Once upon a time, a poor farmer lived with his wife and many children in a small cottage. Their youngest daughter was kind and gentle, but the family was so poor that they often went hungry. One winter evening, a great white bear knocked at their door and offered a strange bargain. If the farmer gave him his youngest daughter, the bear would make the family rich. The farmer hesitated, but his daughter agreed to go with the bear, hoping to help her family. She climbed onto the bear's back, and they rode away into the forest. The bear took her to a magnificent castle hidden among the mountains, where every room was filled with golden light and soft furnishings. Each night, the bear became a man who visited her in the dark, but she never saw his face. She grew fond of him, yet curiosity gnawed at her heart.
After many months, the girl missed her family terribly. The bear allowed her to visit home, but warned her not to listen to her mother's advice. At home, her mother insisted that the night-time visitor must be a troll or a monster, and gave her a candle to light and see his true form. That night, the girl returned to the castle and, trembling, lit the candle while the man slept. She saw a handsome prince, but a drop of hot wax fell on his shirt, waking him. The prince cried out that he was cursed by a wicked stepmother who had turned him into a bear by day. Now, because she had broken the trust, he must go to the castle of the troll princess who lived east of the sun and west of the moon, and marry her. The prince vanished, and the castle disappeared, leaving the girl alone in a barren field.
The girl wept bitterly, but she refused to give up. She set out to find the prince, walking until her shoes wore thin. She met three old women who each gave her a magical gift: a golden apple, a golden carding comb, and a golden spinning wheel. They told her to seek the East Wind, who might know the way. The girl found the East Wind, who blew her to the West Wind, then to the South Wind, and finally to the North Wind. Each wind had heard of the prince but could not blow her all the way. The North Wind, however, gathered all his strength and hurled her across the world to the castle that lay east of the sun and west of the moon. She landed just outside the castle walls, exhausted but determined.
Now, because she had broken the trust, he must go to the castle of the troll princess who lived east of the sun and west of the moon, and marry her.
The girl sat down near the castle and began to play with the golden apple. The troll princess saw it and wanted to buy it. The girl refused to sell it for money but offered to trade it for a night in the prince's room. The troll princess agreed, but she gave the prince a sleeping potion, so he slept through the night. The girl wept and called to him, but he did not wake. The next day, she brought out the golden carding comb. Again, she traded it for a night in the prince's room, and again the troll princess drugged him. This time, the girl's tears fell on the prince's face, and he stirred slightly in his sleep. The third day, she used the golden spinning wheel. The troll princess agreed to the same bargain, but this time the prince was warned by a servant and did not drink the potion. When the girl entered, he was awake and waiting.
The prince and the girl embraced and made a plan. He told her that the troll princess had the power to keep him only if she could guess his name. The girl remembered a trick from her journey and whispered a false name to the prince. When the troll princess came in the morning, the prince said, 'I will marry you only if you can guess my true name.' The troll princess guessed many names, but each was wrong. Finally, she grew angry and shrieked, 'Is it perhaps East-of-the-Sun-and-West-of-the-Moon?' The prince laughed and said, 'No, that is not my name.' The troll princess, defeated, lost her power over him. The curse broke completely, and the prince was free. He took the girl's hand, and they fled the castle together, riding on the back of the North Wind back to his own kingdom.
The prince and the girl were married in a grand ceremony, and they lived happily ever after. The story of 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' is a classic Norwegian folktale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, and later included in Andrew Lang's The Blue Fairy Book. It contains many familiar motifs: the animal bridegroom, the forbidden action, the journey of trials, and the magical helper. The structure follows a clear pattern of departure, temptation, loss, quest, and restoration. Retellings often emphasise different aspects, such as the girl's courage or the prince's vulnerability. By examining these choices, we see how storytellers shape meaning through symbolism and archetypes. The tale reminds us that trust and perseverance can overcome even the most impossible distances.