{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_73093/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_73093","id":"gutenberg_73093","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73093","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales -- Sweden","Folklore -- Sweden"],"text":"SWEDISH FAIRY TALES\n\n\n                                   BY\n                            HERMAN HOFBERG.\n\n\n                       TRANSLATED BY W. H. MYERS.\n\n\n                                CHICAGO:\n                           BELFORD-CLARKE CO.\n                                 1890.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAUTHOR\u2019S PREFACE.\n\n\nIt is probably known to most readers that there is a distinction\nbetween Tradition and Saga. Tradition has, or at least seems to have,\nto do with facts, usually designating some particular spot or region\nwhere the incident is said to have taken place, often even giving the\nnames of actors, while the Saga is entirely free in its scope, equally\nas regards incident, and the time and place of its happening. Not\ninfrequently the traditions of a people are founded upon actual\nhistorical occurrences, which, often repeated in the na\u00efve manner of\nthe peasantry, become, finally, folk-lore. A great many are, however,\ndrawn from ancient myths, which, in time, become clad in historical\ngarb, and are located in some particular place.\n\nWe already possess various collections of traditions drawn from the\nrich treasury of our peasantry, but up to the present there has been no\nattempt at a formulated compilation of Swedish folk-lore. As I now put\ninto the hands of the public such a collection, I ought to state that I\nhave thought it better to select the most typical of our traditions\nthan to gather everything that I might in this line, much of which has\nalready been written, and which would require a many times larger\nvolume, and occasion a repetition of the same matter when occurring, as\nmany do, in different localities. Instead, I have accompanied each tale\nwith a historical and ethnographical note in which I have so stated if\nthe tradition is found in different places.\n\nThe illustrations are the product of several among our best artists.\nWithout doubt, the book has thereby been added to greatly, not only in\nouter adornment, but even in national and intrinsic value.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTRANSLATOR\u2019S PREFACE.\n\n\nAn interest in the Swedish people, their language, their literature and\nhistory; the important part the traditions of a people play in their\nhistory, character and domestic life, and that the traditions of the\nworld play in its history and that of mankind, and that I would, if\npossible, add to the growing interest in that far-away, beautiful\ncountry, and that generous, hospitable people, have been the incentives\nto the labor involved in this translation; a labor not unmixed with\npleasure, and not a little of that pleasure coming from the\nencouragement of my Swedish acquaintances.\n\nNo embellishment and not more than a faithful reproduction of the\nauthor\u2019s ideas have been attempted, and I shall be happy, indeed, if I\nhave done so excellent a writer as Mr. Hofberg, approximate justice in\nthis regard.\n\nI have taken the liberty to leave out a number of the author\u2019s notes as\nunimportant, and not likely to interest the general reader, also to\nfollow the stories with their notes instead of grouping them in the\nback of the book as in the original.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                   PAGE.\n    AUTHOR\u2019S PREFACE,                                 3\n    TRANSLATOR\u2019S PREFACE,                             4\n\n    SK\u00c5NE.\n    \n        LJUNGBY HORN AND PIPE,                       31\n        STOMPE PILT,                                 15\n        THE GHOST AT FJELKINGE,                      28\n        THE GIANT FINN AND LUND\u2019S CATHEDRAL,         17\n        THE LORD OF ROSENDAL,                        20\n        THE MASTER OF UGERUP,                        23\n        THE SURE SHOT,                               11\n        \n    BLEKINGE.\n\n        THE KNIGHT OF ELLENHOLM,                     39\n        THE SWAN MAIDEN,                             35\n\n    SM\u00c5LAND.\n\n        DAME SO\u00c5SAN,                                 47\n        EBBE SKAMELSON,                              60\n        JOHAN AND THE TROLLS,                        65\n        KATRINEHOLM MANOR,                           55\n        KETTIL RUNSKE,                               45\n        THE GIANT PUKE,                              52\n        THE LOST TREASURE,                           69\n        THE TROLLS OF SKURUGATA,                     42\n\n    G\u00d6TLAND.\n\n        THE BYSE,                                    77\n        THE SEA NYMPH,                               75\n        THE TEN FAIRY SERVANTS,                      71\n\n    \u00d6LAND.\n\n        THE BRIDGE OVER KALMARSOUND,                 78\n\n    HALLAND.\n\n        ELSTORPS WOODS,                              84\n        THE FREEBOOTER\u2019S GRAVE,                      89\n        THE PIGMY OF FOLKARED\u2019S CLIFF,               86\n        THE YOUNG LADY OF HELLERUP,                  80\n\n    BOHUSL\u00c4N.\n\n        GLOSHED\u2019S ALTAR,                             95\n        H\u00c5LDE-HAT,                                   99\n        KING RANE AND QUEEN HUDTA,                  107\n        THE BRIDAL PRESENT,                          97\n        THE CHILD PHANTOM,                          105\n        THE GIANT MAIDEN IN BOR\u00c5SER\u00d6D MOUNTAIN,      91\n        THE GOLDEN CRADLE,                          102\n\n    VESTERG\u00d6TLAND.\n\n        BISHOP SVEDBERG AND THE DEVIL,              117\n        THE COUNTESS OF H\u00d6JENTORP,                  111\n        THE GIANT OF SKALUNDA,                      113\n        THE KNIGHTS OF \u00c5LLABERG,                    109\n        THE TREASURE IN S\u00c4BY CREEK,                 119\n        THE TROLLS IN RESSLARED,                    115\n\n    \u00d6STERG\u00d6TLAND.\n\n        LADY BARBRO OF BROKIND,                     129\n        THE CAT OF NORRHULT,                        126\n        THE TOMTS,                                  122\n        THE TROLL SHOES,                            134\n        THE URKO OF NORTH WIJ,                      131\n\n    DAL.\n\n        BURIED ALIVE,                               140\n        THE MOUNTAIN KITCHEN,                       138\n        THE WOOD AND THE SEA NYMPHS,                136\n\n    VERMANLAND.\n\n        JONAS SPITS,                                141\n        LADY RANGELA OF EDSHOLM,                    143\n        SAXE OF SAXEHOLM,                           145\n        THE HARVESTERS,                             149\n        THE POLITE COAL BURNER,                     147\n\n    N\u00c4RIKE.\n\n        KATE OF YS\u00c4TTER,                            155\n        RUGGA BRIDGE,                               153\n        THE ELVES\u2019 DANCE,                           159\n        THE FIDDLER AND THE SEA NYMPH,              162\n        THE ULFGRYT STONES,                         150\n\n    VESTERMANLAND.\n\n        BOLSTRE CASTLE,                             174\n        THE COAL BURNER AND THE TROLL,              169\n        THE SNIPE,                                  164\n        TIBBLE CASTLE AND KLINTA SPRING,            166\n\n    S\u00d6DERMANLAND.\n\n        LAKE GOLDRING,                              184\n        THE CHANGELINGS,                            176\n        THE LADY OF PINTORP,                        179\n        THE TROLL GARDEN AT STALLSBACKE,            187\n\n    UPLAND.\n\n        HERR MELKER OF VECKHOLM,                    189\n        THE OLD MAN OF LOGGA,                       192\n\n    DALARNE.\n\n        B\u00d6LSBJ\u00d6RN,                                  197\n        THE LAPP IN MAGPIE FORM,                    200\n        THE PLAGUE,                                 203\n        THE TREASURE SEEKERS,                       198\n        THE WATER NYMPH,                            194\n\n    GESTRIKLAND.\n\n        THE V\u00c4TTERS,                                205\n\n    HELSINGLAND.\n\n        FORSSA CHURCH,                              208\n\n    MEDELPAD.\n\n        STARKAD AND BALE,                           209\n\n    \u00c5NGERMANLAND.\n\n        THE BELL IN SJ\u00c4LEVAD,                       212\n\n    HERJEDALEN.\n\n        THE V\u00c4TTS STOREHOUSE,                       214\n\n    J\u00c4MTLAND.\n\n        THE STONE IN GR\u00d6NAN DAL,                    216\n\n    VESTERBOTTEN.\n\n        THE VOYAGE IN A LAPP SLED,                  218\n\n    LAPPLAND.\n\n        KADNIHAK,                                   227\n        THE CUNNING LAPP,                           224\n        THE GIANT\u2019S BRIDE,                          221\n        THE LAPP GENESIS OR THE FIRST OF MANKIND,   219\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n                                                   PAGE.\n    BISHOP SVEDBERG AND THE DEVIL,                  117\n    BOLSTRE CASTLE,                                 174\n    DAME SO\u00c5SAN,                                     47\n    H\u00c5LDE-HAT,                                       99\n    HERR MELKER IN VECKHOLM,                        189\n    JOHAN AND THE TROLLS,                            65\n    JONAS SPITS,                                    141\n    KATE OF YS\u00c4TTER,                                155\n    KATRINEHOLM MANOR,                               55\n    LADY BARBRO OF BROKIND,                         129\n    STARKAD AND BALE,                               209\n    THE BRIDGE OVER KALMARSOUND,                     78\n    THE BELL IN SJ\u00c4LEVAD,                           212\n    THE CHILD PHANTOM,                              105\n    THE COAL BURNER AND THE TROLL,                  169\n    THE CUNNING LAPP,                               224\n    THE ELVES\u2019 DANCE,                               159\n    THE GHOST OF FJELKINGE,                          28\n    THE GIANT MAIDEN IN BOR\u00c5SER\u00d6D MOUNTAIN,          91\n    THE GIANT OF SKALUNDA,                          113\n    THE KNIGHTS OF \u00c5LLABERG,                        109\n    THE LADY OF PINTORP,                            179\n    THE LAPP IN MAGPIE FORM,                        200\n    THE LORD OF ROSENDAL,                            20\n    THE MOUNTAIN KITCHEN,                           138\n    THE PIGMY OF FOLKARED CLIFF,                     86\n    THE POLITE COAL BURNER,                         147\n    THE SNIPE,                                      164\n    THE STONE IN GR\u00d6NAN DAL,                        216\n    THE SURE SHOT,                                   11\n    THE SWAN MAIDEN,                                 35\n    THE TEN FAIRY SERVANTS,                          71\n    THE TOMTS,                                      122\n    THE TROLL GARDEN AT STALLSBACKE,                187\n    THE TROLLS OF SKURUGATA,                         41\n    THE TROLL SHOES,                                134\n    THE ULFGRYT STONES,                             150\n    THE V\u00c4TTERS,                                    205\n    THE V\u00c4TTS STOREHOUSE,                           214\n    THE WATER NYMPH,                                194\n    THE YOUNG LADY OF HELLERUP,                      80\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SURE SHOT. [1]\n\n\nIt is not alone in Bohemia\u2019s mountainous regions that the romantic\ncharacters are found which form the basis of Weber\u2019s immortal fictions.\nSimilar traditions are current in many lands, especially in ours, one\nof which we will now relate.\n\nIn the artless fancy of the peasantry the means of acquiring the power\nof unerring aim are many, the most usual by compact with the Fairies or\nWood Nymphs. While the compact lasts the possessor, sitting at his hut\ndoor, needs only to wish, and the game of his choice springs into view,\nand within range of his never-failing gun. Such a compact, however,\ninvariably ends in the destruction of the hunter.\n\nMany years ago there was a watchman up in the G\u00f6inge regions, a wild\nfellow, who, one evening, while drinking with his neighbors, more tipsy\nand more talkative as the hour grew late, boasted loudly of his\nmarksmanship, and offered to wager that, with his trusty gun, he could\ngive them such an exhibition of skill as they had never before seen.\n\n\u201cThere goes, as I speak,\u201d said he, \u201ca roe on Halland\u2019s Mountains.\u201d\n\nHis companions laughed at him, not believing that he could know what\nwas transpiring at a distance of several miles, which was the least\nthat lay between them and the spot indicated.\n\n\u201cI will wager you that I need go no farther than the door to shoot him\nfor you,\u201d persevered the watchman in defiant tones.\n\n\u201cNonsense!\u201d said the others.\n\n\u201cCome, will you wager something worth the while? Say two cans of ale.\u201d\n\n\u201cDone! Two cans of ale, it shall be.\u201d And the company betook themselves\nto the yard in front of the hut.\n\nIt was a frosty autumn evening. The wind chased the clouds over the\nsky, and the half moon cast fitful reflections through the breaks over\nthe neighborhood. In a few minutes a something was seen moving rapidly\nalong the edge of a thicket on the farther side of a little glade. The\nwatchman threw his gun carelessly to his shoulder and fired. A derisive\nlaugh was echo to the report. No mortal, thought they, in such\nuncertain light and at such a distance, could shoot a deer in flight.\n\nThe watchman, certain of his game, hastened across the glade, followed\nby his companions, to whom the event meant, at least, two cans of ale.\n\nIt would not be easy to picture the surprise of the doubters, when,\nupon arriving at the thicket, they discovered, lying upon the ground,\nbathed in foam and his tongue hanging from his mouth, a magnificent\nstag, pierced through the heart by the deadly bullet, his life blood\nfast coloring his bed of autumn leaves a brighter hue.\n\nWhat unseen power has brought this poor animal from Halland\u2019s Mountains\nin a bare half hour? Such were the thoughts of the watchman\u2019s\ncompanions as they retired in silence to the hut.\n\nThe watchman received his two cans of ale, but no one seemed inclined\nto join him in disposing of them. They now understood with what sort of\na man they were having to do. It was evident to them that the watchman\nwas in league with the Evil One himself, and they henceforth guarded\nthemselves carefully against companionship with him after dark.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSTOMPE PILT.\n\n\nAt a little distance from Baal Mountain, in the parish of Filkestad, in\nWilland\u2019s H\u00e4rad, lies a hill where, formerly, lived a giant named\nStompe Pilt.\n\nIt happened one day, that a Goatherd came that way, driving his goats\nbefore him, up the hill.\n\n\u201cWho comes there?\u201d demanded the Giant, rushing out of the hill, with a\nlarge flint stone in his fist, when he discovered the Goatherd.\n\n\u201cIt is I, if you will know,\u201d responded the Herder, continuing his way\nup the hill with his flock.\n\n\u201cIf you come up here I will squeeze you into fragments as I do this\nstone,\u201d shrieked the Giant, and crushed the stone between his fingers\ninto fine sand.\n\n\u201cThen I will squeeze water out of you as I do out of this stone,\u201d\nreplied the Herder, taking a new-made cheese from his bag and squeezing\nit so that the whey ran between his fingers to the ground.\n\n\u201cAre you not afraid?\u201d asked the Giant.\n\n\u201cNot of you,\u201d replied the Herder.\n\n\u201cThen let us fight,\u201d continued Stompe Pilt.\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d responded the Goatherd, \u201cbut let us first taunt each other\nso that we will become right angry, for taunting will beget anger and\nanger will give us cause to fight.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, and I will begin,\u201d said the Giant.\n\n\u201cGo ahead, and I will follow you,\u201d said the Herder.\n\n\u201cYou shall become a crooked nose hobgoblin,\u201d cried the Giant.\n\n\u201cYou shall become a flying devil,\u201d retorted the Herder, and from his\nbow shot a sharp arrow into the body of the Giant.\n\n\u201cWhat is that?\u201d inquired the Giant, endeavoring to pull the arrow from\nhis flesh.\n\n\u201cThat is a taunt,\u201d replied the Herder.\n\n\u201cWhy has it feathers?\u201d asked the Giant.\n\n\u201cIn order that it may fly straight and rapidly,\u201d answered the Herder.\n\n\u201cWhy does it stick so fast?\u201d asked the Giant.\n\n\u201cBecause it has taken root in your body,\u201d was the answer.\n\n\u201cHave you more of such?\u201d inquired the Giant.\n\n\u201cThere, you have another,\u201d said the Herder, and shot another arrow into\nthe Giant\u2019s body.\n\n\u201cAj! aj!\u201d shrieked Stompe Pilt; \u201care you not angry enough to fight?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I have not yet taunted you enough,\u201d replied the Herder, setting an\narrow to his bowstring.\n\n\u201cDrive your goats where you will. I can\u2019t endure your taunting, much\nless your blows,\u201d shrieked Stompe Pilt, and sprang into the hill again.\n\nThus the Herder was saved by means of his bravery and ingenuity.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANT FINN AND LUND\u2019S CATHEDRAL. [2]\n\n\nIn the days long gone by there lived in Helgonabacken\u2014the Hills of\nHelgona\u2014near Lund, a family of giants who one day heard, with great\nanxiety and consternation, that a holy man had come into the country,\nfrom Saxony, to build a church to the White Christ.\n\nWhile Laurentius, such was the holy man\u2019s name, was selecting his site\nand laying out the plans for the temple, there stood at his side, one\nday, none other than Finn, the giant of Helgonabacken, who thus\naddressed him: \u201cTruly the White Christ is a God worthy of such a\ntemple, and I will build it for you, if, when it is finished, you will\ntell me what my name is; but, mark well my condition, oh, wise man, if\nyou can not tell me, you must give to my little ones the two small\ntorches\u2014the sun and the moon\u2014that travel yonder over heaven\u2019s expanse.\u201d\n\nNow, it is so ordered in the giant world that it is of vital importance\nthe name of the giant should be kept from mankind. Should it be\nrevealed the giant must die, and man is freed from all obligations that\nmay have been imposed upon him by compact with the giant.\n\nLaurentius could not reasonably promise so much but anxious to have the\nchurch built, he offered, instead, his eyes, trusting to fortune to\ndiscover to him the giant\u2019s name before the completion of the church.\nThe giant, satisfied with the bargain, entered at once upon his work,\nand with wonderful rapidity the church grew upward. Soon there remained\nnothing more to complete it than to set one stone on the tower.\n\nThe day preceding that on which it was expected this last stone would\nbe put in place Laurentius stood on Helgonabacken in deep melancholy.\nIt seemed inevitable that he must lose his eyes, and that he was now\ntaking his last look at the light of heaven and all that had made the\nworld and life so attractive to him. Next day all would be darkness and\nsorrow. During these gloomy reflections he heard the cry of a child\nfrom within the hill, and the voice of the giant mother endeavoring to\nquiet it with a song, in which he clearly distinguished the words:\n\u201cSilent, silent, little son of mine, morning will bring your father\nFinn, with either moon and sun or the priest Laurentius\u2019 eyes.\u201d\n\nBeside himself with joy, Laurentius hastened to the church. \u201cCome down,\nFinn!\u201d he cried, \u201cthe stone that now remains we ourselves can set\u2014come\ndown, Finn, we no longer need your help!\u201d\n\nFoaming with rage, the Giant rushed from the tower to the ground, and\nlaying hold of one of the pillars tried to pull the church down. At\nthis instant his wife with her child joined him. She, too, grasped a\npillar and would help her husband in the work of destruction, but just\nas the building was tottering to the point of falling, they were both\nturned to stones, and there they lie to-day, each embracing a pillar.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LORD OF ROSENDAL. [3]\n\n\nIn the beginning of the Sixteenth Century there lived in Sk\u00e5ne a\nnobleman, Andres Bille, Lord of Rosendal, who was very severe toward\nhis dependents, and it was not unusual that a disobedient servant was\nput in chains, and even into the castle dungeons.\n\nOne day Bille\u2019s intended made a visit to Rosendal. Upon entering the\ncourt-yard almost the first object that attracted her attention was a\npeasant tethered like a horse. She inquiring as to the cause of such\ntreatment, Bille informed her that the servant had come late to work,\nand was now suffering only well-merited punishment. The young woman\nbegged Bille to set the man at liberty, but this he refused to do, and\ntold her, emphatically, that she must not interpose in his affairs.\n\n\u201cWhen the intended wife,\u201d said the young lady, as she returned to her\ncarriage, \u201cis refused a boon so small, what will be the fate of the\nwife?\u201d and thereupon she commanded her coachman to drive her home at\nonce, and resolved to come no more to Rosendal.\n\nPeople predicted that such a heartless man could not possibly be at\nrest in his grave, and true to the prediction, Bille, after his death\nand burial, came every night, in spirit, to Rosendal. Halting his white\nteam in the court-yard, with stealthy steps he would make his way to\nhis former bed-chamber where he would spend the night until cock-crow.\nIf the bed had been prepared all was quiet in the chamber, otherwise\nsuch a dreadful noise followed that there was no such thing as sleep in\nthe castle. Always, upon going to the room in the morning, the bed\nclothes were found tossed about and soiled as if a dog had occupied the\nbed.\n\nWhen the specter had gone on in this manner for a number of years, the\nnew owner of the estate applied to a pious priest in H\u00e4sslunda, Master\nSteffan, and begged him to put a stop to these troublesome visits. To\nthis end the priest, one day, accompanied by a fellow priest, set out\nfor Kropp\u2019s Church, where Bille was buried. On the stroke of 12\no\u2019clock, midnight, the grave opened and the ghost of the dead lord\nstepped forth. Father Steffan\u2019s companion at once took to his heels,\nbut Father Steffan remained and began to read from a book he had with\nhim. During the reading the ghost became larger and larger, but the\npriest would not be frightened. Finally the apparition interrupted the\nreading and addressed the priest.\n\n\u201cIs that you, Steffan, the goose thief?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is, indeed, I,\u201d replied the priest, \u201cand it is true that in my\nboyhood I stole a goose, but with the money received for the goose I\nbought a Bible, and with that Bible I will send you to hell, you evil\nspirit.\u201d Whereupon he struck the specter such a blow on the forehead\nwith the Bible that it sank again into purgatory.\n\nUnfortunately, because of the truth of Bille\u2019s accusation and that it\ncame from Bille, the priest\u2019s prayers and reading lost much of potency,\nand he was unable to enforce upon the ghost entire quietude.\nNevertheless, so much was accomplished that Bille now comes to Rosendal\nonly once a year.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MASTER OF UGERUP. [4]\n\n\nIn the parish of K\u00f6pinge, on the northern bank of a stream which, a\nshort distance below Lake Helga, flows into the river Helga, lies an\nold mansion, Ugerup or Ugarp, known in early days as the seat of the\nUgerup family, famous in the history of Denmark.\n\nIn the middle of the Sixteenth Century the estate was owned by Senator\nAxel Ugerup. On the N\u00e4s estate, a few miles distant, dwelt the wealthy\nTage Thott, at that time one of the richest men in Sk\u00e5ne.\n\nHerr Arild, Alex Ugerup\u2019s son, and Thale, Tage Thott\u2019s fair daughter,\nhad, it may be said, grown up together, and even in childhood, had\nconceived a strong love for each other.\n\nWhen Arild was yet a young man he was made embassador to Sweden by the\nDanish Government, in which capacity he took part in the coronation of\nErik XIV. Upon his return to Ugerup he renewed his attentions to his\nboyhood\u2019s love, and without difficulty obtained her consent and that of\nher parents to a union.\n\nNot long thereafter war broke out between Sweden and Denmark. With\nanxiety and distress the lovers heard the call to arms. The flower of\nDanish knighthood hastened to place themselves under the ensign of\ntheir country, where even for Arild Ugerup a place was prepared. At\nleave taking the lovers promised each other eternal fidelity, and Arild\nwas soon in Copenhagen, where he was given a position in the navy.\n\nIn the beginning the Danes met with some success, but soon the tables\nwere turned. At \u00d6land Klas Kristenson Horn defeated the united Danish\nand Leibich flotillas, capturing three ships, with their crews and\nbelongings. Among the captured was Arild Ugerup, who was carried, a\nprisoner, to Stockholm, where three short years before he was an\nhonored visitor and won his knightly spurs.\n\nThe friends of Arild entertained little hope that they would ever see\nhim again, and his rivals for the hand of Thale persistently renewed\ntheir suits. Tage Thott, who saw his daughter decline the attentions of\none lover after another, decided, finally, that this conduct must not\ncontinue, and made known to his daughter that she must choose a husband\nfrom among the many available and desirable young men seeking her hand.\nThale took this announcement very much to heart, but her prayers and\ntears were without avail. Spring succeeded winter and no Arild came.\nMeanwhile, the unrelenting father had made a choice and fixed upon a\nday when the union should take place.\n\nDuring this time Arild, languishing in his prison, busied his brain in\nthe effort to find some means of escape, but plan after plan was\nrejected as impracticable, until it occurred to him to make use of his\nrank and acquaintance with the King. So, not long thereafter, he sent\nto King Erik a petition, asking permission to go home on parole, for\nthe purpose of solemnizing his wedding, also to be permitted to remain\nlong enough in Ugerup to sow and gather his crops. The King readily\ngranted his petition, since Arild promised, on his knightly honor, to\nreturn to his confinement as soon as his harvest was ripe.\n\nHe at once hastened to Sk\u00e5ne where he was not long in learning what had\ntranspired during his absence, and that Thale, at her father\u2019s bidding,\nwas about to be wedded to another. Continuing his journey to N\u00e4s, where\nhis arrival caused both rejoicing and consternation, he presented\nhimself to Tage and demanded Thale to wife, as had been promised him.\nKnight Tage, however, would not listen to such a thing as a change from\nhis plans, and declared firmly that his daughter should belong to him\nwhom he had selected for her, but Arild made a speedy end to the\ntrouble. By strategy, he carried his bride away in secret to Denmark,\nwhere they were shortly afterward married. Tage, outwitted, made the\nbest of the matter and accepted the situation, whereupon Arild and his\nwife returned to Ugerup.\n\nArild now had time to think about his promise to the King, and how he\nmight, at the same time, keep it and not be separated from his wife. It\nwould now profit to sow seeds that would not mature soon, so the fields\nthat had heretofore been devoted to corn were planted with the seeds of\nthe pine tree.\n\nWhen the autumn had passed, and the King thought the harvest must, by\nthis time, have been gathered, he sent Arild a request to come to\nStockholm. But Arild convinced the messenger that his seeds had not yet\nsprouted, much less ripened.\n\nWhen King Erik was made acquainted with the state of affairs, he could\ndo no less than approve the ingenious method adopted by Arild to obtain\nhis freedom without breaking his word, and allowed the matter to rest.\n\nThe product of Arild\u2019s pine seeds is now shown in a magnificent forest\nat Ugerup.\n\nMany other stories are told in Sk\u00e5ne about Arild Ugerup and his wife.\nAmong others, it is related of the former that he was endowed with\nmarvelous strength, and that in the arch of the gateway opening into\nthe estate was a pair of iron hooks, which, when coming home from\nHelsingborg, Arild was wont to catch hold of, and lift himself and\nhorse together some distance off the ground, after which little\nexercise he would ride on.\n\nHis wife, Thale, was, like her husband, very strong, very good and\nbenevolent, likewise very generous toward her dependents. A story is\ntold of her, that one mid-summer evening, when the servants of the\nestate were gathered on the green for a dance, she requested her\nhusband to give the people as much food and drink as she could carry at\none load, and her request being, of course, granted, she piled up two\ngreat heaps of beef, pork and bread, which, with two barrels of ale,\none under each arm, she carried out onto the green, with ease.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GHOST AT FJELKINGE.\n\n\nDuring the early half of the Seventeenth Century many of the best\nestates in Sk\u00e5ne belonged to the family of Barkenow, or more correctly,\nto the principal representative of the family, Madame Margaretta\nBarkenow, daughter of the renowned general and governor-general, Count\nRutger Von Ascheberg, and wife of Colonel Kjell Kristofer Barkenow.\n\nA widow at twenty-nine, she took upon herself the management of her\nmany estates, in the conduct of which she ever manifested an\nindomitable, indefatigable energy, and a never-ceasing care for her\nnumerous dependents.\n\nOn a journey over her estates, Madame Margaretta came, one evening, to\nFjelkinge\u2019s inn, and persisted in sleeping in a room which was called\nthe \u201cghost\u2019s room.\u201d A traveler had, a few years before, slept in this\nroom, and as it was supposed had been murdered, at least the man and\nhis effects had disappeared, leaving no trace of what had become of\nthem. After this his ghost appeared in the room nightly, and those who\nwere acquainted with the circumstance, traveled to the next post, in\nthe dark, rather than choose such quarters for the night. Margaretta\nwas, however, not among this number. She possessed greater courage, and\nwithout fear chose the chamber for her sleeping room.\n\nAfter her evening prayers she retired to bed and sleep, leaving the\nlamp burning. At twelve o\u2019clock she was awakened by the lifting up of\ntwo boards in the floor, and from the opening a bloody form appeared,\nwith a cloven head hanging upon its shoulders.\n\n\u201cNoble lady,\u201d whispered the apparition, \u201cI beg you prepare, for a\nmurdered man, a resting place in consecrated ground, and speed the\nmurderer to his just punishment.\u201d\n\nPure in heart, therefore not alarmed, Lady Margaretta beckoned the\napparition to come nearer, which it did, informing her that it had\nentreated others, who after the murder had slept in the room, but that\nnone had the courage to comply. Then Lady Margaretta took from her\nfinger a gold ring, laid it in the gaping wound, and bound the\napparition\u2019s head up with her pocket handerchief. With a glance of\nunspeakable thankfulness the ghost revealed the name of the murderer\nand disappeared noiselessly beneath the floor.