Chương Chương 11 · THE STORY OF BIG KLAUS AND LITTLE KLAUS

. THE STORY OF BIG KLAUS AND LITTLE KLAUS

In a certain village there lived two people who had both the same name.

Both were called Klaus, but one owned four horses and the other only

one. In order to distinguish the one from the other, the one who had

four horses was called Big Klaus, and the one who had only one horse,

Little Klaus. Now you shall hear what befell them both, for this is a

true story.

The whole week through Little Klaus had to plough for Big Klaus, and

lend him his one horse; then Big Klaus lent him his four horses, but

only once a week, and that was on Sunday. Hurrah! how loudly Little

Klaus cracked his whip over all the five horses! for they were indeed as

good as his on this one day. The sun shone brightly, and all the bells

in the church-towers were pealing; the people were dressed in their best

clothes, and were going to church, with their hymn books under their

arms, to hear the minister preach. They saw Little Klaus ploughing with

the five horses; but he was so happy that he kept on cracking his whip,

and calling out ‘Gee-up, my five horses!’

‘You mustn’t say that,’ said Big Klaus. ‘Only one horse is yours.’

But as soon as someone else was going by Little Klaus forgot that he

must not say it, and called out ‘Gee-up, my five horses!’

‘Now you had better stop that,’ said Big Klaus, ‘for if you say it once

more I will give your horse such a crack on the head that it will drop

down dead on the spot!’

‘I really won’t say it again!’ said Little Klaus. But as soon as more

people passed by, and nodded him good-morning, he became so happy in

thinking how well it looked to have five horses ploughing his field

that, cracking his whip, he called out ‘Gee-up, my five horses!’

‘I’ll see to your horses!’ said Big Klaus; and, seizing an iron bar, he

struck Little Klaus’ one horse such a blow on the head that it fell down

and died on the spot.

‘Alas! Now I have no horse!’ said Little Klaus, beginning to cry. Then

he flayed the skin off his horse, dried it, and put it in a sack, which

he threw over his shoulder, and went into the town to sell it. He had a

long way to go, and had to pass through a great dark forest. A dreadful

storm came on, in which he lost his way, and before he could get on to

the right road night came on, and it was impossible to reach the town

that evening.

Right in front of him was a large farm-house. The window-shutters were

closed, but the light came through the chinks. ‘I should very much like

to be allowed to spend the night there,’ thought Little Klaus; and he

went and knocked at the door. The farmer’s wife opened it, but when she

heard what he wanted she told him to go away; her husband was not at

home, and she took in no strangers.

‘Well, I must lie down outside,’ said Little Klaus; and the farmer’s

wife shut the door in his face. Close by stood a large haystack,

and between it and the house a little out-house, covered with a flat

thatched roof.

‘I can lie down there,’ thought Little Klaus, looking at the roof; ‘it

will make a splendid bed, if only the stork won’t fly down and bite my

legs.’ For a live stork was standing on the roof, where it had its nest.

So Little Klaus crept up into the out-house, where he lay down, and made

himself comfortable for the night. The wooden shutters over the windows

were not shut at the top, and he could just see into the room.

There stood a large table, spread with wine and roast meat and a

beautiful fish. The farmer’s wife and the sexton sat at the table, but

there was no one else. She was filling up his glass, while he stuck his

fork into the fish which was his favourite dish.

‘If one could only get some of that!’ thought Little Klaus, stretching

his head towards the window. Ah, what delicious cakes he saw standing

there! It WAS a feast!

Then he heard someone riding along the road towards the house. It was

the farmer coming home. He was a very worthy man; but he had one great

peculiarity--namely, that he could not bear to see a sexton. If he

saw one he was made quite mad. That was why the sexton had gone to say

good-day to the farmer’s wife when he knew that her husband was not at

home, and the good woman therefore put in front of him the best food she

had. But when they heard the farmer coming they were frightened, and the

farmer’s wife begged the sexton to creep into a great empty chest. He

did so, as he knew the poor man could not bear to see a sexton. The wife

hastily hid all the beautiful food and the wine in her oven; for if her

husband had seen it, he would have been sure to ask what it all meant.

‘Oh, dear! oh, dear!’ groaned Little Klaus up in the shed, when he saw

the good food disappearing.

‘Is anybody up there?’ asked the farmer, catching sight of Little Klaus.

‘Why are you lying there? Come with me into the house.’

Then Little Klaus told him how he had lost his way, and begged to be

allowed to spend the night there.

‘Yes, certainly,’ said the farmer; ‘but we must first have something to

eat!’

The wife received them both very kindly, spread a long table, and gave

them a large plate of porridge. The farmer was hungry, and ate with a

good appetite; but Little Klaus could not help thinking of the delicious

dishes of fish and roast meats and cakes which he knew were in the oven.

