I gave the princess the golden wreath on the condition that she would come away with me. And so, after three days, on a Thursday, I walked out of the forest to go and get her.

The king had his whole army standing guard round the castle, but no soldier could stand before me. No weapon could bite my hide. I seized the attackers in my jaws and hurled them right and left until they lay in heaps on either side.

The king was forced to send out his daughter. He had three, as it turned out. First, he sent out his eldest.

She climbed up on my back, and when we had gone far, and farther than far, I asked her:

“‘Have you ever sat softer, and have you ever seen clearer?”

“‘Yes! On my mother’s lap I sat softer, and in my father’s hall I saw clearer,” she said.

“Oh.” She wasn’t the right one. I shook her off and then I hunted her home.

The next Thursday I came again, and it all went just the same. The army came out in droves to withstand me, but I felt not a scratch from their weapons through my tough hide. I cut the soldiers down like grass until the king begged me to hold. Then he sent out his second daughter. I took her on my back and carried her off. When we had travelled far and farther than far, I asked:

“‘Have you ever seen clearer, and have you ever sat softer?”

“‘Yes!” she said. “In my father’s hall I saw clearer, and on my mother’s lap I sat softer.”

I shook her off, and hunted her home.

The next Thursday I came again, and this time, I stormed the king’s useless defenses, and so he was forced to give me his third daughter. He released her in God’s name and I took her up on my back. We traveled far, and farther than far, and when we had gone deep, deep, into the wood, I asked her whether she had ever sat softer or seen clearer.

“‘No! never!”

“‘Ah!” I said, “Then you are the right one.”

White Bear Who Comes for His Princess in King Valemon, The White Bear, Tales from the Fjeld, G.W. Dasent. Illustration by William Lunden.