\n\nThe following morning Lady Margaretta instructed the bailiff of the\nestate to assemble the people at the post house, where she informed\nthem what had happened during the night, and commanded that the planks\nof the floor be taken up. Here, under the ground, was discovered a half\ndecomposed corpse, with the countess\u2019 ring in the hole in its skull,\nand her handkerchief bound around its head.\n\nAt sight of this, one of those present grew pale and fainted to the\nground. Upon being revived he confessed that he had murdered the\ntraveler and robbed him of his goods. He was condemned to death for his\ncrime, and the murdered man received burial in the parish church-yard.\n\nThe ring, which is peculiarly formed and set with a large grayish\nchased stone, remains even now in the keeping of the Barkenow family,\nand is believed to possess miraculous powers in sickness, against evil\nspirits and other misfortunes. When one of the family dies it is said\nthat a red, bloodlike spot appears upon the stone.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLJUNGBY HORN AND PIPE. [5]\n\n\nOn the estates of Ljungby there lies a large stone called Maglestone,\nunder which the Trolls, in olden times, were wont to assemble and, with\ndancing and games, celebrate their Christmas.\n\nOne Christmas night Lady Cissela Ulfstand, sitting in her mansion,\nlistening to the merry-making of the Trolls under the stone, and\ncurious to have a better knowledge of these mysterious mountain people,\nassembled her menservants and promised the best horse in her stables to\nhim who would ride to Maglestone, at Vesper hour, and bring her a full\naccount of the doings there.\n\nOne of her swains, a daring young fellow, accepted the offer, and a\nlittle later set out on his way. Arriving at the stone, he discovered\nit lifted from the ground, supported on pillars of gold, and under it\nthe Trolls in the midst of their revelry.\n\nUpon discovering the horseman a young Troll woman, leaving the others,\napproached him bearing a drinking horn and pipe. These, upon reaching\nhis side, she placed in the young man\u2019s hand, with directions to first\ndrink from the horn to the health of the Mountain King, then blow three\ntimes on the pipe, at the same time whispering some words of caution in\nhis ears, whereupon he threw the contents of the horn over his shoulder\nand set off at the utmost speed, over fields and meadows, toward home.\nThe Trolls followed him closely with great clamor, but he flew before\nthem across the drawbridge, which was at once pulled up, and proceeded\nto place the horn and pipe in the hands of his mistress.\n\nOutside, across the moat, the Trolls now stood, promising Lady Cissela\ngreat happiness and riches if she would return to them their horn and\npipe, and declaring that, otherwise, great misfortune and destruction\nwould overtake her and her family, and that it should go especially\nhard with the young man who had dared to deprive them of the precious\narticles. True to the predictions, the young man died on the third day\nthereafter and the horse which he rode fell dead a day later.\n\nDuring the war of 1645 Field Marshal Gustaf Horn, whose headquarters\nwere at Fjelkinge, having heard this story, and wishing to see the horn\nand pipe, requested that they be brought to him. The possessor, Axel\nGyllerstierna, who then owned Ljungby, forwarded them, accompanied with\nearnest prayers that they be returned to him as soon as possible.\nHorn\u2019s curiosity was soon satisfied, and he felt no desire to retain\nthem longer in his possession, for while he did he was disturbed every\nnight by unseemly noises about his quarters, which ceased, when, under\nthe escort of a company of cavalry, he sent them back to Ljungby.\n\nTen years later there took place a still more wonderful circumstance.\nHenrik Nilsson, the priest at Ljungby, borrowed the strange articles\nfor the purpose of showing them to his brothers-in-law who were then\nvisiting him. During the night the priest\u2019s mother-in-law, Lady Anna\nConradi, who was one of the family, was awakened by the light of a\ncandle in her room. The bed curtains were drawn back and upon her bed a\nbasket was dropped wherein sat five small children, who in chorus set\nup a cry:\n\n\u201cO you, who are noted for your kindness, please return to us our horn!\u201d\n\nTo her question why they desired it and what value it had to them, they\nanswered:\n\n\u201cFor our people\u2019s sake.\u201d\n\nWhen she would no longer listen to their pleading they departed, saying\nthey would come again three nights later.\n\nOn Thursday night, and the third following their first visit, there was\nagain a light in her room. When Lady Anna drew back the bed curtain she\ndiscovered her chamber occupied by a great number of little men, and\namong them the Troll King himself, approaching her under a canopy of\nsilver cloth upheld on silver poles borne by four servants. His skin\nwas a dark brown and his hair, of which only a tuft was left on his\nforehead and one by each ear, black and woolly. Softly he neared the\nbed, holding forth a horn richly adorned with gold chains and massive\ngold buttons, which he proffered the lady in exchange for the genuine\nhorn. But she was not to be persuaded, and consigned them to God, if\nthey belonged to him, and to the devil, if they were his offspring,\nwhereupon the Trolls quietly and sorrowfully departed.\n\nSoon thereafter it was reported that a peasant\u2019s child had been carried\noff by the Trolls. By means of ringing the church bells it was,\nhowever, returned to its mother. The boy related that the Trolls were\nnot pretty, but had large noses and mouths; that the man under\nMaglestone was called Klausa and his wife Otta. That they sucked the\nmoisture from the food of mankind and so sustained themselves; that\nthey obeyed one king; that they were often at variance with each other,\nalso, that they spoke the language of the country. Lord Chancellor\nCoyet, who published, \u201cA Narrative of Ljungby Horn and Pipe,\u201d dated\nFebruary 11, 1692, says that he knew this boy, who was then\ntwenty-seven years old, also his mother, but admits that both were\ndisposed to superstition and that their understandings were as feeble\nas their bodies.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SWAN MAIDEN. [6]\n\n\nA young peasant, in the parish of Mellby, who often amused himself with\nhunting, saw one day three swans flying toward him, which settled down\nupon the strand of a sound near by.\n\nApproaching the place, he was astonished at seeing the three swans\ndivest themselves of their feathery attire, which they threw into the\ngrass, and three maidens of dazzling beauty step forth and spring into\nthe water.\n\nAfter sporting in the waves awhile they returned to the land, where\nthey resumed their former garb and shape and flew away in the same\ndirection from which they came.\n\nOne of them, the youngest and fairest, had, in the meantime, so smitten\nthe young hunter that neither night nor day could he tear his thoughts\nfrom the bright image.\n\nHis mother, noticing that something was wrong with her son, and that\nthe chase, which had formerly been his favorite pleasure, had lost its\nattractions, asked him finally the cause of his melancholy, whereupon\nhe related to her what he had seen, and declared that there was no\nlonger any happiness in this life for him if he could not possess the\nfair swan maiden.\n\n\u201cNothing is easier,\u201d said the mother. \u201cGo at sunset next Thursday\nevening to the place where you last saw her. When the three swans come\ngive attention to where your chosen one lays her feathery garb, take it\nand hasten away.\u201d\n\nThe young man listened to his mother\u2019s instructions, and, betaking\nhimself, the following Thursday evening, to a convenient hiding place\nnear the sound, he waited, with impatience, the coming of the swans.\nThe sun was just sinking behind the trees when the young man\u2019s ears\nwere greeted by a whizzing in the air, and the three swans settled down\nupon the beach, as on their former visit.\n\nAs soon as they had laid off their swan attire they were again\ntransformed into the most beautiful maidens, and, springing out upon\nthe white sand, they were soon enjoying themselves in the water.\n\nFrom his hiding place the young hunter had taken careful note of where\nhis enchantress had laid her swan feathers. Stealing softly forth, he\ntook them and returned to his place of concealment in the surrounding\nfoliage.\n\nSoon thereafter two of the swans were heard to fly away, but the third,\nin search of her clothes, discovered the young man, before whom,\nbelieving him responsible for their disappearance, she fell upon her\nknees and prayed that her swan attire might be returned to her. The\nhunter was, however, unwilling to yield the beautiful prize, and,\ncasting a cloak around her shoulders, carried her home.\n\nPreparations were soon made for a magnificent wedding, which took place\nin due form, and the couple dwelt lovingly and contentedly together.\n\nOne Thursday evening, seven years later, the hunter related to her how\nhe had sought and won his wife. He brought forth and showed her, also,\nthe white swan feathers of her former days. No sooner were they placed\nin her hands than she was transformed once more into a swan, and\ninstantly took flight through the open window. In breathless\nastonishment, the man stared wildly after his rapidly vanishing wife,\nand before a year and a day had passed, he was laid, with his longings\nand sorrows, in his allotted place in the village church-yard.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE KNIGHT OF ELLENHOLM.\n\n\nMany, many years ago there lived, in Ellenholm Castle, a knight, who,\nwishing to attend Christmas matins at Morrum\u2019s Church, with a long\njourney before him, and anxious to be present if possible at first\nmatins, set out from the castle, accompanied by his groom, immediately\nafter midnight. Some distance on the way, feeling sleepy, he instructed\nthe groom to ride on while he dismounted and sat down by the roadside,\nat the foot of a mountain, to take a nap and refresh himself.\n\nHe had been sitting only a few minutes when a monster giantess came and\nbade him follow her into the mountain, which he did, and was conducted\nto the presence of her giant husband. Here all kinds of tempting viands\nwere set before him, but the Knight, who knew well into what kind of\ncompany he had fallen, declined to partake of the food.\n\nOffended at this, the woman drew forth a knife and addressed the\nKnight:\n\n\u201cDo you recognize this? It is the one with which you chopped me in the\nthigh when, one time, I was gathering hay for my calves. Father, what\ndo you think we ought to do with him?\u201d\n\n\u201cLet him go,\u201d said the Giant. \u201cWe can do nothing to him for he invokes\nthe Great Master too much.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo be it,\u201d said the Giantess, \u201cbut he shall have something to remember\nme by.\u201d Whereupon she broke the Knight\u2019s little finger.\n\nHe soon discovered himself in the open air again, and the groom who had\nreturned to search for his master found him in the place where he had\nleft him, but with a little finger broken\u2014a warning to every one not to\nsleep on the way to church.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TROLLS OF SKURUGATA. [7]\n\n\nIt is generally understood that Trolls, when their territory is\nencroached upon by mankind, withdraw to some more secluded place. So\nwhen Eksj\u00f6 was built, those that dwelt in that vicinity moved to\nSkurugata, a defile between two high mountains whose perpendicular\nsides rise so near to each other as to leave the bottom in continual\nsemi-darkness and gloom.\n\nHere, it may be supposed, they were left in peace and tranquility. Not\nso, however, for it is related that upon the occasion of the annual\nmeeting of troops at R\u00e4nnesl\u00e4tt, a whole battalion of Sm\u00e5land\ngrenadiers repeatedly marched through, with beating drums and blowing\nhorns, and that sometimes they fired a volley from their guns, which so\nalarmed the Trolls that it is now a question whether any are still\nremaining there.\n\nIn the neighborhood of the same mountain gulch is a very sacred\nfountain where those living thereabouts, in former times are said to\nhave offered sacrifices to their patron saint. Whether this custom is\nnow continued is not known. As intelligence increases this and all\nother peculiar customs will soon belong entirely to the province of\ntradition. A few decades ago this was not so; then one could, according\nto the narrations of old men and women, have had the pleasure of both\nseeing and talking with the Trolls.\n\nThere was once a hunter named Pelle Katt, who, one day, went to\nSkurugata for the purpose of shooting woodcock, but though it was the\nmating season, when birds are ordinarily plenty and tame, the hunt was\nunsuccessful. It was as though ordained. The puffy woodcock and his\nhens kept out of the way of the murderous shot. Pelle was angry, and\nsuspecting that the Trolls had bewitched his gun, he swore and cursed\nthe Trolls generally, and especially those that lived in Skurugata,\nwhose mouth he was just passing, when a woman stepped out, small in\nstature and peculiar in feature, bearing a little poodle dog in her\narms.\n\n\u201cI bring you greeting from my mistress; she says you are to shoot this\ndog,\u201d said she, approaching Pelle.\n\n\u201cTie it there to that tree and it shall be done before it can get upon\nits feet,\u201d answered Pelle.\n\nThis was done, and the little woman disappeared between the mountains.\nPelle raised his gun and sent a charge of shot through the dog\u2019s head.\nBut what a sight met his gaze when the smoke had disappeared! There lay\nhis own little child wrapped in a dog\u2019s hide.\n\nPelle Katt\u2019s habits were not the best. He was fond of drink,\nquarrelsome and boisterous, and often in his drunken fits declared that\nhe feared neither God nor the devil.\n\nNow, for the first time in his life, he was amazed and crestfallen.\n\n\u201cO God! What have I now done!\u201d he cried.\n\nHis knees smote together and the sweat ran copiously from every pore.\n\n\u201cHere you have your reward,\u201d said the Troll woman, who now reappeared\nand threw a dollar piece to Pelle, so that it fell in his open hand, to\nwhich it stuck fast, and hastily picking up the dead child bore it\naway.\n\nIn a rage, Pelle threw the dollar piece after the vanishing figure, at\nthe same time calling out:\n\n\u201cI will take no pay from you for such a deed. Here you have your gift\nagain, you detestable Troll.\u201d\n\nA hoarse laugh answered from the mountain.\n\nPelle went home. The child was absent. His wife cried, but Pelle kept\nstill and went to the ale house. He had no money with which to buy\nbrandy in order to drown his sorrows, but after his old custom he stuck\nhis fingers in his vest pocket to feel if there might not be a penny\nthere. Behold! There was the dollar piece which he had recently cast\nfrom him. He dropped it upon the ale house counter and received a drink\nwhich truly made him forget his dead child, his wife, himself, heaven,\nhell and all.\n\nWhen he became sober the coin was again found in his pocket. He again\nthrew it away, and several times thereafter, but always found it in his\npocket when searching it for money. So he continued to drink more and\nmore daily, until, finally, he drank himself into that sleep that knows\nno waking.\n\nSo goes the story of Pelle Katt and the Trolls in Skurugata.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKETTIL RUNSKE. [8]\n\n\nOn the island of Vising, in Lake Vetter, there lived in olden times,\ntwo mighty kings, the one in N\u00e4sbo and the other in the castle of\nBorga, at opposite extremities of the island. A controversy arising\nabout the division of land, the King of N\u00e4sbo consulted a Troll named\nGilbertil, who lived in the parish of \u00d6lmstad, in \u00d6sterg\u00f6tland, and\nengaged him to dig a ditch through the island, thus dividing it into\ntwo parts. Gilbertil undertook the work, and began digging at N\u00e4s,\nwhere a deep pit, even to this day, is pointed out as marking the spot.\nWhen the king of Borga became aware of this, he sent an invitation to\nKettil Runske, another notorious Troll man who lived in the parish of\nHabo, in Vesterg\u00f6tland. Kettil Runske accepted the invitation, and at\nonce set out for the island with the returning messengers, to whom his\npresence on the boat, though he was invisible, was made known because\nof the boat being borne down into the water to its gunwale. They were\nalso made aware of his departure from them, when they neared the\ncastle, by the sudden rising of the boat as if relieved of a heavy\nburden.\n\nTo accomplish his undertaking, Gilbertil intended, apparently, to make\nan underground canal from shore to shore of the island, and allow the\nwater to complete the excavation, and had already progressed to a point\njust north of Kumlaby, about half way through the island, when Kettil\ndiscovered his whereabouts, and opening the grounds above him commanded\nGilbertil to cease digging. Gilbertil met the command with mockery and\nscorn, whereupon Kettil threw his Troll staff at him. Gilbertil\nintercepted the missile in the air, but his hands clove to the staff so\nthat he could not free them. In the effort to release himself he\nendeavored to break it with his feet, but they also stuck to it. In\nextreme rage he then attempted to tear himself loose with his teeth,\nwhich also became fastened. Thus bound, hands, feet and mouth, Kettil\nthrew him into the deep hole which is now to be seen in the meadow of\nKumlaby, and which has received the name of Gilbertil\u2019s hole.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDAME SO\u00c5SAN. [9]\n\n\nIn early times there lived in So\u00e5san, a range of hills not far from the\nwell-known city of Eksj\u00f6, a woman Troll who was called Dame So\u00e5san. She\nand her forefathers had, for ages, dwelt there, but when the soldiers\ncame and fired their guns\u2014cracked their nuts, as the mountain folk\nexpressed it\u2014on the camp ground of R\u00e4nnesl\u00e4tt, the place became\nintolerable to her and she departed to her sister\u2019s, an equally\ndistinguished Troll, who lived in Skurugata, which has been mentioned\nin a preceding story.\n\nDame So\u00e5san was very clever and rich, also the possessor of a very bad\ntemper. It was advisable, therefore, not to anger her in any way, for\nsuch as were so unfortunate were instantly punished.\n\nA trooper of that time, belonging to the Hussars of Sm\u00e5land, by name\nGrevendal, serving under Apelarp in Flisby parish, stood one morning on\nguard in a distant part of the drill grounds, when he saw, wandering\ntoward him, along the edge of a wood, a very little old woman, whom he\nrashly assailed with scoffing and vile epithets, whereupon he received\na blow on the ear from some unseen hand, which sent him flying to the\ntop of a tall pine tree near by, where he remained unable to descend\nuntil assisted down by his comrades.\n\nToward those who were careful not to offend her the woman exhibited\nmuch kindness and extended many favors. A poor old woman of the human\nfamily living near So\u00e5san, in a little hut, was one time in great\ndistress, her table bare and no one near to help her, with famine,\nalready a guest in her hut, menacing her with terrible glare.\n\nLate one evening a knock was heard upon the hut door.\n\n\u201cCome in, in the name of the Lord,\u201d answered the old woman, wondering\nwho her visitor might be.\n\n\u201cIn that name I can not enter, but here is work for you from the\nmistress of the mountain. Spin beautiful yarn, but do not wet the\nthreads with spittle, for then it will become christened and that the\nmadam will not tolerate.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere shall I leave the yarn?\u201d asked the trembling woman.\n\n\u201cGo straight forward into the woods, where you will find a smooth green\nlawn. Lay the yarn there and next day you shall have your pay.\u201d\n\nThe old woman began at once to spin the flax which she found outside\nthe cottage door, but during the work stood a vessel of water beside\nher with which to wet the thread.\n\nThe yarn was soon finished and she betook herself, with profit and\npleasure in prospect, to the wood. As the Troll\u2019s servant maid had\ndeclared she came to a beautiful glade encircled by high trees. She\nthere laid down the yarn and hastened to return home, not daring to\nlook behind her. The next day she went again to the spot and found a\nnew bundle of flax, also several silver pieces.\n\nNow followed a period of prosperity for the poor woman. She accumulated\nmoney from her work, became rich, but at the same time avaricious, and\nforgot the prayers, which she had never before neglected, when she\nretired to rest.\n\nFinally, she did not even trouble herself to keep faith with the\nTrolls, but spun the yarn according to general custom, wetting the\nthread with her spittle.\n\nThe skeins of yarn were deposited in the usual place, but when she went\nthe next day to get her reward she was unable to find the glade again,\nand in the end went astray in the woods, from which she did not succeed\nin finding her way home before a whole day later. Upon arriving home,\nas was her every-day custom, she brought forth and was about to count\nover her money, when she found that all the silver pieces had been\ntransformed into small stones.\n\nWant pursued her now with greater severity than ever, for none would\nhelp one who was known to have had to do with the infamous So\u00e5san dame,\nand the old woman died shortly after in great poverty and distress.\n\n\n\nA girl who many years ago was a servant in the house of a Senator of\nEksj\u00f6, named Lind, went one day to find the cattle, which usually\ngrazed in the woods surrounding So\u00e5san. The animals, for some time\nback, had not thrived upon the pastures allotted them and were wont to\nwander far away in search of food, it was supposed, so, at times the\ngirl, notwithstanding the most diligent search, was unable to find\nthem, and when they were found, the cows had already been milked. This\nday she went plodding sadly along through the dark woods, thinking of\nthe scolding which awaited her at home, when she returned with neither\ncows nor milk; her mind was also busied with the many stories she had\nheard about ghosts and Trolls who infested the woods, when she saw two\npair of Pigmies, a boy and girl, sitting under the shadow of a large\npine tree.\n\n\u201cIt is best to be polite when on the Trolls\u2019 own ground,\u201d thought the\ngirl. Whereupon she addressed the Troll infants in a very friendly\nmanner and invited each to partake of some bread and butter which she\nhad with her in her little bag. The children ate with exceeding greed,\na disgusting sight, as they had extremely large mouths into which the\nbread and butter vanished rapidly. When the girl was about to depart\nshe heard a voice saying, \u201cAs you have taken pity on my children, you\nshall hereafter escape searching after the cows. Go home! They stand at\nthe gate.\u201d\n\nFrom that day the girl no longer had to search for the cows; they came\nto the gate every night of their own accord, sweet-laden with a rich\ntribute of the most excellent milk.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANT PUKE. [10]\n\n\nIn the parish of Lofta in the department of North Tjust there lies,\nnear the sea, a mountain called Puke Mountain. From the land side\nrunning into the mountain, there is a long fissure terminating in a\ncave or hall, where formerly lived a giant called Puke, concerning whom\nmany stories are still quite prevalent among the people.\n\nWhen the church at Lofta was built the giant was sorely tormented by\nthe church bells. He suffered great discomfort even from the water\ncourses which gurgled out of the mountain, and in a meadow directly\nnorth of Lofta Church, was formed a pond, Kofre Spring, in which holy\nbaptism was sometimes performed.\n\nPuke often declared that he must depart from his mountain because of\nKofre Spring and Lofta scolding, meaning the church bells in Lofta.\n\nOne Sunday the Giant was more than usually disturbed by the long\ncontinued bell ringing, and sent his daughter to the top of the\nmountain, from which, with her apron strings converted into a sling,\nshe threw an enormous stone at the church tower. But the force was too\ngreat, and the stone fell upon the other side of the church, where it\nlies to this day, as large as a good sized cottage.\n\nSome days later the giant maiden, while wandering over the surrounding\ncountry, was attracted by three children at play on a hill near by.\nThey had discovered a fallen branch of an oak tree, and to this they\nhad fastened a rope, pretending it was a plow, which one was holding as\nthe others dragged it over the ground. Surprised at this curious\nimplement and the small creatures, she gathered them all into her apron\nand ran home with them to her giant father. He, however, found no\npleasure in the intended playthings but said only:\n\n\u201cTake them out again, our time is past; it is now these who shall rule\nover us.\u201d\n\nIn the end Puke became dissatisfied with everything and moved to\nG\u00f6tland, where he was some time later found by a ship\u2019s master, to whom\nhe gave a box, and bade him offer it upon the altar at Lofta while the\npeople were in church, cautioning him strongly not to open it before.\n\n\u201cIf you do as I bid you,\u201d said the Giant, \u201cyou will find, under the\nleft fore-foot of Lofta\u2019s white mare\u2014meaning the church\u2014a key, with\nwhich you are to proceed to Puke Mountain. There you will see a door,\nwhich you shall open. When you are inside you will meet two black dogs.\nDo not be afraid of them, but press forward into the room, where you\nwill find a table and upon it many beautiful silver vessels. Of them\nyou may take the largest, but if you take anything more, misfortune\nwill surely overtake you.\u201d\n\nThe captain kept this all in mind, but when he approached Puke\nMountain, on his journey homeward, the conversation of the ship\u2019s\npeople was turned to the box. After many deliberations, it was\ndetermined to throw it overboard onto a small island which lay near by.\nThis was done, and upon the instant the island was in flames, and even\nto-day it is brown and desolate as if it had recently been swept by a\nfire.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKATRINEHOLM MANOR.\n\n\nIn one of the picturesque valleys of romantic Sm\u00e5land and on the Black\nRiver is a noted waterfall called Stalpet, which, after placidly\nwinding, by many hundred bends, for a considerable distance, through\ngreen meadows, here makes a precipitous descent over a rocky cliff,\nthen quietly pursues its course to a lake a short distance beyond.\n\nNot far from Stalpet lies an old manor, dark, gloomy and unoccupied. A\nfeeling of oppression comes over one in the presence of this large\nbuilding, barred gates and nailed up windows, and the question is\nasked, why should this naturally beautiful place be untenanted? Why is\nthere not, at least, a watchman or an attendant? There must be some\nunusual reason for such a condition of things.\n\nLet us listen to the narration of a good old woman, resident in the\nneighborhood, who once gave us the story. We use her words, which, may\nbe, enter too much into the detail, but bear with them the natural\nfreshness and coloring that, it is hoped, will not be tedious to the\nreader. We are given to understand that if we will have the story we\nmust begin at the beginning, and that is, like \u201cMilton\u2019s Paradise\nLost,\u201d with the beginning of all things.\n\n\u201cKnow that when Satan was cast out of heaven, on account of his pride,\nand fell to the earth, there were other spirits, which, like him, were\nalso cast out. These spirits, in their fall, were borne hither and\nthither on the winds like the golden leaves in the autumn storm,\nfalling to earth finally, some into the sea, some into the forests and\nsome upon the mountains. Where they fell there they remained, so the\nsaying runs, and found there their field of action. After their abiding\nplaces they were given different names. Thus we have sea nymphs,\nmountain fairies, wood fairies, elves and other spirits, all of which\nare described in the catechism.\n\nNow, it happened, that on that day two spirits fell upon the rock where\nthis old Katrineholm Manor house now stands. In this mountain their\noffspring lived many hundreds, yes, thousands of years. Though some of\nthem were from time to time killed by lightning and otherwise, they\nwere not exterminated and had not been approached by any human being.\n\nIt happened, a long time ago, that a gentleman, who owned this estate,\nwishing to build himself a residence, and, like a wise architect, to\nhave a solid foundation for it, selected this rock.\n\nThe mountain king\u2014for he was a king among his people\u2014was very much\ndispleased with this, but his wife, who was of a milder disposition,\npacified her husband and urged him to wait and do their neighbors no\nharm until it could be known whether harm might be expected from them.\n\nWhen the house was finished the gentleman married a beautiful young\nlady whose presence at once filled it with sunshine and joy. But sorrow\nvisits many who little expect it and so it was here.\n\nOne day when the young wife was alone in her work-room, a little woman,\nunexpectedly and unannounced, stood before her. Bowing, she said: \u201cMy\nmistress bids that you visit her, and directs me to say to you that if\nyou consent she will reward you richly.\u201d The young wife wondered much\nat such a request, but having a brave heart and a clear conscience, she\npromised to follow. The little woman led the way down stairs to the\ncellar, where she opened a door, until now undiscovered, revealing a\npassage into the mountain. Entering the passage, which was long and\ndark, she finally emerged into a large, well-lighted cave, whose walls\nwere sparkling with gold and silver. Here, pacing back and forth, as if\nin great anguish, was a little man who looked at the new comer\nsearchingly, and with an humble and pleading expression in his eyes,\nbut said nothing. The little woman pushed aside a curtain to an inner\ncave, at the further end of which the visitor saw, lying upon an\nelegant bed, another little woman sick and laboring in child-birth. The\nChristian visitor\u2019s presence had the effect to almost immediately still\nthe pains of the suffering woman, whereupon she drew forth a box filled\nwith precious stones, pearls and jewels. \u201cTake this as a memento of\nyour visit to me, but let none know what has happened to you this day,\nfor as surely as you do great misfortune will overtake you and yours,\u201d\nsaid the Mountain Queen, and directed that the young wife be given safe\nconduct to her room again. As soon as left alone the precious box was\ncarefully secreted.