Tales from the Fjeld: A Second Series of Popular Tales

"When he had got it he was to set off to sell it, that he might have some money to begin his trading. So he offered it to this man and that, good and bad alike; but there was no one who just then cared to buy a pig. At last he came to a rich old hunks; but you know much will always have more, and that man was one of the sort that never can have enough.

"'Will you buy a pig to-day?' said the lad; 'a good pig, and a long pig, and a fine fat pig.' That was what he said.

"The old hunks asked what he would have for it. It was at least worth six dollars, even between brothers, said the lad; but the times were so hard, and money so scarce, he didn't mind selling it for four dollars. And that was as good as giving it away.

"No, that the old hunks would not do – he wouldn't give so much as a dollar even; he had more pigs already than he wanted, and was well off for pigs of that sort. But as the lad was so eager to sell, he would be willing to do him a turn, and deal with him; but the most he could give for the whole pig, every inch of it, was fourpence. If he would take that down, he might turn his pig into the sty with the rest. That was what the old hunks said.

"The lad thought it shameful that he should not get more for his pig; but then he thought that something was better than nothing, and so he took the fourpence and turned in the pig. And then he fingered the money and went about his business. But when he got out into the road, he could not get it out of his head that he had been cheated out of his pig, and that he was not much better off with fourpence than with nothing. The longer he went and thought of this the angrier he got, and at last he thought to himself, —

"'If I could only play him a pretty trick, I wouldn't care either for the pig or the pence.'

"So he went away and got him a pair of stout thongs and a cat-o'-nine-tails, and then he threw over him a big cloak, and put on a billygoat's beard; and so he went back to the skinflint and said he was from outlandish parts, where he had learnt to be a master builder – for you must know he had heard the old hunks was going to build a house.

"Yes, he would gladly take him as master builder, he said; for thereabouts there were none but home-taught carpenters. So off they went to look at the timber, and it was the finest heart of pine that any one would wish to have in the wall of his house: and even the lad said it was brave timber – he couldn't say otherwise; but in outlandish parts they had got a new fashion, which was far better than the old. They did not take long beams and fit them into the wall, but they cut the beams up into nice small logs, and then they baked them in the sun and fastened them together again; and so they wore both stronger and prettier than an old-fashioned timber building.

"'That's how they build all the houses now-a-days in outlandish parts,' said the lad.

"'If it must be so, it must,' said the hunks. With that he set all the carpenters and woodmen who were to be found round about to chop and hew all his beams up into small logs.

"'But,' said the lad, 'we still want some big trees – some of the real mast-firs – for our sill-beams; maybe, there are no such big trees in your wood?'

"'Well!' said the man; 'if they're not to be found in my wood, it will be hard to find them anywhere else.'

"And so they strode off to the wood, both of them; and a little way up the hill they came to a big tree.

"'I should think that's big enough,' said the man.

"'No, it isn't big enough,' said the lad. 'If you haven't bigger trees, we sha'n't make much way with our building after the new fashion.'

"'Yes! I have bigger ones,' said the man. 'You shall soon see; but we must go further on.'

"So they went a long way over the hill, and at last they came to a big tree, one of the finest trees for a mast in all the wood.

"'Do you think this is big enough?' said the man.

"'I almost think it is,' said the lad. 'We will fathom it, and then we shall soon see. You go on the other side of the fir, and I will stand here. If we are not good enough to make our hands meet, it will be big enough; but mind you stretch out well. Stretch out well, do you hear?' said the lad, as he took out his thongs. As for the man, he did all the lad told him.

"'Yes!' said the lad, 'we shall meet nicely, I can see. But stop a bit, and I'll stretch your hands better,' he said, as he slipped a running knot over his wrists and drew it tight and bound him fast to the tree; then out came the cat-o'-nine-tails, and he fell to flogging the old hunks as fast as he could, and all the while he cried out, —

"'This is the lad who sold the pig, and this is the lad who sold the pig.'

"Nor did he leave off till he thought the old hunks had enough, and that he had got his rights for the pig; and then he loosed him, and left him lying under the tree.

"Now when the man did not come home they made a hue and cry for him over the neighbourhood, and searched the country round; and at last they found him under the fir-tree, more dead than alive.

