Danish Folk Tales

5

KING LINDORM

A Lindorm is a slithering, green snake filled with venom and to conquer it you need an old woman's wisdom.

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who loved each other dearly. But there were never any children from the love, deep and warm as it was. It was of deep concern, mostly for the queen as the king could always start a war and therefore have his mind occupied elsewhere.

One day the queen went for a walk and she found a lovely peaceful clearing in the middle of the forest. She sat down on a tree trunk and started crying softly. Suddenly the queen heard a voice. 'I know what troubles you and I can help you,' said an old woman standing in front of her.

The queen looked at the old woman and her ragged dress. 'There is nothing you can do,' said the queen, 'it is a matter between me and the king.'

'You are sad because you haven't given an heir to the king,' said the old woman. 'Believe it or not, but I can help you with that.'

'I'm sorry, but I don't believe you,' said the queen. 'Nobody can help me!'

The old woman said: 'Listen to me well what you have to do to get a child. You shall take your mug, the one with big ears so you can lift it from the grass in the morning. Then place the mug tonight upside down in the north-western corner of your garden. Tomorrow morning when you lift the mug, you will find two roses. One is red and one is white. Now you have to make a choice. You shall eat one of them, only one of them. If you eat the red rose, the child that you are going to have will be a boy. If you eat the white rose, the child will be a girl. I wish you good luck with everything.'

The old woman turned around and left the queen sitting on the trunk, in deep thought. She did not know what to think. She wasn't sure if she believed in the magic power of the old woman, but on the other hand she had nothing to lose.

In the evening the queen found her mug and went into the garden and placed it in the north-western corner. And then she went up to get some sleep.

The first thing she did the next morning was to go down to the mug. She lifted it and found that the old woman had spoken the truth, at least about the roses. There were two roses under the mug, a red rose and a white rose. She sat down and tried to imagine the life of a boy.

He would eventually leave her and die in a war. And if the child was going to be a girl, she would just leave her to get married somewhere far away from her. And suddenly she couldn't clearly remember how it was. If she ate the red rose would the child become a boy or was it the opposite? The queen got herself whirled into a series of thoughts and in the end she couldn't hold them out to one and another. She ate the red rose and it tasted so good that she ate the white rose as well. She thought that no harm was done and that she could have twins.

Soon after everybody could see that the queen was pregnant and the king was the happiest man in the world. The queen never told the king about the old woman and the roses. She wasn't sure that her husband would approve of having an old woman, a witch, helping her make the baby when they couldn't themselves.

Finally the days of waiting were over. The queen lay in her bed in labour. The kingdom's best midwife was there to assist the queen in the delivery. She told the queen that there was probably more than one child. So the queen thought that it would be twins and it would be both a girl and a boy, one for the red rose and one for the white rose. The midwife shrieked when the first born left the womb of the queen. It was a little green snake that slithered down on the floor and disappeared into one tiny crack in the floor. The queen didn't see clearly what it was, so the midwife whispered into her ear that she had just given birth to a green snake. The queen immediately forbade the midwife to tell the king. Then the queen felt the pressure of the second child. And when she had given birth to that child, the midwife triumphantly lifted a little baby boy up into the arms of the queen. When the king came into the room the happiness of the little family was complete. He looked at the little boy and loved him as only a father can love his son.

The boy grew up to become a clever and handsome prince, so when it was time his father told him to ride out in the kingdom to search for a suitable princess to marry. He would have to go to a neighbouring kingdom to find a daughter to wed. The prince saddled his favourite horse, bid his parents farewell and rode off.

As he came riding on the road headed south, he came to a crossroad. On the crossroad there was a strange green creature lying in the middle of the road. As the prince came closer he saw it was the biggest green snake he had ever seen, a lindorm. There was no way the prince could pass the snake lying there blocking the road. The lindorm was as thick as a man's thighs and it slithered and wriggled when the prince came closer. It lifted its head and cried out, 'You shall not have a bride before I get one!'

So the prince returned to the castle and told his parents about the snake on the road. The king didn't understand what was going on, he had never heard of a snake in his kingdom and why should they bother about the snake being married.

'Because he is the firstborn,' said the queen with a big sigh. She told the king and the prince about the old woman with flowers in her hair, the two roses and how she did not know how to choose, and how she had given birth to two children that day, first a little green snake and then the prince. The king and the prince were deeply shocked, but the king understood that the lindorm was right when it said that they had to find a princess for it before the prince could get married.

They found a lovely princess somewhere in the neighbouring kingdom and asked her if she wanted to marry the firstborn of the king and the queen. Her father was very surprised when he was told that there were two brothers. He knew the other prince well and had always been told that he was the only son. He told the king that he would love to have his daughter married to the oldest prince. The king and queen never told the princess who she would be marrying, so the lovely young woman was standing in front of the altar in the church filled with people with some anxiety. The door opened and when she turned around she saw the lindorm slithering towards her. The large green snake crept up next to her and the priest fulfilled the ceremony. The princess's voice trembled when she said her yes, while the lindorm's 'Yes!' was firm and deep. In the evening the couple were left alone in the bedchamber. Next morning when the king and the queen opened the door to the chamber, they were in for a shock. The princess had been torn to pieces by the lindorm. There was blood everywhere but her shift was hanging nicely on a chair. And there was no sign of the lindorm.

A year passed. The prince once more wanted to go out to find a princess. And again the lindorm was lying on the road blocking it for the prince. 'You shall not have a bride before I get one.'

They had to search in one of the kingdoms further away so they had not heard about the first princess. She also wasn't told anything and when she saw her future husband she nearly fainted. In the morning the king and queen opened the door to the wedding chamber. They expected the worst and it had happened again. The princess was torn to pieces and the lindorm was nowhere to be found.

Another year passed. The prince once more wanted to go out to find a princess. And again the lindorm was lying on the road blocking the prince. 'You shall not have a bride before I get one.'

It seemed like there was nothing they could do. The king went hunting and passed the old forester's house. It looked so cosy and nice with a little garden outside the house. The windows were painted in a lovely blue colour. The king knocked on the door and was asked to come in.

'You are doing very well,' said the king, 'and you live here on your own, I understand.'

'Yes, my wife died many years ago,' said the gamekeeper.

'One would never know,' said the king and looked around in the tidy and cosy living room. It was small, but it was a good home.

'My daughter takes care of the house,' said the gamekeeper. 'She works hard every day.'

A lovely young woman came into the living room with two cups of tea for the king and her father. The king stood up and said: 'Would you like to have your daughter marry my son?'

'I have heard about the lindorm,' said the gamekeeper, 'so even though I would love to obey the king in every aspect of my life, I must say no to this one. I love my daughter and I want her to marry someone she can love.'

'I am your king,' said the king, 'and I demand you to give your daughter to be my oldest son's wife.'

The king stood up and left the little cottage.

The gamekeeper sat on the sofa overwhelmed with grief. His daughter came in and asked him why he was so sad. 'You are going to marry his son, the lindorm,' said the gamekeeper.

'What?' she said. 'He is going to tear me apart just like the other two.'

'Yes,' he said, 'but I don't think there is much we can do about it. I am just a poor...