Under the table at his feet he had laid the sack with the horse-skin in

it, for, as we know, he was going to the town to sell it. The porridge

did not taste good to him, so he trod upon his sack, and the dry skin in

the sack squeaked loudly.

‘Hush!’ said Little Klaus to his sack, at the same time treading on it

again so that it squeaked even louder than before.

‘Hallo! what have you got in your sack?’ asked the farmer.

‘Oh, it is a wizard!’ said Little Klaus. ‘He says we should not eat

porridge, for he has conjured the whole oven full of roast meats and

fish and cakes.’

‘Goodness me!’ said the farmer; and opening the oven he saw all the

delicious, tempting dishes his wife had hidden there, but which he now

believed the wizard in the sack had conjured up for them. The wife could

say nothing, but she put the food at once on the table, and they ate the

fish, the roast meat, and the cakes. Little Klaus now trod again on his

sack, so that the skin squeaked.

‘What does he say now?’ asked the farmer.

‘He says,’ replied Little Klans, ‘that he has also conjured up for us

three bottles of wine; they are standing in the corner by the oven!’

The wife had to fetch the wine which she had hidden, and the farmer

drank and grew very merry. He would very much like to have had such a

wizard as Little Klaus had in the sack.

‘Can he conjure up the Devil?’ asked the farmer. ‘I should like to see

him very much, for I feel just now in very good spirits!’

‘Yes,’ said Little Klaus; ‘my wizard can do everything that I ask. Isn’t

that true?’ he asked, treading on the sack so that it squeaked. ‘Do you

hear? He says ‘’Yes;’’ but that the Devil looks so ugly that we should

not like to see him.’

‘Oh! I’m not at all afraid. What does he look like?’

‘He will show himself in the shape of a sexton!’

‘I say!’ said the farmer, ‘he must be ugly! You must know that I can’t

bear to look at a sexton! But it doesn’t matter. I know that it is the

Devil, and I sha’n’t mind! I feel up to it now. But he must not come too

near me!’

‘I must ask my wizard,’ said Little Klaus, treading on the sack and

putting his ear to it.

‘What does he say?’

‘He says you can open the chest in the corner there, and you will see

the Devil squatting inside it; but you must hold the lid so that he

shall not escape.’

‘Will you help me to hold him?’ begged the farmer, going towards the

chest where his wife had hidden the real sexton, who was sitting inside

in a terrible fright. The farmer opened the lid a little way, and saw

him inside.

‘Ugh!’ he shrieked, springing back. ‘Yes, now I have seen him; he looked

just like our sexton. Oh, it was horrid!’

So he had to drink again, and they drank till far on into the night.

‘You MUST sell me the wizard,’ said the farmer. ‘Ask anything you like!

I will pay you down a bushelful of money on the spot.’

‘No, I really can’t,’ said Little Klans. ‘Just think how many things I

can get from this wizard!’

‘Ah! I should like to have him so much!’ said the farmer, begging very

hard.

‘Well!’ said Little Klaus at last, ‘as you have been so good as to give

me shelter to-night, I will sell him. You shall have the wizard for a

bushel of money, but I must have full measure.’

‘That you shall,’ said the farmer. ‘But you must take the chest with

you. I won’t keep it another hour in the house. Who knows that he isn’t

in there still?’

Little Klaus gave the farmer his sack with the dry skin, and got instead

a good bushelful of money. The farmer also gave him a wheelbarrow to

carry away his money and the chest. ‘Farewell,’ said Little Klaus; and

away he went with his money and the big chest, wherein sat the sexton.

On the other side of the wood was a large deep river. The water flowed

so rapidly that you could scarcely swim against the stream.

A great new bridge had been built over it, on the middle of which Little

Klaus stopped, and said aloud so that the sexton might hear:

‘Now, what am I to do with this stupid chest? It is as heavy as if it

were filled with stones! I shall only be tired, dragging it along; I

will throw it into the river. If it swims home to me, well and good; and

if it doesn’t, it’s no matter.’

Then he took the chest with one hand and lifted it up a little, as if he

were going to throw it into the water.

‘No, don’t do that!’ called out the sexton in the chest. ‘Let me get out

first!’

‘Oh, oh!’ said Little Klaus, pretending that he was afraid. ‘He is still

in there! I must throw him quickly into the water to drown him!’

‘Oh! no, no!’ cried the sexton. ‘I will give you a whole bushelful of

money if you will let me go!’

‘Ah, that’s quite another thing!’ said Little Klaus, opening the chest.

The sexton crept out very quickly, pushed the empty chest into the water

and went to his house, where he gave Little Klaus a bushel of money. One

he had had already from the farmer, and now he had his wheelbarrow full

of money.