"So when they had got him home the lad came, and had dressed himself up as a doctor, and said he had come from foreign parts, and knew a cure for all kinds of hurt. And when the man heard that, he was all for having him to doctor him, and the lad said he would not be long in curing him; but he must have him all alone in a room by himself, and no one must be by.

"'If you hear him screech and cry out,' he said, 'you must not mind it; for the more he screeches, the sooner he will be well again.'

"So when they were alone, he said, —

"'First of all I must bleed you.' And so he threw the man roughly down on a bench and bound him fast with the thongs; and then out came the cat-o'-nine-tails, and he fell to flogging him as fast as he could. The man screeched and screamed, for his back was sore, and every lash went into the bare flesh; and the lad flogged and flogged as though there were no end to it and all the while he bawled out, —

"'This is the lad who sold the pig. This is the lad who sold the pig.'

"The old hunks bellowed as though a knife were being stuck into him; but there was not a soul that cared about it, for the more he screeched the sooner he would be well, they thought.

"So when the lad had done his doctoring, he set off from the farm as fast as he could; but they followed fast on his heels, and overtook him and threw him into prison, and the end was he was doomed to be hanged.

"And the old hunks was so angry with him, even then, that he would not have him hanged till he was quite well, so that he might hang him with his own hands.

"So while the lad sat there in prison waiting to be hanged, one of the serving-men came out by night and stole kail in the garden of the old hunks, and the lad saw him.

"'So, so!' said he to himself; 'master thief, it will be odd if I don't play off a trick or two with you before I am hanged.'

"And so when time went on, and the man was so well he thought he had strength enough to hang him, he made them set up a gallows down by the way to the mill, so that he might see the body hanging every time he went to the mill. So they set out to hang the lad, and when they had gone a bit of the way, the lad said, —

"'You will not refuse to let me talk alone with your servant who grinds down yonder at the mill? I did him a bad turn once, and I wish now to confess it, and beg him for forgiveness before I die.'

"Yes! he might have leave to do that.

"'Heaven help you!' he said to the miller's man. 'Now your master is coming to hang you because you stole kail in his garden.'

"As soon as the miller's man heard that, he was so taken aback he did not know which way to turn; and so he asked the lad what he should do.

"'Take and change clothes with me and hide yourself behind the door,' said the lad; 'and then he will not know that it isn't me. And if he lays hands on any one, then it will not be you, but me.'

"It was some time before they had changed clothes and dressed again, and the old hunks began to be afraid lest the lad should have run away. So he posted down to the mill door.

"'Where is he?' he said to the lad, who stood there as white as a miller.

"'Oh, he was here just now,' said the lad. 'I think he went and hid himself behind the door.'

"'I'll teach you to hide behind the door, you rogue,' said the old hunks, as he seized the man in a great rage, and hurried him off to the gallows and hanged him in a breath; and all the while he never knew it was not the lad that he hanged.

"After that was done, he wanted to go into the mill to talk to his man, who was busy grinding. Meantime the lad had wedged up the upper millstone, and was feeling under it with his hands.

"Come here, come here,' he called out as soon as he saw the old hunks; 'and you shall feel what a wonderful millstone this is.'

"So the man went and felt the millstone with one hand.

"'Nay, nay,' said the lad; 'you'll never feel it unless you take hold of it with both hands.'

"Well, he did so; and just then the lad snatched out the wedge and let the upper millstone down on him, so that he was caught fast by the hands between the stones. Then out came the cat-o'-nine-tails again, and he fell to flogging him as fast as he could.

"'This is the lad who sold the pig,' he cried out, till he was hoarse.

"And when he had flogged him as much as he could he went home to his mother; and as time went on, and he thought the man had come to himself again, he said to her, —

"'Yes! now I daresay that man will be coming to whom I sold the pig; and now I know no other trick to screen me any longer from him, unless I dig a hole here south of the house, and there I will lie all day; and you must mind and say to him just what I tell you.'

"So the lad told his mother all she was to say and do.

"Then he dug such a hole as he had said, and took with him a long butcher's knife, and lay down in it; and his mother covered him over with boughs, and leaves, and moss, so that he was quite hidden! There he lay by day; and after a while the man came travelling along and asked for the lad.

