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Reading Notes: Lang 1, Part B

This is the second part of I the Lang European Fairytales I Unit by Andrew Lang.

I Know What I Have Learned
In this tale, a father has three daughters, each married to a troll. He visits them and at the first's, the troll hits his head in order to get meat for broth and is unharmed, at the second's, the troll lights his fingers for candles and is unharmed, at the third's, the troll jumps in the water and scops out fish with a ladle. Each troll gives the father a sack of money but he leaves it outside in order to inquire about his cow who is about to give birth and it gets stolen. Finally, the father tries to imitate what the troll does and dies.

Lovely Ilonka
A prince goes on a quest and gets a bulrush which turns into a beautiful woman. However, when he goes to fetch her, a swineherd throws her in the well and pretends his daughter is Ilonka. The prince knows something is wrong but accepts the swineherd's daughter. Later, a coachman draws water and finds a duck, which turns into a dirty woman. She becomes a maid at the castle and is known for her distaff, spindle, and flax which were magical. The swineherd's daughter wanted them so Ilonka traded them each for a night with the king. The first two nights, the swineherd's daughter gives him a sleeping potion with his food but on the third night, the servants warn him so he doesn't eat anything and instead stays awake when Ilonka comes and explains everything. He kills the swineherd and the daughter.

The Death of the Sun-Hero
A prince, who is called the Sun-Hero, goes on a quest to become the Sun-Hero by his deeds and not just by name. He guards a tree for nine days and nights from two wolves but falls asleep on the last day. Because of this, the sun charges everyone with killing him. A fairy makes it so that nothing can kill him but neglects one crab which kills him.

The Giants and the Herd-Boy
A shepherd helps a giant so he is rewarded by going to a giant's party. He wears a belt of invisibility so the other giants don't see him and takes a loaf of bread back with him. When he later bites the bread, it doesn't diminish and instead becomes gold. Using his belt, he takes a sack of gold to the lord's daughter each night but forgets the belt one night and is caught. The lord accuses him of trying to steal the gold and kicks him out but the shepherd goes into town and buys a new wardrobe, a coach, and horses. He returns to the lord and marries his daughter.

I wonder what the lord thought when he found out his former shepherd was secretly very rich.
Photo Credit: geograph

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