The old fisherman looked forlornly at his dripping, empty net. Suddenly, a sea-maiden rose to the surface of the sea. “I will give you good fishing in return for your first born son,” said she.

Desperately hungry, the fisherman eagerly consented. Soon a son was born to him, but he could not give up the boy. A soothsayer said that to break the promise, the boy would have to find the ghostly white deer that so many feared, slay it, and break the golden egg hidden inside.

Years later, the son – now a young man – went on a quest for the deer. The sea-maiden was angry, but before she could push the old fisherman into the sea, the son slew the deer and smashed the egg into a million pieces. The promise was broken and the sea-maiden banished to the deep forever.