‘Well, I have got a good price for the horse!’ said he to himself when

he shook all his money out in a heap in his room. ‘This will put Big

Klaus in a rage when he hears how rich I have become through my one

horse; but I won’t tell him just yet!’

So he sent a boy to Big Klaus to borrow a bushel measure from him.

‘Now what can he want with it?’ thought Big Klaus; and he smeared some

tar at the bottom, so that of whatever was measured a little should

remain in it. And this is just what happened; for when he got his

measure back, three new silver five-shilling pieces were sticking to it.

What does this mean?’ said Big Klaus, and he ran off at once to Little

Klaus.

‘Where did you get so much money from?’

‘Oh, that was from my horse-skin. I sold it yesterday evening.’

‘That’s certainly a good price!’ said Big Klaus; and running home in

great haste, he took an axe, knocked all his four horses on the head,

skinned them, and went into the town.

‘Skins! skins! Who will buy skins?’ he cried through the streets.

All the shoemakers and tanners came running to ask him what he wanted

for them. ‘A bushel of money for each,’ said Big Klaus.

‘Are you mad?’ they all exclaimed. ‘Do you think we have money by the

bushel?’

‘Skins! skins! Who will buy skins?’ he cried again, and to all who asked

him what they cost, he answered, ‘A bushel of money.’

‘He is making game of us,’ they said; and the shoemakers seized their

yard measures and the tanners their leathern aprons and they gave Big

Klaus a good beating. ‘Skins! skins!’ they cried mockingly; yes, we will

tan YOUR skin for you! Out of the town with him!’ they shouted; and Big

Klaus had to hurry off as quickly as he could, if he wanted to save his

life.

‘Aha!’ said he when he came home, ‘Little Klaus shall pay dearly for

this. I will kill him!’

Little Klaus’ grandmother had just died. Though she had been very unkind

to him, he was very much distressed, and he took the dead woman and laid

her in his warm bed to try if he could not bring her back to life.

There she lay the whole night, while he sat in the corner and slept on a

chair, which he had often done before. And in the night as he sat there

the door opened, and Big Klaus came in with his axe. He knew quite

well where Little Klaus’s bed stood, and going up to it he struck the

grandmother on the head just where he thought Little Klaus would be.

‘There!’ said he. ‘Now you won’t get the best of me again!’ And he went

home.

‘What a very wicked man!’ thought Little Klaus. ‘He was going to kill

me! It was a good thing for my grandmother that she was dead already, or

else he would have killed her!’

Then he dressed his grandmother in her Sunday clothes, borrowed a horse

from his neighbour, harnessed the cart to it, sat his grandmother on the

back seat so that she could not fall out when he drove, and away they

went. When the sun rose they were in front of a large inn. Little Klaus

got down, and went in to get something to drink. The host was very rich.

He was a very worthy but hot-tempered man.

‘Good morning!’ said he to Little Klaus. ‘You are early on the road.’

‘Yes,’ said Little Klaus. ‘I am going to the town with my grandmother.

She is sitting outside in the cart; I cannot bring her in. Will you not

give her a glass of mead? But you will have to speak loud, for she is

very hard of hearing.’

‘Oh yes, certainly I will!’ said the host; and, pouring out a large

glass of mead, he took it out to the dead grandmother, who was sitting

upright in the cart.

‘Here is a glass of mead from your son,’ said the host. But the dead

woman did not answer a word, and sat still. ‘Don’t you hear?’ cried the

host as loud as he could. ‘Here is a glass of mead from your son!’

Then he shouted the same thing again, and yet again, but she never moved

in her place; and at last he grew angry, threw the glass in her face, so

that she fell back into the cart, for she was not tied in her place.

‘Hullo!’ cried Little Klaus, running out of the door, and seizing the

host by the throat. ‘You have killed my grandmother! Look! there is a

great hole in her forehead!’

‘Oh, what a misfortune!’ cried the host, wringing his hands. ‘It all

comes from my hot temper! Dear Little Klaus! I will give you a bushel of

money, and will bury your grandmother as if she were my own; only don’t

tell about it, or I shall have my head cut off, and that would be very

uncomfortable.’

So Little Klaus got a bushel of money, and the host buried his

grandmother as if she had been his own.

Now when Little Klaus again reached home with so much money he sent his

boy to Big Klaus to borrow his bushel measure.

‘What’s this?’ said Big Klaus. ‘Didn’t I kill him? I must see to this

myself!’

So he went himself to Little Klaus with the measure.

‘Well, now, where did you get all this money?’ asked he, opening his

eyes at the heap.

‘You killed my grandmother--not me,’ said Little Klaus. ‘I sold her, and

got a bushel of money for her.’

