too said what the others had said, that no Christian folk had ever
been there since she had come, and entreated him to go away again,
or else the Troll would swallow him up alive. The Troll had nine
heads, she told him.

`Yes, and if he had nine added to the nine, and then nine more
still, I would not go away,' said Halvor, and went and stood by the
stove.

The Princess begged him very prettily to go lest the Troll
should devour him; but Halvor said, `Let him come when he
will.'

So she gave him the Troll's sword, and bade him take a drink
from the flask to enable him to wield it.

At that same moment the Troll came, breathing hard, and he
was ever so much bigger and stouter than either of the others, and
he too was forced to go sideways to get in through the door.

`Hutetu! what a smell of Christian blood there is here!' said he.

Then Halvor cut off the first head, and after that the others, but
the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the hardest work
that Halvor had ever done to get it off, but he still believed that
he would have strength enough to do it.

And now all the Princesses came to the castle, and were together
again, and they were happier than they had ever been in their lives;
and they were delighted with Halvor, and he with them, and he