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Anastasia Garceau

Scandinavian Folklore

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Scandinavian folklore, as is likely the case with folklore

worldwide, reflects a part of the culture from which it comes and some

of its history. It is interesting how much it varies, as some

folktales can be longer than others. Some can be even a sentence long,

which is just enough to express some sort of cultural sentiment.

Others lay out a detailed fairytale that have all the functions and

characters listed by Vladimir Propp. Of course these tales have

fantastic creatures, which always seem to be the most interesting

feature and may obviously represent some feature of everyday life and

how it is viewed by the people who tell and listen to these tales. The

changes that occur in that perspective can also be noticed, as some

stories reference the earlier religious beliefs of Scandinavia, while

others are mixture of old and new. The subject manner is also widely

varied, as it could be overly religious, or concern itself with the

proper way to go about daily jobs, or they may be meant to simply

provide entertainment.

Scandinavia consists of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and the

Faroe Islands, as well as Finland. However, Finland differs from the

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rest of Scandinavia in both ethnic background and language. It is

included in the mixture of Scandinavian folklore because it was ruled

by Sweden until 1809 and the social and cultural ties between the

Finns and their neighbors remained strong. Those Swedish-speaking

parts of Finland represent the tradition of that community and

therefore of Scandinavian traditions (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1998:

3). When one thinks of the people belonging to Scandinavia, the image

of Vikings may be the first to come to mind. The Vikings make up a

considerable amount of history for these people, as the Viking Age is

thought to have begun in the eighth century AD and lasted to the

eleventh. Their emphasis on battle and honor, which were connected to

their pagan religion, can be seen in various folktales even after the

Christianization of Scandinavia. The Christianization of these lands

came later than the rest of Europe, which could explain why these

aspects of the Viking culture remain within folktales

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scandinavia#Viking_Age).

These remnants are most noticeable in stories that have come

from collections such as the Prose Edda, like the tale “The Strange

Builder” which mentions gods, specifically the Norse gods Loki and

Frejya, as well as referencing the Norse term for earth, Midgard

(http://worldoftales.com/European_folktales/Scandinavian_folktale_12.h

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tml). Another example would be the tale “Lake Peipus” which mentions

how this tale occurred at a time when:

“No merchants had yet arrived in ships from foreign shores, nor

had invading armies conquered with sharp swords to set up the

cross of the Christian God, and the people still lived in perfect

freedom” (Asala 1995: 17).

This beginning demonstrates the ties to the past that these

folktales contained, and is further emphasized by the mention of the

three benevolent gods of the nearby forest that the king and queen

prayed to, as well as the three evil gods that cause the misfortune in

the story. The last part of this sentence could be read as either a

stylistic element of how the distant past is thought of as being

ideal, or how difficult the Christianization of Scandinavia was for

those living there. With the adoption of this religion, specifically

by the monarchy like that of Norway in the early eleventh century, the

practices of the pagan religion and its adherents were persecuted

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_history#Viking_Age).

The Viking age and the Christian age are both represented in the

Prose Edda, which is a collection of Old Norse poems written around

1200 by Snorri Sturlson. He was a Christian, but included the ancient

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Pagan mythology in his works, although he created a “quasi-historical

background for the Norse Gods”, making this work one of the first

attempts to rationalize mythological and legendary events (Brodeur

1916:1). Although not tales, I thought it necessary to research more

into this document because of the inclusion of both Christian and pre-

Christian traditions that show up also in the more regular folktales.

Snorri has at the beginning of his work a summary of the Biblical

story of the creation and deluge, followed with an account of the rise

of the ancient pagan faith which has the old gods appear as men

(Brodeur 1916: 9).

In his account, the pagan gods were actually from Troy, which he

described as being having twelve chieftains, one of whom “was called

Munon or Mennon; and he was wedded to the daughter of the High King

Priam, her who was called Troan; they had a child named Tror, whom we

call Thor” (Brodeur 1916:13). According to this history, Thor was

raised in Thrace and then “went forth far and wide over the lands,…

overcoming alone all berserks and giants, and one dragon, greatest of

all dragons, and many beasts” (Brodeur 1916: 13).

In these tales are many creatures which could be classified as

“beasts. The most frequent of these creatures it seems would be the

multiple manifestations of the “hug’, which was the embodiment of the

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human soul. The idea of the spiritual aspect on the soul was likely

influenced by Christianity, brought by missionaries from England and

Germany, in which the idea of the soul is linked with spirituality,

being dichotomous to the actual body. However, the “hug” of these

tales is connected with the more mental aspects of one’s life, instead

focusing on features such as personality, feelings and desires

(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 41). It was believed that the hug could

affect both inanimate and animate objects, either consciously or

unconsciously, and that the deliberate manipulation of the hug was the

basis for all magic (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 41).

One assumed form of the hug is that of sickness, which was

explained as resulting from a hug that had entered the body of sick

person or animal; it was thought dangerous to let one’s mind wander

because it could cause this to happen and harm someone else; sneezes,

yawns, and hiccups were thought to be caused by a another person’s hug

entering the body. Sometimes the folktale could be vague or specific,

such as the saying “When your toe throbs” which says that “A throbbing

sensation in your big toe means that someone is thinking about you. If

it is the big toe of your right foot, it is a man; if it is the big

toe of your left foot, it is a woman” (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988:

41, 43). Something similar is seen in the tale of “When your ears

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ring” which says that if it is the right ear, someone is saying

something nice and if it is the left, it is something nasty (Kvideland

and Sehmsdorf 1988:44).

Another of a hug’s manifestation is that of the “Evil Eye”. In

addition to possibly influencing someone’s thoughts and feelings with

the help of magic, called hug-turning, it was believed that the power

of the hug could be transferred to another though sight, touch, or

speech, often with the intent to do harm (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

1988: 49). Most manifestations of the hug embody some sort of harmful

feature of life, such as sickness. But the next is the personification

of an emotion that was perceived as harmful to one’s well beings. Envy

(Danish avind, Norwegian ovund, Swedish avund) was a powerful

manifestation of the hug, feared for its supposed strong, adverse

effect on people, animals and even inanimate objects (Kvindeland and

Sehmsdorf 1988: 52). The tale “A Prayer against Envy” is a blend of

earlier traditions with its magic formula combining conjuration and

ritual, and Christian influences since it is addressed to the Virgin

Mary. It is somewhat ironic since it is a magic ritual to protect

against witches doing magic against the person who is praying, with

the line “May witchcraft and demons and envy come to naught!”

(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988:53). Another tale associated with

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keeping away envy and its power is the “Knock on wood” tale that is

also responsible for the common saying.

The Nightmare, likely the most well-known form, is interpreted

as the visitation of someone’s hug into another’s dream, usually

described as a weight on the sleeper’s chest. Sexual dreams play a

large part of this manifestation of the hug, as reflected in the tale

“Married to the mare”. This tale is about a farmer who has his help

plug up all holes in his bedroom except for one, since he believes the

mare is tormenting him. The mare comes but then is trapped once the

hole is plugged and in the morning, the farmer finds a woman in his

bed, which he then marries and has many children with, despite being a

demonic being. However, the farmer eventually shows her the hole

through which she came in and she slipped out to never be seen again.

This idea is similar to the seal woman stories, but I will cover that

later (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 54, 57-58).

The mare was later interpreted as a separate “supranormal being”

and it was believed that a woman “could ease birth pains by crawling

through the fetal membrane of a foal” but that her children would

become a mare, if a daughter or a werewolf if a son. However it was

often thought that a person could be saved from this fate if spoken

to, like in the tale “He spoke too early” in which a woman is freed

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from her mare existence when a tailor calls out “I believe you are a

mare!” as she is materializing, but too soon so that not all of her is

materialized. Her little finger was lost (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

1988: 54, 57).

Another personification of a potentially harmful emotion is that

of longing, also referred to as “elsk” (love). A person could become

ill in body and mind from being longed for by someone else. Usually

this longing was of an erotic nature, and the lover might be a human

or a supranormal being, such as the “hill man” in the tale “Snowshoe-

Pernille” in which a girl has an elsk put on her by this supranormal

being and could only be rescued by sleeping with a fully armed soldier

for three nights. This remedy was believed to “ritually extend the

protective power of the soldier’s arms to the girl” (Kvideland and

Sehsmdorf 1988: 58-59).

The elsk could also be imposed by the dead on a surviving

relative and make him or her sick, or a living person could long for

the dead and keep the loved one from finding peace, such as in the

tale “The dead child complains”. In this tale a woman who lost her

child grieved so much for the child that its ghost appears to her in a

dream. When the woman asks her child why it had taken so long to

appear to her, the ghost replies that her tears are weighing him or

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her, as the gender is never mentioned, down. This tale is interpreted

as a message against excessive grieving. It is interesting that the

motif of the dead complaining of the elsk can be found also in Eddic

poetry. (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 58-60).

The vardoger is another form of the hug-message, which announces

a person is about to come, typically in the shape of that person or by

sounds usually associated with said person’s arrival. This idea is

similar to the doppleganger idea that is more commonly known

(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988:64). This is seen in the tale “Meeting

one’s fylgje” which is only a sentence long, stating “If a person

meets his or her own fylgje, it is a sure sign that he or she will die

soon” (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 68-69). The fylgje is a

manifestation of the hug that accompanies a person, taking human shape

or that of an animal, and is typically only seen by those with second

sight. This form, unlike the others so far, also had a more positive,

protective function in medieval literature like the Icelandic sagas,

and was later incorporated with the Christian idea of a guardian

angel. In more recent tradition the fylgje and vardoger are used

interchangeably within tales. It is thought that the shape of the

fylgje or vardoger revealed a person’s character and could be anything

like a cat, a fox, a wolf, or a horse (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

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1988:66-67). In the tale “Seeing the vardoger to the door” the folk

belief that is a person is separated from their vardoger or fylgje,

then that person could become sick or go mad (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

1988: 68).

The idea of multiple forms that a soul can take or that it can

become separated from the body is similar to shamanistic beliefs.

There is also another folk tradition that deals with such a separation

of soul and body that has its roots in Lappish shamanism, an area in

northern Norway. These tales are about specifically a Finn who sends

his hug on a journey, and are recorded mostly in Lappland of course,

but also in Sweden and even as far as Denmark (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

1988: 71).

There are other tales which involve the transformation of the

body as well as the hug, into were-wolves and man-bears, caused by a

self-induced transformation of hostile magic. These creatures often

were said to be part of the bodyguard of early Scandinavian kings and

chieftains, known as berserkers (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 74-75).

An example of this, although probably not the best, is from the tale

taken from the Prose Edda from “The Death of Baldur”. There is a line

that mentions these creatures, “Odin called for four Berserkir to hold

the horse, but they could not secure it till they had thrown it to the

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ground”. The idea of transformation into a werewolf or man-bear is

related to the idea of a girl transforming into a mare if a mother

eases birthing pains by crawling through fetal membranes of a foal,

and so the idea of the transformation not being permanent is also

found in tales that feature werewolves, which can be stopped by

calling out the man’s name in the same manner as with calling out the

woman’s name, seen in the tale “Now I am Free” (Kvideland and

Sehmsdorf 1988: 76).

It also is a significant example of the impact of the Viking

religion with its values of strength in addition to the obvious

mention of the Old Norse gods like Odin. The folktales are obviously

told by the folk, which are typically the rural population, who lived

close to nature and were quite literally a part of it. The Norse

religion, like that of the Finns and Lapps, was concerned with the

orientation of this world and included beings such as elves which were

beings of nature rather than transcendent beings (Kvideland and

Sehmsdorf 1988: 8-9).

Medieval literature of Scandinavia suggests that prior to

Christianization, it was an accepted fact that there were beings with

supranormal powers. In both the Elder Edda and the Prose Edda, skills

attributed to “Othin” are basically the same as those attributed to

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later practitioners of magic, notably shape-shifting, magic flight and

the use of spells to control the elements and to conjure the dead

(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 159). The church rejected such ideas,

going so far as to prohibit the belief in witches, such as the “The

Witches Hammer” discusses along with ways to identify witches. It

includes folk traditions such as the witches’ Sabbath, the use of a

familiar to steal milk, the passing of magic skills from mother to

daughter and so on. The witch trials in Scandinavia were from the

Reformation to the early eighteenth century, reinforcing the folk

belief in witches and their powers (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988:

159).

Often people of low positions of society, generally the poor, but

also beggars and strangers- Lapps, Finns, and gypsies- were believed

to use magic to force others to share certain necessities with them,

such as food and lodgings. It was thought that if one of these

people, especially gypsies, were denied, then they used magic to take

revenge in forms like sickness, accidents and other misfortunes.

Stories include actions like sticking pins in a doll (Kvideland and

Sehmsdorf 1988: 161).

As already mentioned in tales that concerned the hug, the motif

of the dead and the living is prominent within Scandinavian folktales.

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Reflected in these folktales is the belief that the soul can be seen

separating from the body at the time of death. In Iceland, the

departing soul is connected to the idea of the fylgie. In the tale

“Opening the door to let the soul out”, the idea that the soul needs a

clear path to leave reflects this belief in fleeing souls, but is also

similar to the tale “Married to the mare” which is a manifestation of

a soul (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 80). This could possibly be

another folk tradition that a soul could remain behind, or be trapped,

if not given a clear path to leave. This idea could account for the

stories in which ghosts appear. Aside from omens and signs that are

supposed to be connected with death, tales were concerned with

journeys to an "other world", usually divided into two major types

which consist of stories about emphasizing messages from the other

world, and the mutual promise of two friends to go to the other’s

wedding, whether alive or not (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 89).

