The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder
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The Horse Gullfaxi and the Sword Gunnfoder is an Icelandic fairy tale from Islandische Märchen. Andrew Lang included it in The Crimson Fairy Book.
Ruth Manning-Sanders included it, as "Sigurd the King's Son", in A Book of Ogres and Trolls.
[edit] Synopsis
A king and queen had a son, Sigurd. One day, when Sigurd was ten, the queen died.
In Lang's variant, the king lamented her long, and one day met at her grave a woman, Ingiborg. Ingiborg told him she had lost her husband and in time, the king married her.
In Manning-Sanders's, the king met a woman in the wood who warned him that she was a troll's daughter; nevertheless, he had fallen in love at sight and insisted on marrying her.
One day, the king went hunting, and Ingiborg told Sigurd to go with him. Sigurd refused. A giantess came, and Ingiborg hid Sigurd from her and denied he was there. Twice more, Sigurd refused, and Ingiborg hid him, but the third time, the giantess cursed him to be him be half scorched and half withered and have no rest until he found her. Ingiborg took Sigurd from his hiding place, told him this showed what his stubbornness meant, but gave him a string and three rings. If he threw down the string, it would lead him to a giantess, and though she threatened to eat him, he should give her a ring. This would make her offer to wrestle with him; she would offer him wine, and that would let him become so strong he could win. But if her dog came to him, her life was in danger, and he should return, not forgetting his stepmother.
He followed her directions, finding all three giantesses in turn. The last one directed him to go to a lake, where he would meet a little girl playing with a boat. He should give her a ring that the giantess gave him. He did, her name was Helga, and they played together. Sigurd persuaded her to take him home, but Helga turned him into wool to protect him from her father, a giant. She did this again the second night, but the third day, her father left, and Helga showed him over the house. Sigurd asked about one key. Helga said he must open the door no more than a chink. He opened it, and found a horse, a sword, and a sign saying that whoever rode the horse and wielded the sword would find happiness.
Helga told him about the sword, Gunnoder, and the horse, Gullfaxi, and added that the twig and the stone with them would make a hailstorm to block pursuit. He persuaded Helga to let him try them, and rode off. The giant chased him, but Sigurd killed him with the hailstorm. Ingiborg's dog came running for him, and he hurried home, where he found them about to burn Ingiborg at the stake. He rescued her. His father, who had been sick in bed from the thought that Ingiborg had killed his son, got up and was well again. Sigurd brought Helga home, and they had a great marriage feast.
