The Three Princesses of Whiteland

Lore & Background

The tale begins with a fisherman who, after catching nothing, makes a bargain with a head that appears from the water: fish for what his wife carries under her girdle. He returns home to learn his wife is pregnant, and the child is what he offered. The king raises the boy, but when grown, the youth insists on going fishing with his father. As soon as he steps into the boat, it is dragged to a far land called Whiteland. There, an old man directs him to three princesses buried up to their necks in sand, advising him to speak only to the youngest. She explains that three trolls have imprisoned them; if he lets each troll beat him for a night, the princesses will be freed. A flask of ointment and a sword in the castle will aid him. The first troll has three heads and three rods; after the beating, the princesses stand up to their waists. The second has six heads and six rods; the princesses rise to their knees. The third has nine heads and nine rods; he beats the youth so severely that he cannot reach the ointment, but the flask breaks against the wall, spilling ointment on him, and he kills the troll, freeing the princesses entirely.

Reader's Guide

The tale is classified as ATU 400, 'The Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife', a widespread international type. In this type, the hero rescues a supernatural maiden or princess, marries her, but breaks a prohibition, causing her to vanish. He then undertakes a long quest, often aided by rulers of animals or elements. In this version, the hero's mother's insistence on showing him to the king leads him to use his second wish to summon his wife, which exhausts the ring's power and causes her to leave. His subsequent journey involves seeking help from the kings of animals, birds, and fish, and finally tricking three brothers into giving him a magical hat, cloak, and boots that grant invisibility and teleportation. The North Wind helps him storm the castle where his wife is about to remarry. The tale's legacy includes being used by Ørnulf Hodne as the name for tale type ATU 400 in The Types of the Norwegian Folktale.

Did You Know?

• The tale was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske folkeeventyr (1879).
• Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book (1890).
• The hero does not use a magical hat, cloak, or boots in this tale; those items appear in other Norwegian stories.