Halvor and Soria Moria Castle

"Soria Moria Castle" is one of the best-known Norwegian folktales, collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe. The story follows Halvor on a magical journey filled with trials, courage, and hope, in search of the enchanting Soria Moria Castle. This classic tale for children is a timeless piece of storytelling that inspires young and old alike to believe in their dreams.

Soria Moria Castle – A Norwegian Folktale of Courage and Dreams

Chapter 1: From Childhood to a Voyage at Sea

There once was a couple who had a son, and his name was Halvor. From the time he was a small boy, he never wanted to take up anything at all, but just sat raking about in the ashes. His parents sent him off to learn all sorts of trades, but Halvor never stayed anywhere, for after he'd been away a few days, he'd run off from whatever he was learning, hurry home, and sit himself down in the hearth to dig in the ashes again. But then one day a skipper came by and asked Halvor if he wouldn't like to come along and sail to sea, to see foreign lands. Yes, that Halvor would like well enough, and so he wasted no time getting ready.

Where they sailed, I haven't heard; but after a good long while a fierce storm blew up, and once it had passed and all was calm again, they didn't know where they were — they had drifted up against a strange coast, one none of them recognized.

When it grew so still that not a feather stirred, they lay there a while, and Halvor asked the skipper if he might be allowed to go ashore and look around, for he'd rather walk than lie about and sleep.

🧑

"Do you think you can show yourself among people," said the skipper, "when you've got nothing to wear but the rags you're standing in?"

Halvor stuck to his wish, though, and in the end he got leave; but he was to come back once the wind picked up again.

Chapter 2: Arrival at the Castle and the First Meeting

So off he went, and it was a beautiful land; everywhere he came there were great plains with fields and meadows, but he saw no people anywhere. On he went, until it began to blow again, but Halvor felt he hadn't seen enough yet, and wanted to go on a little further, to see if he couldn't find anyone. After a while he came upon a great road, so smooth you could easily have rolled an egg along it. This road Halvor now followed, and as evening drew on, he saw a great castle far off, with light streaming out of it. He'd walked the whole day and hadn't had much of a packed lunch either, and he was deeply hungry; but the closer he came to the castle, the more afraid he grew.

Inside the castle a fire was burning, and Halvor went into the kitchen, which was so grand that he'd never seen so grand a kitchen; there were pots and pans of both gold and silver, but not a soul about. When Halvor had stood there a while and no one came out, he went over and opened a door; and inside sat a princess spinning at a wheel.

👸

"No, no indeed!" she cried, "do Christian folk dare come here? But you'd best be off again, unless you want the troll to swallow you whole — for a troll with three heads lives here."

👦

"I'd be just as glad if he had four heads besides, and I'd like to see that fellow," said the boy, "and I'm not leaving — I haven't done anything wrong; but you must give me food, for I'm terribly hungry."

When Halvor had eaten his fill, the princess told him he could try swinging the sword that hung on the wall; no, he couldn't swing it, he couldn't even lift it.

👸

"Well," said the princess, "then you'd best take a swig from that flask hanging beside it, for that's what the troll does when he's going out to use the sword."

Halvor took a swig, and at once he could swing the sword as if it were nothing. Now, he thought, the troll could come as soon as he liked.

Chapter 3: The Battle with the Three-Headed Troll

Just then the troll came rushing in; Halvor stood behind the door.

🧌

"Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of a Christian man!" said the troll, and stuck his head in through the door.

👦

"Yes, and that you shall find out," said Halvor, and hacked all the heads off him.

The princess was so glad to be freed that she both danced and sang; but then she thought of her sisters, and said:

👸

"If only my sisters were freed too!"

👦

"Where are they, then?" asked Halvor.

Well, she told him; one had been carried off by a troll to a castle six miles away, and the other had been carried off to a castle nine miles beyond that one.

👸

"But now," she said, "you must first help me clear away this carcass here."

Yes, Halvor was strong enough for that; he hauled it all away and made the place neat and tidy in no time.

Chapter 4: New Challenges and the Troll's Next Attack

So he lived well and comfortably, and the next morning he set off at first light; he couldn't sit still, he walked and he ran the whole day. When he caught sight of the castle, he grew a little afraid again; it was even grander than the first one — but here too there wasn't a soul to be seen. So Halvor went into the kitchen, and didn't stop there either, but went straight on inside.

👸

"No, do Christian folk really dare come here?" cried the princess. "I don't know how long it's been since I came here; but in all that time I haven't seen a Christian soul. You'd best be off again, for a troll with six heads lives here."

