The Master Maid

"The Master Maid" is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. "Master" indicates "superior, skilled." Jørgen Moe wrote the tale down from the storyteller Anne Godlid in Seljord on a short visit in the autumn of 1842.

It is Aarne–Thompson type 313. Others of this type include "The Two Kings' Children", "The Water Nixie", "Jean, the Soldier, and Eulalie, the Devil's Daughter", "Nix Nought Nothing", and "Foundling-Bird".

A king's youngest son set out to seek his fortune and was hired by a giant. The first morning, the giant went out to bring his goats to pasture and ordered the son to clean out the stables and to not go into any of the rooms about the one where he slept.

The son disobeys and finds three pots bubbling with no fire, and one turns things into copper, the second into silver, and the third into gold. Past them, he finds, in one room, the Master Maid. She warns him that cleaning the stables as ordinary people do causes ten shovelfuls to fly back in for every one he takes out, but if he shovels with the handle, he will be able to do it. He talks with her the day long, and they agree to marry. In the evening, he set to his task. He finds that she is telling the truth, and succeeds. The giant accuses him of having spoken with the Master Maid and the prince denies it.

The next day, the giant orders him to bring in a horse from pasture. The Master Maid warns him that it breathes fire, but if he uses a bit, hanging behind the door, he will succeed. When he does, the giant accuses him of speaking with the Master Maid again, and the prince denies it.

The third day, the giant orders him to go to Hell and get his fire tax. The Master Maid tells him the directions, and that he should ask for as much as he can carry. He retrieves it, though the man who lets him says it was well that he did not ask for a horse-load. The giant accuses him of speaking with the Master Maid again, and the prince denies it.

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