Chapter 5

The _King_ was full of thanks, got on the shoes, and when he came to the man who was lord over the fish of the sea, he turned the toes round, and so off they went home like the other pair. After that, he asked again after Whiteland.

So the man called the fish with a blast, but no fish could tell where it lay. At last came an old pike, which they had great work to call home, he was such a way off. So when they asked him he said:

"Know it? I should think I did! I've been cook there ten years, and to-morrow I'm going there again; for now the queen of Whiteland, whose king is away, is going to wed another husband."

"Well!" said the man, "as this is so, I'll give you a bit of advice. Hereabouts, on a moor, stand three brothers, and here they have stood these hundred years, fighting about a hat, a cloak, and a pair of boots. If any one has these three things he can make himself invisible, and wish himself anywhere he pleases. You can tell them you wish to try the things, and, after that, you'll pass judgment between them, whose they shall be."

Yes! the _King_ thanked the man, and went and did as he told him.

"What's all this?" he said to the brothers. "Why do you stand here fighting for ever and a day? Just let me try these things, and I'll give judgment whose they shall be."

They were very willing to do this; but, as soon as he had got the hat, cloak, and boots, he said:

"When we meet next time, I'll tell you my judgment," and with these words he wished himself away.

So as he went along up in the air, he came up with the North wind.

"Whither away?" roared the North Wind.

"To Whiteland," said the _King_; and then he told him all that had befallen him.

"Ah," said the North Wind, "you go faster than I--you do; for you can go straight, while I have to puff and blow round every turn and corner. But when you get there, just place yourself on the stairs by the side of the door, and then I'll come storming in, as though I were going to blow down the whole castle. And then when the prince, who is to have your _Queen_, comes out to see what's the matter, just you take him by the collar and pitch him out of doors; then I'll look after him, and see if I can't carry him off."

Well, the _King_ did as the North Wind said. He took his stand on the stairs, and when the North Wind came, storming and roaring, and took hold of the castle wall, so that it shook again, the prince came out to see what was the matter. But as soon as ever he came, the _King_ caught him by the collar and pitched him out of doors, and then the North Wind caught him up and carried him off. So when there was an end of him, the _King_ went into the castle, and at first his _Queen_ didn't know him, he was so wan and thin, through wandering so far and being so woeful; but when he shewed her the ring, she was as glad as glad could be; and so the rightful wedding was held, and the fame of it spread far and wide.

SORIA MORIA CASTLE

Once on a time there was a poor couple who had a son whose name was _Halvor_. Ever since he was a little boy he would turn his hand to nothing, but just sat there and groped about in the ashes. His father and mother often put him out to learn this trade or that, but _Halvor_ could stay nowhere; for, when he had been there a day or two, he ran away from his master, and never stopped till he was sitting again in the ingle, poking about in the cinders.

Well, one day a skipper came, and asked _Halvor_ if he hadn't a mind to be with him, and go to sea, and see strange lands. Yes, _Halvor_ would like that very much; so he wasn't long in getting himself ready.

How long they sailed I'm sure I can't tell; but the end of it was, they fell into a great storm, and when it was blown over, and it got still again, they couldn't tell where they were; for they had been driven away to a strange coast, which none of them knew anything about.

Well, as there was just no wind at all, they stayed lying wind-bound there, and _Halvor_ asked the skipper's leave to go on shore and look about him; he would sooner go, he said, than lie there and sleep.

"Do you think now you're fit to show yourself before folk," said the skipper, "why, you've no clothes but those rags you stand in?"

But _Halvor_ stuck to his own, and so at last he got leave, but he was to be sure and come back as soon as ever it began to blow. So off he went and found a lovely land; wherever he came there were fine large flat cornfields and rich meads, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of a living soul. Well, it began to blow, but _Halvor_ thought he hadn't seen enough yet, and he wanted to walk a little farther just to see if he couldn't meet any folk. So after a while he came to a broad high road, so smooth and even, you might easily roll an egg along it. _Halvor_ followed this, and when evening drew on he saw a great castle ever so far off, from which the sunbeams shone. So as he had now walked the whole day and hadn't taken a bit to eat with him, he was as hungry as a hunter, but still the nearer he came to the castle, the more afraid he got.

