Dapplegrim

DAPPLEGRIM

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 he could not rest, and

said that he must and would go, so at last they had to give him leave.

When he had 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.