The Lad Who Ate a Match with the Troll

Once upon a time there was a farmer who had three sons. He was old and frail, and poor. The sons did not want to do anything at all. The farm had a large, fine forest, and the father wanted the boys to chop wood there so they could pay off the debt. Finally he got them going, and the eldest was to go out and chop first.

When he came out into the forest and began chopping at an old, mossy fir tree, a huge, enormous troll came to him. "If you chop in my forest, I will kill you!" said the troll. When the boy heard that, he threw down the axe and ran home as fast as he could. He arrived home completely out of breath and told what had happened. But his father said he was a coward; trolls had never stopped him from chopping when he was young.

The next day, the second son set off, and it went exactly the same way. After he had chopped a few times at the pine, the troll came to him and said: "If you chop in my forest, I will kill you!" The boy hardly dared to look at him, dropped his axe, and ran off just as fast as his brother. When he came home, his father became angry and said that trolls had never scared him when he was young.

On the third day, the Ash Lad wanted to set off. “Yes, you,” said the two older ones, “you'll surely manage, you who have never been out the door!” The Ash Lad didn't answer that, but just asked for good provisions to take along. His mother had no butter, so she put on the pot to roast some cheese for him. He got that in his leather bag and set off.

When he had been chopping for a little while, the troll also came to him and said: "If you chop in my forest, I will kill you!" But the boy was not slow. He ran into the forest for the cheese, squeezed it so that the whey spurted out. "Be quiet," he shouted at the troll, "or I will squeeze you like I squeeze the water out of this white stone!"

"No, dear, spare me," said the troll, "I will help you chop." Yes, on that condition the boy spared him, and the troll was good at chopping, so they felled and cut many dozens of wood that day.

As evening approached, the troll said: "Now you can come home with me, it's closer to my place than to yours." Yes, the boy went along, and when they got to the troll's home, he was to light the fire in the hearth while the boy was to fetch water for the porridge pot.

But there stood two iron buckets that were so big and heavy that he couldn't even lift them. Then the boy said: "There's no point in taking along these thimbles; I'd rather go get the whole well!" "No, my dear," said the troll, "I can't lose my well; you light the fire, and I'll fetch the water." When he came back with the water, they boiled up a huge pot of porridge.

"It doesn't matter," said the boy, "if you're willing, let's have an eating contest." "Oh yes," replied the troll, for it always thought it would win. They sat down at the table. But the boy quietly took the skin bag and tied it in front of him, and then he poured more into the bag than he ate himself.

When the bag was full, he took his knife and slit a gash in the bag. The troll looked at him but said nothing. When they had eaten for a good while longer, the troll put down his spoon. "No, I can't eat any more," he said. "You shall eat!" replied the boy.

"I'm barely half full yet. Do as I did, cut a hole in your stomach, and you can eat as much as you want." "But won't that hurt terribly?" asked the troll. "Oh, nothing to speak of," replied the boy.

So the troll did as the boy said, and as you can imagine, he lost his life. But the boy took all the silver and gold in the mountain and went home with it. With that, he could always pay off some of his debt.