In the castle kitchen a great fire was blazing, and _Halvor_ went into it, but such a kitchen he had never seen in all his born days. It was so grand and fine; there were vessels of silver and vessels of gold, but still never a living soul. So when _Halvor_ had stood there a while and no one came out, he went and opened a door, and there inside sat a _Princess_ who span upon a spinning-wheel.

"Nay, nay, now!" she called out, "dare Christian folk come hither? But now you'd best be off about your business, if you don't want the _Troll_ to gobble you up; for here lives a _Troll_ with three heads."

"All one to me," said the lad, "I'd be just as glad to hear he had four heads beside; I'd like to see what kind of fellow he is. As for going, I won't go at all. I've done no harm; but meat you must get me, for I'm almost starved to death."

When _Halvor_ had eaten his fill, the _Princess_ told him to try if he could brandish the sword that hung against the wall; no, he couldn't brandish it, he couldn't even lift it up.

"Oh!" said the _Princess_, "now you must go and take a pull of that flask that hangs by its side; that's what the _Troll_ does every time he goes out to use the sword."

So _Halvor_ took a pull, and in the twinkling of an eye he could brandish the sword like nothing; and now he thought it high time the _Troll_ came; and lo! just then up came the _Troll_ puffing and blowing. _Halvor_ jumped behind the door.

"HUTETU," said the _Troll_, as he put his head in at the door, "what a smell of Christian man's blood!"

"Aye," said _Halvor_, "you'll soon know that to your cost," and with that he hewed off all his heads.

Now the _Princess_ was so glad that she was free, she both danced and sang, but then all at once she called her sisters to mind, and so she said:

"Would my sisters were free too!"

"Where are they?" asked _Halvor_.

Well, she told him all about it; one was taken away by a _Troll_ to his Castle which lay fifty miles off, and the other by another _Troll_ to his Castle which was fifty miles further still.

"But now," she said, "you must first help me to get this ugly carcass out of the house."

Yes, _Halvor_ was so strong he swept everything away, and made it all clean and tidy in no time. So they had a good and happy time of it, and next morning he set off at peep of grey dawn; he could take no rest by the way, but ran and walked the whole day. When he first saw the Castle he got a little afraid; it was far grander than the first, but here too there wasn't a living soul to be seen. So _Halvor_ went into the kitchen, and didn't stop there either, but went straight further on into the house.

"Nay, nay," called out the _Princess_, "dare Christian folk come hither? I don't know I'm sure how long it is since I came here, but in all that time I haven't seen a Christian man. 'Twere best you saw how to get away as fast as you came; for here lives a _Troll_ who has six heads."

"I shan't go," said _Halvor_, "if he has six heads besides."

"He'll take you up and swallow you down alive," said the _Princess_.

But it was no good, _Halvor_ wouldn't go; he wasn't at all afraid of the _Troll_, but meat and drink he must have, for he was half starved after his long journey. Well, he got as much of that as he wished, but then the _Princess_ wanted him to be off again.

"No," said _Halvor_, "I won't go, I've done no harm, and I've nothing to be afraid about."

"He won't stay to ask that," said the _Princess_, "for he'll take you without law or leave; but as you won't go, just try if you can brandish that sword yonder, which the _Troll_ wields in war."

He couldn't brandish it, and then the _Princess_ said he must take a pull at the flask which hung by its side, and when he had done that he could brandish it.

Just then back came the _Troll_, and he was both stout and big, so that he had to go sideways to get through the door. When the _Troll_ got his first head in he called out:

"HUTETU, what a smell of Christian man's blood!"

But that very moment _Halvor_ hewed off his first head, and so on all the rest as they popped in. The _Princess_ was overjoyed, but just then she came to think of her sisters, and wished out loud they were free. _Halvor_ thought that might easily be done, and wanted to be off at once; but first he had to help the _Princess_ to get the _Troll's_ carcass out of the way, and so he could only set out next morning.

