Once upon a time there was a farmer who had three sons. He was in a bad condition, old and weak, and the sons wouldn’t do anything to help him. On the farm they owned a big forest that was grand and green, and the father wanted his sons to cut down the trees in the forest to pay off some debt. After a long time the father made his sons do it, and the oldest son went first.
When he came to the forest and started to cut down an old bearded tree, the troll came.
“If you are chopping in my forest, I shall kill you,” said the troll.
When the boy heard that, he threw the axe away and ran home as fast as he could.
He came home, out of breath from all the running, and told what had happened to him. The father said that he was a weak person; a troll had never scared him from cutting trees.
The next day it was the second son’s turn, and the same happened to him as the first one. The troll came to him, and the boy threw away the axe and ran home as the first one, only faster.
When he came home, the father was so angry and told them that the troll would never scare him away from cutting down trees when he was younger.
”Yes, you”, the two oldest of them said ironically to the Ashlad, “You are going to finish it, you have never stepped outside the front door”.
The Ashlad didn’t answer this, but he asked to get some travelling provisions. His mother went for the casserole, so that she could make him some food. She put a cheese in his knapsack and the Ashlad went off. When he had been chopping for a while, the troll came to him and said:
“If you are chopping in my forest, I shall kill you.”
He ran into the woods to get his cheese and mashed the cheese so it splashed all over the place.
“If you don’t shut up, I will squeeze you like I squeezed this white stone,” the Ashlad said.
“No please, save me”, the troll said, “I can help you cut down these trees.”
By using this method the boy saved himself, and the troll was very effective in the woods, and they chopped down a lot of trees that day. When the evening came, the troll said:
“Now, you can follow me home. It’s shorter to my place than to yours”.
So he did, and when they arrived, the troll lit a fire, while the boy went to get some water for the porridge. But there were two iron buckets so big and heavy that he didn’t manage to lift them.
Then the boy said:
”It’s not worth taking just these thimbles with me. I will take the whole well.”
“No, dear God,” the troll said, “I can’t lose my well. If you make the fire, I’ll go for the water.” The troll answered.
Then he came back with the water and boiled it in a big bowl of porridge
“It makes no difference to me,” the boy said, “but if you want as I want, we shall have an eating contest.”
“Oh, well,” the troll agreed.
They sat down at the table. But the boy took his knapsack and tied it around his belly without the troll discovering. Then he stuffed more porridge into his knapsack than he ate himself. When the knapsack was full, he took out his sheath knife and made a little hole in his knapsack. The troll looked at him in silence. After a while, the troll put down his spoon.
“Oh, I can’t eat anymore,” he said.
“You need to eat,” the boy told the troll, “I’m not even half full yet. Do as I did and cut a hole in your stomach, then you can eat as much as you want.”
“But doesn’t that hurt a lot?” the troll asked.
“Oh, not at all,” the boy answered.
The troll did as the boy told him to do. And we know now, that he gave his life this way. The boy took all the silver and gold that was in the mountain and returned back home. With this, he could easily pay off his debt over time.
Questions to the story – Eating contest: Ashlad VS the troll
1. Discuss in groups what you think the story is about.
2. Make a painting/drawing where you picture the troll and the Ashlad sitting at the table and having an eating contest.
3. Go into groups of two. Make 10 glossaries from the text, and hand it to the other person on your group, see who gets most correct answers.
4. Go into groups of two, and make a little play of when The Ashlad meets the troll in the forest.
