Popular Tales from the Norse Part 50

'Whose should they be', said the lad, 'but Lord Peter's.'

So when they had gone a good bit farther, they came to a castle; first there was a gate of tin, and next there was a gate of silver, and next a gate of gold. The castle itself was of silver, and so dazzling white, that it quite hurt one's eyes to look at in the sunbeams which fell on it just as they reached it.

So they went into it, and the Cat told Peter to say this was his house. As for the castle inside, it was far finer than it looked outside, for everything was pure gold--chairs, and tables, and benches, and all. And when the King had gone all over it, and seen everything high and low, he got quite shameful and downcast.

'Yes', he said at last; 'Lord Peter has everything far finer than I have, there's no gainsaying that', and so he wanted to be off home again.

But Peter begged him to stay to supper, and the King stayed, but he was sour, and surly the whole time.

So as they sat at supper, back came the Troll who owned the castle, and gave such a great knock at the door.

'WHO'S THIS EATING MY MEAT AND DRINKING MY MEAD LIKE SWINE IN HERE', roared out the Troll.

As soon as the Cat heard that, she ran down to the gate.

'Stop a bit', she said, 'and I'll tell you how the farmer sets to work to get in his winter rye.'

And so she told him such a long story about the winter rye.

'First of all, you see, he ploughs his field, and then he dungs it, and then he ploughs it again, and then he harrows it'; and so she went on till the sun rose.

'Oh, do look behind you, and there you'll see such a lovely lady', said the Cat to the Troll.

So the Troll turned round, and, of course, as soon as he saw the sun he burst.

'Now all this is yours', said the Cat to Lord Peter. 'Now, you must cut off my head; that's all I ask for what I have done for you.'

'Nay, nay', said Lord Peter, 'I'll never do any such thing, that's flat.'

'If you don't', said the Cat,' see if I don't claw your eyes out.'

Well! so Lord Peter had to do it, though it was sore against his will. He cut off the Cat's head, but there and then she became the loveliest Princess you ever set eyes on, and Lord Peter fell in love with her at once.

'Yes! all this greatness was mine first', said the Princess, 'but a Troll bewitched me to be a Cat in your father's and mother's cottage.

Now you may do as you please, whether you take me as your queen or not, for you are now king over all this realm.'

Well, well; there was little doubt Lord Peter would be willing enough to have her as his queen, and so there was a wedding that lasted eight whole days, and a feast besides; and after it was over, I stayed no longer with Lord Peter and his lovely queen, and so I can't say anything more about them.

THE SEVEN FOALS

Once on a time there was a poor couple who lived in a wretched hut, far far away in the wood. How they lived I can't tell, but I'm sure it was from hand to mouth, and hard work even then; but they had three sons, and the youngest of them was Boots, of course, for he did little else than lie there and poke about in the ashes.

So one day the eldest lad said he would go out to earn his bread, and he soon got leave, and wandered out into the world. There he walked and walked the whole day, and when evening drew in, he came to a king's palace, and there stood the King out on the steps, and asked whither he was bound.

'Oh, I'm going about, looking after a place', said the lad.

'Will you serve me?' asked the King, 'and watch my seven foals. If you can watch them one whole day, and tell me at night what they eat and what they drink, you shall have the Princess to wife, and half my kingdom; but if you can't, I'll cut three red stripes out of your back. Do you hear?'

Yes! that was an easy task, the lad thought; he'd do that fast enough, never fear.

So next morning, as soon as the first peep of dawn came, the king's coachman let out the seven foals. Away they went, and the lad after them. You may fancy how they tore over hill and dale, through bush and bog. When the lad had run so a long time, he began to get weary, and when he had held on a while longer, he had more than enough of his watching, and just there, he came to a cleft in a rock, where an old hag sat and spun with a distaff. As soon as she saw the lad who was running after the foals till the sweat ran down his brow, this old hag bawled out:

'Come hither, come hither, my pretty son, and let me comb your hair.'

Yes! the lad was willing enough; so he sat down in the cleft of the rock with the old hag, and laid his head on her lap, and she combed his hair all day whilst he lay there, and stretched his lazy bones.

So, when evening drew on, the lad wanted to go away. 'I may just as well toddle straight home now', said he, 'for it's no use my going back to the palace.'

'Stop a bit till it's dark', said the old hag, 'and then the king's foals will pa.s.s by here again, and then you can run home with them, and then no one will know that you have lain here all day long, instead of watching the foals.'

So, when they came, she gave the lad a flask of water and a clod of turf. Those he was to show to the King, and say that was what his seven foals ate and drank.

'Have you watched true and well the whole day, now?' asked the King, when the lad came before him in the evening.

'Yes, I should think so', said the lad.

'Then you can tell me what my seven foals eat and drink', said the King.

'Yes!' and so the lad pulled out the flask of water and the clod of turf, which the old hag had given him.

'Here you see their meat, and here you see their drink', said the lad.

But then the King saw plain enough how he had watched, and he got so wroth, he ordered his men to chase him away home on the spot; but first they were to cut three red stripes out of his back, and rub salt into them. So when the lad got home again, you may fancy what a temper he was in. He'd gone out once to get a place, he said, but he'd never do so again.

Next day the second sons aid he would go out into the world to try his luck. His father and mother said 'No', and bade him look at his brother's back; but the lad wouldn't give in; he held to his own, and at last he got leave to go, and set off. So when he had walked the whole day, he, too, came to the king's palace. There stood the King out on the steps, and asked whither he was bound? and when the lad said he was looking about for a place, the King said he might have a place there, and watch his seven foals. But the king laid down the same punishment, and the same reward, as he had settled for his brother. Well, the lad was willing enough; he took the place at once with the King, for he thought he'd soon watch the foals, and tell the King what they ate and drank. So, in the gray of the morning, the coachman let out the seven foals, and off they went again over hill and dale, and the lad after them. But the same thing happened to him as had befallen his brother. When he had run after the foals a long long time, till he was both warm and weary, he pa.s.sed by the cleft in a rock, where an old hag sat and spun with a distaff, and she bawled out to the lad:

'Come hither, come hither, my pretty son, and let me comb your hair.'

That the lad thought a good offer, so he let the foals run on their way, and sat down in the cleft with the old hag. There he sat, and there he lay, taking his ease, and stretching his lazy bones the whole day.

When the foals came back at nightfall, he too got a flask of water and clod of turf from the old hag to show to the King. But when the King asked the lad:

'Can you tell me now, what my seven foals eat and drink?' and the lad pulled out the flask and the clod, and said:

'Here you see their meat, and here you see their drink.'

Then the King got wroth again, and ordered them to cut three red stripes out of the lad's back, and rub salt in, and chase him home that very minute. And so when the lad got home, he also told how he had fared, and said, he had gone out once to get a place, but he'd never do so any more.

The third day Boots wanted to set out; he had a great mind to try and watch the seven foals, he said. The others laughed at him, and made game of him, saying:

'When we fared so ill, you'll do it better--a fine joke; you look like it--you, who have never done anything but lie there and poke about in the ashes.'

'Yes!' said Boots, 'I don't see why I shouldn't go, for I've got it into my head, and can't get it out again.'

And so, in spite of all the jeers of the others and the prayers of the old people, there was no help for it, and Boots set out.