Chapter VIII: Part 8

As soon as they were well out of sight, the little old woman joined the princess and had her send the servants away on various errands, and the queen was induced to go and stay for a time in the house built for the princess. When every one was gone, the little old dame helped the princess carry out and secrete all the treasure and other valuables, and afterward she told the princess to take down a can of oil from the kitchen mantel-shelf. In doing this the girl’s foot slipped, and the oil spilled on the hearth and into the fire, and at once flashed into flames. The princess and her godmother had to run for their lives, and the fire spread rapidly through the palace.

They paused at a safe distance and looked back, and the old woman said: “Thus one part of the magician’s prophecy has been fulfilled without harm to any one. I could not prevent what has happened, but it might have been worse. Surtur has other evil designs. We will see what we can do to thwart them. Here is a little silver ball. Throw it on the ground and follow it as it rolls along. It will guide you to a hut in the forest, the owner of which will be away. Go in and await his return, and whatever you do, remember that you must see him before he sees you. Remain at the hut till I summon you. When you hear me calling you, do not lose an instant, but hasten to where your father’s palace stood. Your mother will need you.”

The princess took the ball, threw it down, and followed it as it rolled along into the forest. At last it stopped before what seemed to be a woodman’s hut, and she picked up the ball and put it in her pocket. Then she went into the hut and hid behind the half-closed door. She peeped out through a crack and presently saw a huge giant coming carrying on his shoulders a bear he had killed in his hunting. He pushed open the door, and as he threw down the burden he beheld the princess.

The giant looked very fierce, but his voice was soft and kind, and he told her he wanted her to live in the hut with him and cook the food and sweep the floor and make the beds. All this the princess promised to do. He then showed her a little inner chamber, and said, “Here you can sleep, and no matter what noises you hear in my part of the hut during the night, don’t come out of your room.”

Three days passed. Early each morning the giant went forth from the hut and did not return until sunset. The princess cooked the food, made the beds, and kept the hut tidy and clean. At night she heard frightful noises in the outer room, the walls of the hut shook, and the earth trembled, and she lay in her bed hardly daring to stir, with the clothes pulled over her ears to deaden the terrible sounds. Whenever she fell asleep she dreamed that a handsome young prince, instead of the giant, was her fellow-dweller in the hut.

On the third evening she retired early, and was scarcely in bed when she heard, faint and far away, the voice of the little old woman calling her. Then she knew her mother needed her, and immediately she jumped out of bed, dressed, and cautiously opened her door. No one was in the next room, and she ran as quickly as she could to where her father’s palace had stood. There, before the ruins, she saw her mother tied to a wooden stake that had been driven into the ground, and the servants were piling up fagots of wood around her. She had been condemned to death for having set the palace on fire during the king’s absence, and for stealing his treasure. In vain she had pleaded her innocence.

The princess pushed her way through the crowd and threw herself on her knees before her father. “Oh, stop, stop!” she cried eagerly. “Dear father, my mother is not to blame. It was I who burned your palace. I was forced to do so in order to save your life, which was threatened by the wicked magician, Surtur. Neither did my mother steal your treasure. That and much else was taken out of the palace to a place of safety.”

On hearing this, the king ordered the queen to be released, and she embraced her daughter with many words of affection.

As soon as possible the princess hurried back to the hut of the giant in the forest. When she approached it she heard the sounds of a terrific combat. She looked in and saw the giant engaged in a struggle for mastery with the magician. From her pocket she hastily took the silver ball the little old woman had given to her and hurled it at the wicked Surtur. Her aim was true, and the moment the ball hit him he changed to a hawk, and with a rapid flutter of wings darted out of the door and disappeared.

The giant picked up the ball, and to the surprise of the princess he was transformed into the handsome young prince she had seen in her dreams. They went back together to the king and queen, and before long there was a great marriage-feast, and the princess became the wife of the prince she had delivered from his enchantment. After the death of the king the prince became the ruler of the kingdom, and he and his queen lived happily all the days of their life.

The End
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● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ This illustration is missing.
○ Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
○ Typographical errors were silently corrected.
○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only
when a predominant form was found in this book.
○ Text that:
was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_);
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had extra character spacing by “plus” signs (+stretched+).