FOLKLORE FROM NORWAY

There was a young man named Leif. He was very stubborn.
He never listened to anyone, including his own father.

Leif wanted to leave his house and got a new job. His father advised him not to go, he said that it would be better if he stayed at home and worked in his place. However, Leif ignored his father's advice. His father was hopeless. He said, “All right, I will let you go. But please don't go to the troll's house to get a job.“ What is a troll? It's a scary giant.

Leif ignored his father's advice. He directly went to the troll's house! When he arrived there, the troll welcomed him nicely.
“Pardon me, Sir. I'm looking for work,“ said Leif.

“You can work here but you have to promise not to enter all the rooms,“ replied the troll. He was imagining eating Leif's body. Yes, the troll ate humans! The troll continued. “This is your first job. Go to the stable and shovel out all the dung.“ After that the troll left the house, Leif started to enter the rooms. He absolutely ignored the troll's request.

Leif entered the kitchen. He met a very beautiful girl.

The girl asked, “What are you doing here?“ “I work for the troll,“ answered Leif.

“Really? What kind of work did he give you today?“ “Today is simple. I just have to clean the stable from the dung.“

“I will teach you how to shovel out the dung easily.“ The girl then whispered to Leif.

Leif understood. When he was at the stable, he cleaned it using his own way. He ignored the girl's advice. Unfortunately, his method of cleaning did not work. He tried to use the girl's method. It worked! In just a minute, the stable was clean from all the dung.

The troll was surprised to see the stable was so clean. He asked, “Who taught you how to clean this? Is it the Master Maid?“ Leif said no. He asked who the Master Maid was but the troll said he would tell him later.

On the following day, the troll gave him another job.
He was asked to go to the pasture and fetch his horses. After the troll left, Leif immediately went to the kitchen. The girl told him how to make the horses tamed. Later, Leif went to the pasture.
He did his own technique to make the horses tamed. Unfortunately, they did not follow his instructions. Leif tried to use the girl's technique. It worked! All the horses were tamed and followed him easily.

The troll was again surprised to see all the horses back in the stable. “Who taught you this? Did the Master Maid teach you?“ Leif asked, “Who is the Master Maid?“ “I will tell you now,“ replied the troll. “Follow me!“ They went to the kitchen. The troll pointed to the girl. He said, “That's the Master Maid.“

The troll then talked to the girl. “Cook him now!“ Well, who was the girl? She was actually a good witch. The troll kept her in his house to cook him delicious food.

The troll left them in the kitchen. After that, Leif asked the Master Maid, “Do you really want to cook me?“ “Of course, not! In fact I want to run away but I can't open this door. It can only be opened by a young man like you!“ explained the Master Maid.

They both immediately ran and left the troll's house. They were finally safe. They arrived in a village and lived there.
They started to fall in love and got married. Leif had changed his bad behavior. He was not stub born anymore. He had learned a lot from his wife who was smarter than he was. Since then, he listened to other people's opin ion. Source : Media Indonesia,03/30/2014,page: 21)