\n\nTime sped on. Everything went well, and in due time the young wife\nherself became the mother of two beautiful sons. One day, during the\nmother\u2019s absence, the boys discovered the secreted box, and had just\nbegun to play with it when their father entered. He was greatly\nsurprised to find such a treasure in the hands of the children and\nbegan at once to question the mother, who had also entered, as to how\nshe became its possessor. At first she refused to betray the secret,\nand with her refusal the husband became more curious and suspicious,\nfinally angry, when he declared his wife a Troll, and that he himself\nhad seen her come riding through the air on a broomstick. The poor wife\nwas then obliged to reveal her visit to the Troll queen and the\ncircumstances attending it.\n\n\u201cYou and I have seen our happiest days, for your curiosity will bring\nus greater misfortune than you have dreamed of,\u201d said she.\n\nA few days later there appeared in the adjacent lake an island, which,\nstrangely enough, seemed to rise from its bosom when anything\nremarkable was about to take place. It is related that shortly before\nthe death of Charles XII., also before that of Gustav III., the island\nbecame visible, and it is even said that a king one time carved his\nname on a stone on the island, and that stone and name, when, on\nanother occasion the island was visible, were to be seen.\n\nWhether the island was now again visible by some power of the Trolls in\nunison with the water spirits is not known; it is enough that the\nisland appeared, and that the lord of the manor became possessed with a\ngreat desire to go to and inspect it.\n\nHe expressed a wish that his wife and boys should accompany him. The\nmother, who foresaw misfortune, opposed the project with all her\nenergy, and upon her knees begged and prayed her husband to postpone\nhis visit, but without avail.\n\nFinally, the willful man took the boys, leaving his wife at home, and\nrowed out to the island. Just as the boat touched the enchanted island\nboth boys sprang upon it, and at the same instant both island and boys\nvanished from the father\u2019s sight to be seen no more.\n\nThe poor mother mourned herself to death, and the father departed to\nforeign lands, where he also died, but the building on Katrineholm has\nnever since been occupied, and there is little probability that any one\nwill in the future prosper in it.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEBBE SKAMELSON. [11]\n\n\nUpon a small headland which juts from the north into Lake Bolmen, lies\nan old mansion, Tiraholm, by the peasantry called Tira.\n\nA long time ago there lived here a knight who had a wife and an only\nchild, a beautiful daughter, named Malfred. In the whole country there\nwas not another so fair, and the fame of her beauty traveled far and\nwide, alluring many suitors to her feet. But Malfred was unmoved by\ntheir attentions and turned them away, one after the other.\n\nOne day a stately knight, Ebbe Skamelson by name, who had just returned\nfrom foreign lands, where he had won his golden spurs, drew up in the\ncourt-yard.\n\nWith downcast eyes and blushing cheeks the young lady extended her hand\nwhen they met, to greet the stranger, who courteously returned her\nsalutation.\n\nThe stranger knight became for a time a guest at Tiraholm, and the\nreport soon went out, to the grief of many swains who had indulged in\ndreams of sooner or later winning the hand of the beautiful maiden,\nthat Ebbe Skamelson and Malfred were betrothed. But, as both were still\nyoung, the Knight expressed a desire to join the Crusades to the Holy\nLand, where he hoped to add to his honors, and stipulated that he be\ngiven seven years, at the end of which time he promised to return and\ncelebrate his nuptials.\n\nSome time after Ebbe departed, the old Knight, Malfred\u2019s father, died,\nand it became very lonesone for the daughter and mother in Tiraholm.\nYear after year passed with no word from Ebbe. The roses of the young\nmaiden\u2019s cheeks faded and the dark eyes lost their lustre. The mother\nadvised a remedy and betrothed her to another.\n\nUnder the impression that Ebbe had fallen by the sword of the infidels\nshe prepared a wedding feast, and the newly betrothed couple were duly\njoined according to the rites of the church.\n\nBut just as the wedding guests sat themselves at table a gold-laced\nKnight rode into the court at great speed. The bride became pale under\nher crown, but the mother, who recognized in the stranger the Knight\nEbbe, hastened to meet him in the yard, and reminded him that the seven\nyears had passed, at the same time informing him that his love now sat\nin the bridal chair with another.\n\nIn great anger the Knight sprang to his horse, drew his sword, and\nafter reproaching her for breaking her promise, with one blow he\nsevered her head from her body. His sword still dripping with blood, he\nsprang from his saddle and into the hall where the festivities were in\nprogress, where the bride sank under his sword, and the bridegroom at\nanother deadly blow fell by her side.\n\nOvertaken by repentance the murderer flung himself upon his horse and\nrode away into the dark forest, but the pricking of his conscience\nallowed him no rest. Night and day he saw the apparitions of his\nvictims, and nowhere could he find an escape from them.\n\nFinally he determined to go to Rome, and at the feet of the Holy Father\nask absolution from his crimes. A large sum of money procured for him\nfrom the Pope the desired indulgence, but absolution from a man did not\npossess the power to quiet his conscience, still his soul\u2019s pain or\nquell the storm raging in his heart. He then returned to the home of\nhis love, and asked the authorities to impose upon him the severest\npunishment.\n\nAfter a long deliberation he was sentenced by the court to be chained\nhand and foot, in which condition he must visit and pass a day in each\none of the three hundred and sixty-five islands in Lake Bolmen. The\ncondemned man went at once about the execution of his sentence. In\norder that he might get from one island to the other he was given a\nsmall boat with which, like a wounded bird, he laboriously propelled\nhimself on his terrible journey.\n\nWhen, at the end of the year, his sentence was completed he went ashore\non the estate of Anglestadt in the district of Sunnebro. Here he went\nup to a village and rested over night in a barn. Meantime his sorrowful\nfate had made a deep impression upon the people. A bard had composed a\nsong reciting the woes of Ebbe, and a soothsayer had predicted that\nupon hearing the song sung Ebbe\u2019s chains would fall off and his death\nfollow immediately. While he was lying concealed in the barn, a\nmilkmaid came in the morning to milk the cows. She began to sing\n\u201cKnight Ebbe\u2019s Song,\u201d to which he listened with intense interest. At\nthe conclusion of the last verse he cried out with loud voice: \u201cSome is\ntrue and some is false.\u201d\n\nThoroughly frightened, the girl sprang into the house and related what\nhad happened. In great haste the people gathered around the barn where\nEbbe was lying, commanding him to inform them where he came from and\nwho he was. Still cumbered by his chains he crawled from his shelter\nand gave his name, at the same time requesting them to conduct him to\nthe churchyard.\n\nBetween the village and the church of Anglestadt lies a stone sunken in\nthe ground. When he came to this Ebbe mounted it, raised his eyes to\nheaven and cried out: \u201cIf I am worthy to be buried in consecrated\nground, so let it be!\u201d\n\nInstantly the fetters fell from his hands and feet and he sank to the\nearth a corpse.\n\nThose present took his body and carried it to the church where they\nburied it in the path outside the churchyard wall, so that all who went\ninto the churchyard should tramp upon his grave. But the next night a\nlong section of the wall, right in front of the grave, was miraculously\nthrown down. The peasants at once relaid it, but the next night it was\nagain leveled. It was then understood that these happenings were signs\nthat the unfortunate man should be allowed a resting place in\nconsecrated ground, whereupon the churchyard was extended so that the\ngrave was enclosed by its walls, and a low stone even to this day marks\nthe resting place of the outcast. From the fetters, which for a long\ntime hung in Anglestadt church, three iron crosses, resembling the\nsmall crosses which were in former times set up in memory of the\ndeparted, have been made and placed upon the present church.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJOHAN AND THE TROLLS. [12]\n\n\nIn Ingeltrop, a parish of North Wedbo, there once lived a farmer who\nhad a servant named Johan.\n\nOne day a traveler arrived from Myntorp Inn, and the farmer having been\nnotified that it was his turn to furnish a conveyance for him to the\nnext inn, Johan was sent to the pasture to catch a horse. A halter\nthrown over his shoulder, he set out, whistling the latest love song.\nArriving at the pasture, it was soon clear to him that \u201cBronte\u201d was in\nno humor to submit to the halter, and though he now and then allowed\nhimself to be approached, no sooner was the attempt made to lay hold on\nhim than he was off, with head and heels in the air, to a safe\ndistance. Johan persevered, perspiration streaming from his forehead,\nbut in vain. Angered at last, he began to swear in a most ungodly\nmanner, still pursuing the horse until his progress was suddenly\nchecked by a high cliff, to the very base of which he had run before\ndiscovering it. Naturally casting his glance upward, as he halted, he\nsaw, sitting upon a crag, a beautiful maiden, apparently combing her\nhair.\n\n\u201cAre you there, my dear boy?\u201d called the maiden.\n\nJohan, not easily frightened, answered her cheerily:\n\n\u201cYes, my sweetheart.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome here, then,\u201d called the maiden.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d replied Johan.\n\n\u201cTry, Johan.\u201d And he did, to his astonishment finding a foothold on the\nsmooth cliff where before no unevenness was discoverable, and soon he\nwas at the maiden\u2019s side. She looked at him with great, wondering eyes,\nthen, suddenly enveloping him in a mist, clouded his understanding so\nthat he was no longer master of his movements, and was, in fact,\ntransformed completely from the Johan he had been to a being like his\ncompanion. He forgot horse, home, relatives and friends. Half\nunconscious, he was conducted into the mountain, and was gone from the\nsight and power of those who would seek him.\n\n\u201cBronte\u201d was in harness many good days thereafter, and the farmer\nbecame the driver, for, as his sons were growing up, he did not wish to\nhire another servant in Johan\u2019s stead.\n\nOne day, many years after Johan\u2019s disappearance, it was again the\nfarmer\u2019s turn to furnish a horse to a traveler. Grumbling at the fate\nof Johan, he went to the pasture.\n\n\u201cIt was too bad for the boy,\u201d said he to himself. \u201cI wonder if he has\nbeen caught by the Trolls?\u201d At the same time he chanced to look upward\nat the cliff where the servant had seen the Troll maiden, and there\nstood Johan, but with lusterless eyes, staring into vacancy.\n\n\u201cJohan, my dear boy, is that you?\u201d shouted the farmer. \u201cCome down.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can not,\u201d answered Johan, with husky, unnatural voice.\n\nHereupon the farmer threw his cap to Johan, which the latter picked up\nand put on his head.\n\n\u201cCome down,\u201d cried the farmer, \u201cbefore the Trolls come. In the name of\nthe saints, come down.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d said Johan again.\n\nThen the farmer threw his clothes up, garment after garment, and when\nJohan had clothed himself in them he received power enough that he was\nable to crawl down the cliff. His master took him by the hand, and\nwithout looking back they hastened home, the farmer repeating:\n\n\u201cPshaw! you cunning black Trolls! As a stone, I\u2019ll quiet your wicked\ntongues that they may neither evil think nor speak or do ought against\nme.\u201d\n\nThey arrived home, the one dressed the other naked. The traveler was\nobliged to procure another horse, for in the house of the farmer the\njoy was so great that none there had a thought of driving him. Johan\nwas never again the same man as before, but remained gloomy and rarely\nspoke.\n\nHis master asked him many times what his occupation was in the\nmountain, but upon this subject he was silent. It happened that Johan\nwas taken sick and called for a confessor, to whom, when he confessed\nhis sins, he related also his experience in the mountain. His chief\nemployment, he said, had been to steal food for the Trolls. For this\npurpose the Trolls put a red hat upon him, when he could, in a very\nshort time, fly to J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping through locked doors and into the\nmerchants\u2019 stores, where he took corn, salt, fish and whatever he\nwished. From the Troll cap he received such power that he could take a\nsack of rye under each arm and a barrel of fish upon his back, and fly\nas lightly through the air as with no burden whatever.\n\n\u201cIt was wrong of me and hard on the merchants,\u201d said Johan, \u201cbut it was\nthe fault of the Trolls. If there were no Trolls in the world the\nmerchants would become rich, but now they must pay tribute, and so are\nkept on the verge of bankruptcy.\u201d And Johan was done.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LOST TREASURE.\n\n\nMany hundreds of years ago, at a time when Sweden was invaded by\nenemies, the people of Stenbrohult gathered their money and jewelry\ntogether and concealed them in a large copper kettle, which they sunk\nto the bottom of Lake M\u00f6ckeln.\n\nThere it lies to-day and will lie for all time, though many have\ntouched it with poles when driving fish into their nets. Meantime, at\neach touch, it has moved further away until it now lies near the outlet\nof the lake, where it is so deep that it can not be reached.\n\nWhen the other residents of the place hid their treasures in the lake\nthere was a rich farmer who buried his silver at Kalfhagsberg in two\ncans. Shortly after he died so suddenly that no opportunity was given\nto dig them up. Immediately following his death, two lights were seen\nevery evening over the place where the treasures lay hidden, a sure\nsign that an evil spirit or dragon had appropriated the treasure.\n\nA poor cottager heard of it, and knowing that man may acquire\nundisputed possession of the treasures of the earth, if dug upon a\nThursday evening and carried away without looking back or uttering a\nword to any one, he already regarded himself as good as the owner of\nthe wealth. Betaking himself to the place, he succeeded in getting the\ncans out of the mountain, but on the way home he met one after another\nof his neighbors who asked where he had been. The old man knew well\nthat the evil spirits had a hand in this, and that what appeared to be\nhis neighbors was nothing less than the spirits transformed, and he\nwas, therefore, stubbornly quiet. But finally he met the priest, who\nstood by the wayside and greeted him as he was passing with a \u201cgood\nevening, neighbor.\u201d Hereupon the old man dared keep quiet no longer,\nbut took his hat off and saluted, \u201cgood evening, father,\u201d in return, at\nthe same instant he tripped against a root and dropped the cans. When\nhe stopped to pick them up there lay in their stead only a pair of\nlittle old birch-bark boxes, and the old man was compelled to go home,\nhis mission fruitless.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TEN FAIRY SERVANTS. [13]\n\n\nMany years ago there lived in Gullbjers a family of peasants, who had a\ndaughter, Elsa. As she was the only child she was much adored, and her\nparents sought in every way to anticipate her slightest wish. As soon\nas she had been confirmed she was sent to the city to learn how to sew,\nand also city manners and customs. But in the city she acquired little\nother knowledge than how to adorn herself, and to scorn housework and\nmanual labor.\n\nWhen she was twenty years old she won the love of an industrious and\nhonorable young farmer, named Gunner, and before many months had gone\nby they were man and wife.\n\nIn the beginning all was pleasure, but she soon began to weary with her\nmany household duties. Early one morning, shortly before Christmas,\nthere was life and activity in Gunner\u2019s yard. Elsa had hardly risen\nfrom bed when the servant, Olle, sprang in and said:\n\n\u201cDear mistress, get ready our haversacks, for we are going to the\nwoods, and we must be off if we are to get back before evening.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear mother, the leaven is working,\u201d called one of the servant girls,\n\u201cand if you will come out now we will have more than usually good\nbread.\u201d\n\nThe butcher, Zarkis, who had already stuck a large hog and several\nsmall pigs, had just stepped in to get the accustomed dram, when old\nBrita came rushing after material for candle wicks. Lastly came Gunner,\nout of patience because the servant had not yet started for the woods.\n\n\u201cMy departed mother,\u201d said he, with kindly earnestness, \u201calways\nprepared everything the night before when people were expected to go to\nwork early in the morning, and I have requested you to do likewise,\nElsa. But do not forget the loom, my dear; there are now only a few\nyards of cloth remaining to be woven, and it will not do to allow it to\nlie in the way over the holidays.\u201d\n\nNow, wholly out of patience, Elsa rushed in a rage out of the kitchen\nto the house in which the loom stood, slammed the door furiously behind\nher and cast herself weeping upon a sofa.\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d shrieked she. \u201cI will no longer endure this drudgery. Who could\nhave thought that Gunner would make a common housewife of me, to wear\nmy life out thus? Oh, unhappy me! Is there no one who can help and\ncomfort a poor creature?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can,\u201d replied a solemn voice, and before her stood a white-haired\nman with a broad-brimmed hat upon his head. \u201cDo not be alarmed,\u201d\ncontinued he, \u201cI came to proffer you the help for which you have just\nwished. I am called Old Man Hoberg. I know your family to the tenth and\neleventh generations. Your first ancestor bade me stand godfather to\nhis first born. I could not be present at the christening, but I gave a\nsuitable godfather\u2019s present, for I would by no means be the meanest.\nThe silver I then gave was unfortunately a blessing for no one, for it\nbegot only pride and laziness. Your family long ago lost the riches,\nbut the pride and laziness remain; nevertheless I will help you, for\nyou are at heart good and honest.\n\n\u201cYou complain at the life of drudgery you are compelled to lead,\u201d\ncontinued he, after a short silence; \u201cthis comes from your being\nunaccustomed to work, but I shall give you ten obedient servants, who\nshall be at your bidding and faithfully serve you in all your\nundertakings.\u201d Whereupon he shook his cloak, and ten comical little\ncreatures hopped out and began to put the room in order.\n\n\u201cReach here your fingers,\u201d commanded the old man.\n\nTremblingly, Elsa extended her hand; whereupon the old man said:\n\n\n        \u201cHop O\u2019 My Thumb,\n        \u201cLick the Pot,\n        \u201cLong Pole,\n        \u201cHeart in Hand,\n        \u201cLittle Peter Funny Man\u2014\n\n\n\u201cAway, all of you, to your places.\u201d\n\nIn an instant the little servants had vanished into Elsa\u2019s fingers, and\neven the old man had disappeared.\n\nThe young wife sat a long time staring at her hands, but soon she\nexperienced a wonderful desire to work.\n\n\u201cHere I sit and dream,\u201d she burst forth with unusual cheerfulness and\ncourage, \u201cand it is already seven o\u2019clock while outside all are waiting\nfor me.\u201d And Elsa hastened out to superintend the occupations of her\nservants.\n\nNot for that day alone, but for all time thereafter Elsa entered into\nher duties with as much pleasure as she would formerly have found in a\ndance. No one knew what had happened, but all marveled at the sudden\nchange. None was, however, more pleased and satisfied than the young\nwife herself, for whom work was now a necessity, and under whose hands\neverything thereafter flourished, bringing wealth and happiness to the\nyoung couple.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SEA NYMPH.\n\n\nOne night a number of fishermen quartered themselves in a hut by a\nfishing village on the northwest shores of an island. After they had\ngone to bed, and while they were yet awake, they saw a white,\ndew-besprinkled woman\u2019s hand reaching in through the door. They well\nunderstood that their visitor was a sea nymph, who sought their\ndestruction, and feigned unconsciousness of her presence.\n\nThe following day their number was added to by the coming of a young,\ncourageous and newly married man from Kinnar, in Lummelund. When they\nrelated to him their adventure of the night before, he made fun of\ntheir being afraid to take a beautiful woman by the hand, and boasted\nthat if he had been present he would not have neglected to grasp the\nproffered hand.\n\nThat evening when they laid themselves down in the same room, the late\narrival with them, the door opened again, and a plump, white woman\u2019s\narm, with a most beautiful hand, reached in over the sleepers.\n\nThe young man arose from his bed, approached the door and seized the\noutstretched hand, impelled, perhaps, more by the fear of his comrades\nscoffing at his boasted bravery, than by any desire for a closer\nacquaintance with the strange visitor. Immediately his comrades\nwitnessed him drawn noiselessly out through the door, which closed\nsoftly after him. They thought he would return soon, but when morning\napproached and he did not appear, they set out in search of him. Far\nand near the search was pursued, but without success. His disappearance\nwas complete.\n\nThree years passed and nothing had been heard of the missing man. His\nyoung wife, who had mourned him all this time as dead, was finally\npersuaded to marry another. On the evening of the wedding day, while\nthe mirth was at its highest, a stranger entered the cottage. Upon\ncloser observation some of the guests thought they recognized the\nbride\u2019s former husband.\n\nThe utmost surprise and commotion followed.\n\nIn answer to the inquiries of those present as to where he came from\nand where he had been, he related that it was a sea nymph whose hand he\nhad taken that night when he left the fisherman\u2019s hut; and that he was\ndragged by her down into the sea. In her pearly halls he forgot his\nwife, parents, and all that was loved by him until the morning of that\nday, when the sea nymph exclaimed: \u201cThere will be a dusting out in\nKinnar this evening.\u201d Then his senses immediately returned, and, with\nanxiety, he asked: \u201cThen it is my wife who is to be the bride?\u201d The sea\nnymph replied in the affirmative. At his urgent request, she allowed\nhim to come up to see his wife as a bride, stipulating that when he\narrived at the house he should not enter. When he came and saw her\nadorned with garland and crown he could, nevertheless, not resist the\ndesire to enter. Then came a tempest and took away half the roof of the\nhouse, whereupon the man fell sick and three days later died.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BYSE. [14]\n\n\nA peasant of Svalings, in the parish of Gothem, by the name of Hans,\nwas, one spring day, employed in mending a fence which divided two\nmeadows. It chanced he required a few more willow twigs for bands,\nwhereupon he sprang over the fence to cut them in a neighbor\u2019s grove.\nEntering the thicket, what was his surprise at seeing an old man\nsitting upon a stump, bowed forward, his face buried in his hands. His\nastonishment uncontrollable, Hans broke out:\n\n\u201cWho are you?\u201d\n\n\u201cA wanderer,\u201d replied the old man without lifting his head.\n\n\u201cHow long have you been a wanderer?\u201d inquired the peasant.\n\n\u201cThree hundred years!\u201d answered the old man.\n\nStill more astonished, the peasant again asked:\n\n\u201cIs it not hard to travel thus?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt has never been so hard to me,\u201d replied the old man, \u201cfor I love the\nwoods.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, go on then,\u201d said Hans.\n\nHardly were the words uttered than the peasant heard a sound like that\nfrom a wild bird startled to wing, and the old man had vanished so\nsuddenly that Hans could not say whether he had sunk into the earth or\ngone into the air.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BRIDGE OVER KALMARSOUND.\n\n\nNorth of the village of Wi, in the parish of K\u00e4lla, lies a large stone\ncalled Sekiel\u2019s Stone, after a giantess, Sekiel, who is said to have\nlived in Borgehaga, in the parish of H\u00f6go.\n\nThe same giantess had a sister, who was married to a giant named Beard,\nand lived in the parish of Ryssby on the Sm\u00e5land side of the sound.\n\nThat they might visit each other oftener it was agreed between the\nsisters that they should build a stone bridge over Kalmarsound, the one\nto build from Ryssby shore, the other from \u00d6land.\n\nThe giantess of Sm\u00e5land began first upon her work. Every day she came\nwith a great load of stones which she cast into the sea, until,\nfinally, she had completed that point of land now called Sk\u00e4ggan\u00e4s,\nreaching a quarter of a mile out into the sea. The giantess on the\n\u00d6land side also began to build, but when she came with her first load\nof stones in her apron she was shot through the body with an arrow from\na peasant\u2019s bow. Overcome by the pain, she sat herself to rest upon the\nbefore mentioned Sekiel Stone, which has a shallow depression in the\ntop, marking the resting spot of the giantess.\n\nWhen she had recovered she again took up her journey, but had proceeded\nno further than to Persn\u00e4s when it began to storm, and she was struck\ndead by a bolt of lightning. With her fall the stones slipped from her\napron, and there they lie to-day, forming the large grave-mound on\nPersn\u00e4s hills.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE YOUNG LADY OF HELLERUP.\n\n\nUpon the estate of Hellerup, in the parish of Ljungby, there lived,\nmany years ago, a gentleman of rank, who had a daughter renowned for\nher gentleness as well as for her beauty and intelligence.\n\nOne night, while lying awake in her bed, watching the moonbeams dancing\nupon her chamber floor, her door was opened and a little fairy, clad in\na gray jacket and red cap, tripped lightly in and toward her bed.\n\n\u201cDo not be afraid, gracious lady!\u201d said he, and looked her in the eye\nin a friendly manner. \u201cI have come to ask a favor from you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWillingly, if I can,\u201d answered the young lady, who began to recover\nfrom her fear.\n\n\u201cOh! it will not be difficult,\u201d said the fairy. \u201cI and mine have, for\nmany years, lived under the floor in the kitchen, just where the water\ntank stands, which has become old and leaky, so that we are continually\nannoyed by the dripping of water, and the maids spill water upon the\nfloor, which drips through, so that it is never dry in our home.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat shall be seen to in the morning,\u201d promised the lady, and the\nfairy, making an elegant bow, disappeared as noiselessly as he came.\n\nThe next day, at the girl\u2019s request, the cask was moved, and the\ngratitude of the fairies was soon manifested. Never thereafter was a\nglass or plate broken, and if the servants had work to do that required\nearly rising, they were always awake at the appointed hour.\n\nSome time later the fairy again stood at the young lady\u2019s bedside.\n\n\u201cNow I have another request which, in your generosity, you will\ncertainly not refuse to grant.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is it, then?\u201d asked the young lady.\n\n\u201cThat you will honor me and my house, and to-night stand at the\nchristening of my newly-born daughter.\u201d\n\nThe young lady arose and clad herself, and followed her unknown\nconductor through many passages and rooms which she had never before\nbeen aware existed, until she finally came to the kitchen. Here she\nfound a host of small folk and priest and father, whereupon the little\nchild was baptized in the usual Christian manner.\n\nWhen the young lady was about to go the fairy begged permission to put\na memento in her apron.\n\nThough what she received looked like a stick and some shavings, she\nappeared very thankful, and was conducted again through the winding\npassages back to her room.\n\nJust as the fairy stood ready to leave her, he said: \u201cIf we should meet\nagain, and that is probable, bear well in mind not to laugh at me or\nany of mine. We esteem you for your modesty and goodness, but if you\nlaugh at us, we shall never see each other again.\u201d With these words he\nleft the room.\n\nWhen he had gone the young woman threw her present into the stove and\nlaid herself down to sleep, and the following morning, when the maid\nwent to build the fire, she found in the ashes jewelry of the purest\ngold and finest workmanship, such as had never before been seen.\n\nSome years later the young woman was about to marry, and preparations\nwere made for a day of pomp and splendor.\n\nFor many weeks there was great bustle in the kitchen and bridal\nchamber. During the day all was quiet under the floor in the kitchen,\nbut through the night one who slept lightly could hear the sounds of\nwork as through the day.\n\nAt length the wedding hour arrived.\n\nDecked with laurels and crown, the bride was conducted to the hall\nwhere the guests were gathered. During the ceremonies she chanced to\ncast a glance toward the fireplace in the corner of the hall, where she\nsaw the fairies gathered for a like feast. The bridegroom was a little\nfairy and the bride her goddaughter, and everything was conducted in\nthe same manner as in the hall.\n\nNone of the guests saw what was going on in their vicinity, but it was\nobserved that the bride could not take her eyes from the fireplace.\nLater in the evening, when she again saw the strange bridal feast, she\nsaw one of the fairies who was acting as waiter stumble and fall over a\ntwig. Unmindful of the caution she had received, she burst out into a\nhearty laugh. Instantly the scene vanished, and from that time no\nfairies have been seen at Hellerup.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nELSTORPS WOODS.\n\n\nDuring the war between Queen Margarita and Albrecht of Mecklenburg the\ntwo armies had an encounter in Southern Halland. The Queen\u2019s people had\nencamped upon the plains of Tjarby, a half mile north of Laholm, while\nthe Prince\u2019s adherents were camped in the vicinity of Weinge Church.\n\nOne morning the Queen went, as was her custom to morning prayers in\nTjarby Church, but took the precaution to set a guard upon the\nso-called Queen\u2019s Mountain to warn her of danger.\n\nWhile she was buried in her devotions there came a message, informing\nher that a few unattended knights had been seen in the vicinity.\n\n\u201cThere is yet no danger,\u201d said the courageous Queen, and continued her\nprayers at the altar.