Once upon a time…
There was a very poor man with a big family. All his children were quite pretty, but the prettiest was the youngest daughter. Unfortunately, since he was very poor, he couldn’t afford to feed them all three times in one day.
Not an ideal situation, but at least they loved each other.
One Thursday, a polar bear wandered up to their house and knocked politely on the door. The father answered, nervously asking how he could help the bear.
The bear said “yes, I’d like to offer a trade. Give me your youngest, prettiest daughter, and in return I’ll make you as rich as you now are poor.”
Since the man was exceptionally poor, he immediately told the bear it was a deal, and went to get his daughter.
She was like “heck no!” and ran to hide under her bed.
Which I consider a reasonable reaction.
So the father went back to the bear and said “she’s requested a week to say goodbye to the family. Please come back next Thursday.”
The bear agreed, and left.
That week, the whole family made it their mission to guilt the girl into going with the bear. Her mom was like “if you left, we could afford to feed everyone every day!” and her dad was like “if you left, we could get everyone a new coat for winter, so no one will freeze to death like last year!” and her siblings were like “look, if you don’t go with the bear we’ll take you blindfolded into the woods and leave you there!”. Such a loving family.
So when next Thursday came around, the girl was 100% ready to go with the polar bear.
The polar bear came back right on time. He told her to climb onto his back and hold on tight. She did, waved good-bye, and off they went.
They traveled for hours and hours. Finally they got to a magnificent palace deep in the woods. The bear showed her around, showed her where her bedroom was, and then took her to the kitchen.
He pointed to a little silver bell and told her “this is a magic bell. If you ring it, anything you want will appear.”
…If I had a nickel for every time I wrote about a magic silver bell in one of these stories, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s odd it happened twice.
Anyways, the girl settled in. She spent her days wandering around the palace, eating lots of good food, wearing nice warm clothes. The bear was around, but he mostly kept to himself. At night she’d go to her bedroom, and when it was pitch-black, a man would join her in bed.
…Yep.
The story doesn’t give any details, and it doesn’t mention her feelings on the matter. Never mentions them having any sort of conversation. Never says she asked the bear about this. It only says some rando she couldn’t see climbed into bed next to her every night. Well, it does say this was the bear, who at night turned back into himself, but that isn’t the most concerning thing here, story.
Aaaaanyways, after a couple weeks, the girl was feeling very lonely. The bear asked what was up, and she said she missed her family. After all, she was used to living in a small house with lots of people. Not a big house with just a bear.
The bear decided to take her home for a day or two, so she could see how her family was doing. On one condition: she couldn’t have any private conversations with her mother. Cuz moms always want to have conversations with their daughters, and it’d be best to avoid that. The girl agreed to his terms.
So she climbed on his back, and they walked the hours and hours back to her old home.
But it wasn’t her old home! It was a new, big house, with two stories and multiple bedrooms! Her brothers and sisters were playing outside, and not one of them looked malnourished! She hopped off the bear’s back, and he told her he’d return the next morning.
She had a great time with her family! They showed her all their new stuff, and asked her what life in a palace was like, and what the bear’s deal was.
Her mother tried to have a private chat with her. The girl weaseled out of them as long as possible, but she couldn’t hold out forever.
Mothers are persistent like that.
Finally, at about midnight, the mother sat down with the girl, and they had A Chat. The girl explained about the man who slept with her every night, and how she’d never seen his face. So her mother gave her a candle and a box of matches, telling her to hide it in her cleavage.
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Well, ok, the story says “bosom”, which is the general bra/boobs area. The story never specifies how old this “youngest girl” is, but since it calls her siblings “children”, then- y’no I’m gonna stop thinking about this!
“When he’s fast asleep,” the mother ordered, “light the candle and see what he looks like. Just to make sure he isn’t a troll.”
The girl agreed, and stuffed the candle down her shirt.
Presumably the mom had lots of other advice and counsel for her daughter about what to do when sleeping with a man, but thankfully for all of us the story left that part out.
