| Norwegian fairy tale recorded by Asbjørnsen and Moe in their "Norske folkeeventyr" (1841-1844). The
original, Norwegian text ("Ikke kjørende og ikke ridende") was found in Project Runeberg and is in the
public domain. Translation to English is done especially for E2 by me.
---
There was once a king's son who had proposed to a girl. But when they had
become good friends, he started thinking he didn't want her, she wasn't good enough for him. And so he
thought he'd try to get rid of her, and he said that he'd only accept her if she could come to him
Not driving
and not riding
not walking
and not sliding
Not hungry
and not full
not naked
and not dressed
Not day
and not night
He didn't think she could do it.
She took three grains and bit into them, so she wasn't full, but she wasn't starving; then she threw a
woolen net over herself, so she wasn't naked, but not dressed.
Then she sat on the back of a ram, so her legs were dragged along the ground; this way she was not
driving, not riding, not walking and not sliding.
And she turned up right at dawn.
When she arrived at the guard, she asked to talk to the prince; they didn't want to let her in, the way
she looked. But in the commotion, the prince woke up and came to the window. She dragged herself over
there and twisted one horn off the ram. She took it, stood on the ram's back and knocked on the window
with the horn. Then they had to open the door and make her a princess.
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More fairy tales here! | 