"'Ay, ay,' said his mother. 'He was a man, that he was; though he never got from me more than one sow pig. For he became both a doctor and a master builder, and he was hanged after that, and rose again from the dead; and yet I never heard anything but ill of him. Here he came flying home the other day, and then he gave me the greatest joy I ever had of him, for he laid him down and died. As for me, I did not care enough for him to spend money on a priest and Christian earth; but I just buried him yonder, south of the house, and raked over him boughs and leaves.'

"'See now,' said the old hunks; 'if he hasn't cheated me after all, and slipped through my fingers. But though I have not been avenged on him living, I will do him a dishonour in his grave.'

"As he said this he strode away south to the grave, and stooped down to spit into it; but at that very moment the lad stuck the knife into him up to the handle, and bawled out, —

"'This is the lad who sold the pig! This is the lad who sold the pig!'

"Away flew the man with the knife sticking in him, and he was so scared and afraid, that nothing has ever been heard or seen of him since."

THE SHEEP AND THE PIG WHO SET UP HOUSE

"Once on a time there was a sheep who stood in the pen to be fattened; so he lived well, and was stuffed and crammed with everything that was good. So it went on, till, one day, the dairymaid came and gave him still more food, and then she said,

"'Eat away, sheep; you won't be much longer here; we are going to kill you to-morrow.'

"It is an old saying, that women's counsel is always worth having, and that there is a cure and physic for everything but death. 'But, after all,' said the sheep to himself, 'there may be a cure even for death this time.'

"So he ate till he was ready to burst; and when he was crammed full, he butted out the door of the pen, and took his way to the neighbouring farm. There he went to the pigsty to a pig whom he had known out on the common, and ever since had been the best friends with.

"'Good day!' said the sheep, 'and thanks for our last merry meeting.'

"'Good day!' answered the pig, 'and the same to you.'

"'Do you know,' said the sheep, 'why it is you are so well off, and why it is they fatten you and take such pains with you?'

"'No, I don't,' said the pig.

"'Many a flask empties the cask; I suppose you know that,' said the sheep. 'They are going to kill and eat you.'

"'Are they?' said the pig; 'well, I hope they'll say grace after meat.'

"'If you will do as I do,' said the sheep, 'we'll go off to the wood, build us a house, and set up for ourselves. A home is a home be it ever so homely.'

"Yes! the pig was willing enough. 'Good company is such a comfort,' he said, and so the two set off.

"So, when they had gone a bit they met a goose.

"'Good day, good sirs, and thanks for our last merry meeting,' said the goose; 'whither away so fast to-day?'

"'Good day, and the same to you,' said the sheep; 'you must know we were too well off at home, and so we are going to set up for ourselves in the wood, for you know every man's house is his castle.'

"'Well!' said the goose, 'it's much the same with me where I am. Can't I go with you too, for it's child's play when three share the day.'

"'With gossip and gabble is built neither house nor stable,' said the pig, 'let us know what you can do.'

"'By cunning and skill a cripple can do what he will,' said the goose. 'I can pluck moss and stuff it into the seams of the planks, and your house will be tight and warm.'

"Yes! they would give him leave, for, above all things piggy wished to be warm and comfortable.

"So, when they had gone a bit farther – the goose had hard work to walk so fast – they met a hare, who came frisking out of the wood.

"'Good day, good sirs, and thanks for our last merry meeting,' she said, 'how far are you trotting to-day?'

"'Good day, and the same to you,' said the sheep; 'we were far too well off at home, and so we're going to the wood, to build us a house, and set up for ourselves, for you know, try all the world round, there's nothing like home.'

"'As for that,' said the hare, 'I have a house in every bush – yes, a house in every bush; but, yet, I have often said, in winter, 'if I only live till summer, I'll build me a house;' and so I have half a mind to go with you and build one up, after all.'

"'Yes!' said the pig, 'if we ever get into a scrape, we might use you to scare away the dogs, for you don't fancy you could help us in house building.'

"'He who lives long enough always finds work enough to do,' said the hare. 'I have teeth to gnaw pegs, and paws to drive them into the wall, so I can very well set up to be a carpenter, for "good tools make good work," as the man said, when he flayed the mare with a gimlet.'

