Tradition: Swedish Mythology
Alternative Names: The Giant of the Golden Queen’s Mountain, The Giant of the Smoking Hill
Category: Giant
The Myth
The giant of the Mount of the Golden Queen was a colossal man who lived in a smoking hill beyond a vast lake, where he possessed the knowledge needed to guide a young herdsman toward a mysterious princess. He stood twenty-seven yards tall and was the brother of two gigantic women, each living in a smoking earthen mound. Although neither woman knew the way to the Mount of the Golden Queen, they directed the young man onward until he reached their brother’s dwelling.
The young herdsman had begun his quest after repeatedly falling asleep in a forest clearing whenever he followed a rat into a juniper bush. In his dreams, he saw a princess on the distant mountain. On the third day, she appeared to him and placed a letter and a golden band in his pocket. When he awoke, both objects were there. Determined to find the princess, he sold a horse to buy seventy pounds of iron and a pair of iron shoes. He used the iron to make thole-pins for his boat and set out across a great lake, eventually reaching a meadow where he encountered the giant’s sisters.
When the herdsman asked the giant for directions, the giant summoned all the animals of the earth with a whistle, but none knew the mountain’s location. He then called every fish in the waters, yet they too were unable to help. Finally, he summoned the birds of the air. An eagle declared that it knew the way, and the giant instructed it to carry the young man there without treating him unkindly.
The eagle carried the herdsman across fields, forests, hills, valleys, and eventually the open ocean. During the flight, it repeatedly dipped him into the sea, first up to his ankles and later up to his knees, asking whether he was afraid. When the young man admitted his fear, the eagle explained that this was the same fear it had felt when the princess placed the letter and golden band in his pocket. Soon they reached a high mountain with a great iron door. A servant opened it, welcomed the young man, and admitted him, while the eagle returned to its homeland.
Inside, the herdsman was given a refreshing drink. As he returned the beaker, he allowed the golden band to fall into it. The princess recognized the band as her own and asked whether a visitor had arrived. When the young man was brought before her, she asked if he had a letter. He produced the mysterious letter, and after reading it, the princess exclaimed with joy that she was finally delivered.
At that moment, the mountain transformed into a magnificent castle filled with precious objects, servants, and every imaginable convenience. The tale does not explicitly state whether the young herdsman and the princess married, although its narrator remarks that a wedding would be the fitting conclusion to the fairy tale.
Sources
Stroebe, Clara, ed. The Swedish Fairy Book. Translated by Frederick H. Martens. Illustrated by George W. Hood. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1921. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37193