Dapplegrim
:
The Red Fairy Book
THERE was once upon a time a couple of rich folks who had twelve
sons, and when the youngest was grown up he would not stay
at home any longer, but would go out into the world and seek his
fortune. His father and mother said that they thought he was very
well off at home, and that he was welcome to stay with them; but
ho could not rest, and said that he must and would go, so at last
they had to give him leave. When he
ad walked a long way, he
came to a King's palace. There he asked for a place and got it.
Now the daughter of the King of that country had been carried
off into the mountains by a Troll, and the King had no other children,
and for this cause both he and all his people were full of sorrow and
affliction, and the King had promised the Princess and half his
kingdom to anyone who could set her free; but there was no one
who could do it, though a great number had tried. So when the
youth had been there for the space of a year or so, he wanted to go
home again to pay his parents a visit; but when he got there his father
and mother were dead, and his brothers had divided everything
that their parents possessed between themselves, so that there was
nothing at all left for him.
`Shall I, then, receive nothing at all of my inheritance?' asked
the youth.
`Who could know that you were still alive--you who have been
a wanderer so long?' answered the brothers. `However, there are
twelve mares upon the hills which we have not yet divided among
us, and if you would like to have them for your share, you may take
them.'
So the youth, well pleased with this, thanked them, and at once
set off to the hill where the twelve mares were at pasture. When
he got up there and found them, each mare had her foal, and by the
side of one of them was a big dapple-grey foal as well. which was so
sleek that it shone again.
`Well, my little foal, you are a fine fellow!' said the youth.
`Yes, but if you will kill all the other little foals so that I can
suck all the mares for a year, you shall see how big and handsome
I shall be then!' said the Foal.
So the youth did this--he killed all the twelve foals, and then
went back again.
Next year, when he came home again to look after his mares and
the foal, it was as fat as it could be, and its coat shone with brightness,
and it was so big that the lad had the greatest difficulty in
getting on its back, and each of the mares had another foal.
`Well, it's very evident that I have lost nothing by letting you
suck all my mares,' said the lad to the yearling; `but now you are
quite big enough, and must come away with me.'
`No,' said the Colt, `I must stay here another year; kill the
twelve little foals, and then I can suck all the mares this year also,
and you shall see how big and handsome I shall be by summer.'
So the youth did it again, and when he went up on the hill next
year to look after his colt and the mares, each of the mares had her
foal again; but the dappled colt was so big that when the lad wanted
to feel its neck to see how fat it was, he could not reach up to it, it
was so high? and it was so bright that the light glanced off its coat.
`Big and handsome you were last year, my colt, but this year
you are ever so much handsomer,' said the youth; `in all the King's
court no such horse is to be found. But now you shall come away
with me.'
`No,' said the dappled Colt once more; `here I must stay for
another year. Just kill the twelve little foals again, so that I can
suck the mares this year also, and then come and look at me in the
summer.'
So the youth did it--he killed all the little foals, and then went
home again.
But next year, when he returned to look after the dappled colt
and the mares, he was quite appalled. He had never imagined
that any horse could become so big and overgrown, for the dappled
horse had to lie down on all fours before the youth could get on his
back, and it was very hard to do that even when it was lying down,
and it was so plump that its coat shone and glistened just as if it
had been a looking-glass. This time the dappled horse was not
unwilling to go away with the youth, so he mounted it, and when he
came riding home to his brothers they all smote their hands
together and crossed themselves, for never in their lives had they
either seen or heard tell of such a horse as that.
`If you will procure me the best shoes for my horse, and the
most magnificent saddle and bridle that can be found,' said the
youth, `you may have all my twelve mares just as they are standing
out on the hill, and their twelve foals into the bargain.' For
this year also each mare had her foal. The brothers were quite
willing to do this; so the lad got such shoes for his horse that the
sticks and stones flew high up into the air as he rode away over the
hills, and such a gold saddle and such a gold bridle that they could
be seen glittering and glancing from afar.
`And now we will go to the King's palace,' said Dapplegrim--
that was the horse's name, `but bear in mind that you must ask the
King for a good stable and excellent fodder for me.'
So the lad promised not to forget to do that. He rode to the
palace, and it will be easily understood that with such a horse as he
had he was not long on the way.
When he arrived there, the King was standing out on the steps,
and how he did stare at the man who came riding up!
`Nay,' said he, `never in my whole life have I seen such a man
and such a horse.'
