on him, and sure 
 enough when he went out, after clearing the table, the 
 charcoal-burner stared him full in the face, and fetched 
 a deep sigh, and said — 
 
 "There goes the second of them!" 
 
 So the third was to take heed to what the charcoal- 
 burner said on the third day, and it was all worse and 
 no better; for when the servant had his hand on the 
 door as he went out with the plates and dishes, the 
 charcoal-burner clasped his hands together, and said 
 with a sigh as though his heart would break — 
 
 "There goes the third of them!" 
 
 So the man went down to his fellows with his heart 
 in his throat, and said it was clear as day the priest 
 knew all about it; and so they all three went into 
 his room and fell on their knees before him, and 
 begged and prayed he would not say it was they who 
 had stolen the ring. If he would do this, they were 
 ready to give him, .each of them, a hundred dollars, 
 if he would not bring them into trouble. 
 
 Well, he gave his word like a man, to do that and 
 keep them harmless, if they would only give him the 
 money and the ring and a great bowl of porridge. 
 And what do you think he did with the ring when 
 he got it? Why, he stuffed it well down into the 
 porridge, and bade them go and give it to the biggest 
 pig in the king's stye. 
 
 Next morning the king came, and was in no mood 
 for jokes, and said he must know all about the 
 thief. 
 
 " Well, well ! now I have written and reckoned all 
 
The Charcoal-Burner 1 5 1 
 
 the world round," said the charcoal-burner, " but it 
 is no child of man that stole your majesty's ring." 
 
 " Pooh ! " said the king ; " who was it, then ? " 
 
 " It was the biggest pig in your stye," said the 
 charcoal-burner. 
 
 Yes ! they killed the pig, and there the ring was 
 inside it ; there was no mistake about that ; and so the 
 charcoal-burner got a living, and the king was so 
 glad he gave him a farm and a horse, and a hundred 
 dollars into the bargain. 
 
 You may fancy the charcoal-burner was not slow in 
 flitting to the living, and the first Sunday after he got 
 there he was going to church to read himself in ; but 
 before he left his house he was to have his breakfast, 
 and so he took the king's letter and laid it on a bit 
 of dry toast, and then, by mistake, he dipped both 
 toast and letter into his brose, and when he found 
 it tough to chew, he gave the whole morsel to his 
 dog Tray, and Tray gobbled up both toast and letter. 
 
 And now he scarce knew what to do or how to 
 turn. To church he must, for the people were wait- 
 ing ; and when he got there, he went straight up into 
 the pulpit. In the pulpit he put on such a grave face 
 that all thought he was a grand priest ; but as the 
 service went on, it was not so good after all. This 
 was how he began : — 
 
 "The words, my brethren, which you should have 
 heard this day have gone, alas ! to the dogs ; but 
 come next Sunday, dear parishioners, and you shall 
 hear something else ; and so this sermon comes to 
 an end. Amen ! " 
 
 All the parish thought they had got a strange priest, 
 
152 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 for they had never heard such a funny sermon before ; 
 but still they said to themselves, " He'll be better per- 
 haps by-and-bye, and if he isn't better we shall know 
 how to deal with him." 
 
 Next Sunday, when there was service again, the 
 church was so crowded full with folk who wished to 
 hear the new priest that there was scarce standing- 
 room. Well, he came again, and went straight up 
 into the pulpit, and there he stood awhile and said 
 never a word. But all at once he burst out, and 
 bawled at the top of his voice — 
 
 " Hearken to me, old Nannygoat Bridget ! Why in 
 the world do you sit so far back in the church ? " 
 
 " Oh, your reverence," said she, " if you must know, 
 it's because my shoes are all in holes." 
 
 " That's no reason ; for you might take an old bit of 
 pig-skin and stitch yourself new shoes, and then you 
 could also come far forward in the church, like the 
 other fine ladies. For the rest, you all ought to bethink 
 yourselves of the way you are going ; for I see when 
 ye come to church, some of you come from the north 
 and some from the south, and it is the same when you 
 go from church again. But sometimes ye stand and 
 loiter on the way, and then it may well be asked, 
 ' What will become of you ? ' Yea ! who can tell what 
 will become of every one of us ? By the way, I have 
 to give notice of a black mare which has strayed from 
 the old priest's widow. She has hair on her fetlocks 
 and a falling mane, and other marks which I will 
 not name in this place. Besides, I may tell you I 
 have a hole in my old breeches-pocket, and I know it, 
 but you do not know it ; and another thing you do not 
 
The Charcoal-Burner 153 
 
 know, and which I do not know, is whether any of you 
 has a bit of cloth to patch that hole. Amen." 
 
 Some few of the hearers were very well pleased 
 with this sermon. They thought it sure he would 
 make a brave priest in time; but, to tell the truth, 
 most of them thought it too bad, and when the dean 
 came they complained of the priest, and said no one 
 had ever heard such sermons before, and there was 
 even one of them who knew the last by heart, and 
 wrote it down and read it to the dean. 
 
 " I call it a very good sermon," said the dean, " for 
 it was likely that he spoke in parables as to seeking 
 light and shunning darkness and its deeds, and as to 
 those who were walking either on the broad or the 
 strait path ; but most of all," he said, " that was a 
 grand parable when he gave that notice about the 
 priest's black mare, and how it would fare with us 
 all at the last The pocket with the hole in it was 
 to show the need of the church, and the piece of 
 cloth to patch it was the gifts and offerings of the 
 congregation." That was what the dean said. 
 
 As for the parish, what they said was, " Ay ! ay ! 
 so much we could understand that it was to go into 
 the priest's pocket." 
 
 The end was, the dean said he thought the parish 
 had got such a good and understanding priest, there 
 was no fault to find with him, and so they had to make 
 the best of him; but after awhile, as he got worse 
 instead of better, they complained of him to the 
 bishop. 
 
 Well! sooner or later the bishop came, and there 
 was to be a visitation. But, the day before, the priest 
 
1 54 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 had gone into the church, unbeknown to anybody, and 
 sawed the props of the pulpit all but in two, so that it 
 would only just hang together if one went up into 
 it very carefully. So when the people were gathered 
 together and he was to preach before the bishop, he 
 crept up into the pulpit and began to expound as he was 
 wont ; and when he had gone on awhile, he got more 
 in earnest, threw his arms about and bawled out — 
 
 " If there be any here who is wicked or given to ill 
 deeds, it were better he left this place ; for this very 
 day there shall be a fall, such as hath not been seen 
 since the world began." 
 
 With that he struck the reading-desk like thunder, 
 and lo ! the desk and the priest and the whole pulpit 
 tumbled down on the floor of the church with such a 
 crash, that the whole congregation ran out of church 
 as if doomsday were at their heels. 
 
 But then the bishop told the fault-finders he was 
 amazed that they dared to complain of a priest who 
 had such gifts in the pulpit, and so much wisdom that 
 he could foresee things about to happen. For his 
 part, he thought he ought to be a dean at least, and it 
 was not long either before he was a dean. So there 
 was no help for it ; they had to put up with him. 
 
 Now it so happened that the king and queen had no 
 children ; but when the king heard that perhaps there 
 was one coming, he was eager to know if it would be 
 an heir to his crown and realm, or if it would only be 
 a princess. So all the wise men in the land were 
 gathered to the palace, that they might say beforehand 
 what it would be. But when there was not a man of 
 them that could say that, both the king and the bishop 
 
The Charcoal-Burner 
 
 ^SS 
 
 thought of the charcoal-burner, and it was not long 
 before they got him between them, and asked him 
 about it. "No!" he said, "that was past his power, 
 for it was not good to guess at what no man alive could 
 know." 
 
 "All very fine, I dare say," said the king. "It's all 
 the same to me, of course, if you know it or if you 
 don't know it ; but, you know, you are the wise priest 
 
 ti^ 
 
 and the true prophet who can foretell things to come ; 
 and all I can say is, if you don't tell it me, you shall 
 lose your gown. And, now I think of it, I'll try you 
 first." 
 
 So he took the biggest silver tankard he had and 
 went down to the seashore, and in a httle while called 
 the priest. 
 
 " If you can tell me now what there is in this tankard," 
 said the king, "you will be able to tell me the other 
 
156 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 also;" and as he said this, he held the lid of the 
 tankard tight. 
 
 The charcoal-burner only wrung his hands and be- 
 moaned himself. 
 
 " Oh ! you most wretched crab and cripple on this 
 earth," he cried out, "this is what all your back- 
 slidings and sidelong tricks have brought on you." 
 
 " Ah ! " cried out the king, " how could you say you 
 did not know ? " for you must know he had a crab in 
 the tankard. So the charcoal-burner had to go into 
 the parlour to the queen. He took a chair and sat 
 down in the middle of the floor, while the queen 
 walked up and down the room. 
 
 " One should never count one's chickens before they 
 are hatched, and never quarrel about a baby's name 
 before it is born," said the charcoal-burner; "but I 
 never heard or saw such a thing before ! When the 
 queen comes toward me, I almost think it will be a 
 prince, and when she goes away from me it looks as 
 if it would be a princess." 
 
 Lo ! when the time came, it was both a prince and a 
 princess, for twins were born; and so the charcoal- 
 burner had hit the mark that time too. And because 
 he could tell that which no man could know, he got 
 money in carts full, and was the next man to the king 
 in the realm. 
 
 " Trip, trap, trill, 
 A man is often more than he will." 
 
The Box with Something 
 Pretty in it 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a little boy who was 
 out walking on the road, and when he had 
 walked a bit he found a box. 
 
 " I am sure there must be something pretty in this 
 box," he said to himself; but however much he turned 
 it, and however much he twisted it, 
 he was not able to get it open. 
 
 But when he had walked a bit 
 farther, he found a little tiny key. 
 Then he got tired and sat down, and 
 all at once he thought what fun it 
 would be if the key fitted the box, 
 for it had a little keyhole in it. So 
 he took the little key out of his 
 pocket, and then he blew first into 
 the pipe of the key, and afterwards 
 into the keyhole, and then he put 
 the key into the keyhole and turned 
 it. " Snap ! " it went within the lock ; 
 and when he tried the hasp, the box 
 was open. 
 
 But can you guess what there was in the box ? Why, 
 a cow's tail ; and if the cow's tail had been longer, this 
 story would have been longer too. 
 
The Three Lemons 
 
 "% NCE on a time there were 
 ' three brothers, who had 
 ^^,^6^r^^B^ ^vs;:^ l°st their parents; and as 
 yg^fn J j^-^^ they had left nothing be- 
 
 ' ■'•^^ ^^^ ^ hind them on which the 
 
 lads could live, they had 
 to go out into the world to 
 try their luck. The two 
 elder fitted themselves out 
 as well as they could ; but the youngest, whom they 
 called Taper Tom, because he always sat in the 
 chimney-corner and held tapers of pine-wood, him 
 they would not have with them. 
 
 The two set out early in the grey dawn ; but, how- 
 ever fast they went, or did not go, Taper Tom came 
 just as soon as the others to the king's palace. So 
 when they got there, they asked for work. The king 
 said he had nothing for them to do ; but as they were 
 so pressing, he'd see if he could not find them some- 
 thing — there must be aiwk^s something to do in such 
 a big house. Yes f^^jt^^^Bight drive nails into the 
 wall; and when theyftM^rone driving them in, they, 
 might pull them out again. When they had done that, 
 
 they might carry wood and water into the kitchen. 
 
 158 
 
The Three Lemons 159 
 
 Taper Tom was the handiest in driving nails into 
 the wall and in pulling them out again, and he was the 
 handiest also in carrying wood and water. So his 
 brothers were jealous of him, and said he had given 
 out that he was good enough to get the king the 
 prettiest princess who was to be found in the twelve 
 kingdoms ; for you must know the king had lost his 
 old dame and was a widower. When the king heard 
 that, he told Taper Tom he must do what he had said, 
 or else he would make them lay him on the block and 
 chop his head off. 
 
 Taper Tom answered he had never said nor 
 thought anything of the kind, but, as the king was so 
 stern, he would try what he could do. So he got him 
 a scrip of food over his shoulders, and set off from the 
 palace ; but he had not gone far on the road before he 
 grew hungry, and wanted to taste the food they had 
 given him when he set out. So when he had seated 
 himself to rest at his ease under a spruce by the road- 
 side, up came an old hag hobbling, who asked what he 
 had in his scrip. 
 
 " Salt meat and fresh meat," said the lad. " If you 
 are hungry, granny, come and take a snack with me." 
 
 Yes! She thanked him, and then she said may 
 be she would do him a good turn herself; and away 
 she hobbled through the wood. So when Taper Tom 
 had eaten his fill and had rested, he threw his scrip 
 over his shoulder and set off again ; but he had not 
 gone far before he found a pipe. That, he thought, 
 would be nice to have with him and piay on by the 
 way ; and it was not long before he brought the sound 
 out of it, you may fancy. But then there came about 
 
i6o 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 him such a swarm of little Trolls, and each asked the 
 other in full cry — 
 
 " What has my lord to order ? What has my lord 
 to order ? " • 
 
 Taper Tom said he never knew he was lord over 
 them ; but if he was to order anything, he wished they 
 would fetch him the prettiest princess to be found in 
 
 twelve kingdoms. Yes ! that was no great thing, the 
 little Trolls thought ; they knew well enough where 
 she was, and they could show him the way, and then 
 he might go and get her for himself, for they had no 
 power to touch her. 
 
 Then they showed him the way, and he got to the 
 end of his journey well and happily. There was not 
 any one who laid so much as two sticks across in his 
 way. It was a Troll's castle, and in it sat three lovely 
 
The Three Lemons i6i 
 
 princesses ; but as soon as ever Taper Tom came in, 
 they all lost their wits for fear, and ran about like 
 scared lambs, and all at once they were turned into 
 three lemons that lay in the window. Taper Tom was 
 so sorry and unhappy at that, he scarce knew which 
 way to turn. But when he had thought a little, he 
 took and put the lemons into his pocket, for he 
 thought they would be good to have if he got thirsty 
 by the way, for he had heard say lemons were sour. 
 
 So when he had gone a bit of the way, he got so hot 
 and thirsty ; water was not to be had, and he did not 
 know what he should do to quench his thirst. So 
 he fell to thinking of the lemons, and took one of 
 them out and bit a hole in it. But lo ! inside sat the 
 princess as far as her armpits, and screamed out — 
 
 " Water ! — water ! " Unless she got water, she must 
 die, she said. 
 
 Yes ! the lad ran about looking for water as though 
 he were a mad thing ; but there was no water to be 
 got, and all at once the princess was dead. 
 
 So when he had gone a bit farther, he got still hotter 
 and thirstier ; and as he could find nothing to quench 
 his thirst, he pulled out the second lemon and bit a hole 
 in it. Inside it was also a princess, sitting as far as 
 her armpits, and she was still lovelier than the first. 
 She, too, screamed for water, and said if she could not 
 get it she must die outright. So Taper Tom hunted 
 under stone and moss, but he could find no water ; and 
 so the end was the second princess died too. 
 
 Taper Tom thought things got worse and worse, and 
 so it was, for the farther he went the hotter it got. The 
 earth was so dry and burnt up, there was not a drop 
 
1 62 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 of water to be found, and he was not far off being half 
 dead of thirst. He kept himself as long as he could 
 from biting a hole in the lemon he still had, but at last 
 there was no help for it. So when he had bitten the 
 hole, there sat a princess inside it also ; she was the 
 loveliest in twelve kingdoms, and she screamed out if 
 she could not get water she must die at once. So Taper 
 Tom ran about hunting for water ; and this time he fell 
 upon the king's miller, and he showed him the way to 
 the mill-dam. So when he came to the dam with her 
 and gave her some water, she came quite out of the 
 lemon, and was stark naked. So Taper Tom had to 
 let her have the wrap he had to throw over her, and 
 then she hid herself up a tree while he went up to the 
 king's palace to fetch her clothes, and to tell the king 
 how he had got her, and, in a word, told him the whole 
 story. 
 
 But while this was going on, the cook came down to 
 the mill-dam to fetch water; and when she saw the 
 lovely face which played on the water, she thought it 
 was her own, and grew so glad she fell a-dancing and 
 jumping because she had grown so pretty. 
 
 "The de'il carry water," she cried, "since I am so 
 pretty ; " and away she threw the water-buckets. But 
 in a*little while she got to see that the face in the 
 mill-dam belonged to the princess who sat up in the 
 tree; and then she got so cross, that she tore her 
 down from the tree, and threw her out into the dam. 
 But she herself put on Taper Tom's cloak, and crept 
 up into the tree. 
 
 So when the king came and set eyes on the ugly 
 swarthy kitchen-maid, he turned white and red; but 
 
' I am so pretty. 
 
The Three lemons 
 
 165 
 
 when he heard how they said she was the loveliest 
 in twelve kingdoms, he thought he could not help be- 
 lieving there must be something in it; and besides, 
 
 he felt for poor Taper Tom, who had taken so much 
 pains to get her for him. 
 
 " She'll get better, perhaps, as time goes on," he 
 thought, "when she is dressed smartly and wears 
 fine clothes ; " and so he took her home with him. 
 
 Then they sent for all the wig-makers and needle- 
 
1 66 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 women, and she was dressed and clad like a princess ; 
 but for all they washed and dressed her, she was still 
 as ugly and black as ever. 
 
 After a while the kitchen-maid was to go to the dam 
 to fetch water, and then she caught a great silver 
 fish in her bucket. She bore it up to the palace, and 
 showed it to the king, and he thought it grand and 
 fine; but the ugly princess said it was some witch- 
 craft, and they must burn it, for she soon saw what 
 it was. Well ! the fish was burnt, and next morning 
 they found a lump of silver in the ashes. So the cook 
 came and told it to the king, and he thought it passing 
 strange; but the princess said it was all witchcraft, 
 and bade them bury it in the dung-heap. The king 
 was much against it; but she left him neither rest nor 
 peace, and so he said at last they might do it. 
 
 But lo ! next day stood a tall lovely linden tree on 
 the spot where they had buried the lump of silver, and 
 that Unden had leaves which gleamed like silver. So 
 when they told the king that, he thought it passing 
 strange; but the princess said it was nothing but 
 witchcraft, and they must cut down the linden at once. 
 The king was against that ; but the princess plagued 
 him so long that at last he had to give way to her in 
 this also. 
 
 But lo ! when the lasses went out to gather the chips 
 of the linden to light the fires, they were pure silver. 
 
 "It isn't worth while," one of them said, "to say^ 
 anything about this to the king or the princess, or else 
 they too will be burnt and melted. It is better to 
 hide them in our drawers. They will be good to have 
 when a lover comes, and we are going to marry." 
 
The Three Lemons 1 67 
 
 Yes ! they were all of one mind as to that ; but 
 when they had borne the chips awhile, they grew so 
 fearfully heavy that they could not help looking to see 
 what it was ; and then they found the chips had been 
 changed into a child, and it was not long before it grew 
 into the loveliest princess you ever set eyes on. 
 
 The lasses could see very well that something wrong 
 lay under all this. So they got her clothes, and flew 
 off to find the lad who was to fetch the loveliest prin- 
 cess in twelve kingdoms, and told him their story. 
 
 So when Taper Tom came, the princess told him 
 her story, and how the cook had come and torn her 
 from the tree and thrown her into the dam; and how 
 she had been the silver fish, and the silver lump, and 
 the linden, and the chips, and how she was the true 
 princess. 
 
 It was not so easy to get the king's ear, for the ugly 
 black cook hung over him early and late ; but at last 
 they made out a story, and said that a challenge had 
 come from a neighbour king, and so they got him out ; 
 and when he came to see the lovely princess, he was 
 so taken with her, he was for holding the bridal feast 
 on the spot ; and when he heard how badly the ugly 
 black cook had behaved to her, he said they should 
 take her and roll her down-hill in a cask full of nails. 
 Then they kept the bridal feast at such a rate that it 
 was heard and talked of over twelve kingdoms. 
 
The Priest and the Clerk 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a priest who was such 
 a bully that he bawled out, ever so far off, 
 whenever he met any one driving on the king's 
 highway — 
 
 " Out of the way ! out of the way ! Here comes the 
 priest ! " 
 
 One day when he was driving along and behaving 
 so, he met the king himself 
 
 " Out of the way ! out of the way ! " he bawled a 
 long way off. But the king drove on and kept his 
 own ; so that time it was the priest who had to turn 
 his horse aside, and when the king came alongside 
 him, he said, "To-morrow you shall come to me to 
 the palace, and if you can't answer three questions 
 which I will set you, you shall lose hood and gown 
 for your pride's sake." 
 
 This was something else than the priest was wont 
 to hear. He could bawl and bully, shout, and behave 
 worse than badly. All THAT he could do, but ques- 
 tion and answer was out of his power. So he set off 
 to the clerk, who was said to be better in a gown than 
 the priest himself, and told him he had no mind to go 
 to the king. 
 
 i68 
 
The Priest and the Clerk 
 
 169 
 
 " For one fool can ask more than ten wise men can 
 answer ; " and the end was, he got the clerk to go in 
 his stead. 
 
 Yes! the clerk set off, and came to the palace in 
 the priest's gown and hood. There the king met him 
 
 ^^ )IHItllt niunilii.iiintiiiiiiipn.itiiiii |ilni;li(ili(M).liliIIilirl''''' 
 
 out in the porch with crown and sceptre, and was so 
 grand, it glittered and gleamed from him. 
 
 " Well ! are you there ? " said the king. 
 
 Yes ; he was there, sure enough. 
 
 "Tell me first," said the king, "how far the east is 
 from the west ? " 
 
 " Just a day's journey," said the clerk. 
 
 " How is that ? " asked the king. 
 
1 70 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Don't you know," said the clerk, "that the sun 
 rises in the east and sets in the west, and he does it 
 just nicely in one day ? " 
 
 " Very well ! " said the king ; " but tell me now 
 what you think I am worth, as you see me stand 
 here ? " 
 
 "Well," said the clerk, "our Lord was valued at 
 thirty pieces of silver, so I don't think I can set your 
 price higher than twenty-nine." 
 
 " All very fine ! " said the king ; " but as you are 
 so wise, perhaps you can tell me what I am thinking 
 about now ? " 
 
 "Oh!" said the clerk, "you are thinking it's the 
 priest who stands before you ; but so help me if you 
 don't think wrong, for I am the clerk." 
 
 " Be off home with you," said the king, " and be yoii 
 priest, and let him be clerk ; " and so it was. 
 
Friends in Life and Death 
 
 ONCE on a time there were two young men who 
 were such great friends that they swore to one 
 another they would never part, either in life or 
 death. One of them died before he was at all old, and 
 a little while after the other wooed a farmer's daughter, 
 and was to be married to her. So when they were 
 bidding guests to the wedding, the bridegroom went 
 himself to the churchyard where his friend lay, and 
 knocked at his grave and called him by name. No 1 he 
 neither answered nor came. He knocked again, and he 
 called again, but no one came. A third time he knocked 
 louder and called louder to him, to come that he might 
 
1 72 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 talk to him. So, after a long, long time, he heard a 
 rustling, and at last the dead man came up out of the 
 grave. 
 
 " It was well you came at last," said the bridegroom, 
 " for I have been standing here ever so long, knocking 
 and calling for you." 
 
 "I was a long way off," said the dead man, "so 
 that I did not quite hear you till the last time you 
 called." 
 
 " All right ! " said the bridegroom ; " but I am going 
 to stand bridegroom to-day, and you mind well, I dare 
 say, what we used to talk about, and how we were 
 to stand by each other at our weddings as best man." 
 
 " I mind it well," said the dead man, " but you must 
 wait a bit till I have made myself a little smart ; and, 
 after all, no one can say I have on a wedding garment." 
 
 The lad was hard put to it for time, for he was over- 
 due at home to meet the guests, and it was all but time 
 to go to church ; but still he had to wait awhile and let 
 the dead man go into a room by himself, as he begged, 
 so that he might brush himself up a bit, and come 
 smart to church like the rest ; for, of course, he was to 
 go with the bridal train to church. 
 
 Yes ! the dead man went with him both to church 
 and from church, but when they had got so far on with 
 the wedding that they had taken off the bride's crown, 
 he said he must go. So, for old friendship's sake, the 
 bridegroom said he would go with him to the grave 
 again. And as they walked to the churchyard the 
 bridegroom asked his friend if he had seen much that 
 was wonderful, or heard anything that was pleasant to 
 know. 
 
Friends in Life and Death iji 
 
 " Yes ! that I have," said the dead man. " I have 
 seen much, and heard many strange things." 
 
 "That must be fine to see," said the bridegroom. 
 " Do you know, I have a mind to go along with you, 
 and see all that with my own eyes." 
 
 " You are quite welcome," said the dead man ; " but 
 it may chance that you may be away some time." 
 
 " So it might," said the bridegroom ; but for all that 
 he would go down into the grave. 
 
 But before they went down the dead man took and 
 cut a turf out of the graveyard and put it on the 
 young man's head. Down and down they went, far 
 and far away, through dark, silent wastes, across 
 wood, and moor, and bog, till they came to a great, 
 heavy gate, which opened to them as soon as the dead 
 man touched it. Inside it began to grow lighter, first 
 as though it were moonshine, and the farther they 
 went the lighter it got. At last they got to a spot 
 where there were such green hiUs, knee-deep in grass, 
 and on them fed a large herd of kine, who grazed 
 as they went ; but for . all they ate those kine looked 
 poor, and thin, and wretched. 
 
 "What's all this ? " said the lad who had been bride- 
 groom ; " why are they so thin and in such bad case, 
 though they eat, every one of them, as though they were 
 well paid to eat ? " 
 
 "This is a likeness of those who never can have 
 enough, though they rake and scrape it together ever 
 so much," said the dead man. 
 
 So they journeyed on far and farther than far, till 
 they came to some hill pastures, where there was 
 naught but bare rocks and stones, with here and there 
 
174 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 a blade of grass. Here was grazing another herd of 
 kine, which were so sleek, and fat, and smooth that 
 their coats shone again. 
 
 "What are these," asked the bridegroom, "who 
 have so little to live on, and yet are in such good 
 plight ? I wonder what they can be." 
 
 "This," said the dead man, "is a likeness of those 
 who are content with the little they have, however 
 poor it be." 
 
 So they went farther and farther on till they came 
 to a great lake, and it and all about it was so bright 
 and shining that the bridegroom could scarce bear to 
 look at it — it was so dazzling. 
 
 " Now, you must sit down here," said the dead man, 
 " till I come back. I shall be away a little while." 
 
 With that he set off, and the bridegroom sat down, 
 and as he sat sleep fell on him, and he forgot every- 
 thing in sweet deep slumber. After a while the dead 
 man came back. 
 
 " It was good of you to sit still here, so that I could 
 find you again." 
 
 But when the bridegroom tried to get up, he was all 
 overgrown with moss and bushes, so that he found 
 himself sitting in a thicket of thorns and brambles. 
 
 So when he had made his way out of it, they 
 journeyed back again, and the dead man led him by 
 the same way to the brink of the grave. There they 
 parted and said farewell, and as soon as the bride- 
 groom got out of the grave he went straight home to 
 the house where the wedding was. 
 
 But when he got where he thought the house stood, 
 he could not find his way. Then he looked about on 
 
Friends in Life and Death ij^ 
 
 all sides, and asked every one he met, but he could 
 neither hear nor learn anything of the bride, or the 
 wedding, or his kindred, or his father and mother; 
 nay, he could not so much as find any one whom he 
 knew. And all he met wondered at the strange shape, 
 who went about and looked for all the world like a 
 scarecrow. 
 
 Well ! as he could find no one he knew, he made 
 his way to the priest, and told him of his kinsmen and 
 all that had happened up to the time he stood bride- 
 groom, and how he had gone away in the midst of his 
 wedding. But the priest knew nothing at all about 
 it at first; but when he had hunted in his old registers, 
 he found out that the marriage he spoke of had hap- 
 pened a long, long time ago, and that all the folk he 
 talked of had lived four hundred years before. 
 
 In that time there had grown up a great stout oak 
 in the priest's yard, and when he saw it he clambered 
 up into it, that he might look about him. But the 
 greybeard who had sat in heaven and slumbered for 
 four hundred years, and had now at last come back, 
 did not come down from the oak as well as he went 
 up. He was stiff and gouty, as was likely enough; 
 and so when he was coming down he made a false 
 step, fell down, broke his neck, and that was the end 
 of him. 
 
The Father of the Family 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a man who was out 
 on a journey ; so at last he came to a big and 
 a fine farm, and there was a house so grand 
 that it might well have been a little palace. 
 
 " Here it would be good to get leave to spend the 
 night," said the man to himself, as he went inside the 
 gate. Hard by stood an old man with grey hair and 
 beard, who was hewing wood. 
 
 "Good evening, father," said the wayfarer. " Can I 
 have house-room here to-night ? " 
 
 " I'm not father in the house," said the greybeard. 
 " Go into the kitchen, and talk to my father." 
 
 The wayfarer went into the kitchen, and there he 
 met a man who was still older, and he lay on his knees 
 before the hearth, and was blowing up the fire. 
 
 " Good evening, father," said the wayfarer. " Can I 
 get house-room to-night ? " 
 
 " I'm not father in the house," said the old man ; 
 "but go in and talk to my father. You'll find him 
 sitting at the table in the parlour." 
 
 So the wayfarer went into the parlour, and talked to 
 him who sat at the table. He was much older than 
 
 either of the other two, and there he sat, with his teeth 
 
 176 
 
The Father of the Family i jj 
 
 chattering, and shivered and shook, and read out of a 
 big book, almost like a little child. 
 
 " Good evening, father," said the man. "Will you 
 let me have house-room here to-night ? " 
 
 " I'm not father in the house," said the man who sat 
 at the table, whose teeth chattered, and who shivered 
 and shook ; " but speak to my father yonder — he who 
 sits on the bench." 
 
 So the wayfarer went to him who sat on the bench, 
 and he was trying to fill himself a pipe of tobacco ; but 
 he was so withered up and his hands shook so with the 
 palsy that he could scarce hold the pipe. 
 
 "Good evening, father," said the wayfarer again. 
 " Can I get house-room here to-night ? " 
 
 " I'm not father in the house," said the old withered 
 fellow ; " but speak to my father who lies in bed 
 yonder. " 
 
 So the wayfarer went to the bed, and there lay an 
 old, old man, who but for his pair of big staring eyes 
 scarcely looked alive. 
 
 " Good evening, father," said the wayfarer. " Can I 
 get house-room here to-night ? " 
 
 " I'm not father in the house," said the old carle with 
 the big eyes ; " but go and speak to my father, who 
 lies yonder in the cradle." 
 
 Yes, the wayfarer went to the cradle, and there lay 
 a carle as old as the hills, so withered and shrivelled 
 he was no bigger than a baby, and it was hard to tell 
 that there was any life in him, except that there was a 
 sound of breathing every now and then in his throat. 
 
 " Good evening, father," said the wayfarer. " May 
 I have house-room here to-night ? " 
 
 M 
 
178 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 It was long before he got an answer, and still longer 
 before the carle brought it out; but the end was he 
 said, as all the rest, that he was not father in the 
 house. " But go," said he, " and speak to my father ; 
 you'll find him hanging up in the horn yonder against 
 the wall." 
 
 So the wayfarer stared about round the walls, and 
 at last he caught sight of the horn; but when he 
 looked for him who hung in it, he looked more like a 
 film of ashes that had the likeness of a man's face. 
 Then he was so frightened that he screamed out — 
 
 " Good evening, father ! will you let me have house- 
 room here to-night ? " 
 
 Then a chirping came out of the horn like a little 
 tom-tit, and it was all he could do to make out that the 
 chirping meant, " Yes, MY CHILD." 
 
 And now a table came in which was covered, with 
 the costliest dishes, and with ale and brandy; and 
 when he had eaten and drank, there came in a good 
 bed, with reindeer skins; and the wayfarer was so 
 very glad because he had at last found the right father 
 in the house. 
 
Three Years without Wages 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a poor householder 
 who had an only son, but he was so lazy and 
 unhandy, this son, that he would neither mix 
 with folk nor turn his hand to anything in the world. 
 So the father said — 
 
 " If I'm not to go on for ever feeding this long lazy 
 fellow, I must pack him off a long way, where no one 
 knows him. If he runs away then it won't be so easy 
 for him to come home." 
 
 Yes ! the man took his son with him, and went 
 about far and wide offering him as a serving-man ; but 
 there was no one who would have him. 
 
 So last of all they came to a rich man, of whom the 
 story went that he turned a penny over seven times 
 before he let it go. He was to take the lad as a 
 ploughboy, and there he was to serve three years 
 without wages. But when the three years were over 
 the man was to go to the town two mornings, and buy 
 the first thing he met that was for sale, but the third 
 morning the lad was to go himself to the town, and 
 buy the first thing he met, and these three things he 
 was to have instead of wages. 
 
 Well, the lad served his three years out, and 
 
1 8o Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 behaved better than any one would have believed. 
 He was not the best ploughboy in the world, sure 
 enough ; but then his master was not of the best 
 sort either, for he let him go the whole time with the 
 same clothes he had when he came, so that at last they 
 were nothing else but patch on patch and mend on 
 mend. Now, when the man was to set off" and buy, he 
 was up and away at cockcrow, long before dawn. 
 
 " Dear wares must be seen by daylight," he said ; 
 "they are not to be found on the road to town so 
 early. StiU, they may be dear enough, for after all it's 
 all risk and chance what I find." 
 
 Well, the first person he found in the street was 
 an old hag, and she carried a basket with a cover. 
 
 " Good day, granny," said the man. 
 
 "Good day to you, father," said the old hag. 
 
 " What have you got in your basket ? " asked the 
 man. 
 
 " Do you mean business ? " said the old hag. 
 
 "Yes, I do, for I was to buy the first thing I met." 
 
 "Well, if you want to know you had better buy it," 
 said the old hag. 
 
 " But what does it cost ? " asked the man. 
 
 Yes ! she must have fourpence. 
 
 The man thought that no such very high price after 
 all. He couldn't do better, and lifted the lid, and it 
 was a puppy that lay in the basket. 
 
 When the man came home from his trip to town, the 
 lad stood out in the yard, and wondered what he should 
 get for his wages for the first year. 
 
 " So soon home, master ? " said the lad. 
 
 Yes, he was. 
 
Three Tears without Wages 18 1 
 
 " What was it you bought ? " he asked. 
 
 " What I bought," said the man, " was not worth 
 much. I scarcely know if I ought to show it ; but I 
 bought the first thing that was to be had, and it was a 
 puppy." 
 
 " Now, thank you so much," said the lad. " I have 
 always been so fond of dogs." 
 
 Next morning things went no better. The man was 
 up at dawn again, and he 
 had not got well into . the 
 town before he saw the 
 old hag with her basket. 
 
 "Good day, granny," 
 he said. 
 
 " Good day to you, sir," 
 she said. 
 
 "What have you got 
 in your basket to-day ? " 
 asked the man. 
 
 " If you wish to know 
 you had better buy it," 
 said the old hag. 
 
 "What does it cost?" asked the man. 
 
 " Yes ! she must have fourpence ; she never had 
 more than one price," she said. 
 
 So the man said he would take it; it would be hard 
 to find anything cheaper. When he lifted the lid this 
 time there lay a kitten in it. 
 
 When he got home the lad stood out in the yard, 
 waiting and wondering what he should get for his 
 wages the second year. 
 
 " Is that you, master ? " he said. 
 
1 82 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Yes, there he was. 
 
 " What did you buy to-day now ? " asked the lad. 
 
 " Oh ! it was worse, and no better," said the man ; 
 " but it was just as we bargained. I bought the first 
 thing I met, and it was nothing else than this kitten." 
 
 "You could not have met anything better," said the 
 lad ; " I have been as fond of cats all my life as of 
 dogs." 
 
 " Well," thought the man, " I did not get so badly 
 out of that after all ; but there's another day to come, 
 when he is to go to town himself." 
 
 The third morning the lad set off, and just as he got 
 into the town he met the same old hag with her basket 
 on her arm. 
 
 " Good morning, granny ! " said the lad. 
 
 " Good morning to you, my son," said the old hag. 
 
 " What have you got in your basket ? " 
 
 " If you want to know you had better buy it," said 
 the old hag. 
 
 " Will you sell it, then ? " asked the lad. 
 
 Yes, she would ; and fourpence was her price. 
 
 " That was cheap enough," said the lad, and he 
 would have it, for he was to buy the first thing he 
 met. 
 
 " Now you may take it, basket and all," said the old 
 hag ; " but mind you don't look inside it before you 
 get home. Do you hear what I say ? " 
 
 " Nay, nay, never fear, he wouldn't look inside it ; 
 was it likely?" But for all that he walked and 
 wondered what there could be inside the basket, and 
 whether he would or no he could not help just lifting 
 the lid and peeping in. In the twinkling of an eye out 
 
Three Tears without Wages 183 
 
 popped a little lizard, and ran away so fast along the 
 street that the air whistled after it. There was no- 
 thing else in the basket. 
 
 " Nay ! nay ! " cried the lad, " stop a bit, and don't 
 run off so. You know I have bought you." 
 
 " Stick me in the tail — stick me in the tail ! " bawled 
 the lizard. 
 
 Well, the lad was not slow in running after it and 
 sticking his knife into its tail just as it was crawling 
 into a hole in the wall, and that very minute it was 
 turned into a young man as fine and handsome as the 
 grandest prince, and a prince he was indeed. 
 
 " Now you have saved me," said the prince, " for 
 that old hag with whom you and your master have 
 dealt is a witch, and me she has changed into a lizard, 
 and my brother and sister into a puppy and kitten." 
 
 " A pretty story ! " said the lad. 
 
 "Yes," said the prince; "and now she was on her 
 way to cast us into the fjord and kill us ; but if any 
 one came and wanted to buy us she must sell us for 
 fourpence each ; that was settled, and that was all my 
 father could do. Now you must come home to him 
 and get the meed for what you have done." 
 
 " I dare say," said the lad, " it's a long way off ? " 
 
 " Oh," said the prince, " not so far at all. There it 
 is yonder," he said, as he pointed to a great hill in the 
 distance. 
 
 So they set off as fast as they could, but, as was to 
 be weened, it was farther off than it looked, and so they 
 did not reach the hill till far on in the night. 
 
 Then the prince began to knock and knock. 
 
 " Who is that," said some one inside the hill, 
 
184 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " that knocks at my door and spoils my rest ? " and 
 that some one was so loud of speech that the earth 
 quaked. 
 
 " Oh ! open the door, father, there's a dear," said the 
 prince. " It is your son who has come home again." 
 
 Yes ! he opened the door fast and well. 
 
 "I almost thought you lay at the bottom of the 
 sea," said the greybeard. "But you are not alone, 
 I see," he said. 
 
 "This is the lad who saved me," said the prince. 
 "I have asked him hither that you may give him 
 his meed." 
 
 Yes, he would see to that, said the old fellow. 
 
 " But now you must step in," he said ; " I am sure 
 you have need of rest." 
 
 Yes ! they went in and sat down, and the old man 
 threw on the fire an armful of dry fuel and one or two 
 logs, so that the fire blazed up and shone as clear as 
 the day in every corner, and whichever way they 
 looked it was grander than grand. Anything like it 
 the lad had never seen before, and such meat and 
 drink as the greybeard set before them he had never 
 tasted either ; and all the plates, and cups, and stoops, 
 and tankards were all of pure silver or real gold. 
 
 It was not easy to stop the lads. They ate and 
 drank and were merry, and afterwards they slept till 
 far on next morning. But the lad was scarcely awake 
 before the greybeard came with a morning draught 
 in a tumbler of gold. 
 
 So when he had huddled on his clothes and broken 
 his fast, the old man took him round with him and 
 showed him everything, that he might choose some- 
 
Three Tears without Wages 185 
 
 thing that he would like to have as his meed for 
 saving his son. There was much to see and to choose 
 from, you may fancy. 
 
 "Now what will you have?" said the king; "you 
 see there is plenty of choice ; you can have what you 
 please." 
 
 But the lad said he would think it over and ask 
 the prince. Yes ! the king was willing he should do 
 that. 
 
 "Well," said the prince, "you have seen many 
 grand things." 
 
 "Yes, I have, as was likely," said the lad; "but 
 tell me, what shall I choose of all the wealth ? Do tell 
 me, for your father says I may choose what I please." 
 
 " Do not take anything of all you have seen," said 
 the prince; "but he has a little ring on his finger, 
 that you must ask for." 
 
 Yes ! he did so, and begged for the little ring which 
 he had on his finger. 
 
 " Why ! it is the dearest thing I have," said the 
 king; "but, after all, my son is just as dear, and so 
 you shall have it all the same. Do you know what 
 it is good for ? " 
 
 No ! he knew nothing about it. 
 
 "When you have this ring on your finger," said 
 the king, " you can have anything you wish for." 
 
 So the lad thanked the king, and the king and the 
 prince bade him God speed home, and told him to be 
 sure and take care of the ring. 
 
 So he had not gone far on his way before he thought 
 he would prove what the ring was worth, and so he 
 wished himself a new suit of clothes, and he had scarce 
 
i86 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 wished for them before he had them on him. And now 
 he was as grand and bright as a new-struck penny. 
 So he thought it would be fine fun to play his father 
 a trick. 
 
 "He was not so very nice all the time I was at 
 home ; " and so he wished he was standing before his 
 
 ^M^ 
 
 father's door, just as ragged as he was of old, and in a 
 second he stood at the door. 
 
 " Good day, father, and thank you for our last 
 meal," said the lad. 
 
 But when the father saw that he had come back still 
 more ragged and tattered than when he set out, he 
 began to bellow and to bemoan himself 
 
 " There's no helping you," he said. " You have not 
 so much as earned clothes to your back all the time you 
 have been away." 
 
^^3#^ 
 
 Three Tears without Wages 187 
 
 " Don't be in such a way, father," said the lad, " you 
 ought never to judge a man by his clothes ; and now 
 you shall be my spokesman, and go up to the palace 
 and woo the king's daughter for me." That was what 
 the lad said. 
 
 " Oh, fie, fie," said the father, " this is only gibing 
 and jeering.'' 
 
 But the lad said it was the right down earnest, and 
 so he took a birch cudgel and drove his father up to 
 the gate of the palace, and 
 there he came hobbling right 
 up to the king with his eyes 
 full of tears. 
 
 " Now, now ! " said the king, 
 " what's the matter, my man ? 
 If you have suffered wrong, I 
 will see you righted." 
 
 No, it wasn't that, he said, 
 but he had a son who had 
 brought him great sorrow, for 
 he could never make a man 
 
 of him, and now he must say he had gone clean out 
 of the little wit he had before ; and then he went on — 
 
 " For now he has hunted me up to the palace gate 
 with a big birch cudgel, and forced me to ask for the 
 king's daughter to wife." 
 
 " Hold your tongue, my man," said the king; "and 
 as for this son of yours, go and ask him to come here 
 indoors to me, and then we will see what to make of 
 him." 
 
 So the lad ran in before the king till his rags 
 fluttered behind him. 
 
i88 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " Am I to have your daughter ? " 
 
 " That was just what we were to talk about," said 
 the king ; " perhaps she mayn't suit you, and perhaps 
 you mayn't suit her either." 
 
 " That was very likely ! " said the lad. 
 
 Now you must know there had just come a big 
 ship from over the sea, and she could be seen from the 
 palace windows. 
 
 "All the same ! " said the king. " If you are good 
 
 to make a ship in an hour or two like that lying 
 yonder in the fjord and looking so brave, you may per- 
 haps have her." That was what the king said. 
 
 " Nothing worse than that ! " said the lad. 
 
 So he went down to the strand and sat down on a 
 sandhill, and when he had sat there long enough, he 
 wished that a ship might be out on the fjord fully 
 furnished with masts and sails and rigging, the very 
 match of that which lay there already. And as he 
 
Three Years without Wages 189 
 
 wished for it there it lay, and when the king saw there 
 were two ships for one, he came down to the strand to 
 see the rights of it, and there he saw the lad standing 
 out in a boat with a brush in his hand as though he 
 were painting out spots and making blisters in the 
 paint good. But as soon as he saw the king down on 
 the shore he threw away the brush and said — 
 
 " Now the ship is ready, may 1 have your daughter ? " 
 
 "This is all very well," said the king, "but you try 
 your hand at another masterpiece first. If you can 
 build a pedace, a match to my palace, in one or two 
 hours, we will see about it." That was what the king 
 said. 
 
 " Nothing worse than that ! " bawled out the lad and 
 strode off. So when he had sauntered about so long, 
 that the time was nearly up, he wished that a palace 
 might stand there the very match of that which stood 
 there already. It was not long, I trow, before it stood 
 there, and it was not long either before the king came, 
 both with queen and princess, to look about him in 
 the new palace. There stood the lad again with his 
 broom and swept. 
 
 " Here's the palace right and ready," he called out; 
 " may I have her now ? " 
 
 "Vety well, very well," said the king, "you may 
 come in and we will talk it over," for he saw clearly 
 the lad could do more than eat his meat, and so he 
 walked up and down, and thought and thought how he 
 might be rid of him. Yes ! there they walked, the king 
 first and foremost, and after him the queen, and then 
 the princess next before the lad. So as they walked 
 along, all at once the lad wished that he might become 
 
I go Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 the handsomest man in all the world, and so he was in 
 a trice. When the princess saw how handsome he had 
 grown in no time, she gave the queen a nudge, and the 
 queen passed it on to the king, and when they had all 
 stared their full, they saw still more plainly the lad 
 was more than he seemed to be when he first came in 
 all tattered and torn. So they settled it among them, 
 that the princess should go daintily to work till she 
 had found out all about him. Yes ! the princess made 
 herself as sweet and as soft as a whole firkin of 
 butter, and coaxed and hoaxed the lad, telling him 
 she could not bear him out of her eyes day or night. 
 So when the first evening was coming to an end, she 
 said — 
 
 " As we are to have one another, you and I, you 
 must keep nothing back from me, dearest, and so you 
 will tell me, I am sure, how you came to make all these 
 grand things." 
 
 " Aye, aye," then said the lad, " all that you'll come 
 to know in good time. Only let us be man and wife ; 
 there's no good talking about it till then." That was 
 what he said. 
 
 The next evening the princess was rather put out. 
 " She could see with half an eye," she said, " that he 
 couldn't care very much for his sweetheart when he 
 wouldn't tell her what she asked him. So it would be 
 with all the rest of his love-making, when he wouldn't 
 meet her wishes in such a little thing." 
 
 Now the lad was quite cut to the heart, and that 
 they might be friends again he told her the whole 
 story from beginning to end. She was not slow in 
 telling it to the king and queen, and so they laid their 
 
Three Tears without Wages 191 
 
 heads together how they might get the ring from the 
 lad, and when they had done that they thought it 
 would be no such hard thing to be rid of him. 
 
 At night the princess come with some sleeping- 
 drops, and said now she would pour out a little philtre 
 for her own true love, for she was sure he did not care 
 enough for her ; that was what she said. Yes ! he 
 thought no harm could come of it, and so he drained 
 off the drink like a man, and in a trice he fell so sound 
 asleep, they might have pulled the house down over 
 his head without waking him. So the princess took 
 the ring off his finger and put it on her own, and 
 wished the lad might lie on the dungheap outside in 
 the street, just as tattered and beggarly as he was 
 when he came in, and in his place she wished for 
 the handsomest prince in the world. In the twinkling 
 of an eye it all happened. As the night wore on the 
 lad woke up on the dunghill, and at first he thought 
 it was only a dream, but when he found the ring was 
 gone he knew how it had all happened, and then he 
 got so bewildered that he set off and was just going 
 to jump into the lake and drown himself. 
 
 But just then he met the cat which his master had 
 bought for him. 
 
 " Whither away ? " asked the cat. 
 
 " To the lake to drown myself," said the lad. 
 
 " Don't think of it," said the cat ; " you shall get 
 your ring back again, never fear.'' 
 
 " Oh, shall I, shall I ? " said the lad. 
 
 By this time the cat was already off, and as she 
 started she met a rat. 
 
 "Now I'll take and gobble you up," said the cat. 
 
192 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " Oh ! pray don't," said the rat, " and I'll get you the 
 ring again." 
 
 "If so, be quick about it," said the cat, "or " 
 
 So after they had taken up their abode in the palace, 
 the rat ran about poking his nose into everything, 
 trying to get into the prince and princess's bedroom. 
 At last he found a little hole and crept through it. 
 Then he heard how they lay awake talking, and the 
 rat could tell that the prince had the ring on his 
 finger, for the princess said, " Mind you take great care 
 of my ring, dear." That was what she said ; but what 
 the prince said was — 
 
 " Pooh ! no one will come in hither after the ring 
 through stone and mortar ; but, for all that, if you think 
 it isn't safe on my finger, I can just as well put it into 
 my mouth." 
 
 In a little while the prince turned over on his back, 
 and tried to go to sleep, and as he did so the ring was 
 just slipping down into his throat, and then he coughed 
 it up, so that it shot out of his mouth and rolled away 
 over the floor. Pop ! up the rat snapped it and crept 
 off with it to the cat who sat outside watching at the 
 rat-hole. 
 
 All this while the king had laid hands on the lad 
 and put him into a strong tower and doomed him to 
 lose his life, for that he had made jeers and gibes at 
 him and his daughter, and there he was to stay till the 
 day of his death. Now, as the cat was hard at work 
 prowling about trying to steal into the tower with the 
 ring to the lad, a great eagle came flying and pounced 
 down on her and caught her up in his claws' and flew 
 away with her over the sea. But just in the nick of 
 
Three Tears without Wages 193 
 
 time came a falcon and struck at the eagle, so that he 
 let the cat fall into the sea ; but when the cat felt the 
 cold water, she got so frightened she dropped the ring 
 and swam to shore. She had not shaken the water off 
 her, and smoothed her coat, before she met the dog 
 which his master had bought for the lad. 
 
 " Nay ! nay ! " said the cat, and purred and was in a 
 sad way, " what's to be done now ? The ring is gone 
 and they will take the lad's life." 
 
 " I'm sure I don't know," said the dog ; " all I know 
 is that something is riving and rending my inside. It 
 couldn't be worse if I were going to turn inside out." 
 
 " Now you see what comes of over-eating yourself," 
 said the cat. 
 
 " I never eat more than I can carry," said the dog ; 
 "and this time I have eaten nothing but a dead fish 
 which lay floating up and down on the ebb." 
 
 " May be that fish had swallowed the ring," said the 
 cat. " And now I dare say you are going to pay for it 
 too, for you know you can't digest gold." 
 
 " It may well be," said the dog. " It's much the same 
 whether one loses life first or last. Perhaps the lad's 
 life might then be saved." 
 
 " Oh ! " said the rat, for he was there too, " don't say 
 that. I don't want much of a hole to creep into, and if 
 the ring is there, may I never tell the truth if I don't 
 poke it out." 
 
 Well ! the rat crept down the dog's throat, and it was 
 not long before he came out again with the ring. Then 
 the cat set off to the tower and clambered up about it, 
 till she found a hole into which she could put her paw, 
 and so she gave back his ring to the lad. 
 
1 94 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 The lad no sooner got it on his finger than he wished 
 the tower might rend asunder, and at the same moment 
 he stood in the doorway and scolded both the king and 
 queen and the princess as a pack of rogues. The king 
 was not slow in calling out his warriors, and bade them 
 throw a ring round the tower and seize the lad and 
 settle him, whether they took him dead or alive. But 
 the lad only wished that all the soldiers might stand 
 up to the armpits in the big moss up in the fjeld, and 
 then they had more than enough to get out again, all 
 that were not left sticking there. After that he began 
 again where he left off with the king and his folk, and 
 when he had got his mouth to say all the bad of them 
 that he knew and willed, he wished they might be shut 
 up all their days in the tower into which they had 
 thrown him. And when they were safe shut up there, 
 he took the land and realm as his own. Then the dog 
 became a prince and the cat a princess again ; her he 
 took and married, and the last I heard of them was, 
 that they kept it up at the bridal both well and long. 
 
Our Parish Clerk 
 
 NCE on a time there was a 
 
 clerk in our parish, who 
 
 was very sharp set after 
 
 all that was nice and good. 
 
 All the parish said his brains 
 
 were in his belly, for though he 
 
 was very fond of pretty girls and 
 
 buxom wives, still he liked good 
 
 meat and drink even better. 
 
 " Aye, aye," said our clerk ; 
 " one can't live long on love and 
 the south wind." That was his 
 motto, and that was why he kept 
 company most with well-to- 
 ^jKS do housewives, with those 
 who were new wedded, or 
 with pretty lasses who were 
 sure to marry rich husbands, for there you were sure 
 to find tit -bits both of beauty and food. That was 
 what our clerk thought. It wasn't every one, indeed, 
 who thought it so fine to have such a cupboard lover, 
 but vet there were some who looked on it as fine 
 
196 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 enough for them, for, after all, a parish clerk stands 
 a little higher than a farmer. 
 
 Now it fell out there was a rich young lass who had 
 married our clerk's next-door neighbour. There he 
 crept in and out, and soon got good friends with the 
 husband, and better friends still with his wife. When 
 the husband was at home all went well between them, 
 but as soon as he was away at the mill, or in the 
 wood, or at floating timber, or at a meeting, the goody 
 sent word to the clerk, and then they two spent the 
 day in revelling and mirth. There was no one who 
 found this out, before the ploughboy got wind of it, 
 and he thought he would just speak of it to his 
 master; but, somehow or other, he couldn't find a 
 fitting time till one day when they were together in the 
 outfield gathering leaves for litter. There they chatted 
 this and that about lasses and wives, and the master 
 thought he had made a lucky hit in marrying such a 
 rich and pretty wife, and he said as much outright. 
 " Thank God, she is both good and clever.'' 
 " Aye, aye," said the lad ; " every man is welcome 
 to believe what he likes, but if you knew her as well 
 as I do, you wouldn't say such words at random. 
 Pretty women are like wind in warm summer weather. 
 
 " ' And love is such that, willy, nilly, 
 
 It takes up with a clerk as well as a lily.' " 
 
 " What's that you say ? " said the man. 
 
 " I have long thought I would tell you that there's a 
 black bull that walks hoof to hoof and horn to horn 
 with that milk-white cow in your mead, master — that's 
 what I wanted to say." 
 
Our Parish Clerk 197 
 
 "One can say much in a summer day," said the 
 man ; " but I can't understand what this points to." 
 
 "Is it so?" said the lad. "Well, I have long 
 thought of telling you that our clerk is often and ever 
 in our house with the mistress, and how they lived as 
 though there was a bridal every day, while we scarce 
 get so much as the leavings of their good cheer." 
 
 " ' He who will ever taste and try, 
 Will burn his fingers in the pie,'" 
 
 said his master. " I don't believe a word of what you 
 say." 
 
 " It's a strange ear that will never hear," said the 
 lad; "but seeing is believing, and if you will listen 
 to me, I'm ready to wager ten dollars that you shall 
 soon have the proof in your own hands." 
 
 " Done," said the master ; he would bet ten dollars ; 
 nay, for that matter he would bet horse and farm, 
 and a hundred dollars into the bargain. 
 
 Well, that wager was to stand. "But an old fox 
 is hard to hunt," said the lad, and so his master must 
 say and do all that his ploughboy wished. When 
 they got home, he was to say they must set off for the 
 river and land timber, and his wife must put up some 
 food for them in hot haste; it was best to look out 
 while the weather was fine, it might turn to storm in 
 a trice. Yes ! that v/as what the husband said, and 
 the food was ready to the minute. The lad put the 
 horses to the timber drags, and off they went, but no 
 farther than half a mile ; there they put the horses up 
 at a farm, and turned in themselves. As the night 
 
198 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 came on they went back, and when they got home, the 
 door was locked fast. 
 
 " Now we have him," said the lad ; " it's hard to 
 keep off the field to which one is wont." 
 
 So they went by the back way from the garden, and 
 so through a trap-door in the cellar into the kitchen. 
 Then they struck a light and went into the parlour, and 
 
 saw what they 
 
 /7| ^- saw. Well, our 
 
 clerk had eaten 
 
 so well that he 
 
 lay snoring with 
 
 his mouth open 
 
 and his nose in 
 
 the air; as for 
 
 the goody, she 
 
 was not awake 
 
 either. 
 
 "Now you see I was right; seeing is believing, 
 
 master," said the lad. 
 
 " May I never speak the truth again," said the man, 
 " if I would have believed ten men telling it." 
 
 "Hush, be still," said the lad, and took him out 
 again. 
 
 "Man's law is not land's law," said the lad ; " but 
 even a bear can be tamed if you know how to deal 
 with him. Have you any lead, master ? " 
 
 Yes ! he had, he was sure, more than seventy 
 bullets in his pouch. Then it was all right. They 
 took a saucepan, and melted the lead on the spot, and 
 ran it down our clerk's throat. 
 
 " Every man has his own taste," said the lad, " and 
 
Our Parish Clerk 
 
 199 
 
 that's why all meat is eaten," as he heard the molten 
 lead bubbling and frizzling in our clerk's throat. 
 
 Then they went out by the way they got in, and 
 began to knock and thunder at the front door. The 
 wife woke up and asked who was there. 
 
 " It is I ; open the door, I say," said the husband. 
 
 Then she gave our clerk a nudge in the ribs. " It is 
 the master ; the master is back," she said. But no I 
 he did not mind her, and never so much as stirred. 
 Then she put her knees to his side, and tumbled him 
 oil to the floor, and jumped up and took him by the 
 legs, and dragged him to the heap of wood behind the 
 stove, and there she hid him. Till she had done that 
 she had no time to open the door to lier husband. 
 
 "Weiv you gone after christening water that you 
 were gone so long ? " asked the man, 
 
 " Oh ! " slie answered, " 1 dozed oft' again to sleep, 
 and 1 did not think it could ever be you either." 
 
 "Well!" said her husband, "now you must bring 
 out some food for me and the boy ; wc are a'most 
 starved." 
 
 " I've got no food r<>ady," said the goody. " How 
 cin you think of such a thing ? 1 never thought you 
 would be back either to-day or to-morrow. Why, you 
 know >-ou were to go to the river to land timber." 
 
 " t^uo can't hang a hungry man up on tlie wall like 
 a okx-k," said the lad, " and self-help is the best help ; 
 sliall I bring in the food we packed up, master ? " 
 
 Yes ; thoy did that, and they sat down to eat out 
 of the knapsack ; but when they got up to put a log or 
 two oil the fire, there lay our clerk among the pile of 
 
 WOOil. 
 
200 Tales Jrom the Fjeld 
 
 " Why, who in the world is this ? " asked the man. 
 
 "Oh! oh! It's only a beggar-man who came here 
 so late and begged for house-room ; he was quite con- 
 tent if he might only lie among the firewood," said the 
 goody. 
 
 "A pretty beggar," said the man ; "why he has got 
 silver buckles to his shoes, and silver buttons at his 
 knees." 
 
 "All are not beggars who are tattered and torn," 
 said the lad; "but I'm blest if this isn't our parish 
 clerk." 
 
 "What was he doing here, mistress," asked her 
 husband, who all the while kept on pulling and 
 kicking at him. But our clerk never so much as 
 stirred or lifted a finger. There stood the goody 
 fumbling and stammering, and not knowing what to 
 say. All she could do was to bite her thumb. 
 
 "I see it in your face what you have done, mis- 
 tress," said her husband. " But life is hard to lose, 
 and, after all, he was our parish clerk. If I did what 
 was right, I should send off at orite for the sheriff." 
 
 "Heaven help us," said the wife; "only get our 
 clerk out of the way." 
 
 " This is your matter and not mine," said the man. 
 " I never asked him hither, nor sent for him ; but if you 
 can get any one to help you to get rid of him, I won't 
 stand in your way." 
 
 Then she took the lad on one side, and said — 
 
 " I've laid up some woollen stuff for my husband, 
 but I'll give it to you for clothes, if you'll only get our 
 clerk buried, so that he shall never be seen or heard of 
 again." 
 
Our Parish Clerk 
 
 20I 
 
 " There's no saying what one can do till one tries. 
 If we drive in the frost we shall find it slippery, to our 
 cost. Have you ropes and cord, master? If so, I'll 
 see if I can't cure this." 
 
 Well ! he got our clerk fast in a slipknot, threw him 
 on his back, caught up his hat as well, and away he 
 went. But he hadn't gone far along the path in the 
 meadow when he met some horses ; so he caught one 
 of these, and tied 
 and bound our clerk 
 fast on his back. 
 He put his hat, 
 too, on his head, 
 and his hand down 
 on his thigh, and 
 there he sat up- 
 right, and jogged 
 up and down just 
 as a man on horse- 
 back. 
 
 " One may kill 
 Trolls at any time 
 of night," said the 
 
 lad when he got home ; " who can say when a man 
 is ' fey ' ? But he will never rise up who is safe buried 
 under ground, and the cock that is slain crows never 
 again." 
 
 Now, whether all this were true or no, there was a 
 way from the meadow across the fields to a barn, and 
 along it they had carted hay, and dropped it as they 
 went along ; so the horse went that way, picking up the 
 hay as he went and out in that barn were two men 
 
202 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 watching for thieves who used to steal the hay, for it 
 had been a bad year for fodder. 
 
 " Here comes the thief," they said, when they heard 
 the horse's hoofs ; " now we shall catch him." 
 
 "Who's there?" they called out, so that it rang 
 against the hill-side. No ! there was no answer, the 
 horse paid little heed, and our clerk less. 
 
 " If you don't answer I'll send a bullet through your 
 brains, you horse-thief," they both called out, and then 
 off went the gun, at which the horse gave such a sudden 
 jump, that our clerk gave a bob and fell bump on the 
 ground. 
 
 " I think," said one of the watchers, as he jumped up 
 to look, " I think you've shot him dead as mutton ; " 
 and then, when he saw who it was, " O Lord ! " he 
 said, "if it ain't our parish clerk. You ought to have 
 aimed at his legs, and not killed him outright." 
 
 "What's done is done, and can't 'be helped," said 
 the other. "Least said soonest mended. We must 
 keep our ears close, and bury him for a little while 
 among the hay in the barn." 
 
 Yes ! they did that, and when it was over, they 
 lay them down to rest. In a little while came some one 
 puffing and stamping, that the field shook again. The 
 two who lay among the hay nudged one another, for 
 they thought it was thieves again. Close to the barn 
 was a stepping-stone, and there the new-comer sat 
 down with his load, and began to talk to himself. He 
 had been killing pigs at a farm a few days before, and 
 thought he had been paid too little for his work, too 
 little pay and too little board, and so he had set off and 
 stolen the biggest porker. " He that swaps with a 
 
Our Parish Clerk 203 
 
 bear always comes worst off," he said; "and so it's 
 best to help one's self to what is right, and a little 
 share is better than a long lawsuit. But, bitter death ! 
 if I haven't forgotten my gloves; if they find them 
 at the farm, they'll soon find out who has inherited 
 their porker." And as he said this he bolted back after 
 his gloves. 
 
 The two who were in the barn lay and listened to all 
 this. 
 
 " He who lays traps for others, comes into the trap 
 himself," said one. 
 
 "There's no sin in stealing from a thief," said the 
 other; "and no one is hanged save those who can't 
 steal right. It would be fine fun to get rid of our clerk 
 in an easy way, and get a fat pig instead. I think, old 
 chap, we had better make a swap." 
 
 The other burst out laughing at this, and so they 
 tumbled the pig out of the sack and tossed in our clerk, 
 head foremost, hat and all, and tied up the mouth of 
 the sack as tight as they could. 
 
 Just as they had done, back came the thief flying 
 with his gloves, snatched up the sack, and strode off 
 home. There he cast the sack down on the floor at 
 his goody's feet. 
 
 " Here's what I call a porker, old lass," he said. 
 
 " How grand ! " said the goody. " Nothing is all 
 very fine to the eye, but not to the mouth. One can't 
 get on without meat, for meat is man's strength. Thank 
 Heaven we have now a bit of meat in the house, and 
 shall be able to live well awhile." 
 
 " I took the biggest I could," said the man, who sat 
 down in his armchair, and puffed and wiped the sweat 
 
204 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 off his brow. " He had both breeches and drawers, he 
 was well covered, that he was." By which he meant 
 the pig was well fed and fat. Then he went on, " Have 
 you any meat in the house, old lass ? " 
 
 " No," she said ; " meat ! where should I get meat ? " 
 
 "Makeup the. fire then," said the man; "and sharpen 
 your knife, and cut off a wee bit, and fry it with salt, 
 and let's have a pork chop." 
 
 She did as he bade, and tore open the mouth of the 
 sack, and was just going to cut ofi" a steak. 
 
 "What's all this?" she cried. "He has got his 
 trotters on," when she saw his shoes ; " and he's as 
 black as a coal." 
 
 " Don't you know," said her husband, "all cats are 
 grey in the dark, and all pigs black ? " 
 
 " I dare say," she said ; " but black or white is 
 always bright, and a fog is not like a bilberry. This 
 pig has got breeches on." 
 
 " Plague take him ! " said the man. " I know well 
 enough he is covered with fat all down his legs. 
 Haven't I carried him till the sweat ran down my 
 face?" 
 
 " Nay, nay ! " said the goody. " He has silver 
 buckles in his shoes, and silver buttons at his knees. 
 My ! if it isn't our parish clerk ! " she screamed out. 
 
 " I tell you it was a fat pig I took," said the man, 
 as he jumped up to see how things stood. "Well! 
 well ! Seeing is believing." It was our clerk, both 
 with shoes and buckles; but, for all, he stuck to it it 
 was the fattest pig he had put into the sack. 
 
 " But what's done can't be undone," he said; "the 
 best sen^ant is one's own self; but, for all that, help is 
 
Our Parish Clerk 205 
 
 good, even if it comes out of the porridge-pot ! Wake 
 up our Mary, old girl." 
 
 Now you must know Mary was their daughter, a 
 ready and trusty lass ; she had the strength of a man 
 too, and always had her wits about her. So she was 
 to take our clerk and bury him in an out-of-the-way 
 dale, so that nothing should ever be heard of him. If 
 she did this, she was to have a new suit of working 
 clothes, which were meant for her mother. 
 
 Well! the lassie took our clerk round the body, 
 tossed him on her back, and strode off from the farm, 
 not forgetting to take his hat. But when she had 
 gone a bit of the way, she heard a fiddle going, for 
 there was a dance at a farm near the road, and so she 
 crept in and set our clerk down upright behind the 
 backstairs. There he sat with his hat between his 
 hands, just as though he were begging an alms, and 
 lecming against the wall and a post. 
 
 After a while came a girl in a flurry. 
 
 " I wonder whoever this can be ? " she said. " The 
 master of the house is as grey as a goose, but this 
 fellow is as black as a raven. Hulloa, you, sir, why 
 are you sitting there, blocking up the way ? One can 
 scarce get by." 
 
 But our clerk said never a word. 
 
 "Are you poor? Do you beg for a penny for 
 Heaven's sake ? Ah ! jxjor fellow ! Here's twopence 
 for you," and as she said this she tossed them into his 
 hat. Still our clerk said never a word. She waited a 
 little, for she thought he would say " Thank you," but 
 our clerk did not so much as nod his head. 
 
 " No, I never," said the girl, when she went back 
 
2o6 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 into the ball-room. " I never did see the like of a 
 beggar who sits out yonder by the staircase. He isn't 
 at all like a starling on a fence," she went on, " for he 
 won't answer, and he won't say 'Thank you,' and 
 won't so much as lift a finger, though I did give him 
 twopence." 
 
 " The least a beggar can do is to say ' Thank you,' " 
 cried a young sheriif's clerk who was of the party. 
 " He must be a pretty fellow whom I cannot get to 
 speak, for I've made thieves and stiff-necked folk open 
 their mouths wide before this." 
 
 As he said this he ran out to the stairs, and bawled 
 out in our clerk's ear, for he thought he was hard of 
 hearing — 
 
 " What do you sit here for, you, sir ? " And then 
 again, " Are you poor ? Do you beg ? " 
 
 No, our clerk said never a word. So he took out 
 half-a-doUar, and threw it into his hat, saying, "There's 
 something for you." But our clerk was still silent, 
 and made no sign. So when he could get no thanks 
 out of him, the sherifTs officer gave him a blow under 
 the ear, as hard as he could, and down fell our clerk 
 head over heels across the staircase. And you may 
 be sure the girl Mary was not slow in running to the 
 spot. 
 
 "Are you in a swoon, or are you dead, father," she 
 screeched out, and then she went on screaming and 
 bewailing herself. 
 
 "It's quite true," she said; "there's no peace for 
 the poor after all, but I never yet heard of any one 
 laying themselves out to strike beggars dead." 
 
 "Hush! Hold your tongue," said the sherifi^'s 
 
Our Parish Clerk 207 
 
 officer. " Don't make a fuss. Here you have ten 
 dollars, keep your p)eace and take him away. I only 
 gave him a blow that made him swoon." 
 
 Well! she was glad enough. "Money brings 
 money," she thought; "with fair words and money, 
 one can go fcir in a day, and one need never care for 
 food with a purse full of pence." So she took our 
 clerk on her back again, and strode off to the nearest 
 farm, and there she put him athwart the brink of the 
 well. When our Mary got home she said she had 
 borne him off to the wood, and buried him far far away 
 in a side dale. 
 
 "Thank Heaven," said the goody. "Now we are 
 well quit of him, you shall have all I promised, and 
 more besides. Be sure of that." 
 
 So there lay our clerk as though he were peering 
 down into the well, tUl at dawn of day the ploughboy 
 came running up to draw water. 
 
 " Why are you lying there, and what are you 
 gazing at? Out of the way. I want some water," 
 said the lad. 
 
 No! he neither stirred hand nor foot Then the 
 lad let drive at him, so that it went plump, and there 
 lay our clerk in the welL Then he must have help to 
 get him out, but there was no help for it tUl the hind 
 came with a boat-hook and dragged him out. 
 
 " Wh3' ! it's our parish clerk ! " they all bawled out, 
 and they all thought he had eaten and drank so much 
 at some feast, that he had fallen asleep by the well- 
 side. 
 
 But when the master of the house came and saw 
 our clerk, and heard how it had all happ>ened, he said — 
 
2o8 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " Harm watches while men sleep ; but man's scathe 
 is the worst scathe. When one pot strikes against 
 another, both break. Take the saddle and lay it on 
 Blackie, and ride to fetch the sheriff, my lad, and then 
 we shall be out of harm's way, for our clerk's sake. 
 Mishaps never come single, but it's hard to drown on 
 dry land." That was what the master said. 
 
 Yes ! the lad rode off to the sheriff, and after a 
 while the sheriff came. But, as the saying is, more 
 haste, worse speed, and work done in haste will never 
 last. So it took time before they got the doctor and 
 witnesses to come. Now you all know we owe a 
 death to God ; but then it was made as plain as day 
 that our clerk had been killed three times before he 
 tumbled into the well First the ladle of lead had 
 taken away his breath, next he had a bullet through 
 his forehead, and third and last his neck was broken. 
 Surely he was " fey " when he set out to see the goody. 
 It is hard to teU how all this was found out at last; 
 but tongues will clack behind a man's back, and hard 
 things are said of a man when he's dead. 
 
Silly Men and Cunning Wives 
 
 ONCE on a time there were two goodies who 
 quarrelled, as women often will; and when 
 they had nothing else to quarrel about, they 
 fell to fighting about their husbands, as to which was 
 the silliest of them. The longer they strove the worse 
 they got, and at last they had almost come to pulling 
 caps about it ; 
 for, as every 
 one knows, it is 
 easier to begin 
 than to end, and 
 it is a bad look- 
 out when wit is 
 wanting. At last 
 one of them said 
 there was no- 
 thing she could 
 not get her hus- 
 band to believe, if she only said it, for he was as easy 
 as a Troll. Then the other said there was nothing 
 so silly that she could not get her husband to do, 
 if she only said it must be done, for he was such a 
 fool, he could not tell B from a bull's foot. 
 
 " Well ! let us put it to the proof, which of us can 
 
2IO 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 fool them best, and then we'll see which is the silliest." 
 That was what they said once, and so it was settled. 
 
 Now when the first husband. Master Northgrange, 
 came home from the wood, his goody said — 
 
 " Heaven help us both ! what is the matter ? you 
 are surely ill, if you are not at death's door ! " 
 
 " Nothing ails me but want of meat and drink," said 
 the man. 
 
 " Now, Heaven be my witness ! " screamed out the 
 wife, " it gets worse and worse. You look just like a 
 corpse in face ; you must go to bed ! Dear ! dear ! this 
 never can last long ! And so she went on till she got 
 her husband to believe he was hard at death's door, 
 and she put him to bed ; and then she made him fold 
 
Silly Men and Cunning Wives 2 1 1 
 
 his hands on his breast, and shut his eyes ; and so she 
 stretched his limbs, and laid him out, and put him into 
 a coffin ; but that he might not be smothered while he 
 lay there, she had some holes made in the sides, so 
 that he could breathe and peep out. 
 
 The other goody, she toolc a pair of carding combs 
 and began to card wool ; but she had no wool on them. 
 In came the man, and saw this tomfoolery. 
 
 " There's no use," he said, " in a wheel without wool ; 
 but carding combs without wool is work for a fool." 
 
 " Without wool 1 " said the goody ; " I have wool, 
 only you can't see it ; it's of the fine sort." So when 
 she had carded it all, she toolj her wheel and fell 
 a-spinning. 
 
 " Nay ! nay I this is all labour lost ! " said the man. 
 " There you sit, wearing out your wheel, as it spins 
 and hums, and all the while you've nothing on it." 
 
 " Nothing on it ! " said the goody ; " the thread is 
 so fine, it takes better eyes than yours to see it, 
 that's all." 
 
 So, when her spinning was over, she set up her loom, 
 and put the woof in, and threw the shuttle, and wove 
 cloth. Then she took it out of the loom and pressed it 
 and cut it out, and sewed a new suit of clothes for her 
 husband out of it, and when it was ready, she hung the 
 suit up in the linen closet. As for the man, he could 
 see neither cloth nor clothes ; but as he had once for 
 all got it into his head that it was too fine for him to 
 see, he went on saying, " Aye, aye ! I understand it all ; 
 it is so fine because it is so fine." 
 
 Well, in a day or two his goody said to him — 
 
 " To-day you must go to a funeral. Farmer North- 
 
212 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 grange is dead, and they bury him to-day, and so you 
 had better put on your new clothes." 
 
 " Yes, very true, he must go to the funeral ; " and she 
 helped him on with his new suit, for it was so fine, he 
 might tear it asunder if he put it on alone. 
 
 So when he came up to the farm where the funeral 
 was to be, they had all drank hard and long, and you 
 may fancy their grief was not greater when they saw 
 him come in in his new suit. But when the train set 
 off for the churchyard, and the dead man peeped 
 through the breathing holes, he burst out into a loud 
 fit of laughter. 
 
 " Nay ! nay ! " he said, " I can't help laughing, though 
 it is my funeral, for if there isn't Olof Southgrange 
 walking to my funeral stark naked ! " 
 
 When the bearers heard that, they were not slow in 
 taking the lid off the coffin, and the other husband, he 
 in the new suit, asked how it was that he, over whom 
 they had just drank his funeral ale, lay there in his 
 coffin and chattered and laughed, when it would be 
 more seemly if he wept. 
 
 " Ah ! " said the other, " you know tears never yet 
 dug up any one out of his grave — that's why I laughed 
 myself to life again." 
 
 But the end of all their talk was that it came out 
 that their goodies had played them those tricks. So 
 the husbands went home, and did the wisest thing 
 either of them had done for a long time ; and if any 
 one wishes to know what it was, he had better go and 
 ask the birch cudgel. 
 
Taper Tom 
 
 NCE on a time there 
 was a king, who had 
 a daughter, and she was 
 so lovely, that her good 
 looks were well known 
 far and near; but she 
 so sad and serious she 
 could never be got to laugh; 
 and, besides, she was so high 
 and mighty, that she said 
 "No" to all who wooed her 
 to wife, and she would have 
 none of them, were they ever 
 so grand — lords and princes. 
 The king had long ago got tired 
 of this, for he thought she might just as well marry, 
 she, too, like the rest of the world. There was no good 
 waiting ; she was quite old enough, nor would she be 
 any richer, for she was to have half the kingdom that 
 came to her as her mother's heir. 
 
 So he had it given out at the church door both quick 
 and soon, that any one who could get his daughter to 
 laugh should have her and half the kingdom. But if 
 there was any one who tried and could not, he was to 
 
 it was all the same. 
 
214 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 have three stripes cut out of his back, and salt rubbed 
 in ; and sure it was that there were many sore backs 
 in that kingdom, for lovers and wooers came from north 
 and south, and east and west, thinking it nothing at all 
 to make a king's daughter laugh ; and brave fellows 
 they were some of them too ; but for all their tricks 
 and capers, there sat the princess, just as sad and 
 serious as she had been before. 
 
 Now hard by the palace lived a man who had three 
 sons, and they too had heard how the king had given 
 it out that the man who could make the princess 
 laugh was to have her to wife and half the kingdom. 
 
 The eldest, he was for setting off first ; so he strode 
 off; and when he came to the king's grange, he told 
 the king he would be glad to try to make the princess 
 laugh. 
 
 "All very well, my man," said the king; "but it's 
 sure to be no good, for so many have been here and 
 tried. My daughter is so sorrowful, it's no use trying, 
 and I don't at all wish that any one should come to 
 grief." 
 
 But he thought there was use. It couldn't be such 
 a very hard thing for him to get the princess to laugh, 
 for so many had laughed at him, both gentle and 
 simple, when he listed for a soldier, and learnt his 
 drill under Corporal Jack. So he went off to the 
 courtyard, under the princess's window, and began to 
 go through his drill as Corporal Jack had taught him. 
 But it was no good, the princess was just as sad and 
 serious, and did not so much as smile at him once. So 
 they took him, and cut three broad red stripes out of 
 his back, and sent him home again. 
 
Taper Tom 215 
 
 Well! he had hardly got home before his second 
 brother wanted to set off. He was a schoolmaster, 
 and a wonderful figure of fun besides ; he was lop- 
 sided, for he had one leg shorter than the other, and 
 one moment he was as little as a boy, and in another, 
 when he stood on his long leg, he was as tall and long 
 as a Troll. Besides this, he was a powerful preacher. 
 
 So when he came to the king's grange, and said he 
 wished to make the princess laugh, the king thought it 
 might not be so unlikely after all. " But Heaven help 
 you," he said, " if you don't make her laugh. We are 
 for cutting the stripes broader and broader for every 
 one that tries." 
 
 Then the schoolmaster strode off to the courtyard, 
 and put himself before the princess's window, and read 
 
2i6 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 and preached like seven parsons, and sang and chanted 
 like seven clerks, as loud as all the parsons and clerks 
 in the country round. The king laughed loud at him, 
 and was forced to hold the posts in the gallery, and 
 the princess was just going to put a smile on her lips, 
 but all at once she got as sad and serious as ever ; and 
 so it fared no better with Paul the schoolmaster than 
 with Peter the soldier — for you must know one was 
 called Peter and the other Paul. So they took him 
 and cut three red stripes out of his back, and rubbed 
 the salt well in, and then they sent him home again. 
 
 Then the youngest was all for setting out, and his 
 name was Taper Tom ; but his brothers laughed and 
 jeered at him, and showed him their sore backs, and 
 his father would not give him leave, for he said how 
 could it be of any use to him when he had no sense, 
 for wasn't it true that he neither knew anything or 
 could do anything ? There he sat in the ingle by the 
 chimney-corner, like a cat, and grubbed in the ashes 
 and split fir tapers. That was why they called him 
 " Taper Tom." But Taper Tom wouldn't give in, for 
 he growled and grizzled so long, that they got tired 
 of his growling, and so at last he too got leave to go 
 to the king's grange and try his luck. 
 
 When he got to the king's grange he did not say he 
 wished to try to make the princess laugh, but asked if 
 he could get a place there. No, they had no place 
 for him ; but for all that Taper Tom wouldn't take an 
 answer; they must want some one, he said, to carry 
 wood and water for the kitchen-maid, in such a big 
 grange as that — that was what he said ; and the king 
 thought it might very well be, for he too got tired of 
 
Taper Tom 217 
 
 his worry, and the end was Taper Tom got leave to 
 stay there and carry wood and water for the kitchen- 
 maid. 
 
 So one day, when he was going to fetch water from 
 the beck, he set eyes on a big fish which lay under an 
 old fir stump, where the water had eaten into the bank, 
 and he put his bucket so softly under the fish, and 
 caught it. But as he was going home to the grange he 
 met an old woman who led a golden goose by a string. 
 
 " Good day, godmother," said Taper Tom ; " that's 
 a pretty bird you have got ; and what fine feathers ! — 
 they dazzle one a long way off. If one only had such 
 feathers one might leave off splitting fir tapers." 
 
 The goody was just as pleased with the fish Tom had 
 in his bucket, and said if he would give her the fish, 
 he might have the golden goose; and it was such a 
 goose, that when any one touched it he stuck fast to 
 it, if Tom only said, " Hang on, if you care to come 
 with us." 
 
 Yes ! that swap Taper Tom was willing enough to 
 make. 
 
 "A bird is as good as a fish, any day," he said to 
 himself; "and if it's such a bird as you say, I can use 
 it as a fish-hook." That was what he said to the 
 goody, and was so pleased with the goose. Now, he 
 hadn't gone far before he met another old woman, and 
 as soon as she saw the lovely golden goose she was all 
 for running up to it and patting it ; and she spoke so 
 prettily, and coaxed him so, and begged him give 
 her leave to stroke his lovely golden goose. 
 
 "With all my heart," said Taper Tom; "but mind 
 you don't pluck out any of its feathers." 
 
21 8 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Just as she stroked the goose, he said — 
 " Hang on, if you care to come with us ! " 
 The goody pulled and tore, but she was forced to 
 hang on, whether she would or no, and Taper Tom 
 went before, as though he alone were with the golden 
 goose. So when he had gone a bit farther, he met 
 a man who had a thorn in his side against the goody 
 for a trick she had played him. So when he saw 
 how hard she struggled and strove to get free, and 
 how fast she stuck, he thought he would be quite 
 safe in giving her one for her nob, to pay off the 
 old grudge, and so he just gave her a kick with his 
 foot. 
 
 " Hang on, if you care to come with us 1 " called out 
 Tom, and then the man had to limp along on one leg, 
 whether he would or no, and when he jibbed and jibed, 
 and tried to break loose, it was still worse for him, for 
 he was all but falling flat on his back every step he 
 took. 
 
 So they went on a good bit till they had about come 
 to the king's grange. There they met the king's smith, 
 who was going to the smithy, and had a great pair of 
 tongs in his hand. Now you must know this smith 
 was a merry fellow, who was as full of tricks and 
 pranks as an egg is full of meat, and when he saw this 
 string come hobbling and limping along, he laughed 
 so that he was almost bent in two, and then he bawled 
 out, " Surely this is a new flock of geese the princess 
 is going to have ; who can tell which is goose and 
 which gander ? Ah ! I see, this must be the gander 
 that toddles in front. Goosey ! goosey ! goosey ! " 
 he called out ; and with that he coaxed them to him. 
 
Taper Tom 219 
 
 and threw his hands about as though he were scattering 
 com for the geese. 
 
 But the flock never stopped — on it went, and all 
 that the goody and the man did was to look daggers at 
 the smith for making game of them. Then the smith 
 went on — 
 
 "It would be fine fun to see if I could hold the 
 whole flock, so many as they are ; " for he was a stout 
 strong fellow, and so he took hold, with his big tongs, 
 by the old man's coat tail, and the man aU the while 
 bellowed and wriggled ; but Taper Tom only said — 
 
 " Hang on, if you care to come with us." 
 
 So the smith had to go along too. He bent his 
 back and stuck his heels into the hill, and tried to get 
 loose ; but it was all no good ; he stuck fast, as though 
 he had been screwed tight with his own anvil, and, 
 whether he would or no, he had to dance along with 
 the rest. 
 
 So, when they came near to the kingfs grange, the 
 mastiff ran out and began to bay and bark as though 
 they were wolves or beggars ; and when the princess 
 looked out of the window to see what was the matter, 
 and set eyes on this strange pack, she laughed inwardly. 
 But Taper Tom was not content with that. 
 
 " Bide a bit," he said, " she'll soon have to open the 
 door of her mouth wider ; " and as he said that he 
 turned off with his band to the back of the grange. 
 
 So, when they passed by the kitchen, the door stood 
 open, and the cook was just beating the porridge ; but 
 when she saw Taper Tom and his pack she came run- 
 ning out at the door, with her brush in one hand, 
 and a wooden ladle full of smoking porridge in the other, 
 
220 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 and she laughed as though her sides would split ; and 
 
 when she saw the smith there too, she slapped her 
 
 thigh and 
 
 went off 
 
 again in a JK^ Ij'iiii/ 
 
 loud peal. 
 
 But when 
 
 she had 
 
 laughed 
 
 her ^1 
 
 laugh 
 
 out, she too thought the 
 
 golden goose so lovely she 
 
 must just stroke it. 
 
 " Taper Tom ! Taper 
 Tom ! " she bawled out, 
 
 and came running out with the ladle 
 of porridge in her fist, "may I have 
 leave to stroke that pretty bird of 
 yours ? " 
 
 "Better let her stroke me," said 
 the smith. 
 
 " 1 dare say," said Taper Tom. 
 
 But when the cook heard that she got angry. 
 
Taper Tom 221 
 
 " What is that you say ? " she cried, and let fly at 
 the smith with the ladle. 
 
 " Hang on, if you care to come with us," said Taper 
 Tom. So she stuck fast, she too; and for all her 
 kicks and plunges, and all her scolding and screaming, 
 and all her riving and striving, and all her rage, she 
 too had to limp along with them. 
 
 But when they came outside the window of the 
 princess, there she stood, waiting for them ; and when 
 she saw they had taken the cook too, with her ladle 
 and brush, she opened her mouth wide, and laughed 
 loud, so that the king had to hold her upright. So 
 Taper Tom got the princess and half the kingdom ; 
 and they had such a merry wedding, it was heard and 
 talked of far and wide. 
 
The Trolls in Hedale Wood 
 
 'P at a place in Vaage, in 
 Gudbrandsdale, there 
 lived once on a time in 
 the days of old a poor 
 couple. They had 
 many children, and 
 two of the sons who 
 were about half grown 
 up had to be always 
 roaming about the 
 country begging. So 
 that they were well acquainted with all the highways 
 and byways, and they also knew the short cut into 
 Hedale. 
 
 It happened once that they wanted to go thither, 
 but at the same time they heard that some falconers 
 had built themselves a hut at Msela, and so they 
 wished to kill two birds with one stone, and see the 
 birds, and how they are taken, and so they took the 
 cut across Longmoss. But you must know it was 
 far on towards autumn, and so the milkmaids had all 
 gone home from the shielings, and they could neither 
 get shelter nor food. Then they had to keep straight 
 
The Trolls in Hedale Wood 223 
 
 on for Hedale, but the path was a mere track, and 
 when night fell they lost it; and, worse still, they 
 could not find the falconers' hut either, and before 
 they knew where they were, they found themselves in 
 the very depths of the forest. As soon as they saw 
 they could not get on, they began to break boughs, lit 
 a fire, and built themselves a bower of branches, for 
 they had a hand-axe with them ; and, after that, they 
 plucked heather and moss and made themselves a bed. 
 So a little while after they had lain down, they heard 
 something which sniffed and snuffed so with its nose ; 
 then the boys pricked up their ears and listened 
 sharp to hear whether it were wild beasts or wood 
 Trolls, and just then something snuffed up the air 
 louder than ever, and said — 
 
 " There's a smell of Christian blood here ! " 
 
 At the same time they heard such a heavy footfall 
 that the earth shook under it, and then they knew 
 well enough the Trolls must be about. 
 
 " Heaven help us ! what shall we do ? " said the 
 younger boy to his brother. 
 
 " Oh ! you must stand as you are under the fir, and 
 be ready to take our bags and run away when you see 
 them coming; as for me, I will take the hand-axe," 
 said the other. 
 
 All at once they saw the Trolls coming at them like 
 mad, and they were so tall and stout, their heads were 
 just as high as the fir-tops ; but it was a good thing 
 they had only one eye between them all three, and that 
 they used turn and turn about. They had a hole in 
 their foreheads into which they put it, and turned and 
 twisted it with their hands. The one that went first 
 
224 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 he must have it to see his way, and the others went 
 behind and took hold of the first. 
 
 "Take up the traps," said the elder of the boys, 
 " but don't run away too far, but see how things go ; 
 as they carry their eye so high aloft they'll find it hard 
 to see me when I get behind them." 
 
 Yes ! the brother ran before and the Trolls after him, 
 meanwhile the elder got behind them and chopped the 
 hindmost Troll with his axe on the ankle, so that the 
 Troll gave an awful shriek, and the foremost Troll got 
 so afraid he was all of a shake and dropped the eye. 
 But the boy was not slow to snap it up. It was bigger 
 than two quart pots put together, and so clear and 
 bright, that though it was pitch dark, everything was 
 as clear as day as soon as he looked through it. 
 
 When the Trolls saw he had taken their eye and 
 done one of them harm, they began to threaten him 
 with all the evil in the world if he didn't give back the 
 eye at once. 
 
 " I don't care a farthing for Trolls and threats," said 
 the boy, "now I've got three eyes to myself and you 
 three have got none, and besides two of you have to 
 carry the third." 
 
 " If we don't get our eye back this minute, you shall 
 be both turned to stocks and stones," screeched the 
 TroUs. 
 
 But the boy thought things needn't go so fast ; he 
 was not afraid for witchcraft or hard words. If they 
 didn't leave him in peace he'd chop them all three, so 
 that they would have to creep and crawl along the 
 earth like cripples and crabs. 
 
 When the Trolls heard that they got still more afraid. 
 
The Trolls in Hedale Wood 225 
 
 and began to use soft words. They begged so prettily 
 that he would give them their eye back, and then he 
 should have both gold and silver and all that he wished 
 to ask. Yes ! that seemed all very fine to the lad, but 
 he must have the gold and silver first, and so he said 
 if one of them would go home and fetch as much gold 
 and silver as would fill his and his brother's bags, and 
 give them two good cross-bows beside, they might have 
 their eye, but he should keep it until they did what he 
 said. 
 
 The Trolls were very put out, and said none of them 
 could go when he hadn't his eye to see with ; but all at 
 once one of them began to bawl out for their goody ; for 
 you must know they had a goody between them all 
 three as well as an eye. After a while an answer came 
 from a knoll a long way off to the north. So the Trolls 
 said she must come with two steel cross-bows and two 
 buckets full of gold and silver ; and then it was not long, 
 you may fancy, before she was there. And when she 
 heard what had happened, she too began to threaten 
 them with witchcraft. But the Trolls got so afraid, and 
 begged her beware of the little wasp, for they couldn't 
 be sure he would not take away her eye too. So she 
 threw them the cross-bows and the buckets and the 
 gold and the silver, and strode off to the knoll with the 
 Trolls ; and since that time no one has ever heard that 
 the Trolls have walked in Hedale Wood snuffing after 
 Christian blood. 
 
The Skipper and Old Nick 
 
 NCE on a time there 
 was a skipper who 
 was so wonderfully 
 lucky in everything 
 he undertook; there 
 was no one who got 
 such freights, and no 
 one who earned so 
 much money, for it 
 rolled in upon him 
 on all sides, and, in 
 a word, there was 
 no one who was 
 good to make such 
 voyages as he, for whithersoever he sailed, he took the 
 wind with him — nay, men did say he had only to turn his 
 hat and the wind turned the way he wished it to blow. 
 So he sailed for many years, both in the timber trade 
 and to China, and he had gathered money together like 
 grass. But it so happened that once he was coming 
 home across the North Sea with every sail set, as though 
 he had stolen both ship and lading ; but he who wanted 
 to lay hold on him went faster still. It was Old Nick, 
 for with him he had made a bargain, as one may well 
 
The Skipper and Old Nick 227 
 
 fancy, and that very day the time was up, and he might 
 look any moment that Old Nick would come and fetch 
 him. 
 
 Well, the skipper came up on deck out of the cabin 
 and looked at the 
 weather ; then he 
 called for the car- 
 penter and some 
 others of the crew, 
 and said they must 
 go down into the 
 hold and hew two 
 holes in the ship's 
 bottom, and when 
 they had done that 
 they were to lift 
 the pumps out of 
 their beds and drive 
 them down tight 
 into the holes they 
 had made, so that 
 the sea might rise 
 high up into the 
 pumps. 
 
 The crew wondered at all this, and thought it a 
 funny bit of work, but they did as the skipper ordered ; 
 they hewed holes in the ship's bottom and drove the 
 pumps in so tight that never a drop of water could 
 come to the cargo, but up in the pump itself the North 
 Sea stood seven feet high. 
 
 They had only just thrown the chips overboard 
 after their piece of work when Old Nick came on 
 
228 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 board in a gust of vdnd and caught the skipper by the 
 throat. 
 
 "Stop, father!" said the skipper; "there's no need 
 to be in such a hurry," and as he said that he began to 
 defend himself and to loose the claws which Old Nick 
 had stuck into him by the help of a marling-spike. 
 
 " Haven't you made a bargain that you would always 
 keep the ship dry and tight?" asked the skipper. 
 "Yes!! your a pretty fellow; look down the pumps; 
 
 there's the water standing seven feet high in the pipe. 
 Pump, devil, pump ! and pump the ship dry, and t^en 
 you may take me and have me as soon and as long as 
 you choose." 
 
 Old Nick was not so clever that he was not taken 
 in ; he pumped and strove, and the sweat ran down his 
 back like a brook, so that you might have turned a mill 
 at the end of his backbone, but he only pumped out of 
 the North Sea and into the North Sea again. At last he 
 
The Skipper and Old Nick 229 
 
 got tired of that work, and when he could not pump a 
 stroke more, he set off in a sad temper home to his 
 grandmother to take a rest. As for the skipper, he let 
 him stay a skipper as long as he chose, and if he isn't 
 dead, he is still jierhaps sailing on his voyages whither- 
 soever he will, and twisting the wind as he choses only 
 by turning his hat 
 
Goody Gainst-the-Stream 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a man who had a 
 goody who was so cross-grained that thert- was? 
 no living with her. As for her husband, he could 
 not get on with her at all, for whatever he wished she 
 set her face right against it. 
 
 So it fell one Sunday in summer that the man and 
 his wife went out into the field to see how the crop 
 looked ; and when they came to a field of rye on the 
 other side of the river, the man said — 
 
 " Ay 1 now it is ripe. To-morrow we must set to 
 work and reap it." 
 
 "Yes," said his wife, "to-morrow we can set to work 
 and shear it." 
 
 " What do you say ? " said the man ; •' shall we shear 
 it ? Mayn't we just as well reap it ? " 
 
 " No," said the goody, " it shall be shorn." 
 
 " There is nothing so bad as a little knowledge," said 
 the man, " but you must have lost the little wit you 
 had. When did you ever hear of shearing a field ? " 
 
 " I know little, and I care to know little, I dare aay," 
 said the goody, " but I know very well that this field 
 shall be shorn and not reaped." 
 
 That was what she said, and there was no help for 
 it ; it must and should be shorn. 
 
Goody Gainst-the-Stream 
 
 231 
 
 So they walked about and quarrelled and strove till 
 they came to the bridge across the river, just above a 
 deep hole. 
 
 " 'Tis an old saying," said the man, " that good tools 
 make good work, but I fancy it will be a fine swathe 
 that is shorn with a pair of shears. Mayn't we just as 
 well reap the field after all ? " he asked. 
 
 " No ! no ! shear ! shear ! " bawled out the goody, who 
 jumped about and clipped like a pair of scissors under 
 her husband's 
 nose. In her 
 shrewishness she 
 took such little 
 heed that she trip- 
 ped over a beam 
 on the bridge, and 
 down she went 
 plump into the 
 stream. 
 
 " 'Tis hard to _ _ . - 
 
 wean any one 
 
 from bad ways," said the man, "but it were strange if 
 I were not sometimes in the right too." 
 
 Then he swam out into the hole and caught his wife 
 by the hair of her head, and so got her head above water. 
 
 " Shall we reap the field now ? " were the first words 
 he said. 
 
 " Shear ! shear ! shear ! " screeched the goody. 
 
 " I'll teach you to shear," said the man, as he ducked 
 her under the water ; but it was no good, they must 
 shear it, she said, as soon as ever she came up again. 
 
 " I can't think anything else than that the goody is 
 
232 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 mad," said the man to himself. " Many are mad, and 
 never know it ; many have wit, and never show it ; but 
 all the same, I'll try her once more." 
 
 But as soon as ever he ducked her under the water 
 again, she held her hands up out of the water and began 
 to clip with her fingers like a pair of shears. Then the 
 man fell into a great rage and ducked her down both 
 well and long ; but while he was about it, the goody's 
 head fell down below the water, and she got so heavy 
 all at once, that he had to let her go. 
 
 " No ! no ! " he said, " you wish to drag me down with 
 you into the hole, but you may lie there by yourself." 
 
 So the goody was left in the river. 
 
 But after a while the man thought it was ill she 
 should lie there and not get Christian burial, and so he 
 went down the course of the stream and hunted and 
 searched for her, but for all his pains he could not find 
 her. Then he came with all his men and brought his 
 neighbours with him, and they all in a body began to 
 drag the stream and to search for her all along it. But 
 for all their searching they found no goody. 
 
 " Oh ! " said the man, " I have it. All this is no good ; 
 we search in the wrong place This goody was a sort 
 by herself; there was not such another in the world while 
 she was alive. She was so cross and contrary, and I'll 
 be bound it is just the same now she is dead. We had 
 better just go and hunt for her up stream, and drag for 
 her above the force ; ^ maybe she has floated up thither." 
 
 And so it was. They went up stream and sought 
 for her above the force, and there lay the goody, sure 
 enough ! Yes ! she was well called GoODY Gainst- 
 the-Stream. 
 
 ' Waterfall. 
 
Tbe jRTNCe t)isor)issiNG 
 
How to Win a Prince 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a king's son who made 
 love to a lass, but after they had become great 
 Mends and were as good as betrothed, the 
 prince b^an to think Uttle of her, and he got it into his 
 head that she wasn't clever enough for him. and so he 
 wouldn't have her. 
 
 So he thought how he might be rid of her ; and at 
 last he said he would take her to wife all the same if 
 she could come to him — 
 
 And not riding ; 
 Not walking. 
 And not earned ; 
 Xot &sting. 
 And not JblKfed : 
 Not naked. 
 And not dttd ; 
 Not in die davlight. 
 And not by nisrh:."" 
 
 For aU that he fancied she could nevor do. 
 
 So she took three bariejcoms and swallowed them, 
 and then she was not fasting, and yet not full-fed ; and 
 next she threw a net over her, and so she was 
 
 Not naked. 
 And yM not dad. 
 
236 Tales from the FjeU 
 
 Next she got a ram and sat on him, so that her ieet 
 touched the ground ; and so she waddled alouK, and 
 was 
 
 Not driving, 
 
 And not riding ; 
 
 Not walking, 
 
 And not carried. 
 
 And all this happened in the twilight, betwixt night 
 and day. 
 
 So when she came to the guard at the palace, she 
 begged that she might have leave to speak with the 
 prince ; but they wouldn't open the gate, she looked 
 such a figure of fun. 
 
 But for all that the noise woke up the prince, and he 
 went to the window to sec what it was. 
 
 So she waddled up to the window, and twisted oft" one 
 of the ram's horns, and took it and rtipped with it against 
 the window. 
 
 And so they had to let her in and have her for their 
 princess. 
 
Boots and the Beasts 
 
 NCE on a .time there was 
 a man who had an only 
 son, but he lived in need 
 and wretchedness, and 
 when he lay on his 
 deathbed, he told his 
 son he had nothing in 
 the world but a sword, 
 a bit of coarse linen, and 
 a few crusts of bread — 
 that was all he had to 
 leave him. Well, when 
 the man was dead, the lad made up his mind to go out 
 into the world to try his luck ; so he girded the sword 
 about him, and took the crusts and laid them in the 
 bit of linen for his travelling fare ; for you must know 
 they lived far away up on a hillside in the wood, far 
 from folk. Now the way he went took him over a 
 fell, and when he had got up so high that he could look 
 over the country, he set his eyes on a lion, a falcon, 
 and an ant, who stood there quarrelling over a dead 
 horse. The lad was sore afraid when he saw the 
 lion, but he called out to him and said he must come 
 
238 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 and settle the strife between them and share the horse, 
 so that each should get what he ought to have. 
 
 So the lad took his sword, and shared the horse as 
 well as he could. To the lion he gave the carcass and 
 the greater portion ; the falcon got some of the entrails 
 and other tit-bits; arJ the ant got the head. When 
 he had done, he said — 
 
 "Now I tb?nk it is fairly shared. The lion shall 
 have most, because he is biggest and strongest; the 
 falcon shall have the best, because he is nice and 
 dainty; and the ant shall have the skull, because he 
 loves to creep about in holes and crannies." 
 
 Yes ! they were all well pleased with his sharing ; 
 and so they asked him what he would like to have for 
 sharing the horse so well. 
 
 " Oh," he said, " if I have done you a service, and 
 you are pleased with it, I am also pleased ; but I won't 
 be paid." 
 
 Yes ; but he must have something, they said. 
 
 "If you won't have anything else," said the Hon, 
 "you shall have three wishes." 
 
 But the lad knew not what to wish for ; and so the 
 lion asked him if he wouldn't wish that he might be 
 able to turn himself into a lion ; and the two others 
 asked him if he wouldn't wish to be able to turn him- 
 self into a falcon and an ant. Yes ! all that seemed 
 to him good and right ; and so he wished these three 
 wishes. 
 
 Then he threw aside his sword and wallet, turned 
 himself into a falcon, and began to fly. So he flew on 
 and on, till he came over a great lake ; but when he 
 had almost flown across it he got so tired and sore on 
 
7l)e prmce^*^ 
 
Boots and the Beasts 
 
 241 
 
 the wing he couldn't fly any longer ; and as he saw a 
 steep rock that rose out of the water, he perched on it 
 and rested himself. He thought it a wondrous strong 
 rock, and walked about it for a while; but when he 
 had taken a good rest, he turned himself again into a 
 little falcon, and flew away till he came to the king's 
 grange. There he perched on a tree, just before the 
 princess's windows. When she saw the falcon, she set 
 her heart on catching it. So she lured it to her ; and 
 
 ("r^^ 
 
 as soon as the falcon came under the casement she 
 was ready, and, jx)p ! she shut-to the window, and 
 caught the bird, and put him into a cage. 
 
 In the night the lad turned himself into an ant 
 and crept out of the cage; and then he turned him- 
 self into his own shape, and went up and sat down 
 by the princess's bed. Then she got so afraid, that she 
 fell to screeching out and awoke the king, who made 
 into her room and asked whatever was the matter. 
 
 Q 
 
242 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " Oh ! " said the princess, " there is some one here." 
 
 But in a trice the lad became an ant, crept into 
 the cage, and turned himself into a falcon. The king 
 could see nothing for her to be afraid of; so he said 
 to the princess it must have been the nightmare 
 riding her. But he was hardly out of the door before 
 it was the same story over again. The lad crept 
 out of the cage as an ant, and then became his own 
 self, and sat down by the bedside of the princess. 
 
 Then she screamed loud, and the king came again 
 to see what was the matter. 
 
 "There is some one here," screamed the princess. 
 But the lad crept into the cage again, and sat perched 
 up there like a falcon. The king looked and hunted 
 high and low ; and when he could see nothing, he got 
 cross that his rest was broken, and said it was all a 
 trick of the princess. 
 
 "If you scream like that again," he said, "you shall 
 soon know that your father is the king." 
 
 But for all that, the king's back was scarcely turned 
 before the lad was by the princess's side again. This 
 time she did not scream, although she was so afraid 
 she did not know which way to turn. 
 
 So the lad asked why she was so afraid. 
 
 Didn't he know ? She was promised to a hill-ogre, 
 and the very first time she came under bare sky he 
 was to come and take her ; and so when the lad came 
 she thought it was the hill-ogre. And besides, every 
 Thursday morning came a messenger from the hill- 
 ogre, and that was a dragon, to whom the king had 
 to give nine fat pigs every time he came; and that 
 was why he had given it out that the man who could 
 
Boots and the Beasts 243 
 
 free him from the dragon should have the princess and 
 half the kingdom. 
 
 The lad said he would soon do that ; and as soon 
 as it was daybreak the princess went to the king and 
 said there was a man in there who would free him 
 from the dragon and the tax of pigs. As soon as 
 the king heard that, he was very glad, for the dragon 
 had eaten up so many pigs, there would soon have 
 been no more left in the whole kingdom. It happened 
 that day was just a Thursday morning, and so the 
 lad strode oif to the spot where the dragon used to 
 come to eat the pigs, and the shoeblack in the king's 
 grange showed him the way. 
 
 Yes, the dragon came, and he had nine heads, and 
 he was so wild and wroth, that fire and flame flared out 
 of his nostrils when he did not see his feast of pigs ; 
 and he flew upon the lad as though he would gobble 
 him up alive. But, pop ! he turned himself into a lion, 
 and fought with the dragon, and tore one head off him 
 after another. The dragon was strong, that he was, 
 and he spat fire and venom. But as the fight went on 
 he hadn't more than one head left, though that was the 
 toughest. At last the lad got that torn off too ; and 
 then it was all over with the dragon. 
 
 So he went to the king, and there was great joy all 
 over the palace ; and the lad was to have the princess. 
 But once on a time, as they were walking in the 
 garden, the hill-ogre came flying at them himself, 
 and caught up the princess and bore her off through 
 the air. 
 
 As for the lad, he was for going after her at once ; 
 but the king said he mustn't do that, for he had no one 
 
244 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 else to lean on now he had lost his daughter. But for 
 all that, neither prayers nor preaching were any good ; 
 the lad turned himself into a falcon and flew off. But 
 when he could not see them anywhere, he called to 
 mind that wonderful rock in the lake, where he had 
 rested the first time he ever flew. So he settled there ; 
 
 and after he had done that, 
 he turned himself into an 
 ant, and crept down through 
 a crack in the rock. So 
 when he had crept about 
 awhile, he came to a door 
 which was locked. But he 
 knew a way how to get in, 
 for he crept through the 
 keyhole, and what do you 
 think he saw there ? Why, 
 a strange princess combing 
 a hill-ogre's hair that had 
 three heads. 
 
 "I have come all right," 
 said the lad to himself; for he 
 had heard how the king had 
 lost two daughters before, 
 whom the Trolls had taken. 
 "Maybe I shall find the second also," he said to 
 himself, as he crept through the keyhole of a second 
 door. There sat a strange princess combing a hill- 
 ogre's hair who had six heads. So he crept through 
 a third keyhole still, and there sat the youngest prin- 
 cess combing a hill-ogre's hair with nine heads. Then 
 he crept up her leg and stung her, and so she knew it 
 
Boots and the Beasts 245 
 
 was the lad who wished to talk to her ; and then she 
 begged leave of the hill-ogre to go out. 
 
 When she came out the lad was himself again, and 
 so he told her she must ask the hill-ogre whether she 
 would never get away and go home to her father. 
 Then he turned himself into an ant and sat on her 
 foot, and so the princess went into the house again, 
 and fell to combing the hill-ogre's hair. 
 
 So when she had done this awhile she fell a-thinking. 
 
 "You're forgetting to comb me," said the hill-ogre. 
 " What is it you're thinking of ? " 
 
 " Oh, I am doubting whether I shall ever get away 
 from this place, and home to my father's grange," said 
 the princess. 
 
 "Nay, nay, that you'll never do," said the hill- 
 ogre ; " not unless you can find the grain of sand which 
 lies under the ninth tongue of the ninth head of the 
 dragon to which your father paid tax; but that no 
 one will ever find ; for if that grain of sand came over 
 the rock, all the hill-ogres would burst, and the rock 
 itself would become a gilded palace, and the lake 
 green meadows." 
 
 As soon as the lad heard that, he crept out through 
 the keyholes, and through the crack in the rock, till 
 he got outside. Then he turned himself into a falcon, 
 and flew whither the dragon lay. Then he hunted 
 till he found the grain of sand under the ninth tongue 
 of the ninth head, and flew off with it ; but when he 
 came to the lake he got tired, so tired that he had 
 to sink down and perch on a stone by the strand. 
 And just as he sat there he dozed and nodded for the 
 twinkling of an eye ; and meantime the grain of sand 
 
246 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 fell out of his bill down among the sand on the shore. 
 So he searched for it three days before he found it 
 again. But as soon as he had found it he flew straight 
 off to the steep rock with it, and dropped it down the 
 crack. Then all the hill-ogres burst, and the rock 
 was rent, and there stood a gilded castle, which was 
 the grandest castle in all the world; and the lake 
 became the loveliest fields and the greenest meads any 
 one ever saw. 
 
 So they travelled back to the king's grange, and 
 there arose, as you may fancy, joy and gladness. The 
 lad and the youngest princess were to have one 
 another; and they kept up the bridal feast over the 
 whole kingdom for seven full weeks. And if they did 
 not fare well, I only hope you may fare better still. 
 
The Sweetheart in the Wood 
 
 ^^NCE on a time 
 there was a 
 man who had 
 a daughter, 
 and she was 
 so pretty, her 
 name was 
 spread over 
 many king- 
 doms, and 
 lovers came 
 to her as thick 
 as autumn 
 leaves. One 
 of these made 
 out that he was richer than all the rest; and grand 
 and handsome he was, too ; so he was to have her, and 
 after that he came over and over again to see her. 
 
 As time went on, he said he should like her to come 
 to his house and see how he lived. He was sorry he 
 could not fetch her and go with her, but the day she 
 came he would strew peas all along the path right up 
 to his house door; but somehow or other it fell out 
 that he strewed the peas a day too early. 
 
248 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 She set out and walked a long way, through wood 
 and waste, and at last she came to a big grand house, 
 which stood in a green field in the midst of the wood ; 
 but her lover was not at home, nor was there a soul 
 in the house either. First she went into the kitchen, 
 and there she saw- nothing but a strange bird, which 
 hung in a cage from the roof. Next she went into the 
 parlour, and there everything was so fine, it was beyond 
 belief. But as she went into it, the bird called after 
 her — 
 
 " Pretty maiden ! be bold, but not too bold." 
 
 When she passed on into an inner room, the bird 
 called out the same words. There she saw ever so 
 many chests of drawers ; and when she pulled open 
 the drawers, they were filled with gold and silver, and 
 everything that was rich and rare. When she went 
 on into a second room, the bird called out again — 
 
 " Pretty maiden ! be bold, but not too bold." 
 
 In that room the walls were all hung round with 
 women's dresses, till the room was crammed full. 
 She went on into a third room, and then the bird 
 screamed out — 
 
 " Pretty maiden ! pretty maiden ! be bold, but not 
 too bold." 
 
 And what do you think she saw there ? Why, ever 
 so many pails full of blood. 
 
 So she passed on to a fourth room, and then the 
 bird screamed and screeched after her — 
 
 "Pretty maiden! pretty maiden! be bold, but not 
 too bold." 
 
 That room was full of heaps of dead bodies and 
 skeletons of slain women, and the girl got so afraid 
 
The Sweetheart in the Wood 249 
 
 that she was going to run away out of the house, but 
 she had only got as far as the next room, where the 
 
 pails of blood stood, when the bird called out to her — 
 " Pretty maiden ! pretty maiden ! jump under the 
 bed, jump under the bed, for now he's coming." 
 
250 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 She was not slow to give heed to the bird and to 
 hide under the bed. She crept as far back close to the 
 wall as she could, for she was so afraid she would 
 have crept into the wall itself, had she been able. 
 
 So in came her lover with another girl; and she 
 begged so prettily and so hard he would only spare 
 her life, and then she would never say a word against 
 him; but it was all no good. He tore off all her 
 clothes and jewels, down to a ring which she had on 
 her finger. That he pulled and tore at ; but when he 
 couldn't get it off he hacked off her finger, and it rolled 
 away under the bed to the girl who lay there, and she 
 took it up and kept it. Her sweetheart told a little 
 boy who was with him to creep under the bed and 
 bring out the finger. Yes ; he bent down and crept 
 under, and saw the girl lying there ; but she squeezed 
 his hand hard, and then he saw what she meant. 
 
 "It lies so far under, I can't reach it," he cried. 
 " Let it bide there till to-morrow, and then I'll fetch 
 it out." 
 
 Early next morning the robber went out, and the 
 boy was left behind to mind the house, and he then 
 went to meet the girl to whom his master was be- 
 trothed, and who had come, as you know, by mistake 
 the daiy before. But before he went, the robber told 
 him to be sure not to let her go into the two farther- 
 most bedrooms. 
 
 So when he was well off in the wood, the boy went 
 and said she might come out now. 
 
 "You were lucky, that you were," he said, "in 
 coming so soon, else he would have killed you like all 
 the others." 
 
The Sweetheart in the Wood 251 
 
 She did not stay there long, you may fancy, but 
 hurried back home as quick as ever she could; and 
 when her father asked her why she had come so soon, 
 she told him what sort of a man her sweetheart was, 
 and all that she had heard and seen. 
 
 A short time after her lover came passing by that 
 way, and he looked so grand that his raiment shone 
 again, and he came to ask, he said, why she had never 
 paid him that visit, as she had promised. 
 
 " Oh ! " said her father, " there came a man in the 
 way with a sledge and scattered the peas, and she 
 couldn't find her way ; but now you must just put up 
 with our poor house, and stay the night ; for you must 
 know we have guests coming, and it will be just a 
 betrothal feast." 
 
 So when they had all eaten and drunk, and still sat 
 round the table, the daughter of the house said she 
 had dreamt such a strange dream a few nights before. 
 If they cared to hear it she would tell it them, but they 
 must all promise to sit quite still till she came to the end. 
 
 Yes ; they were all ready to hear, and they all pro- 
 mised to sit still, and her sweetheart as well. 
 
 " I dreamt I was walking along a broad path, and it 
 was strewn with peas." 
 
 "Yes, yes," said her sweetheart, "just as it will 
 be when you go to my house, my love." 
 
 "Then the path got narrower and narrower, and it 
 went far, far away through wood and waste." 
 
 "Just like the way to my house, my love," said her 
 sweetheart. 
 
 "And so I came to a green field, in which stood a 
 big grand house." 
 
252 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Just like my house, my love," said her sweetheart. 
 
 "So I went into the kitchen, but I saw no living 
 soul, and from the roof hung a strange bird in a cage, 
 and as I passed on into the parlour it called after me, 
 ' Pretty maiden ! be bold, but not too bold.'^' 
 
 "Just like my house that too, my love," said her 
 sweetheart. 
 
 "So I passed on into a bedroom, and the bird 
 bawled after me the same words, and in there were 
 so many chests of drawers, and when I pulled the 
 drawers out and looked into them, they were filled 
 with gold and silver stuffs, and everything that was 
 grand." 
 
 "That is just like it is at my house, my love," said 
 her sweetheart. " I, too, have many drawers full of 
 gold and silver and costly things." 
 
 " So I went on into another bedroom, and the bird 
 screeched out to me the very same words ; and that 
 room was all hung round on the wall with fine dresses 
 of women." 
 
 "Yes; that, too, is just as it is in my house," he 
 said ; " there are dresses and finery there, both of silk 
 and satin." 
 
 " WeU, when I passed on to the next bedroom, the 
 bird began to screech and scream — ' Pretty maiden ! 
 pretty maiden ! be bold, but not too bold ; ' and in this 
 room were casks and pails all around the walls, and 
 they were full of blood." 
 
 " Fie ! " said her sweetheart, " how nasty ! It isn't 
 at all like that in my house, my love ; " for now he 
 began to grow uneasy and wished to be off. 
 
 "Why," said the daughter, "it's only a dream, you 
 
The Sweetheart in the Wood 253 
 
 know, that I am telling. Sit still. The least you can 
 do is to hear my dream out." Then she went on — 
 
 "When I went on into the next bedroom the bird 
 began to scream out as loudly as before the same 
 words — ' Pretty maiden ! pretty maiden ! be bold, but 
 not too bold.' And there lay many dead bodies and 
 skeletons of slain folk." 
 
 " No, no," said her sweetheart, " there's nothing 
 like that in my house," and again he tried to run 
 out. 
 
 "Sit still, I say," she said; "it is nothing else than 
 a dream, and you may very well hear it out. I, too, 
 thought it dreadful, and ran back again, but I had not 
 got farther than the next room where all these pails of 
 blood stood, when the bird screeched out that I must 
 jump under the bed and hide, for now He was coming; 
 and so he came, and with him he had a girl who was 
 so lovely, I thought I had never seen her like before. 
 She prayed and begged so prettily that he would spare 
 her life. But he did not care a pin for all her tears 
 and prayers ; he tore off her clothes, and took all she 
 had, and he neither spared her life nor aught else; 
 but on her left hand she had a ring, which he could 
 not tear off, so he hacked off her finger, and it rolled 
 away under the bed to me." 
 
 "Indeed, my love," said her sweetheart, "there's 
 nothing like that in my house." 
 
 "Yes, it was in your house," she said, "and here 
 is the finger and the ring, and you are the man who 
 hacked it off." 
 
 So they laid hands on him, and put him to death, 
 and burnt both his body and his house in the wood. 
 
How they got Hairlock Home 
 
 NCE on a time there was 
 a goody who had three 
 sons. The first was called 
 Peter, the second Paul, and 
 the third Osborn Boots. 
 One single nanny-goat she 
 had who was called Hair- 
 lock, and she never would 
 come home in time for tea. 
 Peter and Paul both went 
 out to get her home, but they found no nanny-goat; 
 so Boots had to set off, and when he had walked a 
 while he saw Hairlock high, high upon a crag. 
 
 "Dear Hairlock, pretty Hairlock," he cried, "you 
 can't stand any longer on yon crag, for you must come 
 home in good time for tea to-day." 
 
 " No, no, that I shan't," said Hairlock ; " I won't wet 
 my socks for any one ; and if you want me, you must 
 carry me." 
 
 But Osborn Boots would not do that, so he went 
 and told his mother. 
 
 "Well," said his mother, "go to the fox and beg 
 him to bite Hairlock." 
 
 So the lad went to the fox. 
 
How they got Hair lock Home 255 
 
 "My dear fox! bite Hairlock, for Hairlock won't 
 come home in good time for tea to-day." 
 
 " No," said the fox, " I won't blunt my snout on 
 pig's bristles and goat's beards." 
 
 So the lad went and told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," she said, "go to Greylegs, the wolf." 
 
 So the lad said to Greylegs — 
 
 " Dear Greylegs ! do, Greylegs, tear the fox, for the 
 fox won't bite Hairlock, and Hairlock won't come home 
 in good time for tea to-day." 
 
 " No," said Greylegs, " I won't wear out my paws 
 and teeth on a dry fox's carcass." 
 
 So the lad went and told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then, go to the bear," said his mother, "and 
 beg him to slay Greylegs." 
 
 So the lad said to the bear — 
 
 " My dear bear ! do, bear, slay Greylegs, for Grey- 
 legs won't tear the fox, and the fox won't bite Hairlock, 
 and Hairlock won't come home in good time for tea 
 to-day." 
 
 "No, I won't," said the bear; "1 won't blunt my 
 claws in that work, that I won't." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," she said, "go to the Finn and beg 
 him to shoot the bear." 
 
 So the lad said to the Finn — 
 
 " Dear Finn ! do, Finn, shoot the bear, for the bear 
 won't slay Greylegs, Greylegs won't tear the fox, 
 the fox won't bite Hairlock, and Hairlock won't come 
 home in good time for tea to-day." 
 
 "No, that I won't," said the Finn; "I'm not going 
 to shoot away my bullets for that." 
 
256 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," she said, "go to the fir, and beg him 
 to fall on the Finn." 
 
 So the lad said to the fir — 
 
 " My dear fir ! do, fir, fall on the Finn, for the Finn 
 won't shoot the bear, the bear won't slay the wolf, the 
 wolf won't tear the fox, the fox won't bite H airlock, 
 and Hairlock won't come home in good time for tea 
 to-day." 
 
 "No, that I won't," said the fir; "I'm not going to 
 break off my boughs for that." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," said she, "go to the fire and beg it to 
 burn the fir." 
 
 So the lad said to the fire — 
 
 " My dear fire ! do, fire, burn the fir, for the fir won't 
 fall on the Finn, the Finn won't shoot the bear, the bear 
 won't slay the wolf, the wolf won't tear the fox, the 
 fox won't bite Hairlock, and Hairlock won't come home 
 in good time for tea to-day." 
 
 " No, that I won't," said the fire ; " I'm not going 
 to burn myself out for that, that I won't." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," she said, "go to the water and beg it 
 to quench the fire." 
 
 So the lad said to the water — 
 
 " My dear water ! do, water, quench the fire, for the 
 fire won't burn the fir, the fir won't fall on the Finn, 
 the Finn won't shoot the bear, the bear won't slay 
 the wolf, the wolf won't tear the fox, the fox won't 
 bite Hairlock, and Hairlock won't come home in good 
 time for tea to-day." 
 
How they got Hair lock Home 257 
 
 "No, I won't," said the water; "I'm not going to 
 run to waste for that, be sure." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 " Well, then," she said, " go to the ox, and beg him 
 to drink up the water." 
 
 So the lad said to the ox — 
 
 " My dear ox ! do, ox, drink up the water, for the 
 water won't quench the fire, the fire won't burn the 
 fir, the fir won't fall on the Finn, the Finn won't shoot 
 the bear, the bear won't slay the wolf, the wolf won't 
 tear the fox, the fox won't bite Hairlock, and Hairlock 
 won't come home in good time for tea to-day." 
 
 " No, I won't," said the ox ; " I'm not going to burst 
 asunder in doing that, 1 trow." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," said she, "you must go to the yoke, 
 and beg him to pinch the ox." 
 
 So the lad said to the yoke — 
 
 " My dear yoke ! do, yoke, pinch the ox, for the ox 
 won't drink up the water, the water won't quench the 
 fire, the fire won't burn the fir, the fir won't fall on the 
 Finn, the Finn won't shoot the bear, the bear won't 
 slay the wolf, the wolf won't tear the fox, the fox 
 won't bite Hairlock, and Hairlock won't come home in 
 good time for tea to-day." 
 
 " No, that I won't," said the yoke ; " I'm not going 
 to break myself in two in doing that." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," she said, "you must go to the axe, 
 and beg him to chop the yoke." 
 So the lad said to the axe — 
 " My dear axe ! do, axe, chop the yoke, for the yoke 
 
258 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 won't pinch the ox, the ox won't drink up the water, 
 the water won't quench the fire, the fire won't burn 
 the fir, the fir won't fall on the Finn, the Finn won't 
 shoot the bear, the bear won't slay the wolf, the wolf 
 won't tear the fox, the fox won't bite Hairlock, and 
 
 Hairlock won't come home 
 in good time for tea to-day." 
 "No, that I won't," said 
 the axe ; "I'm not going to 
 spoil my edge for that, that 
 I won't." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 "Well, then," she said, "go 
 to the smith, and beg him to 
 hammer the axe." 
 
 So the lad said to the 
 smith — 
 
 "My dear smith! do, smith, 
 hammer the axe, for the axe 
 won't chop the yoke, the 
 yoke won't pinch the ox, the 
 ox won't drink up the water, 
 the water won't quench the 
 fire, the fire won't burn the fir, the fir won't fall on 
 the Finn, the Finn won't shoot the bear, the bear 
 won't slay the wolf, the wolf won't tear the fox, the 
 fox won't bite Hairlock, and Hairlock won't come 
 home in good time for tea to-day." 
 
 "No, I won't," said the smith; "I'm not going to 
 bum up my coal and wear out my sledge-hammer for 
 that," he said. 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
How they got Hair lock Home 259 
 
 "Well, then," she said, "you must go to the rope, 
 and beg it to hang the smith." 
 
 So the lad said to the rope — 
 
 " My dear rope ! do, rope, hang the smith, for the 
 smith won't hammer the axe, the axe won't chop the 
 yoke, the yoke won't pinch the ox, the ox won't drink 
 up the water, the water won't quench the fire, the fire 
 won't burn the fir, the fir won't fall on the Finn, the 
 Finn won't shoot the bear, the bear won't slay the wolf, 
 the wolf won't tear the fox, the fox won't bite Hairlock, 
 and Hairlock won't come home in good time for tea 
 to-day." 
 
 " No," said the rope, " that I won't ; I'm not going 
 to fray myself out for that." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," she said, "you must go to the mouse, 
 and beg him to gnaw the rope." 
 
 So the lad said to the mouse — 
 
 " My dear mouse ! do, mouse, gnaw the rope, for 
 the rope won't hang the smith, the smith won't hammer 
 the axe, the axe won't chop the yoke, the yoke won't 
 pinch the ox, the ox won't drink up the water, the 
 water won't quench the fire, the fire won't burn the 
 fir, the fir won't fall on the Finn, the Finn won't shoot 
 the bear, the bear won't slay the wolf, the wolf won't 
 tear the fox, the fox won't bite Hairlock, and Hairlock 
 won't come home in good time for tea to-day." 
 
 "No, I won't," said the mouse; "I'm not going to 
 wear down my teeth for that." 
 
 So the lad told his mother. 
 
 "Well, then," she said, "you must go to the cat, and 
 beg her to catch the mouse." 
 
