Once upon a time, a boy named Halvor lived with his parents. He had little interest in work or learning a trade. His parents sent him to several masters, hoping he would discover a useful occupation, but he always returned home after a few days and settled back into his favourite place beside the fireplace, rummaging through the ashes.
His life changed when a sea captain offered to take him on a voyage to distant lands. Halvor eagerly accepted, and before long, he was sailing across the sea.
After a terrible storm, the ship was driven to an unfamiliar coast. When the weather became calm, the crew found themselves stranded in a place none of them recognised. Halvor asked permission to explore the shore. The captain initially objected, pointing out that the boy’s ragged clothes were hardly suitable for wandering among strangers, but eventually allowed him to go, provided he returned if the wind rose.
Explore more stories from our Andrew Lang’s Colour Fairy Books collection.
Halvor stepped ashore and discovered a beautiful, seemingly deserted country. He wandered across open fields and meadows until he found an extraordinarily smooth road. Following it as evening approached, he eventually spotted a magnificent castle glowing with lights in the distance.
Hungry after his long walk, he entered its splendid kitchen. Gold and silver vessels stood everywhere, yet not a servant could be found. He opened another door and discovered a beautiful princess spinning alone.
She stared at him in alarm.
“How can a Christian man have come here?” she asked. “You must leave immediately. A terrible troll lives in this castle, and he has three heads. He will devour you if he finds you.”
Halvor was not impressed by the warning. He had done nothing wrong, he reasoned, and he was far too hungry to leave without a meal. The princess gave him food, then pointed to an enormous sword hanging on the wall. She challenged him to lift it, but he could scarcely move it.
Beside the sword hung a bottle. The princess explained that the troll drank from it whenever he needed the strength to wield his weapon. Halvor took a draught, and suddenly the heavy sword felt light in his hands.
Before long, the troll came home, breathing heavily. As he entered, he sniffed the air.
“Something smells of Christian blood!” he growled.
“Then you have found the right man!” Halvor answered.
Leaping from behind the door, he struck with the enchanted sword and cut off all three heads. The princess was overjoyed to be free, but her happiness was mixed with sorrow. Two of her sisters were imprisoned in distant castles by other trolls.
Halvor promised to rescue them.
The Six-Headed Troll
The next morning, Halvor set off towards the second castle. He travelled on foot throughout the day, determined not to waste a moment.
The castle was even grander than the first, but its kitchen was just as deserted. Inside, he found the second princess, who was astonished to see a stranger.
“You must leave,” she warned him. “The troll who lives here has six heads. He will swallow you alive.”
Halvor refused. He had come too far to turn back merely because another troll had more heads than the first.
The princess fed him and showed him the troll’s enormous sword. As before, Halvor could not lift it until he drank from the flask hanging beside it. The enchanted drink gave him the strength he needed.
Soon the six-headed troll returned, squeezing sideways through the doorway because of his enormous size.
He sniffed the air and roared, “I smell Christian blood!”
Halvor answered with his sword. One by one, the troll’s six heads fell, and the second princess was free.
Yet she, too, thought of her remaining sister, who was imprisoned in a castle still farther away. Halvor promised to rescue her as well. After helping to clear away the troll’s body, he rested briefly and continued his journey at daybreak.
The Nine-Headed Troll and the Three Princesses
By evening, Halvor reached the third castle. It was more magnificent than either of the others, and this time he entered without fear.
There he found the youngest princess, whose beauty surpassed anything he had ever seen. She warned him that the troll who held her captive had nine heads.
Halvor remained unmoved. Even if the creature had many more heads, he declared, he would not abandon her.
The princess gave him the troll’s sword and instructed him to drink from the flask. At that very moment, the monster came home, panting and struggling to squeeze through the doorway.
Once again, it detected the presence of a human visitor and complained of the smell of Christian blood.
Halvor attacked. He cut off the first head, then the next, and continued until only the final head remained. That last one proved exceptionally difficult to remove, testing his strength more severely than anything he had faced before. Nevertheless, he persisted until the nine-headed troll lay dead.