The tale “Two Friends” is about how two men decide to make a

promise to attend the other’s weddings, and if one should die

beforehand, then the other would go to the grave and blow on a clay

pipe to wake up his friend’s ghost. Of course this is what happens,

and during the wedding reception, the ghost takes his friend on a walk

back to his grave and they see two fields of cattle, one in a barren

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field yet with fat cattle and the other with a lush, green field and

skinny cattle. At some point, the bridegroom falls asleep and wakes

after 700 years to find the world completely changed and remarking how

his money was no good anymore. The fields of cattle in this tale also

show the blending of Christian tradition, as they are reminiscent of

the pharaoh’s dream in the book of Genesis (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

1988: 90-91).

This tale also demonstrates another common theme, which is that

of a returning dead person. Usually these tales are about a dead lover

returning to pass on a message or to exact revenge, or to respond to

grief, like in tales concerning the "elsk” manifestation of the hug

(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 91). Often, tales that include ghosts

also include churches, and there are many tales that have to do with

midnight masses at church involving the dead (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

1988: 93). An example of this is the tale “Jorgen and his Dead Master”

as well as “The Nocturnal Church-Goers”. In the first, a man named

Jorgen falls asleep inside a church and wakes up to see the church

filled with specters, one of them being his former master who had

recently died. His master assumes that Jorgen must also be dead since

he is in the church at midnight, and takes him back to his house to

haunt his wife. In this tale, Jorgen has to be clever, otherwise the

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ghost could cause him actual physical harm, using a frozen glove to

make the ghost think he was dead and then asking the ghost how to

avoid getting his spirit stuck in the ground, so that he could learn

how to keep his master’s ghost from coming after him. However, before

he seals the ghost in its grave, he also asks where his master left

his hidden treasure that his wife has been looking for, since his

master’s ghost had been saying he was enjoying haunting her because

she couldn’t find it and it was frustrating her (Asala 1995: 44-45).

In the other tale, another man happens to go to a midnight mass,

except on Christmas Eve since he saw the building lit up and thought

he was late for mass. Once there, he was turned away by a ghost who

told him that this wasn’t a mass for him and his family, which was the

next day. The ghost also told the man to return on St. John’s Eve if

he wanted to make his fortune. Of course the man returns to the church

at the requested time, and is told how to perform a magic ritual to

unearth buried treasure. However, the man witnesses various monsters

appearing as part of this ritual and loses his nerve, fleeing the

sight, and losing any chance at getting at the buried treasure again

(Asala 1995: 55-57).

Buried treasure is another motif, which also connects the past to

the present with these stories. It was common practice to bury caches

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of gold and silver coins as well as other valuables with the dead for

use in the afterlife or simply for safekeeping. The theme of buried

treasure is often connected with the motif of unsuccessful attempts,

such as in the before mentioned stories. Often there were

preternatural beings that protected the treasure, such as the ghost of

the original owner, and spells were also used to have a treasure

bound. In order to retrieve the treasure, there was usually some sort

of magical ritual and/or strict conditions that the treasure hunter

would need to meet in order to in a sense earn that treasure. Other

times, it could be as simple as someone observing another burying his

or her treasure, and then retrieving it once they have left (Kvideland

and Sehmsdorf 1988: 317).

Trickster figures are another feature in Scandinavian folklore,

with the expected and unexpected filling those roles. The most obvious

figure would have to be the well-known Loki, who is found in the prose

Edda works. In the tale “The Death of Baldur” it is him that causes

this god’s death by making another believe that it was disrespectful

not to throw a weapon at Baldur, who had been protected with various

spells to ward off all weapons, except for mistletoe which Loki learns

and fashions a weapon out of which does kill Baldur. Another trickster

is the unlikely smith, who was believed to possess magic powers and

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could hypnotize people. These stories concern the skill of the

trickster to entertain the audience, as well as this character’s

ability to make fools out of his superiors with impunity. In this

sense, trickster stories could act as a kind of protest against social

privilege

Outsiders were also warily viewed, and could be seen as

tricksters. This could include the authoritative ministers, who were

treated as ambivalent figures in folktales. He was rarely born in the

parish he served, and remained an outsider due to his background and

education, it was thought by the folk that the minister’s education

was proof that he had been trained at “the Black School at

Wittenberg”, particularly after the Reformation. Ministers were

thought to have been given the “Black Book” which gave them magical

powers. They were seen as defenders of the folk who tricks Satan, but

at the same time is treated as wielding equivocal powers (Kvideland

and Sehmsdorf 1988: 7).

