It so happened that several people from Skagafjord, as often happened, went fishing in the late summer to the South Cape. They wanted to shorten their path and set off through Grimovo Mesopotamia, which is near the Eagle Lake Wasteland. They wanted to get there faster and drove south along the glacier, but when they were following through the desert area, a snowstorm with fog began and they got lost. Finally, they came to high mountains with high cliffs. It was approaching evening, and they began to look for shelter. They found a cave near the mountain, examined it and settled inside with their horses and luggage. They gave hay to their horses, and they themselves also sat down to eat.
While they were eating, a pleasant-looking woman came out to them, but she was silent. They turned to her and asked her name, and she replied that her name was Asgerd. They asked if she was here alone. She replied that there was no one else here. They asked what happened. She didn't answer and then left them.
In the morning the weather cleared, and they got ready to set off. The woman came again and talked to them for a while. They gave her food and then walked away. One of them was especially beautiful. When they had driven a short distance away, he patted his pocket and did not find his knife. He returned to the cave and began to look for him.
Then this woman came and asked what he needed. He replied that he was looking for his knife. She said that she would help with this and handed him the knife, and said that she did so because she wanted to talk to him alone. He seemed to her the most noble of his comrades.
– I wanted to tell you how I ended up here. I was taken from Sweden. I am the daughter of a jarl from Gautland, and a huge old man and an old woman in the guise of animals kidnapped me. They had a young son, and they were going to marry him to me, but I asked for a delay of a year and a half. But during this time it happened that the young man fell ill and died.
The old man and the old woman treated me well. I served them for several years. The old man fell ill and died. I stayed with the old woman because I didn’t know what to do in a country unknown to me, and I also couldn’t leave the old woman to her fate. But soon the old woman also died, and since then I have lived here.
And now I have a request to you: come here in the spring and take me away from here, if I’m still alive, because it’s hard to live here.
He promised. They said goodbye and he met his companions who were waiting for him. In the spring, he went north, found a cave, found the girl alive and took her to live with him.
He had to return for her property, which consisted of various jewelry. He exchanged them for good land for a farm. He then married Asgerd and they lived well together. That's the whole story.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru