A certain miller had little by little fallen into poverty, and had nothing left but his mill and a large apple-tree behind it. Once when he had gone into the forest to fetch wood, an old man stepped up to him whom he had never seen before, and said:

"Why do you plague yourself with cutting wood? I will make you rich, if you will promise me what is standing behind your mill."

"What can that be but my apple-tree?" thought the miller, and said "Yes" and gave a written promise to the stranger.

The stranger, however, laughed mockingly and said, "When three years have passed, I will come and carry away what belongs to me," and then he went.

When the miller got home, his wife came to meet him and said, "Tell me, miller, all this sudden wealth that flowed into our house - where did it come from? All at once every box and chest was filled, no one brought it in, and I don't know how it happened."

He answered, "It comes from a stranger who met me in the forest, and promised me great treasure. I, in return, have promised him what stands behind the mill - we can very well give him the big apple-tree for it."

"Ah, husband," said the terrified wife, "that must have been a troll. He did not mean the apple-tree, but our daughter, Helga, who was standing behind the mill sweeping the yard."

Helga, the miller's daughter, was a beautiful girl and when the three years were up and the troll was due to fetch her, she washed herself clean, and made a circle round herself with chalk.

The troll appeared quite early, but he could not come near to her.

Angrily, he said to the miller, "Take all water away from her, that she may no longer be able to wash herself, for otherwise I have no power over her."

The miller was afraid, and did so.

The next morning the troll came again, but Helga had wept on her hands, and they were quite clean. Again the troll could not get near her, and furiously said to the miller:

"Cut her hands off, or else I have no power over her."

The miller was shocked and answered, "How can I cut off my own child's hands!"

Then the evil troll threatened him and said, "If you do not do it you are mine, and I will take you for myself."

The father became alarmed, and promised to obey him. So he went to Helga and said, "My child, if I do not cut off both your hands, the troll will carry me away, and in my terror I have promised to do it. Help me in my need, and forgive me the harm I do you."

Helga replied, "Dear father, do with me what you will, I am your child."

Thereupon she laid down both her hands, and let them be cut off.

The troll came for the third time, but Helga had wept so long and so much on the stumps, that after all they were quite clean. Then he had to give in, and had lost all right over her.

The miller said to her, "I have by means of you received such great wealth that I will keep you most handsomely as long as you live."

"But," she replied, "here I cannot stay. I will go forth. Hospitable people will give me as much as I require."

Thereupon she caused her maimed arms to be bound to her back, and by sunrise she set out on her way, and walked the whole day until night fell.

Then she came to a royal garden, and by the shimmering of the moon she saw that trees covered with beautiful fruits grew in it. She could not enter, however, for it was surrounded by water. As she had walked the whole day and not eaten one mouthful, and hunger tormented her, she thought:

"Ah, if I could only be inside, that I might eat of the fruit; otherwise I must I die of hunger."

Then she knelt down, calling upon Frigga, the consort of Odin, and prayed. And suddenly Eira, one of Frigga's attendants appeared and came towards her. Eira made a dam in the water, so that the moat became dry and she could walk through it.

Helga went into the garden and Eira went with her. She saw a tree covered with beautiful pears, but they were all counted. Then she went to them, and to still her hunger, ate one with her mouth from the tree, but no more.

The gardener was watching, but as Eira was standing by, he was afraid. He thought Helga was a spirit, and so was silent.

When Helga had eaten the pear, she was satisfied, and went and concealed herself among the bushes.

The king to whom the garden belonged, came down to it next morning, and counted, and saw that one of the pears was missing, and asked the gardener:

"What has become of my missing pear? It's not lying beneath the tree, so where has it gone?"

Then answered the gardener, "Last night, a spirit came in, who had no hands, and ate off one of the pears with its mouth."

The king said, "How did the spirit get over the water, and where did it go after it had eaten the pear?"

The gardener answered, "Someone came in a snow-white garment from Asgard, to answer the spirit's prayers. This fearsome divinity made a dam, and kept back the water, that the spirit might walk through the moat. And as it must have been Eira, the attendant goddess of Frigga, I was afraid, and asked no questions, and did not cry out. When the spirit had eaten the pear, it went back again."

The king said, "If it be as you say, I will watch with you tonight."

When it grew dark the king came into the garden and brought a godhi with him, who was to speak to the spirit. All three seated themselves beneath the tree and watched.

At midnight Helga came creeping out of the thicket. She went to the tree, and again ate one pear off it with her mouth, and beside her stood Eira in white garments.

Then the godhi went out to them and said, "Do you come from heaven or from earth? Are you a spirit, or a human being?"

Helga replied, "I am no spirit, but an unhappy mortal deserted by all but the goddess, Frigga."

The king said, "If you are forsaken by all the world, yet will I not forsake you."

He took her with him into his royal palace, and as she was so beautiful and good, he loved her with all his heart. He called upon a Dwarf, a true son of Ivaldi, to smithy up a pair of silver hands for her, and took her to wife.