26o Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 So the lad said to the cat — 
 
 "My dear cat! do, cat, catch the mouse, for the 
 mouse won't gnaw the rope, the rope won't hang the 
 smith, the smith won't hammer the axe, the axe won't 
 chop the yoke, the yoke won't pinch the ox, the ox 
 won't drink up the water, the water won't quench the 
 fire, the fire won't burn the fir, the fir won't fall on the 
 Finn, the Finn won't shoot the bear, the bear won't 
 slay the wolf, the wolf won't tear the fox, the fox 
 won't bite Hairlock, and Hairlock won't come home in 
 good time for tea to-day." 
 
 "Well," said the cat, "just give me a drop of milk 
 
 for my kittens, and then " that's what the cat said ; 
 
 and the lad said, "Yes, she should have it." 
 
 So the cat bit mouse, and mouse gnawed rope, and 
 rope hanged smith, and smith hammered axe, and axe 
 chopped yoke, and yoke pinched ox, and ox drank 
 water, and water quenched fire, and fire burnt fir, and 
 fir felled Finn, and Finn shot bear, and bear slew Grey- 
 legs, and Greylegs tore fox, and fox bit Hairlock, so 
 that she sprang home and knocked off" one of her hind- 
 legs against the barn wall. 
 
 So there lay the nanny-goat, and if she's not dead, 
 she limps about on three legs. 
 
 But as for Osborn Boots, he said it served her just 
 right, because she would not come home in good time 
 for tea that very day. 
 
Osborn Boots and Mr. Glibtongue 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a king who had many 
 hundred sheep, and many hundred goats and 
 kine, and many hundred horses he had too, and 
 silver and gold in great heaps. But for all that he was 
 so given to grief, that he seldom or ever saw folk, 
 much less said a word to them. Such he had been 
 ever since his youngest daughter was lost ; and if he had 
 never lost her, it would still have been bad enough, for 
 there was a Troll who was for ever making such waste 
 and worry there, that folk could hardly pass to the 
 king's grange in peace. Now the Troll let all the 
 horses loose, and they trampled down mead and corn- 
 field, and ate up the crops ; now he tore the heads off 
 the king's ducks and geese ; sometimes he killed the 
 king's kine in the byre ; sometimes he drove the king's 
 sheep and goats down the rocks, and broke their necks ; 
 and every time they went to fish in the mill-dam, he had 
 hunted all the fish to land, and left them lying there 
 dead. 
 
 Well, there was a couple of old folk who had three 
 sons ; the first was called Peter, the second Paul, and 
 the third Osborn Boots, for he always lay and grubbed 
 about in the ashes. 
 
 They were hopeful youths ; but Peter, who was the 
 
 261 
 
262 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 eldest, was said to be the hopefullest, and so he asked 
 his father if he might have leave to go out into the 
 world and try his luck. 
 
 " Yes, you shall have it," said the old fellow. " Better 
 late than never, my boy." 
 
 So he got brandy in a flask, and food in his wallet, 
 and then he threw his fare on his back and toddled 
 down the hill. And when he had walked a while, he 
 fell upon an old wife who lay by the roadside. 
 
 " Ah 1 my dear boy, give me a morsel of food to-day," 
 said the old wife. 
 
 But Peter hardly so much as looked on one side, 
 and then he held his head straight and went on his 
 way. 
 
 " Ay, ay 1 " said the old wife, " go along, and you shall 
 see what you shall see." 
 
 So Peter went far, and farther than far, till he came 
 at last to the king's grange. There stood the king in 
 the gallery, feeding the cocks and hens. 
 
 " Good evening, and God bless your majesty," said 
 Peter. 
 
 " Chick-a-biddy I chick-a-biddy 1 " said the king, and 
 scattered corn both east and west, and took no heed 
 of Peter. 
 
 " Well," said Peter to himself, " you may just stand 
 there and scatter corn and cackle chicken-tongue till 
 you turn into a bear ; " and so he went into the kitchen, 
 and sat down on the bench as though he were a great 
 man. 
 
 "What sort of a stripling are you ?" said the cook, 
 for Peter had not yet got his beard. That he thought 
 jibes and mocking, and so he fell to beating and banging 
 
O shorn Boots and Mr. Glibtongue 263 
 
 the kitchen-maid ! But while he was hard at it, in came 
 the king, and made them cut three red stripes out of 
 his back ; and then they rubbed salt into the wound, 
 and sent him home again the same way he came. 
 
 Now as soon as Peter was well home, Paul must set 
 off in his turn. Well, well ! he too got brandy in his 
 flask, and food in his wallet, and he threw his fare on 
 his back and toddled down the hill. When he had got 
 on his way, he too met the old wife, who begged for 
 food ; but he strode past her and made no answer ; and at 
 the king's grange he did not fare a pin better than Peter. 
 The king called " chick-a-biddy ! " and the kitchen-maid 
 called him a clumsy boy ; and when he was going to 
 bang and beat her for that, in came the king with a 
 butcher's knife, and cut three red stripes out of him, 
 and rubbed hot embers in, and sent him home again 
 with a sore back. 
 
 Then Boots crept out the cinders and fell to shaking 
 himself. The first day he shook all the ashes off him, 
 the second he washed and combed himself, and the 
 third he dressed himself in his Sunday best. 
 
 " Nay, nay ! just look at him," said Peter. " Now 
 we have got a new sun shining here. I'll be bound you 
 are off to the king's grange to win his daughter and half 
 the kingdom. Far better bide in the dusthole and lie 
 in the ashes, that you had." 
 
 But Boots was deaf in that ear, and he went in to 
 his father, and asked leave to go out a httle into the 
 world. 
 
 " What are you to do out in the world ? " said the 
 greybeard. "It did not fare so well either with Peter 
 or Paul, and what do you think will become of you ? " 
 
264 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 But Boots would not give way, and so at last he had 
 leave to go. 
 
 His brothers were not for letting him have a morsel 
 of food with him ; but his mother gave him a cheese 
 rind and a bone with very little meat on it, and with 
 them he toddled away from the cottage. As he went 
 he took his time. " You'll be there soon enough," he 
 said to himself. "You have all the day before you, 
 and afterwards the moon will rise, if you have any 
 
 luck." So he put 
 his best foot fore- 
 most, and puffed 
 up the hills, and all 
 the while looked 
 about him on the 
 road. 
 
 After a long, long 
 way he met the 
 old wife, who lay 
 by the roadside. 
 
 " The poor old 
 cripple,"said Boots; 
 " I'll be bound you 
 are starving." 
 " Yes, she was," said the old wife. 
 "Are you? then I'll go shares with you," said 
 Osborn Boots, and as he said that he gave her the 
 rind of cheese. 
 
 " You're freezing, too," he said, as he saw how her 
 teeth chattered. " You must take this old jacket of mine. 
 It's not good in the arms, and thin in the back, but 
 once on a time, when it was new, it was a good wrap." 
 
O shorn Boots and Mr. Glibtongue 265 
 
 " Bide a bit," said the old wife, as she fumbled down 
 in her big pocket. " Here you have an old key — I have 
 nothing better or worse to give you — but when you look 
 through the ring at the top, you can see whatever you 
 choose to see." 
 
 So when he got to the king's grange, the cook was 
 hard at work drawing water, and that was great toil 
 to her. 
 
 " It's too heavy for you," said Boots, " but it's just 
 what I am fit to do." 
 
 The one that was glad then, you may fancy, was the 
 kitchen-maid, and from that day she always let Boots 
 scrape the porridge-pot ; but it was not long before he 
 got so many enemies by that, that they told lies of him 
 to the king, and said he had told them he was man 
 enough to do this and that. 
 
 So one day the king came and asked Boots if it were 
 true that he was man enough to keep the fish in the 
 mill-dam, so that the Troll could not harm them, " For 
 that's what they tell me you have said," spoke the 
 king. 
 
 " I have not said so," said Boots ; " but if I had said 
 it, I would have been as good as my word." 
 
 Well, however it was, whether he had said it or not, 
 he must try, if he wished to keep a whole skin on his 
 back ; that was what the king said. 
 
 "Well, if he must, he must," said Boots, for he said 
 he had no need to go about with red stripes under his 
 jacket. 
 
 In the evening Boots peeped through his key-ring, 
 and then he saw that the Troll was afraid of thyme. 
 So he fell to plucking all the thyme he could find, and 
 
266 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 some of it he strewed in the water, and some on land, 
 
 and the rest he spread over the brink of the dam. 
 So the Troll had to leave the fish in peace ; but now 
 
 the sheep had to pay for it, for the Troll was chasing 
 them over all the cliffs and 
 crags the whole night. 
 
 Then one of the other ser- 
 vants came and said again 
 that Boots knew a cure for 
 the stock as well, if he only 
 chose, for that he had said 
 he was man enough to do it 
 was the very truth. 
 
 Well, the king went out to 
 him, and spoke to him as he 
 had spoken the first time, and 
 threatened that he would cut 
 three broad stripes out of his 
 back if he did not do what he 
 had said. 
 
 So there was no help for it. 
 Boots thought, I dare say, it 
 would be very fine to go about 
 in the king's livery and a 
 red jacket, but he thought he 
 would rather be without it, 
 if he himself had to find the 
 
 cloth for it out of the skin of his back. That was 
 
 what he thought and said. 
 
 So he betook himself to his thyme again ; but there 
 
 was no end to his work, for as soon as he bound 
 
 thyme on the sheep they ate it off one another's backs. 
 
O shorn Boots and Mr. Gltbtongue z6j 
 
 and as he went on binding they went on eating, and 
 they ate faster than he could bind. But at last he 
 made an ointment of thyme and tar, and rubbed it 
 well into them, and then they left off eating it. Then 
 the kine and the horses got the same ointment, and 
 so they had peace from the Troll. 
 
 But one day when the king was out hunting he trod 
 upon wild grass and got bewildered, and lost his way 
 
 in the wood ; so he rode round and round for many 
 days, and had nothing either to eat or drink, and his 
 clothing fared so ill in the thorns and thickets, that at 
 last he had scarce a rag to his back. So the Troll 
 came to him and said if he might have the first thing 
 the king set eyes on when he got on his own land, he 
 would let him go home to his grange. Yes, he should 
 have that, for the king thought it would be sure to be 
 his little dog, which always came frisking and fawning 
 to meet him. But just as he got near his grange so that 
 
268 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 they could see him, out came his eldest daughter at 
 
 the head of all the court to meet the king, and to 
 
 welcome him back safe and sound. 
 So when he saw that she was the first to meet him, 
 
 he was so cut to the heart, he fell to the ground on 
 
 the spot, and since 
 that time had been 
 almost half-witted. 
 
 One evening the 
 Troll was to come and 
 fetch the princess, and 
 she was dressed out 
 in her best, and sat 
 in a field out by the 
 tarn, and wept and 
 bewailed. There was 
 
 -^ 
 
 a man called Glibtongue, who was to go with her, but 
 he was so afraid he clomb up into a tall spruce fir, 
 and there he stuck. Just then up came Boots, and 
 sat down on the ground by the side of the princess. 
 And she was so glad, as you may fancy, when she 
 saw there were still Christian folk who dared to stay 
 by her after all. 
 
 "Lay your head on my lap," she said, "and I'll 
 comb your hair ; " so Osborn Boots did ns she bade 
 him ; and while she combed his hair he fell asleep, and 
 she took a gold ring off her finger and knitted it into 
 
O shorn Boots and Mr. Glibtongue 269 
 
 his hair. Just then up came the Troll, puffing and 
 blowing. He was so heavy-footed that all the wood 
 groaned and cracked a whole mile round. 
 
 And when the Troll saw Glibtongue sitting up in the 
 tree-top like a little blackcock, he spat at him. 
 
 " Pish ! " he said, that was all, and down toppled 
 Glibtongue and the spruce fir to the ground, and there 
 he lay sprawling like a fish out of water. 
 
 " Hu ! hu ! " said the Troll ; " are you sitting here 
 combing Christian folk's hair? Now I'll gobble you 
 up." 
 
 " Stuff ! " said Boots, as soon as he woke up, and 
 then he fell to peering at the Troll through the ring 
 on his key. 
 
 " Hu ! hu ! " said the Troll ; " what are you staring 
 at? Hu! hu!" 
 
 And as he said that he hurled his iron club at him, 
 so that it stood fifteen ells deep in the rock ; but Boots 
 was so quick and ready on his feet, that he got on one 
 side of the club just as the Troll hurled it. 
 
 "Stuff, for such old wives' tricks," said Boots ; "out 
 with your toothpick, and you shall see something like 
 a throw." 
 
 Yes, the Troll plucked out the club at one pull, 
 and it was as big as three weaver's beams. Mean- 
 while Boots stared up at the sky, both south and 
 north. 
 
 " Hu ! hu ! " said the Troll ; " what are you gazing 
 at now ? " 
 
 " I'm looking out for a star at which to throw," said 
 Boots. " Do you see that tiny little one due north ? 
 That's the one I choose." 
 
2/0 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Nay, nay," said the Troll, "let it bide as it is. 
 You mustn't throw away my iron club." 
 
 "Well, well," said Boots, "you may have it again 
 then, but perhaps you wouldn't mind if I tossed you 
 up to the moon just for once." 
 
 No, the Troll would have nothing to say to that 
 either. 
 
 "Oh, but blindman's buff," said Boots; "haven't 
 you a mind to play bhndman's buff?" 
 
 Yes, that would be fine fun, the Troll thought ; " but 
 you shall be blindfold first," said the Troll to Boots. 
 
 " Oh yes, with all my heart," said the lad ; " but the 
 fairest way is that we draw lots, and then we shan't 
 have anything to quarrel about." 
 
 Yes, yes, that was best, and then you may fancy 
 Boots took care the Troll should be the first to have the 
 handkerchief over his eyes, and was the first " buif." 
 
 But that just was a game. My ! how they went 
 in and out of the wood, and how the Troll ran and 
 stumbled over the stumps, so that the dust flew and 
 the wood rang. 
 
 " Haw ! haw ! " bawled the Troll at last, " the de'il 
 take me if I'll be buff any longer," for he was in a 
 great rage. 
 
 "Bide a bit," said Boots, "and I'll stand still and 
 call till you come and catch me." 
 
 Meanwhile he took a hemp-comb and ran round to 
 the other side of the tarn, which was so deep it had 
 no bottom. 
 
 " Now come ; here I stand," bawled out Boots. 
 
 " I dare say there are logs and stumps in the way," 
 said the Troll. 
 
O shorn Boots and Mr. Glibtongue 271 
 
 " Your ears can tell you there is no wood here," said 
 Boots, and then he swore to him there were no stumps 
 or stocks. 
 
 " Now come along." 
 
 So the Troll set off again, but " squash " he went, and 
 there lay the Troll in the tarn, and Boots hacked at his 
 eyes with the hemp-comb every time he got his head 
 above water. 
 
 Now the Troll begged so prettily for his life, that 
 Boots thought it was a shame to take it ; but first he 
 had to give up the princess, and to bring back the 
 other whom he had stolen before. And besides, he 
 had to promise that folk and flock should have peace, 
 and then he let the Troll out, and he took himself off 
 home to his hill. 
 
 But now Glibtongue became a man again, and came 
 down out of the tree-top, and carried off the princess 
 to the grange, as though he had set her free. And 
 then he stole down and gave his arm to the other also, 
 when Boots had brought her as far as the garden. 
 And now there was such joy in the king's grange, 
 that it was heard and talked of over land and realm, and 
 Glibtongue was to be married to the youngest daughter. 
 
 Well, it was all good and right, but after all it was 
 not so well ; for just as they were to have the feast, 
 if that old Troll had not gone down under earth and 
 stopped all the springs of water. 
 
 " If I can't do them any other harm," he said, "they 
 shan't have water to boil their bridal brose." 
 
 So there was no help for it but to send for Boots 
 again. Then he got him an iron bar, which was to 
 be fifteen ells long, and six smiths were to make it 
 
272 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 red-hot. Then he peeped through his key-ring, and 
 saw where the Troll was just as well underground as 
 above it, and then he drove the bar down through the 
 ground, and into the Troll's back-bone ; and all I can 
 
 say is, there was a 
 smell of burnt horn 
 fifteen miles around. 
 "Haw! haw!" 
 bellowed out the 
 Troll, "let me out," 
 and in a trice he 
 came tearing up 
 through the hole, 
 and all his back was 
 burnt and singed up 
 to the nape of his 
 neck. 
 
 But Boots was not 
 slow, for he caught 
 the Troll and laid 
 him on a stake that 
 had thyme twisted 
 round it, and there 
 he had to lie till he 
 told him where he had got eyes from after those had 
 been hacked out with the hemp-comb. 
 
 " If you must know," said the Troll, " I stole a 
 turnip, and rubbed it well over with ointment, and 
 then I cut it to the sizes I needed, and nailed them in 
 tight with tenpenny nails, and better eyes I hope no 
 Christian man will ever have." 
 
 Then the king came with the two princesses, and 
 
O shorn Boots and Mr. Glibtongue 273 
 
 wanted to see the Troll, and Glibtongue walked so 
 bent and bowed, his coat-tails were higher than his 
 neck. But then the king caught sight of something 
 glistening in the hair of Boots. 
 
 " What have you got there ? " he said. 
 
 " Oh, "said Boots, " nothing but the ring your daugh- 
 ter gave me when I freed her from the Troll." 
 
 And now it came out how it had all happened. 
 Glibtongue begged and prayed for himself; but for all 
 his trying and all his crying, there was no help for 
 it; down he had to go into a pit full of snakes, and 
 there he lay till he burst. 
 
 Then they put an end to the Troll ; and then they 
 began to be noisy and merry, and to drink and dance 
 at the bridal of Boots, for now he was king of that 
 company, and he got the j^oungest princess and half 
 the kingdom. 
 
 And here I lay my tale upon a sledge, 
 
 And send it thee whose tongue hath sharper edge ; 
 
 But if thy tongue in wit is not so fine, 
 
 Then shame on thee that throwest blame on mine. 
 
This is the Lad who sold the Pig 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a widow who had a 
 son, and he had set his heart on being nothing 
 else than a tradesman. But you must know 
 they were so poor, that they had nothing that he could 
 begin his trading with. The only thing his mother 
 owned in the world was a sow pig, and he begged and 
 prayed so long and so prettily for it, that at last she 
 was forced to let him have it. 
 
 When he had got it, he was to set off to sell it, that 
 he might have some money to begin his trading. So 
 he offered it to this man and that, good and bad alike ; 
 but there was no one who just then cared to buy a pig. 
 At last he came to a rich old hunks; but you know 
 much will always have more, and that man was one of 
 the sort that never can have enough. 
 
 " Will you buy a pig to-day ? " said the lad ; " a 
 good pig, and a long pig, and a fine fat pig." That 
 was what he said. 
 
 The old hunks asked what he would have for it. It 
 was at least worth six dollars, even between brothers, 
 said the lad ; but the times were so hard, and money 
 so scarce, he didn't mind selling it for four dollars ; 
 and that was as good as giving it away. 
 
The Lad who sold the Pig 275 
 
 No, that the old hunks would not do — he wouldn't 
 give so much as a dollar even ; he had more pigs 
 already than he wanted, and was well off for pigs of 
 that sort. But as the lad was so eager to sell, he 
 would be willing to do him a turn and deal with him ; 
 but the most he could give for the whole pig, every 
 inch of it, was fourpence. If he would take that, he 
 might turn his pig into the sty with the rest. That 
 was what the old hunks said. 
 
 The lad thought it shameful that he should not 'get 
 more for his pig ; but then he thought that something 
 was better than nothing, and so he took the fourpence 
 and turned in the pig. And then he fingered the 
 money, and went about his business. But when he 
 got out into the road, he could not get it out of his 
 head that he had been cheated out of his pig, and 
 that he was not much better off with fourpence than 
 with nothing. The longer he went and thought of 
 this, the angrier he got, and at last he thought to 
 himself — 
 
 " If I could only play him a pretty trick, I wouldn't 
 care either for the pig or the pence." 
 
 So he went away and got him a pair of stout thongs 
 and a cat-o'-nine-tails, and then he threw over him 
 a big cloak, and put on a billygoat's beard; and so 
 he went back to the skinflint, and said he was from 
 outlandish parts, where he had learnt to be a master- 
 builder — for you must know he had heard the old 
 hunks was going to build a house. 
 
 Yes, he would gladly take him as master-builder, 
 he said; for thereabouts there were none but home- 
 taught carpenters. So off they went to look at the 
 
276 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 timber, and it was the finest heart of pine that any 
 one would wish to have in the wall of his house ; 
 and even the lad said it was brave timber — he couldn't 
 say otherwise; but in outlandish parts they had got 
 a new fashion, which was far better than the old. 
 They did not take long beams and fit them into the 
 wall, but they cut the beams up into nice small logs, 
 and then they baked them in the sun and fastened 
 them together again ; and so they were both stronger 
 and prettier than an old-fashioned timber building. 
 
 "That's how they build all the houses nowadays 
 in outlandish parts," said the lad. 
 
 " If it must be so, it must," said the hunks. With 
 that he set all the carpenters and woodmen who were 
 to be found round about to chop and hew all his beams 
 up into small logs. 
 
 " But," said the lad, " we still want some big trees — 
 some of the real mast firs — for our sill-beams ; maybe 
 there are no such big trees in your wood." 
 
 "Well," said the man, "if they're not to be found 
 in my wood, it will be hard to find them anywhere else." 
 And so they strode off" to the wood, both of them ; 
 and a little way up the hill they came to a big tree. 
 " I should think that's big enough," said the man. 
 " No, it isn't big enough," said the lad. " If you 
 haven't bigger trees, we shan't make much way with 
 our building after the new fashion." 
 
 "Yes, I have bigger ones," said the man. "You 
 shall soon see ; but we must go farther on." 
 
 So they went a long way over the hill, and at last 
 they came to a big tree, one of the finest trees for a 
 mast in all the wood. 
 
The Lad who sold the Pig 277 
 
 " Do you think this is big enough ? " said the man. 
 
 "I almost think it is," said the lad. "We will 
 fathom it, and then we shall soon see. You go on 
 the other side of the fir, and I will stand here. If 
 we are not good enough to make our hands meet, it 
 will be big enough ; but mind you stretch out well. 
 Stretch out well, do 
 you hear ? " said the 
 lad, as he took out his 
 thongs. As for the man, 
 he did all the lad told 
 him. 
 
 "Yes," said the lad, 
 "we shall meet nicely, 
 I can see. But stop 
 a bit, and I'll stretch 
 your hands better," he 
 said, as he slipped a 
 running knot over his 
 wrists and drew it tight, 
 and bound him fast to 
 the tree ; then out came 
 the cat - o' - nine - tails, 
 
 and he fell to flogging the old hunks as fast as he 
 could, and all the while he cried out — 
 
 " This is the lad who sold the pig ! and this is the 
 lad who sold the pig ! " 
 
 Nor did he leave off till he thought the old hunks 
 had enough, and that he had got his rights for the 
 pig ; and then he loosed him, and left him lying under 
 the tree. 
 
 Now, when the man did not come home, they made 
 
278 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 a hue and cry for him over the neighbourhood, and 
 searched the country round; and at last they found 
 him under the fir-tree, more dead than alive. 
 
 So when they had got him home, the lad came, and 
 had dressed himself up as a doctor, and said he had 
 come from foreign parts, and knew a cure for all kinds 
 of hurt. And when the man heard 
 that, he was all for having him to 
 doctor him, and the lad said he 
 would not be long in curing him ; 
 but he must have him all alone 
 in a room by himself, and no one 
 must be by. 
 
 " If you hear him screech and 
 cry out," he said, "you must not 
 mind it ; for the more he screeches, 
 the sooner he wiU be well again." 
 
 So when they were alone, he 
 said — 
 
 " First of all I must bleed you." 
 And so he threw the man roughly 
 down on a bench, and bound him 
 fast with the thongs ; and then out came the cat-o'-nine- 
 tails, and he fell to flogging him as fast as he could. 
 The man screeched and screamed, for his back was 
 sore, and every lash went into the bare flesh ; and the 
 lad flogged and flogged as though there were no end 
 to it, and all the while he bawled out — 
 
 " This is the lad who sold the pig ! this is the lad 
 who sold the pig ! " 
 
 The old hunks bellowed as though a knife were 
 being stuck into him; but there was not a soul that 
 
The Lad who sold the Pig 279 
 
 cared about it, for the more he screeched the sooner 
 he would be well, they thought. 
 
 So when the lad had done his doctoring, he set off 
 from the farm as fast as he could ; but they followed 
 fast on his heels, and overtook him, and threw him 
 into prison, and the end was, he was doomed to be 
 hanged. 
 
 And the old hunks was so angry with him, even 
 then, that he would not have him hanged till he was 
 quite well, so that he might hang him with his own 
 hands. 
 
 So while the lad sat there in prison waiting to be 
 hanged, one of the serving-men came out by night and 
 stole kail in the garden of the old hunks, and the lad 
 saw him. 
 
 "So, so," said he to himself, "master thief, it will 
 be odd if I don't play off a trick or two with you before 
 I am hanged." 
 
 And so when time went on, and the man was so well 
 he thought he had strength enough to hang him, he 
 made them set up a gallows down by the way to the 
 mill, so that he might see the body hanging every time 
 he went to the mill. So they set out to hang the lad ; 
 and when they had gone a bit of a way, the lad said — 
 
 " You will not refuse to let me talk alone with your 
 servant who grinds down yonder at the mill ? I did 
 him a bad turn once, and I wish now to confess it, and 
 beg him for forgiveness before I die.'' 
 
 Yes, he might have leave to do that. 
 
 " Heaven help you ! " he said to the miller's man. 
 " Now your master is coming to hang you because you 
 stole kail in his garden," 
 
28o Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 As soon as the miller's man heard that, he was so 
 taken aback he did not know which way to turn, and 
 so he asked the lad what he should do. 
 
 " Take and change clothes with me, and hide yourself 
 behind the door," said the lad, "and then he will not 
 know that it isn't me. And if he lays hands on any 
 one, then it will not be you, but me." 
 
 It was some time before they had changed clothes 
 and dressed again, and the old hunks began to be 
 afraid lest the lad should have run away. So he 
 posted down to the mill door. 
 
 " Where is he ? " he said to the lad, who stood there 
 as white as a miller. 
 
 " Oh, he was here just now," said the lad. " I think 
 he went and hid himself behind the door." 
 
 " I'll teach you to hide behind the door, you rogue," 
 said the old hunks, as he seized the man in a great 
 rage, and hurried him off to the gallows, and hanged 
 him in a breath ; and all the while he never knew it 
 was not the lad that he hanged. 
 
 After that was done, he wanted to go into the mill to 
 talk to his man, who was busy grinding. Meantime 
 the lad had wedged up the upper millstone, and was 
 feeling under it with his hands. 
 
 " Come here, come here," he called out as soon as he 
 saw the old hunks, "and-you shall feel what a wonder- 
 ful millstone this is." 
 
 So the man went and felt the millstone with one 
 hand. 
 
 " Nay, nay," said the lad, " you'll never feel it unless 
 you take hold of it with both hands." 
 
 Well, he did so ; and just then the lad snatched out 
 
The Lad who sold the Pig 281 
 
 the wedge and let the upper millstone down on him, 
 so that he was caught fast by the hands between the 
 stones. Then out came the cat-o'-nine-tails again, 
 and he fell to flogging him as fast as he could. 
 
 " This is the lad who sold the pig ! " he cried out till 
 he was hoarse. 
 
 And when he had flogged him as much as he could, 
 he went home to his mother; and as time went on, and 
 he thought the man had come to himself again, he said 
 to her — 
 
 "Yes, now I dare say that man wiU be coming to 
 whom I sold the pig; and now 1 know no other trick 
 to screen me any longer from him, unless I dig a hole 
 here south of the house, and there I will lie all day ; 
 and you must mind and say to him just what I tell 
 you." 
 
 So the lad told his mother all she was to say and do. 
 
 Then he dug such a hole as he had said, and took 
 with him a long butcher's knife, and lay down in it; 
 and his mother covered him over with boughs and 
 leaves and moss, so that he was quite hidden. There 
 he lay by day ; and after a while the man came travel- 
 ling along and asked for the lad. 
 
 " Ay, ay ! " said his mother, " he was a man, that 
 he was ; though he never got from me more than one 
 sow pig. For he became both a doctor and a master- 
 builder, and he was hanged after that, and rose again 
 from the dead ; and yet I never heard anything but ill 
 of him. Here he came flying home the other day, and 
 then he gave me the greatest joy I ever had of him, for 
 he laid him down and died. As for me, I did not care 
 enough for him to spend money on a priest and Christian 
 
282 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 earth ; but I just buried him yonder, south of the house, 
 and raked over him boughs and leaves." 
 
 " See now," said the old hunks, " if he hasn't cheated 
 me after all, and slipped through my fingers. But 
 though I have not been avenged on him living, I will 
 do him a dishonour in his grave." 
 
 As he said this he strode away soutb to the grave, 
 and stooped down to spit into it; but at that very 
 moment the lad stuck the knife into him up to the 
 handle, and bawled out — 
 
 " This is the lad who sold the pig ! this is the lad 
 who sold the pig ! " 
 
 Away flew the man with the knife sticking in him, 
 and he was so scared and afraid, that nothing has ever 
 been heard or seen of him since. 
 
The Sheep and the Pig who 
 set up House 
 
 NCE on a time there was a 
 sheep who stood in the pen 
 to be fattened; so he lived 
 well, and was stuffed and 
 crammed with everything 
 that was good. So it 
 went on, till one day 
 the dairymaid came 
 and gave him still 
 more food, and then 
 she said — " Eat away, 
 sheep; you won't be 
 much longer here ; we 
 are going to kill you to-morrow." 
 
 It is an old saying, that women's counsel is always 
 worth having, and that there is a cure and physic for 
 everything but death. " But after all," said the sheep 
 to himself, " there may be a cure even for death this 
 time." 
 
 So he ate till he was ready to burst ; and when he 
 was crammed full, he butted out the door of the pen, 
 
 and took his way to the neighbouring farm. There he 
 
 283 
 
284 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 went to the pigsty to a pig whom he had known out 
 on the common, and ever since had been the best 
 friends with. 
 
 "Good day," said the sheep, "and thanks for our 
 last merry meeting." 
 
 " Good day," answered the pig, " and the same to 
 you." 
 
 " Do you know," said the sheep, " why it is you are 
 so well off, and why it is they fatten you, and take 
 such pains with you ? " 
 
 " No, I don't," said the pig. 
 
 "Many a flask empties the cask; I suppose you 
 know that," said the sheep. "They are going to kill 
 and eat you." 
 
 "Are they?" said the pig; "well, I hope they'll 
 say grace after meat." 
 
 " If you will do as I do," said the sheep, "we'll go 
 off to the wood, build us a house, and set up for our- 
 selves. A home is a home, be it ever so homely." 
 
 Yes, the pig was willing enough. " Good company 
 is such a comfort," he said, and so the two set off. 
 
 So when they had gone a bit they met a goose. 
 
 " Good day, good sirs, and thanks for our last 
 merry meeting," said the goose ; " whither away so 
 fast to-day ? " 
 
 " Good day, and the same to you," said the sheep ; 
 "you must know we were too well off at home, and 
 so we are going to set up for ourselves in the wood, 
 for you know every man's house is his castle." 
 
 " Well," said the goose, " it's much the same with 
 me where I am. Can't I go with you too ? for it's 
 gild's play when three share the day." 
 
The Sheep and the Pig set up House 285 
 
 " With gossip and gabble is built neither house nor 
 stable," said the pig; "let us know what you can do." 
 
 "By cunning and skill a cripple can do what he 
 will," said the goose. "I can pluck moss and stuff it 
 into the seams of the planks, and your house will be 
 tight and warm." 
 
 Yes, they would give him leave, for, abbve all things, 
 piggy wished to be warm and comfortable. 
 
 So when they had gone a bit farther — the goose had 
 hard work to walk so fast — they met a hare, who came 
 frisking out of the wood. 
 
 " Good day, good sirs, and thanks for our last merry 
 meeting," she said ; " how far are you trotting to-day ? " 
 
 "Good day, and the same to you," said the sheep; 
 " we were far too well off at home, and so we're going to 
 the wood to build us a house, and set up for ourselves ; 
 for you know, try all the world round, there's nothing 
 like home." 
 
 " As for that," said the hare, " I have a house in 
 every bush — yes, a house in every bush ; but yet, I 
 have often said in winter, ' If I only live till summer, 
 I'll build me a house ; ' and so I have half a mind to go 
 with you and build one up, after all." 
 
 " Yes," said the pig, " if we ever get into a scrape, 
 we might use you to scare away the dogs, for you don't 
 fancy you could help us in house-building.'' 
 
 " He who lives long enough always finds work 
 enough to do," said the hare. " I have teeth to gnaw 
 pegs, and paws to drive them into the wall, so I can 
 very well set up to be a carpenter; for 'good tools 
 make good work,' as the man said when he flayed the 
 mare with a gimlet." 
 
286 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Yes, he too got leave to go with them and build 
 their house ; there was nothing more to be said about it. 
 
 When they had gone a bit farther they met a cock. 
 
 " Good day, good sirs," said the cock, " and thanks 
 for our last merry meeting; whither are ye going 
 to-day, gentlemen ? " 
 
 "Good day, and the same to you," said the sheep; 
 " at home we were too well off, and so we are going 
 off to the wood to build us a house, and set up for 
 ourselves ; for he who out of doors shall bake, loses^ at 
 last both coal and cake." 
 
 "Well," said the cock, "that's just my case; but 
 it's better to sit on one's own perch, for then one can 
 never be left in the lurch, and besides, all cocks crow 
 loudest at home. Now, if I might have leave to join 
 such a gallant company, I also would like to go to the 
 wood and build a house." 
 
 " Ay, ay ! " said the pig ; " flapping and crowing sets 
 tongues a-going, but a jaw on a stick never yet laid a 
 brick. How can you ever help us to build a house ? " 
 
 " Oh," said the cock, " that house will never have a 
 clock where there is neither dog nor cock. I am up 
 early, and I wake every one." 
 
 "Very true," said the pig; "the morning hour has a 
 golden dower ; let him come with us ; " for, you must 
 know, piggy was always the soundest sleeper. " Sleep 
 is the biggest thief," he said ; " he thinks nothing of 
 stealing half one's life." 
 
 So they all set off to the wood as a band and brother- 
 hood, and built the house. The pig hewed the timber, 
 and the sheep drew it home ; the hare was carpenter, 
 and gnawed pegs and bolts, and hammered them into 
 
The Sheep and the Pig set up House 287 
 
 the walls and roof; the goose plucked moss, and stuffed 
 it into the seams ; the cock crew, and looked out that 
 they did not oversleep themselves in the morning ; and 
 when the house was ready, and the roof lined with 
 birch bark and thatched with turf, there they lived by 
 themselves, and were merry and well. " 'Tis good to 
 travel east and west," said the sheep, " but after all a 
 home is best." 
 
 But you must know that a bit farther on in the 
 wood was a wolf's den, and there lived two greylegs. 
 So when they saw that a new house had risen up hard 
 by, they wanted to know what sort of folk their neigh- 
 bours were, for they thought to themselves that a good 
 neighbour was better than a brother in a foreign land, 
 and that it was better to live in a good neighbourhood 
 than to know many people miles and miles off. 
 
 So one of them made up an errand, and went into 
 the new house and asked for a light for his pipe. But 
 as soon as ever he got inside the door, the sheep gave 
 him such a butt that he fell head foremost into the 
 stove. Then the pig began to gore and bite him, the 
 goose to nip and peck him, the cock upon the roost 
 to crow and chatter; and as for the hare, he was so 
 frightened out of his wits, that he ran about aloft and 
 on the floor, and scratched and scrambled in every 
 corner of the house. 
 
 So after a long time the wolf came out. 
 
 " Well," said the one who waited for him outside, 
 " neighbourhood makes brotherhood. You must have 
 come into a perfect paradise on bare earth since you 
 stayed so long. But what became of the light, for you 
 have neither pipe nor smoke ? " 
 
288 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Yes, yes," said the other; "it was just a nice 
 light, and a pleasant company. Such manners 1 never 
 saw in all my life. But then you know we can't_.pjck 
 and choose in this wicked world, and an unbidden 
 guest gets bad treatment. As soon as I got inside 
 the door, the shoemaker let fly at me with his last, 
 so that I fell head foremost into the stithy fire ; and 
 there sat two smiths, who blew the bellows and made 
 the sparks fly, and beat and punched me with red- 
 hot tongs and pincers, so that they tore whole pieces 
 out of my body. As for the hunter, he went scram- 
 bling about looking for his gun, and it was good luck 
 he did not find it. And all the while there was another 
 who sat up under the roof, and slapped his arms, and 
 sang out, ' Put a hook into him and drag him hither, 
 drag him hither.' That was what he screamed, and if 
 he had only got hold of me, I should never have come 
 out alive." 
 
The Golden Palace that hung 
 in the Air 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a poor man who had 
 three sons. When he died, the two eldest 
 were to go out into the world to try their luck ; 
 but as for the youngest, they would not have him at 
 any price. 
 
 "As for you," they said, " you are fit for nothing but 
 to sit and hold fir tapers, and 
 grub in the ashes, and blow 
 up the embers; that's what 
 you are fit for." 
 
 "Well, well," said Boots, 
 " then I must e'en go alone by 
 myself; at any rate, I shan't 
 fall out with my-pompany." 
 
 So the two went their 
 way ; and when they had tra- 
 velled some days, they came 
 to a great wood. There they 
 sat down to rest, and were 
 
 just going to take out a meal from their knapsack, for 
 they were both tired and hungry. So as they sat 
 there up came an old hag out of a hillock, and begged 
 
 289 T 
 
290 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 for a morsel of meat. She was so old and feeble that 
 her nose and mouth met, and she nodded with her 
 head, and could only walk with a stick. As for meat, 
 she had not had, she said, a morsel in her mouth 
 these hundred years. But the lads only laughed at 
 her, and ate on, and told her as she had lived so long 
 on nothing, she might very well hold out the rest of 
 her life, even though she did not eat up their scanty 
 fare, for they had little to eat, and nothing to spare. 
 
 So when they had eaten their fill and could eat no 
 more, and were quite rested, they went on their way 
 again, and, sooner or later, they came to the king's 
 grange, and there they each of them got a place. 
 
 A while after they had started from home. Boots 
 gathered together the crumbs which his brothers had 
 thrown on one side, and put them into his little script, 
 and he took with him the old gun which had no lock, 
 for he thought it might be some good on the way ; and 
 so he set off. So when he had wandered some days, 
 he, too, came into the big wood through which his 
 brothers had passed ; and as he got tired and hungry, 
 he sat down under a tree that he might rest and eat ; 
 but he had his eyes about him for all that ; and as he 
 opened his script, he saw a picture hanging on a tree, 
 and on it was painted the likeness of a young girl or 
 princess, whom he thought so lovely he couldn't keep 
 his eyes off her. So he forgot both food and script, 
 and took down the painting and lay and stared at it. 
 Just then came up the old hag out of the hillock, who 
 hobbled along with her stick, whose nose and mouth 
 met, and whose head nodded. Then she begged for 
 a little food, for she hadn't had a morsel of bread in 
 
The Golden Palace 
 
 291 
 
 her mouth for a hundred years. That was what she 
 said. 
 
 "Then it's high time you had a little to live on, 
 granny," said the lad ; and with that he gave her some 
 of the cnimbs he had. The old hag said no one 
 had ever called her 
 "granny" these 
 hundred years, and 
 she would be as 
 a mother to him in 
 her turn. Then she 
 gave him a grey 
 ball of wool, which 
 he had only to roll 
 on before him and 
 he would come to 
 whatever place he 
 wished ; but as for 
 the painting,she said 
 he mustn't bother 
 himself about that, 
 he would only fall 
 into ill luck if he 
 did. As for Boots, 
 he thought it was 
 
 very kind of her to say that ; but he could not bear to 
 be without the painting ; so he took it under his arm, 
 and rolled the ball of wool before him, and it was not 
 long before he came to the king's grange, where his 
 brothers served. There he, too, begged for a place, but 
 all the answer he got was, they had nothing to put him 
 to, for they had just got two new serving-men. But 
 
292 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 as he begged so prettily, at last he got leave to be with 
 the coachman, and learn how to groom and handle 
 horses. That he was right glad to do, for he was fond 
 of horses, and he was both quick and ready, so that he 
 soon learnt how to bed and rub them down, and it was 
 not long before every one in the king's grange was 
 fond of him ; but every hour he had to himself he was 
 up in the loft looking at the picture, for he had hung it 
 up in a corner of the hayloft. 
 
 As for his brothers, they were dull and lazy, and so 
 they often got scolding and stripes; and when they 
 saw that Boots fared better than they, they got jealous 
 of him, and told the coachman he was a worshipper of 
 false gods, for he prayed to a picture and not to our 
 Lord. Now, even though' the coachman thought well 
 of the lad, still he wasn't long before he told the 
 king what he had heard. But the king only swore 
 and snapped at him, for he had grown very, very sad 
 and sorrowful since his daughters had been carried 
 off by Trolls. But they so dinned it into the king's 
 ears, that at last he must and would know what 
 it was that the lad did. But when he went up into 
 the hayloft and set his eyes on the picture, he saw 
 that it was his youngest daughter who was painted 
 on it. But when the brothers of Boots heard that, 
 they were ready with an answer, and said to the 
 coachman — 
 
 " If our brother only would, he has said he was 
 good to get the king's daughter back." 
 
 You may fancy it was not long before the coach- 
 man went to the king with this story ; and when the 
 king heard it he called for Boots, and said — 
 
The Golden Palace 293 
 
 " Your brothers say you can bring back my daughter 
 again, and now you must do it." 
 
 Boots answered, he had never known it was the 
 king's daughter till the king said so himself, and if he 
 could free her and fetch her, he would be sure to do 
 his best ; but two days he must have to think over it 
 and fit himself out. Yes, he might have two days. 
 