\n\nIn a short time another message was brought, informing her that as many\nas a hundred knights had made their appearance, but the Queen commanded\nher people to keep still, that yet there was no occasion for alarm.\nFinally a message came that all Elstorps Woods seemed to be alive and\nmoving against Tjarby.\n\n\u201cNow, my children, for a hard battle, but God will give us the\nvictory,\u201d said the Queen, and springing upon her horse, she marched at\nthe head of her warriors against the enemy.\n\nThe enemy had, as is related in the story of Macbeth, made use of\nstratagem, for each man carried before him a green bush, thinking to\ncome upon the queen\u2019s attendants by surprise. But the queen outwitted\nhim and gained a brilliant victory.\n\nIn gratitude to God, she rebuilt the old church of Tjarby, and since\nthat day no birches higher than a man\u2019s head have grown in Elstorps\nWoods.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PIGMY OF FOLKARED\u2019S CLIFF.\n\n\nIt is probable that there are few places more gloomy and uninviting\nthan certain parts of the parish of Sibbarp, in the Province of\nHalland. Dark heaths cover a good portion of the parish, and from their\ndull brown surface rises, here and there, a lonely, cheerless mountain.\nOne of these is Folkared\u2019s Cliff, in the southern part of the parish,\nnoted of old as the abiding-place of little Trolls and Pigmies.\n\nOne chilly autumn day a peasant, going from Hogared, in Ljungby, to\nFolkared, in Sibbarp, in order to shorten his journey took a short cut\nby way of the cliff, upon reaching which he perceived a Pigmy about the\nsize of a child seven or eight years old, sitting upon a stone crying.\n\n\u201cWhere is your home?\u201d asked the peasant, moved by the seeming distress\nof the little fellow.\n\n\u201cHere,\u201d sobbed the Pigmy, pointing to the mountain.\n\n\u201cHow long have you lived here?\u201d questioned the peasant in surprise.\n\n\u201cSix hundred years.\u201d\n\n\u201cSix hundred years! You lie, you rascal, and you deserve to be whipped\nfor it.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! do not strike me,\u201d pleaded the Pigmy, continuing to cry. \u201cI have\nhad enough of blows already to-day.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho have you received them from?\u201d asked the peasant.\n\n\u201cFrom my father.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat capers did you cut up that you were thus punished?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I was set to watch my old grandfather and when I chanced to turn\nmy back he fell and hurt himself upon the floor.\u201d\n\nThe peasant then understood what character of person he had met, and\ngrasping his dirk he prepared to defend himself. But instantly he heard\nan awful crash in the mountain, and the pigmy had vanished.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FREEBOOTER\u2019S GRAVE. [15]\n\n\nDuring the bloody war under Charles XII. with Denmark, a number of\nfreebooters had gone from Sk\u00e5ne into Halland, and marked their way, as\nusual, with plundering and murder. A number, after the parsonage and\nother houses in Hishult had been ransacked, went back to Sk\u00e5ne; the\nrest continued their course to the north.\n\nAt B\u00f6ghult, in the parish of T\u00f6nnersj\u00f6, a number of peasants had\ngathered to oppose them. They possessed, for the most part, no other\nweapons than axes, scythes and sticks; only two, brothers from B\u00f6ghult,\nwere better armed. Each of these had his gun, which, as residents in\nthe woods and hunters, they knew well how to handle. In stationing the\nforces, the two brothers were placed far out on the road, in the\ndirection from which the freebooters were expected to make their\nappearance, while the others remained in a body some distance in their\nrear.\n\nAfter many hours\u2019 waiting a ragged, sorry-looking horseman, mounted on\na rough-coated and saddleless horse, came into view. From his rear came\nthe sounds of laughter and merry-making of the approaching horde.\n\n\u201cLook sharp! here they come!\u201d said one of the brothers.\n\n\u201cSee! They have stolen father\u2019s horse!\u201d said the other, as he brought\nhis gun to his eye.\n\n\u201cHold on!\u201d whispered the first, \u201cMy gun is surer than yours. Let me\ntake care of the thief.\u201d These words were followed by a loud report,\nand the horseman tumbled from his seat.\n\nAlarmed at the result, the two brothers retreated hastily to their\nsupport in the rear, and nothing further was heard of the enemy. The\nfollowing day some of the bravest of the peasants set out to\nreconnoiter, but the freebooters had disappeared. They came, however,\nupon a heap of stones which the marauders had thrown up to mark the\ngrave of their companion.\n\nThis pile of stones was ever after called the freebooter\u2019s grave.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANT MAIDEN IN BOR\u00c5SER\u00d6D MOUNTAIN.\n\n\nIn the mountain of Bor\u00e5ser\u00f6d, which is located in the parish of\nSvarteborg, there lived, in ancient days, a giant. As with all the\ngiant people, he has disappeared since the coming in of Christianity.\nSome say that he died, but others believe that he moved to Dovre, in\nNorway, where giants betook themselves when disturbed by the church\nbells.\n\nHowever, there is even to-day a hollow in the mountain which is called\n\u201cthe giant\u2019s door,\u201d and within the mountain, it is believed there are\nvaults filled with the giant\u2019s gold. No one has, however, dared venture\nto search for this treasure, and luckily, for with property of giants,\nblessings do not go.\n\nThis giant had a daughter, so beautiful that he who once saw her could\nnever drive thoughts of her from his mind. Among the few whose fortune\nit was to see her was a young peasant from the estate of Rom, adjacent\nto the mountain. When he was one day out searching for the horses,\nwhich had gone astray, he suddenly came upon the wonderfully beautiful\nmaiden, sitting upon the side of the mountain, in the sunshine, playing\non her harp.\n\nThe peasant at once understanding who it was, not of the kind to be\neasily frightened, knowing that her father had an abundance of riches,\nand thinking it was no worse for him than for many others to marry into\nthe giant family, approached her, under cover of the shrubbery, until\nhe was quite near, when he threw his knife between her and the\nmountain, and as \u201csteel charms a Troll,\u201d or others of the supernatural\nfamily, she was obliged, whether or not she would, to follow him to his\nhome.\n\nIn the evening, when the giant missed his daughter, he started out in\nsearch of her, and in his search came to Rom.\n\nThrough the walls he heard the snores of two persons, and, when he had\nlifted the roof off the cottage, he saw his daughter sleeping in the\narms of the young swain.\n\n\u201cAre you there, you whelp!\u201d he hissed. \u201cHas it come to this?\u201d added he.\n\u201cSo be it, then; but I demand that the wedding shall take place before\nthe next new moon. If you can then give me as much food and drink as I\nwant all your offspring shall be made rich and powerful, otherwise I\nwill have nothing to do with you.\u201d\n\nPreparations were hastily made by the young man\u2019s parents for the\nwedding, and neighbors and relations came from far and near, laden with\nprovisions. A great number likely to be present, it was determined to\nhave the ceremony performed in the Church of Tosse; but the day before\nthe wedding there came such a great freshet that it seemed impossible\nfor the bridal carriage to cross the swollen creek between Duigle and\nBarby. The giant was equal to the emergency, and, with his wife, went\nto Holmasar, in Berffendalen, and fetched a large slab of stone and\nfour boulders to the creek. The giant carried the slab under his arm,\nand his wife the boulders in her mitten. And thus they built the stone\nbridge which to this day spans the creek.\n\nWhen the bridal pair came from the church to the banquet hall, the\ngiant appeared and seated himself at the table with the rest of the\nguests.\n\nAlthough the bridal couple did all possible to find him enough to eat,\nthe giant declared when he left the table that he was only half\nsatisfied, and therefore only half of the family should become great\npeople. Wishing to give the bride a becoming bridal present, he cast a\nsack of gold and silver upon the floor, which the couple was to have if\nthe son-in-law could carry it up to the loft. Stealthily, the bride\ngave her husband a drink which made him so strong that he threw the\nsack upon his back, and, to the surprise of all, carried it out of the\nroom. Thus the newly wedded pair became possessors of an abundant\ntreasure with which to begin life.\n\nFor some time the young couple lived in plenty and happiness, but soon\nthe husband began to be irritable and abusive. It came, finally, to\nsuch a pass that the husband took a whip to his wife. She continued,\nnevertheless, to be mild and patient as before; but one day he was\nabout to start on a long journey. When the horse was hitched to the\nwagon he observed that the shoe was gone from one of the hind feet. It\nwould not do to venture on such a journey without first replacing the\nshoe. Here, however, was a difficulty. He had one shoe only, and that\nwas too large; whereupon he began again to scold and swear.\n\nThe wife said nothing, but quietly taking the shoe between her hands,\nsqueezed it together as if it were lead, reducing it to the required\nsize. Her husband looked upon her in astonishment and alarm. Finally he\naddressed her:\n\n\u201cWhy have you, who are so strong, submitted to abuse from me?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause the wife should be submissive to her husband,\u201d said the\ngiantess, mildly and pleasantly.\n\nFrom that hour the man was the most patient and indulgent in the\nregion, and never again was heard a cross word from his mouth.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nGLOSHED\u2019S ALTAR. [16]\n\n\nSouth of Thorsby Church, among the mountains, lies a shattered rock\ncalled Gloshed\u2019s Altar, concerning which there is an old tradition\nstill living upon the lips of the people, as follows:\n\nA long time ago a man from the parish of S\u00e4fve went upon a Hollandish\nship, on a whaling cruise. After the vessel had been tossed about the\nsea for some time, land was one day sighted, and upon the land was seen\na fire which continued to burn many days.\n\nIt was determined that some of the ship\u2019s crew should go ashore, in the\nhope that shelter might be found, and among those who went ashore was\nour hero. When the strand was reached they found there an old man\nsitting by a fire of logs, endeavoring to warm himself.\n\n\u201cWhere did you come from?\u201d asked the old man.\n\n\u201cFrom Holland!\u201d answered the sailors.\n\n\u201cBut where were you born?\u201d to our hero.\n\n\u201cIn Hisingen, in the parish of S\u00e4fve,\u201d he answered.\n\n\u201cAre you acquainted in Thorsby?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, indeed!\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you know where Ulfve Mountain lies?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have often passed it, as the road from G\u00f6teborg to Marstrand over\nHisingen and through Thorsby goes past there.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo the large stones and hills remain undisturbed?\u201d asked the old man.\n\n\u201cYes, except one stone, which, if I remember correctly, is toppling\nover,\u201d said the Hisinger.\n\n\u201cThat is too bad! But do you know where Gloshed\u2019s Altar is, and does it\nremain sound?\u201d\n\n\u201cUpon that point,\u201d said the sailor, \u201cI have no knowledge.\u201d\n\nFinally the old man continued: \u201cIf you will say to those who now live\nin Thorsby and Torrebr\u00e4cka that they shall not destroy the stones and\nelevations at the foot of Ulfve Mount, and, above all, to take care of\nGloshed\u2019s Altar, you shall have fair winds for the rest of your\nvoyage.\u201d\n\nThe Hisinger promised to deliver the message when he arrived home,\nwhereupon he asked the old man his name, and how he, living so far from\nThorsby, was so well acquainted with matters there.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll tell you,\u201d said he, \u201cmy name is Thore Brock, and I at one time\nlived there, but was banished. All my relations are buried at Ulfve\nMountain, and at Gloshed\u2019s Altar we were wont to do homage to our gods\nand to make our offerings.\u201d\n\nHereupon they separated.\n\nWhen the man from Hisinger returned home he went about the fulfillment\nof his promise, and, without knowing how, he soon became one of the\nprincipal farmers in the parish.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BRIDAL PRESENT.\n\n\nIn the parish of N\u00e4singe, two poor sisters once found service with a\nrich farmer. All through the summer they herded their master\u2019s flocks\non the mountain sides, whiling away their time in relating legends of\nkings and abducted princesses.\n\n\u201cIf only some prince would carry me away to his gilded palace,\u201d said\nthe younger, one day.\n\n\u201cHush! Do not talk so wickedly,\u201d remonstrated the elder. \u201cThe Trolls\nmight hear you, when it would go hard with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! there is not much danger of that,\u201d replied the first speaker, and\ncontinued her story.\n\nSome days later the younger sister disappeared. No one knew where she\nhad gone, and careful search did not reveal. Time went on without the\nleast trace of her whereabouts being discovered. Finally the remaining\nsister found a sweetheart, but equally poor with herself, wherefore\nthey could not think of marrying yet for many years.\n\nOne night in her sleep she dreamed that her absent sister stood at her\nbedside, and said:\n\n\u201cMake your bed to-morrow night in the barn, past which the Trolls and I\nshall pass, and I will give you a handsome dower.\u201d\n\nThe next night when the girl drove her flocks home she made her bed, as\nher sister had directed, in her master\u2019s barn. The barn door she left\nopen, and, laying herself down, she looked out into the night,\nendeavoring to keep awake until her sister should come. Soon after\nmidnight she heard the sound of hoofs, and saw her sister, accompanied\nby a Troll, ride up the road at such a speed that the sparks glistened\naround the horses\u2019 feet. When they reached the front of the barn the\nlost girl threw a purse in at the door, which fell with a ring into the\nwatcher\u2019s lap. Hastily the treasure was deposited under her head, and\nshe was soon asleep, wearied with her day\u2019s work and night of watching.\n\nThe next day, upon examining her strangely acquired gift, what was her\nastonishment to find it filled with pure gold coins. Before the sun had\nset she had purchased a splendid farm, and, as may be presumed, the\nbans were published and a wedding immediately celebrated.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nH\u00c5LDE HAT. [17]\n\n\nAt the extremity of the beautiful valley of Espelund, in the parish of\nMo, there rises a wood-covered mountain known as Berg\u00e5sa Mountain, from\nthe distance looking like a giant cone; three sides presenting frowning\nprecipices, the fourth (and southern) fortified by a large wall of\nboulders, which is said to have surrounded, in former times, a king\u2019s\ncastle, called Grimslott.\n\nHere, in times gone by, lived a mountain king named Grim. He was, like\nthe rest of his kind, ugly and crafty, and robbed mankind of whatever\nfell in his way.\n\nFor this purpose he had two hats, one of which was called the Dulde\nhat, and was so endowed that when the king put it on his head both he\nand his companions became invisible; and the other was called the H\u00e5lde\nhat, which possessed a power making all things plainly visible to the\nwearer that were before invisible.\n\nIt happened, during these days, that a farmer of Grimland, preparing a\nwedding for his daughter, invited guests from near and far to the\nfestivities. Pretending, however, not to know the mountain king, he did\nnot invite him. The latter apparently took no offense at this, but, on\nthe wedding day, putting his Dulde hat upon his head, set out to the\nwedding feast, followed by all his people, except the queen, who was\nleft at home to watch the castle.\n\nWhen the wedding guests sat themselves at table everything that was\nbrought in vanished, both food and drink, to the great astonishment of\nall, as they could not understand where it disappeared; but a young\npeasant suspected the Trolls were at the bottom of it, and, springing\nupon a horse, rode straightway to Borg\u00e5sa Mountain. On the steps stood\nthe mountain queen, so beautiful and fine, who inquired of the rider\nhow things were going at the wedding feast in Grimland.\n\n\u201cThe food is salt and the oil is sour,\u201d answered he. \u201cThat stingy\nfarmer has hidden the wine and meat in the cellar where no one can find\nit. Now, your husband sends greeting, and requests that you give me the\nH\u00e5lde hat, that he may be able to find its hiding-place.\u201d\n\nWithout mistrust the queen gave him the enchanted hat, whereupon the\nyoung peasant hastened back to the festivities. Entering the hall, he\ndonned the hat and saw at once the mountain king and his followers\nsitting among the guests, seizing upon everything as fast as brought\nin. The peasant drew his sword, and commanded the others to do\nlikewise.\n\n\u201cStab as I stab and cut as I cut,\u201d cried he, and began to slash around\nthe table. The other guests followed his example and slew the mountain\nking and all his followers. From that time, so says the story, the\ncastle upon Borg\u00e5sa Mountain has been untenanted.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GOLDEN CRADLE.\n\n\nOne stormy autumn night, a few years after the death of Charles XII., a\nship containing a valuable cargo was wrecked on the island of Tjorn,\none of the group of islands on the coast of Bohusl\u00e4n. Among other\nthings of value in the ship\u2019s cargo were many articles of costly\njewelry, belonging to King Frederick I., which were being brought to\nhim from Hessia. The most costly, however, was a jewel inclosed in a\ncradle made of pure gold and richly embellished with pearls and\nprecious stones, sent by a German princess to the king\u2019s spouse.\n\nThe islanders, as was not unusual in those days, murdered the ship\u2019s\ncrew, and, after it had been plundered of its cargo, scuttled and sunk\nher, so that she was safely out of sight.\n\nAmong the priests upon the island was one named Michael Koch, pastor in\nKlofvedal. He had a hint of the great crime that had been committed,\nbut, fearing the half-barbarous inhabitants, did not dare betray the\nsecret.\n\nSome time after the ship had disappeared a fisherman came one day to\nthe parsonage and presented to the priest a walking stick of great\nbeauty of workmanship and value, which was a part of the cargo of the\nplundered vessel. Koch accepted the gift, and whether he did not know\nor did not care where it came from, took it with him, often displaying\nit upon the streets. When, two years later, he went to Stockholm, as\nrepresentative to the Diet, King Frederick one day accidentally saw and\nrecognized it as his property. The priest, however, asserted that it\nwas his, and rightfully acquired. But the king could not be deceived,\nand opening a heretofore concealed hollow in the cane, took therefrom a\nroll of gold coins. This action attracted attention and aroused\nsuspicion anew that the ship had been plundered. It was not thought\nthat Koch had a hand in it, but, on the assumption that he knew\nsomething about it which he ought to have revealed, and that he was\ntrying to conceal the deed, he was escorted from Stockholm.\n\nMeantime further discoveries were made, until they led to finding that\nthe gold cradle was in possession of a peasant in Stordal. At the\nking\u2019s command, soldiers were at once dispatched to Tjorn to arrest the\ncriminals and, possibly, find the jewel. But the command was not kept\nso secret that the peasant did not get an intimation of what was\ncoming, whereupon he hastened to bury the cradle in Stordal Heath.\nUnder guidance of a police officer the search was prosecuted in all\ndirections, but when the soldiers could not discover the object of\ntheir search, they left the island and the offenders escaped.\n\nSome years later the possessor of the cradle became sick. When he found\nthat his case was serious he sent for the priest, and confided to him\nthe whereabouts of his booty, and requested that as soon as he was dead\nthe priest should dig the cradle up and restore it to the king. Hardly\nhad the priest taken his departure when the sick man regretted his\nsimplicity. Gathering his little remaining strength, he rose from his\nbed, and, with unsteady steps, crept out into the field and concealed\nhis buried treasure in another place. As soon as the man was dead, the\npriest set out about fulfilling his commission. His digging was in\nvain, the hidden treasure was not to be found. In his dying hour the\npeasant had, apparently, endeavored to reveal the new hiding place, but\nhis strength was so near exhausted that his utterances could not be\nunderstood.\n\nTo this day many of the dwellers on the island are fully persuaded that\nQueen Elenor\u2019s golden cradle may be found somewhere in the Stordal cow\npastures, and many have wasted much time and labor in the hope of\nbringing it to light.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHILD PHANTOM.\n\n\nMany years ago there died, on the estate of Sundshult, in the parish of\nNafverstad, a child of illegitimate birth, which, because of this, was\nnot christened and could not be accorded Christian burial, or a place\nin heaven, and whose spirit, therefore, was left to wander the earth,\ndisturbing the rest and making night uncomfortable for the people of\nthe neighborhood.\n\nOne time, just before Christmas, the parish shoemaker, on his rounds,\nwas detained at the house of a patron, and, having much work before\nhim, he was still sewing late into the night, when he was unexpectedly\nstartled from his employment by a little child appearing before him,\nwhich said:\n\n\u201cWhy do you sit there? Move aside.\u201d\n\n\u201cFor what?\u201d asked the shoemaker.\n\n\u201cBecause I wish to dance,\u201d said the spectre.\n\n\u201cDance away, then!\u201d said the shoemaker.\n\nWhen the child had danced some time it disappeared, but returned soon\nand said:\n\n\u201cI will dance again, and I\u2019ll dance your light out for you.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the shoemaker, \u201clet the light alone. But who are you that\nyou are here in this manner?\u201d\n\n\u201cI live under the lower stone of the steps to the porch.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho put you there?\u201d asked the shoemaker.\n\n\u201cWatch when it dawns, and you will see my mother coming, wearing a red\ncap. But help me out of this, and I\u2019ll never dance again.\u201d\n\nThis the shoemaker promised to do, and the spectre vanished.\n\nThe next day a servant girl from the neighboring estate came, who wore\nupon her head a red handkerchief.\n\nDigging was begun under the designated step, and in time the skeleton\nof a child was found, incased in a wooden tub. The body was that day\ntaken to the churchyard, and the mother, who had destroyed her child,\nturned over to the authorities. Since then the child spectre has danced\nno more.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKING RANE AND QUEEN HUDTA.\n\n\nUpon the height where Svarteborg\u2019s Church is now situated, rose, in\nformer times, a castle, occupied at the date of our story by a king\nnamed Rane, after whom the fortification took the name of Ranesborg. As\nlate as a few years ago traces of a wall were to be seen in the\nso-called bell-tower, near the church path, which were said to be the\nremains of the once stately fortress.\n\nAt the time King Rane resided in Ranesborg, there lived not far from\nthere, upon the Hudt estate, in the parish of Tanum, a Queen Hudta,\nwidely known for her wealth and beauty, also for her rare bravery and\nsour temper.\n\nEnraptured by the king\u2019s fame for bravery, though well along in years,\nshe sent an embassador to the king offering him her hand, which he\naccepted. After a time he fell in love with another and regretted his\nprevious betrothal, but said nothing to Queen Hudta, who, upon the\nappointed day, betook herself, arrayed in queenly garb and glittering\ncrown, to Ranesborg.\n\nWhen the bridal car arrived at the castle it was found that the king\nhad gone on a hunt, and had left word that the queen might return to\nher home again. Stung by this bitter affront, the queen commanded her\npeople to storm the castle and raze it to the ground. Returning to her\nhorse, when the destruction had been completed, and viewing the black\nand smoking ruins of the castle, she thus vented herself:\n\n\u201cUp to the present you have been called Ranesborg, but hereafter you\nshall be known as Svarteborg\u201d\u2014Black Castle\u2014and, putting spurs to her\nhorse, she galloped away from the spot.\n\nWhen the queen came to the so-called K\u00f6pstadb\u00e4cken, on her way to\nTanum, she halted at a spring, dismounted and laid her crown and\nequipments upon a stone. She then requested a drink, and, the water\nbeing good, the spring was named Godtak\u00e4llan\u2014good spring.\n\nMeantime Rane, during the chase, had observed the smoke and flames from\nhis burning castle and set out hastily homeward. At K\u00f6pstadb\u00e4cken he\ncame upon the bridal car of the malevolent queen, when he understood\nwhat had taken place, and drawing his sword, he clove the head of his\nintended bride. At sight of this her followers at once took to flight,\nbut they were overtaken and hewn down at Stenehed, where one of the\nfinest monuments on Bohusl\u00e4n marks the incident. The murdered queen\u2019s\nbody was carried to her castle at Hudt, where a large prostrate stone\nnear the wagon road is said to mark her grave.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE KNIGHTS OF \u00c5LLABERG.\n\n\nOne time a peasant, en route to J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping with a load of rye, came just\nat dusk to \u00c5llaberg, where he discovered a grand mansion by the way.\n\u201cMaybe I can sell my rye here,\u201d thought he, \u201cand so be spared the\njourney to J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping,\u201d and, approaching the door, he knocked for\nadmittance.\n\nThe door was at once opened by some unseen power, and the peasant\nentered.\n\nUpon entering, he found himself in a grand hall. In the middle of the\nfloor stood a large table and upon the table lay twelve golden helmets,\ngrand beyond the power of description, and scattered around the room,\ndeep in slumber, were twelve knights in glittering armor.\n\nThe peasant contemplated his beautiful surroundings, but, concluding he\ncould not sell his rye here, went on, coming finally to a large stable,\nwhere he found standing twelve most magnificent steeds, bedecked with\ngolden trappings and silver shoes on their hoofs, stamping in their\nstalls.\n\nCuriosity getting the better of him, he took hold of the bridle of one\nof the horses in order to learn by what art it was made. Hardly had he\ntouched it when he heard a voice call out, \u201cIs it time now?\u201d and\nanother answer, \u201cNo, not yet!\u201d\n\nThe peasant had now seen and heard as much as he desired, and,\nthoroughly frightened, hastened away. When he came out he found that he\nhad been into the mountain instead of into a mansion, and that he had\nseen the twelve knights who sleep there until the country shall be in\nsome great danger, when they will awake and help Sweden to defend\nherself against her foreign enemies.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE COUNTESS OF H\u00d6JENTORP. [18]\n\n\nShortly after King Charles XI. had confiscated most of the property of\nthe nobility to the use of the crown, he came, one day, while upon one\nof his journeys to H\u00f6jentorp, where his aunt on his father\u2019s side,\nMaria Eufrosyna, lived.\n\nOn the stairs, as he was about to enter her dwelling, he was met by her\nand at once saluted with a sound box on the ear. Astounded, the king\nburst out:\n\n\u201cIt is fortunate that it is I whom you have struck! but why are you in\nsuch a combative mood, my aunt?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy?\u201d said the countess. \u201cBecause you have taken all my possessions\nfrom me.\u201d\n\nConducting the king to the dining hall, the countess sat before him to\neat a herring\u2019s tail and an oat cake.\n\n\u201cHave you no better fare for me than this?\u201d asked the king.\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied the lady; \u201cas you have spread the cloth so must you\ndine.\u201d\n\n\u201cAunt,\u201d said the king, \u201cif you will give me your gold and silver, I\nwill provide for you richly to your death.\u201d\n\n\u201cShame on you!\u201d interrupted the countess. \u201cWill you not allow me to\nkeep so little as my gold and silver, either?\u201d and, advancing upon him,\nshe gave him a second box on the ear, which so alarmed the king that he\nbeat a hasty retreat and commanded that the countess be left in\npeaceful possession of her property to the end of her days.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANT OF SKALUNDA.\n\n\nOn Skalunda Hill, near Skalunda Church, there lived, in olden times, a\ngiant, who, much annoyed by the ringing of the church bells, was\nfinally compelled to move away, and took up his residence on an island,\nfar away in the North Sea. One time a ship was wrecked upon this\nisland, and among those of her crew rescued were several men from\nSkalunda.\n\n\u201cWhere are you from?\u201d inquired the giant, who was now old and blind,\nand was stretched out warming himself before a fire of logs.\n\n\u201cWe are from Skalunda, if you wish to know,\u201d said one of the men.\n\n\u201cGive me your hand, for I wish to know if still there is warm blood in\nSweden,\u201d said the giant.\n\nThe man, afraid of the grasp of the giant, drew a glowing iron rod from\nthe fire, which he extended to the giant, who, grasping it with great\nforce, squeezed it until the iron ran between his fingers.\n\n\u201cAh, yes, there is still warm blood in Sweden,\u201d exclaimed he, \u201cbut does\nSkalunda Hill still exist?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, the birds have scratched it down,\u201d answered the man.\n\n\u201cIt could not stand,\u201d remarked the giant, \u201cfor my wife and daughter\nbuilt it one Sunday morning. But how is it with Halle and Hunneberg?\nThey remain, surely, for I myself built them.\u201d\n\nUpon receiving a reply in the affirmative, he asked if Karin, a\ngiantess, still lived, and when to this he was answered yes, he gave\nthem a belt and bade them take it to Karin and say to her that she must\nwear it in his memory.\n\nThe men took the belt, and upon their return home gave it to Karin,\nbut, before she would put it upon herself, she wrapped it around an oak\nwhich was growing near by. Hardly was this done when the oak was torn\nfrom the ground, and sailed off northward as if in a gale. In the\nground where the oak stood, there was left a deep pit, and here to-day\nis pointed out the best spring in Stommen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TROLLS IN RESSLARED.