Chapter 14
east of the sun and west of the moon by peyrach fiston espioncen and jern ingebrezzenmoor translated by george velvet dosen the cat on the doverfell once at a time there was a man up in finmark who had caught a great white bear which he was going to take to the king of denmark now it so fell out that he came to the doverfell just about christmas eve and there he turned into a cottage where a man lived whose name was halvor and asked the man if he could get house-room there for his bear and himself heaven never help me if what i say isn't true said the man but we can't give any one house-room just now for every christmas eve such a pack of trolls come down upon us that we are first to flit and haven't so much as a house over our own heads to say nothing of lending one to any one else oh said the man if that's all you can very well lend me your house my bear can lie under the stove yonder and i can sleep in the side-room well he begged so hard that at last he got leave to stay there so the people of the house split it out and before they went everything was got ready for the trolls the tables were laid and there was rice porridge and fish boiled in lye and sausages and all else that was good just as for any other grand feast
so when everything was ready down came the trolls some were great and some were small some had long tails and some had no tails at all some too had long long noses and they ate and drank tasted everything just then one of the little trolls caught sight of the white bear who lay under the stove so he took a piece of sausage and stuck it on a fork and went and poked it up against the bear's nose screaming out pussy will you have some sausage then the white bear rose up and growled and hunted the whole pack of them out of doors both great and small next year halvor was out in the woods on the afternoon of christmas eve cutting wood before the holidays for he thought the trolls would come again just as he was hard at work he heard a voice in the wood calling out halvor halvor well said halvor here i am have you got your big cat with you still yes that i have said halvor she is lying at home under the stove and what's more she has now got seven kittens far bigger and fiercer than she is herself
oh then we will never come to see you again brought out the troll away in the wood and he kept his word for since that time the trolls have never eaten their christmas bros or with half-or on the dover thought end of the cat on the dover thought