 So Boots took the grey ball of wool and threw it 
 down on the road, and it rolled and rolled before him, 
 and he followed it till he came to the old hag from 
 whom he had got it. Her he asked what he must do ; 
 and she said he must take with him that old gun of his, 
 and three hundred chests of nails and horseshoe brads, 
 and three hundred barrels of barley, and three hundred 
 barrels of grits, and three hundred carcasses of pigs, 
 and three hundred beeves, and then he was to roll the 
 ball of wool before him till he met a raven and a baby 
 Troll, and then he would be all right, for they were both 
 of her stock. Yes, the lad did as she bade him ; he 
 went right on to the king's grange, and took his old 
 gun with him; and he asked the king for the nails 
 and the brads, and meat and flesh, and grain, and for 
 horses and men, and carts to carry them in. The king 
 thought it was a good deal to ask, but if he could 
 only get his daughter back, he might have whatever he 
 chose, even to the half of his kingdom. 
 
 So when the lad had fitted himself out, he rolled the 
 ball of wool before him again, and he hadn't gone many 
 days before he came to a high hill, and there sat a 
 raven up in a fir-tree. So Boots went on till he came 
 close under the tree, and then he began to aim and 
 point at the raven with his gun. 
 
294 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " No, no," cried the raven ; " don't shoot me, don't 
 shoot me, and I'll help you." 
 
 " Well," said Boots, " 1 never heard of any one who 
 boasted he had eaten roast raven, and since you are so 
 eager to save your life, I may just as well spare it." 
 
 So he threw down his gun, and the raven came 
 flying down to him, and said — 
 
 " Here, up on this fell there is 
 a baby Troll walking up and down, 
 for he has lost his way, and can't 
 get down again. I will help you 
 up, and then you can lead him 
 home, and ask a boon which will 
 stand you in good stead. When 
 you get to the Troll's house, he 
 will offer you all the grandest 
 things he has, but you should not 
 heed them a pin. Mind you take 
 nothing else but the little grey 
 ass, which stands behind the 
 stable door." 
 
 Then the raven took Boots on 
 his back and flew up on the hill 
 with him, and put him off there. 
 When he had gone about on it a bit, he heard the 
 baby Troll howling and whining, because it couldn't 
 get down again. So the lad talked kindly to it, and 
 they got the best friends in the world, and he said he 
 would help it down and guide it to the old Troll's 
 house, that it mightn't lose itself on the way back. 
 Then they went to the raven, and he took them both on 
 his back, and carried them ofif to the hill TroU's house. 
 
The Golden Palace 295 
 
 And when the old Troll saw his baby, he was so glad, 
 he was beside himself, and told Boots he might come 
 indoors and take whatever he chose, because he had 
 freed his child. Then they offered him both gold and 
 silver, and all that was rare and costly; but the lad 
 said he would rather have a horse than anything else. 
 Yes, he should have a horse, the Troll said, and off they 
 went to the stable. It was full of the grandest horses, 
 whose coats shone like the sun and moon ; but Boots 
 thought they were all too big for him. So he peeped 
 behind the stable door, and when he set eyes on the 
 little grey ass that stood there, he said — 
 
 " I'll take this one. It will suit me to a T, and if 
 I fall off, I shall be no farther from the ground than 
 that high." 
 
 The old Troll did not at all like to part with his ass ; 
 but as he had given his word, he had to stand by it. 
 So Boots got the ass, and saddle, and bridle, and all 
 that belonged to it, and then he set off. They travelled 
 through wood and field, and over fells and wide wastes. 
 So when they had gone farther than far, the ass asked 
 Boots if he saw anything. 
 
 " No, I see naught else than a hill, which looks blue 
 in the distance," said Boots. 
 
 "Oh," said the ass, "that hill we have to pass 
 through." 
 
 " All very fine, I dare say," said Boots, for he didn't 
 believe a word of it. 
 
 So when they got close to the hill an unicorn came 
 tearing along at them, just as if he were going to eat 
 them up all alive. 
 
 " I almost think now I'm afraid," said Boots. 
 
296 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Oh," said the ass, "don't say so; just throw it a 
 score or so of beeves, and beg it to bore a hole and 
 break a way for us through the hill." 
 
 So Boots did as he was told ; and when the unicorn 
 had eaten his fill, they said they would give him a score 
 or two of pigs' carcasses if he would go before them 
 and bore a hole in the hill, so that they might get 
 through it. So when he heard that, he set to work and 
 bored the hole, and broke a way so fast, that they had 
 hard work to keep up with him, and when he had done 
 his work they threw him two score of pigs. 
 
 So when they had got well out of that they travelled 
 far away, until they passed again through woods and 
 fields, and across fells and wide wastes. 
 
 " Do you see anything now ? " asked the ass. 
 
 " Now I see naught but the bare sky and wild fells," 
 said Boots. 
 
 So they travelled on far and farther than far, and the 
 higher up they came the fell got smoother and flatter, 
 so that they could see farther about them. 
 
 " Do. you see anything now ? " said the ass. 
 
 "Yes, I see something far, far away," said Boots, 
 " and it gleams and twinkles like a little star." 
 
 " It's not so very little, for all that," said the ass. 
 
 So when they had gone on farther and farther than 
 far again, the ass asked again — 
 
 " Do you see anything now ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Boots, " I see something a long way off 
 that shines like a moon." 
 
 " It is no moon," said the ass, " but the silver castle 
 we are bound for. Now, when we get there you will 
 see three dragons lying on the watch before the gate. 
 
.^. 
 
 
 i..r-rysw'^-^ 
 
 "Out^i^Je the gate lay the dragons." 
 
The Golden Palace 299 
 
 They have not been awakened for hundreds of years, 
 and so the moss has grown over their eyes." 
 
 "I almost think I shall be afraid of them," said 
 Boots. 
 
 " Oh, don't say that," said the ass ; " you've only got 
 to wake up the youngest, and throw it a score or so of 
 beeves and swine, and then it will talk to the others, 
 and so you'll come into the castle." 
 
 So on they travelled far and farther than far again 
 before they came up to the castle; but when they reached 
 it, it was both grand and great, and everything they saw 
 was cast in silver, and outside the gate lay the dragons, 
 and blocked up the way so that no one could get in ; 
 but they had a nice easy time of it, and had not been 
 much troubled in their watch ; for they were so over- 
 grown with moss that no one could tell what they were 
 made of, and at their sides underwood was springing 
 up between the tufts of moss. So Boots woke up the 
 youngest of them, and it began to rub its eyes and clear 
 the moss out of them. But when the dragon saw there 
 was folk there, he came at them with his maw wide 
 agape ; but then the lad stood ready, and tossed into it 
 the carcasses of beeves, and swung after them salted 
 swine, till the dragon had got his fill, and grew a little 
 more sensible to talk to. Then the lad begged he would 
 wake up his fellows, and ask them to be so good as to 
 get out of the way, so that he might get into the castle ; 
 but the dragon neither would nor dared to do that at 
 first, for he said, as they had not been awake or tasted 
 anything for hundreds of years, he was afraid lest they 
 should get raving mad, and swallow up everything, alive 
 or dead. 
 
300 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 But Boots thought there was no need to fear that, 
 for they could leave behind them a hundred carcasses 
 of beeves, and a hundred salt swine, and go a little 
 way off, and then the dragons would have time to eat 
 their fill, and to come to themselves before the others 
 came back to the castle. 
 
 Yes, the dragon was ready to do that, and so they 
 did it; but before the dragons were well awake, and 
 got the moss rubbed oif their eyes, they went about 
 roaring and raving, and riving and rending at every- 
 thing alive or dead, so that the youngest dragon had 
 enough to do to shield himself from them till they had 
 snuffed up the smell of flesh. Then they swallowed 
 down whole oxen and swine, and ate and ate till they 
 were full. And after that they were just as tame and 
 buxom as the youngest, and let Boots pass between 
 them into the castle. 
 
 When he got inside, it was all so grand, he never 
 could have thought anything could be so good any- 
 where ; but there was not a soul in it, for he v/ent 
 from room to room, and opened all the doors, but he 
 could see no one. Well, at last he peeped through 
 a door that led to a bedroom, which he had not seen 
 before, and in there sat a princess spinning, and she 
 was so glad and happy when she saw him. 
 
 " No, no," she cried ; " can it be that Christian folk 
 dare to come hither ? but it will be best for you to be 
 off again, else the Troll might kill you, for you must 
 know a Troll lives here with three heads." 
 
 But Boots said he would not fly even if he had seven 
 heads. When the princess heard that, she said she 
 wished him to try if he could brandish the great rusty 
 
The Golden Palace 
 
 301 
 
 sword that hung behind the door. No, he could not 
 brandish it — he could not so. much as even lift it. 
 
 "Ah!" said the princess, "if you can't do that, you 
 must take a drink of that flask yonder, that hangs 
 by the side of the sword, for that's what the Troll 
 does when he goes out 
 to use it." 
 
 So Boots took two or 
 three drinks, and then 
 he could brandish the 
 sword as though it were 
 a rolling-pin. 
 
 Just then came the 
 Troll, so that the wind 
 sung after him. 
 
 " Hu ! " he screeched 
 out, "what a smell of 
 Christian blood there is 
 in here." 
 
 " I know there is," 
 said Boots, " but you 
 needn't blow and snort 
 so at it ; you shan't 
 suffer long from that 
 smell," and in a trice he cut off all his heads. 
 
 The princess was so glad, just as if she had got 
 something so good ; but in a little while she got heavy- 
 hearted, for she pined for her sister, who had been 
 stolen by a Troll with six heads, and lived in a golden 
 castle three hundred miles on this side of the world's 
 end. Boots thought that was not so very bad, for he 
 could go and fetch both the princess and the castle ; 
 
302 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 and so he took the sword and the flask, and got on the 
 ass, and bade the dragons follow him, and carry the 
 meat, and grain, and nails which he had. 
 
 So when they had been a while on the way, and had 
 travelled far, far away over land and strand, the ass 
 said one day — 
 
 " Do you see anything ? " 
 
 " 1 see naught," said Boots, " but land and water, 
 and bare sky and high crags." 
 
 So they went on far and farther than far, and then 
 the ass said again — 
 
 " Do you see anything now ? " 
 
 " Yes ; " when he had looked well before him, he saw 
 something a long, long way off that shone like a little 
 star. 
 
 " It will be big enough by-and-bye," said the ass. 
 
 When they had gone a good bit still, the ass asked — 
 
 " Do you see anything now ? " 
 
 " Now I see it shining like a moon," said the lad. 
 
 " Ay, ay ! " said the ass, and on they went. 
 
 So when they had gone far and farther than far, 
 away over land and strand, and hill and heath, the ass 
 asked — 
 
 " Do you see anything now ? " 
 
 "Now, methinks," said Boots, "it shines most like 
 the sun." 
 
 "Ay," said the ass, "that's the golden castle for 
 which we are bound ; but outside it lives a worm, 
 which stops the way and keeps watch and ward." 
 
 " 1 think I shall be afraid of it," said Boots. 
 
 " Oh, don't say so," said the ass ; " we must spread 
 over it heaps of boughs, and lay between them layers 
 
The Golden Palace 303 
 
 of horseshoe brads and nails, and set fire to them all, 
 and so we shall be rid of it." 
 
 So after a long, long time they came up to where 
 the castle hung in the air, but the worm lay underneath 
 it and stopped the way. So the lad gave the dragons 
 a good meal of beeves and salted swine, that they 
 might help him, and they spread over the worm heaps 
 of boughs and wood, and laid between them layers of 
 nails and brads, till they had used up the three hundred 
 chests ; and when it was all done, they set fire to the 
 pile and burned up the worm alive in a fire at white 
 heat. 
 
 So when they had done with him, one dragon flew 
 under the castle and lifted it up, and the two others 
 went up high, high into the air, and unloosed the links 
 and hooks by which it hung, and so they lowered it 
 down and set it on the ground. When that was done 
 Boots went inside, and there it was, grander far than in 
 the sUvem castle, but he could see no folk till he came 
 to the innermost room, and there lay a princess on a 
 bed of gold. She slept so sound, as though she were 
 dead ; but she was not, though he was not able to wake 
 her up, for her face was as red and white as milk and 
 blood. And just as Boots stood there gazing at her, 
 back came the Troll tearing along. As soon as he put 
 his first head through the door he screamed out — 
 
 " Hu ! what a smell of Christian blood there is in 
 here." 
 
 " Maybe," said Boots, " but you've no need to smell 
 and snort about that; you shan't suffer long from it." 
 
 And with that he cut off aU his heads, as though 
 they stood on a kail-stalk. 
 
304 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 So the dragons took the golden castle on their backs 
 and went home with it — I fancy they were not long 
 on the way — and set it down side by side with the 
 silvern castle, so that it shone both far and wide. 
 
 Now, when the princess of the silvern castle came to 
 her window in the morning and caught sight of it, she 
 was so glad that she sprang over to the golden castle 
 at once ; but when she saw her sister lying there, and 
 sleeping as though she were dead, she said to Boots 
 that they would never get life into her before they 
 found the water of life and death, and that stood in 
 two wells on either side of a golden castle which hung 
 in the air, nine hundred miles beyond the world's end, 
 and where the third sister dwelt. 
 
 Well, Boots thought there was no help for it; he 
 must go and fetch it, and it was not long before he 
 was on his way. So he travelled far and farther than 
 far through many realms, across wood and field, over 
 fell and firth, along hill and heath, and at last he got to 
 the world's end, and after that he travelled far, far over 
 crags and wastes and high rocks. 
 
 " Do you see anything ? " asked the ass one day. 
 
 " I see naught but heaven and earth," said the lad. 
 
 " Do you see anything now ? " asked the ass again, 
 when some days were past. 
 
 " Yes," said Boots ; " now I see something that glim- 
 mers very high up, far, far away like a little star." 
 
 "It's not so little, for all that," said the ass. 
 
 So when they had travelled on a while, the ass 
 asked — 
 
 " Do you see anything now ? " 
 
 "Yes," said Boots; "now it shines like the sun." 
 
The Golden Palace 305 
 
 " That's whither we are bound," said the ass ; " it's 
 the golden castle that hangs in the air, and there lives 
 a princess who has been stolen by a Troll with nine 
 heads ; but all the wild beasts there are in the world 
 lie on watch, and stop the way thither.'' 
 
 "Uf!" said Boots; "I almost think I'm afraid of 
 them." 
 
 " Don't say so," said the ass ; and then he told him 
 there was no danger, if he would only make up his 
 mind not to linger there, but to set oiif on his way back 
 as soon as ever he had filled his flasks with the water, 
 for there was no going thither but during one hour in 
 the day, and that began at high noon ; but if he were 
 not man enough to be ready in time and to get away, 
 the beasts would tear him into a thousand pieces. 
 
 Well, Boots said he would be sure to do that; he 
 would not think of staying too long. 
 
 At the stroke of twelve they reached the castle, and 
 there lay all the wild and savage beasts that ever were, 
 as it were a fence before the gate and on either side 
 of the way. But they all slumbered like stocks and 
 stones, and there wasn't one of them that so much as 
 lifted a paw. So Boots passed between them, and 
 took good heed not to tread on their toes or the tips 
 of their tails, and he filled his flasks with the waters 
 of life and death ; and while he did that he looked up 
 at the castle, which was as though it were cast in pure 
 gold. It was the grandest he had ever seen, and he 
 thought it would be grander still inside than out. 
 
 "Stuff!" thought Boots; "I have time enough; I 
 can always look about me in half-an-hour," and so 
 he opened the door and went in. Well, inside it was 
 
3o6 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 grander than grand itself, and as he went out of one 
 gorgeous room into another, it was as if it was all 
 made of gold and pearls, and everything that was 
 costliest in the world. Folk there were none; but 
 at last he came into a bedroom where there lay 
 another princess on a bed of gold, just as though she 
 were dead too, but she was as grand as the grandest 
 queen, and as red and white as blood on snow, and 
 
 so lovely, he had never seen anything so lovely but 
 her picture ; for she it was that was painted on it. 
 
 Then Boots forgot both the water he was to fetch, 
 and the wild beasts, and the castle, and everything, 
 and could only gaze at the princess ; and he thought 
 he could never have his fill of looking at her ; but all 
 the while she slept as though she were dead, and he 
 was not able to wake her up. 
 
 So when it drew towards evening, the Troll came 
 tearing along so that the wind sung after him, and he 
 
The Golden Palace 
 
 307 
 
 rattled and slammed the gates and doors till the whole 
 castle rang again. 
 
 " Huf ! " he cried, "what a strong smell of Christian 
 blood there is in here ; " and then he stuck his first 
 head inside the door and snufied up the air. 
 
 " I dare say there is," said Boots, " but you've no 
 need to puff and blow as though you were about to 
 burst, for it shan't vex you long ; " and as he said that, 
 he cut off" all his nine heads But when he had done 
 that, he got so weary he couldn't keep his eyes open. 
 So he laid him down on the bed by the side of the 
 princess, and all the while she slept both night and 
 day, as though she would never wake again ; only at 
 midnight she just woke up for the twinkling of an 
 eye, and then she told him that he had set her free, 
 but she must bide there three years still, and if she 
 didn't come home to him, then he must just come and 
 fetch her. 
 
 When the clock began to go towards one next day. 
 Boots woke for the first time, and the first thing he 
 heard was the ass braying and screaming and making 
 a stir, and so he thought he would get up and set off 
 home ; but before he went he cut a breadth out of the 
 princess's skirt, and took it away with him. And 
 however it was, he had loitered so long there that 
 the beasts began to wake and stir, and by the time he 
 had mounted his ass they stood in a ring round him, 
 so that he thought it had rather a ghastly look. But 
 the ass said he must sprinkle on them a few drops 
 of the water of death ; and he did so, and in a trice 
 they all fell headlong on the spot, and never stirred 
 a limb more. 
 
308 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 As they were on their way home the ass said to 
 Boots — 
 
 " Now, when you come to honour and glory, see if 
 you don't forget me and all I have done for you, so 
 that I shall be broken-kneed for hunger." 
 
 " Nay, nay, that should never be," said the lad. 
 
 So when he got home to the princess with the water 
 of life, she sprinkled a few drops over her sister, and 
 woke her up, and then there was such great joy, and 
 they were so happy. 
 
 Then they travelled home to the king, and he too 
 was glad and joyful because he had got those two 
 back ; but still he went about longing and longing that 
 the three years might pass away, and his youngest 
 daughter come home. 
 
 As for Boots, who had brought them back, the 
 king made him a mighty man, so that he was the 
 first in the land after the king himself. But there 
 were many who were jealous that he should have 
 grown to be such a man of mark, and one of them 
 was Ritter Red, who they did say wished to have 
 the eldest princess, and he got her to sprinkle over 
 Boots a little of the water of death, so that he swooned 
 oflF and lay as dead. 
 
 So when the three years were over, and a bit of the 
 fourth was gone, there came sailing up a strange ship 
 of war, and on board was the third sister, and with her 
 she had a boy three years old. She sent word up to 
 the king's grange, and said she would not set her foot 
 on land till they had sent him who had been in the 
 golden castle and set her free. So they sent down to 
 her one of the highest men about court, the master of 
 
The Golden Palace 
 
 309 
 
 the ceremonies himself; and when he came on board 
 the princess's ship, he took off his hat and bowed and 
 scraped, and bent himself before her. 
 
 " Can that be your father, my son ? " said the princess 
 to her boy, who was playing with a golden apple. 
 
 " No," said the child, " my father doesn't crawl about 
 like a cheese-mite." 
 
 So they sent another of the same stamp, and this 
 
 time it was Ritter Red. But it fared no better with 
 him than with the first one, and the princess sent word 
 by him, if they didn't make haste and send the right 
 one, it should go ill with them. When they heard that, 
 they were forced to wake up Boots with the water of life; 
 and so he went down to the ship to the princess, but 
 he didn't make too low a bow, I should think ; he 
 only nodded his head, and brought out the breadth he 
 
3 1 o Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 had cut out of the skirt of the princess in the golden 
 castle. 
 
 " That's my father ! that's my father ! " bawled out 
 the boy, and gave him the golden apple he was playing 
 with. 
 
 Then there was great joy and mirth all over the 
 realm, and the old king was the gladdest of all of 
 them, because he had got his darling back again. 
 But when what Ritter Red and the eldest princess 
 had done to Boots came out, the king asked to 
 have them both rolled down a hill, each in a cask 
 full of spikes and nails; but Boots and the youngest 
 princess begged hard for them, and so they got off 
 with life. 
 
 Now it happened one day, as they were about to 
 begin the bridal feast, that they stood looking out of 
 the window; it was towards spring, just when they 
 were turning out the horses and cows after the winter, 
 and the last that came out of the stable was the ass ; 
 but it was so starved, that it came out of the stable door 
 on its keees. 
 
 Then Boots was cut to the heart because he had 
 forgotten it, and he went down and did not know how 
 to make it up to the poor beast. But the ass said 
 the best thing he could do was to cut his head off. 
 That he was very loath to do, but the ass begged so 
 prettily that he had to yield, and did it at last; and 
 as soon as ever his head fell in the yard, it was all 
 over with the shape which had been thrown over 
 him by witchcraft, and there stood the handsomest 
 prince any one cared to see. He got the second 
 princess to wife, and they fell to keeping the bridal 
 
The Golden Palace 
 
 311 
 
 feast, so that it was heard and talked of over seven 
 kingdoms. 
 
 Then they built themselves houses, 
 And stitched themselves shoon, 
 And had so many bairns 
 They reached up to the moon. 
 
Little Freddy with his Fiddle 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a cottager who had an 
 only son, and this lad was weakly, and hadn't 
 much health to speak of; so he couldn't go 
 out to work in the field. 
 
 His name was Freddy, and undersized he was too ; 
 and so they called him Little Freddy. At home there 
 was little either to bite or sup, and so his father went 
 about the country trying to bind him over as a cow- 
 herd or an errand-boy; but there was no one who 
 would take his son till he came to the sheriff, and he 
 was ready to take him, for he had just packed off his 
 errand-boy, and there was no one who would fill his 
 place, for the story went that he was a skinflint. 
 
 But the cottager thought it was better there than 
 nowhere ; he would get his food, for all the pay he was 
 to get was his board — there was nothing said about 
 wages or clothes. So when the lad had served three 
 years he wanted to leave, and then the sheriff gave him 
 all his wages at one time. He was to have a penny a 
 year. " It couldn't well be less," said the sheriff. And 
 so he got threepence in all. 
 
 As for little Freddy, he thought it was a great sum, 
 for he had never owned so much ; but for all that, he 
 asked if he wasn't to have something more. 
 
Little Freddy with his Fiddle 313 
 
 "You have already had more than you ought to 
 have," said the sheriff. 
 
 " Shan't I have anything, then, for clothes ? " 
 asked little Freddy ; " for those I had on when I 
 came here are worn to rags, and I have had no new 
 ones." 
 
 And, to tell the truth, he was so ragged that the 
 tatters hung and flapped about him. 
 
 " When you have got what we agreed on," said 
 the sheriff, "and three whole pennies beside, I have 
 nothing more to do with you. Be off! " 
 
 But for all that, he got leave just to go into the 
 kitchen and get a little food to put in his script ; and 
 after that he set off on the road to buy himself more 
 clothes. He was both merry and glad, for he had 
 never seen a penny before ; and every now and then 
 he felt in his pockets as he went along to see if he had 
 them all three. So when he had gone far and farther 
 than far, he got into a narrow dale, with high fells on 
 all sides, so that he couldn't tell if there were any way 
 to pass out ; and he began to wonder what there could 
 be on the other side of those fells, and how he ever 
 should get over them. 
 
 But up and up he had to go, and on he strode ; he 
 was not strong on his legs, and had to rest every now 
 and then — and then he counted and counted how many 
 pennies he had got. So when he had got quite up to 
 the very top, there was nothing but a great plain over- 
 grown with moss. There he sat him down, and began 
 to see if his money was all right ; and before he was 
 aware of him a beggar-man came up to him, and he was 
 so tall and big that the lad began to scream and screech 
 
3 1 4 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 when he got a good look of him, and saw his height 
 and length. 
 
 " Don't you be afraid," said the beggar-man ; " I'll 
 do you no harm. I only beg for a penny, in God's 
 name." 
 
 " Heaven help me ! " said the lad. " I have only 
 three pennies, and with them I was going to the town 
 to buy clothes." 
 
 " It is worse for me than for you," said the beggar- 
 man. " I have got no penny, and I am still more 
 ragged than you." 
 
 "Well, then, you shall have it," said the lad. 
 
 So when he had walked on awhile he got weary, 
 and sat down to rest again. But when he looked 
 up there he saw another beggar-man, and he was still 
 taller and uglier than the first ; and so when the lad 
 saw how very tall and ugly and long he was, he fell 
 a-screeching. 
 
 "Now, don't you be afraid of me," said the beggar; 
 "I'll not do you any harm. I only beg for a penny, in 
 God's name." 
 
 "Now, may Heaven help me! " said the lad. "I've 
 only got two pence, and with them I was going to the 
 town to buy clothes. If I had only met you sooner, 
 then " 
 
 " It's worse for me than for you," said the beggar- 
 man. " I have no penny, and a bigger body and less 
 clothing." 
 
 " Well, you may have it," said the lad. 
 
 So he went awhile farther, till he got weary, and 
 then he sat down to rest ; but he had scarce sat down 
 than a third beggar-man came to him. He was so tall 
 
Little Freddy with his Fiddle 315 
 
 and ugly and long, that the kd had to look up and up, 
 right up to the sky. And when he took him all in 
 with his eyes, and saw how very, very tall and ugly 
 and ragged he was, he fell a-screeching and screaming 
 again. 
 
 " Now, don't you be afraid of me, my lad," said the 
 beggar-man ; " I'll do you no harm ; for I am only a 
 beggar-man, who begs for a penny in God's name." 
 
 " May Heaven help me ! " said the lad. " I have 
 only one penny left, and with it I was going to the 
 town to buy clothes. If I had only met you sooner, 
 then " 
 
 "As for that," said the beggar-man, "I have no 
 penny at all, that I haven't, and a bigger body and 
 less clothes, so it is worse for me than for you." 
 
 "Yes," said httle Freddy, he must have the 
 penny then — there was no help for it; for so each 
 would have what belonged to him, and he would have 
 nothing. 
 
 "Well," said the beggar-man, "since you have such 
 a good heart that you gave away all that you had in 
 the world, I will give you a wish for each penny." 
 For you must know it was the same beggar-man who 
 had got them all three ; he had only changed his 
 shape each time, that the lad might not know him 
 again. 
 
 " I have always had such a longing to hear a fiddle 
 go, and see folk so glad and merry that they couldn't 
 help dancing," said the lad; "and so, if I may wish 
 what I choose, I will wish myself such a fiddle, that 
 everything that has life must dance to its tune." 
 
 " That he might have," said the beggar-man ; but it 
 
3 1 6 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 was a sorry wish. " You must wish something better 
 for the other two pennies." 
 
 "I have always had such a love for hunting and 
 shooting," said little Freddy ; " so if I may wish what 
 I choose, I will wish myself such a gun that I shall 
 hit everything I aim at, were it ever so far off." 
 
 "That he might have," said the beggar-man; but 
 it was a sorry wish. " You must wish better for the 
 last penny." 
 
 " I have always had a longing to be in company 
 with folk who were kind and good," said little Freddy ; 
 " and so, if I could get what I wish, I would wish it 
 to be so that no one can say ' Nay ' to the first thing 
 I ask." 
 
 " That wish was not so sorry," said the beggar-man ; 
 and off he strode between the hiUs, and he saw him no 
 more. And so the lad lay down to sleep, and the 
 next day he came down from the fell with his fiddle 
 and his gun. 
 
 First he went to the storekeeper and asked for 
 clothes, and at one farm he asked for a horse, and 
 at another for a sledge ; and at this place he asked 
 for a fur coat, and no one said him " Nay " — even the 
 stingiest folk, they were all forced to give him what he 
 asked for. At last he went through the country as a 
 fine gentleman, and had his horse and his sledge; 
 and so when he had gone a bit he met the sheriff with 
 whom he had served. 
 
 " Good day, master," said little Freddy, as he pulled 
 up and took off his hat. 
 
 " Good day," said the sheriff. And then he went on, 
 " When was I ever your master ? " 
 
Little Freddy with his Fiddle 317 
 
 "Oh, yes," said little Freddy. "Don't you re- 
 member how I served you three years for three 
 pence ? " 
 
 "Heaven help us!" said the sheriff. "How you 
 have got on all of a hurry ! And pray, how was it 
 that you got to be such a 
 fine gentleman ? " 
 
 "Oh, that's tellings," 
 said little Freddy. 
 
 "And are you full of 
 fun, that you carry a fiddle 
 about with you ? " asked 
 the sheriff. 
 
 "Yes, yes," said Freddy. 
 " I have always had such 
 a longing to get folk to 
 dance; but the funniest 
 thing of all is this gun, 
 for it brings down almost 
 anything that I aim at, 
 however far it may be off. 
 Do you see that magpie 
 yonder, sitting in the 
 
 spruce fir? What'll you bet 1 don't bag it as we 
 stand here ? " 
 
 On that the sheriff was ready to stake horse and 
 groom, and a hundred dollars beside, that he couldn't 
 do it ; but as it was, he would bet all the money he 
 had about him ; and he would go to fetch it when it 
 fell — for he never thought it possible for any gun to 
 carry so far. 
 
 But as the gun went off down fell the magpie, and 
 
3 1 8 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 into a great bramble thicket; and away went the 
 sheriff up into the brambles after it, and he picked 
 it up and showed it to the lad. But in a trice little 
 Freddy began to scrape his fiddle, and the sheriff 
 began to dance, and the thorns to tear him ; but still 
 the lad played on, and the sheriff danced, and cried, 
 and begged till his clothes flew to tatters, and he 
 scarce had a thread to his back. 
 
 "Yes," said little Freddy, " now I think you're about 
 as ragged as I was when I left your service ; so now 
 you may get off with what you have got." 
 
 But first of all, the sheriff had to pay him what 
 he had wagered that he could not hit the magpie. 
 
 So when the lad came to the town he turned aside 
 into an inn, and he began to play, and all who came 
 danced, and he lived merrily and well. He had no 
 care, for no one would say him " Nay " to anything he 
 asked. 
 
 But just as they were all in the midst of their fun, 
 up came the watchmen to drag the lad off to the town- 
 hall; for the sheriff had laid a charge against him, 
 and said he had waylaid him and robbed him, and 
 nearly taken his life. And now he was to be hanged 
 — they would not hear of anything else. But little 
 Freddy had a cure for all trouble, and that was his 
 fiddle. He began to play on it, and the watchmen 
 fell a-dancing, till they lay down and gasped for 
 breath. 
 
 So they sent soldiers and the guard on their way ; 
 but it was no better with them than with the watch- 
 men. As soon as ever little Freddy scraped his 
 fiddle, they were all bound to dance, so long as he 
 

 ' All that were there fell a-dancing at on»:e.' 
 
Little Freddy with his Fiddle 321 
 
 could lift a finger to play a tune ; but they were half 
 dead long before he was tired. At last they stole a 
 march on him, and took him while he lay asleep by 
 night ; and when they had caught him, he was doomed 
 to be hanged on the spot, and away they hurried him 
 to the gallows-tree. 
 
 There a great crowd of people flocked together to 
 see this wonder, and the sheriff, he too was there; 
 and he was so glad at last at getting amends for the 
 money and the skin he had lost, and that he might 
 see him hanged with his own eyes. But they did not 
 get him to the gallows very fast, for little Freddy was 
 always weak on his legs, and now he made himself 
 weaker still. His fiddle and his gun he had with him 
 also — it was hard to part him from them; and so, 
 when he came to the gallows, and had to mount the 
 steps, he halted on each step; and when he got to 
 the top he sat down, and asked if they could deny 
 him a wish, and if he might have leave to do one 
 thing? He had such a longing, he said, to scrape a 
 tune and play a bar on his fiddle before they hanged 
 him. 
 
 "No, no," they said; "it were sin and shame to 
 deny him that." For, you know, no one could gainsay 
 what he asked. 
 
 But the sheriff he begged them, for God's sake, not 
 to let him have leave to touch a string, else it was 
 all over with them altogether; and if the lad got 
 leave, he begged them to bind him to the birch that 
 stood there. 
 
 So little Freddy was not slow in getting his fiddle 
 to speak, and all that were there fell a-dancing at once. 
 
322 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 those who went on two legs, and those who went 
 on four; both the dean and the parson, and the 
 lawyer, and the bailiff, and the sheriff, masters and 
 men, dogs and swine — they all danced and laughed 
 and screeched at one another. Some danced till they 
 lay for dead ; some danced till they fell into a swoon. 
 It went badly with all of them, but worst of all with 
 the sheriff; for there he stood bound to the birch, and 
 he danced and scraped great bits off his back against 
 the trunk. There was not one of them who thought 
 of doing anything to little Freddy, and away he went 
 with his fiddle and his gun, just as he chose ; and he 
 lived merrily and happily all his days, for there was 
 no one who could say him " Nay " to the first thing he 
 asked for. 
 
Mother Roundabout's Daughter 
 
 NCE on a time there 
 was a goody who had 
 a son, and he was so 
 lazy and slow he would 
 never turn his hand 
 to anything that was 
 useful ; but singing 
 and dancing he was 
 very fond of; and so he danced and sang as long as 
 it was day, and sometimes even some way on in the 
 night. The longer this lasted, the harder it was for 
 the goody; the boy grew, and meat he must have with- 
 out stint, and more and more was spent in clothing as 
 he grew bigger and bigger, and it was soon worn out, 
 I should think ; for he danced and sprang about both 
 in wood and field. 
 
 At last the goody thought it too bad; so she told 
 the lad that now he must begin to turn his hand to 
 work and live steadily, or else there was nothing 
 before both of them but starving to death. But that 
 the lad had no mind to do. He said he would far 
 rather woo Mother Roundabout's daughter ; for if he 
 could only get her, he would be able to live well and 
 
324 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 good all his days, and sing and dance, and never do 
 one stroke of work. 
 
 When his mother heard that, she too thought it 
 would be a very fine thing ; and so she fitted out the 
 lad as well as she could, that he might look tidy when 
 he got to Mother Roundabout's house; and so he set 
 ofi" on his way. 
 
 Now when he got out of doors the sun shone warm 
 and bright ; but it had rained the night before, so that 
 the ways were soft and miry, and all the bog-holes 
 stood full of water. The lad took a short cut to 
 Mother Roundabout's, and he sang and jumped, as was 
 ever his wont ; but just as he sprang and leapt he got 
 to a bog-hole, and over it lay a little bridge, and from 
 the bridge he had to make a spring across a hole on to 
 a tuft of grass, that he might not dirty his shoes. But 
 plump, it went all at once, and just as he put his 
 foot on the tuft it gave way under him, and there was 
 no stopping till he found himself in a nasty deep, dark 
 hole. At first he could see nothing, but when he had 
 been there a while he had a glimpse of a rat, which 
 came wiggle-waggle up to him with a bunch of keys at 
 the tip of her tail. 
 
 " What ! you here, my boy ? " said the rat. " Thank 
 you kindly for coming to me. I have waited long for 
 you. You come, of course, to woo me, and you are 
 eager at it, I can very well see; but you must have 
 patience yet awhile, for I shall have a great dower, and 
 I am not ready for my wedding just yet, but I'll do 
 my best that it shall be as soon as ever I can." 
 
 When she had said that, she brought out ever so 
 many egg-shells, with all sorts of bits and scraps, such 
 
Mother Roundabout* s Daughter 325 
 
 as rats are wont to eat, and set them before him, and 
 said — 
 
 " Now, you must sit down and eat ; I am sure you 
 must be both tired and hungry." 
 
 But the lad thought he had no liking for such food. 
 
 " If I were only well away from this, above ground 
 again," he thought to himself, but he said nothing out 
 loud. 
 
 " Now, I dare say you'd be glad to go home again," 
 said the rat. " I know your heart is set on this 
 wedding, and I'll make all the haste I can; and you 
 must take with you this linen thread, and when you 
 get up above you must not look round, but go straight 
 home, and on the way you must mind and say nothing 
 but 
 
 ' Short before, and long back, 
 Short before, and long back ; ' " 
 
 and as she said this, she put the linen thread into his 
 hand. 
 
 " Heaven be praised ! " said the lad, when he got 
 above ground. "Thither I'll never come again, if I 
 can help it." 
 
 But he still had the thread in his hand, and he 
 sprang and sang as he was wont ; but even though he 
 thought no more of the rat-hole, he had got his tongue 
 into the tune, and so he sang, 
 
 " Short before, and long back, 
 Short before, and long back." 
 
 So when he got back home into the porch he turned 
 round, and there lay many many hundred ells of the 
 
326 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 whitest linen, so fine that the handiest weaving girl 
 could not have woven it finer. 
 
 " Mother ! mother ! come out/' he cried and roared. 
 
 Out came the goody in a bustle, and asked whatever 
 was the matter; but when she saw the linen woof, 
 which stretched as far back as she could see and a bit 
 beside, she couldn't believe her eyes, till the lad told 
 her how it had all happened. And when she had 
 heard it, and tried the woof between her fingers, 
 she got so glad that she, too, began to dance and 
 sing. 
 
 So she took the linen and cut it out, and sewed 
 shirts out of it both for herself and her son, and the 
 rest she took into the town and sold, and got money 
 for it. And now they both lived well and happily a 
 while ; but when the money was all gone, the goody 
 had no more food in the house, and so she told her 
 son he really must now begin to go to work, and live 
 like the rest of the world, else there was nothing for 
 it but starving for them both. 
 
 But the lad had more mind to go to Mother Round- 
 about and woo her daughter. Well, the goody 
 thought that a very fine thing, for now he had good 
 clothes on his back, and he was not such a bad 
 looking fellow either. So she made him smart, and 
 fitted him out as well as she could ; and he took out 
 his new shoes and brushed them till they were as 
 bright as glass, and when he had done that, off" he 
 went. 
 
 But all happened just as it did before. When he 
 got out of doors the sun shone warm and bright ; but 
 it had rained over night, so that it was soft and miry, 
 
Mother Roundabout's Daughter 327 
 
 and all the bog-holes were full of water. The lad 
 
 took the short cut to Mother Roundabout, and he 
 
 sang and sprang as he was ever wont. Now he took 
 
 another way than the one he went before; but just 
 
 as he leaped and jumped, he got upon the bridge over 
 
 the moor again, and from it he had to jump over a 
 
 bog-hole on to a turf, that he might not dirty his shoes. 
 
 But plump it went, and 
 
 down it went under him, 
 
 and there was no stopping 
 
 till he found himself in a 
 
 nasty deep, dark hole. At 
 
 first he could see nothing ; 
 
 but when he had been 
 
 there a while he got a 
 
 glimpse of a rat with a 
 
 bunch of keys at the tip 
 
 of her tail, who came 
 
 wiggle-waggle up to him. 
 
 " What ! you here, my 
 boy ? " said the rat. " That 
 was nice of you to wish 
 to see me so soon again. 
 
 You are very eager, that I can see; but you really 
 must wait a while, for there is still something wanting 
 to my dower, but the next time you come it shall be 
 all right." 
 
 When she had said this she set before him all kinds 
 of scraps and bits in egg-shells, such as rats eat and 
 like ; but the lad thought it all looked like meat that 
 had been already eaten once, and he wasn't hungry, 
 he said ; and all the time he thought, " If I could only 
 
328 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 once get above ground, well out of this hole." But 
 he said nothing out loud. 
 
 So after a while the rat said — 
 
 "I dare say now you would be glad to get home 
 again ; but I'll hasten on the wedding as fast as ever 
 I can. And now you must take with you this thread 
 of wool ; and when you come above ground you must 
 not look round, but go straight home, and all the 
 way you must mind and say nothing than 
 
 ' Short before, and long back, 
 Short before, and long back ; ' " 
 
 and as she said that she gave him a thread of wool 
 into his hand. 
 
 " Heaven be praised ! " said the lad, " that I got 
 away. Thither I'll never go again, if I can help it ; " 
 and so he sang and jumped as he was wont. As for 
 the rat-hole, he thought no more about it ; but as he had 
 got his tongue into tune he sang, 
 
 " Short before, and long back, 
 Short before, and long back ; " 
 
 so he kept on the whole way home. 
 
 So when he had got into the yard at home again he 
 turned and looked behind him, and there lay the finest 
 cloth, more than many hundred ells ; ay, almost above 
 half a mile long, and so fine, that no town dandy could 
 have had finer cloth to his coat. 
 
 " Mother ! mother ! come out," bawled the lad. 
 
 So the goody came out of doors, and clapped her 
 hands, and was almost ready to swoon for joy when 
 she saw all that lovely cloth ; and then he had to tell 
 
Mother Roundabout's Daughter 329 
 
 her how he had got it, and how it had all happened 
 
 from first to last. Then they had a fine time of it, you 
 
 may fancy. The lad got new clothes of the finest sort, 
 
 and the goody went off to the town and sold the cloth 
 
 by little and little, and made heaps of money. Then 
 
 she decked out her cottage, and got so smart in her old 
 
 days, as though she had been born 
 
 a lady. So they lived well and 
 
 happily; but at last that money 
 
 came to an end too, and so the 
 
 day came when the goody had no 
 
 more food in the house, and then 
 
 she told her son he really must 
 
 turn his hand to work, and live 
 
 like the rest of the world, else 
 
 there was nothing but starvation 
 
 staring both of them in the face. 
 
 But the lad thought it far bet- 
 ter to go to Mother Roundabout 
 and woo her daughter. This time 
 the goody thought so too, and said 
 not a word against it ; for now he 
 had new clothes of the finest kind, 
 and he looked so well, she thought it quite out of the 
 question that any one could say "No" to so smart 
 a lad. So she smartened him up, and made him as 
 tidy as she could ; and he himself brought out his new 
 shoes, and rubbed them till they shone so he could 
 see his face in them, and when he had done that, off" 
 he went. 
 
