Prevod
Once upon a time there was a man up in Finnmark who had caught a great polar bear, which he was taking to the King of Denmark. As it happened, he reached Dovrefjell on Christmas Eve, and there he went into a house where a man named Halvor lived. He asked if he and his polar bear might have shelter for the night.
“Heaven help us!” said the man of the house. “We can’t put anyone up just now, for every Christmas Eve the place fills with so many trolls that we have to move out, without even a roof over our own heads.” “Oh, you can put me up all the same,” said the man. “My bear can lie here under the stove, and I can sleep in the little room.” Well, he pleaded for so long that at last he was given leave to stay. Then the people of the house moved out, leaving everything ready for the trolls, with the tables laid with rice porridge, lutefisk, sausages, and every other good thing, just as for any grand feast.
Before long the trolls arrived. Some were big and some were small, some had long tails and some had none, and some had long, long noses. They ate and drank and tasted everything. But then one of the young trolls caught sight of the polar bear lying under the stove. He put a piece of sausage on a fork, went over, and poked it against the polar bear’s nose. “Pussycat, want some sausage?” he shrieked. At that the polar bear sprang up with a growl and chased them all out, big and small alike.
The following year, on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Halvor was in the forest cutting firewood for the holidays, for he was expecting the trolls again. As he was busy chopping, he heard a voice calling from deep in the forest: “Halvor!
Halvor!” “Yes?” said Halvor. “Have you still got that great pussycat of yours?” “Yes, she’s at home under the stove,” said Halvor, “and now she’s had seven kittens, all much bigger and fiercer than she is.” “Then we’ll never come to your house again!” shouted the troll from deep in the forest. And ever since that day, the trolls have never eaten Christmas porridge at Halvor’s house on Dovre.
