The Black Bull of Norroway

Long ago, there was a mother who had three daughters. When they grew up, the eldest went away in a coach with six horses, and the second in a coach with four. But when it was the youngest daughter’s turn, a great black bull came walking up the road. “Climb on my back,” he said kindly, “and I will carry you.”

So she rode away on the Black Bull of Norroway. Each night they stayed at a castle, and there she was given a red apple, then a pear, then a plum. “Keep them safe,” said the bull, “and break them only when you really need help.”

One day, they came to a dark, quiet valley. “Sit on this stone and do not move your hands or your feet,” said the bull. “I must go and break a wicked spell, and when it is done, everything will turn blue.” “If you move even a little, I will not be able to find you again.” After a long time, everything around her turned a lovely bright blue. She was so happy that she jumped up and clapped her hands. And the bull could not find her, though he looked and looked.

The poor girl wandered on alone until she came to a hill of slippery glass. She could not climb it, so she worked for a blacksmith for seven long years, until he made her a pair of iron shoes. In those shoes, she climbed right to the top of the glass hill.

There she heard that a young knight was going to marry whoever could wash his muddy shirt clean. An old washerwoman and her daughter scrubbed and scrubbed, but the shirt only got darker. Then the girl dipped it in the water, and it came out white as snow. But the washerwoman’s daughter grabbed the shirt and said she had washed it, so the knight agreed to marry her.

So the girl broke her apple, and it was full of sparkling jewels. She gave them to the washerwoman for the chance to sit beside the knight that night. But the washerwoman gave him a sleepy drink, and he slept until morning. The girl sang softly by his bed, “Seven long years I worked for you, and the glass hill I climbed for you, so will you not wake and look at me?” The next night she broke the pear and tried again, but he slept just the same.

On the third night, she broke the plum, and this time the knight poured the sleepy drink away. When she sang her song, he opened his eyes and knew her at once. He was the Black Bull of Norroway, free from the spell at last! The two of them were married, and they lived happily ever after.