 Growing up in Norway, I had fairy tales all around me. Some of them confused me, some of them amused me, but none of them haunted me as much as Fölgesvennen, the traveling companion. But where to start? Where to start? Once upon a time in 1965 in Palo Alto, California, a band called the Warlocks discovered that their name wasn't wholly original. Legend has it that their guitarist Jerry Garcia opened some sort of lexicon and pointed to a random phrase. The band called themselves the Grateful Dead. But what is a Grateful Dead? The Grateful Dead is a storytelling trope of fairy tales where the hero helps a dead sinner get a proper burial and the dead comes back to return the favor, often leading the protagonist to some sort of treasure. We find these stories worldwide, but one of the earliest written examples is the book of Tobit. Under the reign of the Assyrian Empire, an Israelite called Tobit gets deported to Nineveh. He gathers and buries his dead brethren before a bird blinds him by pooping in his eyes. When Tobit sends his son Tobias out on adventure, God commands the angel Raphael to help him. The two of them save Sara, a relative of Tobias, who is in deep trouble with the demon king Asmodeus. Then Tobias and Sara gets married, Tobit gets his eyesight back and it's happily ever after. But after the Protestant Reformation in Norway in 1537, the book of Tobit fell out of favor as an apocryphal book. Whether the traveling companion was inspired by Tobit or belongs to a tradition of its own, I don't know. Fölgesvennen was written down by Jörgen Mu based on a tale told by Ulle Hagensen from the inland of mid Norway, but it's supposed to be one of many variations. It was released around the 1850s as part of Osbyrnchen and Mu's Norwegian fairytale collection, the granddaddy of all Norwegian fairytale collections, which helped shape the Norwegian sense of self in an era of national romanticism and the fight for national sovereignty from Denmark and then Sweden. But the traveling companion is considered a weird and atypical folk tale. And as with many grateful dead tales, it starts with a dream. A nameless farm boy dreams of a princess, so red and white as milk and blood and he knows he has to find her and her treasures. The traveling companion is a kind of journey into nightmare and for someone from the mountains valleys of inland Norway, what can be more nightmarish than straight angles and flat horizons. The boy sets out and after walking far and further than far he enters a strange land where the roads stretch as far as the eye can see without a single turn. After following the roads for a quarter of a year he comes to a city. In the city there is a church, outside of the church is a block of ice, inside the ice is a corpse. Confused the boy asks the priest and is informed that the man in the ice was a wine server who mixed water and wine so no one wanted to pay for his funeral. If this punishment sounds extreme, know that in medieval times wine and beer was considered safe to drink as it was purified by the alcohol, but if you mixed it with potentially dirty water you could end up poisoning people. But the boy also thought the punishment was harsh. The boy spends all his money on paying for the man's funeral. They get the corpse out of the ice, lay him in consecrated soil, sing and ring the bells. The priest tosses a handful of earth over him. Then they laugh and cry as they drink gravöl or grave beer in his memory. With empty pockets the boy wanders on, but soon a stranger approaches him. Now with the spread of the grateful dead tales I assume everyone knew who the stranger was and the surprise ending is mostly for the kids. But you know, spoiler alert, the stranger is the dead wine server. The stranger asks the boy if he doesn't feel desolate travelling alone, but he does not. So he asks if he needs a servant, but he does not. Finally he offers to be a travelling companion and this the boy can't refuse. The travelling companion leads the boy out of this borderland over hills and valleys deeper into the nightmare. At last a sheer cliffside blocks their path and there is no way around. In the original text there's no cave or door described. The travelling companion just knocks on the stone I suppose and the passage opens up. Deep down in the mountain they enter the lair of a troll-sharing, a troll hag. Trolls as we know them today are in many ways inventions of the national romantic era where the illustrations of the likes of Theodor Kittelsen and Erik Wadenscheul to the aforementioned fairytale collection cemented our image of the troll. But the image gets less clear further back. The word troll is related to words used in Norwegian to describe magic and sorcery and wizards were referred to as trollmen. Troll itself was used to refer to many different creatures but often something big, evil and somewhat stupid. Troll woman however could be a different matter. The travelling companion knows there are rules for dealing with these denizens of the underworld and when the hag asks them to sit he answers, sit yourself and she does as she's commanded. As she sits she's imprisoned by her own sorcery stuck to the chair crying and begging to be released. The travelling companion says he'll free her if she gives him the sword that hangs above her door. Anything but the sword the troll cries because it is her three sister sword. Yeah, the boy and the travelling companion will be going far and further than far to three mountains, three troll hags and three treasures. Each is tricked in the same way and the pair leaves with the sword a golden three sister yarn and the three sister hat that makes you invisible. Now when I hear about three troll sisters my thoughts wander to the Norns, the Norse goddesses of fate who knows all that was all that is and all that will be. The yarn seems to tie them to the broader European traditions of the fates, the Moiras, spinning the threads of destiny. In Thesiod's poem The Theogony, the Moiras are the daughters of darkness and night. Many tales tell of those who try to trick them, some even succeed. The travelling companion may be one such story. Sword, yarn and invisibility hat in hand, the pair walks until they reach a straight. The travelling companion tells the boy to throw the yarn so hard at