And when the youth inquired if he could have a place in the
King's palace, the King was so delighted that he could have danced
on the steps where he was standing, and there and then the lad was
told that he should have a place.
`Yes; but I must have a good stable and most excellent fodder
for my horse,' said he.
So they told him that he should have sweet hay and oats, and as
much of them as the dappled horse chose to have, and all the other
riders had to take their horses out of the stable that Dapplegrim
might stand alone and really have plenty of room.
But this did not last long, for the other people in the King's
Court became envious of the lad, and there was no bad thing that
they would not have done to him if they had but dared. At last
they bethought themselves of telling the King that the youth had
said that, if he chose, he was quite able to rescue the Princess who
had been carried off into the mountain a long time ago by the
Troll.
The King immediately summoned the lad into his presence, and
said that he had been informed that he had said that it was in his
power to rescue the Princess, so he was now to do it. If he
succeeded in this, he no doubt knew that the King had promised his
daughter and half the kingdom to anyone who set her free, which
promise should be faithfully and honourably kept, but if he failed
he should be put to death. The youth denied that he had said this,
but all to no purpose, for the King was deaf to all his words; so there
was nothing to be done but say that he would make the attempt.
He went down into the stable, and very sad and full of care
he was. Then Dapplegrim inquired why he was so troubled, and
the youth told him, and said that he did not know what to do, `for
as to setting the Princess free, that was downright impossible.'
`Oh, but it might be done,' said Dapplegrim. `I will help you;
but you must first have me well shod. You must ask for ten pounds
of iron and twelve pounds of steel for the shoeing, and one smith to
hammer and one to hold.'
So the youth did this, and no one said him nay. He got both
the iron and the steel, and the smiths, and thus was Dapplegrim
shod strongly and well, and when the youth went out of the King's
palace a cloud of dust rose up behind him. But when he came to
the mountain into which the Princess had been carried, the difficulty
was to ascend the precipitous wall of rock by which he was to get
on to the mountain beyond, for the rock stood right up on end, as
steep as a house side and as smooth as a sheet of glass. The first
time the youth rode at it he got a little way up the precipice, but
then both Dapplegrim's fore legs slipped, and down came horse and
rider with a sound like thunder among the mountains. The next
time that he rode at it he got a little farther up, but then one of
Dapplegrim's fore legs slipped, and down they went with the sound
of a landslip. But the third time Dapplegrim said: `Now we must
show what we can do,' and went at it once more till the stones
sprang up sky high, and thus they got up. Then the lad rode into
the mountain cleft at full gallop and caught up the Princess on his
saddle-bow, and then out again before the Troll even had time to
stand up, and thus the Princess was set free.
When the youth returned to the palace the King was both
happy and delighted to get his daughter back again, as may easily
be believed, but somehow or other the people about the Court had
so worked on him that he was angry with the lad too. `Thou shalt
have my thanks for setting my Princess free,' he said, when the
youth came into the palace with her, and was then about to go away.
She ought to be just as much my Princess as she is yours now,
for you are a man of your word,' said the youth.
`Yes, yes,' said the King. `Have her thou shalt, as I have said
it; but first of all thou must make the sun shine into my palace
here.'
For there was a large and high hill outside the windows which
overshadowed the palace so much that the sun could not shine in.
`That was no part of our bargain,' answered the youth. `But
as nothing that I can say will move you, I suppose I shall have to
try to do my best, for the Princess I will have.'
So he went down to Dapplegrim again and told him what the
King desired, and Dapplegrim thought that it might easily be
done; but first of all he must have new shoes, and ten pounds of
iron and twelve pounds of steel must go to the making of them,
and two smiths were also necessary, one to hammer and one to
hold, and then it would be very easy to make the sun shine into
the King's palace.
The lad asked for these things and obtained them instantly,
for the King thought that for very shame he could not refuse to
give them, and so Dapplegrim got new shoes, and they were good
ones. The youth seated himself on him, and once more they went
their way, and for each hop that Dapplegrim made, down went the
hill fifteen ells into the earth, and so they went on until there was
no hill left for the King to see.
When the youth came down again to the King's palace he
asked the King if the Princess should not at last be his, for now no
one could say that the sun was not shining into the palace. But
the other people in the palace had again stirred up the King, and
he answered that the youth should have her, and that he had never
intended that he should not; but first of all he must get her quite
as good a horse to ride to the wedding on as that which he had
himself. The youth said that the King had never told him he was to
do that, and it seemed to him that he had now really earned the
Princess; but the King stuck to what he had said, and if the youth
were unable to do it he was to lose his life, the King said. The
youth went down to the stable again, and very sad and sorrowful
he was, as anyone may well imagine. Then he told Dapplegrim
that the King had now required that he should get the Princess as
good a bridal horse as that which the bridegroom had, or he should
lose his life. `But that will be no easy thing to do,' said he, `for
your equal is not to be found in all the world,'
`Oh yes, there is one to match me,' said Dapplegrim. `But it
will not be easy to get him, for he is underground. However, we
will try. Now you must go up to the King and ask for new shoes
for me, and for them we must again have ten pounds of iron,
twelve pounds of steel, and two smiths, one to hammer and one
to hold, but be very particular to see that the hooks are very sharp.
And you must also ask for twelve barrels of rye, and twelve
slaughtered oxen must we have with us, and all the twelve ox-hides
with twelve hundred spikes set in each of them; all these things
must we have, likewise a barrel of tar with twelve tons of tar in it.
The youth went to the King and asked for all the things that
Dapplegrim had named, and once more, as the King thought that
it would be disgraceful to refuse them to him, he obtained them all.
So he mounted Dapplegrim and rode away from the Court, and
when he had ridden for a long, long time over hills and moors,
Dapplegrim asked: `Do you hear anything?'
`Yes; there is such a dreadful whistling up above in the air
that I think I am growing alarmed,' said the youth.
`That is all the wild birds in the forest flying about; they are
sent to stop us,' said Dapplegrim. `But just cut a hole in the corn
sacks, and then they will be so busy with the corn that they will
forget us.'
The youth did it. He cut holes in the corn sacks so that barley
and rye ran out on every side, and all the wild birds that were in
the forest came in such numbers that they darkened the sun. But
when they caught sight of the corn they could not refrain from it,
but flew down and began to scratch and pick at the corn and rye,
and at last they began to fight among themselves, and forgot all
about the youth and Dapplegrim, and did them no harm.
And now the youth rode onwards for a long, long time, over
hill and dale, over rocky places and morasses, and then Dapplegrim
began to listen again, and asked the youth if he heard anything now.
`Yes; now I hear such a dreadful crackling and crashing in the
forest on every side that I think I shall be really afraid,' said the
youth.
`That is all the wild beasts in the forest,' said Dapplegrim;
`they are sent out to stop us. But just throw out the twelve
carcasses of the oxen, and they will be so much occupied with them that
they will quite forget us.' So the youth threw out the carcasses of
the oxen, and then all the wild beasts in the forest, both bears and
wolves, and lions, and grim beasts of all kinds, came. But when
they caught sight of the carcasses of the oxen they began to fight
for them till the blood flowed, and they entirely forgot Dapplegrim
and the youth.
So the youth rode onwards again, and many and many were the new scenes
they saw, for travelling on Dapplegrim's back was not travelling slowly,
as may be imagined, and then Dapplegrim neighed.
`Do you hear anything? he said.
`Yes; I heard something like a foal neighing quite plainly
a long, long way off,' answered the youth.
`That's a full-grown colt,' said Dapplegrim, `if you hear it so
plainly when it is so far away from us.'
So they travelled onwards a long time, and saw one new scene
after another once more. Then Dapplegrim neighed again.
`Do you hear anything now?' said he.
`Yes; now I heard it quite distinctly, and it neighed like a full-
grown horse,' answered the youth.
`Yes, and you will hear it again very soon,' said Dapplegrim;
`and then you will hear what a voice it has.' So they travelled on
through many more different kinds of country, and then Dapplegrim
neighed for the third time; but before he could ask the youth
if he heard anything, there was such a neighing on the other side
of the heath that the youth thought that hills and rocks would be
rent in pieces.
`Now he is here!' said Dapplegrim. `Be quick, and fling over
me the ox-hides that have the spikes in them, throw the twelve
tons of tar over the field, and climb up into that great spruce fir
tree. When he comes, fire will spurt out of both his nostrils, and
then the tar will catch fire. Now mark what I say--if the flame
ascends I conquer, and if it sinks I fail; but if you see that I am
winning, fling the bridle, which you must take off me, over his
head, and then he will become quite gentle.'
