“The Brown Bear of Norway.” The Lilac Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1910, pp. 118-131.

Tale Summary

There was once a King of Ireland who had three lovely daughters. One day, the King playfully asked his girls who they would like to marry. While two speak of high class gentlemen, the youngest said that she would marry the Brown Bear of Norroway, for she had heard stories about him truly being a handsome prince. That night, she woke to find herself in a great hall with magnificent furnishings, and found the young man, who proposed to her. They were married that evening, and he told her of his enchantment: he had refused to marry the daughter of a sorceress, so he was cursed to spend his days as a bear until a lady married him and endured five years of trial. He warned her that if she lost faith in him, they would be forever parted and he would be obliged to marry the sorceress’s daughter. After a year, she gave birth, but one night soon after an eagle took the child away. She tried to jump after it but her husband held her back, and remembering what he had said, had faith in him and calmed herself. After another year, she birthed a girl who was stolen away by a greyhound, and although she wanted to blame her husband for negligence, held her tongue. Their third child was stolen away by a beautiful woman, and so despondent, the lady asked her husband if she could visit her family for comfort. He agreed, telling her that to get back home, she should state her intentions before falling asleep. She told them her story after a joyous reunion, and they consulted a wise woman, who said the only solution was to burn the bearskin and so break the enchantment. After she went home to her husband and spent many happy days together she contrived to do this, and only pretended to drink from the sleeping draught he brought her nightly, putting it instead in his drink the next night. She got up, burned the skin, and got back in bed. The next morning he told her that the wise woman was the sorceress herself, and now he must make a three day trip to marry the witch’s daughter. She followed him in close pursuit until he came to a hollow on the hill, where she found a smiling woman and her husband kissing a small boy. He told her it was their eldest child, and that the woman was the eagle who stole it. He gave his bride scissors which would turn anything into silk, and told her that at sunrise he would have no memory of her or the child, but would regain it at night. The lady again followed her husband all day until the sun set and he found their daughter. As before, they spent a comforting night together, and he gave her a pearl which would cause diamonds and pearls to fall from her hair. The same events transpired the next day, ending with him finding their youngest boy. He gave her a hand-reel of golden thread and half their marriage ring, saying that if she ever went to his house and touched her half to his, he would recollect her. He left into a wood which made him forget everything about his life with her, and she struggled to go after him until she ordered the forest to part by her magic gifts. She came to a palace, lawn, and a woodman’s cottage. She stayed at the cottage after promising gold, pearls, and silk, and while she heard of the new young prince, servants at the castle took a liking to her. She invited a footman to have tea with her, asked him for a sprig of honeysuckle, and cursed him with horns on his head. The other servants turned against him, and she lifted the enchantment out of pity. The prince and the witch's daughter heard of this and visited her, he puzzled by her, and she greedy for the scissors the lady used to cut a silk gown out of paper. She took them, and in exchange, the lady was given one night outside the prince’s bedchamber. He was in such a deep sleep that night that she could not wake him and he could not hear her say:

“Four long years I was married to thee;

Three sweet babes I bore to thee;

Brown Bear of Norroway, won’t you turn to me?”

Another bargain was made the next day for the magic comb, and another night was spent outside the prince’s door in sorrow. The third day, the prince passed by (as he did daily to smile politely at her), and asked the strange woman if he could serve her in any way. She asked him about his sleeping, and he answered that the past two nights he was given a sleeping draught, but heard sweet singing in his dreams. He agreed not to drink any that night. The witch’s daughter came by later and made the same deal as before for the hand-reel of golden thread. That night, the prince’s door opened, and she sang her song to him, and asked if he remembered their marriage. She pressed her half of the ring to his, and his full memory came back. The castle then began to split, and the two ran outside to watch it collapse. The witch and her daughter were never seen again, and the lady and her husband reunited with their children and went home, where the Kings and Queens of Ireland, Munster, and Ulster, came to visit.