Page:Tales from the Fjeld.djvu/400

378 heaps on either side. All this the king thought right down scathe; so he sent out his eldest daughter, and the white bear took her upon his back and went off with her. And when they had gone far and farther than far, the white bear asked—

"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," said the white bear, "then you're not the right one;" and with that he hunted her home again.

The next Thursday he came again, and it all went just the same. The army went out to withstand the white bear; but neither iron nor steel bit on his hide, and so he dashed them down like grass till the king begged him to hold hard, and then he sent out to him his next oldest daughter, and the white bear took her on his back and went off with her. So when they had travelled far and farther than far, the white bear 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."

"Oh, then you are not the right one," said the white bear, and with that he hunted her too home again.

The third Thursday he came again, and then he smote the army harder than he had done before; so the king thought he couldn't let him slay his whole army like that, and he gave him his third daughter in God's name. So he took her up on his back and went