Once there was a boy who tended to the cattle in the forest. It was noon time and he was watching his cattle after his meals. At the time he saw a rat run into a juniper bush.
The boy was curious and he bent over to look at where the rat had gone.
However, when he did that, he fell head-over-heels and fell asleep immediately.
He dreamt that he had to find the princess on the Mount of the Golden Queen.
The boy woke up from his dream. But he did not know enough to make much of his dream.
The next day he brought his cattle to the forest and he came to the same clearing and ate his meals there again.
He saw the same rat and he bent down and he fell head-over-heels and fell asleep again.
This time he dreamt of the princess on the Mount of the Golden Queen and in his dreams, he was told that in order to get to her, he needed seventy pounds of iron and a pair of iron shoes.
This time when he woke up, he had made up his mind to find the Mount of the Golden Queen.
But he still did not know the way to go to reach the place.
On the third day when he went with his cattle to the forest, he fell asleep again and he dreamt of the princess herself. In the dream, the princess gave a letter and a band of gold to him. He dropped it in his pocket.
When the boy woke up, he was stunned to find a letter and a band of gold in his pocket for real.
He realized he would now have to fulfill his dream and he drove his cattle home for the day.
Then he went to the stable and took a horse from there and sold it.
With that money, he bought seventy pounds of iron and a pair of iron shoes.
With the iron that he bought, he made thole-pins for the oar points of a boat.
After that, he put on his iron shoes and took the many thole-pins that he had made and he set out on his adventure.
The boy walked on land for a long time and at last came across a huge lake which he had to cross.
He took out the boat with him and steadily rowed across. He wore out one thole-pin after another. Before he reached the other end of the lake, he had used all the thole-pins that he had made.
The land on the other end of the Lake was a big meadow. There were no trees anywhere that he walked all around the meadow. At last found a mound of earth from which smoke was rising. As he looked closely he saw a huge woman who was nine yards long. She came towards him, he asked her to tell him the way to the Mount of the Golden Queen.
She did not know the answer. But she directed him to her elder sister who could know the answer and the elder sister was nine yards taller than this woman.
Adapted from Swedish Folk Tales
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