 This time he did not take the short cut, but made a 
 great bend, for down to the rats he would not go if he 
 
33° Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 could help it, he was so tired of all that wiggle-waggle 
 and that everlasting bridal gossip. As for the weather 
 and the ways, they were just as they had been tvrice 
 before. The sun shone, so that it was dazzling on the 
 pools and bog-holes, and the lad sang and sprang as he 
 was wont; but just as he sang and jumped, before he 
 knew where he was, he was on the very same bridge 
 across the bog again. So he was to jump from the 
 bridge over a bog-hole on to a tuft, that he might not 
 dirty his bright shoes. Plump it went, and it gave 
 way with him, and there was no stopping till he was 
 down in the same nasty deep, dark hole again. At first 
 he was glad, for he could see nothing ; but when he had 
 been there a while he had a glimpse of the ugly rat, 
 and he was so loath to see her with the bunch of keys 
 at the end of her tail. 
 
 "Good day, my boy!" said the rat; "you shall be 
 heartily welcome again, for I see you can't bear to be 
 any longer without me. Thank you, thank you kindly ; 
 but now everything is ready for the wedding, and we 
 shall set off to church at once." 
 
 " Something dreadful is going to happen," thought 
 the lad, but he said nothing out loud. 
 
 Then the rat whistled, and there came swarming out 
 such a lot of small rats and mice out of all the holes 
 and crannies, and six big rats came harnessed to a 
 frying-pan ; two mice got up behind as footmen, and 
 two got up before and drove ; some, too, got into the 
 pan, and the rat with the bunch of keys at her tail 
 took her seat among them. Then she said to the 
 lad— 
 
 "The road is a httle narrow here, so you must be 
 
Mother Roundabout's Daughter 331 
 
 good enough to walk by the side of the carriage, my 
 darling boy, till it gets broader, and then you shall 
 have leave to sit up in the carriage alongside of me." 
 
 "Very fine that will be, I dare say," thought the 
 lad. • " If I were only well above ground, I'd run away 
 from the whole pack of you." That was what he 
 thought, but he said nothing out loud. 
 
 So he followed them as well as he could ; sometimes 
 he had to creep on all fours, and sometimes he had to 
 stoop and bend his back well, for the road was low 
 and narrow in places; but when it got broader he 
 went on in front, and looked about him how he might 
 best give them the slip and run away. But as he 
 went forward he heard a clear, sweet voice behind 
 him, which said — 
 
 "Now the road is good. Come, my dear, and get 
 up into the carriage." 
 
 The lad turned round in a trice, and had near lost 
 both nose and ears. There stood the grandest carriage, 
 with six white horses to it, and in the carriage sat a 
 maiden as bright and lovely as the sun, and round 
 her sat others who were as pretty and soft as stars. 
 They were a princess and her playfellows, who had 
 been bewitched all together. But now they were free, 
 because he had come down to them, and never said a 
 word against them. 
 
 " Come now," said the princess. So the lad stepped 
 up into the carriage, and they drove to church ; and 
 when they drove from church again the princess said, 
 " Now we will drive first to my house, and then we'll 
 send to fetch your mother." 
 
 " That is all very well," thought the lad, for he still 
 
332 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 said nothing, even now ; but, for all that, he thought 
 it would be better to go home to his mother than down 
 into that nasty rat-hole. But just as he thought that, 
 they came to a grand castle ; into it they turned, and 
 there they were to dwell. And so a grand carriage 
 with six horses was sent to fetch the goody, and when 
 it came back they set to work at the wedding feast. It 
 lasted fourteen days, and maybe they are still at it. 
 So let us all make haste ; perhaps we too may come 
 in time to drink the bridegroom's health and dance 
 with the bride. 
 
The Green Knight 
 
 NCE on a time there 
 was a king who was 
 a widower, and he 
 had an only daughter. 
 But it is an old say- 
 ing, that a widower's 
 grief is like knocking 
 your funnybone — it 
 hurts, but it soon 
 passes away ; and so 
 the king married a 
 queen who had two 
 daughters. Now this 
 queen — well, she 
 was no better than 
 stepmothers are 
 wont to be; snappish 
 and spiteful she always was to her stepdaughter. 
 
 Well, a long time after, when they were grown up, 
 these three girls, war broke out, and the king had to go 
 forth to fight for his country and his kingdom. But 
 before he went the three daughters had leave to say 
 what the king should buy and bring home for each 
 of them, if he won the day against the foe. 
 
334 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 So the stepdaughters were to speak first, as you 
 may fancy, and say what they wished. 
 
 Well, the first wished for a golden spinning-wheel, 
 so small that it could stand on a sixpenny-piece ; and 
 the second, she begged for a golden winder, so small 
 that it could stand on a sixpenny-piece ; that was what 
 they wanted to have, and till they had them there was 
 no spinning or winding to be got out of them. But 
 his own daughter, she would ask for no other thing 
 than that he would greet the Green Knight in her 
 name. 
 
 So the king went out to war, and whithersoever he 
 went he won, and however things turned out he brought 
 the things he had promised his stepdaughters ; but he 
 had clean forgotten what his own daughter had begged 
 him to do, till at last he made a feast because he had 
 won the day. 
 
 Then it was that he set eyes on a Green Knight, and 
 all at once his daughter's words came into his head, 
 and he greeted him in her name. The Green Knight 
 thanked him for the greeting, and gave him a book 
 which looked like a hymn-book with parchment clasps. 
 That the king was to take home and give her ; but he 
 was not to unclasp it, or the princess either, till she 
 was all alone. 
 
 So, when the king had done fighting and feasting he 
 went home again, and he had scarce got inside the door 
 before his stepdaughters clung round him to get what 
 he had promised to buy them. Yes, he said, he had 
 brought them what they wished ; but his own daughter, 
 she held back and asked for nothing, and the king 
 forgot all about it too, till one day when he was going 
 
The Green Knight 
 
 335 
 
 out, and he put on the coat he had worn at the feast, 
 and just as he thrust his hand into his pocket for his 
 handkerchief, he felt the book, and knew what it was. 
 
 So he gave it to his daughter, and said he was 
 to greet her with it from the Green Knight, and she 
 mustn't unclasp it till she was all alone. 
 
 Well, that evening when she was by herself in her 
 bedroom she un- 
 clasped the book, 
 and as soon as she 
 did so she heard 
 a strain of music, 
 so sweet she had 
 never heard the 
 like of it ; and then, 
 what do you think ? 
 Why, the Green 
 Knight came to her 
 and told her the 
 book was such a 
 book that whenever 
 she unclasped it he 
 must come to her, 
 
 and it would be all the same wherever she might be, 
 and when she clasped it again he would be off and 
 away again. 
 
 Well, she unclasped the book often and often in the 
 evenings when she was alone and at rest, and the 
 knight always came to her, and was almost always 
 there. But her stepmother, who was always thrust- 
 ing her nose into everything, she found out there was 
 some one with her in her room, and she was not long 
 
336 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 in telling it to the king. But he wouldn't believe it. 
 No, he said, they must watch first and see if it was 
 so before they trumped up such stories, and took her 
 to task for them. 
 
 So one evening they stood outside the door and 
 listened, and it seemed as though they heard some 
 one talking inside ; but when they went in there was 
 no one. 
 
 " Who was it you were talking with ? " asked the 
 stepmother, both sharp and cross. 
 
 " It was no one, indeed," said the princess. 
 
 " Nay," said she, " I heard it as plain as day." 
 
 " Oh," said the princess, " I only lay and read aloud 
 out of a prayerrbook." 
 
 " Show it me," said the queen. 
 
 "Well, then, it was only a prayer-book after all, 
 and she must have leave to read that," the king said. 
 
 But the stepmother thought just the same as before, 
 and so she bored a hole through the wall and stood 
 prying about there. So one evening when she heard 
 that the knight was in the room, she tore open the 
 door and came flying into her stepdaughter's room 
 like a blast of wind ; but she was not slow in clasping 
 the book either, and he was off and away in a trice ; 
 but however quick she had been, for all that her step- 
 mother caught a glimpse of him, so that she was sure 
 some one had been there. 
 
 It happened just then that the king was setting out 
 on a long, long journey ; and while he was away the 
 queen had a deep pit dug down into the ground, and 
 there she built up a dungeon, and in the stone and 
 mortar she laid ratsbane and other strong poisons, so 
 
The Green Knight 337 
 
 that not so much as a mouse could get through the 
 wall. As for the master-mason, he was well paid, and 
 gave his word to fly the land; but he didn't, for he 
 stayed where he was. Then the princess was thrown 
 into that dungeon with her maid, and when they were 
 inside the queen walled up the door, and left only a 
 little hole open at the top to let down food to them. 
 So there she sat and sorrowed, and the time seemed 
 long, and longer than long ; but at last she remembered 
 she had her book with her, and took it out and un- 
 clasped it. First of all she heard the same sweet 
 strain she had heard before, and then arose a grievous 
 sound of wailing, and just then the Green Knight 
 came. 
 
 " I am at death's door," he said ; and then he told 
 her that her stepmother had laid poison in the mortar, 
 and he did not know if he should ever come out alive. 
 So when she clasped the book up as fast as she could, 
 she heard the same wailing sound. 
 
 But you must know the maid who was shut up with 
 her had a sweetheart, and she sent word to him to go 
 to the master-mason, and beg him to make the hole at 
 top big enough for them to creep out at it. If he would 
 do that, the princess would pay him so well he could 
 live in plenty all his days. Yes, he did so, and they 
 set out and travelled far, far away in strange lands, she 
 and her maid, and wherever they came they asked after 
 the Green Knight. 
 
 So after a long, long time they came to a castle which 
 was all hung with black ; and just as they were passing 
 by it a shower of rain fell, and so the princess stepped 
 into the church porch to wait till the rain was over. 
 
338 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 As she stood there, a young man and an old man came 
 by, who also wished to take shelter ; but the princess 
 drew away farther into a corner, so that they did not 
 see her. 
 
 " Why is it," said the young man, " that the king's 
 castle is hung with black ? " 
 
 " Don't you know," said the greybeard, " the prince 
 
 here is sick to death, he whom they call the Green 
 Knight ? " And so he went on telling him how it had all 
 happened. So when the young man had listened to 
 the story, he asked if there was any one who could 
 make him well again. 
 
 "Nay, nay," said the other; "there is but one 
 cure, and that is if the maiden who was shut up in the 
 
The Green Knight 339 
 
 dungeon were to come and pluck healing plants in the 
 fields, and boil them in sweet milk, and wash him with 
 them thrice." 
 
 Then he went on reckoning up the plants that were 
 needful before he could get well again. 
 
 All this the princess heard, and she kept it in her 
 head ; and when the rain was over the two men went 
 away, nor did she bide there long either. 
 
 So when they got home to the house in which they 
 lived, out they went at once to get all kinds of plants 
 and grasses in the field and wood, she and the maid, 
 and they plucked and gathered early and late till she 
 had got all that she was to boil. Then she bought 
 her a doctor's hat and a doctor's gown, and went to 
 the king's castle, and offered to make the prince well 
 again. 
 
 " No, no ; it is no good," said the king. So many 
 had been there and tried, but he always got worse 
 instead of better. But she would not yield, and gave 
 her word he should be well, and that soon and happily. 
 Well, then, she might have leave to try, and so she 
 went into the Green Knight's bedroom and washed 
 him the first time. And when she came the next day 
 he was so well he could sit up in bed ; the day after 
 he was man enough to walk about the room, and the 
 third he was as well and lively as a fish in the water. 
 
 " Now he may go out hunting," said the doctor. 
 
 Then the king was as overjoyed with the doctor as 
 a bird in broad day. But the doctor said he must go 
 home. 
 
 Then she threw off her hat and gown, and dressed 
 herself smart, and made a feast, and then she unclasped 
 
34° Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 the book. Then arose the same joyful strain as of old, 
 and in a trice the Green Knight was there, and he 
 wondered much to know how she had got thither. 
 
 So she told him all about it, and how it had hap- 
 pened ; and when they had eaten and drunk he took her 
 straight up to the castle, and told the king the whole 
 story from beginning to end. Then there was such a 
 bridal and such a feast ; and when it was over they set 
 off to the bride's home, and there was great joy in her 
 father's heart ; but they took the. stepmother and rolled 
 her down-hill in a cask full of spikes. 
 
Boots and his Crew 
 
 NCE on a time there 
 was a king, and that 
 king had heard talk of 
 a ship that went as fast 
 by land as it did by 
 water; so he set his 
 heart on having such a 
 ship, and he gave his 
 word that the man who 
 could build it should 
 have the princess and 
 half the kingdom. And 
 this promise he had 
 given out in every 
 parish church in the 
 realm, and at every 
 parish meeting. There 
 were many that tried 
 their hands, you may fancy ; for it was a nice thing to 
 have half the kingdom, and it was brave to get the 
 princess into the bargain ; but it went ill with most of 
 them. 
 
 So there were three brothers away in the wood ; the 
 eldest was called Peter, the second Paul, and the 
 
342 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 youngest Osborn Boots, because he was for ever sitting 
 and grubbing in the ashes. But it so happened that 
 on the Sunday when the king's promise was given out, 
 he was at church too. So when he got home and told 
 the story, his eldest brother, Peter, begged his mother 
 for some food, for he was bent on setting off, and trying 
 his luck, if he couldn't build the ship and win the 
 princess and half the realm. So when he had got his 
 wallet full he strode off" from the farm, and on the 
 way he met an old, old man, who was so bent and 
 wretched. 
 
 "Whither away ? " asked the old man. 
 
 " Oh," said Peter, " I'm off to the wood to make a 
 platter for my father, for he doesn't like to eat out of 
 the same dish with us." 
 
 " A platter it shall be," said the man ; " but what 
 have you in your knapsack ? " 
 
 " Muck," said Peter. 
 
 " Muck it shall be," said the man, and they parted. 
 
 So Peter strode on till he came to a grove of oaks, 
 and then he fell to chopping and carpentering ; but for 
 all his hewing and all his carpentering he could turn 
 out nothing but platter after platter. So when it got 
 towards mid-day he was going to take a snack, and 
 opened his wallet. But there was not a morsel of food 
 in it ; and as he had nothing to eat, and did not get on 
 any better with the carpentering, he got weary of the 
 work, and took his axe and wallet on his back, and strode 
 off home to his mother again. 
 
 Next Paul was for setting off to try if he had any 
 luck in shipbuilding, and could win the king's daughter 
 and half the kingdom. He, too, begged his mother 
 
Boots and his Crew 343 
 
 for food ; and when he had got it, he threw his wallet 
 over his shoulder and set off from their farm. On 
 the way he met an old man, who was so bent and 
 wretched. 
 
 "Whither away ?" said the man. 
 
 " Oh, I'm just going to the wood to make a pig 
 trough for our little pig," said Paul. 
 
 "A pig trough it shall be," said the man. 
 
 "What have you got in your wallet?" asked the 
 man. 
 
 " Muck," said Paul. 
 
 " Muck it shall be," said the man. 
 
 So Paul trudged off to the wood, and fell to hewing 
 and carpentering as hard as he could ; but however 
 he hewed and however he carpentered, he could turn 
 out nothing but pig troughs and pig tubs. Still he 
 wouldn't give in, but worked till far on in the afternoon 
 before he thought of taking a little snack ; then he got 
 so hungry all at once that he must take out his knap- 
 sack, but when he opened it there was not a morsel 
 of food in it. 
 
 Then Paul got so cross that he rolled up the knap- 
 sack and dashed it against a stump, and then he 
 shouldered his axe, and trudged away home from the 
 wood as fast as he could. 
 
 So when Paul had come home. Boots was all for 
 setting out in his turn, and begged his mother for 
 food. 
 
 " Maybe I might be man enough to get the ship 
 built, and win the princess and half the kingdom." 
 That was what he said. 
 
 " Yes, yes, a likely thing," said his mother. " You 
 
344 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 look like winning the princess and the kingdom, that 
 you do, by my troth ; you, who have done naught else 
 than grub and poke about in the ashes. No, no, you 
 don't get any food," said the goody. 
 
 But Boots would not give in; he begged so long, 
 that at last he got leave. As for food, he got none ; 
 was it likely ? But he got by 
 stealth two oatcakes and a drop 
 of stale beer, and with them he 
 trudged off from the farm. 
 
 Well, when he had walked a 
 while he met the same old man, 
 who was so bent and vile and 
 wretched. 
 
 "Whither away?" asked the 
 man. 
 
 " Oh, I'm going into the wood 
 
 to build me a ship which wiU go 
 
 as well on land as on sea; for 
 
 you must know that the king 
 
 has given out that the man who can build such a 
 
 ship shall have the princess and half the realm." 
 
 " What have you got in your wallet ? " asked the man. 
 "Not much to brag of," said Boots, "though it's 
 called travelling fare." 
 
 " If you'll give me some of your food, I'll help you," 
 said the man. 
 
 " With all my heart," said Boots ; " but there's nothing 
 but two oatcakes and a drop of stale beer." 
 
 It was all the same to him what it was, said the 
 man, so that he got something ; and he would be sure 
 to help him. 
 
Boots and his Crew 345 
 
 So when they got up to the old oak in the wood, the 
 man said to the lad — 
 
 "Now you must chop out one chip, and you must 
 put it back where it came from, and when you have 
 done that you may lie down and sleep. 
 
 Yes; Boots did as he said; he laid him down to 
 sleep, and in his slumber he thought he heard some 
 one hewing and hammering, and carpentering, and 
 sawing, and planing, but he could not wake up till 
 the man called him, and then there stood the ship all 
 ready alongside the oak. 
 
 " Now you must go aboard her, and every one you 
 meet you must take as one of your crew," he said. 
 
 Yes ; Boots thanked him for the ship, and sailed off, 
 saying he'd be sure to do what he said. 
 
 So when he had sailed a while, he came upon a 
 great, long, thin fellow, who lay away by the hillside 
 and ate granite. 
 
 "What kind of chap are you," said Boots, "that 
 you lie here eating granite ? " 
 
 Well, he was so sharp set for meat he could never 
 have his fill, and that was why he was forced to eat 
 granite. That was what he said ; and then he begged 
 if he might have leave to be one of the ship's company. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Boots ; " if you care to come, step on 
 board." 
 
 Yes, he was willing enough, and he took with him a 
 few big granite boulders as his sea stores. 
 
 So when they had sailed a bit farther they met a 
 man who lay on a sunny brae and sucked at a tap. 
 
 " What sort of a chap are you ? " asked Boots, " and 
 what good is it that you lie there sucking at that tap ? " 
 
346 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " Oh," said he, " when one hasn't got the cask, one 
 must be thankful for the tap. I am always so thirsty 
 for ale, that I can never drink enough ale or wine ; " 
 and then he asked if he might have leave to be one 
 of the ship's company. 
 
 " If you care to come, step on board," said Boots. 
 
 Yes, he was willing enough, 
 and he stepped on board and 
 took the tap with him lest he 
 should be a-thirst. 
 
 So when they had sailed 
 a bit farther they met one 
 who lay with one ear on the 
 ground listening. 
 
 "What sort of a chap are 
 you ? " asked Boots ; " and 
 what good is it that you 
 lie there on the ground list- 
 ening ? " 
 
 "I am listening to the 
 grass growing," he said, " for 
 I am so quick of hearing that 
 I can hear it grow ; " and so 
 he begged that he might be 
 one of the ship's company. 
 Well, he too did not get " Nay." 
 " If you care to come, step on board," said Boots. 
 Yes, he was willing enough, and so up he, too, 
 stepped into the ship. 
 
 So when they had sailed a bit farther, they came to 
 a man who stood aiming and aiming. 
 
 "What sort of a chap are you?" said Boots; 
 
Boots and his Crew 347 
 
 "and why is it that you stand there aiming and 
 aiming ? " 
 
 " I am so sharp-sighted," he said, " that I'm a dead 
 shot up to the world's end ; " and so he, too, asked if he 
 might have leave to be one of the ship's company. 
 
 " If you care to come, step in," said Boots. 
 
 Yes, he was willing enough, and so he stepped up 
 into the ship and joined Boots and his comrades. 
 
 So when they had sailed a bit farther, they came on 
 a man who went about hopping on one leg, and on the 
 other he had seven hundredweight. 
 
 " What sort of a chap are you ? " asked Boots ; " and 
 what's the good of your limping and hopping on one 
 leg, with seven hundredweight on the other ? " 
 
 " Oh," said he, " I'm as light as a feather, and if I 
 went on both legs I should be at the world's end in 
 less than five minutes ; " and so he, too, begged if he 
 might have leave to be one of the ship's company. 
 
 " It you care to come, step in," said Boots. 
 
 Yes, he was willing enough, and he stepped on 
 board to Boots and his comrades. 
 
 So when they had sailed a bit farther, they met a 
 man who stood holding his throat. 
 
 "What sort of a chap are you ? " asked Boots ; " and 
 why in the world do you stand here holding your 
 throat ? " 
 
 "Oh," said he, "you must know I have got seven 
 summers and fifteen winters inside me, so I've good 
 need to hold my gullet, for if they all slipped out at 
 once they'd freeze the whole world in a trice." That 
 was what he said, and so he begged leave to be with 
 them. 
 
348 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " If you care to come, step in," said Boots. 
 
 Yes, he was willing enough, and so he, too, stepped 
 on board the ship to the rest. 
 
 So when they had sailed a good bit farther, they 
 came to the king's grange. Then Boots strode straight 
 into the king, and said that the ship was ready out 
 in the courtyard, and now he was come to claim the 
 princess, as the king had given his word. 
 
 But the king wouldn't hear of it, for Boots did not 
 look very nice ; he was grimy and sooty, and the king 
 was loath to give his daughter to such a fellow. So he 
 said he must wait a little ; he couldn't have the princess 
 until they cleared a barn which the king had with three 
 hundred casks of salt meat in it. 
 
 " All the same," said the king, " if you can do it by 
 this time to-morrow, you shall have her." 
 
 " I can but try," said Boots ; " I may have leave, 
 perhaps, to take one of my crew with me ? " 
 
 Yes, he might have leave to do that, even if he 
 took them all six, said the king ; for he thought it quite 
 beyond his power, though he had six hundred to help 
 him. 
 
 But Boots only took with him the man who ate 
 granite, and was always so sharp set; and so when 
 they came next morning and unlocked the barn, if he 
 hadn't eaten all the casks, so that there was nothing 
 left but half-a-dozen spare-ribs, and that was only one 
 for each of his other comrades. So Boots strode in to 
 the king, and said now the barn was empty, and now 
 he might have the princess. 
 
 Then the king went out to the barn, and empty it 
 was, that was plain enough; but still Boots was so 
 
Boots and his Crew 349 
 
 sooty and smutty, that the king thought it a shame 
 that such a fellow should have his daughter. So he 
 said he had a cellar full of ale and old wine, three 
 hundred casks of each kind, which he must have drunk 
 out first, and said the king — 
 
 " All the same, if you are man enough to drink them 
 out by this time to-morrow, you shall have her." 
 
 " I can but try," said Boots ; " but I may have leave, 
 perhaps, to take one of my comrades with me." 
 
 " With all my heart," said the king, who thought he 
 had so much ale and wine that the whole seven of them 
 would soon get more than their skins could hold. 
 
 But Boots only took with him the man who sucked 
 the tap, and who had such a swallow for ale, and then 
 the king locked them both up in the cellar. 
 
 So he drunk cask after cask as long as there were 
 any left, but at last he spared a drop or two, about as 
 much as a quart or two, for each of his comrades. 
 Next morning they unlocked the cellar, and Boots 
 strode off at once to the king, and said he was done 
 with the ale and wine, and now he must have his 
 daughter as he had given his word. 
 
 " Ay, ay ! but I must first go down into the cellar 
 and see," said the king, for he didn't believe it. But 
 when he got to the cellar, there was nothing in it but 
 empty casks. But Boots was still black and smutty, 
 and the king thought he never could bear to have such 
 a fellow for his son-in-law. So he said, " No ; " but all 
 the same, if he could fetch him water from the world's 
 end in ten minutes for the princess's tea, he should 
 have both her and half the realm ; for he thought that 
 quite out of his power. 
 
350 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " I can but try," said Boots ; so he laid hand on him 
 who limped on one leg with seven hundredweight on 
 the other, and said he must unbuckle the weights, and 
 use both his legs as fast as ever he could ; for he must 
 have water from the world's end for the princess's tea 
 in ten minutes. 
 
 So he took off the weights, and got a pail, and set 
 off, and was out of sight in a trice. But time went on 
 and on, for seven lengths and seven breadths, and yet 
 he did not come back. At last there were no more 
 than three minutes left till the time was up, and the 
 king was as pleased as though some one had given 
 him a horse. But just then Boots bawled out to him 
 who heard the grass grow, and bade him listen and 
 hear what had become of him. 
 
 " He has fallen asleep at the well," he said. " I can 
 hear him snoring, and the Trolls are combing his hair." 
 
 So Boots called him who could shoot to the world's 
 end, and bade him put a bullet into the Troll. Yes, 
 he did that, and shot him right in the eye, and the 
 Troll set up such a howl that he woke up at once him 
 that was to fetch the water for tea; and when he got 
 back to the king's grange, there was still one minute 
 left of the ten. 
 
 Then Boots strode into the king, and said there was 
 the water, and now he must have the princess, there 
 must be no words about it. But more the king thought 
 him just as sooty and smutty as before, and did not 
 at all like to have him for a son-in-law. So the king 
 said he had three hundred fathoms of wood, with 
 which he was about to dry corn in the malt-house, 
 and "all the same, if you are man enough to get 
 
Boots and his Crew 351 
 
 inside it while I burn up all that fuel, you shall have 
 her, and I will make no more bones about it." 
 
 " I can but try," said Boots ; " but I must have leave 
 to take one of my crew with me." 
 
 " Yes, yes," said the king, " all six of them if you 
 like;" for he thought it would be warm enough in 
 there for all of them. 
 
 But Boots took with him the man who had fifteen 
 winters and seven summers inside him, and they 
 trudged off to the malt-house at night. But the king 
 had laid the fuel on thick, and there was such a 
 pile burning, it almost melted the stove. Out again 
 they could not come, for they had scarce set foot 
 inside than the king shot the bolt behind them, and 
 hung two padlocks on the door besides. Then Boots 
 said — 
 
 "You'd better slip out six or seven winters at once, 
 so that it may be a nice summer heat." 
 
 Then the heat fell, and they could bear it, but on in 
 the night it began to grow chilly; so Boots said he 
 must make it milder with two summers, and then they 
 slept till far on next day. 
 
 But when they heard the king rattling at the door 
 outside. Boots said — 
 
 " Now you must let slip two more winters, but lay 
 them so that the last may go full on his face." 
 
 Yes, he did so; and when the king unlocked the 
 malt-house door, and thought to find them lying there 
 burnt to cinders, there they sat shivering and shaking 
 till their teeth chattered, and the man with the fifteen 
 winters let slip the last right into the king's face, so 
 that it swelled up at once into a big frost-bite. 
 
352 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "May I HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER NOW?" Said 
 Boots. 
 
 " Yes, yes ; pray take her and keep her, and half 
 the realm besides," said the king, for he couldn't say 
 "No" any longer. 
 
 So they held the bridal feast, and kept it up and 
 rejoiced and fired off witch-shots, and meanwhile they 
 went looking about for charges ; and then they took me 
 and gave me porridge in a flask and milk in a basket, 
 and then they shot me off here to you, that I might 
 tell you all how the wedding went off. 
 
The Town-Mouse and the 
 
 Fell-Mouse 
 
 NCE on a time there was a fell- 
 mouse and a town-mouse, and 
 they met on a hill brae, where 
 the fell -mouse sat in a hazel 
 thicket and plucked nuts. 
 
 " God help you ! sister," said 
 the town -mouse. "Do I meet 
 my kinsfolk here so far out in the country ? " 
 " Yes, so it is," said the fell-mouse. 
 "You gather these nuts and carry them to your 
 house ? " said the town-mouse. 
 
 "Yes, I must do it," said the fell-mouse, " if we are 
 to have anything to live on." 
 
 "The husks are long and the kernels full this year," 
 said the town-mouse, "so I dare say they will help 
 to fill out a starveling body." 
 
 " You are quite right," said the fell-mouse ; and then 
 she told her how well and happily she lived. But the 
 town-mouse thought she was better off; and the fell- 
 mouse would not give in, but said there was no place 
 so good as wood and fell, and as for herself, she had 
 far the best of it. 
 
354 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Still the town-mouse said she was sure she had the 
 best of it, and they could not agree at all. So at last 
 they promised to pay one another a visit at Yule, that 
 they might taste and see which lived best. The town- 
 mouse was the one that had to pay the first visit, and 
 she went through woods and deep dales; for though 
 the fell-mouse had come down to the lowlands for the 
 winter, the road was both long and heavy. It was 
 uphill work, and the snow was both deep and soft, 
 so that she was both weary and hungry by the time 
 she got to her journey's end. 
 
 " Now I shall be glad to get some food," she said, 
 when she got there. As for the fell-mouse, she had 
 scraped together all sorts of good things. There were 
 kernels of nuts, and liquorice-root and other roots, 
 and much else that grows in wood and field. All 
 this she had in a hole deep under-ground where it 
 would not freeze, and close by was a spring which was 
 open all the winter, so that she could drink as much 
 water as she chose. There was plenty of what was 
 to be had, and they fed both well and good ; but the 
 town-mouse thought it was not more than sorry fare. 
 
 " One can keep life together with this," she said ; 
 " but it isn't choice, not at all. But now you must be 
 so kind as come to me, and taste what we have in 
 town." 
 
 Well, the fell-mouse was willing, and it was not 
 long before she came. Then the town-mouse had 
 gathered together something of all the Christmas fare 
 which the mistress of the house had dropped as she 
 went about, when she had taken a drop too much at 
 Yule. There were bits of cheese, and odds and ends 
 
The Town-Mouse and the Fell-Mouse 355 
 
 of butter and tallow, and cheese-cakes and tipsy-cake, 
 and much else that was nice. In the jar under the 
 ale-tap she had drink enough, and the whole room was 
 full of all kinds of dainties. They fed and lived well, 
 and there was no end to the fell-mouse's greediness. 
 Such fare she had never tasted. At last she got 
 thirsty, for the food was both strong and rich, and 
 now she must have a drink of water. 
 
 "It is not far off to the ale," said the town-mouse; 
 " that's the drink for us ; " and with that she jumped 
 up on the edge of the jar, and drank her thirst out; 
 but she drank no more than she could carry, for she 
 knew the Yule ale, and how strong it was. But as for 
 the fell-mouse, she thought it famous drink, for she 
 had never tasted anything but water, and now she 
 took sip after sip; but she was no judge of strong 
 drink, and so the end was she got drunk, for she 
 tumbled down and got wild in her head, and felt her 
 feet tingle, till she began to run and to jump about 
 from one beer-barrel to the other, and to dance and 
 cut capers on the shelves among the cups and jugs, 
 and to whistle and whine, just as though she were 
 tipsy and silly; and tipsy she was, there was no gain- 
 saying it. 
 
 " You mustn't behave as though you had just come 
 from the hills," said the town-mouse. "Don't make 
 such a noise, and don't lead us such a life ; we have a 
 hard master here." 
 
 But the fell-mouse said she cared not a pin for man 
 or master. 
 
 But all this while the cat sat up on the trap-door 
 above the cellar, and listened and spied both to their 
 
356 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 talk and pranks. Just then the goody came down to 
 draw a mug of ale, and, as she lifted the trap-door, 
 the cat stole into the cellar and fixed her claws into 
 the fell-mouse. Then there was another dance. The 
 town-mouse crept into her hole, and sat safe looking 
 on ; but the fell-mouse got sober all at once, as soon as 
 she felt the cat's claws. 
 
 " Oh, my dear master, my dear master ! be merciful 
 and spare my life, and I'll tell you a story." That was 
 what she said. 
 
 " Out with it, then," said the cat. 
 
 " Once on a time there were two small mice," said 
 the fell-mouse; and she squeaked so pitifully and 
 slowly, for she wanted to drag the story out as long 
 as she could. 
 
 "Then they were not alone," said the cat, both 
 sharply and drily. 
 
 " And so we had a steak we were going to cook.'' 
 
 "Then you were not starved," said the cat. 
 
 " So we put it up on the roof that it might cool itself 
 well," said the fell-mouse. 
 
 "Then you didn't burn your tongues," said the 
 cat. 
 
 " So then the fox and the crow came and gobbled 
 it up," said the fell-mouse. 
 
 "And so I'll gobble you up," said the cat. 
 
 But just then the goody slammed to the trap-door 
 again, so that the cat got afraid and loosed her hold, 
 and pop ! the fell-mouse was away in the town- 
 mouse's hole, and from it there was a way out into 
 the snow, and the fell-mouse was not slow in setting 
 off home. 
 
The Town-Mouse and the Fell-Mouse 357 
 
 "This you call living well, and you say that you 
 live best ? " she said to the town-mouse. " Heaven 
 help me to a better mind ! for with such a big house, 
 and such a hawk for a master, I could scarce get off 
 with my life." 
 
Silly Matt 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a goody who had a 
 son called Matthew ; but he was so stupid, that 
 he had no sense for anything, nor would he 
 do much either; and the little he did was always 
 topsy-turvy and never right, and so they never called 
 him anything but " Silly Matt." 
 
 All this the goody thought bad ; 
 and it was still worse, she thought, 
 that her son idled about and never 
 turned his hand to anything else 
 than yawning and stretching him- 
 self between the four walls. 
 
 Now close to where they lived 
 ran a great river, and the stream 
 was strong and bad to cross. So, 
 one day, the goody said to the 
 lad, that as there was no lack of 
 timber there, for it grew almost 
 up to the cottage-wall, he must 
 cut some down and drag it to 
 the bank and try to build a bridge 
 over the river and take toll, and then he would 
 both have something to do and something to live upon 
 
 besides. 
 
 358 
 
Silly Matt 359 
 
 Yes, Matt thought so too, for his mother had said 
 it; what she begged him do, he would do. That 
 was safe and sure, he said, for what she said must 
 be so, and not otherwise. So he hewed down timber, 
 and dragged it down and built a bridge. It didn't 
 go so awfully fast with the work, but at any rate, 
 he had his hands full while it went on. 
 
 When the bridge was ready, the lad was to stand 
 down at its end and take toll of those who wanted to 
 cross, and his mother bade him be sure not to let any 
 one over unless they paid the toll. It was all the 
 same, she said, if it were not always in money. Goods 
 and wares were just as good pay. 
 
 So the first day came three chaps with each his load 
 of hay, and wanted to cross the bridge. 
 
 " No, no," said the lad, " you can't go over till I've 
 taken the toll." 
 
 " We've nothing to pay it with," they said. 
 
 "Well, then, you can't cross; but it's all the same, 
 if it isn't money ; goods will do just as well." 
 
 So they gave him each a wisp of hay, and he had 
 as much as would go on a little hand-sledge, and then 
 they had leave to pass over the bridge. 
 
 Next came a pedlar with his pack, who sold needles 
 and thread and such like small wares, and he wanted 
 to cross. 
 
 " You can't cross till you have paid the toll," said 
 the lad. 
 
 " I've nothing to pay it with," said the pedlar. 
 
 " You have wares, at any rate." 
 
 So the pedlar took out two needles and gave them 
 him, and then he had leave to cross the bridge. As 
 
360 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 for the needles, the lad stuck them into the hay, and 
 soon set off home. 
 
 So when he got home, he said, " Now, I have taken 
 the toll, and got something to live on." 
 
 " What did you get ? " asked the goody. 
 
 " Oh," said he, " there came three chaps, each with 
 his load of hay. They each gave me a wisp of hay, so 
 that I got a little sledge-load; and next, I got two 
 needles from a pedlar." 
 
 "What did you do with the hay?" asked the 
 goody. 
 
 " I tried it between my teeth ; but it tasted only of 
 grass, so I threw it into the river." 
 
 " You ought to have spread it out on the byre-floor," 
 said the goody. 
 
 "Well, I'll do that next time, mother," he said. 
 
 " And what, then, did you do with the needles ? " said 
 the goody. 
 
 " I stuck them in the hay." 
 
 "Ah!" said his mother, "you are a born fool. 
 You should have stuck them in and out of your cap." 
 
 " Well, don't say another word, mother, and I'll be 
 sure to do so next time." 
 
 Next day, when the lad stood down at the foot of 
 the bridge again, there came a man from the mill with 
 a sack of meal, and wanted to cross. 
 
 "You can't cross till you pay the toll," said the 
 lad. 
 
 " I've no pence to pay it with," said the man. 
 
 "Well, you can't cross," said the lad; "but goods 
 are good pay." So he got a pound of meal, and the 
 man had leave to cross. 
 
Silly Matt 361 
 
 Not long after came a smith with a horse-pack of 
 smith's work, and wanted to cross ; but it was still the 
 same. 
 
 "You mustn't cross till you've paid the toll," said 
 the lad. But he, too, had no money either; so he 
 gave the lad a gimlet, and then he had leave to 
 cross. 
 
 So when the lad got home to his mother, the toll 
 was the first thing she asked about. 
 
 "What did you take for toll to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, there came a man from the mill with a sack 
 of meal, and he gave me a pound of meal ; and then 
 came a smith, with a horse-load of smith's-work, and 
 he gave me a gimlet." 
 
 "And pray, what did you do with the gimlet?" 
 asked the goody. 
 
 " I did as you bade me, mother,'' said the lad ; " 1 
 stuck it in and out of my cap." 
 
 "Oh, but that was silly," said the goody; "you 
 oughtn't to have stuck it out and in your cap; but you 
 should have stuck it up your shirt-sleeve." 
 
 " Ay, ay ! only be still, mother, and I'll be sure to 
 do it next time." 
 
 "And what did you do with the meal, I'd like to 
 know ? " said the goody. 
 
 " Oh, I did as you bade me, mother ; I spread it 
 over the byre-floor." 
 
 " Never heard anything so silly in my born days," 
 said the goody. " Why, you ought to have gone home 
 for a pail and put it into it." 
 
 " Well, well ! only be still, mother," said the lad, 
 " and I'll be sure to do it next time." 
 
362 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Next day the lad was down at the foot of the bridge 
 to take toll, and so there came a man with a horse-load 
 of brandy, and wanted to cross. 
 
 " You can't cross till you pay the toll," said the lad. 
 
 " I've got no money," said the man. 
 
 "Well, then, you can't cross; but you have goods, 
 of course," said the lad. Yes ; so he got half a quart 
 of brandy, and that he poured up his shirt-sleeve. 
 
 A while after came a man with a drove of goats, and 
 wanted to cross the bridge. 
 
 "You can't cross till you pay the toll," said the lad. 
 
 Well, he was no richer than the rest. He had no 
 money; but still he gave the lad a little billy-goat, 
 and he got over with his drove. But the lad took the 
 goat and trod it down into a bucket he had brought 
 with him. So when he got home, the goody asked 
 again — 
 
 " What did you take to-day ? " 
 
 " Oh, there came a man with a load of brandy, and 
 from him I got a pint of brandy." 
 
 " And what did you do with it ? " 
 
 " I did as you bade me, mother ; I poured it up my 
 shirt-sleeve." 
 
 " Ay ! but that was silly, my son ; you should have 
 come home to fetch a bottle and poured it into it." 
 
 " Well, well ! be still this time, mother, and I'll be 
 sure to do what you say next time ; " and then he went 
 on, " Next came a man with a drove of goats, and he 
 gave me a little billy-goat, and that I trod down into 
 the bucket." 
 
 " Dear me," said his mother, " that was silly, and 
 sillier than silly, my son ; you should have twisted a 
 
Silly Matt 363 
 
 withy round its neck, and led the billy-goat home 
 by it." 
 
 " Well, be still, mother, and see if I don't do as you 
 say next time." 
 
 Next day he set oif for the bridge again to take toll, 
 and so a man came with a load of butter, and wanted 
 to cross. But the lad said he couldn't cross unless 
 he paid toll. 
 
 " I've nothing to pay it with," said the man. 
 
 " Well, then, you can't cross,'' said the lad ; " but 
 you have goods, and I'll take them instead of money." 
 
 So the man gave him a pat of butter, and then he had 
 leave to cross the bridge ; and the lad strode oif to a 
 grove of willows, and twisted a withy, and twined it 
 round the butter, and dragged it home along the road ; 
 but so long as he went he left some of the butter 
 behind him, and when he got home there was none 
 left. 
 
 "And what did you take to-day ? " asked his mother. 
 
 " There came a man with a load of butter, and he 
 gave me a pat." 
 
 " Butter ! " said the goody, " where is it ? " 
 
 " I did as you bade me, mother," said the lad. " I 
 tied a withy round the pat and led it home ; but it was 
 all lost by the way." 
 
 "Oh," said the goody, "you were born a fool, and 
 you'll die a fool. Now you are not one bit better off 
 for all your toil ; but had you been like other folk, you 
 might have had both meat and brandy, and both hay 
 and tools. If you don't know better how to behave, I 
 don't know what's to be done with you. Maybe you 
 might be more like the rest of the world, and get some 
 
364 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 sense into you, if you were married to some one who 
 could settle things for you, and so I think you had 
 better set off and see about finding a brave lass ; but 
 you must be sure you know how to behave well on 
 the way, and to greet folk prettily when you meet 
 them." 
 
 " And pray, what shall I say to them ? " asked the 
 lad. 
 
 "To think of your asking that," said his mother. 
 " Why, of course, you must bid them ' God's peace.' 
 Don't you know that ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, I'll do as you bid," said the lad ; and 
 so he set off on his way to woo him a wife. 
 
 So, when he had gone a bit of the way he met 
 Greylegs the wolf, with her seven cubs ; and when he 
 got so far as to be alongside them, he stood still and 
 greeted them with " God's peace ; " and when he had 
 said that, he went home again. 
 
 " I said it all as you bade me, mother," said Matt. 
 
 " And what was that ? " asked his mother. 
 
 " ' God's peace,' " said Matt. 
 