“The Terrible Olli” is about a folk hero, specifically a Finn,

who continuously tricks the troll and his wife who lived on the side

of the mountain near them, and grew richer daily despite his

wickedness. The troll tries to kill the Finn each time he comes to his

house, but the Finn, the youngest of three brothers, outwits his

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plans, keeping himself and his brothers safe while also stealing the

troll’s horse, and his large bag of money and gold ball, and then

killing the troll’s wife by pushing her into the oven that she was

preparing for him. The troll comes home with his troll folk and they

eat the wife, thinking it was the Finn. When they do realize who they

actually were eating, they decided to finish, since they had already

eaten so much of her anyway, and then go after Olli. But because they

took so long, the troll was caught out in the daylight and burst.

After that, there were no more trolls in that area, because they were

too afraid of the terrible Olli (Asala 1995: 59-65).

Trolls and giants are the oldest creatures found in Scandinavian

folklore, identified in stories concerning the creation of the world

and they often play the role of the enemies of the gods and the human

community, and later the Church. These creatures feature in stories

that explain the origin of natural phenomena, like huge rock

formations, lakes, and the so-called “giant potholes” (Kvideland and

Sehmsdorf 1988: 299). Prominent characteristics of trolls and giants

are there great age and enormous strength, although trolls were

imagined to be dim-witted and slow to react (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

1988: 302-303). Trolls and giants were thought to have great wealth,

and folktales often feature a hero going into their houses to steal

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such a treasure, as already mentioned in “The Terrible Olli”. Trolls

were sometimes portrayed as cannibals and man-eaters, as also featured

in that story (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 303-305). However, there

are cases where a giant was cast in a better light, such as the tale

about the good-natured giant Vral, who was famous for his appetite and

strength, and fell in love with the girl who aided his mother in her

work and married her (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 305-306). Ogres

and ogresses are also features in folktales (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf

1988: 302).

The “Invisible Folk” are “heterogeneous groupings” of

preternatural beings found in different areas of Scandinavia and have

a variety of names (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 203). They were

often considered to be demonic beings and encountering them could be

dangerous. They were often blamed for sickly or retarded children,

believing that the original human child had been replaced with one of

the invisible folk’s, which were changelings. But it wasn’t just

children that had to be looked after, as adults could also be

affected. If a person went missing or suddenly suffered some mental

disorder, it was thought that his person had been “taken into the

mountain” by one of these beings (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 207).

It appears though, that people were both afraid and attracted to

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the idea of these beings. In some stories, there might be an actual

liaison between a human and one of the invisible folk, resulting in

the birth of a child, the disappearance of the person, or the

absorption of the person into the invisible folk’s society (Kvideland

and Sehmsdorf 1988: 214). The invisible folk were believed to be

beautiful in front, but hollow in the back, or that they had a cow’s

tail or some other animal trait (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 216-

217).

There are numerous varieties of these invisible folk, with some

specific to certain areas. In a sense then, these stories not only

incorporate parts of the overall Scandinavian history, but individual

bits of culture as well. Each individual aspect of a form of monster

relates somehow to the way the people in this area think and go about

their lives, as well as adapting to the changes brought about by time

and interactions with other cultures. Many retain the older traditions

alongside the Christian influences and pertain to a rural lifestyle

even as the land was becoming more industrialized. Although there is

no one grouping of people that can be referred to as Scandinavians, it

is still interesting to see how these creatures and other aspects of

storytelling bring these smaller groups into one larger cultural unit

even today.

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Bibliography

1. Asala, Joanne. Scandinavian Ghost Stories And Other Tales of

the Supernatural.1995. Penfield Press. Iowa City, Iowa

2. Kvideland, Reimund and Sehmsdorf, Henning K. Scandinavian

Folk Belief and Legend.1988. University of Minnesota Press.

Minneapolis, MN.

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3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

History_of_Scandinavia#Viking_Age . “ History of Scandinavia”

5/5/12

4. http://worldoftales.com/European_folktales/

Scandinavian_folktale_12.html . Tibbits, Charles John. Folk-

lore and Legends: Scandinavia. 1890. W.W. Gibbings, London.

5/5/12

5. http://www.runatyrkindred.com/media/pdf/The_Prose_Edda.pdf “

The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson” Translated by Arthur

Gilchrist Brodeur [1916]. 5/5/12