‘That is indeed a good price!’ said Big Klaus; and, hurrying home, he

took an axe and killed his grandmother, laid her in the cart, and drove

off to the apothecary’s, and asked whether he wanted to buy a dead body.

‘Who is it, and how did you get it?’ asked the apothecary.

‘It is my grandmother,’ said Big Klaus. ‘I killed her in order to get a

bushel of money.’

‘You are mad!’ said the apothecary. ‘Don’t mention such things, or you

will lose your head!’ And he began to tell him what a dreadful thing

he had done, and what a wicked man he was, and that he ought to be

punished; till Big Klaus was so frightened that he jumped into the cart

and drove home as hard as he could. The apothecary and all the people

thought he must be mad, so they let him go.

‘You shall pay for this!’ said Big Klaus as he drove home. ‘You shall

pay for this dearly, Little Klaus!’

So as soon as he got home he took the largest sack he could find, and

went to Little Klaus and said: ‘You have fooled me again! First I killed

my horses, then my grandmother! It is all your fault; but you sha’n’t do

it again!’ And he seized Little Klaus, pushed him in the sack, threw it

over his shoulder, crying out ‘Now I am going to drown you!’

He had to go a long way before he came to the river, and Little Klaus

was not very light. The road passed by the church; the organ was

sounding, and the people were singing most beautifully.

Big Klaus put down the sack with Little Klaus in it by the church-door,

and thought that he might as well go in and hear a psalm before going on

farther. Little Klaus could not get out, and everybody was in church; so

he went in.

‘Oh, dear! oh, dear!’ groaned Little Klaus in the sack, twisting and

turning himself. But he could not undo the string.

There came by an old, old shepherd, with snow-white hair and a long

staff in his hand. He was driving a herd of cows and oxen. These pushed

against the sack so that it was overturned.

‘Alas!’ moaned Little Klans, ‘I am so young and yet I must die!’

‘And I, poor man,’ said the cattle-driver, ‘I am so old and yet I cannot

die!’

‘Open the sack,’ called out Little Klaus; ‘creep in here instead of me,

and you will die in a moment!’

‘I will gladly do that,’ said the cattle-driver; and he opened the sack,

and Little Klaus struggled out at once.

‘You will take care of the cattle, won’t you?’ asked the old man,

creeping into the sack, which Little Klaus fastened up and then went on

with the cows and oxen. Soon after Big Klaus came out of the church, and

taking up the sack on his shoulders it seemed to him as if it had become

lighter; for the old cattle-driver was not half as heavy as Little

Klaus.

‘How easy he is to carry now! That must be because I heard part of the

service.’

So he went to the river, which was deep and broad, threw in the sack

with the old driver, and called after it, for he thought Little Klaus

was inside:

‘Down you go! You won’t mock me any more now!’

Then he went home; but when he came to the cross-roads, there he met

Little Klaus, who was driving his cattle.

‘What’s this?’ said Big Klaus. ‘Haven’t I drowned you?’

‘Yes,’ replied Little Klaus; ‘you threw me into the river a good

half-hour ago!’

‘But how did you get those splendid cattle?’ asked Big Klaus.

‘They are sea-cattle!’ said Little Klaus. ‘I will tell you the whole

story, and I thank you for having drowned me, because now I am on dry

land and really rich! How frightened I was when I was in the sack! How

the wind whistled in my ears as you threw me from the bridge into the

cold water! I sank at once to the bottom; but I did not hurt myself for

underneath was growing the most beautiful soft grass. I fell on this,

and immediately the sack opened; the loveliest maiden in snow-white

garments, with a green garland round her wet hair, took me by the hand,

and said! ‘’Are you Little Klaus? Here are some cattle for you to begin

with, and a mile farther down the road there is another herd, which

I will give you as a present!’’ Now I saw that the river was a great

high-road for the sea-people. Along it they travel underneath from

the sea to the land till the river ends. It was so beautiful, full of

flowers and fresh grass; the fishes which were swimming in the water

shot past my ears as the birds do here in the air. What lovely people

there were, and what fine cattle were grazing in the ditches and dykes!’

‘But why did you come up to us again?’ asked Big Klaus. ‘I should not

have done so, if it is so beautiful down below!’

‘Oh!’ said Little Klaus, ‘that was just so politic of me. You heard

what I told you, that the sea-maiden said to me a mile farther along the

road--and by the road she meant the river, for she can go by no other

way--there was another herd of cattle waiting for me. But I know what

windings the river makes, now here, now there, so that it is a long way

round. Therefore it makes it much shorter if one comes on the land and

drives across the field to the river. Thus I have spared myself quite

half a mile, and have come much quicker to my sea-cattle!’

‘Oh, you’re a lucky fellow!’ said Big Klaus. ‘Do you think I should also

get some cattle if I went to the bottom of the river?’