At last, all three sisters were reunited. They rejoiced in their freedom and were grateful to Halvor, who was permitted to choose whichever princess he wished to marry. Although all three had grown fond of him, the youngest loved him most.
Halvor had defeated every monster and gained a life of comfort and splendour. Yet something troubled him. His parents were still alive, and he longed to see them again.
When the princesses discovered the cause of his sadness, they promised to help. They dressed him in magnificent clothes, making him look like a king’s son, and gave him a magical ring. By wishing, he could travel home and return to them.
But they warned him of two conditions: he must never throw away the ring or speak their names, or he would lose his new life and never see them again.
Halvor promised to obey.
“If only I were home again,” he wished, “or home were here!”
In an instant, he stood outside his parents’ cottage.
The Ring That Took Him Away
Night was falling when Halvor entered the cottage. His parents, seeing a splendid stranger in their humble home, bowed and greeted him respectfully.
He asked whether he might stay the night.
His parents were embarrassed. Their cottage had little to offer a wealthy-looking visitor, so they suggested that he seek hospitality at a nearby farm. Halvor refused, insisting that he would be content to sit beside their fireplace.
As he settled near the hearth, he began raking through the ashes, just as he had done as a boy.
During their conversation, he asked whether they had ever had a child.
They told him about their missing son, Halvor, but could not believe that this finely dressed gentleman was the same boy. Their son had been lazy, ragged, and unwilling to work. How could he have become such a distinguished man?
Then the firelight fell across Halvor’s face, and his mother recognised him.
Her joy was overwhelming. The missing boy had returned, alive and transformed beyond anything she could have imagined.
His mother hurried to the nearby farm to tell the young women who had once looked down on him that Halvor was home. They refused to believe her until he appeared before them in his splendid clothes.
The women were astonished and ashamed of their former pride. Halvor reminded them that the princesses he had rescued were far more beautiful than they could imagine. He wished that the three sisters could appear before them.
The wish was granted immediately.
But as soon as the princesses arrived, Halvor remembered their warning. By speaking of them and wishing them into his presence, he had broken the condition they had set. He had put his happiness at risk.
A feast was prepared at the farm in honour of the princesses. Yet they did not wish to remain there. They told Halvor they wanted to visit his parents and went out with him to a pond near the farmhouse.
They sat on a green bank overlooking the water. After a while, the youngest princess offered to comb Halvor’s hair. He laid his head in her lap, and the gentle movement soon lulled him to sleep.
While he slept, she removed his magical ring and replaced it with another.
Then she called to her sisters, asking them to hold one another as she held them, and wished that they were all back at Soria Moria Castle.
When Halvor awoke, the princesses had vanished.
He wept and lamented, but neither his parents’ comfort nor their entreaties could persuade him to remain at home. He believed that life was no longer worth living unless he could find the princess he loved.
With money in his pocket, he set off once more.
The Old Woman, the Moon, and the West Wind
After travelling for some distance, Halvor met a man willing to sell him a horse. The animal was a good mount, though useless for pulling loads. Halvor bought it, placed his provisions on its back, and continued through fields and forests, walking when he wished and riding when he could.
The forest seemed endless. On the second evening, however, he saw a light shining between the trees. It came from a miserable little cottage occupied by an ancient couple. The old woman had such a long nose that she used it to stir the fire while sitting in the chimney corner.
She was astonished to see a traveller. No human visitor, she said, had come there for more than a hundred years.
Halvor explained that he was searching for Soria Moria Castle and asked whether she knew the way.
She did not, but she believed the Moon might help. When it rose above the trees, she went outside and called to it, asking for directions.
The Moon replied that it could not help because a cloud had obscured its view of the castle the last time it shone there.
The old woman advised Halvor to wait for the West Wind, which travelled everywhere and might know the way.