"Yes! he too got leave to go with them and build their house, there was nothing more to be said about it.

"When they had gone a bit farther they met a cock.

"'Good day, good sirs,' said the cock, 'and thanks for our last merry meeting; whither are ye going to-day, gentlemen?'

"'Good day, and the same to you,' said the sheep. 'At home we were too well off, and so we are going off to the wood to build us a house, and set up for ourselves; for he who out of doors shall bake, loses at last both coal and cake.'

"'Well!' said the cock, 'that's just my case; but it's better to sit on one's own perch, for then one can never be left in the lurch, and, besides, all cocks crow loudest at home. Now, if I might have leave to join such a gallant company, I also would like to go to the wood and build a house.'

"'Ay! ay!' said the pig, 'flapping and crowing sets tongues a-going; but a jaw on a stick never yet laid a brick. How can you ever help us to build a house?'

"'Oh!' said the cock, 'that house will never have a clock, where there is neither dog nor cock. I am up early, and I wake every one.'

"'Very true,' said the pig, 'the morning hour has a golden dower; let him come with us;' for, you must know, piggy was always the soundest sleeper. 'Sleep is the biggest thief,' he said; 'he thinks nothing of stealing half one's life.'

"So they all set off to the wood, as a band and brotherhood, and built the house. The pig hewed the timber, and the sheep drew it home; the hare was carpenter, and gnawed pegs and bolts, and hammered them into the walls and roof; the goose plucked moss and stuffed it into the seams; the cock crew, and looked out that they did not oversleep themselves in the morning; and when the house was ready, and the roof lined with birch bark, and thatched with turf; there they lived by themselves, and were merry and well. ''Tis good to travel east and west,' said the sheep, 'but after all a home is best.'

"But you must know that a bit farther on in the wood was a wolf's den, and there lived two graylegs. So when they saw that a new house had risen up hard by, they wanted to know what sort of folk their neighbours were, for they thought to themselves that a good neighbour was better than a brother in a foreign land, and that it was better to live in a good neighbourhood than to know many people miles and miles off.

"So one of them made up an errand, and went into the new house and asked for a light for his pipe. But as soon as ever he got inside the door, the sheep gave him such a butt that he fell head foremost into the stove. Then the pig began to gore and bite him, the goose to nip and peck him, the cock upon the roost to crow and chatter; and as for the hare he was so frightened out of his wits, that he ran about aloft and on the floor, and scratched and scrambled in every corner of the house.

"So after a long time the wolf came out.

"'Well!' said the one who waited for him outside, 'neighbourhood makes brotherhood. You must have come into a perfect paradise on bare earth, since you stayed so long. But what became of the light, for you have neither pipe nor smoke.'

"'Yes, yes!' said the other; 'it was just a nice light and a pleasant company. Such manners I never saw in all my life. But then you know we can't pick and choose in this wicked world, and an unbidden guest gets bad treatment. As soon as I got inside the door, the shoe-maker let fly at me with his last, so that I fell head foremost into the stithy fire; and there sat two smiths who blew the bellows and made the sparks fly, and beat and punched me with red hot tongs and pincers, so that they tore whole pieces out of my body. As for the hunter he went scrambling about looking for his gun, and it was good luck he did not find it. And all the while there was another who sat up under the roof, and slapped his arms and sang out,

"'Put a hook into him, and drag him hither, drag him hither.' That was what he screamed, and if he had only got hold of me, I should never have come out alive."

THE GOLDEN PALACE THAT HUNG IN THE AIR

"Once on a time there was a poor man who had three sons. When he died the two eldest were to go out into the world to try their luck; but as for the youngest they would not have him at any price.

"'As for you,' they said, 'you are fit for nothing but to sit and hold fir tapers, and grub in the ashes and blow up the embers. That's what you are fit for.'

"'Well, well,' said Boots, 'then I must e'en go alone by myself: at any rate I shan't fall out with my company.'

"So the two went their way, and when they had travelled some days they came to a great wood. There they sat down to rest, and were just going to take out a meal from their knapsack, for they were both tired and hungry. So as they sat there up came an old hag out of a hillock, and begged for a morsel of meat. She was so old and feeble that her nose and mouth met, and she nodded with her head, and could only walk with a stick. As for meat she had not had, she said, a morsel in her mouth these hundred years. But the lads only laughed at her, and ate on and told her as she had lived so long on nothing, she might very well hold out the rest of her life, even though she did not eat up their scanty fare, for they had little to eat and nothing to spare.