\n\n\nIn a mountain called R\u00e4fvakullen, Fox Hill, near the Church of\nResslared, Trolls, it is said, have lived since long before the\nbuilding of the church.\n\nWhen the church was completed and the bell hung in the tower, the\npriest, as was the custom, proceeded to read prayers over it to protect\nit from the power of the Trolls. But his prayers lacked the expected\nefficacy, for he had not yet finished when the Trolls took the bell and\nsunk it in the \u201cTroll Hole\u201d near the church.\n\nA new bell was cast and hung, and this time the provost, who was more\nlearned, was selected to consecrate it. The provost also failed to hit\nupon the right prayers, for the following Sunday, when the bell was\nabout to be used for the first time, it flew through the apertures in\nthe tower and was broken on the roof of the church.\n\nAgain a bell was cast, and this time, as priest and provost seemed to\nbe powerless against the Trolls, the Bishop of Skara was sent for. His\nprayers were effectual, and the bell was not again disturbed.\n\nThe Trolls thereafter dwelt in harmony with their neighbors, and\nespecially with the parishioners of Resslared. From the latter the\nTrolls were wont to borrow food and drink, which they always returned\ntwo-fold.\n\nIn time the first residents died off, and new people took their places.\nThe newcomers were well provided with this world\u2019s goods, even to being\nwealthy, but they were niggardly and uncharitable.\n\nOne day the \u201cmother\u201d of the Trolls went, as was her custom of old, to a\ncottage, and asked the housewife if she could lend her a measure of\nmeal.\n\n\u201cNo, that is out of the question! I have none in the house!\u201d said the\nwoman.\n\n\u201cVery well! It is as you say, of course,\u201d replied the Troll, \u201cbut maybe\nyou can lend me a can or two of ale. My husband is away, and he will be\nvery thirsty when he returns.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, I can\u2019t do that. My ale cans are all empty,\u201d answered the\nhousewife.\n\n\u201cVery good! Maybe you can lend me a little milk for my little child\nthat is sick in the mountain.\u201d\n\n\u201cMilk! Where should I get milk? My cows are all farrow,\u201d said the\nwoman.\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d said the Troll woman, and went her way.\n\nThe housewife laughed in her sleeve, and thought that she had escaped\nthe Trolls cheaply; but when she inspected her larder it was found that\nshe had really told the truth to the Troll woman. The meal boxes were\nswept clean, the ale barrels were empty, and the new milch cows, to the\nlast one, farrow. Ever after that the plenty that had heretofore been\nwas wanting, until finally the people were compelled to sell out and\nmove away.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBISHOP SVEDBERG AND THE DEVIL.\n\n\nBishop Svedberg, of Skara, was a very pious man and a mighty preacher,\ntherefore, intolerable to the devil.\n\nOne night the Bishop set out from Skara to his bishopric in Brunsbo.\nWhen he was on the way some distance, the wagon began to run from side\nto side of the road, and finally one of the hind wheels fell off and\nrolled away into the ditch.\n\nThe driver called the attention of the Bishop to this, and remarked\nthat they could go no farther.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t trouble yourself about that,\u201d said the Bishop. \u201cThrow the wheel\ninto the rear of the wagon and we will go along.\u201d\n\nThe servant thought this a strange command, but did as directed, and\nthe journey was continued to Brunsbo without further adventure.\n\nArriving at the inn, the Bishop directed the servant to go to the\nkitchen and bring a light.\n\n\u201cLook, now,\u201d said the Bishop to the servant upon his return, \u201cand you\nshall see who has been the fourth wheel,\u201d at the same time springing\nfrom the wagon.\n\nThe servant turned the light in the direction indicated, where he saw\nnone other than the devil himself, standing in the place of the wheel,\nwith the axle in his hands.\n\nThe devil soon found an opportunity for revenge. One night a great fire\nspread over Brunsbo, and before morning the whole place was burned to\nthe ground.\n\nThe Bishop was at no loss to know who had played him this foul trick,\nand called the devil to account for the devastation.\n\n\u201cVerily, you shall know,\u201d said the devil. \u201cYour maid was down in the\npantry, and there snuffed the candle. Passing by, I took the snuffing\nand with it set fire to the place.\u201d\n\nThe Bishop was obliged to be content with this answer, but in order\nthat the devil should do him no further harm he sent him, with all his\nimps, to hell.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TREASURE IN S\u00c4BY CREEK.\n\n\nOn the estate of S\u00e4by, in the parish of Hassle, lived, in former days,\na gentleman so rich that he could have purchased half of the territory\nof Vesterg\u00f6tland, but so miserly that he could not find it in his heart\nto spend money for necessary food.\n\nWhen he became aged, and knew that his life was drawing to a close, he\nbegan to ponder what he should do with his wealth to prevent its\nfalling into the hands of people not akin to him, and finally he\narrived at what he thought a wise determination.\n\nOne Sunday, when the people of the house were all in church, he loaded\nhis gold and silver upon a golden wagon and drew it down to S\u00e4by Creek,\nwhere he sank it in the deepest hole he could find. Reaching home\nagain, he felt more than usually content, and laid himself down upon\nhis bed, where he was found upon the return of the people from church.\n\nWhen a treasure has been concealed seven years, the Red Spirit is said\nto take possession of it, and it is then called \u201cDragon\u2019s property.\u201d\nOver the spot where the treasure lies a blue flame is seen to flutter\nat night time, and it is said the dragons are then polishing their\ntreasure.\n\nWhen the seven years had passed the dragon light was seen over S\u00e4by\nCreek, now for the first time revealing where the miser had deposited\nhis wealth. Many efforts were made to recover the costly wagon and its\nload, but neither horses nor oxen were found with strength enough to\nlift it from the hole.\n\nAbout this time it happened that a farmer, returning from the market of\nSkagersholm, where he had been with a load of produce, found quarters\nfor the night with an old man at Tveden. The evening conversation\nturned upon the hidden treasure, and the many unsuccessful attempts to\nrecover it that had been made, when the old man instructed his guest to\nprocure a pair of bull calves, upon which there should not be a single\nblack hair, and to feed them for three years on skimmed milk, whereby\nthey would acquire the necessary strength to drag the wagon out of the\ncreek.\n\nAfter great trouble the farmer was fortunate enough to find the desired\nwhite calves, and he at once set about rearing them as instructed. But\none time the girl who had care of the calves accidentally spilled some\nof the milk set apart for one of them, and, in order to have the pail\nfull, she replaced the milk with water and gave it to the calf as if\nnothing had happened. Meantime the calves grew up on their excellent\nfood to large and powerful oxen.\n\nWhen they were three years old the farmer drove them to the creek and\nhitched them to the golden wagon. It was heavy, but the calves put\ntheir shoulders to it, and had raised it half way from the hole, when\none of them fell upon his knees, and the wagon sank back to its old\nresting-place. The farmer yoked them to it again, but just as the wagon\nwas about to be landed safely, the same bull fell to its knees a second\ntime, so it went time after time, until, finally, the owner saw that\none of the bulls was weaker than the other.\n\nWhen the wagon sank back the last time a bubbling and murmuring came up\nfrom the depths and a smothered voice was heard to mutter:\n\n\u201cYour skimmed milk calves can\u2019t draw my wagon out.\u201d Whereupon the\nfarmer understood that to trouble himself further would be useless,\nsince when no attempts have been made to secure the treasure.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TOMTS. [19]\n\n\nIn descriptions of Tomts we are told that they look like little men\nwell along in years, and in size about that of a child three or fours\nyears old, as a rule clad in coarse gray clothes and wearing red caps\nupon their heads. They usually make the pantry or barn their\nabiding-place, where they busy themselves night and day, and keep watch\nover the household arrangements. When the servants are to go to\nthreshing, or other work requiring early rising, they are awakened by\nthe Tomts. If there is building going on, it is a good sign if the\nTomts are heard chopping and pounding during the hours of rest for the\nworkmen. In the forge where the Tomts have established themselves, the\nsmith may take his rest in confidence that they will awaken him by a\nblow on the sole of the foot when it is time for him to turn the iron.\nFormerly no iron was worked on \u201cTomt night,\u201d which they reserved for\npurposes of their own. On this night, were one to peek through the\ncracks of the door, the little people would be discovered working\nsilver bars, or turning their own legs under the hammer.\n\nIt is believed that in the house or community where there is order and\nprosperity the Tomts are resident, but in the house where proper\nrespect is lacking, or where there is a want of order and cleanliness,\nthey will not remain, and it will follow that the cup-board and\ncorn-crib will be empty, the cattle will not thrive, and the peasant\nwill be reduced to extreme poverty and want.\n\nIt happened thus to a farmer that he had never finished his threshing\nbefore spring, although he could not find that he had harvested more\ngrain than others of his neighbors. To discover, if might be, the\nsource of such plenty, he one day hid himself in the barn, whence he\nsaw a multitude of Tomts come, each bearing a stalk of rye, among them\none not larger than a man\u2019s thumb, bearing a straw upon his shoulders.\n\n\u201cWhy do you puff so hard?\u201d said the farmer from his hiding-place, \u201cyour\nburden is not so great.\u201d\n\n\u201cHis burden is according to his strength, for he is but one night old,\u201d\nanswered one of the Tomts, \u201cbut hereafter you shall have less.\u201d\n\nFrom that day all luck disappeared from the farmer\u2019s house, and finally\nhe was reduced to beggary.\n\nIn many districts it has been the custom to set out a bowl of mush for\nthe fairies on Christmas eve.\n\nIn the parish of Nyhil there are two estates lying near each other, and\nboth called Tobo. On one was a Tomt, who, on Christmas eve, was usually\nentertained with wheaten mush and honey. One time the mush was so warm\nwhen it was set out that the honey melted. When the Tomt came to the\nplace and failed to find his honey as heretofore, he became so angry\nthat he went to the stable and choked one of the cows to death. After\nhaving done this he returned and ate the mush, and, upon emptying the\ndish, found the honey in the bottom. Repenting his deed of a few\nminutes before, he carried the dead cow to a neighboring farm and led\ntherefrom a similar cow with which to replace the one he had killed.\nDuring his absence the women had been to the barn and returned to the\nhouse, where the loss was reported to the men, but when the latter\narrived at the cow-shed the missing cow had apparently returned. The\nnext day they heard of the dead cow on the adjoining farm, and\nunderstood that the Tomts had been at work.\n\nIn one place, in the municipality of Ydre, a housewife remarked that\nhowever much she took of meal from the bins there seemed to be no\ndiminution of the store, but rather an augmentation. One day when she\nwent to the larder she espied, through the chinks of the door, a little\nman sifting meal with all his might.\n\nNoticing that his clothes were very much worn, she thought to reward\nhim for his labor and the good he had brought her, and made him a new\nsuit, which she hung upon the meal bin, hiding herself to see what he\nwould think of his new clothes. When the Tomt came again he noticed the\nnew garments, and at once exchanged his tattered ones for the better,\nbut when he began to sift and found that the meal made his fine clothes\ndusty he threw the sieve into the corner and said:\n\n\u201cJunker Grand is dusting himself. He shall sift no more.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CAT OF NORRHULT. [20]\n\n\nOn the estate of Norrhult, in the parish of Rumskulla, the people in\nolden times were very much troubled by Trolls and ghosts. The\ndisturbances finally became so unbearable that they were compelled to\ndesert house and home, and seek an asylum with their neighbors. One old\nman was left behind, and he, because he was so feeble that he could not\nmove with the rest.\n\nSome time thereafter, there came one evening a man having with him a\nbear, and asked for lodgings for himself and companion. The old man\nconsented, but expressed doubts about his guest being able to endure\nthe disturbances that were likely to occur during the night.\n\nThe stranger replied that he was not afraid of noises, and laid himself\ndown, with his bear, near the old man\u2019s bed.\n\nOnly a few hours had passed, when a multitude of Trolls came into the\nhut and began their usual clatter. Some of them built the fire in the\nfireplace, others set the kettle upon the fire, and others again put\ninto the kettle a mess of filth, such as lizards, frogs, worms, etc.\n\nWhen the mess was cooked, the table was laid and the Trolls sat down to\nthe repast. One of them threw a worm to the bear, and said:\n\n\u201cWill you have a fish, Kitty?\u201d\n\nAnother went to the bear keeper and asked him if he would not have some\nof their food. At this the latter let loose the bear, which struck\nabout him so lustily that soon the whole swarm was flying through the\ndoor.\n\nSome time after, the door was again opened, and a Troll with mouth so\nlarge that it filled the whole opening peeked in. \u201cSic him!\u201d said the\nbear keeper, and the bear soon hunted him away also.\n\nIn the morning the stranger gathered the people of the village around\nhim and directed them to raise a cross upon the estate, and to engrave\na prayer on Cross Mountain, where the Trolls dwelt, and they would be\nfreed from their troublesome visitors.\n\nSeven years later a resident of Norrhult went to Norrk\u00f6ping. On his way\nhome he met a man who asked him where he came from, and, upon being\ninformed, claimed to be a neighbor, and invited the peasant to ride\nwith him on his black horse. Away they went at a lively trot along the\nroad, the peasant supposed, but in fact high up in the air. When it\nbecame quite dark the horse stumbled so that the peasant came near\nfalling off.\n\n\u201cIt is well you were able to hold on,\u201d said the horseman. \u201cThat was the\npoint of the steeple of Link\u00f6ping\u2019s cathedral that the horse stumbled\nagainst. Listen!\u201d continued he. \u201cSeven years ago I visited Norrhult.\nYou then had a vicious cat there; is it still alive?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, truly, and many more,\u201d said the peasant.\n\nAfter a time the rider checked his horse and bade the peasant dismount.\nWhen the latter looked around him he found himself at Cross Mountain,\nnear his home.\n\nSome time later another Troll came to the peasant\u2019s cottage and asked\nif that great savage cat still lived.\n\n\u201cLook out!\u201d said the peasant, \u201cshe is lying there on the oven, and has\nseven young ones, all worse than she.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d cried the Troll, and rushed for the door. From that time no\nTrolls have ever visited Norrhult.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLADY BARBRO OF BROKIND. [21]\n\n\nOn the estate of Brokind, in the parish of Vardsn\u00e4s, dwelt, in days\ngone by, a rich and distinguished lady named Barbro, who was so\nhard-hearted and severe with her dependents that for the least\ntransgression they were bound, their hands behind their backs, and cast\ninto prison, where, to add to their misery, she caused a table, upon\nwhich a bountiful supply of food and drink was placed, to be spread\nbefore them, which, of course, bound as they were, they could not\nreach. Upon complaint being made to her that the prisoners were\nperishing from hunger and thirst, she would reply, laughingly: \u201cThey\nhave both food and drink; if they will not partake of it the fault is\ntheirs, not mine.\u201d\n\nThus the prison at Brokind was known far and wide, and the spot where\nit stood is to this day called Kisthagen, in memory of it.\n\nWhen Lady Barbro finally died she was buried in the grave with her\nforefathers, in the cathedral of Link\u00f6ping, but this was followed by\nsuch ghostly disturbances that it became necessary to take her body up,\nwhen it was interred in the churchyard of Vardsn\u00e4s.\n\nNeither was she at rest here, whereupon, at the suggestion of one of\nthe wiser men of the community, her body was again taken up, and, drawn\nby a yoke of twin oxen, was conveyed to a swamp, where it was deposited\nand a pole thrust through both coffin and corpse. Ever after, at\nnightfall, an unearthly noise was heard in the swamp, and the cry of\n\u201cBarbro, pole! Barbro, pole!\u201d\n\nThe spirit was, for the time being, quieted, but, as with ghosts in all\nold places, it returned after a time, and often a light is seen in the\nlarge, uninhabited building at Brokind.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE URKO OF NORTH WIJ. [22]\n\n\nFrom the point where the river Bulsj\u00f6 empties into Lake Sommen,\nextending in a northerly direction for about eight miles, bordering the\nparishes of North Wij and Asby, nearly up to a point called Horn\u00e4s,\nstretches the principal fjord, one of several branching off from the\nlarge lake.\n\nNear Vishult, in the first named of these parishes, descending to the\nlake from the elevation that follows its west shores, is a wall-like\nprecipice, Urberg, which, from the lake, presents an especially\nmagnificent view, as well in its height and length, and in its\nwood-crowned top, as in the wild confusion of rocks at its base, where,\namong the jumble of piled-up slabs of stones, gape large openings, into\nwhich only the imagination dares to intrude.\n\nFrom this point the mountain range extends southward toward Tulleram,\nand northward, along the shore of Lake Sj\u00f6hult, under the name of\nTjorgaberg, until it ends in an agglomeration of rocks called Knut\u2019s\nDen.\n\nIn this mountain dwells the Urko, a monster cow of traditionary\nmassiveness, which, in former times, when she was yet loose, plowed the\nearth, making what is now Lake Sommen and its many fjords. At last she\nwas captured and fettered by a Troll man from Tulleram, who squeezed a\nhorseshoe around the furious animal\u2019s neck and confined her in Urberg.\nFor food she has before her a large cow-hide from which she may eat a\nhair each Christmas eve, but when all the hairs are consumed, she will\nbe liberated and the destruction of Ydre and all the world is to\nfollow.\n\nBut even before this she will be liberated from her prison if Ydre is\ncrossed by a king whom she follows and kills if she can catch him\nbefore he has crossed to the confines of the territory.\n\nIt happened one time that a king named Frode, or Fluga, passed through\nYdre, and, conscious of the danger, hurried to reach the boundaries,\nbut, believing he had already passed them, he halted on the confines at\nFruhammer, or, as the place was formerly called, Flude, or Flugehammer,\nwhere he was overtaken and gored to death by the monster. In\nconfirmation of this incident, his grave, marked by four stones, is to\nthis day pointed out.\n\nAnother narrative, which, however, is known only in the southeastern\npart of the territory, relates that another king, unconscious of the\ndanger accompanying travel in the neighborhood, passed unharmed over\nthe border, and had reached the estate of Kalleberg, when he heard\nbehind him the dreadful bellowing of the monster in full chase after\nhim. The king hastened away as speedily as possible. The cow monster,\nunable to check its mad gallop at the border, rushed over some distance\nto the place where the king first paused, where, in the gravel-mixed\nfield, she pawed up a round hole of several hundred feet in breadth,\nwhich became a bog, whose border, especially upon the north side, is\nsurrounded by a broad wall of the upheaved earth.\n\nStill, at times, especially preceding a storm, the Urko is heard\nrattling its fetters in the mountain, and both upon the mountain and\ndown near the shore of the lake by times.\n\nExtraordinary things are said to happen. One and another of the\nresidents thereabouts assert even that they have seen the Urko in her\nmagnificent rooms and halls, which the neighbors do not for a moment\ndoubt.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TROLL SHOES.\n\n\nNear K\u00f6lefors, in the jurisdiction of Kinda, lived, a long time ago, an\nold woman, who, as the saying goes, was accustomed, during Easter week,\nto go to Bl\u00e5kulla.\n\nLate one Passion Wednesday evening, as was usual with witches, she\nlashed her pack in readiness for the night, to follow her comrades in\ntheir wanderings. In order that the start should be accompanied by as\nfew hindrances as possible, she had greased her shoes and stood them by\nthe fireplace to dry.\n\nIn the dusk of the evening there came to her hut another old woman,\ntired and wet through from the rain, and asked permission to remain\nover night. To this the witch would not consent, but agreed to allow\nthe woman to remain until she had dried her soggy shoes before the\nfire, while she, unwilling to be under the same roof with her guest,\nremained outside.\n\nAfter a time the fire died out, and it became so dark in the hut that\nwhen the stranger undertook to find her shoes, in order to continue her\njourney, she got and put on the witch\u2019s shoes instead. Hardly had she\npassed out through the door when the shoes jerked her legs up into the\nair and stood her head downward, without, however, lifting her into the\nair and carrying her away as would have been if the witch\u2019s broom had\nbeen in her hand.\n\nIn this condition the old woman and the shoes struggled through the\nnight. Now the shoes stood her on her head and dragged her along the\nground, now the woman succeeded in grasping a bush or root, and was\nable to regain her feet again for a time.\n\nIn the end, near morning, a man walking past, noticed her and hastened\nto her relief. Answering her earnest pleading the man poked off one of\nthe shoes with a stick, whereupon, instantly, shoe and stick flew into\nthe air and vanished in the twinkling of an eye. After the adventures\nof the night the old Troll woman was so weakened that she fell into a\nhole, which is pointed out to this day, and is called \u201cThe Troll\nWoman\u2019s Pit.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOOD AND THE SEA NYMPHS. [23]\n\n\nBoth wood nymphs and sea nymphs belong to the giant family, and thus\nare related.\n\nThey often hold communication with each other, although the wood nymphs\nalways hold themselves a little above their cousins, which frequently\noccasions differences between them.\n\nA peasant, lying in the woods on the shores of Lake \u00d6mmeln, heard early\none morning voices at the lake side engaged in vehement conversation.\nConjecturing that it was the wood nymphs and sea nymphs quarreling, he\ncrept through the underbrush to a spot near where they sat, and\nlistened to the following dialogue:\n\nSea Nymph\u2014\u201cYou shall not say that you are better than I, for I have\nfive golden halls and fifty silver cans in each hall.\u201d\n\nWood Nymph\u2014\u201cI have a mountain which is three miles long and six\nthousand feet high, and under that mountain is another, ten times\nhigher and formed entirely of bones of the people I have killed.\u201d\n\nWhen the peasant heard this he became so alarmed that he ran a league\naway, without stopping. Thus he did not learn which was victorious, but\nit was the wood nymphs without doubt, as they have always been a little\nsuperior to the others.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE MOUNTAIN KITCHEN. [24]\n\n\nIn the parish of Bolsta there lived, many years ago, a man named\nSlottbon. One summer evening he rode his horse to pasture up toward\nDalo Mountain. Just as he let the horse go, and was turning to go home,\na black man confronted him and asked him if he did not wish to see the\nmountain kitchen.\n\nSlottbon acquiesced and followed his conductor into the mountain, where\nit seemed to him certain that he must lose his senses among the glitter\nof gold and silver utensils of the kitchen, with which he was\nsurrounded.\n\nThe mountain man inquired of his guest if he should order something to\neat for him, to which Slottbon assented, and, while his host was absent\npreparing the repast, improved the opportunity to gather up all the\ngold and silver his leather apron would hold, and with it hasten away\nwith all possible speed, not slacking his pace until he came to a\ngravel pit, where it occurred to him to look at his treasure. Seating\nhimself upon a stone, he began to throw the vessels, one after the\nother, upon the ground, where, as fast as they were thrown down, they\nwere turned into serpents.\n\nThoroughly frightened at the sight, he dropped his whole burden and\ntook to his heels, followed closely by the wriggling mass of enormous\nreptiles. Finally, when he had about given himself up for lost, he came\nto and sprang upon the trunk of a fallen tree and cried out, \u201cGod save\nme, poor sinner!\u201d and in the twinkling of an eye the serpents vanished.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBURIED ALIVE. [25]\n\n\nMany years ago an epidemic swept over Dalland, to which thousands of\npersons fell victims. Many people fled to the forests, or to other\nregions; the churches were deserted, and those remaining were not\nenough to bury the dead. At this stage an old Finlander came along, who\ninformed the few survivors that they need not hope for cessation of the\nscourge until they had buried some living thing.\n\nThe advice was followed. First a cock was buried alive, but the plague\ncontinued as violent as ever; next, a goat, but this also proved\nineffectual. At last a poor boy, who frequented the neighborhood,\nbegging, was lured to a wood-covered hill at the point where the river\nDaleborg empties into Lake Venem. Here a deep hole was dug, the boy\nmeantime sitting near, enjoying a piece of bread and butter that had\nbeen given him. When the grave was deep enough the boy was dropped into\nit and the diggers began hurriedly to shovel the dirt upon him. The lad\nbegged and prayed them not to throw dirt upon his bread and butter, but\nthe spades flew faster, and in a few minutes, still alive, he was\nentirely covered and left to his fate.\n\nWhether this stayed the plague is not known, but many who after night\npass the hill, hear, it is said, a voice as if from a dying child,\ncrying, \u201cBuried alive! buried alive!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJONAS SPITS. [26]\n\n\nAt Helgy, in the parish of Sunne, lived a warrior, by name Jonas Spits,\nwho, in wars against the Russians and others, had gained for himself\nthe reputation of a brave man.\n\nIt so happened that there was a revolt in the land, and the king sent a\nmessage to Spits, commanding his services in battle. One Sunday\nmorning, after the troops had assembled in the field, Spits was engaged\nin grinding his sword.\n\n\u201cThis is right!\u201d said the king. \u201cThere will be fighting to-morrow; let\nme see that you make good use of your weapon then.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall not fail you,\u201d answered Spits, and continued his grinding.\n\nThe next day brought a bloody conflict, in which Spits\u2019 sword was not\nidle until the evening and the conclusion of the battle, when the king\nasked for him.\n\n\u201cHere I am,\u201d answered Spits, bowing before him.\n\n\u201cLet me see your sword,\u201d said the king, \u201cand know what services you\nhave done this day.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere it is,\u201d said Spits, at the same time reaching for the weapon\ncovered with blood.\n\n\u201cGood!\u201d said the king. \u201cI\u2019ll gild this sword for you.\u201d Whereupon he\nknighted him and commanded that he should be called \u201cThe Spits of\nGyllenspits.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLADY RANGELA OF EDSHOLM.\n\n\nA few miles west of Karlstad, on a little island near Slottsbrosund,\nwas located, in former days, an old fortress called Asa, or Edsholm\nCastle, otherwise notorious as the residence of the cruel stewards of\nVestersysslet.\n\nA niggardly and cruel woman, Lady Rangela, for a time owned Edsholm and\nall the land thereabout. She soon made herself bitterly hated by the\npeasantry because of the oppressions she heaped upon them, and\nespecially because of the unreasonable toll she demanded every time\nthey crossed the castle bridge.\n\nAccording to agreement, two peasants went one day, the one to the top\nof Edsholm Mountain and the second to a mountain on the other side of\nthe sound near the castle, whereupon the following conversation was\ncarried on between them, in a loud voice:\n\n\u201cMy dear neighbor, lend me your large kettle.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you want with it?\u201d\n\n\u201cI want to cook Lady Rangela of Edsholm Castle, because she demands too\nhigh toll from passers over the bridge.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou shall have it gladly.\u201d\n\nThis was heard at the castle, and Lady Rangela, believing it to be the\nTrolls planning her destruction, hurriedly packed her treasures and\ndeserted Edsholm. She had, however, gone no further than to Rangelsund,\nor Ransund, which is named after her, when a severe storm overtook her\nand sunk the boat, with people, treasure and all.\n\nWhen the peasantry learned what had happened, they poured into the\ncastle and razed it to the ground, since when there has been nothing to\nindicate its existence more than a few heaps of gravel.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSAXE OF SAXEHOLM.\n\n\nAt the mouth of the Bay of Olme, upon a little island, which on its\nwest side is connected with the island of Kumel, is situated the castle\nof Saxeholm.\n\nHere dwelt, in former days, a powerful chief, by name Saxe, the greater\npart of whose time was spent in bloody warfare, in which occupation he\nseemed to find great success and pleasure. At home he was gloomy and\nreserved, and very cruel to his wife.\n\nFinally, becoming wearied by her husband\u2019s continued harshness, she\ndetermined to elope with another who better understood how to reward\nher love.\n\nOne time when Saxe was at Christmas matins in the church at Varnum, his\nwife set fire to the castle, shut the gates and threw the key over the\nwall into the garden outside. Preceding this she had commanded that her\nhorses be shod with shoes reversed, thus hoping to bewilder her\npursuers, then, with her lover and a few trusty servants, the castle\nwas deserted, and her way taken over the ice-covered bay.\n\nWhen Saxe came home, he found his castle wrapped in flames, and the\nfollowing lines written on the outer gate:\n\n\n    \u201cWithin is burning Saxe\u2019s knout,\n    And Saxe the cruel must lie without.