THE SCENE: Giants don’t interact with dwarfs much in ancient myths. If this passage from the Saga of Didrik of Bern is any indication, this may have been because both giants and dwarfs were very, very irrational in their business dealings.
THE TEXT: Then Wade [the giant] took his son Weland, and went to Gronasund. There was no ferry or boat there then, so he took the boy on his shoulder and waded out over the sound. Danish men say that it was 9 alns deep. He came to the mountain that the dwarfs were in, and he gave them his son. He gave them one mark of gold so that they would teach him to smith. In one year the giant would return for his son.
The giant went home. In one year’s time, he came back. But he couldn’t have his son back, for he was learning to smith so well. The dwarfs said: “We will give you back the mark of hold that we got from you. Let him stay here one more year with us.”
“Yes,” said the giant, “I agree to that.”
“If you don’t come back before the year-day,” said the dwarfs, “then we will cut your son’s head off.”
The giant agreed to this with them. The dwarfs regretted that they had paid such a high price. After that the giant went out of the mountain, and Weland went with him. Then the giant took his sword and stuck it in a bush.
He said to Weland: “If the dwarfs want to murder you before I come back, take the sword and defend yourself with it, and let me find out that I have a son and not a daughter.”
– The Saga of Didrik of Bern, 15th Century AD