Anyways, the next day the polar bear came back. The girl climbed onto his back, and they set off for the palace again. At some point he asked if she’d had a private conversation with her mother.
She was like “NOPE! NONE AT ALL! I BARELY SPOKE TO MY MOTHER! WE HAD ZERO CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ANYTHING!”
The bear nodded, glad she’d followed his advice, and they continued on their way.
That night, the man climbed into bed with her, same as always. She waited until he was fast asleep, pulled the candle out of her bra, and lit it.
Well, the man wasn’t a troll. He was, in fact, the most handsome human man she’d ever seen. She leaned closer, trying to get a gooooood look at his face. As she leaned, three drops of wax fell off the candle and hit his shirt.
The hot wax (and presumably the light and her movement) woke the man up. He was like “oh you horrible person! You talked to your mother, didn’t you?!”
She was like “I didn’t want to! Besides, what’s wrong with wanting to know what the guy I sleep with every night looks like??”
And he was like “if you hadn’t seen my face for a year, I would have been restored to my full human form, and not have had to spend my days as a polar bear! But since you saw me, now I have to go marry a troll princess in the castle east of the sun and west of the moon. She’s ugly and has a long nose! It’s all your fault, how dare you have been curious!”
And then he and the palace vanished. The girl was left in the dress she’d come in, all alone in the woods.
Well, she decided to find him, so she started walking north. She walked, and walked, until finally she came to a witch’s house.
The witch was playing with a solid gold apple when the girl walked up. She asked what a pretty little girl like her was doing all alone in the woods.
The girl said “I’m looking for the castle that lies east of the sun and west of the moon. Do you know where it is?”
The witch was like “yeah, it’s east of the sun. And west of the moon. Other than that, no clue.”
The girl was like “heck.”
She looked so sad that the witch took pity on her. She was like “hey, I don’t know where it is, but my sister who lives straight north of here might. Take this apple and my horse, and go ride up to her. When you get to her place, just tell the horse to go home, and he will, no worries. And keep the apple.”
The girl, slightly consoled by that, took the apple and got on the horse. She rode north for hours and hours, until finally they came to a cottage in the woods.
In front of the cottage sat a witch, combing her hair with a golden comb. She recognized her sister’s horse, and welcomed the girl inside for a meal.
When she was done eating, the girl said “I’m looking for the castle that lies east of the sun and west of the moon. Do you know where it is?”
The witch was like “well, I’m pretty sure it’s east of the sun. Aaaand west of the moon. Nothing more specific tho.”
And the girl was like “heck.”
The witch took pity on her, gave her the gold comb, and told her that maybe her neighbor up north might know where the castle was. She put the girl on her horse, said it knew the way to and from the neighbor’s house, and sent her on her way.
When she got there, the neighbor (also a witch) was spinning wool on a golden spinning wheel. The girl sent the horse home, and asked if she knew where the castle east of the sun and west of the moon was.
The witch looked her over. “Are you the girl who was supposed to marry the prince?”
The girl nodded.
“I don’t know where it is,” the witch said. “Other than, y’no, east of the sun and west of the moon. But the East Wind might know. Here, take my horse to his place. And take this spinning wheel too, just in case.”
So the girl got on the horse, and- hold up.
Googles.
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Elderlyspinnera.jpg]
Yep.
These things are fairly large. One of these made out of solid gold would weigh a ton.
…For the sake of the horse (and the winds later on), I’m gonna say she was gifted a solid gold drop spinner instead.
One of these:
[https://babogenglish.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/5eda18544c35c1f5468001f8a38879ff-drop-spindle-interesting-faces.jpg]
See?
Fits in a purse:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Andean_Peruvian_Style_Bottom_Whorl_Drop_Spindle_%288335374091%29.jpg]
Does not fit in a purse:
[https://www.datocms-assets.com/75073/1656653996-header-fankenwheel.jpg?w=1600]
Anyways, where was I?
…I was about halfway through the story.
So I’m gonna split the story here and leave you with a cliffhanger! Hah!
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Moral: Awkward discussions with your mother could be life-threatening. Avoid them at all costs.