\u201d\n\n\nWhat the chief\u2019s thoughts were at such a greeting is not related.\nMeantime his wife, before she left the castle, had deposited, in one of\nthe vaults, a chest filled with valuables, and had declared that no\nhuman power should move it therefrom.\n\nMany attempts have since been made to unearth this treasure, and it is\nsaid that more than once the searchers have so far succeeded as to get\na glimpse of the iron-bound chest, but always at this point they have\nbeen frightened away by an awful voice calling out from the depths of\nthe vault, \u201cDon\u2019t come here!\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE POLITE COAL BURNER. [27]\n\n\nAt Vejefors forge, up near the northern frontier, there was, many years\nago, a charcoal burner who, however vigilant he might be, always had to\nrebuild and burn his stacks. Now, the wood was not burned enough,\nagain, poorly burned, and a thousand annoyances pursued him in his\nwork.\n\nOne evening, as he sat in his hut mending his tools, a beautiful maiden\nentered, and, complaining that she was almost frozen, asked permission\nto warm herself at the fire.\n\nThe coal burner, who had been long in the woods, understood at once\nthat his visitor was a wood nymph, beautiful and enchanting when seen\nface to face, but, when seen behind, is adorned with a bushy fox tail.\n\nWhen she had warmed herself in front awhile, she turned her back to the\nfire, and the coal burner was given an opportunity to see the tail,\nwhereupon, with unexpected courtesy, he addressed his guest;\n\n\u201cMiss, look out for your train, please!\u201d\n\nThat nice name for her troublesome appendage won the Troll woman\u2019s\naffections, and from that day everything went admirably with the coal\nburner.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE HARVESTERS.\n\n\nIn the parish of Eksh\u00e4rad lies a mountain, S\u00e4ljeberg, which was\nformerly the dwelling place of Trolls and giants, now exterminated.\n\nNear the mountain dwelt a farmer, on one of the best farms in the\nparish. One summer evening he went over his fields admiring the seas of\ngolden grain and exulting at the abundant harvest promised him.\n\n\u201cGod be praised for this crop,\u201d said he. \u201cIf I now could have all these\nfields harvested by early morning I would give my best cow.\u201d\n\nHereupon he returned to his home and went to bed. Through the whole\nnight the noise of reaping was heard in the fields and the Trolls\ncalling:\n\n\u201cMake bands and bind; let the farmer dry it himself.\u201d\n\nAs soon as sunrise the farmer was upon his feet and out into the\nfields, where, to his indescribable amazement, he saw them reaped and\nthe grain lying in bundles upon the ground. Guessing that the Trolls\nhad had a hand in the work, he sprang to the stable, there to find a\nstall empty and his best cow gone.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE ULFGRYT STONES.\n\n\nIn the peak of Mount Garphytte, one of the many mountain tops that\nraise themselves over Kilseberger, dwelt, in former days, a giant named\nRise.\n\nOne morning, as he went from his grotto out into the day, a strange\nsound, which caused him to pause, greeted his ear. He listened for some\ntime, then returned into the mountain and called his wife.\n\n\u201cPut the smallest of those stones that lie upon the peak into your\ngarter and sling it at that gray cow that goes tinkling along down\nthere by Hjelmaren!\u201d said he, meaning the new church just completed at\nOrebro, whose bells were that morning ringing for the first time in the\nservice of the Lord.\n\nThe giantess, as she was commanded, took a stone as large as a house\nand threw it at the church, some eight or ten miles distant.\n\n\u201cThat was a poor throw,\u201d said the giant, when the stone fell down on\nthe plain of Rumbo. \u201cBring here the band; you shall see a throw that\nwill do its work,\u201d whereupon he adjusted a monstrous stone in his\nwife\u2019s garter, and, swinging it a few times through the air, let it go\nwith all his power toward the new church.\n\n\u201cGreat in command, but little in power,\u201d said the giant woman, when the\nstone fell upon the one she had thrown, and was broken into a thousand\npieces.\n\nAt the same time the bell rung out with wonderful clearness. Furious\nwith rage, he tore up two large stones, took one under each arm, and\nset out for Orebro. Intelligence having reached the residents of Orebro\nthat the giant was coming, consternation was general and good advice\ndear.\n\nFinally, an old man undertook to save the church. In great haste he\ngathered up all the worn-out shoes he could find, put them in a sack,\nand set out to meet the giant. At Ulfgryt, in Toby, he met the giant,\nwho was anything but gentle in appearance.\n\n\u201cHow far is it to Orebro?\u201d asked Rise.\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t say exactly,\u201d answered the old man, in an innocent manner,\n\u201cbut it is long a way, you will find, for it is seven years since I\nleft there, and I have worn out all these shoes on the way.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen let him who will, go there, but I will not,\u201d said the giant, and\nthrew the stones from him to the ground with such force that they rang\nas they struck it.\n\nThe stones lie there by the roadside even to-day, but the most\nremarkable circumstance is that they turn over whenever the church\nbells in Orebro are rung.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nRUGGA BRIDGE. [28]\n\n\nIn the last years of the fourteenth century there lived in Strengn\u00e4s,\nthe well-known bishop, Konrad Rugga, or Bishop Cort, as he was called\nby the people. Holding his office at a time when the glory of Papacy\nwas at its height, it is natural that his power was great and influence\nunusual. Yet tradition has not been content with this, but has\nmagnified his endowments to the almost supernatural.\n\nIn order to maintain discipline and order in his bishopric he was wont\nto travel from place to place in his diocese, always visiting in these\njourneys the convent of Riseberga.\n\nDuring one of these official tours he purchased in Tangerosa, three\nsmall farms, and made of them a large domain, which he improved and\ncalled Trystorp\u2014three farms\u2014but from Riseberga to Trystorp it is a long\ndistance, and as the Bishop was not unskilled in constructing\nunderground ways\u2014he having already completed one such under the M\u00e4lar\nfrom Strengn\u00e4s to his residence, Tynnels\u00f6\u2014he tunneled a passage from\nthe monastery to Trystorp under Logsj\u00f6. For the public he built a road\nabove ground, which is the same that now leads to Trystorp around the\nnorth shore of Logsj\u00f6.\n\nOver a stream, or at that time a little river, which, just below\nRiseberga, runs from the south in a northerly course, he built a\nsubstantial bridge of sandstone. The bridge is even to-day called\nRugga\u2019s bridge or more commonly Ruggebro.\n\nNot long after the death of Bishop Cort the Papal power was forced to\nyield in Sweden to the doctrines of Luther and Riseberga to share the\nfate of other convents in the land.\n\nIt was now determined to move one of the bells of the convent to\nEdsberg, where it was to call the people together to hear the new\nmessage of truth. But the Bishop\u2019s powerful spirit seemed even now to\nbe present on earth, for when they who bore the bell reached the middle\nof Ruggebro, the burden was overthrown by an unseen hand into the\ncreek, where it disappeared.\n\nMany have since seen the bell, and one and another have even succeeded\nin raising it half way out of the water, but it has always escaped and\nsunk back into the creek bed, scoffing at the weakness of the covetous\nlaborers.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKATE OF YS\u00c4TTER.\n\n\nThe inhabitants of N\u00e4rike have many stories to relate about an\napparition, called Kate of Ys\u00e4tter, that in olden times dwelt in \u00d6ster\nN\u00e4rike\u2019s forests, but chiefly in the swamps of Ys\u00e4tter, in the parish\nof Asker.\n\nAccording to the belief of the old people, she existed through many\ngenerations, although she usually made her appearance as a young girl\nbeautifully clad, and possessing a head of hair of extraordinary\nlength. She was often seen by hunters sitting upon a stump, combing her\nhair which reached to the ground. Those who went to the swamps to wash\ntheir clothes sometimes saw her at a little distance also washing\ngarments which were of an unusual whiteness. To ugly old women she was\nalways a terror, and it seemed to be a pleasure to her to mimic them by\nkeeping time with their motions, but whenever she showed herself it was\nfor a few seconds only, and should one turn his eyes from her, however\nlittle, she was gone.\n\nIn \u00d6ster N\u00e4rike, the routes she took were shown, and many complaints\nwere heard that she trampled the grain down in her constant journeys\nback and forth. Often, especially in the night time, her awful laugh\nwas heard from her perch on a tree or top of a rock, when she succeeded\nin alluring some one from his path, caused him to fall with his load,\nor break his harness. Her laugh was like a magpie\u2019s, and caused the\nblood of one helpless against her pranks to stand still.\n\nOthers who endeavored to stand well with her she assisted in many\ninstances. \u201cShe has gone, the lightning has killed her as the others,\u201d\nsay the old people, not yet won over to the skepticism of the present\ntime.\n\nAmong those who enjoyed her special favor was a hunter, Bottorpa Lasse.\nHe was such a skillful shot that if only he stepped out upon the porch\nand called a bird, or drew the picture of an animal upon the wall of\nthe barn, the game he wished was brought within range of his gun.\n\nOne time Lasse invited his neighbors to accompany him on a hunt, and,\nexpecting to bag an abundance of game, they were not slow to accept the\ninvitation. They betook themselves in the evening to the woods, where\nthey found shelter in a coal burner\u2019s hut, and prepared to begin the\nhunt early in the morning.\n\nAlong in the night Kate entered the hut, and requested the hunters to\nshow her their guns. She first examined those of the hunter\u2019s\nneighbors, but soon returned them, exclaiming, \u201cFie!\u201d She then took\nLasse\u2019s gun, blew down the barrel, examined the priming and handed it\nback exclaiming, \u201cGood, good, my boy!\u201d What this signified was soon\nmanifested, when Lasse secured a fine lot of game and the others did\nnot so much as get a shot.\n\nIt is further related of Kate of Ys\u00e4tter, that at the burning of the\nclock tower of Asker, in the year 1750, when even the church was in\nflames and in great danger of destruction, Kate was seen standing on\nthe roof, opposing their progress.\n\nThe last time she made her presence known was at a harvest gathering in\nthe fields of Ys\u00e4tter. The harvesters had ceased labor to eat their\nluncheon, and when they had eaten themselves into a good humor,\nengaging in conversation, which turned upon Kate, a young man declared\nhe would like nothing better than to catch her and give her a good\nwhipping for the vexations she had produced in the world. Instantly a\nterrific crash was heard in an enclosure near by, and the youth\nreceived a blow in the face that caused the blood to gush from mouth\nand nose over the food of the others, changing their butter to blood.\nIt was after this thought wise to say as little and to have as little\nas possible to do with Kate of Ys\u00e4tter.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE ELVES\u2019 DANCE.\n\n\nUpon the marshy oak and linden covered island of S\u00f6r, when the grass\nstarts forth in the spring, are to be seen, here and there, circles of\na deeper green than the surrounding grass, which the people say mark\nthe places where Elves have had their ring dances.\n\nWhile the provost, Lille Strale, was pastor of the parish church, a\nservant was sent out late one evening to bring a horse in from a\npasture. Plodding along as best he could in the darkness, he had not\ngone far when it was discovered that he had lost his way, and, turn\nwhich way he would, he could not find the sought for meadow.\n\nExhausted at last by constant walking, he sat down at the foot of an\noak to rest himself. Presently strains of lovely music reached his\nears, and he saw, quite near, a multitude of little people engaged in a\nlively ring dance upon the sward. So light were their footsteps that\nthe tops of the grass blades were scarcely moved.\n\nIn the middle of the ring stood the Elf Queen herself, taller and more\nbeautiful than the others, with a golden crown upon her head and her\nclothes sparkling in the moonlight with gold and precious stones.\n\nBeckoning to him, she said: \u201cCome, Anders, and tread a dance with me!\u201d\nand Anders, thinking it would be impolite not to comply with the\nrequest of a woman so beautiful, rose and stepped bowing into the ring.\n\nPoor lad, he did not know what a fate awaited him who ventured to\nparticipate in the sports of the Elves. How the dance terminated is not\nknown, but at its conclusion the young man found himself again under\nthe oak, and from that hour he was never again wholly himself. From\nbeing the most lively and cheerful young man in the village, he became\nthe dullest and most melancholy, and, before the year had gone, his\ndays were ended.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIDDLER AND THE SEA NYMPH.\n\n\nMany years ago a dancing society of Br\u00e4sta, a village in the parish of\nStora Mell\u00f6sa, planned a great Christmas festival, to which, on the\nappointed day, old and young flocked from far and near, knowing that\nSexton Kant, of Norrby\u00e5s, would be there with his fiddle, and assured\nthat fun would run riot. Kant, it is related, was no ordinary fiddler,\nnot a little proud of his skill, and ready at the least word of praise\nto laud himself to the skies.\n\nWhen the merry making had gone well into the night and the pleasures\nwere at their height, some one remarked that not many could measure\nthemselves with Father Kant, when he let the bow leap over the strings\nand played in \u201cfour voices,\u201d as he himself called it. Nothing further\nwas needed. Kant, always ready to begin where the others left off,\ndeclared that the devil, good player as he was reputed to be, could not\ncompete with him in the waltz which they had just heard. This boast\ncame near costing Kant dear. When the dance ended and he set out in the\nnight on his way home, he met, near the hill of Bjurb\u00e4cka, a young\nwoman clad in white, who saluted him and addressed him as follows:\n\n\u201cIf you will play a polka for me, Father Kant, I will dance for you.\u201d\n\nSo said, so done. Father Kant sat himself upon a stone and applied the\nbow to the strings of the instrument. Instantly he lost all control of\nhimself. Such a polka as now came from his fiddle he had never expected\nto hear, much less play. The tones seemed to come without help from\nhim. The bow bounded over the strings and his arm was forced to follow.\nOne melody followed another; his arm became numb, but the music\ncontinued in the same wild measure.\n\nKant now understood that something was wrong. Finally he burst forth:\n\n\u201cGod forgive me, poor sinner. What have I brought upon myself?\u201d\n\nUpon the instant the fiddle strings parted, and an awful-sounding laugh\nwas heard from the brook at the foot of the hill. Heavy of heart, Kant\nhastened homeward, acknowledging to himself that the devil, after all,\nwas his superior. For a long time he could not be persuaded to again\ntake up his fiddle, but, when he finally complied, he found that one of\nthe beautiful waltzes he had played on the eventful night had fastened\nitself upon his memory, and he acquired greater renown than before as a\nfiddler.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SNIPE.\n\n\nThe snipe, as is well known, is a bird which inhabits low, marshy\nmeadows, and which, in flight, makes a noise with its wings not unlike\nthe neighing of a horse.\n\nA farmer, who himself never looked after his property, had in his\nemploy a lazy and negligent servant. One dry summer the man rode his\nmaster\u2019s horse, many days in succession, to a pasture where there was\nno water, without first giving it drink, as he had been instructed. So\nthe poor animal was thus left to suffer through the long dry period.\n\nIt happened one day that the farmer would go to the city, and commanded\nthe servant to fetch the horse from the pasture. The man went, but\nsearch where he would, no horse could be found. The servant not\nreturning in season, his master set out after him, but neither could he\nfind the animal. It had disappeared from the pasture completely, and\nwas not found again.\n\nSome days later, when the farmer was again out, continuing the search,\nto his surprise he heard a neighing in the air. Soon after he observed\nhis horse, as he supposed, standing and drinking in an adjoining\nmeadow. \u201cAre you there, Gr\u00e5lle?\u201d cried the farmer, and hastened to\ncatch the horse. His shout was answered with a neigh.\n\n\u201cGr\u00e5lle, Gr\u00e5lle, my boy!\u201d continued the farmer, in persuasive tones and\nwas about to grasp the halter, when the horse was transformed into a\nbird, which, with another neigh, flew into the air.\n\nFrom that day the farmer took care of his own horses, and before all\nelse he saw to it that they did not want for water when they went to\npasture.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTIBBLE CASTLE AND KLINTA SPRING.\n\n\nAt Tibble, in the parish of Bedelunda, there stood, in former days, so\nit is said, a castle, of which the most careful search fails to reveal\nany remnant now.\n\nIn the castle dwelt a lady of royal descent, with her young and\nbeautiful daughter. One day there came to it a prince, who was received\nwith great pomp, and it was not long until an ardent love had sprung up\nbetween the young people. Knowing that many eyes were upon them,\nkeeping expressions in check, they agreed to meet each other on a\ncertain night at Klinta Spring, situated south of the castle near\nKlinta Mountain.\n\nLate in the evening, when all its inhabitants were asleep, and it had\nbecome quiet in the castle, the young lady crept quietly from her room\ndown to the castle gate, but the porter refused to open it for her.\nThinking gold might persuade him, she drew from her hand a ring which\nshe tendered him, but he was not so easily bribed. Then she took a gold\nchain from her neck, proffering it with the ring; such a temptation the\nold man could not resist, and quietly allowed her to pass, with the\ncondition that she should return before dawn.\n\nWhen she arrived at the spring she thought she saw the prince sitting\nupon a stone near by, and, approaching him, she threw herself into his\narms. But, instead of that of her lover, she found herself in the\nembrace of the Mountain King of Klinta Mountain, who lifted her up and\nbore her into the mountain. Before reaching the interior of the\nmountain, however, she succeeded in slipping the crown he wore from the\ngiant\u2019s head and hanging it, as she passed, upon the branch of a pine\ntree so that the prince could see that she had kept her appointment.\n\nWhen they reached the inside of the mountain, the giant laid the young\nwoman carefully down upon the \u201cstar spread\u201d in his chamber, where she\nfell asleep, after which he went to his mother and told her what a\nbeautiful discovery he had made. Meantime the prince came to the\nspring. When he failed to find his mistress there he walked around the\nmeadow and came, finally, to the mountain, where his attention was\nattracted to the crown hanging in the tree. He now understood what had\nhappened, and in anguish drew his sword and pierced his body with it.\nWhen the young woman awoke, the giant woman commanded her son to carry\nher back to the spring. \u201cBut,\u201d added she, \u201cbefore you reach there three\nlives will have been forfeited.\u201d\n\nAnd so it happened. While the giant was carrying the young woman to the\nspring she breathed her last and was laid by the giant at the side of\nthe prince. Meanwhile the porter, in remorse over his deed, had thrown\nhimself from the tower, and thus ended his days.\n\nThe prince and his love were laid upon a golden wagon and conveyed to a\nbeautiful green meadow on an eminence near Gryta and there interred.\nEven the wagon and sword were buried in the mound, which every spring\nis surrounded by a hedge of white, blooming bird cherry, but both wagon\nand sword shall, in time, be dug up, when he who is first to see the\nlatter shall receive his mortal wound therefrom.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE COAL BURNER AND THE TROLL.\n\n\nOn a point which shoots out into the northwest corner of Lake R\u00e5svalen,\nin the region of Linde, lived, in days past, a coal burner named Nils.\nHis little garden patch was left to a servant boy to care for, while he\ndwelt always in the forest, chopping coal-wood during the summer and\nburning it in the winter. However he toiled, nothing but bad luck was\nreturned to him, and, leading all other subjects, poor Nils was the\ntalk of the village where his home was.\n\nOne day when he was constructing a stack of wood for burning, on the\nother side of the lake near the dark Harg Mountain, a strange woman\ncame to him and asked him if he needed help in his work.\n\n\u201cYes, indeed; it would be good to have some assistance,\u201d answered Nils,\nwhereupon the woman began to carry logs and wood much faster than Nils\ncould draw with his horse, so that by noon the material was on the\nground for a new stack. When evening came she asked Nils what he\nthought of her day\u2019s work, and if she might come again next day.\n\nThe coal burner could not well say no, so she returned the following\nday, and daily thereafter. When the stack was burned she assisted him\nwith the drawing, and never before had Nils had so much nor so good\ncoal as that time.\n\nThus the woman remained with him in the forest three years, during\nwhich time she became the mother of three children, but this did not\nbother the coal burner, for she took care of them so that he had no\ntrouble from them.\n\nWhen the fourth year had been entered upon she began to be more\npresuming, and demanded that he take her home with him and make her his\nwife. This Nils did not like, but, as she was very useful to him in the\ncoal forest, he was careful not to betray his thoughts, and said he\nwould think over the matter.\n\nOne day he went to church, where he had not been for many years, and\nwhat he heard there set him to thinking as he had not thought since he\nwas an innocent child. He began to reflect whether he had not made a\nmisstep, and if it might not be a Troll woman who had so willingly lent\nhim her company and help.\n\nInvolved in these and similar thoughts, returning to his forest home,\nhe forgot that he had made an agreement with the strange woman when she\nfirst entered his service, that always upon his arrival, and before\napproaching the stack, he would strike three times with an ax against\nan old pine tree standing a little way from the coal kiln. On he went,\nwhen suddenly there burst upon his sight a scene that nearly took his\nwits from him. As he neared the stack he discovered it in bright\nflames, and around it stood the mother and her three children drawing\nthe coal. They drew and slacked so that fire, smoke and sparks filled\nthe air high toward the heavens, but instead of pine branches,\nordinarily used for slacking, they had bushy tails, with which, after\ndipping them in the snow, they beat the fire.\n\nWhen Nils had contemplated this awhile, he crept stealthily back to the\npine whose trunk he made echo by three blows from his ax, so that it\nwas heard far away at Harg Mountain. Thereupon he went forward to the\nstack as if he had seen nothing, and now every thing was as he was\naccustomed to see it. The stack burned steadily and well, and the woman\nwent about her duties as usual.\n\nWhen the woman saw Nils again, she renewed her appeals to be allowed to\ngo to his home with him and become his wife.\n\n\u201cYes, the matter shall be settled now,\u201d said Nils, consolingly, and\ndeparted for home, ostensibly to fetch his horse, but he went instead\nto Kallern\u00e4s, on the east shores of the lake, where lived a wise old\nman, whom he asked what course to pursue to free himself from the\ndilemma. The old man advised him to go home and hitch his horse to the\ncoal cart, but so harness that no loops should be found in the reins or\nharness. Then he should ride over the ice on the back of the horse;\nturn at the coal-kiln without pausing; shout to the Troll woman and\nchildren to get into the cart; and drive briskly to the ice again.\n\nThe coal burner, following the instructions, harnessed his horse and\nsaw to it carefully that there was no loop upon the reins or harness,\nrode over the ice, up into the woods to the kiln and called to the\nwoman and her children to jump in, at the same time heading for the ice\nand putting his horse to the best possible speed. When he reached the\nmiddle of the lake, he saw, running toward him from the wilderness, a\nlarge pack of wolves, whereupon he let slip the harness from the\nshafts, so that the cart and its contents were left standing on the\nslippery ice, and rode as fast as the horse could carry him straight to\nthe other shore. When the Troll saw the wolves she began to call and\nbeg. \u201cCome back! come back!\u201d she shrieked. \u201cIf you will not do it for\nmy sake, do it for your youngest daughter, Vipa!\u201d But Nils continued\nhis way toward the shore. Then he heard the Trolls calling one to the\nother, \u201cBrother in Harsberg, sister in Stripa, and cousin in\nRingsh\u00e4llen, catch hold of the loops and pull!\u201d \u201cHe has no loop,\u201d came\na reply from the depths of Harsberg.\n\n\u201cCatch him at H\u00e4rk\u00e4llarn, then.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe does not ride in that direction,\u201d came from Ringsh\u00e4llen, and Nils\ndid not go that way, but over fields, stones and roads straight to his\nhome, where he had only arrived when the horse fell dead, and a Troll\nshot came and tore away the corner of the stable.\n\nNils, himself, fell ill shortly after, and was confined to his bed many\nweeks. When he recovered his health he sold his cabin in the forest,\nand cultivated the few acres around his cottage until the end of his\ndays. Thus the Trolls were once caught napping.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBOLSTRE CASTLE.\n\n\nOne evening, a long time ago, a little girl went up through the forest\nto Bolstre Castle in search of some sheep that had gone astray.\n\nReaching the inside of the walls, the little girl was met by an old\nwoman, clothed in a red skirt and a gray head covering, who gave into\nher possession a box, and commanded her to take care of it while she\nwent to invite a number of her friends to become guests at her\ndaughter\u2019s wedding.\n\nThe girl was so frightened that she did not dare to refuse the charge,\nand, taking the box, sat down upon a stone to wait the woman\u2019s return.\nWhen she had thus sat a long time she heard a bird twittering over her\nhead in a tree, and looking up, two leaves fell from the tree in such\nmanner as to form a cross upon the box, whereupon the cover instantly\nflew open and revealed its contents\u2014a bridal crown of shining gold and\nmany other costly jewels.\n\nThe girl waited long and patiently, but the old woman did not return,\nso, finally she set out on her way home, taking with her the jewel\ncasket. But blessings do not go with Troll property. No bride would\nwear the crown, it was so fine, and the girl soon after lost her lover.\nNow that it was clear to every one that a Troll\u2019s gold brought only\nmisfortune upon the household, it was carried back to the castle and\nburied in the ground, where it surely lies to-day.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHANGELINGS.\n\n\nEvery intelligent grandmother knows that the fire must not be allowed\nto go out in a room, where there is a child not yet christened; that\nthe water in which the new-born child is washed should not be thrown\nout; also, that a needle, or some other article of steel must be\nattached to its bandages. If attention is not paid to these precautions\nit may happen that the child will be exchanged by the Trolls, as once\noccurred in Bettna many years ago.\n\nA young peasant\u2019s wife had given birth to her first child. Her mother,\nwho lived some distance away, was on hand to officiate in the first\nduties attending its coming, but the evening before the day on which\nthe child should be christened she was obliged to go home for a short\ntime to attend to the wants of her own family, and during her absence\nthe fire was allowed to go out.\n\nNo one would have noticed anything unusual, perhaps, if the child had\nnot, during the baptism, cried like a fiend. After some weeks, however,\nthe parents began to observe a change. It became ugly, cried\ncontinuously and was so greedy that it devoured everything that came in\nits way. The people being poor, they were in great danger of being\neaten out of house and home. There could no longer be any doubt that\nthe child was a \u201cchangeling.\u201d Whereupon the husband sought a wise old\nwoman, who, it was said, could instruct the parents what to do to get\nback their own child.\n\nThe mother was directed to build a fire in the bake oven three Thursday\nevenings in succession, lay the young one upon the bake shovel, then\npretend that she was about to throw it into the fire. The advice was\nfollowed, and when the woman, the third evening, was in the act of\nthrowing the changeling into the fire, it seemed, a little deformed,\nevil-eyed woman rushed up with the natural child, threw it in the crib\nand requested the return of her child. \u201cFor,\u201d said she, \u201cI have never\ntreated your child so badly and I have never thought to do it such harm\nas you now propose doing mine,\u201d whereupon she took the unnatural child\nand vanished through the door.\n\nAnother changeling story, but with less unfortunate consequences, is\ntold in S\u00f6dermanland.\n\nA resident of Ving\u00e5kir, who made frequent trips to Nyk\u00f6ping with loads\nof flour, was in the habit of halting for the night at the house of a\nfarmer in Verna. One summer night he arrived later than usual, and, as\nthe people were already in bed and asleep, the weather being pleasant,\nhe did not wish to wake anyone, so unhitched his horse from the wagon,\nhitched him to a hay stack and laid himself under the wagon to sleep.\n\nHe had been some time under the wagon, yet awake, when, from under a\nstone near by, an ugly, deformed woman, carrying a babe, made her\nappearance. Looking about her carefully, she laid the child on the\nstone and went into the house. In a short time she returned, bearing\nanother child; laid it upon the stone, and taking up the first one,\nreturned to the house.\n\nThe man observed her actions, and divining their purpose, crept\ncautiously from his resting place as soon as the woman had disappeared\ninto the house, took the sleeping child and hid it in his coat under\nthe wagon. When the Troll returned and found the child gone she went a\nthird time to the house, from which she returned with the child she had\njust carried in, whereupon she disappeared under the stone.