It was a long way to the Castle, and he had to walk fast and run hard to reach it in time; but about nightfall he saw the Castle, which was far finer and grander than either of the others. This time he wasn't the least afraid, but walked straight through the kitchen, and into the Castle. There sat a _Princess_ who was so pretty, there was no end to her loveliness. She too like the others told him there hadn't been Christian folk there ever since she came thither, and bade him go away again, else the _Troll_ would swallow him alive, and do you know, she said, he has nine heads.

"Aye, aye," said _Halvor_, "if he had nine other heads, and nine other heads still, I won't go away," and so he stood fast before the stove. The _Princess_ kept on begging him so prettily to go away, lest the _Troll_ should gobble him up, but _Halvor_ said:

"Let him come as soon as he likes."

So she gave him the _Troll's_ sword, and bade him take a pull at the flask, that he might be able to brandish and wield it.

Just then back came the _Troll_ puffing and blowing and tearing along. He was far bigger and stouter than the other two, and he too had to go on one side to get through the door. So when he got his first head in, he said as the others had said:

"HUTETU, what a smell of Christian man's blood!"

That very moment _Halvor_ hewed off the first head and then all the rest; but the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the hardest bit of work _Halvor_ had to do, to get it hewn off, although he knew very well he had strength enough to do it.

So all the _Princesses_ came together to that Castle, which was called _Soria Moria Castle_, and they were glad and happy as they had never been in all their lives before, and they all were fond of _Halvor_ and _Halvor_ of them, and he might choose the one he liked best for his bride; but the youngest was fondest of him of all the three.

But there after a while, _Halvor_ went about, and was so strange and dull and silent. Then the Princesses asked him what he lacked, and if he didn't like to live with them any longer? Yes, he did, for they had enough and to spare, and he was well off in every way, but still somehow or other he did so long to go home, for his father and mother were alive, and them he had such a great wish to see.

Well, they thought that might be done easily enough.

"You shall go thither and come back hither, safe and unscathed, if you will only follow our advice," said the _Princesses_.

Yes, he'd be sure to mind all they said. So they dressed him up till he was as grand as a king's son, and then they set a ring on his finger, and that was such a ring, he could wish himself thither and hither with it; but they told him to be sure and not take it off, and not to name their names, for there would be an end of all his bravery, and then he'd never see them more.

"If I only stood at home I'd be glad," said _Halvor_; and it was done as he had wished. Then stood _Halvor_ at his father's cottage door before he knew a word about it. Now it was about dusk at even, and so, when they saw such a grand stately lord walk in, the old couple got so afraid they began to bow and scrape. Then _Halvor_ asked if he couldn't stay there, and have a lodging there that night. No; that he couldn't.

"We can't do it at all," they said, "for we haven't this thing or that thing which such a lord is used to have; 'twere best your lordship went up to the farm, no long way off, for you can see the chimneys, and there they have lots of everything."

_Halvor_ wouldn't hear of it--he wanted to stop; but the old couple stuck to their own, that he had better go to the farmer's; there he would get both meat and drink; as for them, they hadn't even a chair to offer him to sit down on.

"No," said _Halvor_, "I won't go up there till to-morrow early, but let me just stay here to-night; worst come to the worst, I can sit in the chimney corner."

Well, they couldn't say anything against that; so _Halvor_ sat down by the ingle, and began to poke about in the ashes, just as he used to do when he lay at home in old days, and stretched his lazy bones.

Well, they chattered and talked about many things; and they told _Halvor_ about this thing and that; and so he asked them if they had never had any children.

Yes, yes, they had once a lad whose name was _Halvor_, but they didn't know whither he had wandered; they couldn't even tell whether he were dead or alive.

"Couldn't it be me, now?" said _Halvor_.

"Let me see; I could tell him well enough," said the old wife, and rose up. "Our _Halvor_ was so lazy and dull, he never did a thing; and besides, he was so ragged, that one tatter took hold of the next tatter on him. No; there never was the making of such a fine fellow in him as you are, master."

A little while after the old wife went to the hearth to poke up the fire, and when the blaze fell on _Halvor's_ face, just as when he was at home of old poking about in the ashes, she knew him at once.

"Ah! but it is you after all, _Halvor_?" she cried; and then there was such joy for the old couple, there was no end to it; and he was forced to tell how he had fared, and the old dame was so fond and proud of him, nothing would do but he must go up at once to the farmer's, and show himself to the lassies, who had always looked down on him. And off she went first, and _Halvor_ followed after. So, when she got up there, she told them all how _Halvor_ had come home again, and now they should only just see how grand he was, for, said she, "he looks like nothing but a King's son."

"All very fine," said the lassies, and tossed up their heads. "We'll be bound he's just the same beggarly ragged boy he always was."

Just then in walked _Halvor_, and then the lassies were all so taken aback, they forgot their sarks in the ingle, where they were sitting darning their clothes, and ran out in their smocks. Well, when they were got back again, they were so shamefaced they scarce dared look at _Halvor_, towards whom they had always been proud and haughty.

"Aye, aye," said _Halvor_, "you always thought yourselves so pretty and neat, no one could come near you; but now you should just see the eldest _Princess_ I have set free; against her you look just like milkmaids, and the midmost is prettier still; but the youngest, who is my sweetheart, she's fairer than both sun and moon. Would to Heaven they were only here," said _Halvor_, "then you'd see what you would see."

He had scarce uttered these words before there they stood, but then he felt so sorry, for now what they had said came into his mind. Up at the farm there was a great feast got ready for the _Princesses_, and much was made of them, but they wouldn't stop there.

"No, we want to go down to your father and mother," they said to _Halvor_; "and so we'll go out now and look about us."

So he went down with them, and they came to a great lake just outside the farm. Close by the water was such a lovely green bank; here the _Princesses_ said they would sit and rest a while; they thought it so sweet to sit down and look over the water.

So they sat down there, and when they had sat a while the youngest _Princess_ said:

"I may as well comb your hair a little, _Halvor_."

Well, _Halvor_ laid his head on her lap, and she combed his bonny locks, and it wasn't long before _Halvor_ fell fast asleep. Then she took the ring from his finger, and put another in its stead; and she said:

"Now hold me all together! and now would we were all in _Soria Moria Castle_."

So when _Halvor_ woke up, he could very well tell that he had lost the _Princesses_, and began to weep and wail; and he was so downcast, they couldn't comfort him at all. In spite of all his father and mother said, he wouldn't stop there, but took farewell of them, and said he was safe not to see them again; for if he couldn't find the _Princesses_ again, he thought it not worth while to live.

Well, he had still about sixty pounds left, so he put them into his pocket, and set out on his way. So, when he had walked a while, he met a man with a tidy horse, and he wanted to buy it, and began to chaffer with the man.

"Aye," said the man, "to tell the truth, I never thought of selling him; but if we could strike a bargain perhaps--"

"What do you want for him?" asked _Halvor_.

"I didn't give much for him, nor is he worth much; he's a brave horse to ride, but he can't draw at all; still he's strong enough to carry your knapsack and you too, turn and turn about," said the man.

At last they agreed on the price, and _Halvor_ laid the knapsack on him, and so he walked a bit, and rode a bit, turn and turn about. At night he came to a green plain where stood a great tree, at the roots of which he sat down. There he let the horse loose, but he didn't lie down to sleep, but opened his knapsack and took a meal. At peep of day off he set again, for he could take no rest. So he rode and walked and walked and rode the whole day through the wide wood, where there were so many green spots and glades that shone so bright and lovely between the trees. He didn't know at all where he was or whither he was going, but he gave himself no more time to rest than when his horse cropped a bit of grass, and he took a snack out of his knapsack when they came to one of those green glades. So he went on walking and riding by turns, and as for the wood there seemed to be no end to it.

But at dusk the next day he saw a light gleaming away through the trees.

"Would there were folk hereaway," thought _Halvor_, "that I might warm myself a bit and get a morsel to keep body and soul together."