"So when they had eaten their fill and could eat no more, and were quite rested, they went on their way again, and, sooner or later, they came to the King's Grange, and there they each of them got a place.

"A while after they had started from home, Boots gathered together the crumbs which his brothers had thrown on one side, and put them into his little scrip, and he took with him the old gun which had no lock, for he thought it might be some good on the way; and so he set off. So when he had wandered some days, he too came into the big wood, through which his brothers had passed, and as he got tired and hungry, he sat down under a tree that he might rest and eat; but he had his eyes about him for all that, and as he opened his scrip he saw a picture hanging on a tree, and on it was painted the likeness of a young girl or princess, whom he thought so lovely he couldn't keep his eyes off her. So he forgot both food and scrip, and took down the painting and lay and stared at it. Just then came up the old hag out of the hillock, who hobbled along with her stick, whose nose and mouth met, and whose head nodded. Then she begged for a little food, for she hadn't had a morsel of bread in her mouth for a hundred years. That was what she said.

"'Then it's high time you had a little to live on, granny,' said the lad; and with that he gave her some of the crumbs he had. The old hag said no one had ever called her 'granny' these hundred years, and she would be as a mother to him in her turn. Then she gave him a grey ball of wool, which he had only to roll on before him and he would come to whatever place he wished; but as for the painting she said he mustn't bother himself about that, he would only fall into ill luck if he did. As for Boots, he thought it was very kind of her to say that, but he could not bear to be without the painting, so he took it under his arm and rolled the ball of wool before him, and it was not long before he came to the King's Grange, where his brothers served. There he too begged for a place, but all the answer he got was they had nothing to put him to, for they had just got two new serving men. But as he begged so prettily, at last he got leave to be with the coachman, and learn how to groom and handle horses. That he was right glad to do, for he was fond of horses, and he was both quick and ready, so that he soon learnt how to bed and rub them down, and it was not long before every one in the King's Grange was fond of him; but every hour he had to himself he was up in the loft looking at the picture, for he had hung it up in a corner of the hay-loft.

"As for his brothers, they were dull and lazy, and so they often got scolding and stripes, and when they saw that Boots fared better than they, they got jealous of him, and told the coachman he was a worshipper of false gods, for he prayed to a picture and not to Our Lord. Now, even though the coachman thought well of the lad, still he wasn't long before he told the king what he had heard. But the king only swore and snapped at him, for he had grown very sad and sorrowful since his daughters had been carried off by trolls. But they so dinned it into the king's ears, that at last he must and would know what it was that the lad did. But when he went up into the hay-loft and set his eyes on the picture, he saw it was his youngest daughter who was painted on it. But when the brothers of Boots heard that, they were ready with an answer, and said to the coachman,

"'If our brother only would, he has said he was good to get the king's daughter back.'

"You may fancy it was not long before the coachman went to the king with this story, and when the king heard it, he called for Boots, and said,

"'Your brothers say you can bring back my daughter again, and now you must do it.'

"Boots answered, he had never known it was the king's daughter till the king said so himself, and if he could free her and fetch her he would be sure to do his best; but two days he must have to think over it and fit himself out. Yes, he might have two days.

"So Boots took the grey ball of wool and threw it down on the road, and it rolled and rolled before him, and he followed it till he came to the old hag, from whom he had got it. Her he asked what he must do, and she said he must take with him that old gun of his and three hundred chests of nails and horseshoe brads, and three hundred barrels of barley, and three hundred barrels of grits, and three hundred carcases of pigs, and three hundred beeves, and then he was to roll the ball of wool before him till he met a raven and a baby troll, and then he would be all right, for they were both of her stock. Yes, the lad did as she bade him; he went right on to the King's Grange, and took his old gun with him, and he asked the king for the nails and the brads, and meat and flesh, and grain, and for horses and men, and carts to carry them in. The king thought it was a good deal to ask, but if he could only get his daughter back, he might have whatever he chose, even to the half of his kingdom.