A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

The boy and his mother reach a red house whose resident is at least twenty feet tall. He claims to have sat there for three hundred years without being called grandfather. His meal consists of an entire roasted ox and a cask of wine; his knives are six feet long, and his cradle is large enough for a human bed. Friendly reception soon becomes a conspiracy with the boy's mother.

A quarrying trap fails because the boy's blue belt gives him extraordinary strength. The troll next proposes dangerous errands involving lions and sleep-producing apples. He admits that two brothers, twelve times stronger than himself, expelled him from their castle and left him the farm. Those brothers appear as man-eating horses, but the boy's lions kill them. The surviving farmer's later punishment is distinct from their deaths; he is not himself killed in that attack. After the mother takes away the belt, she and the farmer blind the boy and cast him adrift. The lions keep him alive, and one discovers a spring that restores sight when a blind hare falls into it. The boy's recovery and return lead to the farmer being blinded and set afloat without lions to rescue him.

At least twenty feet tall in the storyEats a whole ox and drains a wine caskPlots against a magically strengthened guest
01

Origins & earliest records

The Blue Belt belongs to Asbjørnsen and Moe's collected Norwegian tales, translated by Dasent in a collection first published in 1859. The inspected electronic text incorporates a second-edition notice but no securely identified print year. This profile concerns its farmhouse antagonist and explicitly attributed age, rather than treating that boast as independently verified chronology.

02

Records & interpretation

The narrative supplies a stated minimum height, enormous utensils, a full-ox meal and claims about stronger brothers. Their horse forms are explicitly different from the farmer's giant human appearance. These are primary literary details, not measurements of an observed population. The magical belt explains the boy's strength within the plot; it is not the troll's anatomical trait.

In the literature

“snorting like man-eating steeds”
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, collectors · Popular Tales from the Norse
Tale XXII, The Blue Belt; The farm Troll’s brothers approach the sleeping boy · George Webbe Dasent

The brothers attack in horse forms while the protective lions stand guard.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Blue Belt (Popular Tales from the Norse)

    Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe; translated by George Webbe Dasent · 1859 first English collection; selected later edition undated

    Inspected named tale XXII. Electronic witness includes a notice to the second edition; its exact print date is unresolved.

  2. 02

    Popular Tales from the Norse — The Blue Belt

    Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, collectors · Historical Dasent translation; exact hosted print edition undated

    Dasent historical English translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe; hosted PG8933 includes a Second Edition notice, but its exact selected print edition date and printed pages are unresolved. 1859 is the first English collection context only. Exact observed chapter anchors and episode locators used.

Family, evolution & connections

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Popular Tales from the Norse — The Blue Belt

Dasent historical English translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe; hosted PG8933 includes a Second Edition notice, but its exact selected print edition date and printed pages are unresolved. 1859 is the first English collection context only. Exact observed chapter anchors and episode locators used.

  1. A giant host feeds the boy and his mother an ox and wine, then privately conspires with her to kill him. The boy overhears the proposed rockfall, survives it with the belt’s strength and reverses the attack, breaking the Troll’s thigh.

    Tale XXII, The Blue Belt; Hospitality turns into the quarry murder plot

  2. The mother feigns illness to send the boy for lion’s milk; he masters the lions and brings them back. A subsequent sleeping-apple mission takes him to the stronger brothers’ castle; the lions kill those brothers when they attack in man-eating horse form while he sleeps.

    Tale XXII, The Blue Belt; Lions and brothers’ orchard schemes fail

  3. After the boy reveals his belt, his mother takes it and the farm Troll recommends blinding him and casting him adrift. Lions rescue and heal him through a spring; he recovers the belt, blinds the Troll and sets him adrift without animal rescuers.

    Tale XXII, The Blue Belt; Belt stolen, blinding and reversed sentence

Complete named tale read; only the farm Troll’s schemes, familial relations and fate are enriched here. Exact selected print date, page numbers and earliest attestations are not inferred.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary textPopular Tales from the Norse — The Blue Belt (tale XXII)Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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