Long ago there was a king who had seven sons.
The king loved all his seven sons very dearly and wanted them to spend all time with him. Even among all his sons, the youngest was the king's favourite and the king could never bear to be parted from this particular son. The seventh son was called Boots.
Finally there came a time when the princes had a look for good brides. Reluctantly the king agreed to send six of the princes away, so that they could look into other kingdoms and find suitable wives for themselves.
Because the king could not bear to be separated from Boots he asked the other six princes to choose a good girl for Boots when they were finding wives for themselves.
The six princes agreed to this. So taking the best horses and clothed in a royal fashion they set off.
In a far away kingdom the six princes found a king with six beautiful daughters. They forgot all about Boots and each brother married one of the six princesses, then and there.
They decided to take their wives back to their kingdom.
On the way back the six princes and their wives met a huge giant.
The giant was annoyed with the happy people and using his magical powers he immediately turned all of them into stone.
Meanwhile the king and Boots waited for the six princes to come back. When they did not, both of them feared the worst.
Boots begged his father to let him go.
The king had no other choice other than to send his last son too.
Now that all the fine clothes and horses have been taken by the six sons, Boots was just left with an old worn out cloth for himself and an old mare.
But Boots was determined to find his brothers and he set off.
On the way Boots saw a raven which had flopped down on the ground because of hunger. The raven could badly even move around as it feebly saw Boots walking towards it.
"Please give me some food." The raven begged Boots.
Boots had very little food himself but he happily gave a little of it to the raven.
The raven ate the food and was able to get up. It thanked Boots and told Boots that it would be of help to the prince when he needed it.
Saying this, the raven flew away from the place.
As the Prince walked on he saw a salmon out of water gasping for breath.
Taking pity on the fish the Prince put the salmon back inside the nearby stream of water.
The prince thought no more of it and walked on.
Unfortunately his old mare could no longer carry him and it collapsed.
Boots lay near the dead mare that was when he saw a starving wolf come towards him.
My name is Graylegs," the wolf told Boots. "It has been two years since I have eaten. Do you have any food?"
Boots agreed to help the wolf.
The wolf ate the dead mare.
After that the wolf grew stronger and it asked Boots for his reason to come here.
Boots told the wolf everything.
"I know where your brothers and their wives are!" Graylegs cried. "I can take you there as fast as possible." However Graylegs looked worried. "You must be careful of the giant."
The Prince agreed.
The wolf continued, "You will meet a princess inside the castle of the giant. She will be able to guide you. Follow the instructions of the princess and you will be safe."
The Prince went inside the castle after he studied the stone statues of his brother and six other girls whom he figured were the wives of his brothers.
Boots realised that it had to be the giant who had turned all these people into stone and he wondered how anyone could help him with that.
In one of the rooms of the castle he found a beautiful girl.
The girl however looked alarmed on seeing Boots there. "You need to leave before the giant gets here or he will kill you!"
Boots told the girl all the reason that he had come here. "I need to kill the giant and turn my brothers and their wives back to normal."
The girl looked even more alarmed. "The giant cannot be killed. He does not have the heart in his body. That makes him invulnerable to any attack."
Boobs studied the princess. "You live in this castle with the giant. You are unharmed. The giant knows you. He will talk to you. Is it possible for you to talk with the giant and figure out where he has hidden his heart?"
The princess promised Boots that she would try. She asked Boots to hide under the bed and not make a noise when the giant came back in the evening.
As soon as the giant came back in the evening the huge, grotesque and hideous creature sniffed around the house suspiciously. "I smell a human." The giant looked at the princess severely. "Was there anyone at the castle when I was not here?"
The princess hurriedly shook her head. "There was a magpie which dropped the bone of a human in the chimney. I removed it as soon as I could but the smell still remains."
The giant was satisfied with the answer of the princess.
He had his dinner and was about to lie down on his bed when the princess came to his room. "Can you answer a question of mine?"
The giant sat up on the bed and studied the princess. "What do you want to know?"
"I wish to know where you keep your heart since you do not carry it with you." The princess looked anxiously at the giant. "I just want to know that your heart is safe."
The giant shrugged. " My heart is safe. I have hidden it under the door sill."
Saying that the giant slept and he snored loudly within a few minutes.
The next day after the giant had left the castle Boots and the princess dug under the door sill. But no matter how much they dug they could not find the heart of the giant.
The princess laid down beautiful flowers on the door sill after covering up the hole that she and Boots had dug, making sure nobody could see what they had done in the place.
The giant came back in the evening as usual and looked around the castle and saw the flowers on the door sill. "What have you been doing here?"
The princess smiled at the giant. "I knew your heart lies here so I have decorated the place with beautiful flowers."
The giant however was unhappy. "I lied to you. My heart is not kept there. It is under the cupboard by the wall."
The princess pretended to be disappointed. But the giant paid no heed to it. He went to bed and he was snoring in a few minutes.
The next day after the giant had left the castle Boots and the princess dug under the cupboard by the wall of the castle. They dug and dug but they never found the giant's heart. They realized that the giant had lied this time too.
At night the giant confirmed that he had lied the second time too.
However the giant was not able to think up a lie when the princess asked him where his heart really was and he told the princess the truth. "Far away there is a lake. On that lake is an island. The island has a church and a well nearby. In the well there is a single duck. The duck has an egg with it. Inside the egg lies my heart."
Then Boots bid farewell to the princess and called on Graylegs.
From there he and Graylegs reached the lake after many days of travel. Graylegs was able to jump across the lake into the island and bring the prince to the church.
However the keys of the church were very high up in the tower and the Prince could not reach it no matter how much he tried. After taking advice from the wolf the Prince called on the raven.
The raven came to the island when Boots called him and it easily flew to the top of the church and got the keys for the Prince. Once inside the church the Prince found the well.
He coaxed the duck to come to a side finally he caught hold of the duck. However the duck dropped the egg into the well.
Not knowing what to do the Prince stared inside the bell.
The wolf reminded him that he could take help from the salmon. The salmon came to the place when boots thought of him just like the raven.
The salmon dived inside the well and soon brought the egg to the Prince.
Once the Prince had the egg he squeezed the egg very hard.
Back in the castle, the giant screamed and he begged to be let go.
However, Boots was not going to give it off so easily. "Turn my brothers and their wives back to normal now."
The giant had no choice but to do as he was told.
The minute all his brothers and their wives were back to normal, with the instructions from the wolf, Boots squeezed the egg hard and broke it.
The giant fell dead.
After this Boots his brothers and their wives and the lovely princess of the castle all went back to their kingdom and they all had a great wedding feast.
It is believed that they are still at it.
Folk stories from the Norse
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