A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
Two royal daughters have vanished on successive Christmas nights. The five brothers build a stronger bower to protect the remaining sisters. Wide-awake alone remains awake and sees an enormous hand reach through the window toward a bed. Hold-fast grips it and Strong-hewing cuts it off. With Sharp-tracker following the footprints and Well-climbing scaling a cliff, they reach the assailant’s cave.
The troll’s female companion weeps over her injured old partner. The brothers offer to cure him if she allows herself to be bound, pretending that their treatment requires secrecy. They then kill both trolls. In a smaller cave they find the two missing princesses fettered; the plumper one says she was to become the trolls’ Christmas meal that day. The rescued women return to their sisters before dawn. The story ends with five marriages and the brothers’ prosperity. Neither troll has a personal name, and the tale does not give them multiple heads or an external life-object.
Origins & earliest records
Icelandic Legends, second series (1866), Wide-awake, and his Brothers, pp. 522–527.
Records & interpretation
Complete tale from the naming of the brothers through rescue and marriage; troll attack and captive-meal account on pp. 525–526.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Icelandic Legends, second series: Wide-awake, and his Brothers, pp. 522–527
Complete narrative; the adjacent Thorsteinn story is separate.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textIcelandic Legends, second series, surviving 1866 editionResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.