I Know What I Have Learned
(a Danish tale)
[LIBRIVOX AUDIO]
[LIBRIVOX AUDIO]
After he had walked some distance he grew both tired and hungry, so he sat down on the east side of a mound and began to eat his dry bread. The mound then opened, and his youngest daughter came out of it and said, 'Why, father! Why are you not coming in to see me?'
'Oh,' said he, 'if I had known that you lived here and had seen any entrance, I would have come in.' Then he entered the mound along with her.
The troll came home soon after this, and his wife told him that her father was come and asked him to go and buy some beef to make broth with.
'We can get it easier than that!' said the troll.
He fixed an iron spike into one of the beams of the roof and ran his head against this till he had knocked several large pieces off his head. He was just as well as ever after doing this, and they got their broth without further trouble.
The troll then gave the old man a sackful of money, and, laden with this, he betook himself homewards. When he came near his home, he remembered that he had a cow about to calve, so he laid down the money on the ground, ran home as fast as he could, and asked his wife whether the cow had calved yet.
'What kind of a hurry is this to come home in?' said she. 'No, the cow has not calved yet.'
'Then you must come out and help me in with a sackful of money,' said the man.
'A sackful of money?' cried his wife.
'Yes, a sackful of money,' said he. 'Is that so very wonderful?'
His wife did not believe very much what he told her, but she humoured him and went out with him.
When they came to the spot where he had left it there was no money there; a thief had come along and stolen it. His wife then grew angry and scolded him heartily.
'Well, well!' said he, 'hang the money! I know what I have learned.'
'What have you learned?' said she.
'Ah! I know that,' said the man.
After some time had passed the man had a mind to visit his second eldest daughter. His wife again gave him some dry bread to eat, and when he grew tired and hungry, he sat down on the east side of a mound and began to eat it. As he sat there, his daughter came up out of the mound and invited him to come inside, which he did very willingly.
Soon after this, the troll came home. It was dark by that time, and his wife bade him go and buy some candles.
'Oh, we shall soon get a light,' said the troll. With that he dipped his fingers into the fire, and they then gave light without being burned in the least.
'Whatever is the matter with you?' said she. 'You come hurrying as if the whole house was about to fall. You may set your mind at rest: the cow has not calved yet.'
The man now asked her to come and help him home with the two sacks of money. She did not believe him very much, but he continued to assure her that it was quite true till at last she gave in and went with him. When they came to the spot, there had again been a thief there and taken the money. It was no wonder that the woman was angry about this, but the man only said, 'Ah, if you only knew what I have learned.'
A third time the man set out — to visit his eldest daughter. When he came to a mound, he sat down on the east side of it and ate the dry bread which his wife had given him to take with him. The daughter then came out of the mound and invited her father to come inside.
(700 words)