After a year the king had to go on a journey, so he commended his young queen to the care of his mother and said:

"If she is brought to child-bed take care of her, nurse her well, and tell me of it at once in a letter."

So the king went on his journey and in the course of a few months, Helga gave birth to a fine boy. So the old mother made haste to write and announce the joyful news to the king.

On the way the royal messenger rested by a brook on the way, and as he was fatigued, he fell asleep.

Then came the troll, who was always seeking to injure Helga, and exchanged the letter for another, in which was written that the queen had brought a monster into the world. When the king read the letter he was shocked and much troubled, but he wrote in answer that they were to take great care of the queen and nurse her well until his arrival.

The messenger went back with the letter, but rested at the same place and again fell asleep. Then came the troll once more, and put a different letter in his pocket, in which it was written that they were to put the queen and her child to death.

The old mother was terribly shocked when she received the letter, and could not believe it. She wrote back again to the king, but received no other answer, because each time the troll substituted a false letter, and in the last letter it was also written that she was to preserve the queen's tongue and eyes as a token that she had obeyed.

The old mother wept to think such innocent blood was to be shed, and had a roe hind brought by night and cut out her tongue and eyes, and kept them.

Then said she to Queen Helga, "I cannot have you killed as the king commands, but here you may stay no longer. Go forth into the wide world with your child, and never come here again."

Poor Helga tied her child on her back, and went away with eyes full of tears. She came into a great wild forest, and then she fell on her knees and prayed to Frigga. Eira appeared to her and led her to a little house on which was a sign with the words:

"Here all dwell free."

A snow-white maiden came out of the little house and said, "Welcome, lady queen," and conducted her inside.

Then the snow-white maiden unbound the little boy from Helga's back, and held him to her breast that he might feed, and laid him in a beautifully-made little bed.

Then said Helga, "How do you know that I was a queen?"

The snow-white maiden answered, "I am Vara, who has been sent by Frigga, to watch over you and your child."

Queen Helga stayed seven years in the little house, and was well cared for. Through the power of Frigga, Helga's hands grew once more.

At last the king came home again from his journey, and his first wish was to see his wife and the child. Then his aged mother began to weep and said, "You wicked man, why did you write to me that I was to take those two innocent lives!"

She showed him the two letters that the evil troll had forged, and then continued, "I did as you bade me," and she showed the tokens, the tongue and eyes.

Then the king began to weep for his poor wife and his little son. He wept so much more bitterly than his own mother, that she had compassion on him and said:

"Be at peace, my son. Queen Helga still lives. I secretly caused a hind to be killed, and took these tokens from it. I bound the son to your wife's back and bade her go forth into the wide world, and made her promise never to come back here again, because you were so angry with her."

Then spoke the king, "I will go as far as the sky is blue, and will neither eat nor drink until I have found again my dear wife and my child. If, that is, in the meantime they have not been killed, or died of hunger."

Thereupon the king travelled about for seven long years, and sought her in every cleft of the rocks and in every cave, but he found her not, and thought she had died of want. During the whole time he neither ate nor drank, but Vor, who had full knowledge of the future, supported him.

At length he came into a great forest, and found therein the little house whose sign was:

"Here all dwell free."

Then forth came the snow-white maiden, Vara. She took him by the hand, led him in, and said:

"Welcome, lord king," and asked him from whence he came.

He answered, "Soon shall I have travelled about for the space of seven years, and I seek my wife and her child, but cannot find them."

Vara offered him meat and drink, but he did not take anything, and only wished to rest a little. Then he lay down to sleep, and laid a handkerchief over his face.

Thereupon Vara went into the chamber where Queen Helga sat with her son, whom she usually called Sorrowful, and said to her:

"Go out with your child - your husband has come."

So Helga went to the place where he lay, and the handkerchief fell from his face. Then said she:

"Sorrowful, pick up your father's handkerchief, and cover his face again."

The child picked it up, and put it over his face again. The king in his sleep heard what passed, and had pleasure in letting the handkerchief fall once more. But the child grew impatient, and said:

"Dear mother, how can I cover my father's face when I have no father in this world? I know that Odin is the Vol-Father - how can I know a wild man like this? He is not my father."

When the king heard that, he got up, and asked who they were.

Then Helga said, "I am your wife, and that is your son, Sorrowful."

And he saw her living hands, and said, "My wife had silver hands."

She answered, "The good goddess, Frigga, has caused my natural hands to grow again," and Vara went into the inner room, and brought the silver hands, and showed them to him.

Now he knew for a certainty that it was his dear wife and his dear child, and he kissed them, and was glad, and said:

"A heavy stone has fallen from off my heart."

Then Vara ate with them once again, and after that they went home to the king's aged mother. There was great rejoicing everywhere, and the king and queen were married again, and lived happily ever after.

     

Based on The Girl Without Hands



ENDNOTES: