A Norwegian Folk Tale
On a fine spring morning in the countryside of Norway, there lived a woman, who lived on her own, named Elsa. She was as busy as a bee keeping her house from scrubbing floors to milking the goats. Now there was a billy goat, who was the troublemaker of the homestead, named Benjamin. He is a troublemaker because he eats all of the fodder and leaves nothing for the other goats, he butts his owner with no reason at all, and damages everything in sight!
One day Elsa decided to go to the market to buy bread. In a hurry, she grabbed her basket, hood, and an umbrella. Unfortunately, not even realizing the billy goat, she forgot to tie a rope to Benjamin by mistake. When she went to the market, Benjamin decided to explore around her house. "I wonder what is in the inside of the house," Benjamin thought, "I think I will only take a little look." As he opened the door, he snuck in to take a peek.
Benjamin was amazed of what he saw. "This is nice," He said, "Perhaps I can explore more of it." Curiously, he looked a at big mirror. He can see his own reflection. He snarled and bleated at the mirror. Getting too carried away, he butted the mirror and it broke to tiny, little pieces! Next he looked at the sill of the fireplace where little troll figurines were in a line. He got very angry when he saw them and swiped his hoof all over the fireplace sill until every troll figurine was on the floor, broken.
He went everywhere around the house until he damaged everything he sees with his eyes alone. Meanwhile, Elsa came home from the market with a basketful of bread. Benjamin looked out the window and saw his owner coming home. Petrified, he jumped out of the window and it broke too. Very surprised when she opened the door and saw damage. She wasn't only surprised, she was confused. If she went to the market, then who was in the house? If there was someone in the house, how can they do such damage like that? And if nobody was in the house, where did the damage come from?
Very curious, she decided to investigate her whole homestead inside and out. She looked, and looked, and looked. She looked everywhere until she saw Benjamin standing in front of her without a rope tied on! This made her very angry that she took a broom and started chasing and hitting him. They ran everywhere until they're at the hay rooftop of the house. The goat jumped off of the roof. Not looking, Elsa sank into the house and landed on her bed. She surrendered and said,"what am I going to do with that goat?" She placed her broom down on the floor, lied down and went to sleep.
The End