‘Oh, yes! I think so,’ said Little Klaus. ‘But I can’t carry you in a

sack to the river; you are too heavy for me! If you like to go there

yourself and then creep into the sack, I will throw you in with the

greatest of pleasure.’

‘Thank you,’ said Big Klaus; ‘but if I don’t get any sea-cattle when I

come there, you will have a good hiding, mind!’

‘Oh, no! Don’t be so hard on me!’ Then they went to the river. When

the cattle, which were thirsty, caught sight of the water, they ran as

quickly as they could to drink.

‘Look how they are running!’ said Little Klaus. ‘They want to go to the

bottom again!’

‘Yes; but help me first,’ said Big Klaus, ‘or else you shall have a

beating!’

And so he crept into the large sack, which was lying on the back of

one of the oxen. ‘Put a stone in, for I am afraid I may not reach the

bottom,’ said Big Klaus.

‘It goes all right!’ said Little Klaus; but still he laid a big stone in

the sack, fastened it up tight, and then pushed it in. Plump! there was

Big Klaus in the water, and he sank like lead to the bottom.

‘I doubt if he will find any cattle!’ said Little Klaus as he drove his

own home.

PRINCE RING (30)

(30) From the Icelandic.

Once upon a time there was a King and his Queen in their kingdom.

They had one daughter, who was called Ingiborg, and one son, whose name

was Ring. He was less fond of adventures than men of rank usually were

in those days, and was not famous for strength or feats of arms. When he

was twelve years old, one fine winter day he rode into the forest along

with his men to enjoy himself. They went on a long way, until they

caught sight of a hind with a gold ring on its horns. The Prince was

eager to catch it, if possible, so they gave chase and rode on without

stopping until all the horses began to founder beneath them. At last the

Prince’s horse gave way too, and then there came over them a darkness so

black that they could no longer see the hind. By this time they were far

away from any house, and thought it was high time to be making their way

home again, but they found they had got lost now. At first they all kept

together, but soon each began to think that he knew the right way best;

so they separated, and all went in different directions.

The Prince, too, had got lost like the rest, and wandered on for a time

until he came to a little clearing in the forest not far from the sea,

where he saw a woman sitting on a chair and a big barrel standing

beside her. The Prince went up to her and saluted her politely, and she

received him very graciously. He looked down into the barrel then, and

saw lying at the bottom an unusually beautiful gold ring, which pleased

him so much that he could not take his eyes off it. The woman saw this,

and said that he might have it if he would take the trouble to get it;

for which the Prince thanked her, and said it was at least worth trying.

So he leaned over into the barrel, which did not seem very deep, and

thought he would easily reach the ring; but the more he stretched down

after it the deeper grew the barrel. As he was thus bending down into it

the woman suddenly rose up and pushed him in head first, saying that

now he could take up his quarters there. Then she fixed the top on the

barrel and threw it out into the sea.

The Prince thought himself in a bad plight now, as he felt the barrel

floating out from the land and tossing about on the waves.

How many days he spent thus he could not tell, but at last he felt that

the barrel was knocking against rocks, at which he was a little cheered,

thinking it was probably land and not merely a reef in the sea. Being

something of a swimmer, he at last made up his mind to kick the bottom

out of the barrel, and having done so he was able to get on shore, for

the rocks by the sea were smooth and level; but overhead there were high

cliffs. It seemed difficult to get up these, but he went along the foot

of them for a little, till at last he tried to climb up, which at last

he did.

Having got to the top, he looked round about him and saw that he was

on an island, which was covered with forest, with apples growing, and

altogether pleasant as far as the land was concerned. After he had been

there several days, he one day heard a great noise in the forest, which

made him terribly afraid, so that he ran to hide himself among the

trees. Then he saw a Giant approaching, dragging a sledge loaded with

wood, and making straight for him, so that he could see nothing for it

but to lie down just where he was. When the Giant came across him, he

stood still and looked at the Prince for a little; then he took him up

in his arms and carried him home to his house, and was exceedingly kind

to him. He gave him to his wife, saying he had found this child in the

wood, and she could have it to help her in the house. The old woman was

greatly pleased, and began to fondle the Prince with the utmost delight.

He stayed there with them, and was very willing and obedient to them in

everything, while they grew kinder to him every day.

One day the Giant took him round and showed him all his rooms except the

parlour; this made the Prince curious to have a look into it, thinking

there must be some very rare treasure there. So one day, when the Giant

had gone into the forest, he tried to get into the parlour, and managed

to get the door open half-way. Then he saw that some living creature

moved inside and ran along the floor towards him and said something,

which made him so frightened that he sprang back from the door and shut

it again. As soon as the fright began to pass off he tried it again, for

he thought it would be interesting to hear what it said; but things went

just as before with him. He then got angry with himself, and, summoning

up all his courage, tried it a third time, and opened the door of the

room and stood firm. Then he saw that it was a big Dog, which spoke to

him and said:

‘Choose me, Prince Ring.’