the cliffside across the bay that it bounces back and as he does so it spins itself into a bridge. Safe across the water the boy has to unravel the yarn as quick as he can as the three sisters come hurtling after them, grasping for the lost thread of the yarn as they plunge into the bay and drown. If these sisters were really the echoes of the Norns it seems strange that they die so easily. But remember that this story was collected after centuries of the old beliefs fading into the background of the Christian faith when the old gods had become weak and their traces faint. Or perhaps I'm simply wrong, sometimes three trolls are just three trolls. Days later they arrive at the castle of the princess from the dream. Do not imagine this as some fairytale castle out of a Disney movie. The travellers are in a strange land with even stranger inhabitants. Surrounding the castle are numerous stakes crowned with the decapitated heads of men. The travelling companion instructs the boy to enter and tell the king of his dream and his quest. And as he does so they are greeted warmly, given a room each and served dinner. The king in the original text is unusually irrelevant. The princess gets spoken lines as does the troll we're soon to meet and even a goat gets to say a few words, but not the king. It's almost as if it's not even there. At dinner the boy gets to meet the princess for the first time and she says beautiful and red and white as in his dream. He professes his mission and she says she thinks well of him and would gladly have him if he can best three trials. But if the boy fails any trial he will end up like those rotting heads perched like crows on the stakes around the whole castle. The first trial is to keep safe a golden scissor overnight. The next trial is a golden yarn. This yarn seems weirdly unrelated to the yarn from earlier, but who knows. Each evening the princess is so wanton and wild, fiddling and diddling with him so the boy completely forgets what he was supposed to watch. This might seem inappropriate for a royal dinner, but this is a strange court we're in with a strange king if he even exists. The first evening the princess steals back the scissor and the second she takes back the yarn. This is a strange princess. As the guests retire for the night the travelling companion asks the boy about the object he was to watch. Yes, of course, it's right here in my frozen in fear he realizes he's been duped but the travelling companion says, worry not, I'll wager I can get it back for you. The travelling companion sneaks into the stable where a goat awaits the princess. The first night he strikes the goat between the horns with his three sister's sword and forces the goat to tell him when he expects the princess. 12 o'clock bleeds the goat. The second night the travelling companion visits a smith first and puts 12 voghe or wogs of iron on the sword. For those not worst in dead Scandinavian units of weight the total voghe is around 18.5 kilos or 48.8 pounds so we're talking a lot of iron. Again he strikes the goat who answers 12 o'clock. The final night the travelling companion has the smith put on 24 more voghe of iron which to my estimate would be around 666 kilos of iron total. This is of course a coincidence since Norway didn't implement the metric system until 1875 but it's a fun coincidence. After being struck the final time the goat bleeds one o'clock. Goats in Scandinavia are laden with symbolism. In Norse myth two thunderous wagon roars across the skies pulled by two goats. From the bible we get the scapegoat later implemented in our vision of Satan known around here as Fanden. Then there's all the goat men that appear around Yuletide from the Scandinavian Yulebook where grown men used to dress up as goats to the German Krampus who is claimed to be the son of Hel the Norse queen of the dead and all the other goats and satyrs all around Europe. Goats were also present in Osguraja known further south as the Wild Hunt and witches were depicted riding backwards on goats. This all makes the goat a fitting animal for travels in the underworld. Hidden by the invisibility hat the travelling companion waits for the princess to come. She solves the goat with something out of a smooning's horn a cow horn used to store fat and ointments. Then she mounts the goat and calls out up and away over rooftops and church spires over land and sea over hill and valley to my beloved who awaits me in the mountain. The unseen companion jumps on the back of the goat and they soar through the night to the troll mountain. The princess knocks three times and enters the stone to her troll lover. The next night it's the same up and away over rooftops and church spires over land and sea over hill and valley to my beloved who awaits me in the mountain. And the last night up and away over rooftops and church spires over land and sea over hill and valley to my beloved who awaits me in the mountain. But during that last flight the invisible rider beats the princess with a sword so she's all black and blue when they arrive. These night travels are the second time churches have been mentioned in the story and while churches might seem to belong to our world folk belief were very different. Side by side with human society was a society of Hülte de Folk the hidden people who also went to their own churches as could both trolls and ghosts do in some fairytales some churches are strange churches. Another suitor has come to claim me my love the princess charms the mountain troll saying he's young and beautiful but I want no other but you. They laugh as she tells him how she fooled the boy and gives the item to the troll to hide. Yes I will hide it and I will watch it and I'll be sleeping in the arms of the bride as the ravens pluck out the boys eyes. As he drops the scissor into a small box the invisible companion snaps it up unseen the troll locks the box with three locks and hides the key in a cavity in one of his teeth the next night neither the troll nor the princess understands how the boy got the scissors back. So to be certain they decide to burr the golden yarn but unseen it gets snapped up as well so the princess decides to make the final trial impossible. Each day after dinner the princess asks the boy for her item back as the boy slams the