I Know What I Have Learned facts for kids

I know what I have learned is a fun Danish fairy tale. It was first written down by a person named Svend Grundtvig in his book Gamle Danske Minder i Folkemunde. Later, Andrew Lang included this story in his famous collection called The Pink Fairy Book. It's a tale about a man who learns some strange lessons!

The Story of "I Know What I Have Learned"

This fairy tale tells the story of a man and his three daughters. All his daughters were married to trolls, which are magical, sometimes tricky, creatures.

The First Visit

One day, the man decided to visit his youngest daughter. When he arrived, her troll husband did something very unusual. To make broth, he magically took pieces from his own head! After the visit, the troll gave the man a big sack of gold.

The man remembered he had a cow about to give birth. He was in a hurry to get home. So, he left the gold behind to travel faster. But a thief stole the gold! Even after losing his treasure, the man stubbornly said, "I have learned something!"

The Second Visit

Next, the man visited his second daughter. Her troll husband had another strange way of doing things. Instead of using candles, he made his fingers glow to light up the room!

Again, the man lost his way and two more bags of gold to a thief. But just like before, he insisted that he had learned something new.

The Final Lesson

Finally, the man went to see his oldest daughter. Her troll husband was fishing in a very odd way. He was out on the water in a dough trough, which is a big bowl for mixing bread dough! The troll kept asking his wife if his eyes were green yet. When she said yes, he jumped into the water and started fishing.

This time, the father lost three bags of gold to a thief. When he returned home, his wife was very angry with him for losing all the gold.

The man then tried to copy the trolls. He tried to magically take pieces from his own head to make broth, but it only hurt him. He had to go to bed. Then, he tried to make his fingers glow like candles, and that hurt him too, sending him back to bed.

At last, he tried to go fishing like the oldest troll. He asked his wife if his eyes were green. She told him they were, so he jumped into the water. But instead of fishing, his wife rowed away in the boat and left him there! It seems he learned a very hard lesson in the end.