ASMUND AND SIGNY

Edition and rights: Original English text from Project Gutenberg ebook #31201, marked public domain in the USA. The literary text below is reproduced without AI rewriting.

Browse more fantasy stories.

Long, long ago, in the days when fairies, witches, giants,
and ogres still visited the earth, there lived a king who
reigned over a great and beautiful country. He was
married to a wife whom he dearly loved, and had two
most promising children—a son called Asmund, and a
daughter who was named Signy.

The king and queen were very anxious to bring their
children up well, and the young prince and princess were
taught everything likely to make them clever and accomplished.
They lived at home in their father’s palace, and
he spared no pains to make their lives happy.

Prince Asmund dearly loved all outdoor sports and
an open-air life, and from his earliest childhood he had
longed to live entirely in the forest close by. After many
arguments and entreaties he succeeded in persuading the
king to give him two great oak trees for his very own.

‘Now,’ said he to his sister, ‘I will have the trees
hollowed out, and then I will make rooms in them and
furnish them so that I shall be able to live out in the
forest.’

‘Oh, Asmund!’ exclaimed Signy, ‘what a delightful
idea! Do let me come too, and live in one of your trees.
I will bring all my pretty things and ornaments, and the
trees are so near home we shall be quite safe in them.’

Asmund, who was extremely fond of his sister, readily
consented, and they had a very happy time together,
carrying over all their pet treasures, and Signy’s jewels
[Pg 276]
and other ornaments, and arranging them in the pretty
little rooms inside the trees.

Unfortunately sadder days were to come. A war with
another country broke out, and the king had to lead
his army against their enemy. During his absence the
queen fell ill, and after lingering for some time she died,
to the great grief of her children. They made up their
minds to live altogether for a time in their trees, and for
this purpose they had provisions enough stored up inside
to last them a year.

Now, I must tell you, in another country a long way
off, there reigned a king who had an only son named
Ring. Prince Ring had heard so much about the beauty
and goodness of Princess Signy that he determined to
marry her if possible. So he begged his father to let
him have a ship for the voyage, set sail with a favourable
wind, and after a time landed in the country where Signy
lived.

The prince lost no time in setting out for the royal
palace, and on his way there he met such a wonderfully
lovely woman that he felt he had never seen such beauty
before in all his life. He stopped her and at once asked
who she was.

‘I am Signy, the king’s daughter,’ was the reply.

Then the prince inquired why she was wandering
about all by herself, and she told him that since her
mother’s death she was so sad that whilst her father was
away she preferred being alone.

Ring was quite deceived by her, and never guessed
that she was not Princess Signy at all, but a strong,
gigantic, wicked witch bent on deceiving him under a
beautiful shape. He confided to her that he had travelled
all the way from his own country for her sake, having
fallen in love with the accounts he had heard of her
beauty, and he then and there asked her to be his
wife.

The witch listened to all he said and, much pleased,
[Pg 277]
ended by accepting his offer; but she begged him to
return to his ship for a little while as she wished to go
some way further into the forest, promising to join him
later on.

Prince Ring did as she wished and went back to his
ship to wait, whilst she walked on into the forest till she
reached the two oak trees.

Here she resumed her own gigantic shape, tore up the
trees by their roots, threw one of them over her back and
clasped the other to her breast, carried them down to the
shore and waded out with them to the ship.

She took care not to be noticed as she reached the
ship, and directly she got on board she once more changed
to her former lovely appearance and told the prince that
her luggage was now all on board, and that they need
wait for nothing more.

The prince gave orders to set sail at once, and after a
fine voyage landed in his own country, where his parents
and his only sister received him with the greatest joy and
affection.

The false Signy was also very kindly welcomed. A
beautiful house was got ready for her, and Prince Ring
had the two oaks planted in the garden just in front of
her windows so that she might have the pleasure of seeing
them constantly. He often went to visit the witch, whom
he believed to be Princess Signy, and one day he asked:
‘Don’t you think we might be married before long?’

‘Yes,’ said she, quite pleased, ‘I am quite ready to
marry you whenever you like.’

‘Then,’ replied Ring, ‘let us decide on this day fortnight.
And see, I have brought you some stuff to make
your wedding-dress of.’ So saying he gave her a large
piece of the most beautiful brocade, all woven over with
gold threads, and embroidered with pearls and other
jewels.

The prince had hardly left her before the witch
resumed her proper shape and tore about the room, raging
[Pg 278]
and storming and flinging the beautiful silk on the
floor.

‘What was she to do with such things?’ she roared.
‘She did not know how to sew or make clothes, and she
was sure to die of starvation into the bargain if her
brother Ironhead did not come soon and bring her some
raw meat and bones, for she really could eat nothing
else.’

As she was raving and roaring in this frantic manner
part of the floor suddenly opened and a huge giant rose
up carrying a great chest in his arms. The witch was
enchanted at this sight, and eagerly helped her brother to
set down and open the chest, which was full of the ghastly
food she had been longing for. The horrid pair set to
and greedily devoured it all, and when the chest was
quite empty the giant put it on his shoulder and disappeared
as he had come, without leaving any trace of
his visit.

But his sister did not keep quiet for long, and tore and
pulled at the rich brocade as if she wanted to destroy it,
stamping about and shouting angrily.

Now, all this time Prince Asmund and his sister sat
in their trees just outside the window and saw all that
was going on.

‘Dear Signy,’ said Asmund, ‘do try to get hold of
that piece of brocade and make the clothes yourself, for
really we shall have no rest day or night with such a
noise.’

‘I will try,’ said Signy; ‘it won’t be an easy matter,
but it’s worth while taking some trouble to have a little
peace.’

So she watched for an opportunity and managed to
carry off the brocade the first time the witch left her
room. Then she set to work, cutting out and sewing
as best she could, and by the end of six days she had
turned it into an elegant robe with a long train and
a mantle. When it was finished she climbed to the top

[Pg 281]
of her tree and contrived to throw the clothes on to a
table through the open window.

How delighted the witch was when she found the
clothes all finished! The next time Prince Ring came to
see her she gave them to him, and he paid her many
compliments on her skilful work, after which he took
leave of her in the most friendly manner. But he had
scarcely left the house when the witch began to rage as
furiously as ever, and never stopped till her brother Ironhead
appeared.

When Asmund saw all these wild doings from his
tree he felt he could no longer keep silence. He went to
Prince Ring and said: ‘Do come with me and see the
strange things that are happening in the new princess’s
room.’

The prince was not a little surprised, but he consented
to hide himself with Asmund behind the panelling of the
room, from where they could see all that went on through
a little slit. The witch was raving and roaring as usual,
and said to her brother:

‘Once I am married to the king’s son I shall be better
off than now. I shall take care to have all that pack of
courtiers put to death, and then I shall send for all my
relations to come and live here instead. I fancy the
giants will enjoy themselves very much with me and my
husband.’

When Prince Ring heard this he fell into such a rage
that he ordered the house to be set on fire, and it was
burnt to the ground, with the witch and her brother
in it.

Asmund then told the prince about the two oak trees
and took him to see them. The prince was quite astonished
at them and at all their contents, but still more
so at the extreme beauty of Signy. He fell in love with
her at once, and entreated her to marry him, which, after
a time, she consented to do. Asmund, on his side, asked
for the hand of Prince Ring’s sister, which was gladly
[Pg 282]
granted him, and the double wedding was celebrated with
great rejoicings.

After this Prince Asmund and his bride returned to
his country to live with the king his father. The two
couples often met, and lived happily for many, many
years. And that is the end of the story.

[From Isländische Mährchen.]

[Pg 283]