Popular Tales from the Norse Part 52

THE WIDOW'S SON

Once on a time there was a poor, poor widow, who had an only son. She dragged on with the boy till he had been confirmed, and then she said she couldn't feed him any longer, he must just go out and earn his own bread. So the lad wandered out into the world, and when he had walked a day or so, a strange man met him.

'Whither away?' asked the man.

'Oh, I'm going out into the world to try and get a place', said the lad.

'Will you come and serve me?' said the man.

'Oh yes; just as soon you as any one else', said the lad.

'Well, you'll have a good place with me', said the man; 'for you'll only have to keep me company, and do nothing at all else beside.'

So the lad stopped with him, and lived on the fat of the land, both in meat and drink, and had little or nothing to do; but he never saw a living soul in that man's house.

So one day the man said:

'Now, I'm going off for eight days, and that time you'll have to spend here all alone; but you must not go into any one of these four rooms here. If you do, I'll take your life when I come back.'

'No', said the lad, he'd be sure not to do that. But when the man had been gone three or four days, the lad couldn't bear it any longer, but went into the first room, and when he got inside he looked round, but he saw nothing but a shelf over the door where a bramble-bush rod lay.

Well, indeed! thought the lad; a pretty thing to forbid my seeing this.

So when the eight days were out, the man came home, and the first thing he said was:

'You haven't been into any of these rooms, of course.'

'No, no; that I haven't', said the lad.

'I'll soon see that', said the man, and went at once into the room where the lad had been.

'Nay, but you have been in here', said he; 'and now you shall lose your life.'

Then the lad begged and prayed so hard that he got off with his life, but the man gave him a good thras.h.i.+ng. And when it was over, they were as good friends as ever.

Some time after the man set off again, and said he should be away fourteen days; but before he went he forbade the lad to go into any of the rooms he had not been in before; as for that he had been in, he might go into that, and welcome. Well, it was the same story aver again, except that the lad stood out eight days before he went in. In this room, too, he saw nothing but a shelf over the door, and a big stone, and a pitcher of water on it. Well, after all, there's not much to be afraid of my seeing here, thought the lad.

But when the man came back, he asked if he had been into any of the rooms. No, the lad hadn't done anything of the kind.

'Well, well; I'll soon see that,' said the man; and when he saw that the lad had been in them after all, he said, 'Ah! now I'll spare you no longer; now you must lose your life.'

But the lad begged and prayed for himself again, and so this time too he got off with stripes; though he got as many as his skin could carry. But when he got sound and well again, he led just as easy a life as ever, and he and the man were just as good friends.

So a while after the man was to take another journey, and now he said he should be away three weeks, and he forbade the lad anew to go into the third room, for if he went in there he might just make up his mind at once to lose his life. Then after fourteen days the lad couldn't bear it, but crept into the room, but he saw nothing at all in there but a trap door on the floor; and when he lifted it up and looked down, there stood a great copper cauldron which bubbled and boiled away down there; but he saw no fire under it.

'Well, I should just like to know if it's hot,' thought the lad, and stuck his finger down into the broth, and when he pulled it out again, lo! it was gilded all over. So the lad sc.r.a.ped and scrubbed it, but the gilding wouldn't go off, so he bound a piece of rag round it; and when the man came back, and asked what was the matter with his finger, the lad said he'd given it such a bad cut. But the man tore off the rag, and then he soon saw what was the matter with the finger. First he wanted to kill the lad outright, but when he wept, and begged, he only gave him such a thras.h.i.+ng that he had to keep his bed three days. After that the man took down a pot from the wall, and rubbed him over with some stuff out of it, and so the lad was sound and fresh as ever.

So after a while the man started off again, and this time he was to be away a month. But before he went, he said to the lad, if he went into the fourth room he might give up all hope of saving his life.

Well, the lad stood out for two or three weeks, but then he couldn't holdout any longer; he must and would go into that room, and so in he stole. There stood a great black horse tied up in a stall by himself, with a manger of red-hot coals at his head, and a truss of hay at his tail. Then the lad thought this all wrong, so he changed them about, and put the hay at his head. Then said the Horse:

'Since you are so good at heart as to let me have some food, I'll set you free, that I will. For if the Troll comes back and finds you here, he'll kill you outright. But now you must go up to the room which lies just over this, and take a coat of mail out of those that hang there; and mind, whatever you do, don't take any of the bright ones, but the most rusty of all you see, that's the one to take; and sword and saddle you must choose for yourself just in the same way.'

So the lad did all that; but it was a heavy load for him to carry them all down at once.

When he came back, the Horse told him to pull off his clothes and get into the cauldron which stood and boiled in the other room, and bathe himself there. 'If I do', thought the lad, 'I shall look an awful fright'; but for all that, he did as he was told. So when he had taken his bath, he became so handsome and sleek, and as red and white as milk and blood, and much stronger than he had been before.

'Do you feel any change?' asked the Horse.

'Yes', said the lad.

'Try to lift me, then', said the Horse.

Oh yes! he could do that, and as for the sword, he brandished it like a feather.

'Now saddle me', said the Horse, 'and put on the coat of mail, and then take the bramble-bush rod, and the stone, and the pitcher of water, and the pot of ointment, and then we'll be off as fast as we can.'

So when the lad had got on the horse, off they went at such a rate, he couldn't at all tell how they went. But when he had ridden awhile, the Horse said,

'I think I hear a noise; look round! can you see anything?'

'Yes; there are ever so many coming after us, at least a score', said the lad.

'Aye, aye, that's the Troll coming', said the Horse; 'now he's after us with his pack.'

So they rode on a while, until those who followed were close behind them.

'Now throw your bramble-bush rod behind you, over your shoulder', said the Horse; 'but mind you throw it a good way off my back.'

So the lad did that, and all at once a close, thick bramble-wood grew up behind them. So the lad rode on a long, long time, while the Troll and his crew had to go home to fetch something to hew their way through the wood. But at last, the Horse said again.

'Look behind you! can you see anything now?'

'Yes, ever so many', said the lad, 'as many as would fill a large church.'

'Aye, aye, that's the Troll and his crew', said the Horse; 'now he's got more to back him; but now throw down the stone, and mind you throw it far behind me.'

And as soon as the lad did what the Horse said, up rose a great black hill of rock behind him. So the Troll had to be off home to fetch something to mine his way through the rock; and while the Troll did that, the lad rode a good bit further on. But still the Horse begged him to look behind him, and then he saw a troop like a whole army behind him, and they glistened in the sunbeams.

'Aye, aye', said the Horse, 'that's the Troll, and now he's got his whole band with him, so throw the pitcher of water behind you, but mind you don't spill any of it upon me.'

So the lad did that; but in spite of all the pains he took, he still spilt one drop on the horse's flank. So it became a great deep lake; and because of that one drop, the horse found himself far out in it, but still he swam safe to land. But when the Trolls came to the lake, they lay down to drink it dry; and so they swilled and swilled till they burst.

'Now we're rid of them', said the Horse.

So when they had gone a long, long while, they came to a green patch in a wood.