The job would be neither long nor hard, said Esben, he thought he could warrant that, and he began to tell about the old woman with her nose in the tree-trunk, and in between he said, “I must make up plenty of stories, to fill the cauldron,”—and then he told of the whistle, and the chamber-maid who came to him and wanted to buy the whistle for a hundred dollars, and about all the kisses that she had had to give him to boot, up on the hillock by the forest; and then he told about the princess, how she had come and kissed him so sweetly for the whistle’s sake, because no one could see or hear it in the forest—“I must make up plenty of stories, in order to fill the cauldron,” said Esben. Then he told of the queen, and of how stingy she had been with her money, and how liberal with her busses—“for I must make up plenty of stories in order to fill the cauldron,” said Esben.
“But I think it must be full now!” said the queen.
“O, not a sign of it!” said the king.
Then Esben began to tell how the king had come to him, and about the white mare who was grazing on the moor, “and since he insisted on having the whistle he had to—he had to—well, with all due respect, I have to make up plenty of stories in order to fill the cauldron,” said Esben.
“Stop, stop! It is full, fellow!” cried the king. “Can’t you see that it is running over?”
The king and the queen were of the opinion that it would be best for Esben to receive the princess and half the kingdom; there did not seem anything else to do.
“Yes, it was a magnificent whistle!” said Esben.
NOTE
“The King’s Hares” (Asbjörnsen, N.F.E., p. 190, No. 98. After different variants from Röken, Aadal, Bier and Asker, Riugerike and Hardanger) is the story of the cauldron full of lies, which has probably found special favor in Norway because of its outcome, not very flattering for the king and queen. It is noticeable that in Northern fairy-tales those kings who will not give up their daughters to the heroes at any cost are handled with considerable disrespect.