 '' And pray, whom did you meet ? " 
 
 " A she-wolf with seven cubs ; that was all I met," 
 said Matt.: 
 
 "Ay, ay! you are like yourself," said his mother; 
 " so it was, and so it will ever be. Why in the world 
 did you say 'God's peace' to a wolf? You should 
 have clapped your hands and said — 'Huf ! huf! you 
 jade of a she-wolf!' That's what you ought to have 
 said." 
 
 "Well, well! be still, mother," he said, "I'll be 
 sure to say so another time ; " and with that he strode 
 
Silly Matt 365 
 
 off from the farm ; and when he had gone a bit on the 
 way, he met a bridal train. So he stood still when he 
 had got well up to the bride and bridegroom, and 
 clapped his hands, and said, "Huf! huf! you jade of 
 a she-wolf ! " After that he went home to his mother, 
 and said — 
 
 "I did as you bade me, mother; but I got a good 
 thrashing for it, that I did." 
 
 " What was it you did ? " she asked. 
 
 "Oh, I clapped my hands and called out, 'Huf! 
 huf! you jade of a she-wolf! ' " 
 
 "And what was it you met ? " 
 
 " I met a bridal train." 
 
 " Ah ! you are a fool, and always will be a fool," 
 said his mother. " Why should you say such things 
 to a bridal train? You should have said, 'Ride happily, 
 bride and bridegroom.' " 
 
 "Well, well! see if I don't say so next time," 
 said the lad, and off he went again. 
 
 So he met a bear, who was taking a ride on a horse, 
 and Matt waited till he came alongside him, and then 
 he said, " A happy ride to you, bride and bridegroom," 
 and then he went back to his mother, and told her how 
 he had said what she bade him. 
 
 "And pray, what was it you said ? " she asked. 
 
 " I said, ' A happy ride to you both, bride and 
 bridegroom.' " 
 
 " And whom did you meet ? " 
 
 " I met a bear taking a ride on a horse," said Matt. 
 
 " My goodness! what a fool you are," said his mother. 
 "You ought to have said, 'To the de'il with you.' 
 That's what you ought to have said." 
 
366 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 "Well, well, mother! I'll be sure to say so next 
 time." 
 
 So he set off again, and this time he met a funeral ; 
 and when he had come well up to the cofBn, he greeted 
 it and said, " To the de'il with you ! " and then he ran 
 home to his mother, and told her he had said what she 
 bade him. 
 
 " And what was that ? " she asked. 
 
 " Oh, I said, ' To the de'il with you.' " 
 
 " And what was it you met ? " 
 
 " I met a funeral," said Matt; " but I got more kicks 
 than halfpence." 
 
 "You didn't get half enough," said the goody. 
 "Why, of course, you ought to have said, 'May your 
 poor soul have mercy.' That's what you ought to have 
 said." 
 
 " Ay, ay, mother ! so I will next time, only be still," 
 said Matt, and off he went again. 
 
 So when he had gone a bit of the way he fell on two 
 ugly gipsies who were skinning a dog. So when he 
 came up to them he greeted them and said, " May your 
 poor soul have mercy ; " and when he had said so he 
 went home and told his mother he had said what she 
 bade him, but all he got was such a drubbing he could 
 scarce drag one leg after the other. 
 
 " But what was it you said ? " asked the goody. 
 
 " ' May your poor soul have mercy ; ' that was what 
 I said." 
 
 " And whom did you meet ? " 
 
 "A pair of gipsies skinning a dog," he said. 
 
 " Well, well ! " said the goody, " there's no hope of 
 your changing ; you'll always be a shame and sorrow 
 
Silly Matt 
 
 367 
 
 to us wherever you go. I never heard such shocking 
 words. But now, you must set out and take no notice 
 of any one you meet, for you must be off to woo a wife ; 
 and see if you can get some one who knows more of 
 the ways of the world, and has a better head on her 
 shoulders than yours. And now you must behave 
 like other folk ; and if all 
 goes well, you may bless 
 your stars, and bawl out, 
 Hurrah ! " 
 
 Yes, the lad did all 
 that his mother bade 
 him. He set off and 
 wooed a lass, and she 
 thought he couldn't be 
 so bad a fellow after 
 all; and so she said, 
 "Yes, she would have 
 him." 
 
 When the lad got home the goody wanted to know 
 what his sweetheart's name was ; but he did not know. 
 So the goody got angry, and said he must just set off 
 again, for she would know what the girl's name was. 
 So when Matt was going home again he had sense 
 enough to ask her what she was called. " Well," she 
 said, " my name is Solvy ; but I thought you knew it 
 already." 
 
 So Matt ran off home, and as he went he mumbled 
 
 to himself 
 
 " Solvy, Solvy, 
 Is my darling ! 
 Solvy, Solvy, 
 Is my darling !" 
 
368 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 But just as he was running as hard as he could to 
 reach home before he forgot it, he tripped over a tuft 
 of grass, and forgot the name again. So when he got 
 on his feet again he began to search all round the 
 hillock, but all he could find was a spade. So he 
 seized it and began to dig and search as hard as he 
 could, and as he was hard at it up came an old man. 
 
 " What are you digging for ? " said the man. " Have 
 you lost anything here ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! oh, yes ! I have lost my sweetheart's 
 name, and I can't find it again." 
 
 " I think her name is Solvy," said the man. 
 
 "Oh, yes, that's it," said Matt, and away he ran 
 with the spade in his hand, bawling out — 
 
 "Solvy, Solvy, 
 Is my darling ! " 
 
 But when he had gone a little way he called to mind 
 that he had taken the spade, and so he threw it behind 
 him, right on to the man's leg. Then the man began 
 to roar and bemoan himself as though he had a knife 
 stuck in him ; and then Matt forgot the name again, 
 and ran home as fast as he could ; and when he got 
 there, the first thing his mother asked was — 
 
 " What's your sweetheart's name ? " 
 
 But Matt was just as wise as when he set out, for he 
 did not know the name any better the last than the 
 first time. 
 
 "You are the same big fool, that you are," said the 
 goody. "You won't do any better this time either. 
 But now I'll just set off myself and fetch the girl home 
 and get you married. Meanwhile you must fetch 
 
Silly Matt 369 
 
 water up to the fifth plank all round the room, and 
 wash it, and then you must take a little fat and a little 
 lean, and the greenest thing you can find in the 
 cabbage garden, and boil them all up together; and 
 when you have done that you must put yourself into 
 fine feather, and look sweet when your lassie comes, 
 and then you may sit down on the dresser." 
 
 Yes, all that Matt thought he could do very well. 
 He fetched water and dashed it about the room in 
 floods ; but he couldn't get it to stand above the fourth 
 plank, for when it rose higher it ran out. So he had 
 to leave off that work. But now you must know they 
 had a dog whose name was " Fat," and a cat whose 
 name was " Lean ; " both these he took and put into 
 the soup-kettle. As for the greenest thing in the 
 garden, it was a green gown which the goody had 
 meant for her daughter-in-law ; that he cut up into 
 little bits, and away it went into the pot; but their 
 little pig, which was called "All," he cooked by him- 
 self in the brewing tub. And when Matt had done all 
 this, he laid hands on a pot of treacle and a feather 
 pillow. Then he first of all rubbed himself all over 
 with the treacle, and then he tore open the pillow and 
 rolled himself in the feathers, and then he sat down on 
 the dresser out in the kitchen, till his mother and the 
 lassie came. 
 
 Now the first thing the goody missed when she came 
 to her house was the dog, for it always used to meet 
 her out of doors. The next thing was the cat, for it 
 always met her in the porch, and when the weather 
 was right down good and the sun shone, she even 
 came out into the yard, and met her at the garden 
 
 2 A 
 
37° 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 gate. Nor could she see the green gown she had 
 meant for her daughter-in-law either; and her piggy- 
 wiggy, which followed her grunting wherever she went, 
 he was not there either. So she went in to see about 
 all this; but as soon as ever she lifted the latch, out 
 poured the water through the doorway like a waterfall, 
 so that they were almost borne away by the flood, 
 both the goody and the lassie. 
 
 So they had to go round by the back-door, and 
 
 when they got inside the 
 kitchen there sat that 
 figure of fun all be- 
 feathered. 
 
 " Whathaveyou done ? " 
 said the goody. 
 
 " I did just as you bade 
 
 me, mother," said Matt. 
 
 " I tried to get the water 
 
 up to the fifth plank, but 
 
 as fast as ever I poured 
 
 it in it ran out again, and 
 
 so I could only get up as 
 
 high as the fourth plank." 
 
 " Well, well ! but ' Fat ' and ' Lean,' " said the goody, 
 
 who wished to turn it off, "what have you done 
 
 with them ? " 
 
 " I did as you bade me, mother," said Matt. " I 
 took and put them into the soup-kettle. They both 
 scratched and bit, and they mewed and whined, and 
 Fat was strong and kicked against it; but he had 
 to go in at last all the same; and as for 'All,' he's 
 cooking by himself in the brewing tub in" the brew- 
 
Silly Matt ■^ji 
 
 house, for there wasn't room for him in the soup- 
 kettle." 
 
 " But what have you done with that new green gown 
 I meant for my daughter-in-law? " said the goody, trying 
 to hide his silliness. 
 
 "Oh, I did as you bade me, mother. It hung out 
 in the cabbage-garden, and as it was the greenest thing 
 there, I took it and cut it up small, and yonder it boils 
 in the soup." 
 
 Away ran the goody to the chimney-corner, tore off 
 the pot, and turned it upside down with all that was 
 in it. Then she filled it anew, and put it on to boil. 
 But when she had time to look at Matt she was quite 
 shocked. 
 
 " Why is it you are such a figure ? " she cried. 
 
 " I did as you bade me, mother," said Matt. " First 
 I rubbed myself all over with treacle to make myself 
 sweet for my bride, and then I tore open the piUow 
 and put myself into fine feathers." 
 
 Well, the goody turned it off" as well as she could, 
 and picked off" the feathers from her son, and washed 
 him clean, and put fresh clothes on him. 
 
 So at last they were to have the wedding, but first 
 Matt was to go to the town and sell a cow to buy 
 things for the bridal. The goody had told him what 
 he was to do, and the beginning and end of what she 
 said was, he was to be sure to get something for the 
 cow. So when he got to the market with the cow, 
 and they asked what he was to have for her, they 
 could get no answer out of him than that he was to 
 have something for her. So at last came a butcher, 
 who begged him to take the cow and follow him home, 
 
372 Tales j-rom the Fjeld 
 
 and he'd be sure to give him something' for her. Yes, 
 Matt went off with the cow ; and when he got to the 
 butcher's house, the butcher spat into the palm of 
 Matt's hand, and said — 
 
 " There ! you have something for your cow, but look 
 sharp after it." 
 
 So off went Matt as carefully as if he trode on eggs, 
 holding his hand shut ; but when he had got about as 
 far as the cross-road which led to their farm, he met 
 the parson, who came driving along. 
 
 "Open the gate for me, my lad," said the parson. 
 
 So the lad hastened to open the gate, but in doing so 
 he forgot what he had in his palm, and took the gate 
 by both hands, so that what he got for the cow was 
 left sticking on the gate. So when he saw it was gone 
 he got cross, and said his reverence had taken some- 
 thing from him. 
 
 But when the parson asked him if he had lost his 
 wits, and said he had taken nothing from him. Matt got 
 so wroth he killed the parson at a blow, and buried him 
 in a bog by the wayside. 
 
 So when he got home he told his mother all about it, 
 and she slaughtered a billy-goat, and laid it where Matt 
 had laid the parson, but she buried the parson in 
 another place. And when she had done that she hung 
 over the fire a pot of brose, and when it was cooked 
 she made Matt sit down in the ingle and split matches. 
 Meantime she went up on the roof with the pot and 
 poured the brose down the chimney, so that it streamed 
 over her son. 
 
 Next day came the sheriff. So when the sheriff 
 asked him, Matt did not gainsay that he had slain the 
 
silly Matt 373 
 
 parson, and more, he was quite ready to show the 
 sheriif where he had laid ' his reverence.' But when 
 the sheriff asked on what day it happened, Matt said, 
 " It was the day when it rained brose over the whole 
 world." 
 
 So when he got to the spot where he had buried the 
 parson the sheriff pulled out the billy-goat, and asked — 
 
 " Had your parson horns ? " 
 
 Now when the judges heard the story, they made up 
 their minds that the lad was quite out of his wits, and 
 so he got off scot-free. 
 
 So after all the bridal was to stand, and the goody 
 had a long talk with her son, and bade him be sure to 
 behave prettily when they sat at table. He was not to 
 look too much at the bride, but to cast an eye at her 
 now and then. Peas he might eat by himself, but he 
 must share the eggs with her ; and he was not to lay 
 the leg bones by his side on the table, but to place them 
 tidily on his plate. 
 
 Yes, Matt would do all that, and he did it well ; yes, 
 he did all that his mother bade him, and nothing else. 
 First, he stole out to the sheepfold, and plucked the eyes 
 out of all the sheep and goats he could find, and took 
 them with him. So when they went to dinner he sat 
 with his back to his bride ; but all at once he cast a 
 sheep's eye at her, so that it hit her full in her face ; 
 and a little while after he cast another, and so he went 
 on. As for the eggs, he ate them all up to his own 
 cheek, so that the lassie did not get a taste ; but when 
 the peas came he shared them with her. And when 
 they had eaten a while Matt put his feet together, and 
 up on his plate went his legs. 
 
374 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 At night, when they were to go to bed, the lassie 
 was tired and weary, for she thought it no good to 
 have such a fool for her husband. So she said she 
 had forgotten something and must go out a httle ; but 
 she could not get Matt's leave,' he would follow her ; 
 for to tell the truth, he was afraid she would never 
 come back. 
 
 "No, no; lie still, I say," said the bride. "See, 
 here's a long hair-rope ; tie it round me, and I'll leave 
 the door ajar. So if you think I'm too long away you 
 have only to pull the rope and then you'll drag me in 
 again." 
 
 Yes, Matt was content with that ; but as soon as the 
 lassie got out into the yard she caught a billy-goat, and 
 untied the rope and tied it round him. 
 
 So when Matt thought she was too long out of doors 
 he began to haul in the rope, and so he dragged the 
 billy-goat up into bed to him. But when he had lain a 
 while, he bawled out — 
 
 " Mother ! mother ! my bride has horns like a billy- 
 goat." 
 
 " Stuff, silly boy, to lie and bewail yourself," said 
 his mother. "It's only her hair-plaits, poor thing, 
 I'm sure." 
 
 In a little while Matt called out again — 
 
 " Mother ! mother ! my bride has a beard like a goat." 
 
 "Stuff, silly boy, to lie there and rave," said the 
 goody. 
 
 But there was no rest in that house that night, for 
 in a little while Matt screeched out that his bride was 
 like a billy-goat all over. So when it grew towards 
 morning the goody said — 
 
Silly Matt 375 
 
 "Jump up, my son, and make a fire." 
 
 So Matt climbed up to a shelf under the roof, and 
 set fire to some straw and chips and other rubbish 
 that lay there. But then such a smoke rose, that he 
 couldn't bear it any longer in-doors. He was forced to 
 go out, and just then the day broke. As for the goody, 
 she, too, had to make a start of it ; and when they got 
 out the house was on fire, so that the flames came right 
 out at the roof. 
 
 " Good luck ! good luck ! Hip, hip, hurrah ! " roared 
 out Matt, for he thought it fine fun to have such an 
 ending to his bridal feast. 
 
King Valemon, the White Bear 
 
 ^OW once on a time there was, 
 as there well might be, a king. 
 He had two daughters who 
 were ugly and bad, but 
 the third was as fair and 
 as soft as the bright day, 
 and the king and every 
 one was glad of her. So 
 one day she dreamt of 
 a golden wreath that was so lovely 
 she couldn't live until she had it. 
 But as she could not get it, she 
 grew sullen and wouldn't so much 
 as talk for grief; and when the 
 king knew it was the wreath she 
 sorrowed for, he sent out a pattern cut just like the 
 one that the princess had dreamt of, and sent word to 
 goldsmiths in every land to see if they could get the 
 like of it. So the goldsmiths worked night and day ; 
 but some of the wreaths she tossed away from her, 
 and the rest she would not so much as look at. 
 
 But once when she was in the wood she set her 
 eyes upon a white bear, who had the very wreath she 
 
 had dreamt of between his paws, and played with it. 
 
 376 
 
King Valemon, the White Bear 377 
 
 Then she wanted to buy it. No, it was not for sale 
 for money, but she might have it if he might have 
 her. Yes, she said, it was never worth living without 
 it. It was all the same to her whither she went and 
 whom she got, if she could only have that wreath ; and 
 so it was settled between them that he should fetch 
 
 her when three days were up, and that day was a 
 Thursday. 
 
 So when she came home with the wreath, every one 
 was glad because she was glad again, and the king 
 said, he thought it could never be so hard to stop a 
 white bear. So the third day he turned out his whole 
 army round the castle to withstand him. But when 
 the white bear came there was no one who could stand 
 before him, for no weapon would bite on his hide, and 
 he hurled them down right and left, so that they lay in 
 
37^ Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 heaps on either side. All this the king thought right 
 down scathe ; so he sent out his eldest daughter, and 
 the white bear took her upon his back and went off 
 with her. And when they had gone far and farther 
 than far, the white bear asked — 
 
 " Have you ever sat softer, and have you ever seen 
 clearer ? " 
 
 " Yes ; on my mother's lap I sat softer, and in my 
 father's hall I saw clearer," she said. 
 
 "Oh," said the white bear, "then you're not the 
 right one ; " and with that he hunted her home again. 
 
 The next Thursday he came again, and it all went 
 just the same. The army went out to withstand the 
 white bear; but neither iron nor steel bit on his hide, 
 and so he dashed them down like grass till the king 
 begged him to hold hard, and then he sent out to him 
 his next oldest daughter, and the white bear took her 
 on his back and went off with her. So when they 
 had travelled far and farther than far, the white bear 
 asked — 
 
 " Have you ever seen clearer, and have you ever sat 
 softer?" 
 
 " Yes," she said ; " in my father's hall I saw clearer, 
 and on my mother's lap I sat softer." 
 
 "Oh, then you are not the right one," said the 
 white bear, and with that he hunted her too home 
 again. 
 
 The third Thursday he came again, and then he 
 smote the army harder than he had done before ; so 
 the king thought he couldn't let him slay his whole 
 army like that, and he gave him his third daughter in 
 God's name. So he took her up on his back and went 
 
Ki^ Valemon^ the White Bear 379 
 
 away far and farther than far; and when they had 
 gone deep, deep into the wood, he asked her as he had 
 asked the others, whether she had ever sat softer or 
 seen clearer ? 
 
 " No, never," she said. 
 
 " Ah ! " he said, " you are the right one." 
 
 
 So they came to a castle which was so grand, that 
 the one her father had was like the p)oorest place when 
 set against it. There she was to be and live happily, 
 and she was to have nothing else to do but to see that 
 the fire never went out. The bear was away by day, 
 but at night he was with her, and then he was a man. 
 So aU went well for three years; but each year she 
 
380 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 had a baby, and he took it and carried it off as soon as 
 ever it came into the world. Then she got more and 
 more dull, and begged she might have leave to go home 
 and see her parents. Well, there were nothing to 
 stop that; but first, she had to give her word that 
 she would listen to what her father said, but not do 
 what her mother wished. So she went home; and 
 when they were alone with her, and she had told how 
 she was treated, her mother wanted to give her a light 
 to take back that she might see what kind of man he 
 was. 
 
 But her father said, " No, she mustn't do that, for 
 it will lead to harm, and not to gain." 
 
 But however it happened, so it happened ; she got a 
 bit of a candle-end to take with her when she started. 
 
 So the first thing she did when he was sound asleep 
 was to light the candle-end and throw a light on him ; 
 and he was so lovely, she never though she could gaze 
 enough at him ; but as she held the candle over him, a 
 hot drop of tallow dropped on his forehead, and he 
 woke up. 
 
 " What is this you have done ? " he said. " Now 
 you have made us both unlucky ; there was no more 
 than a month left, and had you lasted it out, I should 
 have been saved ; for a hag of the Trolls has bewitched 
 me, and I am a white bear by day. But now it is all 
 over between us, for now I must go to her and take 
 her to wife." 
 
 She wept and bemoaned herself; but he must set off, 
 and he would set off. Then she asked if she might not 
 go with him. " No," he said, " there was no way of 
 doing that." But for all that, when he set off in his 
 
King Valemon, the White Bear 381 
 
 bear-shape she took Iiold of his shaggy hide and threw 
 herself upon his back, and held on fast. 
 
 So away they went over crags and hills, and through 
 brakes and briars, till her clothes were torn off her 
 
382 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 back, and she was so dead tired, that she let go her 
 hold and lost her wits. When she came to herself she 
 was in a great wood, and then she set off again, but 
 she could not tell whither she was going. So after a 
 long, long time she came to a hut, and there she saw 
 two women, an old woman and a pretty little girl. 
 Then the princess asked, had they seen anything of 
 King Valemon, the white bear. 
 
 "Yes," they said; "he passed by here this morn- 
 ing early, but he went so fast you'll never be able to 
 catch him up." 
 
 As for the girl, she ran about clipping in the air and 
 playing with a pair of golden scissors, which were of 
 that kind that silk and satin stuffs flew all about her 
 if she only clipped the air with them. Where they 
 were, there was never any want of clothes. 
 
 " But this woman," said the little lass, " who is to 
 go so far and on such bad ways, she will suffer much ; 
 she may well have more need of these scissors than I 
 to cut out her clothes with." 
 
 And as she said this she begged her mother so hard, 
 that at last she got leave to give her the scissors. 
 
 So away travelled the princess through the wood, 
 which seemed never to come to an end, both day and 
 night, and next morning she came to another hut. In 
 it there were also two women, an old wife and a young 
 girl. 
 
 " Good-day ! " said the princess ; " have you seen 
 anything of King Valemon, the white bear?" That 
 was what she asked them. 
 
 " Was it you, maybe, who was to have him ? " said 
 the old wife. 
 
King Valemon, the White Bear 383 
 
 " Yes, it was." 
 
 " Well, he passed by yesterday, but he went so fast 
 you'll never be able to catch him up." 
 
 This little girl played about on the floor with a flask, 
 which was of that kind it poured out every drink any 
 one wished to have. 
 
 " But this poor wife," said the girl, " who has to go 
 so far on such bad ways, I think she may well be 
 thirsty and suffer much other ill. No doubt she needs 
 this flask more than I ; " and so she asked if she might 
 have leave to give her the flask. Yes, that leave she 
 might have. 
 
 So the princess got the flask, and thanked them, 
 and set off again away through the same wood, both 
 that day and the next night, too. The third morning 
 she came to a hut, where there was also an old wife 
 and a little girl. 
 
 " Good-day ! " said the princess. 
 
 "Good-day to you," said the old wife. 
 
 " Have you seen anything of King Valemon, the 
 white bear ? " she asked. 
 
 " Maybe it was you who was to have him ? " said 
 the old wife. 
 
 "Yes, it was." 
 
 " Well, he passed by here the day before yesterday, 
 but he went so fast you'll never be able to catch him 
 up," she said. 
 
 This little girl played about on the floor with a 
 napkin, which was of that kind that when one said on 
 it, " Napkin, spread yourself out and be covered with 
 all dainty dishes," it did so, and where it was there 
 was never any want of a good dinner. 
 
384 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " But this poor wife," said the little girl, " who has 
 to go so far over such bad ways, she may well be 
 starving and suffering much other ill. I dare say she 
 has far more need of this napkin than I ; " and so she 
 asked if she might have leave to give her the napkin, 
 and she got it. 
 
 So the princess took the napkin and thanked them, 
 and set off again far and farther than far, away through 
 the same murk wood all that day and night, and in the 
 morning she came to a cross-fell, which was as steep as 
 a wall, and so high and broad, she could see no end to 
 it. There was a hut there, too ; and as soon as she set 
 her foot inside it, she said — 
 
 "Good-day! have you seen if King Valemon, the 
 white bear, has passed this way ? " 
 
 " Good-day to you," said the old wife. " It was you, 
 maybe, who was to have him ? " 
 
 " Yes, it was." 
 
 "Well, he passed by and went up over the hill 
 three days ago; but up that nothing can get that is 
 wingless." 
 
 That hut, you must know, was all so full of small 
 bairns, and they all hung round their mother's skirt 
 and bawled for food. Then the goody put a pot on 
 the fire full of small round pebbles. When the 
 princess asked what that was for, the goody said they 
 were so poor they had neither food nor clothing, and it 
 went to her heart to hear the children screaming for a 
 morsel of food ; but when she put the pot on the fire, 
 and said — 
 
 " The potatoes will soon be ready," the words dulled 
 their hunger, and they were patient awhile. 
 
King Vakmon, the White Bear 385 
 
 It was not long before the princess brought out the 
 napkin and the flask, that you may be sure ; and when 
 the children were all full and glad, she cut them out 
 clothes with her golden scissors. 
 
 "Well," said the goody in the hut, "since you have 
 been so kind and good towards me and my bairns, it 
 were a shame if I didn't do all in my power to try to 
 help you over the hill. My husband is one of the best 
 smiths in the world, and now you must lie down and 
 rest till he comes home, and then I'll get him to forge 
 you claws for your hands and feet, and then you can 
 see if j'ou can crawl and scramble up." 
 
 So when the smith came home he set to work at 
 once at the claws, and next morning they were ready. 
 She had no time to stay, but said, "Thank you," and 
 then clung close to the rock and crept and crawled with 
 the steel claws all that day and the next night ; and just 
 as she felt so very, very tired that she thought she could 
 scarce lift hand or foot, but must slip down, there she 
 was all right at the top. There she found a plain, with 
 tilled fields and meads, so big and broad, she never 
 thought there could be any land so wide and so flat ; 
 and close by was a castle full of workmen of all kinds, 
 who swarmed like ants on an ant-hill. 
 
 "What is going on here ? " asked the princess. 
 
 Well, if she must know, there lived the old hag 
 who had bewitched King Valemon, the white bear, and 
 in three days she was to hold her wedding feast with 
 him. Then she asked if she mightn't have a word 
 with her. " No ! was it likely ? It was quite im- 
 possible." So she sat down under the window and 
 began to clip in the air with her golden scissors, till 
 
 2 B 
 
386 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 the silks and satins flew about as thick as a snow- 
 drift. 
 
 But when the old hag saw that, she was all for 
 buying the golden scissors, for she said, " All our tailors 
 can do is no good at all, we have too many to find 
 clothes for." 
 
 So the princess said, "It was not for sale for money, 
 but she should have it, if she got leave to sleep with 
 her sweetheart that night." 
 
 " Yes," the old hag said, " she might have that leave 
 and welcome ; but she herself must lull him off" to sleep, 
 and wake him in the morning." 
 
 And so when he went to bed she gave him a sleeping 
 draught, so that he could not keep an eye open, for all 
 that the princess cried and wept. 
 
 Next day the princess went under the window again, 
 and began to pour out drink from her flask. It frothed 
 like a brook with ale and wine, and it was never empty. 
 So when the old hag saw that, she was all for buying 
 it, for she said — 
 
 "For all our brewing and stilling, it's no good, we 
 have too many to find drink for." 
 
 But the princess said, " It was not for sale for 
 money, but if she might have leave to sleep with her 
 sweetheart that night, she might have it." 
 
 " Well," the old hag said, " she might have that 
 leave and welcome ; but she must herself lull him off" 
 to sleep, and wake him in the morning." 
 
 So when he went to bed she gave him another 
 sleeping draught, so that it went no better that night 
 than the first. He was not able to keep his eyes open, 
 for all that the princess bawled and wept. 
 
King Va lemon, the White Bear 387 
 
 But that night there was one of the workmen who 
 worked in a room next to theirs. He heard the 
 weeping and knew how things stood, and next day he 
 told the prince that she must be come, that princess 
 who was to set him free. 
 
 That day it was just the same story with the napkin 
 as with the scissors and the flask. When it was about 
 dinner-time the princess went outside the castle, took 
 out the napkin, and said, "Napkin, spread yourself out 
 and be covered with all dainty dishes," and there was 
 meat enough, and to spare, for hundreds of men ; but 
 the princess sat down to table by herself. 
 
 So when the old hag set her eyes on the napkin, 
 she wanted to buy it, " For all their roasting and boil- 
 ing is worth nothing, we have too many mouths to 
 feed." 
 
 But the princess said, " It was not for sale for money, 
 but if she might have leave to sleep with her sweet- 
 heart that night, she might have it." 
 
 "Well, she might do so and welcome," said the old 
 hag ; " but she must first lull him off to sleep, and wake 
 him up in the morning." 
 
 So when he was going to bed, she came with the 
 sleeping draught ; but this time he was aware of her, 
 and made as though he slept. But the old hag did 
 not trust him for all that, for she took a pin and stuck 
 it into his arm to try if he were sound asleep ; but 
 for all the pain it gave him he did not stir a bit, and 
 so the princess got leave to come in to him. 
 
 Then everything was soon set right between them ; 
 and if they could only get rid of the old hag, he would 
 be free. So he got the carpenters to make him a trap- 
 
388 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 door on the bridge over which the bridal train had to 
 pass, for it was the custom there that the bride rode at 
 the head of the train with her friends. 
 
 So when they got well on the bridge, the trap-door, 
 tipped up with the bride and all the other old hags 
 who were her bridesmaids. But King Valemon and 
 the princess, and all the rest of the train, turned back 
 to the castle and took all they could carry away of the 
 gold and goods of the old hag, and so they set off for 
 his own land, and were to hold their real wedding. 
 
 And on the way King Valemon picked up those 
 three little girls in the three huts and took them with 
 them ; and now she saw why it was he had taken her 
 babes away and put them out at nurse : it was that 
 they might help her to find him out. And so they 
 drank their bridal ale both stiff and strong. 
 
' The trap-door tipped up with the bride.' 
 
The Golden Bird 
 
 ONCE on a time there was a king who had a 
 garden, and in that garden stood an apple-tree, 
 and on that apple-tree grew one golden apple 
 every year. But when the time drew on for plucking 
 it, away it went, and there was no one who could tell 
 who took it, or what became of it. It was gone, and 
 that was all they knew. 
 
 This king had three sons, and so he said to them one 
 day that he of them who could get him his apple again 
 or lay hold of the thief should have the kingdom after 
 him, were he the eldest, or the youngest, or the mid- 
 most. 
 
 So the eldest set out first on this quest, and sat him 
 down under the tree, and was to watch for the thief; 
 and when night drew near a golden bird came flying, 
 and his feathers gleamed a long way off; but when 
 the king's son saw the bird and his beams, he got so 
 afraid he daren't stay his watch out, but flew back 
 into the palace as fast as ever he could. 
 
 Next morning the apple was gone. By that time 
 the king's son had got back his heart into his body, 
 and so he fell to filling his scrip with food, and was all 
 for setting out to try if he could find the bird. So the 
 king fitted him out well, and spared neither money nor 
 
392 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 clothes ; and when the king's son had gone a bit he got 
 hungry, and took out his scrip, and sat him down to 
 eat his dinner by the wayside. Then out came a fox 
 from a spruce clump and sat by him and looked on. 
 
 " Do, dear friend, give me a morsel of food," said 
 the fox. 
 
 " I'll give you burnt horn, that I will," said the king's 
 son. " I'm like to need food myself, for no one knows 
 how far and how long I may have to travel." 
 
 " Oh ! that's your game, is it ? " said the fox, and 
 back he went into the wood. 
 
The Golden Bird 393 
 
 So when the king's son had eaten and rested awhile 
 he set off on his way again. After a long, long time 
 he came to a great town, and in that town there was 
 an inn, where there was always mirth and never sorrow ; 
 there he thought it would be good to be, and so he 
 turned in there. But there was so much dancing and 
 drinking, and fun and jollity, that he forgot the bird 
 and its feathers, and his father, and his quest, and the 
 whole kingdom. Away he was, and away he stayed. 
 
 The year after, the king's midmost son was to watch 
 for the apple-thief in the garden. Yes ; he too sat him 
 down under the tree when it began to ripen. So all at 
 once one night the golden bird came shining like the 
 sun, and the lad got so afraid, he put his tail between 
 his legs and ran in-doors as fast as ever he could. 
 
 Next morning the apple was gone ; but by that time 
 the king's son had taken heart again, and was all for 
 setting off to see if he could find the bird. Yes, he 
 began to put up his travelling fare, and the king fitted 
 him out well, and spared neither clothes nor money. 
 But just the same befell him as had befallen his brother. 
 When he had travelled a bit he got hungry, and opened 
 his scrip, and sat him down to eat his dinner by the 
 wayside. So out came a fox from a spruce clump and 
 sat up and looked on. 
 
 " Dear friend, give me a morsel of food, do ? " said 
 the fox. 
 
 " I'll give you burnt horn, that I will," said the king's 
 son. " I may come to need food myself, for no one 
 knows how far and how long I may have to go." 
 
 " Oh ! that's your game, is it ? " said the fox, and 
 away he went into the wood again. 
 
394 Tales j-rom the Fjeld 
 
 So when the king's son had eaten and rested himself 
 awhile he set off on his way again. And after a long, 
 long time he came to the same town and the same inn 
 where there was always mirth and never sorrow, and 
 he too thought it would be good to turn in there ; and 
 the very first man he met was his brother, and so he 
 too stayed there. His brother had feasted and drank 
 till he had scarce any clothes to his back ; but now they 
 both begun anew, and there was such drinking and 
 dancing, and fun and jollity, that the second brother 
 also forgot the bird and its feathers, and his father, the 
 quest, and the whole kingdom. Away he was, and away 
 he stayed, he too. 
 
 So when the time drew on that the apple was getting 
 ripe again, the king's youngest son was to go out into 
 the garden and watch for the apple-thief. Now he 
 took with him a comrade, who was to help him up into 
 the tree, and they took with them a keg of ale and a 
 pack of cards to while away the time, so that they 
 should not fall asleep. All at once came a blaze as 
 of the sun, and just as the golden bird pounced down 
 and snapped up the apple, the king's son tried to seize 
 it, but he only got a feather out of its tail. So he went 
 into the king's bedroom, and when he came in with the 
 feather the room was as bright as broad day. 
 
 So he too would go out into the wide world to try 
 if he could hear any tidings of his brothers and catch 
 the bird ; for after all, he had been so near it that he 
 had put his mark on it, and got a feather out of its 
 tail. 
 
 Well, the king was long in making up his mind if he 
 should let him go, for he thought it would not be better 
 
The Golden Bird 395 
 
 with him who was the youngest than with the eldest, 
 who ought to have had more knowledge of the ways of 
 the world, and he was afraid he might lose him too. 
 But the king's son begged so prettily, that he had to 
 give him leave at last. 
 
 So he began to pack up his travelling fare, and the 
 king fitted him out well, both with clothes and money, 
 and so he set off. So when he had travelled a bit he 
 got hungry and opened his scrip, and sat him down 
 to eat his dinner; and just as he put the first bit into 
 his mouth a fox came out of a spruce clump, and sat 
 down by him and looked on. 
 
 "Oh, dear friend, give me a morsel of food, do," 
 said the fox. 
 
 " I might very well come to need food for myself," 
 said the king's son ; " for I'm sure I can't tell how 
 far I shall have to go; but so much I know, that I 
 can just give you a little bit." 
 
 So when the fox had got a bit of meat to bite at, he 
 asked the king's son whither he was bound. Well, he 
 told him what he was trying to do. 
 
 " If you will listen to me," said the fox, " I will help 
 you, so that you shall take luck along with you." 
 
 Then the king's son gave his word to listen to him, 
 and so they set off in company, and when they had 
 travelled awhile they came to the self-same town and 
 the self-same inn where there was always mirth and 
 never sorrow. 
 
 "Now I may just as well stay outside the town," 
 said the fox. " Those dogs are such a bore." 
 
 And then he told him what his brothers had done, 
 and what they were still doing, and he went on. 
 
396 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 " If you go in there you'll get no farther either. Do 
 you hear ? " 
 
 So the king's son gave his word, and his hand into 
 the bargain, that he wouldn't go in there, and they 
 each went his way. But when the prince got to the 
 inn and heard what music and jollity there was inside, 
 
 he could not help going 
 in, there were not two 
 words about that; and 
 when he met his brothers, 
 there was such a to-do, 
 that he forgot both the 
 fox and his quest, and the 
 bird and his father. But 
 when he had been there 
 awhile the fox came — for 
 he had ventured into the 
 town after all — and peeped 
 through the door, and 
 winked at the king's son, 
 and said now they must 
 set off. So the prince came to his senses again, and 
 away they started for the house. 
 
 And when they had gone awhile they saw a big fell 
 far, far off. Then the fox said — 
 
 " Three hundred miles behind yon fell there grows 
 a gilded linden tree with golden leaves, and in that 
 linden roosts the golden bird whose feather that is." 
 
 So they travelled thither together; and when the 
 king's son was going off to catch the bird, the fox gave 
 him some fine feathers which he was to wave with his 
 hand to lure the bird down, and then it would come 
 
The Golden Bird 
 
 397 
 
 flying and perch on his hand. But the fox told him 
 to mind and not touch the linden, for there was a big 
 Troll who owned it, and if the king's son but touched 
 the tiniest twig, the Troll would come and slay him on 
 the spot. 
 
 Nay, the king's son would be sure not to touch it, 
 he said; but when he had got 
 the bird on his fist, he thought 
 he just would have a twig of 
 the linden ; that was past pray- 
 ing against, it was so bright and 
 lovely. So he took one, just 
 one very tiny little one. But 
 in a trice out came the Troll. 
 
 "Who is it that steals 
 my linden and my bird ? " 
 he roared; and was so angry, 
 that sparks of fire flashed from 
 him. 
 
 "Thieves think every man a 
 thief," said the king's son ; " but 
 none are hanged but those who 
 don't steal right." 
 
 But the Troll said it was all one, and was just going 
 to smite him ; but the lad said he must spare his life. 
 
 "Well, well," said the Troll, "if j'ou can get me 
 again the horse which my nearest neighbour has stolen 
 from me, you shall get off" with your life." 
 
 " But where shall I find him ? " asked the king's 
 son. 
 
 "Oh, he lives three hundred miles beyond yon big 
 fell that looks blue in the sky." 
 
398 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 So they had to make 
 
 So the king's son gave his word to do his best. But 
 when he met the fox, Reynard was not altogether in a 
 soft temper. 
 
 "Now you have behaved badly," he said. "Had 
 you done as I bade you, we should have been on our 
 way home by this time." 
 
 a fresh start, as life was at 
 stake, and the prince had 
 given his word, and after a 
 long, long time they got to 
 the spot And when the 
 prince was to go and take 
 the horse, the fox said — 
 
 " When you come into the 
 stable, you will see many bits 
 hanging on the stalls, both 
 of silver and gold ; them you 
 shall not touch, for then the 
 Troll will come out and slay 
 you on the spot; but the 
 ugliest and poorest, that you 
 shall take." 
 
 Yes, the king's son gave 
 his word to do that ; but when he got into the stable 
 he thought it was all stuff, for there was enough and 
 to spare of fine bits ; and so he took the brightest 
 he could find, and it shone like gold; but in a trice 
 out came the Troll, so cross that sparks of fire flashed 
 from him. 
 
 "Who is it who trys to steal my horse and 
 MY BIT ? " he roared out. 
 
 " Thieves think every man a thief," said the king's 
 
The Golden Bird 399 
 
 son ; " but none are hanged but those who don't steal 
 right." 
 
 " Well, all the same," said the Troll, " I'll kill you on 
 the spot." 
 
 But the king's son said he must spare his life. 
 
 "Well, well," said the Troll, "if you can get me 
 back the lovely maiden my nearest neighbour has stolen 
 from me, I'll spare your life." 
 
 " Where does he live, then ? " said the king's son. 
 
 " Oh, he lives three hundred miles behind that big 
 fell that is blue, yonder in the sky,'' said the Troll. 
 
 Yes, the king's son gave his word to fetch the maiden, 
 and then he had leave to go, and got off with his life. 
 But when he came out of doors the fox was not in the 
 very best temper, you may fancy. 
 
 " Now you have behaved badly again. Had you 
 done as I bade you, we might have been on our way 
 home long ago. Do you know, I almost think now I 
 won't stay with you any longer." 
 
 But the king's son begged and prayed so prettily 
 from the bottom of his heart, and gave his word never 
 to do anything but what the fox said, if he would only 
 be his companion. At last the fox yielded, and they 
 became fast friends again, and so they set off" afresh, 
 and after a long, long time they came to the spot where 
 the lovely maiden was. 
 
 " Yes," said the fox, "you have given your word like 
 a man, but for all that, I dare not let you go into the 
 Troll's house this time. I must go myself." 
 
 So he went in, and in a little while he came out with 
 the maiden, and so they travelled back by the same way 
 that they had come. And when they came back to the 
 
400 
 
 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 Troll who had the horse, they took both it and the 
 grandest bit; and when they got to the Troll who 
 owned the linden and the bird, they took both the 
 linden and the bird, and set off with them. 
 
 So when they had 
 
 travelled awhile, they 
 came to a field of rye, 
 and the fox said — 
 
 " I hear a noise ; now 
 you must ride on alone, 
 and I will bide here 
 awhile." 
 
 So he plaited himself 
 a dress of rye-straw, 
 and it looked just like 
 some one who stood 
 there and preached. And 
 he had scarcely done 
 that before all three 
 Trolls came flying along, 
 thinking they would 
 overtake them. 
 
 " Have you seen any 
 one riding by here with a lovely maiden, and a horse 
 with a gold bit, and a golden bird and a gilded linden- 
 tree ? " they all roared out to him who stood there 
 preaching. 
 
 " Yes, I heard from my grandmother's grandmother 
 that such a train passed by here ; but Lord bless us ! 
 that was in the good old time, when my grandmother's 
 grandmother baked cakes for a penny, and gave the 
 
 penny back again." 
 