When he got up to it he saw the light came from a wretched little hut, and through the window he saw an old old, couple inside. They were as grey-headed as a pair of doves, and the old wife had such a nose! why, it was so long she used it for a poker to stir the fire as she sat in the ingle.

"Good evening," said _Halvor_.

"Good evening," said the old wife.

"But what errand can you have in coming hither?" she went on, "for no Christian folk have been here these hundred years and more."

Well, _Halvor_ told her all about himself, and how he wanted to get to _Soria Moria Castle_, and asked if she knew the way thither.

"No," said the old wife, "that I don't, but see now, here comes the Moon, I'll ask her, she'll know all about it, for doesn't she shine on everything?"

So when the Moon stood clear and bright over the tree-tops, the old wife went out.

"THOU MOON, THOU MOON," she screamed, "canst thou tell me the way to _Soria Moria Castle_?"

"No," said the Moon, "that I can't, for the last time I shone there a cloud stood before me."

"Wait a bit still," said the old wife to _Halvor_, "bye and bye comes the West Wind; he's sure to know it, for he puffs and blows round every corner."

"Nay, nay," said the old wife when she went out again, "you don't mean to say you've got a horse too; just turn the poor beastie loose in our 'toun,' and don't let him stand there and starve to death at the door."

Then she ran on:

"But won't you swop him away to me?--we've got an old pair of boots here, with which you can take twenty miles at each stride; those you shall have for your horse, and so you'll get all the sooner to _Soria Moria Castle_."

That _Halvor_ was willing to do at once; and the old wife was so glad at having the horse, she was ready to dance and skip for joy.

"For now," she said, "I shall be able to ride to church. I, too, think of that."

As for _Halvor_, he had no rest, and wanted to be off at once, but the old wife said there was no hurry.

"Lie down on the bench with you and sleep a bit, for we've no bed to offer you, and I'll watch and wake you when the West Wind comes."

So after a while up came the West Wind, roaring and howling along till the walls creaked and groaned again.

Out ran the old wife.

"THOU WEST WIND, THOU WEST WIND! Canst thou tell me the way to _Soria Moria Castle_? Here's one who wants to get thither."

"Yes, I know it very well," said the West Wind, "and now I'm just off thither to dry clothes for the wedding that's to be; if he's swift of foot he can go along with me."

Out ran _Halvor_.

"You'll have to stretch your legs if you mean to keep up," said the West Wind.

So off he set over field and hedge, and hill and fell, and _Halvor_ had hard work to keep up.

"Well," said the West Wind, "now I've no time to stay with you any longer, for I've got to go away yonder and tear down a strip of spruce wood first before I go to the bleaching-ground to dry the clothes; but if you go alongside the hill you'll come to a lot of lassies standing washing clothes, and then you've not far to go to _Soria Moria Castle_."

In a little while _Halvor_ came upon the lassies who stood washing, and they asked if he had seen anything of the West Wind who was to come and dry the clothes for the wedding.

"Aye, aye, that I have," said _Halvor_, "he's only gone to tear down a strip of spruce wood. It'll not be long before he's here," and then he asked them the way to _Soria Moria Castle_.

So they put him into the right way, and when he got to the Castle it was full of folk and horses; so full it made one giddy to look at them. But _Halvor_ was so ragged and torn from having followed the West Wind through bush and brier and bog, that he kept on one side, and wouldn't show himself till the last day when the bridal feast was to be.

So when all, as was then right and fitting, were to drink the bride and bridegroom's health and wish them luck, and when the cupbearer was to drink to them all again, both knights and squires, last of all he came in turn to _Halvor_. He drank their health, but let the ring which the _Princess_ had put upon his finger as he lay by the lake fall into the glass, and bade the cupbearer go and greet the bride and hand her the glass.

Then up rose the _Princess_ from the board at once.

"Who is most worthy to have one of us," she said, "he that has set us free, or he that here sits by me as bridegroom?"

Well they all said there could be but one voice and will as to that, and when _Halvor_ heard that he wasn't long in throwing off his beggar's rags, and arraying himself as bridegroom.