The Prince went away rather afraid, thinking with himself that it was no

great treasure after all; but all the same what it had said to him stuck

in his mind.

It is not said how long the Prince stayed with the Giant, but one

day the latter came to him and said he would now take him over to the

mainland out of the island, for he himself had no long time to live. He

also thanked him for his good service, and told him to choose some-one

of his possessions, for he would get whatever he wanted. Ring thanked

him heartily, and said there was no need to pay him for his services,

they were so little worth; but if he did wish to give him anything he

would choose what was in the parlour. The Giant was taken by surprise,

and said:

‘There, you chose my old woman’s right hand; but I must not break my

word.’

Upon this he went to get the Dog, which came running with signs of great

delight; but the Prince was so much afraid of it that it was all he

could do to keep from showing his alarm.

After this the Giant accompanied him down to the sea, where he saw a

stone boat which was just big enough to hold the two of them and the

Dog. On reaching the mainland the Giant took a friendly farewell of

Ring, and told him he might take possession of all that was in the

island after he and his wife died, which would happen within two weeks

from that time. The Prince thanked him for this and for all his other

kindnesses, and the Giant returned home, while Ring went up some

distance from the sea; but he did not know what land he had come to, and

was afraid to speak to the Dog. After he had walked on in silence for a

time the Dog spoke to him and said:

‘You don’t seem to have much curiosity, seeing you never ask my name.’

The Prince then forced himself to ask, ‘What is your name?’

‘You had best call me Snati-Snati,’ said the Dog. ‘Now we are coming to

a King’s seat, and you must ask the King to keep us all winter, and to

give you a little room for both of us.’

The Prince now began to be less afraid of the Dog. They came to the King

and asked him to keep them all the winter, to which he agreed. When the

King’s men saw the Dog they began to laugh at it, and make as if they

would tease it; but when the Prince saw this he advised them not to do

it, or they might have the worst of it. They replied that they didn’t

care a bit what he thought.

After Ring had been with the King for some days the latter began to

think there was a great deal in him, and esteemed him more than the

others. The King, however, had a counsellor called Red, who became very

jealous when he saw how much the King esteemed Ring; and one day he

talked to him, and said he could not understand why he had so good an

opinion of this stranger, who had not yet shown himself superior to

other men in anything. The King replied that it was only a short time

since he had come there. Red then asked him to send them both to cut

down wood next morning, and see which of them could do most work.

Snati-Snati heard this and told it to Ring, advising him to ask the King

for two axes, so that he might have one in reserve if the first one

got broken. Next morning the King asked Ring and Red to go and cut down

trees for him, and both agreed. Ring got the two axes, and each went his

own way; but when the Prince had got out into the wood Snati took one of

the axes and began to hew along with him. In the evening the King came

to look over their day’s work, as Red had proposed, and found that

Ring’s wood-heap was more than twice as big.

‘I suspected,’ said the King, ‘that Ring was not quite useless; never

have I seen such a day’s work.’

Ring was now in far greater esteem with the King than before, and Red

was all the more discontented. One day he came to the King and said, ‘If

Ring is such a mighty man, I think you might ask him to kill the wild

oxen in the wood here, and flay them the same day, and bring you the

horns and the hides in the evening.’

‘Don’t you think that a desperate errand?’ said the King, ‘seeing they

are so dangerous, and no one has ever yet ventured to go against them?’

Red answered that he had only one life to lose, and it would be

interesting to see how brave he was; besides, the King would have good

reason to ennoble him if he overcame them. The King at last allowed

himself, though rather unwillingly, to be won over by Red’s persistency,

and one day asked Ring to go and kill the oxen that were in the wood for

him, and bring their horns and hides to him in the evening. Not knowing

how dangerous the oxen were, Ring was quite ready, and went off at once,

to the great delight of Red, who was now sure of his death.

As soon as Ring came in sight of the oxen they came bellowing to meet

him; one of them was tremendously big, the other rather less. Ring grew

terribly afraid.

‘How do you like them?’ asked Snati.

‘Not well at all,’ said the Prince.

‘We can do nothing else,’ said Snati, ‘than attack them, if it is to go

well; you will go against the little one, and I shall take the other.’

With this Snati leapt at the big one, and was not long in bringing

him down. Meanwhile the Prince went against the other with fear and

trembling, and by the time Snati came to help him the ox had nearly got

him under, but Snati was not slow in helping his master to kill it.

Each of them then began to flay their own ox, but Ring was only half

through by the time Snati had finished his. In the evening, after they

had finished this task, the Prince thought himself unfit to carry all

the horns and both the hides, so Snati told him to lay them all on his

back until they got to the Palace gate.

The Prince agreed, and laid everything on the Dog except the skin of the

smaller ox, which he staggered along with himself. At the Palace gate he

left everything lying, went before the King, and asked him to come that

length with him, and there handed over to him the hides and horns of the

oxen. The King was greatly surprised at his valour, and said he knew no

one like him, and thanked him heartily for what he had done.

After this the King set Ring next to himself, and all esteemed him

highly, and held him to be a great hero; nor could Red any longer say

anything against him, though he grew still more determined to destroy

him. One day a good idea came into his head. He came to the King and

said he had something to say to him.

‘What is that?’ said the King.

Red said that he had just remembered the gold cloak, gold chess-board,

and bright gold piece that the King had lost about a year before.

‘Don’t remind me of them!’ said the King.

Red, however, went on to say that, since Ring was such a mighty man that

he could do everything, it had occurred to him to advise the King to

ask him to search for these treasures, and come back with them before

Christmas; in return the King should promise him his daughter.

The King replied that he thought it altogether unbecoming to propose

such a thing to Ring, seeing that he could not tell him where the things

were; but Red pretended not to hear the King’s excuses, and went on

talking about it until the King gave in to him. One day, a month or so

before Christmas, the King spoke to Ring, saying that he wished to ask a

great favour of him.

‘What is that?’ said Ring.

‘It is this,’ said the King: ‘that you find for me my gold cloak, my

gold chess-board, and my bright gold piece, that were stolen from me

about a year ago. If you can bring them to me before Christmas I will

give you my daughter in marriage.’

‘Where am I to look for them, then?’ said Ring.

‘That you must find out for yourself,’ said the King: ‘I don’t know.’

Ring now left the King, and was very silent, for he saw he was in a

great difficulty: but, on the other hand, he thought it was excellent

to have such a chance of winning the King’s daughter. Snati noticed that

his master was at a loss, and said to him that he should not disregard

what the King had asked him to do; but he would have to act upon his

advice, otherwise he would get into great difficulties. The Prince

assented to this, and began to prepare for the journey.

After he had taken leave of the King, and was setting out on the

search, Snati said to him, ‘Now you must first of all go about the

neighbourhood, and gather as much salt as ever you can.’ The Prince did

so, and gathered so much salt that he could hardly carry it; but Snati

said, ‘Throw it on my back,’ which he accordingly did, and the Dog then

ran on before the Prince, until they came to the foot of a steep cliff.

‘We must go up here,’ said Snati.

‘I don’t think that will be child’s play,’ said the Prince.

‘Hold fast by my tail,’ said Snati; and in this way he pulled Ring up on

the lowest shelf of the rock. The Prince began to get giddy, but up went

Snati on to the second shelf. Ring was nearly swooning by this time, but

Snati made a third effort and reached the top of the cliff, where the

Prince fell down in a faint. After a little, however, he recovered

again, and they went a short distance along a level plain, until they

came to a cave. This was on Christmas Eve. They went up above the cave,

and found a window in it, through which they looked, and saw four

trolls lying asleep beside the fire, over which a large porridge-pot was

hanging.

‘Now you must empty all the salt into the porridge-pot,’ said Snati.

Ring did so, and soon the trolls wakened up. The old hag, who was the

most frightful of them all, went first to taste the porridge.

‘How comes this?’ she said; ‘the porridge is salt! I got the milk by

witchcraft yesterday out of four kingdoms, and now it is salt!’

All the others then came to taste the porridge, and thought it nice, but

after they had finished it the old hag grew so thirsty that she could

stand it no longer, and asked her daughter to go out and bring her some

water from the river that ran near by.

‘I won’t go,’ said she, ‘unless you lend me your bright gold piece.’

‘Though I should die you shan’t have that,’ said the hag.

‘Die, then,’ said the girl.

‘Well, then, take it, you brat,’ said the old hag, ‘and be off with you,

and make haste with the water.’

The girl took the gold and ran out with it, and it was so bright that it

shone all over the plain. As soon as she came to the river she lay down

to take a drink of the water, but meanwhile the two of them had got down

off the roof and thrust her, head first, into the river.

The old hag began now to long for the water, and said that the girl

would be running about with the gold piece all over the plain, so she

asked her son to go and get her a drop of water.

‘I won’t go,’ said he, ‘unless I get the gold cloak.’

‘Though I should die you shan’t have that,’ said the hag.

‘Die, then,’ said the son.

‘Well, then, take it,’ said the old hag, ‘and be off with you, but you

must make haste with the water.’

He put on the cloak, and when he came outside it shone so bright that he

could see to go with it. On reaching the river he went to take a drink

like his sister, but at that moment Ring and Snati sprang upon him, took

the cloak from him, and threw him into the river.

