Fairy Tales vs. Real Life

Astri spends a great deal of time comparing the people and events of her life to those of fairy tales. In some cases, Astri believes the real life situations are similar to those in fairy tales. Svaalberd's wealth is one of those comparisons. Astri talks about the fairy tale of a large white bear that takes a young girl and promises to give both the girl and her family anything they want.

Astri compares Svaalberd to the white bear and believes that Svaalberd must be very rich. She sees that he has given two coins and a piece of goat meat as payment for Astri, but she imagines that her family is much better off for the exchange. She also imagines that Svaalberd has a huge treasure hidden away. It's not until Svaalberd is dying that Astri realizes he isn't a wealthy...