\n\nThe traveler, anxious for the welfare of his little charge, which had\nin such an extraordinary manner fallen into his hands, could not close\nhis eyes for the rest of the night.\n\nAs soon as it dawned he went with his precious burden to the house,\nwhere he found the occupants in great consternation over the\ndisappearance of the child, which, as may be presumed, was received\nwith great rejoicing.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LADY OF PINTORP. [29]\n\n\nWhat is now the country seat of Eriksberg, with its castle-like\nbuildings among parks and gardens, was once an estate called Pintorp,\nupon which tradition has fixed the melancholy story of \u201cThe Lady of\nPintorp.\u201d\n\nAt Pintorp, so goes the story, lived a nobleman who, at his death, yet\na young man, left his goods and estates to his widow. Instead of\nproving a good mistress to her numerous dependents, she impoverished\nthem in all possible ways and treated them with the greatest cruelty.\nUnder the castle she had deep cells, the terrors of which, on the\nslightest provocation, many a poor innocent creature was made to\nexperience. She would set vicious dogs on beggars and children, and he\nwho was not at his work at a fixed hour could be certain that he would\ngo home in the evening with his back well lashed.\n\nEarly one morning the Lady of Pintorp stood on the castle steps\nwatching the people congregate for the day\u2019s work. Noticing an\nunfortunate fellow a little behind time, she flew into a rage, pouring\nupon him a flood of abuse and curses, and in punishment commanded him\nto fell the largest oak to be found upon the estate, and to carry it,\nbefore evening, uncut, top foremost, to the garden. If he failed to\nexecute the command fully and punctually he was to be mercilessly\ndriven from the estate and all his possessions confiscated.\n\nPondering over his sentence the man went to the woods where he met an\nold man who inquired why he looked so sad.\n\n\u201cBecause I am done for, if the Lord does not come to my aid,\u201d sighed\nthe unfortunate fellow, and informed the old man what a task his\nmistress had put upon him.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be uneasy,\u201d said the stranger, \u201cbut chop that oak, then set\nyourself upon the trunk, when Erik Gyllerstierna and Svante Baner will\ndraw it to the castle.\u201d\n\nThe peasant, as he was instructed, began to cut the tree, which fell\nwith a great crash at the third blow of his ax. Taking his seat upon\nthe trunk, the tree at once began to move as if drawn by horses. The\nspeed was soon so great that opposing fences and gates were brushed\naside like straws, and in a short time the oak had arrived at the\ndesignated spot in the castle yard. Just as the tree top struck the\ncastle gate one of the invisible haulers stumbled, and a voice was\nheard to say, \u201cWhat, you on your knees, Svante?\u201d\n\nThe lady who was standing upon the steps at the time understood,\nwithout anything further, who had been the laborer\u2019s helpers, but\ninstead of repenting she began to swear, scold and in the end, to\nthreaten the man with imprisonment. Hereupon there was an earthquake\nwhich shook the walls of the castle, and a black carriage drawn by two\nblack horses stood in the castle yard. A handsome man dressed in black\nstepped from the carriage, bowed to the lady and bade her prepare to\nfollow him. Tremblingly\u2014for she knew well who the stranger was\u2014she\nbegged him to let her remain three years yet; to this the visitor would\nnot consent. She begged for three months; this was also denied her, and\nat last she prayed for three days, then three hours, but was allowed\nonly three minutes in which to dispose of her household affairs.\n\nWhen she saw that prayers availed her nothing she asked him to, at\nleast, allow her curate, chambermaid and house servants to go with her\non the journey. This was granted, so they entered the carriage, which\nwas instantly under way and went off at such a speed that the people\nwho stood in the yard saw nothing but a black streak behind it.\n\nWhen the lady and her followers had ridden some time they came to a\nlighted castle, up the steps of which the black gentleman conducted\nthem. Arriving in the hall, he deprived the lady of her rich clothes\nand gave her instead a coarse gown and wooden shoes. Next he combed her\nhair three times with such a vengeance that the blood streamed from her\nhead, and concluded by dancing with her three times until her shoes\nwere filled with blood.\n\nAfter the first dance she asked permission to give her gold ring to her\nchamberlain, whose fingers were burned by it as with fire. After the\nsecond dance she gave the chambermaid her key ring, which scorched her\nfingers as if glowing iron. At the termination of the third dance a\ntrap in the floor opened and the woman vanished in a cloud of smoke and\nflames.\n\nThe priest who stood nearest peeped with curiosity into the opening\nwhere the woman had gone down, when a spark came up from below and hit\nhim in the eye so that thereafter he had but one eye.\n\nWhen all was over the gentleman in black gave the servants permission\nto return home, but with strong injunctions not to look back. Hurriedly\nthey sprang into the carriage. The way was broad and straight, and the\nhorses galloped with great speed, but the chambermaid could not control\nher curiosity, and looked back. Instantly the carriage, horses, even\nthe road disappeared and the travelers found themselves in a wild\nforest, where they wandered three years before finding their way back\nto Pintorp.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLAKE GOLDRING. [30]\n\n\nAbout a mile and a half from Strengn\u00e4s lies a narrow valley, between\nseveral wood-covered heights and the island upon which in olden times\nIngiald Illrada burned herself and all her attendants.\n\nThe valley is called Eldsund, and was formerly an open water way\nconnecting two of lake M\u00e4lar\u2019s bays. Vessels went, then, unhindered\nthrough there, and not many years ago a sunken vessel was found, buried\nin the mud that had one time been at its bottom. Now there is nothing\nbut a small stream winding its way between grass-grown banks, and cows\nand goats graze where the perch and the pike formerly had their\nplayground.\n\nAt one place this little stream spreads its banks until a small lake is\nformed, which was once of quite respectable size, but is now almost\ngrown over with reeds. Many a poor man has there caught a fish for his\npot, that otherwise would have been empty enough.\n\nA good while back there lived a lady on the estate not far from this\nlake, perhaps as near as N\u00e4sbyholm, upon which, near the water-course,\nlies the notable \u201ccuckoo stone.\u201d\n\nThis lady was very rich and still more proud, looking with contempt\nupon all who had less money and lands than she, and were not of as\nnoble blood as she believed herself to be.\n\nOne day an old priest visited her. A priest in all respects, not one of\nthose accommodating fellows that could be sent to stir the fire, or one\nwho went with bent back away from home and was painfully straight at\nhome, but a priest who did not hide his thoughts under a chair.\n\nWhile the priest and his hostess were one day walking along the lake\nshore, she began, as was her habit, to boast of her riches; to tell how\nmuch money she had at interest, and how many tax lists she had complete\nand incomplete, whereupon the priest asked her how far she thought all\nthat went, or what, after all, it amounted to, for she could not take\nher riches with her into the grave. At this the lady became angered,\nand declared that she was so rich that if she should live even many\nhundreds of years she need not want, and that it was as impossible that\nshe should become poor as it would be to recover her gold ring from the\ndepths of the lake\u2014at the same time drawing a ring from her finger and\ncasting it far out into the water.\n\nThe priest maintained that as wonderful things as this had happened in\nthe world, and that it was not more impossible that her ring might be\nrecovered than that she might become poor.\n\nLater in the day an old fisherman came to the house with fish to sell.\nA number were bought, and the kitchen girl was given the task of\ncleaning them.\n\nWhen she cut open the largest pike, she saw something shining, and,\nupon looking with greater care, she recognized her mistress\u2019 most\nvaluable finger ring. In great haste she rushed to the lady, who sat\nwrangling with the moderate priest because he could think it possible\nher riches might be taken from her.\n\n\u201cHas my lady lost her ring?\u201d asked the maid.\n\nThe lady ceased to talk, and cast a glance at the priest, who sat\nquietly at the window looking out toward the lake.\n\n\u201cHere it is, any way,\u201d said the maid, and laid the ring upon the table.\n\nThe lady grew pale, but the priest looked more serious than ever.\n\nHow it went with her and her riches thereafter, the story does not\nrelate, but the lake is called Goldring to this day.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TROLL\u2019S GARDEN AT STALLSBACKE.\n\n\nIn the forest north of Stora Djul\u00f6, in the parish of Stora Malm, lies a\nhill called Stallsbacke\u2014Stall Hill\u2014because King Charles XI. is said to\nhave had his stable there on one of his journeys.\n\nWithin the forest near the hill there is an enchanted garden where many\na man has gone astray, and has been compelled to wander the whole night\nthrough, because he did not know that turning his coat inside out, or\nthrowing fire at the sun, would give him the key to his deliverance.\n\nMany have, during these wanderings, been imprisoned in the enchanted\ngarden, but not all have liberated themselves from the enchantment as\nold L\u00f6fberg, the steward from Stora Djul\u00f6, succeeded in doing.\n\nLate one Thursday evening, while traveling the path from the pasture\nhome to the mansion, he found himself suddenly in the presence of a\nhigh wall with grated gates, beyond which was visible the most\nbeautiful garden ever seen by man. The moon was high in the heavens,\nand L\u00f6fberg could distinguish objects as clearly as in daylight. He saw\nthat the trees hung full of fruit, and that the bushes were bowed with\nberries, which glistened like precious stones. When he had viewed the\nmagnificent sight a few minutes, and was about to go on, an old man,\nwho proclaimed himself the gardener, presented himself, and invited\nL\u00f6fberg to go in and gather of the fruit what he pleased. But L\u00f6fberg\nwas too wise for this. He understood that what he saw was the work of\nthe Trolls, and answered that at home there was a much more beautiful\ngarden, and that he had no occasion to go into strange gardens to get a\nfew rotten, sour apples.\n\nThis he should not have said. Suddenly there came up a strong wind,\nwhich blew his hat over the wall, and, as L\u00f6fberg left it behind him\nand hastened home, there came a crash in the forest, whereupon the\nvision suddenly melted away.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHERR MELKER OF VECKHOLM. [31]\n\n\nIn the parish of Veckholm, east of Svingarn Fjord, lived, in the\nfifteenth century, a priest widely known for his wisdom and goodness.\nNo day went by that he did not read his Bible, and in the evening, when\nothers had gone to rest, he went to the church to offer up his prayers\nat the altar.\n\nHis wife, who attended only to her worldly affairs, and did not look\nupon these nightly ramblings kindly, determined to put an end to them,\nand to this end, one evening, called into service one of the servants.\n\u201cLasse,\u201d said she, \u201cif you will put a white sheet over you and stand in\nthe dark near the path and frighten father when he comes from the\nchurch, you shall have a pot of ale.\u201d\n\nThe man had nothing against this, and with the assistance of his\nmistress, clad himself as directed and took a position near the path\nconnecting the church and parsonage.\n\nAfter a while the priest came from the church. Upon observing the\nspook, he read a prayer and bade the apparition sink into the ground.\n\nThe man sank into the ground to his knees without betraying himself,\nbut continued to play the ghost. The priest prayed again, when Lasse\nsank into the ground to his waist.\n\n\u201cIt is I! dear father! it is I!\u201d cried Lasse, now in consternation.\n\n\u201cIt is too late! too late, Lasse!\u201d replied the priest, with a sorrowful\nvoice. At the same time the servant sank alive into the earth out of\nsight.\n\nTo commemorate the incident, a wooden cross was raised on the spot,\nwhich is always replaced by a new one when the old one has become old\nand decayed.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE OLD MAN OF LAGGA.\n\n\nNear Lagga Church, in the municipality of Langhundra, is a singularly\nformed mountain. On the side of it toward the church is an opening,\nfrom which, it is said, two paths lead\u2014the one south to a hill near the\nso called \u201cMeadow Watcher\u2019s Cottage,\u201d the other north to Kash\u00f6gen, near\nKasby estate.\n\nIn the mountain lived a giant called Lagge Gubben\u2014old man Lagge\u2014who,\nwhen last seen, was at least five hundred years old, and his hair as\nwhite as the feathers of a dove.\n\nEarly one morning a peasant named Jacob going to the village of Lagga,\npassed the mountain, when the old mountain man came out and saluted\nhim: \u201cGood morning, Joppe! Will you come in and drink healths with me?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, thank you,\u201d replied Jacob, who had no desire for such\ncompanionship. \u201cIf you have more than you are able to drink, save it\nuntil morning, for there is another day coming.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is good advice,\u201d said Lagga. \u201cHad I known that before, I should\nhave been a richer man, now.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is not yet too late,\u201d replied the peasant.\n\n\u201cYes it is, for I must leave here in the morning on account of the\nchurch bells,\u201d said the giant, shaking his fist at Lagga clock tower.\n\n\u201cYou will come again, never fear,\u201d said Jacob consolingly.\n\n\u201cYes, when Lagga Fjord becomes a field and Ostund Lake a meadow,\u201d\nreplied the giant with a sigh, and disappeared into the mountain.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE WATER NYMPH. [32]\n\n\nAbout a mile northwest from J\u00e4rna Church was located, at one time, a\nwater mill, Sn\u00f6\u00e5qvarn, belonging to the parishioners of N\u00e4s.\n\nOne Sunday morning, before the church of J\u00e4rna had a priest of its own,\nthe chaplain of N\u00e4s set out for that place, and had just arrived at the\nmill, when he saw a water man sitting in the rapids below it, playing\non a fiddle a psalm from a psalm book.\n\n\u201cWhat good do you think your playing will do you?\u201d said the priest.\n\u201cYou need expect no mercy!\u201d\n\nSadly the figure ceased playing, and broke his fiddle in pieces,\nwhereupon the priest regretted his severe condemnation, and again\nspoke:\n\n\u201cGod knows, maybe, after all.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs that so?\u201d exclaimed the man in joy, \u201cthen I\u2019ll pick up my pieces\nand play better and more charmingly than before.\u201d\n\n\n\nTo another mill in the same parish, Lindqvarn, near Lindsn\u00e4s, a peasant\ncame one time with his grist. Along in the night he thought he would go\nand see if it was yet ground. He noticed on his arrival that the mill\nwas not running, and opened the wicket to the wheel-house to learn what\nthe matter might be, when he saw, glaring at him from the water below,\ntwo eyes \u201cas large as half moons.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe devil! what great eyes you have!\u201d cried the peasant, but received\nno reply.\n\n\u201cWhew! what monstrous eyes you have!\u201d the peasant again cried; again no\nanswer.\n\nThen he sprang into the mill, where he stirred up a large fire brand,\nwith which he returned.\n\n\u201cAre your eyes as large now?\u201d he shouted through the wicket.\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d came in answer from the stream.\n\nHereupon the peasant ran the stick through a hole in the floor, where\nthe voice seemed to come from, and at once the wheel began to turn\nagain.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nB\u00d6LSBJ\u00d6RN. [33]\n\n\nMany generations ago there lived at Bole, in the parish of Ore, a man\nnamed B\u00f6lsbj\u00f6rn, noted far and wide for his wonderful strength.\n\nThe king, hearing about him, commanded him to come to Stockholm and\nwrestle with a newly arrived foreign champion named Stenbock, who was\nsaid to be so strong that he had never found his superior.\n\nB\u00f6lsbj\u00f6rn hastened to obey the king\u2019s command. Strapping his skates\nupon him, he set off at such a speed that his dog, which had followed\nhim, gave out and died on the way, and the new-baked bread put into his\nhaversack was yet warm upon his arrival at Stockholm.\n\nHe was conducted to the king, and was told that he might name his own\nreward, however great it might be, if he would vanquish Stenbock.\n\nThe struggle was soon begun and suddenly concluded by B\u00f6lsbj\u00f6rn laying\nhis antagonist upon his back with such force that three of his ribs\nwere broken. For his reward, B\u00f6lsbj\u00f6rn demanded as much land as he\ncould skate around in one day, and it was granted him by the king.\n\nWhen he returned home he had made the circuit of nearly twelve square\nmiles of land, which his descendants to this day occupy.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE TREASURE SEEKERS.\n\n\nIt is an established rule that he who seeks buried treasures must\ncarefully maintain the utmost silence, lest his search be in vain and\nharm befall him, body and soul.\n\nThey were not ignorant of this\u2014the four men that one time made up a\nparty for the purpose of unearthing treasures said to be buried in\nJos\u00e4terdal.\n\nMaking their way, one midsummer night, across Lake S\u00e4len, they saw\napproaching them a man of strange aspect, behind whose boat dragged a\nlarge fir tree, and a little later another, who inquired if they had\nseen any float-wood on their way.\n\nThe treasure seekers, who understood that these rowers were no other\nthan fairies, pretended not to hear the question, and reached\nJos\u00e4terdal finally, without further temptation.\n\nJust as they began to dig in the hill a grand officer approached and\naddressed them, but no one answered. Soon after a number of soldiers\nmarched up and began to shoot at the diggers, but they did not allow\neven this to disturb them. Suddenly a red calf hopped up and the\nsoldiers pressed nearer, so that the men soon stood enveloped in\npowder-smoke so thick that they could not see each other. When this did\nnot frighten them, a tall gallows was raised on the side of the hill.\nIt so happened that one of the diggers wore a red shirt that attracted\nthe attention of the spirits, one of which cried out:\n\n\u201cShall we begin with him wearing the red shirt?\u201d Whereupon he lost his\ncourage and took to his heels, followed neck over head by the others.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAPP IN MAGPIE FORM. [34]\n\n\nA Finn in the forests of S\u00e4fsen, having for a long time suffered ill\nluck with his flock, determined, let the cost be what it would, to\nfind, through a Lapp well versed in the arts of the Trolls, a remedy\nfor the evil he was enduring.\n\nTo this end he set out for the home of his to-be-deliverer, and after a\nlong and fatiguing journey through the wilderness, he came at last to a\nLapp hut which, with no little quaking, he entered, and there found a\nman busied with a fire upon the floor.\n\nThe Lapp who, through his connection with the Trolls, already knew the\npurpose of the visit, and very much flattered thereby, greeted his\nguest kindly, and said:\n\n\u201cGood morning, Juga, my boy, are you here? I can give you news from\nhome. Everything goes well there. I was there yesterday.\u201d\n\nThe Finn was terribly frightened at the discovery that he was\nrecognized, but now more when he heard that the Lapp had made the same\njourney forth and back in one day, that had cost him so many days of\nwandering.\n\nWith assurance of friendship, the Lapp quieted his fears, and\ncontinued:\n\n\u201cI had a little matter to attend to yesterday at your home, and sat\nupon the housetop when your wife went over the garden, but I saw she\ndid not know me, for she threatened me with the house key.\u201d\n\nThe Finn now made known his errand, and received for answer that his\nanimals were even now doing as well as he could wish. The presents\nbrought by the Finn greatly strengthened their pleasant relations, and\nthe Lapp agreed willingly to initiate him into the mysteries of\nTrolldom.\n\nWhen the Finn reached home, the incidents of his journey were\ncircumstantially related to his wife, even to the Lapp\u2019s account of his\nvisit, and the threats with the house key.\n\n\u201cYes, I remember now,\u201d said she, \u201cthat a magpie sat upon the roof the\nsame day that the animals seemed to revive, but I believed it to be an\nunlucky bird, therefore tried to frighten it away with the key.\u201d\n\nThe Finn and his wife now understood that it was their friend, who had\ntransformed himself thus in order to do them a service, and from that\ntime held these creatures in great veneration.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE PLAGUE. [35]\n\n\nMemories of the epidemics that have ravaged our country still live in\nthe minds of the people, though, with time, like many other\nrecollections, they have taken the form of myths.\n\nDuring the plague there was seen, wandering from village to village, a\nboy and a girl, the one with a rake, the other with a broom. Wherever\nthe boy was seen to use his rake, one and another was spared from\ndeath, but where the girl swept, death left an empty house, and the\nplaces that were not approached by these beings escaped the plague\nentirely.\n\nOn Soller Island, in Siljan, they strewed gold and precious stones\nalong the roads and paths, which were so infected that he who so much\nas moved one with his hand became a corpse before the next sunset.\n\nIn the end there remained no one on the island except two wise old men,\none named Bengh, the other Harold, who were not deluded by the gold,\nthereby saving their lives.\n\nA number of the islanders escaped by flight and moved to the North Land\nthrough the \u201cTwelve-Mile Roads,\u201d that bordered upon Vermland.\n\nAmong those who fled was a young and beautiful maiden named Malin, who,\nwhen she came out upon the road, observed a glittering jewel, which,\nupon closer inspection, represented Christ upon the cross.\nNotwithstanding the warning of her companions, she could not resist the\ntemptation to pick up the doubly valuable article.\n\nWhen they came later to their first camping place, Rossberg, about four\nmiles from Soller Island, Malin was seen to fall upon her knees and\ngive herself up to earnest prayer, but just as the evening sun hid\nhimself behind a mountain, she sank lifeless upon a stone, which even\nto this day is called \u201cMalin\u2019s Church,\u201d and is dressed every midsummer\nby the herdsmen with fresh leaves and fragrant flowers.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE V\u00c4TTERS. [36]\n\n\nV\u00e4tters, according to the Northern belief, are creatures that live\nunder ground, but often appear above, and then in human form so perfect\nthat they have many times been mistaken for mankind. They live, as do\nthe Trolls and Giants, in mountains, but more often move from one to\nanother, and it is mostly during these journeys that they are seen.\n\nWhen the parish of Ockilbo was first settled, the V\u00e4tters were so\nplentiful that a peasant who fixed his abode near the R\u00f6nn Hills was\nforced to build his windows high up near the eaves of his cottage to\nescape seeing the troublesome multitude of these beings that\ncontinually swarmed around.\n\nDespite the disposition of the cottager to have nothing to do with the\nV\u00e4tters, he could not avoid getting into complications with them at\ntimes.\n\nOne evening, when the wife went to drive the goats into the goat house,\nshe saw among hers two strange goats, having horsehoofs instead of\ncloven hoofs, as should be. Do her utmost, it was impossible to\nseparate them from the others. They pressed on, and were locked up with\nthe rest.\n\nIn the night she was awakened by a heavy pounding upon the walls, and a\nvoice from without called:\n\n\u201cLet us be neighborly, mother, and return my goats to me.\u201d\n\nThe woman dressed herself and hastened to the goat house, where the\nstrange animals were making a dreadful uproar. Upon her opening the\ndoor they sprang out and hurried to the forest, whence she heard the\nV\u00e4tters shouting and calling them.\n\nThus a friendly feeling was forever established between the cottager\nand the V\u00e4tters, and from that day there were no more disturbances.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFORSSA CHURCH.\n\n\nIn the village T\u00e5sta\u2014Tattestad\u2014in the parish of H\u00f6g, lived in former\ntimes a widely renowned man named Tatte, whose son, Blacke, after whom\nthe high mountain, Black\u00e5sberg, was named, dwelt in Nannestad, a\nvillage in the parish of Forssa.\n\nWhen the father and son were baptized they together built the church of\nH\u00f6g, in commemoration of the event. Upon its completion Blacke, whose\nhome was a long ride distant, stipulated that the bells, calling the\npeople to worship, should never be rung until his white horse was seen\non \u00c5saks Hill.\n\nOne Christmas day, when Blacke was later than usual, Tatte commanded\nthat the bell be rung, and the services had already begun when Blacke\narrived at the church. In anger he tore the runic engraved ring from\nthe church door, with prayers bound it upon his horse, made a vow that\nhe would build a church of his own where the ring fell to the ground,\nand mounting his horse, rode away at full speed.\n\nWhile crossing Lake Forssa the ice broke, and the horse was plunged\ninto the water, but both horse and rider, however, succeeded in\nreaching the shore, where the horse shook himself so violently that the\nring was loosened and fell to the earth. Blacke kept his word and built\na church, which, after the adjacent lake, was called Forssa Church.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSTARKAD AND BALE.\n\n\nThe renowned hero, Starkad, the greatest warrior of the North, had\noffended a princess, therefore had fallen under the displeasure of the\nking, to escape whose wrath he wandered northward, where he took up his\nabode at Rude in Tuna, and it is related in the folk stories that he\nthen took the name of \u201cAla Dr\u00e4ng,\u201d or \u201cR\u00f6du Pilt.\u201d\n\nIn Balbo, nine miles distant, in the parish of Borgaj\u00f6, dwelt another\nwarrior, Bale, who was a good friend to Starkad, and a companion in\narms.\n\nOne morning Starkad climbed to the top of Klefberg, in Tuna, and\naddressed Bale, thus:\n\n\u201cBale in Balbo, are you awake?\u201d\n\n\u201cR\u00f6du Pilt,\u201d answered Bale, nine miles away, \u201cthe sun and I always\nawake at the same time; but how is it with you?\u201d\n\n\u201cPoorly enough! I have only salmon for breakfast, dinner and supper.\nBring me a piece of meat.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right!\u201d replied Bale, and in a few hours arrived in Tuna with an\nelk under each arm.\n\nThe following morning Bale stood upon a mountain in Balbo and shouted:\n\n\u201cR\u00f6du Pilt, are you awake?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe sun and I awake always at the same time,\u201d answered Starkad, \u201cbut\nhow is it with you?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, I have nothing but meat to eat\u2014elk for breakfast, elk for dinner\nand elk for supper, come, therefore, and bring me a fish.\u201d\n\n\u201cAll right,\u201d said Starkad, and in a little while he was with his\nfriend, bearing a barrel of salmon under each arm.\n\nIn this manner the warriors kept each other supplied with fresh game\nfrom forest and sea, meantime spreading desolation and terror through\nthe country, but one evening as they were returning from a plundering\nexpedition to the sea, a black cloud appeared, and it began to thunder\nand lighten. Both hastened on the way, but reached no further than to\nVattjom, when Starkad was struck dead by lightning. His companion\nburied him in a hill around which he placed five stones, two at his\nfeet, one at each shoulder and one at his head, marking to this day the\ngrave of Starkad forty feet in length.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE BELL IN SJ\u00c4LEVAD.\n\n\nWhen the church at Sj\u00e4levad was about to be built, parishioners could\nnot agree upon a location. Those who resided farthest north wished it\nbuilt at Hemling, and those dwelling to the south desired it more\nconvenient to them. To terminate the wrangle an agreement was arrived\nat as ingenious as simple. Two logs were thrown out into H\u00f6r\u00e4tt Sound,\nand it was decided that if they floated out to sea the church should be\nbuilt at Voge, but if they floated in toward the Fjord of Sj\u00e4levad,\nHemling should be the building spot.\n\nIt happened that just then it was full high tide, when the current\nchanges from its usual course, and in consequence the logs floated in\nfavor of Hemling.\n\nThe Southerners found it hard to swallow their disappointment and at\nonce set their wits at work to find a way to defeat the accidental good\nluck of their neighbors. In the old chapel of Hemling there was an\nunusually large bell, said to have been brought from some strange land,\nand regarded with great veneration. Upon this the Southerners set their\nhope. One beautiful night they stole the bell and took it southward,\npersuaded that their opponents would follow and build the church near\nVoge. But the bell, which knew best where the church ought to stand,\nprovided itself with invisible wings and started to fly back to the\nplace from which it had been brought.\n\nAs it was winging its way homeward, an old woman standing on\nKarnigberg\u2014Hag Mountain\u2014saw something strange floating through the air,\nat which she stared earnestly, wondering what it could be, finally\nrecognizing the much prized bell of the parish, whereupon she cried\nout:\u2014\n\n\u201cOh! See our holy church bell!\u201d\n\nNothing more was needed to deprive the bell of its power of locomotion\nand it plunged, like a stone, into Prest Sund\u2014priest sound\u2014where, every\nwinter, a hole in the ice marks its resting place at the bottom.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE V\u00c4TTS STOREHOUSE.\n\n\nIn Herjedalen, as in many of the northern regions of our country, where\nthere is yet something remaining of the primitive pastoral life, there\nare still kept alive reminiscences of a very ancient people, whose\noccupation was herding cattle, which constituted their wealth and\nsupport. It is, however, with a later and more civilized people, though\nno date is given, that this narrative deals.