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Tale Summary

There was once a King and a Queen who had a daughter named Ingiborg, and a son named Ring. One day he was hunting a deer with his men and became lost, so they all went in different directions. The Prince wandered for a while until he was graciously received by a woman sitting next to a big barrel, in which he saw a beautiful gold ring. She told him he could take it if he was able, but the further he reached into the water the deeper it became, until the woman pushed him inside, sealed it, and threw it out to sea. After some time he knocked against some rocks, and so he kicked out the bottom of the barrel and swam to shore and then climbed up high cliffs to see that he was on a very pleasant island. He was there several days when a Giant picked him up and carried him to his house, and he and his wife treated the prince like their child. The Giant had shown the prince all his rooms except for the parlor, which made him very curious, and one day he tried to peek inside. In the room was a huge dog, which said “choose me, Prince Ring” and he went away afraid. After some time the Giant knew he had not much time left to live, and so offered to take the prince back to the mainland as well as give him anything he wanted. He chose the dog, and the Giant brought the two of them to the mainland and promised the Prince that he would have ownership of the island and all that was on it after he died within two weeks. Ring walked with the dog, who said his name was Snati-Snati and advised that he ask a nearby King to keep the two of them for the winter. They were granted this, and the King’s men laughed at the dog. After several days the King took a liking to Ring, but he had a counselor named Red who became very jealous of him and asked for a wood-cutting contest the next morning. Snati-Snati heard this and advised the Prince to ask for two axes, and so when the two men went their separate ways into the woods the next morning, the dog used one of the axes to work alongside the Prince, and so he won the competition. Red was all the more jealous, and told the King that he should test Ring’s valliance even more by having him kill two dangerous wild oxen, flay them, and bring back the skin and horns in the same day. The King reluctantly agreed and again the dog helped the Prince with the task. Red was determined to destroy Ring because the King had taken such a liking to him, and so he reminded the King of a gold cloak, gold chess-board, and gold piece that he had lost about a year before, and suggested that Ring should find them and bring them back by Christmas and be given the hand of the princess in marriage. Soon before Christmas, the King gave Ring this task, and Snati-Snati told him to gather up all the salt he could carry. The Prince did this and slung it in a sack over the dog’s back and was led by him to a steep cliff. The dog pulled him up to the top, and after a while, on Christmas Eve, they came to a cave in which four trolls were sleeping beside a fire which they were cooking porridge on. Snati-Snati told Ring to pour the salt into the food, and the trolls woke up soon after he did this. The old hag troll woke up and complained about the salt, although the others did not mind, but soon she was so thirsty that she made her daughter run out to get water from a nearby river. The younger troll agreed only when her mother told her she could bring the bright gold chess piece, but when she got to the water Ring and Snati-Snati drowned her. Next, the hag sent her son, who demanded the gold cloak, but he was drowned too when he reached the river. Next, she sent her husband, who took the gold chess-board, and was also drowned. Before the two reached the cave, however, the husband troll’s ghost came at them and they managed to master him again. The dog told the Prince that they had to defeat the old hag in the cave, and that she was the worst witch that had ever lived, and to kill her one of them must pour the hot porridge on her and the other must hit her with red-hot iron. They succeeded, and took the King’s three treasures, along with many other riches, back to the castle in time. Ring was then betrothed to the princess and celebrated for his prowess. The dog asked if he could sleep in the prince’s bed, while the Prince slept where Snati-Snati usually rested on the floor. After a short time the dog came back and told Ring that he could return to his bed, but to be careful not to meddle with anything there. Meanwhile, Red came to the King to show him that his hand had been cut off and blamed the Prince, and the King said that whichever one of them was responsible should be hanged. Snati-Snati warned Ring, and the King was invited to his chamber, and shown a missing hand which still grasped a sword, and Ring said that Red had tried to kill him but he defended himself. Red was hanged and the Prince married the princess. The night of the wedding, the dog asked to sleep by their feet, and in the middle of the night the Prince saw the dog skin on the ground and a handsome man on the bed. He said that his name was also Ring and that he was a King’s son whose father had married an evil witch who placed him under a spell that could only be broken if a Prince of the same name allowed him to sleep at his feet on his wedding night. He added that his witch stepmother had learned of the bridegroom she set to destroy him, and it was she who was the deer who got him lost, the woman who tried to drown him in the barrel, and the old hag which he had just killed. After celebrations, he and the King’s men took all the treasure from the island home with them, and the dog Prince was married to Ingiborg and given Ring’s father’s kingdom. The first Prince Ring lived with his wife and father-in-law, who gave him half the kingdom while he lived and the whole of it after his death.

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