The Golden Bird 
 
 401 
 
 Then all the three Trolls burst out into loud fits of 
 laughter. "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" they cried, and 
 took hold of one another. 
 
 " If we have slept so long, we may e'en just turn our 
 noses home, and go to bed," they said ; and so they 
 went back by the way they had come. 
 
 Then the fox started off after the king's son ; but 
 
 when they got to the town where the inn and his 
 brothers were, he said — 
 
 " I dare not go through the town for the dogs. I must 
 take my own way round about ; but now you must take 
 good care that your brothers don't lay hold of you." 
 
 But when the king's son got into the town, he thought 
 it very hard if he didn't look in on his brothers and have 
 a word with them, and so he halted a little time. But 
 as soon as his brothers set eyes on him, they came out 
 and took from him both the maiden, and the horse, and 
 the bird, and the linden, and everything ; and himself 
 
 2 c 
 
402 Tales from the Fjeld 
 
 they stuifed into a cask and cast him into the lake, and 
 so they set off home to the king's palace, with the 
 maiden, and the horse, and the bird, and linden, and 
 everything. But the maiden wouldn't say a word ; she 
 got pale and wretched to look at. The horse got so 
 thin and starved, all his bones scarce clung together. 
 The bird moped and shone no more, and the linden 
 withered away. 
 
 Meanwhile the fox walked about outside the town 
 where the inn was with all its jollity, and he listened 
 and waited for the king's son and the lovely maiden, 
 and wondered why they did not come back. So he 
 went hither and thither, and waited and longed, and 
 at last he went down to the strand, and there he saw 
 the cask which lay on the lake drifting, and called out — 
 
 " Are you driven about there, you empty cask ? " 
 
 " Oh, it is I," said the king's son inside the cask. 
 
 Then the fox swam out into the lake as fast as he 
 could, and got hold of the cask and drew it on shore. 
 Then he began to gnaw at the hoops ; and when he had 
 got them off the cask, he called out to the king's son, 
 " Kick and stamp ! " 
 
 So the king's son struck out and stamped and kicked, 
 till every stave burst asunder, and out he jumped 
 from the cask. Then they went together to the king's 
 palace, and when they got there, the maiden grew lovely 
 and began to speak; the horse got so fat and sleek 
 that every hair beamed ; the bird shone and sang ; the 
 linden began to bloom and glitter with its leaves ; and 
 at last the maiden said — 
 
 " Here he is who set us free ! " 
 
 So they planted the linden in the garden, and the 
 
 /■ 
 
The Golden Bird 
 
 403 
 
 youngest prince was to have the princess, for she was 
 one, of course ; but as for the two elder brothers, they 
 put them each into his own cask full of nails, and rolled 
 them down a steep hill. 
 
 So they made ready for the bridal ; but first the fox 
 said to the prince he must lay him on the chopping- 
 block, and cut his head off, and whether he thought it 
 good or ill, there was no help for it, he must do it. But 
 as he dealt the stroke the fox became a lovely prince, 
 and he was the princess's brother, whom they had set 
 free from the Trolls. 
 
 So the bridal came on, and it was so great and grand, 
 that the story of that feasting spread far and wide, till 
 it reached all the way to this very spot. 
 
 Printed by Bali.antyne, Hanson & Co. 
 E linburgh and London 
 
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 Mottoes, Helmets, Genealogies, Precedence, College of Arms, Flags, 
 Official and Corporate Heraldry, Miscellaneous, Knighthood, Seals 
 and Coins, General Index. 
 
 Bremont (Anna, Comtesse de). The World of Music. 
 
 The Great Composers. 
 
 The Great Singers. 
 
 The Great Virtuoso. 
 Cloth, extra gilt, top edge gilt, 3s. 6d. each. 
 
 " These sketches are written with enthusiasm both for the art and 
 its exponents. They will please a lover of music, and will 
 instruct many by serving to put scattered facts in order, and 
 to crystallise into criticism' the nebulous exhalations of un- 
 measured admiration. The three volumes make a dainty set 
 of books. "—Scotsman. 
 " From Mdme. de Br^mont's volumes an excellent idea may be 
 obtained of what the great men and women of the musical 
 world were really like, as well as a just idea of their talent, 
 their work, and a most fascinating glimpse of their daily lives. 
 In a word, the volumes are indispensable to all lovers of 
 music, and are both valuable and interesting in an unusual 
 degree. " — Court Journal. 
 
 Burrow (J. H.), B.A. Adventures of Alfan ; or, The 
 Magic Amulet. 
 
 With eight Illustrations by J. D. Watson. Crown 8vo, cloth, Ss. 
 A capital book of adventure for boys, the moral of which is 
 "Yet home is best." 
 
 Byron (Lord), The Works of. 
 
 Edited by Thomas Moore. Complete in 4 vols., crown 8vo, extra 
 cloth, top edge gilt, 20s. 
 
 Cambridge Prize Poems. 
 
 A complete collection of English Poems, which have obtained the 
 Chancellor's Gold Medal in the University of Cambridge, 1813- 
 1893. 2 vols., crown 8vo, 12s. 
 
 Chesterfield (Lord). Letters to his Son. 
 
 Demy 8vo, " Standard British Classics." Cloth extra, top edge gilt, 
 7s. 6d. 
 
Cornish. The Autobiography of a Cornish 
 Smuggler (Captain Harry Carter, of Prussia 
 Cove), 1749-1809. 
 
 With an Introduction and Notes by John B. Cornjsh ; Frontis- 
 piece by A. Chevallibr-Tayler, and folding Map. Only 500 
 copies printed, (Truro : Joseph Pollard.) Crown Svo, buckram, 
 4s. net, 
 
 " Yet under the saintly robe is the man of iron, below the coat of 
 the local preacher is the viking, the berserker, the man who 
 attacks and defends in the same apparent cold blood. Of all 
 the books that have come to us for many a day, this bears the 
 impress of thorough genuineness, of absolute indifference to 
 outside opinion, of whole and sole self-revelation." — Daily 
 Chronicle. 
 
 Dante. The Vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Para- 
 dise of Dante Alighieri. 
 
 Translated by HENRY FRANCIS Cary, M.A. With a life, chrono- 
 logical view of his age, additional notes, and an index, " Standard 
 British Classics," demy Svo, cloth, gilt top, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Introduction to the Study of. 
 
 Being a New Edition of Dante, as Philosopher, Patriot, and Poet, 
 with an Analysis of the Divine Comedy, its Plots and Episodes. 
 By VINCENZO BOTTA, Crown Svo (413 pp.), cloth extra, gilt top, 
 7s. 6d. 
 " That singular splendour of the Italian race." — Boccaccio. 
 
 Devonshire Scenery : Its Inspiration in the Prose 
 and Song of Various Authors. 
 
 Edited by the Rev. William Everitt. With Illustrations by 
 F. J. Widgery. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 Drake (Samuel Adams). The Making of the Great 
 
 West. 
 
 14s Illustrations and Maps. Crovm Svo, cloth, Js. 
 The Making of New England, 1580-1643. 
 
 With many Illustrations and Maps. Crown Svo, cloth, 5s. 
 
 The Making of Virginia and the Middle 
 
 Colonies, 1578-1701. 
 
 Many Illustrations and Maps. Crown Svo, 5s. 
 
 Interesting historical narratives, liberally supplied with helpful 
 maps, plans, and illustrations. 
 
 Evelyn's Diary, 1641 to 1705. 
 
 With Memoir and Notes by WiLLlAM Bray, F.S.A., "Standard 
 British Classics," demy Svo, cloth, top edge gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 It is impossible to overrate the interest and value of a diary and 
 correspondence written by such a man and in such times as those of 
 Charles I., Cromwell, Charles II., James II., and WiUiam III. 
 * 
 
10 
 
 FOLK LORE AND LEGENDS. 
 
 A Series of Volumes presenting, in a handy form, selections from 
 
 the Folk Lore and Legends of various Countries. Beautifully 
 
 printed and bound in J-cloth extra, brocaded side, per volume, 
 
 . 2s. Each volume sold separately. Or complete in four volumes 
 
 3s. 6d. each. 
 
 1. German. 
 
 Contents. — Gafier Death. The Legend of Paracelsus. Hans in 
 Luck. The Grey Mare in the Garret, &c. 
 
 2. Oriental. 
 
 Contents. — The Cobbler Astrologer. The Legend of the Terres- 
 trial Paradise. The Tomb of Noosheewan, &c. 
 
 3. Scotland. 
 
 Contents. — Canobie Dick. Coinnach Oer. Elphin Irving. The 
 Ghosts of Craig Aulnaic, &c. 
 
 4. Ireland. 
 
 Contents Larry Hayes. Jack o' the Lantern. Flory Cantillon's 
 
 Funeral. Hanlon's Mill, &c. 
 
 5. England. 
 
 Contents. — Nelly the Knocker. Some Merry Tales of the Wise Men 
 of Gotham. A Pleasant and Delightful History of Thomas Hicka- 
 thrift, &c. 
 
 6. Scandinavian. 
 
 Contents. — The Lost Bell (Isle of Rugen). Tales from the Prose 
 Edda. The Origin of Tiis Lake, &c. 
 
 7. Russian and Polish. 
 
 Contents. — Prince Peter and Princess Magilene. The Old Man, 
 his Wife, and the Fish. Ivashka with the Bear's Ear. The Stolen 
 Heart. Princess Marvel, &c. 
 
 8. North American Indian. 
 
 Contents. — A Legend of Manabozho. The Discovery of the Upper 
 World. The Funeral Fire, &c. 
 
 "These dainty little books supply a pleasant and fairly adequate 
 popular introduction to the national stories and legendary 
 lore of the past. The whole of these diverting and graceful 
 stories illustrate the truth of Sir Walter Scott's remark, that 
 the mythology of one period passes into the romance of the 
 next century, and then into the Nursery Tales of subsequent 
 ages." — Standard, 
 
II 
 
 FRENCH FICTION, REPRESENTATIVE. 
 
 Complete and accurate Translations, elegantly printed and bound. 
 Crown Zvo, y. (ui. each. 
 
 Mademoiselle de Maupin. 
 
 A Romance of love and passion. By THfeoPHlLE Gautier. 
 
 "The golden book of spirit and sense, the holy writ of beauty." 
 — A. C. Swinburne. 
 
 " Gautier is an inimitable model. His manner is so light and 
 true, so really creative, his fancy so alert, his taste so happy, 
 his humour so genial, that he makes illusion almost as con- 
 tagious as laughter." — Mr. Henry James. 
 
 Salambo. 
 
 Translated from the French " Edition Definitive '' by J. S. 
 
 Chartres. By Gustave Flaubert. 
 
 " The Translator has thoroughly understood the original, and has 
 succeeded in putting it into good English. The type, paper, 
 and material execution of the volume, inside and out, leave 
 nothing to be desired." — Westminster Review. 
 
 Madame Bovary; Provincial Manners. 
 
 Translated by E. Marx-Aveling. With an Introduction and 
 Notes of the proceedings against the Author before the " Tribunal 
 Correctionnel " of Paris. By Gustave Flaubert. 
 
 " ' Madame Bovary ' grips your very vitals with an invincible 
 power, like some scene you have really witnessed, some event 
 which is actually happening before your eyes." — Emile Zola. 
 
 Renee Mauperin. 
 
 By E. and J. DE GONCOURT. 
 " One of the most pathetic romances of our day. Running 
 through almost the whole gamut of human passion, it has 
 the alternatives of sunshine and shade that exist in real 
 life." — Morning Post. 
 
 Germinie Lacerteux. 
 
 By E. and J. de Goncourt. 
 
 " For myself, I can say that I could not lay the book down for 
 a moment until I had finished it." — Letters on Books in 
 Truth. 
 
 The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter. 
 
 By Henri Murger. 
 
 The Marl-pit Mystery. 
 
 By Georges Ohnet> 
 
12 
 
 Fairy Tales — Our Own. 
 
 Being the Folk Lore of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Thick 
 fcap 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. 
 Farmer (John S.) and Henley (W. E.). Slang and 
 its Analogues, Past and Present. 
 A Dictionary of the Heterodox and Colloquial Speech of the last 
 300 years, treated Historically, and including Synonyms in English, 
 French, German, Italian, Spanish, &c. In 6 vols., fcap 4to. Each 
 set numbered and signed. To Subscribers only, as follows : — ^Vols. I. 
 (A & B) and II. (C to Fizz), and III. (Fla-Hy), now Ready. Vol. 
 IV. in progress. The set, ;^io los. net. 
 
 The number of Sets still unplaced being limited, early application 
 should be made. 
 
 " The most complete and most scholarly work in its own field." 
 — Dr. J. A. H. Murray, Editor of The New English Dictionary. 
 
 Fouche (Joseph). Memoirs of Duke of Otranto, 
 Minister of the General Police of France. 
 
 With Portraits on steel of Fouche and Bonaparte as Consul and as 
 Emperor. " Memoir Library," crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. 
 
 " He commenced his public career as a revolutionist ; voted the 
 death of the King ; betrayed the Republic to Napoleon ; 
 broke his faith to the usurper, then to the Bourbons ; then 
 again to the hero of the Hundred Days ; he was venal, men- 
 dacious, disloyal, corrupt to the core ; and all this he carefiilly 
 points out to the readers ' in a spirit of candour.' His memoirs 
 are indeed, no less amazing than instructive reading, and in 
 them will be found the secret history of the First Napoleonic 
 Empire narrated with a cynical frankness little less than 
 revolting." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 Furniture and Decoration in England during the 
 i8th Century, 
 
 Facsimile reproductions of the choicest examples from the works of 
 Chippendale, Adam, Richardson, Heppelwhite, Sheraton, 
 Pergolesi, and others ; selected by John Aldam Heaton. 
 (J. & E. Bumpus, Ltd.) The Complete Work, two folio volumes, 
 is issued as under : — s. d. 
 
 In 20 parts, wrappers net 126 o 
 
 In 4 portfolios, cloth, lettered net 132 o 
 
 In 4 vols. , cloth extra net 140 o 
 
 In 2 vols., half-morocco, gilt tops, and 
 
 contents lettered net 200 o 
 
 Gibbon's Roman Empire. 
 
 A New Edition in 4 vols., with all the Author's Notes. " Standard 
 
 British Classics," demy 8vo, cloth, top edge gilt, 30s. 
 
 " Must always be considered as one of the most extraordinary 
 
 monuments that have appeared of the literary powers of a 
 
 single mind, and its fame can perish only with the civilisation 
 
 of the world."— Prof. Smyth. 
 
13 
 Gray's Elegy written in a Country Churchyard. 
 
 Illustrated. Imperial 8vo, cloth elegant, los. 6d. ; smaller size, 
 square 8vo, 6s. "Edition de Luxe" large 4to. Plates on India 
 paper, and mounted on guards. Cloth, 63s. 
 
 " Assuredly ' Gray's Elegy ' has never had a more beautiful setting 
 than this. In point of drawing, delicacy, beauty, and finish 
 they are unsurpassable, and this beautiful edition should com- 
 mand a very extensive sale." — Standard. 
 
 Gordon, Adam Lindsay, A Memoir of the Life of. 
 
 With New Poems, Prose Sketches, Speeches, and Reminiscences, 
 and an " In Memoriam " by Kendall. By J. IIowlett Ross. 
 With Portrait. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
 " They did not know. 
 
 The hundreds who had read his sturdy verse 
 
 And revelled over ringing major notes, 
 
 The mournful meaning of the undersong 
 
 Which runs through all he wrote, and often takes 
 
 The deep autumnal, half prophetic tone 
 
 Of forest winds in March." 
 
 Hamilton (Lady), Memoirs of. 
 
 With Anecdotes of her Friends and Contemporaries. A New 
 
 Edition. Edited and Annotated by W. H. Long, Editor of the 
 
 " Oglander Memoirs." With Three Portraits of Lady Hamilton. 
 
 " Memoir Library," crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. 
 
 " The editing is honestly done." — Athetueum. 
 
 " The life of this beautiful and remarkable woman is, in fact, 
 
 a microcosm of all the follies, laxities, pettinesses, and 
 
 heroisms of a very strong and picturesque age." — Standard. 
 
 Hazlitt's Complete V/orks. 
 
 Containing Miscellaneous Essays and Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 New Edition, 6 vols. , crown 8vo, cloth extra, 30s. 
 
 " The quantity of thought which is accumulated upon his favourite 
 subjects, the variety and richness of the illustrations, and the 
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 yet apart from the writings of all other essayists." — Judge 
 Talfourd. 
 " There can scarcely be a stronger gratification of the critical 
 faculties than in reading Hazlitt's Essays." — Harriet 
 Martineau. 
 
 Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 3 vols., crown 8vo, cloth extra, top edge gilt, 15s. ; or demy 8vo, 
 cloth, £1 IIS. 6d. ; or " Standard British Classics," demy 8vo, cloth, 
 top edge gilt, 22s. 6d. 
 
 " The style is energetic, and often eloquent ; a fine breadth is 
 thrown over the details, and a fine spirit of philosophic 
 energy breathes in every page." — Athenaum. 
 
14 
 
 Herbert of Cherbury, Autobiography of. 
 
 With Notes and Continuation of the Life by S. L. Lee. With 
 Four Etched Portraits. " Memoir Library " Editioni crown 8vo, 
 cloth, 5s. 
 
 Homer. The Iliad. 
 
 Translated by Alexander Pope, with Notes by T. A. Buckley, 
 M.A., F.S.A., and Flaxman's Designs. "Standard British 
 Classics," demy 8vo, cloth, top edge gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 The Odyssey. 
 
 Translated by Alexander Pope, with Notes by T. A. Buckley, 
 M.A., F.S.A., and Flaxman's Designs. " Standard British 
 Classics," demy 8vo, cloth, top edge gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 "So long as the lamp of civilisation shall not have ceased to 
 burn, ' The Iliad ' and ' The Odyssey ' must hold their 
 forward place among the brightest treasures of our race." — 
 W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 Hugo (Victor). Les Miserables. 
 
 A complete Translation from the French by Chas. E. Wilboor. 
 In 2 vols., crown 8vo, gilt top, 7s. 6d. 
 
 Hunt (John), M.A. An Essay on Pantheism. 
 Revised Edition. Demy Svo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " Mr. Hunt is quite aware of the danger he incurs by his appeal 
 to reason in these matters, but he is one of the few people 
 who see that there is really no help for it, that a man must 
 use his reason, if it is only for the purpose of making up his 
 mind that he won't. In language that frequently rises into 
 eloquence, he maintains the supremacy of the much-abused 
 faculty, and he commends the outcome of his patient labour 
 to the sympathies of those who feel the necessities of the 
 age and appreciate the value of truthful inquiry." — The 
 Spectator. 
 
 Hunt (Leigh). The Town : Its Memorable Charac- 
 ters and Events. " St. Paul's to St. James'." 
 
 With Steel Portrait of the Author and 12 on copper of persons 
 mentioned in the text, and the whole of the Wood Engravings from 
 the Original Edition. Demy Svo, cloth extra, top edge gilt, 12s. 6d. 
 "We will allow no higher enjoyment for a rational Englishman 
 than to stroll leisurely through this marvellous town arm-in- 
 arm with Mr. Leigh Hunt. He gives us the outpourings of 
 a mind enriched with the most agreeable knowledge. There 
 is not a page of this book which does not glow with interest. 
 It is a series of pictures from life, representing scenes in 
 which every inhabitant of the metropolis has an interest &r 
 greater than he suspects." — Times. 
 
15 
 Kingsley (Charles). Westward Ho! 
 
 The "Devon" Edition, with six Photogravure Illustrations from 
 Drawings specially made by F. J. Widgery for this Edition. 
 Crown 8vo, cloth extra, bevelled boards, gilt edges, 7s. 6d. 
 "Messrs. Gibbings & Co. send us the 'Devon Edition' of 
 Kingsley's ' Westward Ho ! ' which is really a superb book. 
 The literary value of the Canon's famous story has been 
 largely enhanced by some exquisite sketches by Mr. F. J. 
 Widgery, which represent some of the places described by 
 the novelist's pen — Bideford, Clovelly, Brent Tor, Northam 
 Burrows, Plymouth Sound, and Lundy. These illustrations 
 are perfect gems of the engraver's art, and, as we have indi- 
 cated, form, in conjunction with this fascinating book, a most 
 attractive object to all Devonians." — Evening /'os I {Exetei). 
 
 Lamb (Charles), Memoirs of. 
 
 By Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, D.C.L. (one of his executors). 
 A New Edition, edited and annotated by Percy Fitzgerald, M.A., 
 F.S.A., Author of "Charles Lamb, his Home, his Haunts, and his 
 Books." With Portraits after Meyer, Hazlitt, Pulham, Joseph, 
 and Maclise. "The Memoir Library" Edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 
 5s. 
 
 ' ' Mr. Fitzgerald has long been recognised as one of the ' Bos- 
 wells ' of Elia; he has annotated in capital fashion Talfourd's 
 book, and his comments are in keeping with the text, which, 
 we need scarcely say, is more personal than critical." — 
 Standard. 
 " For the social and domestic side of Lamb's history Talfourd is 
 indispensable, and he cannot be more conveniently read than 
 in this handy volume." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 Complete Works. "Temple Edition." (See p. 5.) 
 
 Lavalette (Count), Memoirs of. 
 
 Adjutant and Private Secretary to Napoleon, and Postmaster- 
 General under the Empire. Portraits. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. 
 Also 125 copies, large paper, royal Svo, 21s. net. 
 
 " Honest, prudent, vigorous, and truthful, he was a brave soldier 
 and a trusty servant ; and his memoirs, which are simply 
 though vigorously written, aie an interesting contribution to 
 the history of the times." — The Scotsman. 
 " Lavalette was not the least in that army of history-makers 
 which, under the fiery inspiration of Napoleon, went forth 
 to change the face of things, and to reconstitute the world. 
 He bore a man's part in the whole magnificent adventure ; 
 for he began in Italy— he won his captaincy at Areola and 
 was brought to the very gates of death for service done in the 
 Hundred Days. His story, which is modestly and simply 
 told, is one to read." — Pall Mall Gazette, 
 
i6 
 
 MEMOIR LIBRARY. 
 
 Under this title it is intended to issue from time to time a series of 
 Memoirs (taking the word in its widest sense) that will, it is hoped, 
 be of universal interest. It will embrace the most celebrated works 
 in this department of literature, as well as a number of less known 
 books that are either of historical or literary importance, or sought 
 after as presenting a picture of life at different epochs. They will 
 be carefully printed, and furnished with Portraits on Copper, as far 
 as possible in the mezzotint style. Crown 8vo, cloth extra, 5s. 
 
 The volumes already issued are — 
 
 Memoirs of Emma Lady Hamilton. 
 
 With Anecdotes of her Friends and Contemporaries, Edited and 
 Annotated by W. H. Long. With three Portraits of Lady Hamil- 
 ton, after Romney. 
 
 Confessions of Jean Jacques Rousseau. 
 
 With Portrait. 568 pp. 
 
 Autobiography of Edward Lord Herbert of 
 Cherbury. 
 
 With Notes and the Continuation of the Life by Sidney L. Lee, 
 B.A. With four Portraits. 
 
 Memoirs of Charles Lamb. 
 
 By Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, D.C.L. Edited and Annotated 
 by Percy Fitzgerald. With five Portraits of Lamb. 
 
 Memoirs of Joseph Fouche, Duke of Otranto, 
 Minister of the General Police of France. 
 
 With three Portraits. 
 
 Moehler (John Adam), D.D. Symbolism : or, Ex- 
 position of the Doctrinal Differences between 
 Catholics and Protestants, as evidenced by 
 their Symbolical \A^ritings. 
 
 Translated from the German by J. B. Robertson. Crown Svo, 
 
 7s. 6d. 
 
 " An inexhaustible treasure-house ; the depth and comprehensive- 
 ness of its views, the acuteness and solidity of its reasoning, 
 and the clearness and simplicity of its arrangement, establish 
 beyond the possibility of question the claim to the character 
 bestowed upon it soon after its publication by one whose very 
 name (Cardinal Wiseman) is an authority — 'The most pro- 
 found work on the Philosophy of Divinity which our time has 
 produced. ' " — Dublin Review. 
 
17 
 
 Morris (Charles). King Arthur and the Knights 
 of the Round Table. 
 
 A Modernised Version of the Morte D'Arthur. 3 vols., fcap 8vo, 
 quarter-cloth extra, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " Our great native epic has been adroitly handled by Mr. Morris, 
 and Malory's quaint prose has not been sub-edited more than 
 was practically necessary to make his wonderful web of imagi- 
 native romance attractive to untrained nineteenth-century 
 readers." — Bradford Observer. 
 
 " Readers who know no more of the adventures of those who sat 
 at the Round Table than may be gleaned from Tennyson 
 will find this careful edition of the labours of Sir Thomas 
 Malory a revelation." — Daily Telegraph. 
 
 Historical Tales ; or, The Romance of Reality. 
 
 Four volumes, vrith 12 Illustrations in each. Crown 8vo, cloth 
 extra, 3s. 6d. each. 
 
 English. 
 
 ' ' The stories are well told, and are not only in themselves readable, but 
 are calculated to arouse in young readers an intelligent interest in 
 historical studies." — Scotsman. 
 
 French. 
 
 " There are thirty-one stories in the volume, and the subjects covered are 
 of a sufficiently varied character to make the tales appeal to youthful 
 readers of widely different tastes. It need scarcely be said that 
 many of the tales are as romantic as they are real, as startling as 
 they are striking, and as dramatic as they are dreadful." — Scotsman. 
 
 German. 
 
 "Will charm many a reader with illustrations 01 'The Romance of 
 Reality ' from German history. The selection is full and judicious 
 and the episodes are narrated with spirit." — Daily Chronicle. 
 
 American. 
 
 " Fact is often stranger than fiction, and there are many tales connected 
 with the history of the great American continent which were well 
 worth the telling, and which in this handsomely produced volume 
 are told to excellent effect." — Publishers' Circular. 
 
 Motley's Rise of the Dutch Republic. 
 
 A History. " Standard British Classics," 3 vols., demy 8vo, cloth, 
 top edge gilt, 22s. 6d. 
 
 " A work of the highest merit and of the deepest interest, and 
 a great and permanent addition to historical literature." — 
 ScUurday Review. 
 
O'Neill (H. C). Devonshire Idyls. 
 
 Third Edition [Exeter : H. S. Eland], square i2mo, doth, 2s. 
 
 Paper covers, is. 6d. 
 " A book to be read ; no brief notice can do justice to pages so 
 
 racy of the soil." — Spectator. 
 "A charming little book of reminiscences of Devonshire rural 
 manners, customs, speech, folk-lore, and character, written 
 by a Devonshire lady, whose sketches of country life in North 
 Devon some fifty years since are marked by truth and sim- 
 plicity, and a quiet yet penetrative pathos." — Saturday 
 Review. 
 
 Told in the Dimpses. 
 
 Square i2mo. Frontispiece by F. J. Widgery. Cloth extra, top 
 edge gilt, 2s. 6d. 
 
 " Like the delightful ' Devonshire Idyls,' by the same writer, 
 these stories of North Devon are admirable for the truth and 
 humour of their illustrations of the characteristics of the people 
 and county they treat of." — Saturday Review. 
 " Has all the charms of its predecessors." — Spectator. 
 
 Pepys' Diary, 1659 to 1669. 
 
 With Memoirs and Notes by LoKD Braybrooke. "Standard 
 British Classics," demy 8vo, cloth, top edge gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " Pepys is marvellously entertaining ; the times and the man peep 
 
 out in a thousand odd circumstances and amusing expressions. 
 
 The ablest picture of the age in which the writer lived, and 
 
 a work of standard importance in English literature." — 
 
 Athenauvi. 
 
 Robinson (Mrs.), Memoirs of. 
 
 From the edition edited by her Daughter, with Notes and Intro- 
 duction by Fitzgerald Molloy. Numerous Portraits of " Per- 
 dita," Miss Farren, Duchess of Devonshire, &c. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. 
 net. Also 125 copies, large paper, royal 8vo, 21s. net. 
 
 " We cannot follow her fortunes and her misfortunes, which our 
 readers can learn for themselves from these fascinating pages 
 of vari-coloured life. We would call especial attention to the 
 nine full-page plates, being portraits from engravings after 
 Romney, Cosway, Reynolds, and Laurence. They are nearly 
 all exquisite pictures, of most delicate finish, and the book is 
 well worth bujring for their sake alone by all lovers of artistic 
 portraiture. " — Birviinghajii Gazette. 
 
 Rogers (W. H. Hamilton). Memorials of the West, 
 Historical and Descriptive. 
 
 Collected on the Borderland of Somerset, Dorset, and Devon. 
 Illustrated by an exquisite etched Frontispiece, after Newbury, 
 beautifully Coloured Heraldic Plates, numerous Portraits and 
 engravings of Ancient Monuments, Churches, Houses, facsimiles 
 of Autographs, &c. Demy Svo, half-morocco, 21s. 
 
19 
 
 PORTRAITS. 
 
 The undermentioned series of Portraits can be supplied in two states, 
 viz. : Royal 8vo, India proofs before letters, 2s. ; Demy 8vo, prints, is. 
 
 1. Bonaparte (Napoleon). Engraved by Hopwood (as Consul). 
 
 Proof only. 
 
 2. Engraved by Hopwood (as Emperor). Proof only. 
 
 3. (Lucien). Engraved by Maudinson. Proof only. 
 
 4. Charles II. From an er^aving by Smith, after Wissing. 
 
 5. Charlotte (Queen). From an engraving by M'Ardell, after Meyer. 
 
 6. Coleridge (Samuel Taylor). Photogra\'ure from an engraving by 
 
 W. Say, after Northcote. 
 
 7. Duchess of Portsmouth. From an Engraving by Wagstaff, 
 
 after Lely. 
 
 8. Elizabeth (Queen). From an engraving after the Newcome picture. 
 
 9. Fouche. Engraved by Wolff, after Girardet. Proof only. 
 10. George III. From an Engraving by M'Ardell, after Meyer. 
 
 n. Godwin (William). Photogravure from an engraving by G. Dawe, 
 after Northcote. 
 
 12. Gwyn (Nell). From an engraving by Wright, after Lely. 
 
 13. From an engraving by Becket, after Verrhells. 
 
 14. From an engraving by Valck, after Lely. 
 
 15. From an engraving. 
 
 16. From an engraving by P. V. B., after Lely. 
 
 17. From an engraving after Gascar. 
 
 18. (with Children). From an engraving by Tompson, after Lely. 
 
 19. Hamilton (Emma Lady). Engraved on copper by Mayer, after 
 
 Romney. 
 
 20. (as Sensibility). Photogravure from an Engraving by 
 
 Richard Earlom, after Romney. 
 
 (as Bacchante). Photogravure from an engraving by C. 
 
 Knight, after Romney. 
 
 22. Johnson (Samuel). From an engraving by Heath, after Opie. 
 
 23. Josephine. Engraved by GouTTifiRE. Proof only. 
 
 24. Lamb (Charles). Photogravure from an engraving by Mayer. 
 
 25. Engraved on steel by Edward Smith, after Wm. Hazlitt. 
 
 26. Photogravure from a water-colour in the British Museum by 
 
 G. F. Joseph. 
 
 27. Photogravure from the sketch by Maclise in the Dyce and 
 
 Forster Collection. 
 
 28. Full length. Scratched on copper from Life by his friend 
 
 Brook Pelham. 
 
 29. Meredith (George). Photogravure from a photo. 
 
 30. Munden (in Lock and Key). Photogravure from an engraving by 
 
 Thos. Lupton, after G. Clint. 
 
 31. Nelson (Horatio). Photogravure from an engraving by Turner, 
 
 after R. Bowyer. 
 
 32. Rousseau (J. J.). From an engraving by Caldwall, after Ramsey. 
 
 33. Shelley (Persy Bysshe). Photogravure after G. Clint. 
 
 34. Siddons (Mrs.). Photogravure after Gainsborough. 
 
 35. (as the Tragic Muse). From an engraving by Hayward, 
 
 after Reynolds. 
 
 36. From an engraving by C. Turner, after Lawrence. 
 
 37. From an engraving by Bartolozzi, after Hone. 
 
 38. From an engraving by Tomkins, after Downman. 
 
 39. Wordsworth ( W^illiam). Photogravure from an engraving by Thos- 
 
 Lupton, after B. R. Haydon. 
 
20 
 
 Rousseau (J. J.), Confessions of. 
 
 With Portrait. 568 pp. Crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. 
 
 "With picturesqueness and charming vivacity, vidth marvellous 
 frankness, if not with scrupulous truthfulness, he tells the 
 story of his life." 
 
 Scott (Sir Walter), Poetical \Vorks of. 
 
 Complete Edition, with Introductions and Notes. 3 vols., fcap 8vo, 
 cloth extra, top edge gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 " No one since the days of Homer has sung with such an im- 
 petuous and burning breath the muster, the march, the onset, 
 and all the fiery vicissitudes of battle." — Allan Cun- 
 ningham. 
 
 Scott (Michael), The Sea Stories of. 
 
 Tom Cringle's Log. 2 vols., fcap 8vo, 5s. net. 
 
 The Cruise of the Midge. 2 vols., fcap 8vo, 5s. net. 
 
 With Illustrations by Mr. FRANK Brangwyn. Special Title-pages 
 and Binding designs. Cloth extra, top edge gilt. 
 
 "No man ever wrote better of the life of the sea, few ever so 
 vividly, as the author of ' Tom Cringle's Log.' That fasci- 
 nating story is doubly welcome in the charming form that 
 Messrs. Gibbings & Co. have given it. Two dainty volumes, 
 most choicely printed, illustrated by photogravures from the 
 pencil of Mr. Frank Brangwyn, and appropriately bound, 
 enshrine the famous Ic^." — Army and Navy Gazette. 
 
 " We are heartily glad to see a reprint of ' Tom Cringle's Log.' 
 It conducts us through a series of brushes with French and 
 Yankees, of gales and of hardship, and of miscellaneous 
 adventure ; each piece of realism instinct with the spirit of 
 our old sea-dogs and redolent of tar and brine." — The 
 Times. 
 
 " His fighting and adventure are vigorous with a vigour which 
 is stimulating even when it runs to melodrama ; and the 
 glimpses of life and adventure on the African coast and in 
 the West Indies have a rich barbaric stir and colour which 
 attract us still. The latest novel is ' The Cruise of the 
 Midge,' in two volumes. As in ' Tom Cringle's Log,' Mr. 
 Frank Brangwyn's few drawings are perhaps the best illus- 
 trations ever contributed to a novel aboat the sea. They are 
 works of art of such finish and truth that they attract pro- 
 longed attention." — Newcastle Chroivicle. 
 
21 
 
 Sidney (Sir Philip), The Miscellaneous Works. 
 
 With a Life of the Author and Illustrative Notes by William 
 Gray, Esq., of Magdalen College. Demy 8vo, buckram, top edge 
 gilt, I2S. 6d. 
 
 "All our Author's published writings, with the exception of 
 the Arcadia and the Psalms, have been collected from 
 various quarters and embodied in this volume." — Editot's 
 Preface. 
 
 250 copies only for England. 
 
 Shelley (Percy Bysshe). Complete Poetical Works. 
 
 The Text carefully revised, with Notes and a Memoir by WiLLlAM 
 Michael RossETTi. 3 vols., "Standard British Classics," demy 
 8vo, cloth, top edge gilt, 22s. 5d. 
 
 " We gladly predict for this edition a popularity which it so well 
 deserves. We must also add that it possesses the merit of 
 including many pieces of Shelley's not usually found in pre- 
 vious editions of his works, and some not hitherto printed." 
 — The Standard. 
 
 " This will in future be the edition of the ' imperishable poems.' " 
 — Liverpool Daily Post. 
 
 Memoirs. 
 
 With new Preface by William Michael Rosseti'I. Crown 8vo, 
 cloth, 3s. 6d. 
 
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 " His comic muse does not go prying about into obscure corners, 
 or collecting idle curiosities, but shows her laughing face, 
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 is garlanded and crowned with roses and vine leaves. Her 
 eyes sparkle with delight, and her heart runs over with good- 
 natured malice. Her step is firm and light, and her ornaments 
 consummate ! " — Hazliit. 
 
 Smith (Moyr). The W^ooing of iEthra. 
 
 With five Etchings and numerous Woodcuts. 32mo, cloth gilt, 2s. 
 " A singularly beautiful little book." — Scotsman. 
 
 Tales of Old Thule. 
 
 Illustrated Square crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
 
22 
 
 STANDARD BRITISH CLASSICS. 
 
 "A notable list of reprints." — Manchester Guardian. 
 
 These have been prepared to meet the demand for a Series of 
 Library Editions of the best Authors at a moderate price. Demy 
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 I OS. 6d. 
 
 1. Pepys' Diary, 1659 to 1669. 
 
 With Memoirs and Notes by Lord Braybrooke. 
 
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 With Memoirs and Notes by William Bray, F.S.A. 
 
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 A New Edition in 4 Volumes, with all the Author's Notes. 
 
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 By W. Hazlitt. 3 vols. 
 
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 The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. 
 The Text carefully revised with Notes and a Memoir by William 
 Michael Rossetti. 3 vols. 
 
 The whole of the above Series kept in stock in half-calf gilt, or half- vellum 
 extra gilt, top edge gilt. Other Volumes to follow. 
 
23 
 
 Smollett (Tobias), The Novels of. 
 
 Edited by George Saintsbury, and Illustrated by Frank 
 Richards. In 12 vols., fcap 8vo, each 2s. 6d. net. 150 copies on 
 hand-made paper, large post 8vo. 
 
 Roderick Random, 3 vols. 
 Peregrine Pickle, 4 vols. 
 "It is incumbent on us to say of this new enterprise of Messrs. 
 Gibbings that they are furnishing an edition which will be 
 valued by the public equally for its handiness and its 
 elegance. The volumes are thin and light, the typography 
 is beautifully clear ; while the illustrations by Mr. Frank 
 Richards show that he has thoroughly caught the spirit of his 
 author. This edition of Smollett is one that will be bought 
 with ease, read with pleasure, and kept with care." — Glasgow 
 Herald. 
 
 Sporting Birthday Book. 
 
 Quotations from Major G. J. Whyte Melville, Mr. Egerton War- 
 burton, Captain Clark Kennedy, Somerville, &c., arranged and 
 collected by A. E. Studdy. With 14 Illustrations, square l2mo, 
 cloth, gilt edges, 5s. 
 
 " In this delightful little volume there are hundreds of cheering 
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 it worth living ? and so on. No, life is here depicted as it 
 should be felt — something jocund, exhilarating, enjoyable, 
 and enjoyed." — Land and Water. 
 
 Swift's Choice 'Works. 
 
 Including " Gulliver's Travels," " Tale of a Tub," &c. " Standard 
 British Classics," demy 8vo, cloth, top edge gilt, 7s. fid. 
 
 "What a genius, I had when I wrote that book !" — SwiFT (in 
 old age). 
 
 TERRIBLE TALES. 
 
 A Collection of really good Sensational Stories, by Authors of repute 
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 and some appearing for the first time in English. Fcap 8vo, paper 
 IS., or cloth, top edge gilt, at Is. fid. each. 
 
 1. German. 
 
 Contents. — The Crj'stal Dagger. A Strange Bride, &c. 
 
 2. French. 
 
 Contents. — The Mysterious Sketch. The Lyons Courier, &c. 
 
 3. Italian. 
 
 Contents. — The Bridal Wreath. Domenico Matteo, &c. 
 
 4. Spanish. 
 
 Contents. — The GoHen Bracelet. The Green Eyes, &c. 
 The same, 2 vols, in one, picture boards, 2s. each. 
 
24 
 
 Vaughan (Robert Alfred), B.A. Hours with the 
 Mystics. 
 
 A Contribution to the History of Religious Opinion. Seventh 
 
 Edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. 
 
 A few copies remain of the best Edition, 2 vols., i6s. 
 
 " There is not a p^e nor a paragraph in these ' Hours ' in which 
 there is not something worth recollecting, and often reflections 
 very wise and very weighty indeed. No one can rise from the 
 perusal of the book without finding himself, if not a better, at 
 least a more thoughtful man, and perhaps a humbler one also, 
 as he learns how many more struggles and doubts, discoveries, 
 sorrows, and joys, the human race has passed through than are 
 contained in his own private experience." — Chas. Kingsley. 
 
 W^alton and Cotton's Complete Angler. 
 
 Illustrated. Edited by G. Christopher Davies. "Standard 
 British Classics," demy 8vo, cloth, top edge gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 "Whether we consider the elegant simplicity of the style, the 
 ease and unaffected humour of the dialogue, the lovely scenes 
 which it delineates, the enchanting pastoral poetry which it 
 contains, or the fine morality it so sweetly inculcates, it has 
 hardly its fellow among any of the modern languages." — Sir 
 John Havstkins. 
 
 Walsh (William S.). Handy Book of Literary 
 Curiosities. 
 
 Large crown 8vo, cloth extra, marbled edges, 1104 pp., 12s. 6d. 
 
 A few of the articles in this curious, amusing, and instructive volume 
 may be mentioned : Acrostics— Alliteration — Anagrams — Bibliomania — 
 Binding — Book-plates — Cryptograms — Coincidences — Dedications — 
 Epigrams — Epitaphs — Forgeries — Indexes — Lost Treasures — Mistakes 
 of Authors — Mixed Metaphors — Names, Curiosities of — Parody — 
 Plagiarism — Puns — Real People in Fiction — Reviews, Curiosities of — 
 Typographical Errors, &c. 
 
 " Of really remarkable merit." — Spectator. 
 
 W^hite's Natural History of Selborne. 
 
 Illustrated. Edited by G. Christopher Davies. " Standard 
 British Classics," demy 8vo, cloth, top edge gilt, 7s. 6d. 
 
 "A man the power of whose writings has immortalised an obscure 
 village and a tortoise — for who has not heard of ' Timothy ' ? 
 — as long as the English language lives." — London Quarterly 
 Review.