Once upon a time there was an old man and an old woman. They lived in a hut. They had one child - a daughter named Helga. She was very beautiful.
The time came when the old woman felt that she was going to die. Then she called her daughter to her and said that sometimes her life would be difficult, and she could do little to help her.
“But I want to give you this awl,” said the old woman. “It knows how to say yes if you need it.”
Then the old woman died.
One evening the old man asked his daughter Helga to go to bed next to him. She didn't want this, but he insisted more and more. Then she said that she forgot to put out the fire and that she needed to do it. So she went into the kitchen, stuck an awl into the wall and ordered him to say “yes,” and she ran out into the darkness. The old man called his daughter Helga, and the awl responded, constantly saying “yes.” The old man got tired of this, he jumped up and started looking for his daughter. Not finding her, he returned home and will no longer appear in this story.
As they say about Helga, she ran away into the forest and walked all night. When dawn broke, she came to a small and beautiful house. She went inside and saw a man playing checkers with himself. The man invited her in and said that the best thing for her was to stay here with him and serve him, because he lived alone. Helga agreed. She asked his name and he replied Herroyd.
Some time passed and Helga became pregnant. Herroyd was hunting during the day and at home at night. As the baby got closer, Herroyd came home later and later, and one evening he didn't come at all. Then Helga felt weak and fell asleep.
She dreamed that her mother came to her and said:
- Now Herroyd is ready to cheat on you - the giantess bewitched him so that he would plan to marry her. Now leave the house, putting your shoes on backwards, and go to the dugout, which is not far from here. This giantess wants you dead.
After that, Helga woke up, put her shoes on backwards and went to the dugout. Soon the dog came and looked for Helga, sniffing the tracks, but found nothing and ran away with it. Then Helga heard a loud noise and crash. Through a gap in the dugout she saw that it was a giantess. She scoured back and forth along the tracks, but could not find her either and walked away.
After that, Helga left the dugout and went into the forest. She walked for a long time until she came to a stream. Some child came there to get water. Helga placed a gold ring in his bucket.
Soon a dwarf came to Helga. He thanked her for his child and invited her to his home. They came to a large stone. The stone opened and they went inside. There sat the dwarf's wife, who also thanked Helga for her child. It was in this stone that Helga gave birth to a beautiful boy.
The dwarf said to Helga:
- Herroyd is getting married today. He was going to marry a giantess, and if you want to be at the wedding, I will help you get there.
Helga said she wanted to go there. Then the dwarf took her to some cave. There he threw a cloak over her so that no one would see her. The dwarf told her that she must watch what the bride would do every evening when she came out, and on the very last evening Helga must show Herroyd what she would do, and the feast would last three days. Finally, the dwarf told her to call him if necessary, and with these words he disappeared.
So Helga found herself at a feast, which was held with great joy and noisy fun. On the bride's bench sat a sweet and beautiful newlywed, no more than an ordinary woman. Herroyd was very funny.
In the evening, the bride went outside, wishing that no one would accompany her. She walked not far from the cave, turned around three times and said:
- Let me be as I usually am.
She turned into a big giantess and said:
“Come here, three-headed giant, my brother, with a large box full of horse and human meat.”
Then the giant came with a box, and they both started eating.
Having finished, the giantess turned around three times and said:
“Let me become the same as I was,” and then I turned into a sweet girl again.
The second evening the bride did the same. On the third evening, Helga approached Herroyd, but he did not recognize her, and led him to the giantess while she was eating. He turned very pale, tied a noose at the entrance to the cave and went inside.
Upon entering, the bride fell into a noose. She called her brother, and then a huge three-headed giant came. Helga called the dwarf and saw that a bird had flown in and split the giant's skull, so that he died immediately. And the bride hanged herself in a noose, and when she lay dead, she no longer seemed so beautiful to Herroyd.
Now Herroyd recognized Helga and was delighted with her, asked her forgiveness and said that the giantess had bewitched him so that he would cheat on her. Herroyd and Helga went to their house in the forest and got married. On the wedding day, the dwarf brought their son and laid him on Helga's lap, and Herroyd rewarded the dwarf well for all his help. Herroyd and Helga loved each other until old age and that's how the story ends.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru