Children Stories - The Mount Of The Golden Queen

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The Mount Of The Golden Queen

from The Swedish Fairy Book

Once upon a time a lad who tended the cattle in the wood was eating
his noon-tide meal in a clearing in the forest. As he was sitting
there he saw a rat run into a juniper-bush. His curiosity led him to
look for it; but as he bent over, down he went, head over heels, and
fell asleep. And he dreamed that he was going to find the princess on
the Mount of the Golden Queen; but that he did not know the way.

The following day he once more pastured his cattle in the wood, when
he came to the same clearing, and again ate his dinner there. And
again he saw the rat and went to look for it, and again when he bent
down he went head over heels, and fell fast asleep. And again he
dreamed of the princess on the Mount of the Golden Queen, and that in
order to get her he would need seventy pounds of iron and a pair of
iron shoes. He awoke and it was all a dream; but by now he had made up
his mind to find the Mount of the Golden Queen, and he went home with
his herd. On the third day, when he led out his cattle, he could not
reach the clearing of his happy dream too soon. Again the rat showed
itself and when he went to look for it, he fell asleep as he had done
each preceding day. And again he dreamed of the princess on the Mount
of the Golden Queen, and that she came to him, and laid a letter and a
band of gold in his pocket. Then he awoke and to his indescribable
surprise, he found in his pocket both of the things of which he had
dreamed, the letter and the band. Now he had no time to attend to the
cattle any longer, but drove them straight home. Then he went into the
stable, led out a horse, sold it, and bought seventy pounds of iron
and a pair of iron shoes with the money. He made the thole-pins out of
the iron, put on his iron shoes, and set forth. For a time he traveled
by land; but at last he came to the lake which he had to cross. He saw
naught but water before and behind him, and rowing so long and
steadily that he wore out one thole-pin after another, he at length
reached land, and a green meadow, where no trees grew. He walked all
around the meadow, and at last found a mound of earth from which smoke
was rising. When he looked more closely, out came a woman who was nine
yards long. He asked her to tell him the way to the Mount of the
Golden Queen. But she replied: "That I do not know. Go ask my sister,
who is nine yards taller than I am, and who lives in an earth-mound
which you can find without any trouble." So he left her and came to a
mound of earth that looked just like the first, and from which smoke
was also rising. A woman at once came out who was tremendously tall,
and of her he asked the way to the Mount of the Golden Queen. "That I
do not know," said she. "Go ask my brother, who is nine yards taller
than I am, and who lives in a hill a little further away." So he came
to the hill, from which smoke was also rising, and knocked. A man at
once came out who was a veritable giant, for he was twenty-seven yards
in length, and of him he asked the way to the Mount of the Golden
Queen. Then the giant took a whistle and whistled in every direction,
to call together all the animals to be found on the earth. And all the
animals came from the woods, foremost among them a bear. The giant
asked him about the Mount of the Golden Queen, but he knew nothing of
it. Again the giant blew his whistle in every direction to call
together all the fishes to be found in the waters. They came at once,
and he asked them about the Mount of the Golden Queen; but they knew
nothing of it. Once more the giant blew his whistle in every
direction, and called together all the birds of the air. They came,
and he asked the eagle about the Mount of the Golden Queen, and
whether he knew where it might be. The eagle said: "Yes!" "Well then,
take this lad there," said the giant "but do not treat him unkindly!"
This the eagle promised, allowed the youth to seat himself on his
back, and then off they were through the air, over fields and forests,
hill and dale, and before long they were above the ocean, and could
see nothing but sky and water. Then the eagle dipped the youth in the
ocean up to his ankles and asked: "Are you afraid?" "No," said the
youth. Then the eagle flew on a while, and again dipped the youth into
the water, up to his knees and said: "Are you afraid?" "Yes," answered
the youth, "but the giant said you were not to treat me unkindly."
"Are you really afraid?" asked the eagle once more. "Yes," answered
the youth. Then the eagle said: "The fear you now feel is the very
same fear I felt when the princess thrust the letter and the golden
band into your pocket." And with that they had reached a large, high
mountain in one side of which was a great iron door. They knocked, and
a serving-maid appeared to open the door and admit them. The youth
remained and was well received; but the eagle said farewell and flew
back to his native land. The youth asked for a drink, and he was at
once handed a beaker containing a refreshing draught. When he had
emptied it and returned the beaker, he let the golden band drop into
it. And when the maid brought back the beaker to her mistress--who
was the princess of the Mount of the Golden Queen--the latter looked
into the beaker, and behold, there lay a golden band which she
recognized as her own. So she asked: "Is there some one here?" and
when the maid answered in the affirmative, the princess said: "Bid him
come in!" And as soon as the youth entered she asked him if he chanced
to have a letter. The youth drew out the letter he had received in so
strange a manner, and gave it to the princess. And when she had read
it she cried, full of joy: "Now I am delivered!" And at that very
moment the mountain turned into a most handsome castle, with all sorts
of precious things, servants, and every sort of convenience, each for
its own purpose. (Whether the princess and the youth married the story
does not say; yet we must take for granted that a wedding is the
proper end for the fairy-tale).

NOTE

A distinctly visionary story is the fairy-tale of "The Mount of
the Golden Queen." (From Soedermanland, from the collection of
the metallurgic Gustav Erikson, communicated by Dr. v.
Sydow-Lund) whose hero sets out on a laborious, world-wide
quest that finally brings him to the destined goal.

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