\n\nIn days gone by, so the story goes, it happened that a milkmaid did not\nproduce as much milk and butter from her herd as usual, for which her\nmaster took her severely to task. The girl sought vindication by\ncharging it upon the V\u00e4tts, who, she claimed, possessed the place and\nappropriated a share of the product of the herd. This, the master was\nnot willing to believe, but, to satisfy himself, went one autumn\nevening, after the cattle had been brought home, to the dairy house,\nwhere he secreted himself, as he supposed, under an upturned cheese\nkettle. He had not sat in his hiding place long when a V\u00e4tt mother with\nher family\u2014a large one\u2014came trooping in and began preparation for their\nmeal.\n\nThe mother, who was busy at the fireplace, finally inquired if all had\nspoons.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d replied one of the V\u00e4tts. \u201cAll except him under the kettle.\u201d\n\nThe dairyman\u2019s doubts were now dispelled, and he hastened to move his\nresidence to another place.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE STONE IN GR\u00d6NAN DAL.\n\n\nIt is probable that the \u201cStone in Gr\u00f6nan Dal\u201d is like the traditional\nPh\u0153nix, a pure tradition, since it has never been found by any one of\nthe many who have made pilgrimages to the valley in search of it, for\nthe purpose of deciphering the Runic characters said to be engraved\nthereon. Yet many stories are widely current in the land concerning it,\nand the old people relate the following:\n\nWhen St. Jaffen, \u201cthe Apostle of the North,\u201d was one time riding\nthrough J\u00e4mtland from the borders of Norway, his way led along a\nbeautiful green valley, in the parish of \u00c5re. Becoming weary, he\ndismounted and laid himself down for a nap. When he awoke it occurred\nto him that such a garden spot must some day be inhabited by mankind,\nso, selecting a slab of stone, he cut in its surface the following\nprophetic lines:\n\n\n   \u201cWhen Swedish men adopt foreign customs\n    And the land loses its old honor,\n    Yet, shall stand the Stone in Gr\u00f6nan Dal.\n\n    When churches are converted into prisons,\n    And God\u2019s services have lost their joyous light,\n    Yet shall stand the Stone in Gr\u00f6nan Dal.\n\n    When rogues and villains thrive\n    And honest men are banished,\n    Yet will stand the Stone in Gr\u00f6nan Dal.\n\n    When priests become beggars,\n    And farmers monsters,\n    Then shall lie the Stone in Gr\u00f6nan Dal.\u201d\n\n\nWhen the Governor of the Province, Baron Tilas, in 1742, traveled\nthrough J\u00e4mtland, he found, a few paces east of the gate of Skurdal, a\nstone lying, which he concluded must be the stone so much talked about.\nWhen his coat of arms and the date had been engraved upon it, he caused\nit to be raised, so that, \u201ceven yet it stands, the Stone in Gr\u00f6nan\nDal.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE VOYAGE IN A LAPP SLED.\n\n\nIn the great forest west of Samsele, a hunter, early one morning,\npursued his way in quest of game. About midday he ascended a ridge,\nwhere he was overtaken by a Troll-iling\u2014a storm said to be raised by\nand to conceal a Troll\u2014before which sticks and straws danced in the\nair. Quickly grasping his knife he threw it at the wind, which at once\nsubsided, and in a few seconds the usual quiet reigned.\n\nSome time later he was again hunting, when he lost his way. After a\nlong and wearisome wandering he reached a Lapp hut, where he found a\nwoman stirring something in a kettle. When she had concluded her\ncooking, she invited the hunter to dine, and gave him the same knife to\neat with that he had thrown at the storm.\n\nThe following day he wished to return home, but could not possibly\ndiscover the course he should take, whereupon the Troll woman\u2014for his\nhostess was none other\u2014directed him to get into the Lapp sled, and\nattach to it a rope, in which he must tie three knots.\n\n\u201cNow, untie one knot at a time,\u201d said she, \u201cand you will soon reach\nhome.\u201d\n\nThe hunter untied one knot, as instructed, and away went the rope,\ndragging the sled after it into the air. After a time he untied another\nknot, and his speed was increased. Finally he untied the last knot,\nincreasing the speed to such a rate that when the sled came to a\nstandstill, as it did, suddenly, not long after, he concluded his\njourney, falling into his own yard with such force as to break his leg.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE LAPP GENESIS, OR THE FIRST OF MANKIND.\n\n\nThe Lapps, like other people, have their legends, and many of them the\nsame, or nearly so, as are found among other nations. Others reflect\nmore particularly the national characteristics of the Lapp folk. Thus,\nfor instance, there is to be found among them a tradition of a general\ndeluge, a universal catastrophe, whereof there still remains a dim\nreminiscence in the consciences of so many other primitive people.\n\nBefore the Lord destroyed mankind, so says the Lapp legend, there were\npeople in Samelads (Lappland), but when the Flood came upon the earth\nevery living creature perished except two, a brother and sister, whom\nGod conducted to a high mountain\u2014Passevare\u2014\u201cThe Holy Mountain.\u201d\n\nWhen the waters had subsided and the land was again dry, the brother\nand sister separated, going in opposite directions in search of others,\nif any might be left. After three years\u2019 fruitless search they met,\nand, recognizing each other, they once more went into the world, to\nmeet again in three years, but, recognizing one another now, also, they\nparted a third time. When they met at the end of these three years\nneither knew the other, whereafter they lived together, and from them\ncame the Lapps and Swedes.\n\nAgain, as to the distinct manners and customs of the Lapps and Swedes,\nthey relate that at first both Lapps and Swedes were as one people and\nof the same parentage, but during a severe storm the one became\nfrightened, and hurried under a board. From this came the Swedes, who\nlive in houses. The other remained in the open air, and he became the\nprogenitor of the Lapps, who, to this day, do not ask for a roof over\ntheir heads.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANT\u2019S BRIDE.\n\n\nMore than with anything else, the Lapp legends have to do with giants\nand the adventures of mankind with them. The giant is feared because of\nhis great size and strength and his insatiable appetite for human\nflesh. His laziness, clumsiness, and that he is inferior to the man in\nintelligence are, however, often the cause of his overthrow.\n\nIt is, therefore, commonly an adventure wherein the giant has been\noutwitted by a Lapp man or woman that concludes the giant stories.\n\nThere was one time a giant who made love to a rich Lapp girl. Neither\nshe nor her father were much inclined toward the match, but they did\nnot dare do otherwise than appear to consent and at the same time thank\nthe Giant for the high honor he would bestow upon them. The father,\nnevertheless, determined that the union should not take place, and\nconsoled himself with the hope that when the time arrived some means of\ndefeating the Giant\u2019s project would be presented. Meantime he was\nobliged to set the day when the Giant might come and claim his bride.\nBefore the Giant\u2019s arrival the Lapp took a block of wood, about the\nsize of his daughter, and clothing it in a gown, a new cap, silver\nbelt, shoes and shoe band, he sat it up in a corner of the tent, with a\nclose veil, such as is worn by Lapp brides, over the head.\n\nWhen the Giant entered the tent he was much pleased to find the bride,\nas he supposed, in her best attire awaiting him, and at once asked his\nprospective father-in-law to go out with him and select the reindeer\nthat should go with the bride as her dower. Meanwhile the daughter was\nconcealed behind an adjacent hill with harnessed reindeer ready for\nflight. When the reindeer had been counted out the Giant proceeded to\nkill one of them for supper, while the Lapp slipped off into the woods,\nand, joining his daughter, they fled with all speed into the mountains.\n\nThe Giant, after dressing the reindeer, went into the tent to visit his\nsweetheart.\n\n\u201cNow, my little darling,\u201d said he, \u201cput the kettle over the fire.\u201d\n\nBut no move in the corner.\n\n\u201cOh, the little dear is bashful, I\u2019ll have to do it myself then,\u201d said\nhe.\n\nAfter the pot had been boiling awhile he again addressed the object in\nthe corner:\n\n\u201cNow my girl, you may cleave the marrow bone,\u201d but still no response.\n\n\u201cMy little one is bashful, then I must do it myself,\u201d thought he.\n\nWhen the meat was cooked he tried again:\n\n\u201cCome, now, my dear, and prepare the meat.\u201d But the bride was as\nbashful as before, and did not stir.\n\n\u201cGracious! how bashful she is. I must do it myself,\u201d repeated the\nGiant.\n\nWhen he had prepared the meal he bade her come and eat, but without\neffect. The bride remained motionless in her corner.\n\n\u201cThe more for me, then,\u201d thought he, and sat himself to the repast with\na good appetite. When he had eaten, he bade his bride prepare the bed.\n\n\u201cAh, my love, are you so bashful? I must then do it myself,\u201d said the\nsimple Giant.\n\n\u201cGo now and retire.\u201d No, she had not yet overcome her bashfulness,\nwhereupon the Giant became angry and grasped the object with great\nforce.\n\nDiscovering how the Lapp had deceived him, and that he had only a block\nof wood instead of a human of flesh and blood, he was beside himself\nwith rage, and started in hot pursuit after the Lapp. The latter,\nhowever, had so much the start that the Giant could not overtake him.\nAt the same time it was snowing, which caused the Giant to lose his way\nin the mountains. Finally he began to suffer from the cold. The moon\ncoming up, he thought it a fire built by the Lapp, and at once set out\non a swift run toward it, but he had already run so far that he was\ncompletely exhausted. He then climbed to the top of a pine, thinking\nthereby to get near enough to the fire to warm himself, but he froze to\ndeath instead, and thus ends the story.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CUNNING LAPP.\n\n\nA poor Lapp once ran into the hands of a Giant, by whom he knew he\nwould be devoured if he could not conceive some means of outwitting\nhim. To this end he therefore proposed that they have a contest of\nstrength, the test to be that they should butt against a tree and see\nwhich could drive his head farthest into it. He who could make the\ndeepest impression must, of course, be the stronger.\n\nThe Giant was first to make the trial. Taking his stand some distance\nfrom a tall pine, with a spring forward he drove his head with furious\nforce against the trunk, but the most careful search did not discover a\nmark caused by the blow. The Lapp then said that he would show his\nstrength the next day. During the night he made a large hollow in the\ntrunks of several trees and re-covered the cavities nicely with the\nbark. Next morning, when the contest was renewed, the Lapp ran from\ntree to tree, into each of which he thrust his head to his ears. The\nGiant looked on, thoroughly crestfallen at the exhibition of strength,\nbut proposed that they have another trial. This time he who could throw\nan ice ax highest into the air should be declared the victor. The Giant\nthrew first, and to such a height that the ax was almost lost to sight.\n\n\u201cThat was a miserable throw,\u201d said the Lapp. \u201cWhen I throw it shall be\nso high that it will lodge upon a cloud.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my dear!\u201d shouted the Giant. \u201cRather let me acknowledge myself the\nweaker, than lose my splendid ax.\u201d Thus again the Lapp came off\nchampion.\n\nThe next day, as the Lapp and the Giant were out in company, the Lapp\ngathered a number of willow twigs and began twisting them together.\n\n\u201cWhat are you about to do with those?\u201d asked the Giant.\n\n\u201cI mean to carry away your treasure house,\u201d answered the Lapp.\n\n\u201cOh, my son,\u201d sighed the Giant, \u201clet me retain my house, and I will\nfill your hat with silver.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d replied the Lapp.\n\nWhile the Giant was away after the silver, the Lapp dug a pit, cut a\nhole in his hat crown and sat the hat over the pit.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a big hat you have,\u201d complained the Giant.\n\n\u201cFill it up!\u201d shouted the Lapp. \u201cOtherwise I\u2019ll throw you, as I would\nhave done the ice ax, up into the clouds.\u201d And the Giant was compelled\nto give the Lapp such a sum of money that he was ever after a rich man.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKADNIHAK.\n\n\nKadnihaks are a kind of spirit which dwell underground, at times,\nshowing themselves to man dressed in red attire, and having long hair\nwhich resembles green flax and reaches to their waists. Like the Lapps,\nthey have reindeer and dogs, and like them also in this and their\ndress, their language and songs are the same. Some of their songs have\neven been learned and are called \u201cKadniha-vuolle.\u201d\n\nIt happened in the last century that a great number of the mountain\nLapps had pitched their tents in the vicinity of Qvikkjokk. It was at\nthe season when the court and fair were in session in Jokkmokk. In the\nabsence of the older people, in attendance at court or fair, the youths\nand maids remaining at home let themselves out for a good time at all\nkinds of games. An old Lapp woman, knowing that the Kadnihaks, or\nTrolls, living in the adjacent mountains would not tolerate such a\nconfusion, warned the young people, but in vain.\n\nEvening came, and all retired to rest, but it had hardly become quiet\nin the Lapp tents before the Kadnihaks were heard to be astir. The\ntinkling of bells, cries of men, barking of dogs, noise of reindeer and\na general commotion prevailed on all sides.\n\nThe Lapps were seized with fear and trembling.\n\nThe old Lapp woman arose from her bed of reindeer skins and peeked out\nthrough the tent door. With horror she saw the whole tribe of sprites\nmarching straight down upon the camp. No time was to be wasted. She\nthrew about her a skin and hurried out to treat with the angry Trolls.\nWith great trouble and promises that she would see to it that the\nchildren would conduct themselves better in the future, she induced\nthem to change their course, thus staying the danger the camp was in of\nbeing trampled down. From that day there was quiet in the camp as long\nas it continued there.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\n[1] See also Sk\u00e5ne Gammalt Och Nytt.\n\n[2] Similar legends are connected with a number of our churches, as the\ncathedral of Trondhjem, where the Troll is called \u201cSkalle.\u201d Also with\nEskells\u00e4tter\u2019s church in the department of N\u00e4s in Vermland, where the\ngiant architect is called Kinn, who fell from the tower when the priest\nEskil called, \u201cKinn, set the point right!\u201d Again, with a church in\nNorrland, where the Troll is called \u201cWind and Weather,\u201d and concerning\nwhom the legend relates \u201cthat just as the giant was putting up the\ncross, St. Olof said \u2018Wind and Weather you have set the spire awry.\u2019\u201d\nOf the church at Kallundborg in Sj\u00e4lland, whose designer, Ebern Snare,\nit is said, entered into a contract much the same as that made with the\nGiant Finn by the holy Laurentius.\n\n[3] See G. Lundgren\u2019s Skanska Herrg\u00e5rdar, Vol. I.\n\n[4] Arild Ugerup, the character in chief of this legend, was born in\nthe year 1528 in the castle of S\u00f6lversborg, where his father, Axel\nUgerup, was master. When the son had passed through the parochial\nschool of Herrevad, and had attained to the age of manhood, he marched,\nwith others, to guard the old Kristian Tyrann in Kallundborg castle.\nSome years later he was sent as Danish embassador, to be present at the\ncrowning of King Erik XIV., when he was made Knight of the Order of St.\nSalvador. Later he was sent as envoy to the Russian court, and in 1587\nwas raised to Lord of Helsingborg, where he died in 1587, and was\nburied in Ugerup (now K\u00f6pinge) church.\n\nAnother legend, in which the seeds of the pine tree were sown, comes\nfrom \u00d6sterg\u00f6tland. A lady of the nobility, living in S\u00f6lberga, had a\nson, who, in the battle of St\u00e5ngebro took sides with King Sigismund,\nand when the battle was lost had to fly the country. The aged mother\nmourned deeply over her son\u2019s absence, and besieged Duke Karl with\nprayers to allow her misguided son to return home, to make her a visit,\nat least.\n\nAt last he was granted permission to return and visit his mother\nuntil\u2014the order read, \u201cThe next harvest.\u201d Whereupon the mother sowed\npine seeds on the fields of S\u00f6lberg, which accounts for the uncommonly\nfine forests of pine even now existing on the estate.\n\n[5] Both of these Troll treasures are now preserved at Ljungby and are\nwillingly shown to curious travelers. The horn is in the form of a half\ncircle and adorned with silver mountings. The pipe is of ivory, made so\nthat it may be blown from either end, and the sound from it is a single\npiercing note.\n\nWhen Lady Oellegard Gyllerstierna, who inherited Ljungby, married Cay\nLycke, she took the horn and pipe with her to Denmark. The evil that\nsoon befell Lycke was regarded by many as the consequence of Troll\ncurses, which followed him who took the articles from Ljungby. From\nLycke the horn came into the possession of Lord Axel Juul, whose widow\npresented it to the Chancellor, Ove Juul. His son sent it to the Danish\nminister, Luxdorf. Since 1691 the horn and pipe have remained\ncontinuously at Ljungby.\n\nIn all quarters of the country similar legends are current, more or\nless founded upon the Ljungby legend.\n\nAs late as the present year (1888) the translator met a gentleman,\nrecently from Sweden, and from the province in which Ljungby is\nlocated, who states that the horn is still in the possession of the\nowners of the Ljungby estate, and that this story concerning it is\nstill current and quite generally believed.\n\n[6] Stories of elvemaidens, who have married humans, lived with them\nsome time and then vanished, are not uncommon in Sweden. One such from\nSm\u00e5land is related of a priest whose son held office under him as\ncurate.\n\nOne morning when the young man wakened he saw the sun streaming into\nhis apartment through a knot hole in the wall. Suddenly there entered,\nas if on a sunbeam, a maiden, who stood before him as naked as Eve in\nthe garden of Eden. He hurriedly threw a cloak over the beautiful\napparition and conducted her down to his parents. Who she was or where\nshe came from, neither she nor any other could tell. After a time she\nbecame the wife of the young priest and lived happily with him a number\nof years. But one day he was relating to her the wonderful manner of\nher coming, and to confirm his account removed the plug from the knot\nhole, whereupon she instantly, as suddenly and mysteriously as she had\ncome, vanished, leaving him in sorrow and despair.\n\n[7] Skurugata is a street-like chasm cut through one of the granite\nmountains situated in the parish of Eksj\u00f6, in width about twenty-five\nfeet, with walls of rock on either side rising precipitously to the\nheight of 130 feet, and in length about a quarter of a Swedish mile\u2014one\nand one-half English miles. That the fertile fancies of the people have\nmade this wild place the resort of Trolls and other supernatural beings\nis not surprising. Above the cliff lies a rock called Skuruhatt, by the\nside of which is an opening into the mountain, called Sacristian, where\nthe heathens are said to have made offerings to their gods.\n\n[8] Commissioned by Governor Lindehkelm and Doctor Urban Hiarne,\nBailiff Girs, of Tveta, in the province of J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping, went to Vising\nIsland in the year 1705, for the purpose of learning whether or no any\ntrace of the Giant\u2019s work yet remained.\n\nArriving at the island he applied to three aged and trustworthy men,\nfrom each of whom he received the same narration that has here been\npresented. Accompanied by these men he went by sea along the eastern\ncoast of the island until he reached a high bluff, situated between the\nvillages of N\u00e4s and Stiby, and about a third of a mile south of\nVisingborg. Here were actually two holes about fifty feet distant from\neach other. Into these holes three men crept, Policeman Nils Runske\ninto one, and two peasants into the other. After creeping on hands and\nknees some feet they found it possible to walk upright for about\nthirty-four feet when the three met, the two tunnels here continuing in\na single passage, which they were not able to penetrate beyond a few\nfeet, because of the foul air. The passage was six feet high and eight\nfeet wide, but said to have been much larger seventy years earlier.\nLater Girs was shown a sunken place or bog which extended from the\naforementioned bluff inland three-eighths of a mile and terminated at\nthe hole in Kumlaby meadow, where it is supposed Gilbertil is\nimprisoned. As late as the beginning of the eighteenth century the\nstory was so generally credited that few or none could be found who\nwere not entirely convinced that Gilbertil was still, by some devilish\npower, alive and laboring to free himself from his imprisonment.\n\n[9] The inhabitants of Eksj\u00f6 and thereabout relate many stories of\nTrolls and the like, but these are the most complete and\ncharacteristic.\n\n[10] This legend is a complex of different giant stories localized at\nPuke Berg\u2014Puke Mountain. Nearly every parish has its legend, in which\nthe resident giant has been angered with the noise of the church bells,\nand has sought to destroy his disturber. The legend of the giantess who\ntook the children from their plowing and bore them to her giant parent\nis not confined to the Giant Puke. Similar legends are current in\nKl\u00e4ppe, in Oldesborg parish, in Dalland, etc.\n\n[11] See also J. Allvini\u2019s description of Vestbo Municipality. The same\nlegend is also current in Halland, with the difference that Ebbe\u2019s lady\nlove is said to have resided upon an estate in Tiveden, and that the\nremains of the exiled Knight now lie under a granite rock near the\nentrance to Gallinge Church.\n\n[12] Before the days of railroads and regularly equipped stage lines,\nit was the duty, established by law, of the farmers and others owning\nhorses to, in their turn, furnish travelers with means of conveyance\nfrom the inn of their neighborhood to the next. Upon the arrival of a\ntraveler at an inn a servant was dispatched to the neighbor whose turn\nit was, and he was expected to promptly furnish horse, wagon and\ndriver.\n\n[13] An old G\u00f6tland legend, by Madame D. Kindstrand, and in the Family\nJournal, elaborated by C. J. Bergman. Hop O\u2019 My Thumb, Lick the Pot,\netc., are the names given the fingers.\n\n[14] In G\u00f6tland a Byse is the spirit of one who in life was continually\non the move around his possessions, or was so covetous of worldly goods\nthat even perjury did not deter him from acquiring property unjustly.\n\n[15] When the robber\u2019s grave was opened, in the year 1870, human bones\nwere found in it, strengthening the supposition that the legend is\nfounded on facts.\n\n[16] In Bohusl\u00e4n and in Dalland the belief is quite general that the\ngiants, leaving those regions, settled upon Dovre in Norway, or upon\nsome uninhabited island in the North Sea, and that travelers are\neagerly questioned about their former home.\n\n[17] The belief that giants have two hats, one of which renders the\nwearer invisible, and another that reveals things otherwise invisible,\nis widespread in Northern Scandinavia.\n\n[18] This legend is noteworthy as showing how time and fancy often\nclothe the historical fact in mythical garb. The reader\u2019s attention is\ncalled to similar cases in this collection, among them the Lord of\nUgerup, Bishop Svedberg and the Devil, Lady Barbro, of Brokind, Jonas\nSpits, etc.\n\n[19] The belief in Tomts has been handed down to us through many\ngenerations, and is widespread in Sweden. In the opinion of the writer\nthey are nothing more or less than an inheritance from the classical\npast and a remnant of the domestic worship which the ancients bestowed\nupon their family gods. Legends similar to this are related in Norway,\nwhere the spirit is called Topvette or Tomlevette and Gardos; also in\nFaroe Islands, where they are called Niagriusar, and in Germany, where\nthey are called Kobolde, etc.\n\n[20] Not longer than thirty years ago a cross, said to be the one\nraised on this occasion, was still standing in Norrhult.\n\n[21] This story was found, after his death, among the papers of the\nlecturer, J. Vallman. The estate of Brokind, before it came into the\npossession of the family of Count Falkenberg, was owned, for about two\ncenturies, by the family of Night and Day. It is probable that the Lady\nBarbro wrought into this legend is Lady Barbro, Erik\u2019s daughter, wife\nof Senator Mons, Johnson Night and Day, though how she was made to play\na part in the narrative is not known, as her body was not impaled in a\nswamp, but rests peacefully in an elegant grave in the cathedral of\nLink\u00f6ping.\n\n[22] This legend doubtless grew out of the story of the flood, in this\nform relating how the mighty waters burst their bounds and were in time\nagain imprisoned in their beds.\n\n[23] The wood nymph dwells in large forests, and is described as a\nbeautiful young woman, when seen face to face; but if her back be\nturned to one it is hollow, like a dough-trough, or resembles a block\nstub. Sometimes, instead of a hollow back, she is adorned with a bushy\nfox tail. The sea nymph dwells, as indicated by the name, at the bottom\nof seas and lakes, and is clad in a skirt so snow-white that it\nsparkles in the sunlight. Over the skirt she wears a light blue jacket.\nUsually her appearance is the forerunner of a storm; she is then seen\nsitting upon a billow combing her golden hair.\n\n[24] This legend is noteworthy as being the only one, as far as the\nauthor has been able to find, in which Troll property is changed into\nsnakes. Usually gold is changed into shavings, and silver to pebbles\nand sand; otherwise it brings disaster upon the usurper of Trolldom and\nhis family.\n\n[25] As late as 1875 a farmer near Mariestad, during an epidemic among\nhis cattle, buried alive a cow in the ground. Whether this cruel\nexpedient was effective the author is not informed.\n\n[26] The ennobled Gyllenspits was born at Speserund, in the parish of\nMillisvik, in Vermland, some time in the year 1609. During the Polish\nand German wars he made his way up from the ranks to\nlieutenant-colonel, and was made a noble in 1660. He was afterward\ncolonel, and finally major-general of infantry. He died in 1679, and is\nburied in Sunne Church, in Vermland.\n\n[27] From Norway we have a similar story, by Faye, Norske Folkesagn,\nwhich relates that a wood nymph one time attended a dance, where she\nhad as partner a young man, who, when he observed the bushy appendage,\nsaid genteelly, \u201cMy beautiful lady, you are losing your garter,\u201d which\nso pleased the nymph that she rewarded him bountifully with gold and\nother riches.\n\n[28] Bishop Konrad Rugga, who plays a part in this story, belonged to\nthe old Kyle family and was born in Stockholm. After he had studied in\nforeign high schools, he was, upon his return to Sweden, first canon,\nand later archdeacon in Uppsala Cathedral. In the year 1480 he was\nchosen bishop of Strengn\u00e4s, which office he entered upon on the 3d of\nApril, 1501. In the Cathedral of Strengn\u00e4s, even now, a small cell is\nshown, which is said to have been his treasure vault, and where his\nprayer-book, shoes and other relics may still be seen.\n\n[29] The chief character in this narrative is the wife of President and\nSenator Erik Gyllerstierna, Beata Yxkull, to whom the name of Lady\nPintorpa is given. As far as can be judged from the best accounts\nobtainable, Lady Beata was a woman of unusual understanding, decision\nand power. It is quite possible that in her exactions and treatment of\nher servants and dependents she may have sometimes been unreasonably\nsevere, and that therefore she did not command their love. It is\ncertain that the stories of her inhuman conduct and tragical end are of\na later date than her generation, and that this is a localization of a\nsimilar German legend.\n\nThe opinion is ever hazarded that Beata Yxkull came to play a part in\nthis gruesome myth, alone because of the name of the estate, Pintorp,\nwhich our uncritical story-tellers have credulously taken for granted,\nwas derived from Pina\u2014to tease\u2014though good grounds exist for the belief\nthat the estate took its name from the family of Pinaur, who, in former\ndays, resided thereon.\n\n[30] The legend of the ring, originally an Oriental tale [See Herodotus\non King Polycrates in Samos], has become a part of the folk-lore of\nseveral localities in Scandinavia, as in N\u00e4rike, The Rich Lady; in\nNorway, The Insolent Priest\u2019s Daughter; in Denmark, Free Birthe, etc.\n\n[31] Supplementing this story, it is related that the punishment meted\nout to the priest\u2019s worldly-minded wife for seducing the servant into\nthe attempt to frighten her husband from his devotions was that her\nbody after death should remain in the grave undecayed.\n\nThe same story is told of a woman member of the old family of Ickorna,\nand the attempt has been made to establish that she is identical with\nthe woman of Veckholm.\n\n[32] The water nymphs are noted musicians; their music usually being in\na plaintive strain and expressing a longing to be released on the day\nof judgment. Sometimes, but not so often, they appear in the folk-lore\nas the capricious rulers of the streams which they inhabit. It is\nbelieved, in certain regions that one should not grind grain on the\nnight before Christmas, for at that time the nymphs are out in all the\nstreams, and if they find a mill going they stop it, break it, or grind\nat such a furious rate that the millstones burst.\n\n[33] It is believed this comes from an old Icelandic Saga, which has\nbeen made a part of the folk-lore of Dalarne.\n\n[34] The magpie in folk-lore is an ominous bird, and is avoided by the\npeasantry, because one can not know whether it is the spirit of a\nTroll, friend or foe. When the magpies build near the house it is\nregarded as a lucky omen, but if they build on the heath, and meantime\ncome to the house and chatter, it bodes evil.\n\n[35] In other regions it is related that heralding an epidemic, a\nlittle bird flies around the country where men are plowing, and,\nperched upon the ox-yokes, twitters its warning.\n\n[36] To the characteristics attributed in this story to the V\u00e4tters may\nbe added that they are peaceable and generally inclined to be friendly\nto mankind, but that they may, nevertheless, be aroused to acts of\nviolence if their wishes are not heeded, or if harm is done them\ndesignedly. They are said to have great quantities of gold and silver,\nbut steel is very offensive to them. If, therefore, a knife is stuck\ninto a fissure in a mountain, a piece of gold will, a few days later,\nbe found in its stead. During autumn and in winter they take up their\nabode in vacated cow barns, where they employ themselves after the\nmanner of mankind.","title":"Swedish fairy tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":42075}