Page 30

The Tale of the Woodcutter

The Youngest Son

The second day, the woodcutter sent his youngest son, the most honest, into the woods.

He gave him the Huldrekall’s ring, his second-best ax, and the same instruction he had given the eldest son.

On the road, the youngest son, too, encountered the weeping woodsman. The woodsman told him the same story his brother had heard: He had lost his ax to the river and his family would starve. The youngest son looked at the ax in his own hand. Well, of course he could not give him this ax. This ax was his. The youngest son had never liked to share. So he simply explained to the man that he himself needed his own ax, so he hoped that he found his ax in the river. And then, thinking no more of it, the youngest went on his way.

Soon he reached the circle of trees and the sleeping Lindwurm. And he, too, retreated. When he returned home empty-handed, he explained that he didn’t see the point in risking his life for one ax. They had money, he said to his father, they could afford to buy a new ax. He was honest.

But he was not worthy.