The Red Fairy Book, Andrew Lang [book club recommendations txt] 📗

>too said what the others had said, that no Christian folk had ever

been there since she had come, and entreated him to go away again,

or else the Troll would swallow him up alive. The Troll had nine

heads, she told him.

 

`Yes, and if he had nine added to the nine, and then nine more

still, I would not go away,’ said Halvor, and went and stood by the

stove.

 

The Princess begged him very prettily to go lest the Troll

should devour him; but Halvor said, `Let him come when he

will.’

 

So she gave him the Troll’s sword, and bade him take a drink

from the flask to enable him to wield it.

 

At that same moment the Troll came, breathing hard, and he

was ever so much bigger and stouter than either of the others, and

he too was forced to go sideways to get in through the door.

 

`Hutetu! what a smell of Christian blood there is here!’ said he.

 

Then Halvor cut off the first head, and after that the others, but

the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the hardest work

that Halvor had ever done to get it off, but he still believed that

he would have strength enough to do it.

 

And now all the Princesses came to the castle, and were together

again, and they were happier than they had ever been in their lives;

and they were delighted with Halvor, and he with them, and he

was to choose the one he liked best; but of the three sisters the

youngest loved him best.

 

But Halvor went about and was so strange and so mournful

and quiet that the Princesses asked what it was that he longed for,

and if he did not like to be with them. He said that he did like to

be with them, for they had enough to live on, and he was very

comfortable there; but he longed to go home, for his father and mother

were alive, and he had a great desire to see them again.

 

They thought that this might easily be done.

 

`You shall go and return in perfect safety if you will follow our

advice,’ said the Princesses.

 

So he said that he would do nothing that they did not wish.

 

Then they dressed him so splendidly that he was like a King’s

son; and they put a ring on his finger, and it was one which would

enable him to go there and back again by wishing, but they told

him that he must not throw it away, or name their names; for if he

did, all his magnificence would be at an end, and then he would never

see them more.

 

`If I were but at home again, or if home were but here!’ said

Halvor, and no sooner had he wished this than it was granted.

Halvor was standing outside his father and mother’s cottage before

he knew what he was about. The darkness of night was coming

on, and when the father and mother saw such a splendid and stately

stranger walk in, they were so startled that they both began to bow

and curtsey.

 

Halvor then inquired if he could stay there and have lodging for

the night. No, that he certainly could not. `We can give you no

such accommodation,’ they said, `for we have none of the things that

are needful when a great lord like you is to be entertained. It will

be better for you to go up to the farm. It is not far off, you can see

the chimney-pots from here, and there they have plenty of everything.’

 

Halvor would not hear of that, he was absolutely determined to

stay where he was; but the old folks stuck to what they had said,

and told him that he was to go to the farm, where he could get both

meat and drink, whereas they themselves had not even a chair to

offer him.

 

`No,’ said Halvor, `I will not go up there till early to-morrow

morning; let me stay here to-night. I can sit down on the

hearth.’

 

They could say nothing against that, so Halvor sat down on the

hearth, and began to rake about among the ashes just as he had

done before, when he lay there idling away his time.

 

They chattered much about many things, and told Halvor of

this and of that, and at last he asked them if they had never had

any child.

 

`Yes,’ they said; they had had a boy who was called Halvor,

but they did not know where he had gone, and they could not even

say whether he were dead or alive.

 

`Could I be he?’ said Halvor.

 

`I should know him well enough,’ said the old woman rising.

`Our Halvor was so idle and slothful that he never did anything at

all, and he was so ragged that one hole ran into another all over

his clothes. Such a fellow as he was could never turn into such a

man as you are, sir.’

 

In a short time the old woman had to go to the fireplace to stir

the fire, and when the blaze lit up Halvor, as it used to do when he

was at home raking up the ashes, she knew him again.

 

`Good Heavens! is that you, Halvor?’ said she, and such great

gladness fell on the old parents that there were no bounds to it. And

now he had to relate everything that had befallen him, and the old

woman was so delighted with him that she would take him up to

the farm at once to show him to the girls who had formerly looked

down on him so. She went there first, and Halvor followed her.