👦

"No, I'm not leaving," said Halvor, "even if he had six more besides."

👸

"He'll swallow you whole," said the princess.

But it did no good: Halvor wouldn't leave, he wasn't afraid of the troll; but food and drink he did want, for he was hungry after the journey.

Well, he got as much as he wanted; but then the princess wanted him to leave again.

👦

"No," said Halvor, "I won't leave, for I haven't done anything wrong, and I've nothing to be afraid of."

👸

"He won't ask about that," said the princess, "for he'll take you with neither leave nor right; but since you won't go, you might as well try if you can swing the sword the troll uses in battle."

He couldn't swing the sword; but then the princess told him to take a swig from the flask hanging beside it, and once he'd done that, he could swing it.

Just then the troll came; he was so big and huge that he had to turn sideways to get through the door. The moment the troll got his first head through, he shouted:

🧌

"Fee-fi-fo-fum! I smell the blood of a Christian man!"

With that, Halvor hacked off the first head, and then all the others too, but the last one was the toughest of them all, and it was the hardest work Halvor had ever done, getting it off — even though he felt he still had strength to spare.

Now all the princesses came together at the castle, and they were as happy as they'd ever been in all their lives, and they were fond of Halvor and he of them, and he could have whichever of them he liked best; but the youngest was fondest of him of all three.

👸

"You shall come both there and back unharmed, if you'll follow our advice," said the princesses.

So they dressed him up as grand as a king's son, and put a ring on his finger, and it was such that he could wish himself both there and back with it; but they told him he mustn't throw it away, and he mustn't speak their names, for then all the splendor would be over, and he would never see them again.

Chapter 5: Homecoming, Wedding, and Farewell

"If only I were home now, and home were here!" said Halvor, and just as he'd wished it, he stood outside the cottage of his parents before he knew it. It was dusk, and when they saw such a grand, fine-looking stranger come in, they were quite taken aback and started bowing and curtseying.

Halvor asked if he might stay there and have a bed for the night.

"No, that he certainly couldn't; we're not that sort," they said, "we haven't got the one thing or the other that a gentleman like you would need; it's best he goes up to the farm — it's not far, he can see the chimney smoke from here — up there they've got plenty of everything."

👦

"No," said Halvor, "up there I won't go before morning; let me stay here for the night, I can sit by the hearth."

They couldn't say no to that, and so Halvor sat down by the hearth and began raking about in the ashes, just as he used to do when he lived at home and idled about.

They talked of this and that, and told Halvor one thing and another, and then he asked if they'd never had any children.

Yes, they'd had a boy called Halvor, but they didn't know where he'd wandered off to, and they didn't know either whether he was dead or alive.

👦

"Could that not have been me, then?" said Halvor.

👵

"That I know well enough," said the old woman, straightening up. "Halvor was so lazy and idle he never did a scrap of work, and so ragged besides that one rag would knock the other out cold — he could never have turned into a fine fellow like you, father."

A little while later the old woman went over to the hearth to poke up the fire, and when the glow lit up Halvor, just as it used to when he sat home raking in the ashes, the old woman recognized him.

👵

"Why, is that really you, Halvor!" she cried,

and there was such joy among the old parents that there was no measuring it, and he had to tell them all about how it had gone for him, and the old woman grew so fond of him that she wanted to take him up to the farm at once and show him off to the girls, who had always been so stuck-up about it.

So she went ahead and Halvor followed. When she got up there, she told them Halvor had come home again, and now they should just see how grand he was; he looked like a prince, she said.

"That I know well enough," said the girls, tossing their heads, "he's still the same old ragamuffin he always was."

Just then Halvor walked in, and the girls were so taken aback that they forgot their blouses by the hearth, where they sat picking lice, and ran out in nothing but their skirts. When they came back in, they were so ashamed that they could hardly bring themselves to look at him — the very Halvor they'd always been so high and mighty toward before.

👦

"Oh, you've always thought yourselves so fine and pretty, that no one could match you; but you should just see the eldest princess I've freed," said Halvor; "next to her you'd look like goose-girls, and the middle one is even lovelier; but the youngest, who is my sweetheart, is lovelier than both the sun and the moon — if only she were here, then you'd see!" said Halvor.

At that very moment the youngest princess grew so eager that, with a ringing cry, she burst out:

👸

"There, that's the one I mean!"

And so she chased the other two clean out of sight, and held her wedding with Halvor.

✨THE END✨

With courage, cleverness, and endurance, even the most fantastical journeys can lead to great changes.