The Ash Lad and the Troll

Once upon a time there was a farmer with three sons. He had little money and was old and weak, but his sons would do no workon a time there was a farmer who had three sons; his means were small, and he was old and weak, and his sons would take to nothing. A fine large wood belonged to the farm, and one day the father told his sons to go and chophew wood, and try to pay off some of his debts.

Well, after a long talk he got them to set off, and the eldest was to go first. But when he was deep in the wood and began chopping at a mossy old fir, what should he see coming towards him but a great sturdy Troll!had got well into the wood, and began to hew at a mossy old fir, what should he see coming up to him but a great sturdy Troll.

“If you chop trees in my woodhew in this wood of mine”, said the Troll, “I’ll kill you!”

When the lad heard that, he threw the axe down, and ran off home as fast as his legs could carry him. He arrived out of breath and told them what had happened. But his father called him “hare-heart”, a coward. No Troll would ever have scared him away from chopping woodhe could lay legs to the ground; so he came in quite out of breath, and told them what had happened, but his father called him “hare-heart”—no Troll would ever have scared him from hewing when he was young, he said.

Next day the second son’s turn came, and the same thing happened to him. He had barely struck three blowshe fared just the same. He had scarce hewn three strokes at the firfir, before the Troll came to him too, and said:

“If you chop trees in my woodhew in this wood of mine, I’ll kill you.”

The lad dared not so much as look at him, but threw down the axe, took to his heels, and came scampering home just like his brother. So when he got home, his father was angry again, and said no Troll had ever scared him when he was young.

The third day the Ash LadBoots wanted to set off.

“You, indeed!” said the two elder brothers; “you’ll do it bravely, no doubt! You,you, who have hardly ever set foot outsidescarce ever set your foot out of the door.”

The Ash LadBoots said nothing to this, but only begged them to give him a good supplystore of food. His mother had no cheese, so she set the pot on the fire to make him a little. He put it into a shoulder bag and set off. When he had chopped a little wood,little, and he put it into a scrip and set off. So when he had hewn a bit, the Troll came to him too, and said:

“If you chop trees in my woodhew in this wood of mine, I’ll kill you.”

But the lad was not slow; he pulled his cheese out of the bag in a flashscrip in a trice, and squeezed it till the whey, the watery liquid in the cheese,whey spurted out.

“Hold your tongue!” he cried to the Troll, “or I’ll squeeze you as I squeeze the water out of this white stone.”

“NoNay, dear friend!” said the Troll, “only spare me, and I’ll help you chop woodto hew.”

Well, on those terms the lad was willing to spare him, and the Troll chopped so vigorouslyhewed so bravely, that they felled and cut up huge, huge piles of timber—in a singlemany, many fathoms in theExplanation: Here “fathoms” refers to a quantity of cut wood. Large piles keep that sense; this passage does not describe a distance. day.

But as eveningwhen even drew near, the Troll said:

“Now you’d better come home with me, for my house is nearer than yours.”

The lad was quite willing. WhenSo the lad was willing enough; and when they reached the Troll’s house, the Troll was to light the fire while the lad fetched water for their porridge. But the two iron pails were so big and heavy that he could not even lift them offmake up the fire, while the lad went to fetch water for their porridge, and there stood two iron pails so big and heavy, that he couldn’t so much as lift them from the ground.

“Pooh!” said the lad, “it isn’t worth touching these finger bowls, tiny dishes for rinsing your fingertips:while to touch these finger-basins: I’ll just go and fetch the spring itself.”

“No, noNay, nay, dear friend!” said the Troll; “I can’t afford to lose my spring; you just lightjust you make up the fire, and I’ll go and fetch the water.”

So when he came back with the water, they set to and boiled up a great pot of porridge.

“It’s all the same to me”, said the lad; “but if you agree, we’ll have an eating contestyou’re of my mind, we’ll eat a match!”

“With all my heart”, said the Troll, for he thought he could surely eat as much as the boyhold his own in eating. So they sat down. Without the Troll noticing, the lad hung his bag in front of him. He spooned more porridge into the bag than he ate. When it was full, he took his knife and slit it open; but the lad took his scrip unawares to the Troll, and hung it before him, and so he spooned more into the scrip than he ate himself; and when the scrip was full, he took up his knife and made a slit in the scrip. The Troll looked on all the while, but never saidsaid never a word. So when they had eaten a good bit longer, the Troll laid down his spoon, saying, “No! I can’t eat another biteNay! but I can’t eat a morsel more.”

“But you mustshall eat”, said the youth; “I’m only half done; why don’t you try my trick to make more roomdo as I did, and cut a hole in your paunchExplanation: Exceptional softening for children: the boy still deceives the troll with his bag trick, but the explicit instruction to wound his belly is omitted. The troll’s fatal attempt to imitate him remains in the story, and the original is preserved.? You’ll be able to eat then as much as you please.”

“But doesn’t it hurt terriblyone cruelly?” asked the Troll.

“Oh”, said the youth, “hardly at allnothing to speak of.”

The Troll tried to copy the lad’s trick, but hurt himself so badly that he died. The lad took all the silver and gold he found in the hillside and carried it home. As you may guess, it went a long way towards payingSo the Troll did as the lad said, and then you must know very well that he lost his life; but the lad took all the silver and gold that he found in the hill-side, and went home with it, and you may fancy it went a great way to payExplanation: Exceptional softening for children: the fatal injury is stated clearly, without describing the wound. The deception and the troll’s death remain, and the original is preserved. off the debt.