Popular Tales from the Norse Part 13

'Ah! that's a thing you've no business to ask about; but if you must know, it lies under the door-sill', said the Giant.

'Ho! ho!' said Boots to himself under the bed, 'then we'll soon see if we can't find it.'

Next morning the Giant got up cruelly early, and strode off to the wood; but he was hardly out of the house before Boots and the Princess set to work to look under the door-sill for his heart; but the more they dug, and the more they hunted, the more they couldn't find it.

'He has baulked us this time', said the Princess, 'but we'll try him once more.'

So she picked all the prettiest flowers she could find, and strewed them over the door-sill, which they had laid in its right place again; and when the time came for the Giant to come home again, Boots crept under the bed. Just as he was well under, back came the Giant.

Snuff--snuff, went the Giant's nose. 'My eyes and limbs, what a smell of Christian blood there is in here', said he.

'I know there is', said the Princess, 'for there came a magpie flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the chimney. I made as much haste as I could to get it out, but I daresay it's that you smell.'

So the Giant held his peace, and said no more about it. A little while after, he asked who it was that had strewed flowers about the door-sill.

'Oh, I, of course', said the Princess.

'And, pray, what's the meaning of all this?' said the Giant.

'Ah!' said the Princess, 'I'm so fond of you that I couldn't help strewing them, when I knew that your heart lay under there.'

'You don't say so', said the Giant; 'but after all it doesn't lie there at all.'

So when they went to bed again in the evening, the Princess asked the Giant again where his heart was, for she said she would so like to know.

'Well', said the Giant, 'if you must know, it lies away yonder in the cupboard against the wall.'

'So, so!' thought Boots and the Princess; 'then we'll soon try to find it.'

Next morning the Giant was away early, and strode off to the wood, and so soon as he was gone Boots and the Princess were in the cupboard hunting for his heart, but the more they sought for it, the less they found it.

'Well', said the Princess, 'we'll just try him once more.'

So she decked out the cupboard with flowers and garlands, and when the time came for the Giant to come home, Boots crept under the bed again.

Then back came the Giant.

Snuff-snuff! 'My eyes and limbs, what a smell of Christian blood there is in here!'

'I know there is', said the Princess; 'for a little while since there came a magpie flying with a man's bone in his bill, and let it fall down the chimney. I made all the haste I could to get it out of the house again; but after all my pains, I daresay it's that you smell.'

When the Giant heard that, he said no more about it; but a little while after, he saw how the cupboard was all decked about with flowers and garlands; so he asked who it was that had done that? Who could it be but the Princess.

'And, pray, what's the meaning of all this tom-foolery?' asked the Giant.

'Oh, I'm so fond of you, I couldn't help doing it when I knew that your heart lay there', said the Princess.

'How can you be so silly as to believe any such thing?' said the Giant.

'Oh yes; how can I help believing it, when you say it', said the Princess.

'You're a goose', said the Giant; 'where my heart is, you will never come.'

'Well', said the Princess;' but for all that, 'twould be such a pleasure to know where it really lies.'

Then the poor Giant could hold out no longer, but was forced to say:

'Far, far away in a lake lies an island; on that island stands a church; in that church is a well; in that well swims a duck; in that duck there is an egg, and in that egg there lies my heart,--you darling!'

In the morning early, while it was still grey dawn, the Giant strode off to the wood.

'Yes! now I must set off too', said Boots; 'if I only knew how to find the way.' He took a long, long farewell of the Princess, and when he got out of the Giant's door, there stood the Wolf waiting for him. So Boots told him all that had happened inside the house, and said now he wished to ride to the well in the church, if he only knew the way. So the Wolf bade him jump on his back, he'd soon find the way; and away they went, till the wind whistled after them, over hedge and field, over hill and dale. After they had travelled many, many days, they came at last to the lake. Then the Prince did not know how to get over it, but the Wolf bade him only not be afraid, but stick on, and so he jumped into the lake with the Prince on his back, and swam over to the island. So they came to the church; but the church keys hung high, high up on the top of the tower, and at first the Prince did not know how to get them down.

'You must call on the raven', said the Wolf.

So the Prince called on the raven, and in a trice the raven came, and flew up and fetched the keys, and so the Prince got into the church.

But when he came to the well, there lay the duck, and swam about backwards and forwards, just as the Giant had said. So the Prince stood and coaxed it and coaxed it, till it came to him, and he grasped it in his hand; but just as he lifted it up from the water the duck dropped the egg into the well, and then Boots was beside himself to know how to get it out again.

'Well, now you must call on the salmon to be sure', said the Wolf; and the king's son called on the salmon, and the salmon came and fetched up the egg from the bottom of the well.

Then the Wolf told him to squeeze the egg, and as soon as ever he squeezed it the Giant screamed out.

'Squeeze it again', said the Wolf; and when the Prince did so, the Giant screamed still more piteously, and begged and prayed so prettily to be spared, saying he would do all that the Prince wished if he would only not squeeze his heart in two.

'Tell him, if he will restore to life again your six brothers and their brides, whom he has turned to stone, you will spare his life', said the Wolf. Yes, the Giant was ready to do that, and he turned the six brothers into king's sons again, and their brides into king's daughters.

'Now, squeeze the egg in two', said the Wolf. So Boots squeezed the egg to pieces, and the Giant burst at once.

Now, when he had made an end of the Giant, Boots rode back again on the wolf to the Giant's house, and there stood all his six brothers alive and merry, with their brides. Then Boots went into the hill- side after his bride, and so they all set off home again to their father's house. And you may fancy how glad the old king was when he saw all his seven sons come back, each with his bride--'But the loveliest bride of all is the bride of Boots, after all', said the king, 'and he shall sit uppermost at the table, with her by his side.'

So he sent out, and called a great wedding-feast, and the mirth was both loud and long, and if they have not done feasting, why, they are still at it.

THE FOX AS HERDSMAN

Once on a time there was a woman who went out to hire a herdsman, and she met a bear.

'Whither away, Goody?' said Bruin.

'Oh, I'm going out to hire a herdsman', answered the woman.

'Why not have me for a herdsman?' said Bruin.

'Well, why not?' said the woman. 'If you only knew how to call the flock; just let me hear?'

'OW, OW!' growled the bear.