My heart's, &c.

And all the courtiers after the hart are gone; Little Kerstin, she must proceed alone.

My heart's, &c.

And when on Ringfalla bridge she goes, Her steed he stumbled on his four gold shoes.

My heart's, &c.

Four gold shoes, and thirty gold nails, And the maiden into the swift stream falls.

My heart's, &c.

Sir Peter he spake to his footpage so-- "Thou must for my gold harp instantly go."

My heart's, &c.

The first stroke on his gold harp he gave The foul ugly Neck sat and laughed on the wave.

My heart's, &c.

The second time the gold harp he swept, The foul ugly Neck on the wave sat and wept.

My heart's, &c.

The third stroke on the gold harp rang, Little Kerstin reached up her snow-white arm.

My heart's, &c.[209]

He played the bark from off the high trees; He played Little Kerstin back on his knees.

My heart's, &c.

And the Neck he out of the waves came there, And a proud maiden on each arm he bare.

My heart's own dear!

Tell me wherefore you grieve?[210]

The STRoMKARL, called in Norway Grim or Fosse-Grim[211]

(_Waterfall-Grim_) is a musical genius like the Neck. Like him too, when properly propitiated, he communicates his art. The sacrifice also is a black lamb,[212] which the offerer must present with averted head, and on Thursday evening. If it is poor the pupil gets no further than to the tuning of the instruments; if it is fat the Stromkarl seizes the votary by the right hand, and swings it backwards and forwards till the blood runs out at the finger-ends. The aspirant is then enabled to play in such a masterly manner that the trees dance and waterfalls stop at his music.[213]

The Havmand, or Merman, is described as of a handsome form, with green or black hair and beard. He dwells either in the bottom of the sea, or in the cliffs and hills near the sea shore, and is regarded as rather a good and beneficent kind of being.[214]

The Havfrue, or Mermaid, is represented in the popular tradition sometimes as a good, at other times as an evil and treacherous being.

She is beautiful in her appearance. Fishermen sometimes see her in the bright summer's sun, when a thin mist hangs over the sea, sitting on the surface of the water, and combing her long golden hair with a golden comb, or driving up her snow-white cattle to feed on the strands and small islands. At other times she comes as a beautiful maiden, chilled and shivering with the cold of the night, to the fires the fishers have kindled, hoping by this means to entice them to her love.[215] Her appearance prognosticates both storm and ill success in their fishing.

People that are drowned, and whose bodies are not found, are believed to be taken into the dwellings of the Mermaids. These beings are also supposed to have the power of foretelling future events. A Mermaid, we are told, prophesied the birth of Christian IV. of Denmark, and

En Havfrue op af Vandet steg, Og spaade Herr Sinklar ilde.

SINCLAR'S VISA.

A mermaid from the water rose, And spaed Sir Sinclar ill.

Fortune-telling has been in all countries a gift of the sea-people. We need hardly mention the prophecies of Nereus and Proteus.

A girl one time fell into the power of a Havfrue and passed fifteen years in her submarine abode without ever seeing the sun. At length her brother went down in quest of her, and succeeded in bringing her back to the upper world. The Havfrue waited for seven years expecting her return, but when she did not come back, she struck the water with her staff and made it boil up and cried--

Hade jag trott att du varit s falsk, S skulle jag kreckt dig din tiufvehals!

Had I but known thee so false to be, Thy thieving neck I'd have cracked for thee.[216]

_Duke Magnus and the Mermaid._

Duke Magnus looked out through the castle window, How the stream ran so rapidly; And there he saw how upon the stream sat A woman most fair and lovelie, Duke Magnus, Duke Magnus, plight thee to me, I pray you still so freely; Say me not nay, but yes, yes!

"O, to you I will give a travelling ship, The best that a knight would guide; It goeth as well on water as on firm land, And through the fields all so wide.

Duke Magnus, &c.

"O, to you will I give a courser gray, The best that a knight would ride; He goeth as well on water as on firm land, And through the groves all so wide."

Duke Magnus, &c.

"O, how should I plight me to you?

I never any quiet get; I serve the king and my native land, But with woman I match me not yet."

Duke Magnus, &c.

"To you will I give as much of gold As for more than your life will endure; And of pearls and precious stones handfuls; And all shall be so pure."

Duke Magnus, &c.

"O gladly would I plight me to thee, If thou wert of Christian kind; But now thou art a vile sea-troll, My love thou canst never win."

Duke Magnus, &c.

"Duke Magnus, Duke Magnus, bethink thee well, And answer not so haughtily; For if thou wilt not plight thee to me, Thou shalt ever crazy be."

Duke Magnus, &c.

"I am a king's son so good, How can I let you gain me?

You dwell not on land, but in the flood, Which would not with me agree."

Duke Magnus, Duke Magnus, plight thee to me, I offer you still so freely; Say me not nay, but yes, yes![217]

FOOTNOTES:

[205] _Berg_ signifies a larger eminence, mountain, hill; _Hog_, a height, hillock. The _Hog-folk_ are Elves and musicians.

[206] The Danish peasantry in Wormius' time described the Nokke (Nikke) as a monster with a human head, that dwells both in fresh and salt water. When any one was drowned, they said, _Nokken tog ham bort_ (the Nokke took him away); and when any drowned person was found with the nose red, they said the Nikke has sucked him: _Nikken har suet ham._--Magnusen, Eddalaere. Denmark being a country without any streams of magnitude, we meet in the Danske Folkesagn no legends of the Nokke; and in ballads, such as "The Power of the Harp," what in Sweden is ascribed to the Neck, is in Denmark imputed to the Havmand or Merman.

[207] The Neck is also believed to appear in the form of a complete horse, and can be made to work at the plough, if a bridle of a particular description be employed.--_Kalm's Vestgotha Resa_.

[208] Afzelius, Sago-hafdar, ii. 156.

[209]

_Det tredje slag p gullharpan klang, Liten Kerstin rackta upp sin snohvita arm.

Min hjerteliga kar!

J sagen mig hvarfor J sorjen!_

[210] As sung in West Gothland and Vermland.