When she noticed his horse, she offered him a remarkable bargain. She would exchange a pair of enchanted boots for the animal. With those boots, Halvor could travel fifteen quarters of a mile in a single stride.
He readily agreed. The old woman was delighted, explaining that the horse would finally allow her to ride to church.
Halvor wanted to leave immediately, but she persuaded him to rest while she waited for the West Wind.
Before long, a tremendous wind swept through the forest, roaring so violently that the cottage walls creaked. The old woman hurried outside and asked whether it knew the way to Soria Moria Castle.
The West Wind answered that it knew the castle well. It was on its way there to dry the clothes needed for an approaching wedding. If Halvor could keep pace, he might follow.
Halvor ran after it.
The journey was exhausting. The West Wind raced over hills, valleys, moors, and marshes, forcing him to struggle to keep up. Eventually, it had to leave him behind to tear down some spruce fir before continuing to the bleaching ground.
It directed Halvor along the hillside, where he would find girls washing clothes. From there, the castle would not be far away.
Halvor found the girls and asked for directions. They pointed him towards the castle, and soon he stood before Soria Moria itself.
The Ring at the Wedding Feast
The castle grounds were crowded with horses and people. A wedding celebration was underway, and the whole place seemed alive with activity.
But Halvor was now a sorry sight. His clothes had been torn by the rough journey, and he looked like a beggar. Ashamed of his appearance, he stayed away from the crowd until the final day, when the wedding feast was to take place.
During the feast, the cup-bearer went around offering drinks to the bride, the bridegroom, the nobles, and the servants. Eventually, the cup reached Halvor.
He drank to the health of those gathered, then slipped the ring the princess had given him into the cup. He asked the cup-bearer to carry it to the bride and deliver his greetings.
The moment the youngest princess saw the ring, she rose from the table and asked the assembled guests a question.
Who deserved to marry one of the princesses: the man who had rescued them from the trolls, or the man sitting beside her as the bridegroom?
Everyone agreed that the rescuer deserved her more.
When Halvor heard their answer, he threw off his beggar’s rags and revealed himself in his true splendour.
The youngest princess recognised him immediately.
“He is the right man!” she declared.
She rejected the bridegroom who had been chosen for her and married Halvor instead. After all the dangers, mistakes, and miles of searching, the two were reunited at Soria Moria Castle, and Halvor finally won the happiness he had travelled so far to recover.
Explore our complete Historic Folklore & Fairy-Tale Collections archive.
Moral
Courage and persistence can help someone overcome extraordinary obstacles, but success also requires patience and good judgment. Halvor wins his battles through bravery, yet his failure to respect the princesses’ warning nearly costs him the happiness he has earned.
The story also reminds readers not to judge people solely by their appearance or present circumstances. Those who once dismissed Halvor as a ragged, idle boy are astonished when he returns as a man of remarkable achievement.
Knowledge Check
1. Why did Halvor leave home?
He accepted a sea captain’s offer to travel and see foreign lands.
2. How did Halvor defeat the three trolls?
He drank from enchanted flasks that gave him the strength to wield their enormous swords.
3. Why did Halvor leave the princesses’ castle?
Although he was happy there, he longed to see his parents again.
4. What caused Halvor to lose the princesses?
He broke their warning by speaking about them and wishing them into his presence at the farm.
5. How did Halvor finally find Soria Moria Castle?
He followed the West Wind’s directions and reached the castle during the wedding celebrations, where the ring helped the youngest princess recognise him.
Source
Adapted from “Soria Moria Castle,” Tale LVI, in Popular Tales from the Norse, compiled by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, translated by Sir George Webbe Dasent
Explore More Andrew Lang’s Colour Fairy Books Folktales
- Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess
- The Bronze Ring: A Classic Fairy Tale
- Why the Sea Is Salt: The Blue Fairy Book
- The Shepherd and the Clever Chacal
- The Dish That Floated Away
- The Old Man and the River Spirit
- The Enchanted Date Palm of the Oasis
