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Tale Summary

There was once a young man named Peder Lars, the son of a farmer, who was hoping to win the hand of a very rich and proud woman named Lisa. He rode his horse through the forest on the way to town, where he would buy a new jacket. He wanted to look his best because he was stating his intentions that night at six o’clock with his father and spokesman. Along the path, he came to a meadow, where he saw a strange looking woman crawling in a ditch and was asked for help. She said she had hurt her leg and that if he collected resin from each of the seven pine trees on a certain nearby hill it would heal her and he would get a gold coin in return. She explained that before he came along, five others had accepted the gold and left her all alone without fulfilling their promise, and that she could hear her mother calling for her. Peder couldn’t hear anything, but she held her hand like a trumpet to his ear and he heard someone singing:

“Where are you, daughter, sweet and fair?

I’m looking for you everywhere.”

Peder laughed because he thought she was very ugly, and then kicked the gold coins out of her hand and called her a troll. He then rode into the city and bought a jacket, but grew curious when he came to the hill that the woman had mentioned, and saw the seven pine trees. The same song traveled to his ears, but he thought it would be impossible to find the resin in the fading afternoon light and kept riding home. Only a little farther on, his horse stopped and Peder heard the singing again, but he kept going. Again, he heard the song and could no longer bear it and so he went back and gathered the resin and angrily gave it to the woman, hurrying home without taking the coin. He was anxious that he would be too late to see Lisa, and if he was, her pride would be hurt and she would reject him. His brother had rode out into the forest and found him to tell him that Jonas, a rich miller who owned half the village, was also going to ask for Lisa’s hand, and that if Peder was late she would marry the miller instead. It was a quarter to six and Peder still had several miles to go, so he spurred his horse and went as fast as he could, but the horse soon became worn out. Suddenly, the reins went taut, and the horse jolted back into action and went faster than ever and took shortcuts off the path. Peder felt that someone was sitting behind him, but every time he looked he saw a little gray bundle slip down over the horse’s rump. He met his spokesperson who had gone out to find him, and was alerted that he had five minutes left. A little further on, his father told him he had only one, but Peder flew by at breakneck speed. Lisa was leaning on the windowsill, listening for hoofbeats, and her father pointed out that there was only half a minute left to arrive and she may as well give herself to Jonas, but she insisted on waiting. The clock began to ring, but before it had chimed for the sixth time, Jonas arrived, tattered and tousled from the journey. Lisa promised herself to him, and from then on he was never late to anything no matter when he left. He could not discover the reason and always saw the little gray bundle, and suspected that it was the troll who was honest enough to reward him.

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