When she got there she told them how Halvor had come home

again, and now they should just see how magnificent he was. `He

looks like a prince,’ she said.

 

`We shall see that he is just the same ragamuffin that he was

before,’ said the girls, tossing their heads.

 

At that same moment Halvor entered, and the girls were so

astonished that they left their kirtles lying in the chimney corner,

and ran away in nothing but their petticoats. When they came

in again they were so shamefaced that they hardly dared to look

at Halvor, towards whom they had always been so proud and

haughty before.

 

`Ay, ay! you have always thought that you were so pretty and

dainty that no one was equal to you,’ said Halvor, `but you should

just see the eldest Princess whom I set free. You look like herds-women compared with her, and the second Princess is also much

prettier than you; but the youngest, who is my sweetheart, is more

beautiful than either sun or moon. I wish to Heaven they were

here, and then you would see them.’

 

Scarcely had he said this before they were standing by his side,

but then he was very sorrowful, for the words which they had said

to him came to his mind.

 

Up at the farm a great feast was made ready for the Princesses,

and much respect paid to them, but they would not stay there.

 

`We want to go down to your parents,’ they said to Halvor, `so

we will go out and look about us.’

 

He followed them out, and they came to a large pond outside

the farm-house. Very near the water there was a pretty green

bank, and there the Princesses said they would sit down and while

away an hour, for they thought that it would be pleasant to sit and

look out over the water, they said.

 

There they sat down, and when they had sat for a short time

the youngest Princess said, `I may as well comb your hair a little,

Halvor.’

 

So Halvor laid his head down on her lap, and she combed it, and

it was not long before he fell asleep. Then she took her ring from

him and put another in its place, and then she said to her sisters:

`Hold me as I am holding you. I would that we were at Soria

Moria Castle.’

 

When Halvor awoke he knew that he had lost the Princesses,

and began to weep and lament, and was so unhappy that he could

not be comforted. In spite of all his father’s and mother’s entreaties,

he would not stay, but bade them farewell, saying that he would

never see them more, for if he did not find the Princess again he

did not think it worth while to live.

 

He again had three hundred dollars, which he put into his pocket

and went on his way. When he had walked some distance he met

a man with a tolerably good horse. Halvor longed to buy it, and

began to bargain with the man.

 

`Well, I have not exactly been thinking of selling him,’ said the

man, `but if we could agree, perhaps–-‘

 

Halvor inquired how much he wanted to have for the horse.

 

`I did not give much for him, and he is not worth much; he is

a capital horse to ride, but good for nothing at drawing; but he will

always be able to carry your bag of provisions and you too, if you

walk and ride by turns.’ At last they agreed about the price, and

Halvor laid his bag on the horse, and sometimes he walked and

sometimes he rode. In the evening he came to a green field, where

stood a great tree, under which he seated himself. Then he let the

horse loose and lay down to sleep, but before he did that he took

his bag off the horse. At daybreak he set off again, for he did not

feel as if he could take any rest. So he walked and rode the whole

day, through a great wood where there were many green places

which gleamed very prettily among the trees. He did not know

where he was or whither he was going, but he never lingered longer

in any place than was enough to let his horse get a little food

when they came to one of these green spots, while he himself took

out his bag of provisions.

 

So he walked and he rode, and it seemed to him that the wood

would never come to an end. But on the evening of the second

day he saw a light shining through the trees.

 

`If only there were some people up there I might warm myself

and get something to eat,’ thought Halvor.

 

When he got to the place where the light had come from, he

saw a wretched little cottage, and through a small pane of glass he

saw a couple of old folks inside. They were very old, and as grey-headed as a pigeon, and the old woman had such a long nose that

she sat in the chimney corner and used it to stir the fire.

 

`Good evening I good evening!’ said the old hag; `but what

errand have you that can bring you here? No Christian folk have

been here for more than a hundred years.’

 

So Halvor told her that he wanted to get to Soria Moria Castle,

and inquired if she knew the way thither.

 

`No,’ said the old woman, `that I do not, but the Moon will be

here presently, and I will ask her, and she will know. She can

easily see it, for she shines on all things.’

 

So when the Moon stood clear and bright above the tree-tops

the old woman went out. `Moon! Moon!’ she screamed.