Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder

"A king and queen had a son, Sigurd. One day, when Sigurd was ten, the queen died.

In Lang's variant, the king lamented her long, and one day met at her grave a woman, Ingiborg. Ingiborg told him she had lost her husband and in time, the king married her.

In Manning-Sanders's, the king met a woman in the wood who warned him that she was a troll's daughter; nevertheless, he had fallen in love at sight and insisted on marrying her.

One day, the king went hunting, and Ingiborg told Sigurd to go with him. Sigurd refused. A giantess came; Ingiborg hid Sigurd, and denied he was there. Twice more, Sigurd refused, and Ingiborg hid him, but the third time, the giantess cursed him to be half scorched and half withered and have no rest until he found her. Ingiborg took Sigurd from his hiding place, told him this showed what his stubbornness meant, but gave him a string and three rings. If he threw down the string, it would lead him to a giantess, and though she threatened to eat him, he should give her a ring. This would make her offer to wrestle with him; she would offer him wine, and that would let him become so strong he could win. But if her dog came to him, her life was in danger, and he should return, not forgetting his stepmother.

He followed her directions, finding all three giantesses in turn. The last one directed him to go to a lake, where he would meet a little girl called Helga playing with a boat. As he had been instructed he gave her a ring he had got from one of the giantesses, and they played together. Sigurd persuaded her to take him home, but Helga turned him into wool to protect him from her father, another giant. She did this again the second night, but the third day, her father left, and Helga showed him over the house. Sigurd asked about one key. Helga said he must open the door no more than a c***k. He opened it, and found a horse, a sword, and a sign saying that whoever rode the horse and wielded the sword would find happiness.

Helga told him about the sword, Gunnfoder, and the horse, Gullfaxi, and added that the twig and the stone with them would make a hailstorm to block pursuit. He persuaded Helga to let him try them, and rode off. The giant chased him, but Sigurd killed him with the hailstorm. Ingiborg's dog came running for him, and he hurried home, where he found them about to burn Ingiborg at the stake, and rescued her. His father, who had been sick in bed from the thought that Ingiborg had killed his son, got up and was well again. Sigurd brought Helga home, and they had a great marriage feast."

How Ian Direach got the Blue Falcon

"A king and a queen had a son, Ian. When Ian was almost grown to a man, his mother died, and his father remarried. One day Ian went hunting and shot at a blue falcon, knocking off a feather. His stepmother cursed him until he found her the falcon. He cursed her to stand with one foot on the great hall and the other on the castle, and always face the wind, until he returned, and left.

He met with Gille Mairtean the fox, who tells him that the blue falcon is kept by the Giant of the Five Heads, and the Five Necks, and the Five Humps, and to seek service there tending animals. If he, above all, treats the birds kindly, the giant will let him care for the blue falcon, and then he can steal it, if he does not let any of its feathers touch anything in the house. In time the giant trusted him, but the falcon started by the doorpost, and the feather touching the post made it scream and brought back the giant. The giant tells him he may have the falcon if he brings him the White Sword of Light, owned by the Big Women of Dhiurradh.

Gille Mairtean turned himself into a boat and carried Ian to the island of Dhiurradh, and told him to seek service there, polishing gold and silver, which will let him, in time, steal the sword, but he must not let its sheath touch anything within the house. This succeeded until the tip of the sheath touched the doorpost, and it shrieked. The Big Women told him he may have the sword if he brings them the bay colt of the King of Erin.

Gille Mairtean turned himself into a boat, and carried Ian to the castle, where he served in the stable until he had a chance to steal the colt, which swished its tail against the door, and the king told him he must bring him the daughter of the king of the Franks.

Gille Mairtean turned himself into a boat and carried him to France. The boat ran himself into the cleft of a rock, and sent Ian to say he had been shipwrecked. The royal court came down to see the boat, and music came out of it. The princess said she must see the harp that played such music, and Ian and Gille Mairtean carried her off. She was angry, he explained why he needed to carry her off, and she said she would rather marry him.

They returned to the king, and Gille turned himself into a beautiful woman, and had Ian give him instead of the princess. After Ian received the bay colt, Gille bit the king, knocking him unconscious, and escaped, and they returned to the Big Women. Gille turned himself into a bay colt, and after Ian received the sword, threw all the Big Women, killing them. They returned to the giant, and Gille turned himself into a sword and, once Ian had received the blue falcon, cut off the giant's heads.

Gille warned Ian how to carry what he had brought back to the castle, to prevent his stepmother turning him into a bundle of sticks. He obeyed, and his stepmother was turned into a bundle of sticks herself. So Ian burned her, married the princess, and lived ever afterwards in friendship with Gille Mairtean the fox."

How the Daughter-in-Law Got the Coins

"A man marries a rich woman who did not help his mother. He gives his mother a bag full of pottery shards. The mother contracts leprosy, but since she shakes the bags where the daughter-in-law can hear and announces that whoever cares for it will have, the daughter-in-law tends her. After the mother dies, the woman realizes it was shards, not coins."

How the Dragon was Tricked

"An older brother was jealous of his younger brother and one day tied him to a tree to be rid of him. An old, humpbacked shepherd saw him and asked him why; the younger brother said it was to straighten out his back, and persuaded the shepherd to be tied there in his place. Then he drove off the sheep. He persuaded a horse boy and a driver of oxen to come with him. He played many tricks and became famous.

The king captured him, said he had earned death, and promised to spare him if he brought him the dragon's flying horse. He went and tried three times to steal the horse. Each time it neighed, alerting the dragon, but the third time the dragon, annoyed at being awoken, beat the horse. The fourth time, the horse did not neigh, the boy led him out, and once out, he mounted and rode off, taunting the dragon.

The king then demanded the dragon's bedcoverings. The boy went and tried to hook the blanket during the night, but the dragon said his wife was hogging them, and pulled them, pulling the boy down. The dragon tied him and told his wife to cook him the next day while he went to church. When he returned, they would eat him. The dragoness untied him to cut his throat more easily, and the boy cut her throat and threw her into the oven. He stole the bedcoverings and returned to the king.

The king then demanded the dragon itself. The boy demanded two years to let his beard grow as a disguise, and the king agreed. When the two years were up, the youth changed clothing with a beggar and found the dragon making a box, in order to trap him in it. The youth said that the box was too small. The dragon assured him that it was big enough even for himself and wriggled in to show him. The youth clapped on the top and told him to see if the youth would be able to escape. The dragon tried as hard as it could, and could not get out.

The youth brought him back to the king. The king wanted to see the dragon. He was careful enough to open a hole too small for the dragon to escape, but not enough to keep it from biting him and swallowing him whole. The youth married the king's daughter and became king in his place."

How the Killing of the Old Men Was Stopped

"A man hid his father in a land where everyone was supposed to be put to death at fifty. He won a bet about first seeing the sunrise by following his father's advice and looking west, so he saw it on a mountaintop. People concluded that the old should no longer be put to death."

How to find out a True Friend

"A childless king and queen pledged to St. James that if they had a son, he would make a pilgrimage on his eighteenth birthday. They had a son. When he was twelve, his father died. When his eighteenth birthday grew near, the queen grieved over the thought of not seeing him for a year; she tried to put her son off, but when his consolations for her pretended causes did not work, she had to reveal the truth. He assured her that he would return.

The queen gave him apples and told him that he needed a companion, but he should invite any prospect to eat with him, and then he should cut an apple into two unequal parts and reject anyone who did not take the smaller. He met three young men, each of whom also claimed to be going on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James, but the first two wanted the larger part, and the prince feigned illness to be rid of them. The third took the smaller, and they traveled together, having pledged that if one died, the other would bring his body. It took them a year to reach the shrine. At one point, they hired a house to rest before they continued.

The king saw them, thought them both handsome but the prince the handsomer, and resolved to marry his daughter to the prince. He invited them both to dinner, and poisoned the friend, thinking that would keep the prince from travelling on. Instead, the prince instantly resolved to go on. The king offered his daughter, but the prince went on, and brought his friend's body with him. The friend was not dead, only sleeping, and when the prince had reached the shrine, he prayed the friend be restored to life, and he was.

They returned to the king, and the prince married his daughter. The prince, after a time, declared that he had to return home. The king hated the friend and sent him off with a message, telling him the prince would wait; then he got the prince to leave, assuring him the friend could catch him, he would give him a good horse. When the friend returned, the king sent him after the prince on foot. He was exhausted when he reached the prince, so the prince tended to him like a brother and brought him home. However, no doctor was able to cure him.

The prince's wife gave birth to a daughter.

One day, a strange old man arrived, and the queen brought him to the friend. He declared that the man could be restored by the daughter's blood. The prince was horror-struck, but since he had declared he would treat his friend as his brother, he did it. The friend was restored, but the daughter lay in her cradle as if dead. The old man returned, revealed he was St. James of Lizia, and restored the girl."

The Husband of the Rat's Daughter

"Two rats had a remarkably beautiful daughter. In some variants, the father would have been happy to marry her to a rat of finer family, but the mother did not want her daughter to marry a mere rat; in others, they both agreed that she must marry the greatest being in the world. They offered her to the sun, telling him they wanted a son-in-law who was greater than all. The sun told them that he could not take advantage of their ignorance: the cloud, which blotted out his face, was greater. So they asked the cloud instead. The cloud told them that the wind freely blew it about. They asked the wind. The wind told them that the wall could easily stop it. They asked the wall. The wall told them that a rat could reduce it to powder with its teeth. So they married her to a rat."

The Hut in the Forest

"A wood-cutter told his wife to have his oldest daughter bring him his dinner in the woods. She lost her way and in the night found a house with a gray-haired man and a hen, a c**k, and a brindled cow. She asked for shelter. The man asked the animals, the animals said "Duks", and the man agreed, and told her to cook supper. She cooked for him and herself, and asked for a bed. He directed her to an upper room, where she went to sleep. The old man followed her and opened a trapdoor that let her down into the cellar.

The next day, the same thing happened with the second daughter.

On the third day, the youngest ended up in the hut. She pet the animals, and when she had made supper for herself and the old man, also got barley for the birds and hay for the cow. She went upstairs to sleep, but at midnight, a sound like the house tearing apart woke her. Still, it stopped, and she went back to sleep. In the morning, she found herself in a palace with a king's son, enchanted with three attendants, to remain there until a woman kind not only to people but to animals. He summoned her parents to the wedding, and made her sisters servants to a charcoal burner, until they learned not to leave poor animals to suffer hunger."