scissor into the table startling the king she manages to remain calm she gives him the yarn and reminds him of the punishment should he fail the next day as the boy slams the yarn into the table again startling the king the princess gets pale as a ghost but she calmly presents the next trial as capable as you are all you have to do is bring back to me for tomorrow what I'm thinking of today and I'm yours to have and hold this time the boy pales but the traveling companion knows what to do deep in the mountain that night after the unseen companion has beaten the princess black and blue on their flight she reveals that she was thinking about her lover's head they laugh knowing the ravens will soon be eating the boy's guts but the bruised princess senses someone might be following her so her lover solves his own goat and rides back to the castle with her with the unseen passenger in time the troll also gets beaten black and blue and as they almost crash into the sea he realizes something is off and that he has to follow his love all the way home just as a kiss goodbye and he sees her disappear into the castle the traveling companion chops his head clean off with his reinforced three sister sword after the dinner the princess joyfully asks her suitor to give her that which she was thinking of the boy pulls out the troll head her beloved's head the princess gets bleak as a corpse but she can't deny it's the object she had in her mind the kingdom celebrates as they drink to their wedding but it's not happily ever after yet in the book of Tobit the traveling Tobias and the angel Raphael came to the river Tigris there the angel instructed Tobias to catch a fish disembowel it and take out the heart and the gallbladder by burning the heart you could banish evil spirits and the gallbladder could cure blindness by the time they meet Sarah seven of her suitors have been murdered by the demon king Aspodeus who wants to marry her but with the ritual he was taught by Raphael Tobias exercises the demon I don't know if this reflects real Jewish rituals at the time but the ritual in the traveling companion seems hauntingly real before the wedding night the traveling companion tells the boy to close his eyes but not sleep that night not before he can remove the troll hide from his bride he pretends to sleep as the princess prides and prods him and when she can't wake him she pulls out a big butcher's knife to decapitate him at the last second the boy grabs her and forces the blade from her hand then he whips her with nine new birch rods until there's not a twig left then he throws her in a vat of year old way and the sour milk byproduct reveals her true form black as a raven from top to toe he scrubs her with the way and then with the sour milk and lastly with sweet milk before she returns to her beautiful and joyful self this fairy tale was transcribed a mere 150 years after the last witch trial execution in Norway sour milk was an ingredient mentioned in the witch's bruise from real trials and birching was a popular form of punishment for women and children well into the last century and in this way tamed the princess recedes to the background of the story the morning after the traveling companion says they have to leave but not before they plunder the treasures from the troll mountain they fill a wagon load of gold and silver strap six of the troll's goats to it and head homewards but before they reach their destination the goats fall over from exhaustion the traveling companion picks up the goat the wagon, the boy and his bride and carries them on his shoulders until they are neary a mile from home the companion declares he has to leave I can follow you no further no matter how much the boy pleads and begs he can't change his mind eventually the boy asks if he can give him anything in return for all his help if there's anything then yes give me half of everything you grow for the next five years that you shall have says the boy the boy and his bride then returns home to great celebration and five years go by in a flash when the traveling companion returns five years later he and the boy who's now a man splits everything equally but there's one thing you haven't given me half of says the traveling companion what? your child and that child we must also split equally well then it is what it is the man picks up his sword raises it up to cleave his child but just as he's about to strike the traveling companion ceases his sword did it make you happy when you were not allowed to strike yes I have never been happier in my whole life and that's how happy I was when you released me from the ice keep everything you have I need for naught for I am a fleeting spirit says the traveling companion this is where you all gasp in surprise and the smart kids yell I knew it the traveling companion is the corpse from the ice they say goodbye one last time as is beckoned by the ringing of the bells of heaven I won't try to push some message or moral onto the story my goal is merely to tell it in a way that might show off a little of the depth that are contained in these stories and countless other folktales from around the world when oral storytelling got expelled by books and comics and movies and games during the advent of copyright and the ownership of knowledge we didn't just lose a tradition we lost our ability to comprehend these stories as anything but simple or weird if I have to sum it up simply why not let the hippie poets of the Grateful Dead get the final word set out running but I take my time a friend of the devil is a friend of mine spent a night in Utah but I take my time a friend of mine if I get home before daylight I just might get some sleep ran down to the levee but the devil caught me there my twenty dollar bill and vanished in set out running but I take my time a friend of the devil is a friend of mine if I get home before daylight I just might get some sleep the reason's why I cry it's one's name sweet it's my heart's design second one is prison babe the sheriff's on my tail and if he catches up with me I'll spend my life in jail got a wife and she know babe Cherokee first one says she's got a child but it knows set out running but I take my time a friend of the devil is a friend of mine if I get home I just might get some sleep tonight