A Norwegian fairy tale called "East of the Sun and West of the Moon" is a cold wintry story. A polar bear visits the house of a peasant, and asks for his daughter to keep for a year, in the promise he will make the man rich. The maiden is handed over to the bear, and she's taken to a castle east of the sun and west of the moon in a strange dark place. She's encouraged to lay beside the bear each night, and she's unable to see much in darkness. Afraid, she has to lay next to the polar bear, and she misses her home. The bear agrees to let her return home to visit and asks her never to talk to her mother, but this doesn't happen.
At home, the maiden is persuaded to discuss everything with her mother. So the mother believes the polar bear is really a troll, and gives her daughter candles to light when she returns to the dark castle. The maiden has to go back to the bear, and at night when he's asleep, she lights a candle. Instead of a polar bear, there is a handsome man. The wax from the candle melts and a drop wakes him up. Then the man says that if the maiden had continued to wait for the year to finish, he would've been freed of a curse but now he's forced to marry a scary troll princess.
The following day, the castle has gone and the maiden is lost. She discovers an old woman with a golden apple. She asks the old woman where to find the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. The old woman can only offer her the golden apple and a horse. She rides until she reaches a house where a woman is sitting outside with a golden comb. The maiden asks her where to find the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. The woman doesn't have the answer but gives the maiden the golden comb and a different horse. The maiden rides the second horse until she reaches another house, where a woman is sat beside a golden spinning wheel. She asks her where to find the castle, and the third woman doesn't know either. Instead she gives the maiden another horse and the gold spinning wheel, telling her the horse will take her to the East Wind.
The maiden rides the third horse, and arrives to the dwelling of the East Wind but he's never seen the castle she's seeking. He tells her that the West Wind may know, so the East Wind carries her there. The West Wind doesn't know the answer but suggests he take her to see the South Wind and lifts her there. Of course, South Wind doesn't know either, and he carries her to the North Wind. Well, by luck the North Wind remembers blowing an aspen leaf to the castle East of the Sun and West of the Moon. He carries her there, and Maiden is thankful and tired.
By morning, the Maiden finds the troll princess who is going to marry the bear-man. Maiden gives the troll princess her golden apple and said she can have it so long as she spends a night with the bear-man. Troll princess accepts but in spite she drugs the man so that he sleeps very deeply that night. Maiden lays beside the man who is no longer a polar bear, but she's not able to wake him up.
The following day, the maiden pays another night with the man, giving the troll princess the golden comb. Again, the troll princess agrees, and drugs the man so he sleeps deeply, and the Maiden can't wake him up. The following day, the man wakes up and is told by the people of the town that they heard the voice of a maiden, who was loud, distressed and crying because she couldn't wake him up in the night. The Maiden gives the troll princess the golden spinning wheel to spend a third night with the man. Troll princess agrees, and again she makes a sleeping brew to drug the man, only this time, the man doesn't drink it.
When Maiden visits the man, he's awake. He informs her what happened, tells her how she can help him. He will tell everyone that he'll marry the one who can wash tallow wax from his clothes. The Maiden succeeds in washing out the tallow wax, but the troll princess can't touch it and fails. So the man who was a bear, is freed from the curse, and takes the gold, marries the maiden, makes her father rich and escapes the castle.
Posted by She Wolf Night
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