Knös [The Swedish Fairy Book]
Once upon a time there was a poor widow, who found an egg under a pile of brush as she was gathering kindlings in the forest. She took it and placed it under a goose, and when the goose had hatched it, a little boy slipped out of the shell. The widow had him baptized Knös, and such a lad was a rarity; for when no more than five years old he was grown, and taller than the tallest man. And he ate in proportion, for he would swallow a whole batch of bread at a single sitting, and at last the poor widow had to go to the commissioners for the relief of the poor in order to get food for him. But the town authorities said she must apprentice the boy at a trade, for he was big enough and strong enough to earn his own keep.
So Knös was apprenticed to a smith for three years. For his pay he
asked a suit of clothes and a sword each year: a sword of five hundredweights
the first year, one of ten hundredweights the second year, and one of fifteen
hundredweights the third year. But after he had been in the smithy only a few
days, the smith was glad to give him all three suits and all three swords at
once; for he smashed all his iron and steel to bits.
Knös received his suits and swords, went to a knight's estate, and
hired himself out as a serving-man. Once he was told to go to the forest to
gather firewood with the rest of the men, but sat at the table eating long
after the others had driven off and when he had at last satisfied his hunger
and was ready to start, he saw the two young oxen he was to drive waiting for
him. But he let them stand and went into the forest, seized the two largest
trees growing there, tore them out by the roots, took one tree under each arm,
and carried them back to the estate. And he got there long before the rest, for
they had to chop down the trees, saw them up and load them on the carts.
On the following day Knös had to thresh. First he hunted up the largest
stone he could find, and rolled it around on the grain, so that all the corn
was loosened from the ears. Then he had to separate the grain from the chaff.
So he made a hole in each side of the roof of the barn, and stood outside the
barn and blew, and the chaff and straw flew out into the yard, and the corn
remained lying in a heap on the floor. His master happened to come along, laid
a ladder against the barn, climbed up and looked down into one of the holes.
But Knös was still blowing, and the wind caught his master, and he fell down
and was nearly killed on the stone pavement of the court.
"He's a dangerous fellow," thought his master. It would be a
good thing to be rid of him, otherwise he might do away with all of them; and
besides, he ate so that it was all one could do to keep him fed. So he called
Knös in, and paid him his wages for the full year, on condition that he leave.
Knös agreed, but said he must first be decently provisioned for his journey.
So he was allowed to go into the store-house himself, and there he
hoisted a flitch of bacon on each shoulder, slid a batch of bread under each
arm, and took leave. But his master loosed the vicious bull on him. Knös,
however, grasped him by the horns, and flung him over his shoulder, and thus he
went off. Then he came to a thicket where he slaughtered the bull, roasted him
and ate him together with a batch of bread. And when he had done this he had
about taken the edge off his hunger.
Then he came to the king's court, where great sorrow reigned because,
once upon a time, when the king was sailing out at sea, a sea troll had called
up a terrible tempest, so that the ship was about to sink. In order to escape
with his life, the king had to promise the sea troll to give him whatever first
came his way when he reached shore. The king thought his hunting dog would be
the first to come running to meet him, as usual; but instead his three young
daughters came rowing out to meet him in a boat. This filled the king with
grief, and he vowed that whoever delivered his daughters should have one of
them for a bride, whichever one he might choose. But the only man who seemed to
want to earn the reward was a tailor, named Red Peter.
Knös was given a place at the king's court, and his duty was to help
the cook. But he asked to be let off on the day the troll was to come and carry
away the oldest princess, and they were glad to let him go; for when he had to
rinse the dishes he broke the king's vessels of gold and silver; and when he
was told to bring firewood, he brought in a whole wagon-load at once, so that
the doors flew from their hinges.
The princess stood on the sea-shore and wept and wrung her hands; for
she could see what she had to expect. Nor did she have much confidence in Red
Peter, who sat on a willow-stump, with a rusty old sabre in his hand. Then Knös
came and tried to comfort the princess as well as he knew how, and asked her
whether she would comb his hair. Yes, he might lay his head in her lap, and she
combed his hair. Suddenly there was a dreadful roaring out at sea. It was the
troll who was coming along, and he had five heads. Red Peter was so frightened
that he rolled off his willow-stump. "Knös, is that you?" cried the
troll. "Yes," said Knös. "Haul me up on the shore!" said
the troll. "Pay out the cable!" said Knös. Then he hauled the troll
ashore; but he had his sword of five hundredweights at his side, and with it he
chopped off all five of the troll's heads, and the princess was free. But when
Knös had gone off, Red Peter put his sabre to the breast of the princess, and
told her he would kill her unless she said he was her deliverer.