Just as the youth had flung all the hides with the spikes over
Dapplegrim, and the tar over the field, and had got safely up into
the spruce fir, a horse came with flame spouting from his nostrils,
and the tar caught fire in a moment; and Dapplegrim and the
horse began to fight until the stones leapt up to the sky. They
bit, and they fought with their fore legs and their hind legs, and
sometimes the youth looked at them. and sometimes he looked
at the tar, but at last the flames began to rise, for wheresoever
the strange horse bit or wheresoever he kicked he hit upon
the spikes in the hides, and at length he had to yield. When
the youth saw that, he was not long in getting down from the tree
and flinging the bridle over the horse's head, and then he became
so tame that he might have been led by a thin string.
This horse was dappled too, and so like Dapplegrim that no
one could distinguish the one from the other. The youth seated
himself on the dappled horse which he had captured, and rode
home again to the King's palace, and Dapplegrim ran loose by his
side. When he got there, the King was standing outside in the
courtyard.
`Can you tell me which is the horse I have caught, and which
is the one I had before?' said the youth. `If you can't, I think
your daughter is mine.'
The King went and looked at both the dappled horses; he
looked high and he looked low, he looked before and he looked
behind, but there was not a hair's difference between the two.
`No,' said the King; `that I cannot tell thee, and as thou hast
procured such a splendid bridal horse for my daughter thou shalt
have her; but first we must have one more trial, just to see if thou
art fated to have her. She shall hide herself twice, and then thou
shalt hide thyself twice. If thou canst find her each time that
she hides herself, and if she cannot find thee in thy hiding-places,
then it is fated, and thou shalt have the Princess.'
`That, too, was not in our bargain,' said the youth. `But we will
make this trial since it must be so.'
So the King's daughter was to hide herself first.
Then she changed herself into a duck, and lay swimming in a
lake that was just outside the palace. But the youth went down
into the stable and asked Dapplegrim what she had done with herself.
`Oh, all that you have to do is to take your gun, and go down to
the water and aim at the duck which is swimming about there,
and she will soon discover herself,' said Dapplegrim.
The youth snatched up his gun and ran to the lake. `I will
just have a shot at that duck,' said he, and began to aim at it.
`Oh, no, dear friend, don't shoot! It is I,' said the Princess.
So he had found her once.
The second time the Princess changed herself into a loaf, and
laid herself on the table among four other loaves; and she was so
like the other loaves that no one could see any difference between
them.
But the youth again went down to the stable to Dapplegrim,
and told him that the Princess had hidden herself again, and that
he had not the least idea what had become of her.
`Oh, just take a very large bread-knife, sharpen it, and pretend
that you are going to cut straight through the third of the four
loaves which are lying on the kitchen table in the King's palace
--count them from right to left--and you will soon find her,' said
Dapplegrim.
So the youth went up to the kitchen, and began to sharpen the
largest bread-knife that he could find; then he caught hold of the
third loaf on the left-hand side, and put the knife to it as if he
meant to cut it straight in two. `I will have a bit of this bread
for myself,' said he.
`No, dear friend, don't cut, it is I!' said the Princess again;
so he had found her the second time.
And now it was his turn to go and hide himself; but Dapplegrim
had given him such good instructions that it was not easy to find
him. First he turned himself into a horse-fly, and hid himself in
Dapplegrim's left nostril. The Princess went poking about and
searching everywhere, high and low, and wanted to go into
Dapplegrim's stall too, but he began to bite and kick about so
that she was afraid to go there, and could not find the youth.
`Well,' said she, `as I am unable to find you, you must show
yourself; `whereupon the youth immediately appeared standing there
on the stable floor.
Dapplegrim told him what he was to do the second time, and
he turned himself into a lump of earth, and stuck himself between
the hoof and the shoe on Dapplegrim's left fore foot. Once more
the King's daughter went and sought everywhere, inside and outside,
until at last she came into the stable, and wanted to go into
the stall beside Dapplegrim. So this time he allowed her to go
into it, and she peered about high and low, but she could not look
under his hoofs, for he stood much too firmly on his legs for that,
and she could not find the youth.
`Well, you will just have to show where you are yourself, for I
can't find you,' said the Princess, and in an instant the youth was
standing by her side on the floor of the stable.
`Now you are mine!' said he to the Princess.
`Now you can see that it is fated that she should be mine,' he
said to the King.
`Yes, fated it is,' said the King. `So what must be, must.'
Then everything was made ready for the wedding with great
splendour and promptitude, and the youth rode to church on
Dapplegrim, and the King's daughter on the other horse. So everyone
must see that they could not be long on their way thither.[20]
[20] From J. Moe,