The giant said, “I have two hours’ time, during which I will carry
you into the neighbourhood, but after that I must be at home to suckle
the child that we have.” So the giant carried the man to about a
hundred leagues from the castle, and said, “Thou canst very well walk
the rest of the way alone.” And he turned back, but the man went
onwards day and night, until at length he came to the golden castle of
Stromberg. It stood on a glass-mountain, and the bewitched maiden drove
in her carriage round the castle, and then went inside it. He rejoiced
when he saw her and wanted to climb up to her, but when he began to do
so he always slipped down the glass again. And when he saw that he
could not reach her, he was filled with trouble, and said to himself,
“I will stay down here below, and wait for her.” So he built himself a
hut and stayed in it for a whole year, and every day saw the King’s
daughter driving about above, but never could go to her. Then one day
he saw from his hut three robbers who were beating each other, and
cried to them, “God be with ye!” They stopped when they heard the cry,
but as they saw no one, they once more began to beat each other, and
that too most dangerously. So he again cried, “God be with ye!” Again
they stopped, looked round about, but as they saw no one they went on
beating each other. Then he cried for the third time, “God be with ye,”
and thought, “I must see what these three are about,” and went thither
and asked why they were beating each other so furiously. One of them
said that he found a stick, and that when he struck a door with it,
that door would spring open. The next said that he had found a mantle,
and that whenever he put it on, he was invisible, but the third said he
had found a horse on which a man could ride everywhere, even up the
glass-mountain. And now they did not know whether they ought to have
these things in common, or whether they ought to divide them. Then the
man said, “I will give you something in exchange for these three
things. Money indeed have I not, but I have other things of more value;
but first I must try yours to see if you have told the truth.” Then
they put him on the horse, threw the mantle round him, and gave him the
stick in his hand, and when he had all these things they were no longer
able to see him. So he gave them some vigorous blows and cried, “Now,
vagabonds, you have got what you deserve, are you satisfied?” And he
rode up the glass-mountain, but when he came in front of the castle at
the top, it was shut. Then he struck the door with his stick, and it
sprang open immediately. He went in and ascended the stairs until he
came to the hall where the maiden was sitting with a golden cup full of
wine before her. She, however, could not see him because he had the
mantle on. And when he came up to her, he drew from his finger the ring
which she had given him, and threw it into the cup so that it rang. Then she cried, “That is my ring, so the man who is to set me free must
be here.” They searched the whole castle and did not find him, but he
had gone out, and had seated himself on the horse and thrown off the
mantle. When they came to the door, they saw him and cried aloud in
their delight. * Then he alighted and took the King’s daughter in his
arms, but she kissed him and said, “Now hast thou set me free, and
to-morrow we will celebrate our wedding.”



94 The Peasant’s Wise Daughter

There was once a poor peasant who had no land, but only a small house,
and one daughter. Then said the daughter, “We ought to ask our lord the
King for a bit of newly-cleared land.” When the King heard of their
poverty, he presented them with a piece of land, which she and her
father dug up, and intended to sow with a little corn and grain of that
kind. When they had dug nearly the whole of the field, they found in
the earth a mortar made of pure gold. “Listen,” said the father to the
girl, “as our lord the King has been so gracious and presented us with
the field, we ought to give him this mortar in return for it.” The
daughter, however, would not consent to this, and said, “Father, if we
have the mortar without having the pestle as well, we shall have to get
the pestle, so you had much better say nothing about it.” He would,
however, not obey her, but took the mortar and carried it to the King,
said that he had found it in the cleared land, and asked if he would
accept it as a present. The King took the mortar, and asked if he had
found nothing besides that? “No,” answered the countryman. Then the
King said that he must now bring him the pestle. The peasant said they
had not found that, but he might just as well have spoken to the wind;
he was put in prison, and was to stay there until he produced the
pestle. The servants had daily to carry him bread and water, which is
what people get in prison, and they heard how the man cried out
continually, “Ah! if I had but listened to my daughter! Alas, alas, if
I had but listened to my daughter!” and would neither eat nor drink. So
he commanded the servants to bring the prisoner before him, and then
the King asked the peasant why he was always crying, “Ah! if I had but
listened to my daughter!” and what it was that his daughter had said. “She told me that I ought not to take the mortar to you, for I should
have to produce the pestle as well.” “If you have a daughter who is as
wise as that, let her come here.” She was therefore obliged to appear
before the King, who asked her if she really was so wise, and said he
would set her a riddle, and if she could guess that, he would marry
her. She at once said yes, she would guess it. Then said the King,
“Come to me not clothed, not naked, not riding, not walking, not in the
road, and not out of the road, and if thou canst do that I will marry
thee.” So she went away, put off everything she had on, and then she
was not clothed, and took a great fishing net, and seated herself in it
and wrapped it entirely round and round her, so that she was not naked,
and she hired an ass, and tied the fisherman’s net to its tail, so that
it was forced to drag her along, and that was neither riding nor
walking. The ass had also to drag her in the ruts, so that she only
touched the ground with her great toe, and that was neither being in
the road nor out of the road. And when she arrived in that fashion, the
King said she had guessed the riddle and fulfilled all the conditions. Then he ordered her father to be released from the prison, took her to
wife, and gave into her care all the royal possessions. Now when some years had passed, the King was once drawing up his troops
on parade, when it happened that some peasants who had been selling
wood stopped with their waggons before the palace; some of them had
oxen yoked to them, and some horses. There was one peasant who had
three horses, one of which was delivered of a young foal, and it ran
away and lay down between two oxen which were in front of the waggon.