A. King David, after betrothing the incomparable Suol-far, has to go on a cruise. He proposes that the lady stay with his mother while he is away, but Suol-far does not like this arrangement. Then, says the king, I shall bind your finger with gold, so that I can find you wherever you may be. Hardly is King David gone, when King Adell rides up. Suol-far is out of doors, brushing her hair; Adell asks if he may put a gold crown on it. If God grants King David to come home with honor, she will soon have a gold crown to wear, she says. Adell wishes to hear no more of David, and asks Suol-far to plight herself to him; she will not, she has given her troth to King David. Adell gives her sleeping potions five, sleeping potions nine; she swoons, is taken to be dead, and is buried in the church. Late in the evening Adell goes to the tomb; the effect of the potions having passed off, Suol-far rises. Adell asks her to go off with him, and after some tears Suol-far permits him to take her away. It had been supposed that there was no witness, but a little page was listening, and when King David came home the page gave him the bad tidings that King Adell had carried Suol-far out of the country. David goes in quest, disguised as a pilgrim. He finds the pair sitting on a stone, resting their weary legs, and asks an alms. Adell gives something, and Suol-far is at least about so to do, for David asks, Is it not the way in this country to give money with bare hand? whereupon she pulls off her glove and gives. David (seeing of course the token on her finger) draws his sword and kills Adell. He then asks Suol-far how she came to break her troth. Adell gave her nine drinks, which made her fall dead to the earth, but, thank God, she had been kept from sin. David loves her so dearly that he is easily satisfied; he orders his wedding, and their troubles are over.
The flying-sheet of 1719 (in seventy-three couplets) exhibits some differences. King David marries Sølfehr before he goes on his expedition, and gives the land into Adel’s care during his absence. After the queen has fallen aswoon in consequence of the nine drinks, King Adel sends word to King David that she is dead. After the interment, Adel remains in the church and digs up Sølfehr. He addresses her as his dearest; she refuses to be so called. Adel tells her that David is dead, and asks her if she will follow him out of the land. She will follow him very willingly if she may hear of no grief to King David (whatever that may mean), and Adel wraps her in a cloak and lifts her on his gray. There had been watchmen in the church, and they tell David that Adel is off with Sølfehr. David has pilgrim’s clothes made for himself and many of his men. While asking alms, David gives the queen to understand that he is her husband; then turning to Adel says, I entrusted my kingdom to you, and did not look to be deceived. Upon this he orders his troop to spare none of Adel’s men, and himself hews Adel in pieces. The queen falls at his feet and begs forgiveness. The easy king says, I know the fault was not thine, lifts her on his horse, and goes home.
The two Swedish copies in Stephen’s collection are fragments of eight and of fifteen stanzas. In the first (from Sødermanland), King David having dug up the coffin and found it empty, disguises himself as a pilgrim, and when asking an alms of Solfager says,
Travelled have I by water and land,
But never took alms from a gloved hand.
‘Who are you for a vagabond, that never took alms from a gloved hand?’ says Solfager. ‘Never was I a vagabond, but often have I kissed Solfager’s hand,’ he replies. Solfager jumps into his arms, exclaiming, I never can believe you are my former true-love.
In the other (from Småland), after the abduction of Solfager, David takes staff in hand and goes to a strange land. He presents himself where the pair are sitting at table, and asks an alms. Solfager gives him alms once and twice, but the beggar is not satisfied. Needy vagrant, she says, take alms where you can; insatiable vagrant, take alms where you get most. I was no vagrant, he answers, when I put gold rings on Solfager’s arm; I was no vagrant when I slept by Solfager. Her tears come; she can never believe that he is David, her true-love. She takes David in her arms. Praise to God, he cries, that I am still her husband!
271. The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward.
P. 45. Other Russian popular tales in which the characteristic traits of the group spoken of are well preserved: Afanasief, V, 178, No 37, ed. 1861, I, 239, No 67 b, ed. 1873, ‘Tsarevitch i yevo Sluga;’ ‘Korolevitch i yevo Djadka,’ the same, VIII, 170, No 18, ed. 1863, I, 233, No 67 a, ed. 1873; Khudyakof, II, 33, No 44, ‘Udivitelny Muzhitchek;’ the same, III, 143, No 115, ‘Muzhitchenko s Kulatchenko.’ A tsar’s son delivers a prisoner; is condemned to leave the country with a servant (tutor, warden); having been let down into a well to drink, is forced to change positions and clothes with his attendant; serves as herdsman, horseboy, cook, the attendant aspiring to marry a king’s daughter; destroys three dragons (a seven-headed monster in the second, the fourth defective here); marries the princess, the servant or tutor being put to death (baited with dogs in the third, set to work in the stable in the fourth).[124]
Afanasief, IV, 72, ed. 1873, refers to other Russian versions, and gives, p. 73 f., the Russian form of ‘The Goose-Girl.’