At last they set forth on their way again, but the Bull was still weak,
and at first could not go quickly. The King’s daughter wished to spare
him, and said that she was so young and light of foot that she would
willingly walk, but he would not give her leave to do that, and she was
forced to seat herself on his back again. So they travelled for a long
time, and through many lands, and the King’s daughter did not at all
know where he was taking her, but after a long, long time they came to
a gold wood. It was so golden that the gold dripped off it, and the
trees, and the branches, and the flowers, and the leaves were all of
pure gold. Here all happened just as it had happened in the copper wood
and silver wood. The Bull told the King’s daughter that on no account
was she to touch it, for there was a Troll with nine heads who was the
owner, and that he was much larger and stronger than both the others
put together, and that he did not believe that he could overcome him.
So she said that she would take great care not to touch anything, and
he should see that she did. But when they got into the wood it was
still thicker than the silver wood, and the farther they got into it
the worse it grew. The wood became thicker and thicker, and closer and
closer, and at last she thought there was no way whatsoever by which
they could get forward; she was so terrified lest she should break
anything off, that she sat and twisted, and turned herself on this side
and on that, to get out of the way of the branches, and pushed them
away from her with her hands, but every moment they struck against her
eyes, so that she could not see what she was clutching at, and before
she knew what she was doing she had a golden apple in her hands. She
was now in such terror that she began to cry, and wanted to throw it
away, but the Bull said that she was to keep it, and take the greatest
care of it, and comforted her as well as he could, but he believed that
it would be a hard struggle, and he doubted whether it would go well
with him.
Just then the Troll with nine heads came, and he was so frightful that
the King’s daughter scarcely dared to look at him
‘Who is this who is breaking my wood?’ he screamed.
‘It is as much mine as yours!’ said the Bull.
‘We shall have a tussle for that!’ screamed the Troll.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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