[1] A king had his castle shadowed by a great oak tree, and had no well that held water year round.
When they reached the king, he had decreed that whoever tried and failed to cut down the oak and dig the well would have his ears clipped off and be put on a deserted island.
The youngest set the axe to cut down the tree, the spade to dig the well, and the nut to fill it.
[2] The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 577, "The King's Tasks".
[5] Folklorist Stith Thompson stated that the tale type was "popular" in Norway, but also "confined to that country".