A young ice harvester and his princess were on a trip to visit his troll mother. Usually they arrived in time for supper. But they had gotten a late start, and now it was getting dark. So they decided to look for a place to stay overnight and go on in the morning.
Just off the main trail, they saw a small igloo in the woods.
"Maybe they rent rooms," the princess said. So they stopped to ask.
An elderly snowman and snowwoman came to the entrance of the igloo. They didn't rent rooms, they said. But they would be glad to have them stay overnight as their guests. They had plenty of room, and they would enjoy the company.
The old snowwoman made ice coffee and brought out some carrots, and the four of them talked for a while. Then the young couple were taken to their room. They again explain that they wanted to pay for this, but the old snowman said he would not accept any money.
The young couple got up early the next morning before their hosts had awakened. On a table near the front entrance, they left a fresh carrot. Then they went on to the next part of the forest.
They stopped at a shopkeeper's trading post. When they told the owner where they had stayed, he was shocked.
"Hoo-hoo, I am afraid that can't be," he said. "That igloo melted to the ground, and the snowman and the snowwoman who lived there melted, ja."
The young couple could not believe it. So they went back to the igloo. Only now there was no igloo. All they found as a big melted puddle.
They stood staring at the puddle trying to understand what had happened. Then the princess screamed. In the puddle were some floating wooden pieces of a table, like they one they had seen near the igloo's entrance. On the table was the carrot they had left that morning.