“When Mother Troll Took in the King’s Washing.” Great Swedish Fairy Tales, Holger Lundbergh et. all, illustrated by John Bauer, New York: Delacorte Press/S. Lawrence., 1973, pp. 1-18.

Anonymous — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 14:58:51 +0000

“When Mother Troll Took in the King’s Washing.” Great Swedish Fairy Tales, Holger Lundbergh et. all, illustrated by John Bauer, New York: Delacorte Press/S. Lawrence., 1973, pp. 1-18. Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/12/2024 - 08:58

Tale Summary

There was once a family of trolls who lived in a Great Forest, which was becoming uninhabitable because more and more humans were moving nearby. Troll Father complained about the smell of fried bacon and coffee, but Troll Mother secretly liked it. More and more trolls were moving away and soon they were the only family left, until men discovered that there was copper in their mountain and when the first charge of dynamite exploded, Troll Father was so angry that he blew up, too. Troll Mother took her son, named Drulle, to an abandoned cottage by a lake, and showed him how to tuck in his tail, put on clothes, and pretend to be human. Troll Mother knew what money was and how to get it because she had seen a farm-wife to the north doing laundry, and so she began a magic pot which she prepared with troll powder, and the next day knocked at the door of the parsonage to ask to do their laundry. It just so happened that the place was very busy and the parson’s wife had realized that she did not have time to wash clothes and gave them to Troll Mother, who told her that she would decide the price because she could not count. She did so well that soon the whole village was having her do her laundry. A King decided to build a castle nearby for his wife and their little baby, and when the lady-in-waiting, who was paid to do laundry, heard about Toll Mother she decided that the old woman should wash the royal clothes for cheap so she could pocket the rest. The pretty little baby clothes belonging to the princess went to Troll Mother’s head and she pestered Drulle about him having a child of his own with a beautiful woman. She began keeping some of the baby’s outfits, and told her son to recite a troll rhyme when the clothes were being counted so that no one would realize the garments were missing. After some time, though, the royal nurse noticed that many outfits were missing, and the blame fell on an orphan girl named Inga whose job it was to mend clothes, and she was sent away from the castle. She wandered for a long time until she came to the Troll’s cottage and was taken in by them and cooked for the two. Troll Mother decided that Inga was the right wife for his son, who was quite taken by her. Drulle made the girl uncomfortable, and she did not share his feelings. One day while walking in the forest she ran into the queen’s young page, who she had taken a fancy to while working at the castle, and she was ashamed that he must think of her as a thief, but he told her that he thought she was innocent. He asked her for her hand, but she protested, saying that it would ruin his life to marry someone considered a thief, and went back to the Troll’s house. Drulle had been watching behind a rock and became jealous. After he left to return the clean laundry, Troll Mother showed Inga the baby clothes and asked the girl to marry her son. She was anguished to see that the old woman had stolen them and said what she did was a sin, and then Troll Mother’s tail became loose and Inga realized she had been living with trolls and ran away. She found the page and agreed to marry him and was taken in by his mother. Meanwhile, Drulle was so miserable that he forgot to say the troll rhyme when the clothes were being counted, and he was questioned about a missing garment. He said he must have forgotten it, but when he checked the cottage he could not remember which it was and so stupidly brought with him a whole armful of baby clothes. The people at the palace realized it was him and his mother who had been stealing him and tried to arrest Drulle, but he escaped, and by the time the people reached the cottage it was abandoned. Inga was welcomed back into the castle and the page was made the royal forester, and the two were married. Several years later, Inga was holding her own child and heard a sigh from outside the window, and when her husband checked he found a basketful of the rest of the princess’s baby clothes. The trolls were never seen again, and Inga hoped that their lives weren’t too hard.

Fairy Tale Title

When Mother Troll Took in the King’s Washing

Fairy Tale Author(s)/Editor(s)

Elsa Beskow, Holger Lundbergh

Fairy Tale Illustrator(s)

John Bauer

Common Tale Type

Tale Classification

Page Range of Tale

pp. 1-18

Full Citation of Tale

“When Mother Troll Took in the King’s Washing.” Great Swedish Fairy Tales, Holger Lundbergh et. all, illustrated by John Bauer, New York: Delacorte Press/S. Lawrence., 1973, pp. 1-18.

Original Source of the Tale

Tale Notes

AV��ʪ and Curation

Kaeli Waggener 2024

Book Title

A Selection from Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Book Author/Editor(s)

Holger Lundbherg

Illustrator(s)

John Baur

Publisher

Delacorte Press/S. Lawrence

Date Published

1973

Decade Published

1970-1979

Publisher City

New York

Publisher Country

United States

Language

English

Rights

Digital Copy

Available at the Internet Archive

Book Notes

Twenty-one Swedish fairy tales accompanied by John Bauer's paintings and drawings that originally illustrated them

Traditional

White