Then came the turn of the second princess. Once more Red Peter sat on
the willow-stump with his rusty sabre, and Knös asking to be let off for the
day, went to the sea-shore and begged the princess to comb his hair, which she
did. Then along came the troll, and this time he had ten heads. "Knös, is
that you?" asked the troll. "Yes," said Knös. "Haul me
ashore!" said the troll. "Pay out the cable!" said Knös. And
this time Knös had his sword of ten hundredweights at his side, and he cut off
all ten of the troll's heads. And so the second princess was freed. But Red
Peter held his sabre at the princess' breast, and forced her to say that he had
delivered her.
Now it was the turn of the youngest princess. When it was time for the
troll to come, Red Peter was sitting on his willow-stump, and Knös came and
begged the princess to comb his hair, and she did so. This time the troll had
fifteen heads.
"Knös, is that you?" asked the troll. "Yes," said
Knös. "Haul me ashore!" said the troll. "Pay out the
cable," said Knös. Knös had his sword of fifteen hundredweights at his
side, and with it he cut off all the troll's heads. But the fifteen
hundredweights were half-an-ounce short, and the heads grew on again, and the
troll took the princess, and carried her off with him.
One day as Knös was going along, he met a man carrying a church on his
back. "You are a strong man, you are!" said Knös. "No, I am not
strong," said he, "but Knös at the king's court, he is strong; for he
can take steel and iron, and weld them together with his hands as though they
were clay." "Well, I'm the man of whom you are speaking," said
Knös, "come, let us travel together." And so they wandered on.
Then they met a man who carried a mountain of stone on his back.
"You are strong, you are!" said Knös. "No, I'm not strong,"
said the man with the mountain of stone, "but Knös at the king's court, he
is strong; for he can weld together steel and iron with his hands as though
they were clay."
"Well, I am that Knös, come let us travel together," said
Knös. So all three of them traveled along together. Knös took them for a
sea-trip; but I think they had to leave the church and the hill of stone
ashore. While they were sailing they grew thirsty, and lay alongside an island,
and there on the island stood a castle, to which they decided to go and ask for
a drink. Now this was the very castle in which the troll lived.
First the man with the church went, and when he entered the castle,
there sat the troll with the princess on his lap, and she was very sad. He
asked for something to drink. "Help yourself, the goblet is on the
table!" said the troll. But he got nothing to drink, for though he could
move the goblet from its place, he could not raise it.
Then the man with the hill of stone went into the castle and asked for
a drink. "Help yourself, the goblet is on the table!" said the troll.
And he got nothing to drink either, for though he could move the goblet from
its place, he could not raise it.
Then Knös himself went into the castle, and the princess was full of
joy and leaped down from the troll's lap when she saw it was he. Knös asked for
a drink. "Help yourself," said the troll, "the goblet is on the
table!" And Knös took the goblet and emptied it at a single draught. Then
he hit the troll across the head with the goblet, so that he rolled from the
chair and died.
Knös took the princess back to the royal palace, and O, how happy every
one was! The other princesses recognized Knös again, for they had woven silk
ribbons into his hair when they had combed it; but he could only marry one of
the princesses, whichever one he preferred, so he chose the youngest. And when
the king died, Knös inherited the kingdom.
As for Red Peter, he had to go into the nail-barrel.
And now you know all that I know.
NOTE
The leading personage of our first story, Knös (Tecknigar
og Toner ur skanska allmogenslif , Lund, 1889, p. 14. From Gudmundstorp,
Froste Harad) is one of those heroes of gigantic build, beloved of the North,
who even when he eats, accomplishes deeds such as the old Norsemen told of
their god Thor: the motive of the goblet with which the hero slays the giant,
has been used in the Hymiskvida . (Comp. with v. d.
Leyen, Märchen in den Göttsagen der Edda , p. 40.)
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