The old hag could stand the thirst no longer, and asked her husband

to go for a drink for her; the brats, she said, were of course running

about and playing themselves, just as she had expected they would,

little wretches that they were.

‘I won’t go,’ said the old troll, ‘unless you lend me the gold

chess-board.’

‘Though I should die you shan’t have that,’ said the hag.

‘I think you may just as well do that,’ said he, ‘since you won’t grant

me such a little favour.’

‘Take it, then, you utter disgrace!’ said the old hag, ‘since you are

just like these two brats.’

The old troll now went out with the gold chess-board, and down to the

river, and was about to take a drink, when Ring and Snati came upon him,

took the chess-board from him, and threw him into the river. Before they

had got back again, however, and up on top of the cave, they saw

the poor old fellow’s ghost come marching up from the river. Snati

immediately sprang upon him, and Ring assisted in the attack, and after

a hard struggle they mastered him a second time. When they got back

again to the window they saw that the old hag was moving towards the

door.

‘Now we must go in at once,’ said Snati, ‘and try to master her there,

for if she once gets out we shall have no chance with her. She is the

worst witch that ever lived, and no iron can cut her. One of us must

pour boiling porridge out of the pot on her, and the other punch her

with red-hot iron.’

In they went then, and no sooner did the hag see them than she said,

‘So you have come, Prince Ring; you must have seen to my husband and

children.’

Snati saw that she was about to attack them, and sprang at her with a

red-hot iron from the fire, while Ring kept pouring boiling porridge on

her without stopping, and in this way they at last got her killed. Then

they burned the old troll and her to ashes, and explored the cave, where

they found plenty of gold and treasures. The most valuable of these they

carried with them as far as the cliff, and left them there. Then they

hastened home to the King with his three treasures, where they arrived

late on Christmas night, and Ring handed them over to him.

The King was beside himself with joy, and was astonished at how clever

a man Ring was in all kinds of feats, so that he esteemed him still more

highly than before, and betrothed his daughter to him; and the feast

for this was to last all through Christmastide. Ring thanked the King

courteously for this and all his other kindnesses, and as soon as he had

finished eating and drinking in the hall went off to sleep in his own

room. Snati, however, asked permission to sleep in the Prince’s bed for

that night, while the Prince should sleep where the Dog usually lay.

Ring said he was welcome to do so, and that he deserved more from him

than that came to. So Snati went up into the Prince’s bed, but after a

time he came back, and told Ring he could go there himself now, but to

take care not to meddle with anything that was in the bed.

Now the story comes back to Red, who came into the hall and showed the

King his right arm wanting the hand, and said that now he could see what

kind of a man his intended son-in-law was, for he had done this to him

without any cause whatever. The King became very angry, and said he

would soon find out the truth about it, and if Ring had cut off his hand

without good cause he should be hanged; but if it was otherwise, then

Red should die. So the King sent for Ring and asked him for what reason

he had done this. Snati, however, had just told Ring what had happened

during the night, and in reply he asked the King to go with him and he

would show him something. The King went with him to his sleeping-room,

and saw lying on the bed a man’s hand holding a sword.

‘This hand,’ said Ring, ‘came over the partition during the night, and

was about to run me through in my bed, if I had not defended myself.’

The King answered that in that case he could not blame him for

protecting his own life, and that Red was well worthy of death. So Red

was hanged, and Ring married the King’s daughter.

The first night that they went to bed together Snati asked Ring to allow

him to lie at their feet, and this Ring allowed him to do. During the

night he heard a howling and outcry beside them, struck a light in a

hurry and saw an ugly dog’s skin lying near him, and a beautiful Prince

in the bed. Ring instantly took the skin and burned it, and then shook

the Prince, who was lying unconscious, until he woke up. The bridegroom

then asked his name; he replied that he was called Ring, and was a

King’s son. In his youth he had lost his mother, and in her place his

father had married a witch, who had laid a spell on him that he should

turn into a dog, and never be released from the spell unless a Prince

of the same name as himself allowed him to sleep at his feet the first

night after his marriage. He added further, ‘As soon as she knew that

you were my namesake she tried to get you destroyed, so that you

might not free me from the spell. She was the hind that you and your

companions chased; she was the woman that you found in the clearing with

the barrel, and the old hag that we just now killed in the cave.’

After the feasting was over the two namesakes, along with other men,

went to the cliff and brought all the treasure home to the Palace. Then

they went to the island and removed all that was valuable from it.

Ring gave to his namesake, whom he had freed from the spell, his sister

Ingiborg and his father’s kingdom to look after, but he himself stayed

with his father-in-law the King, and had half the kingdom while he lived

and the whole of it after his death.