nce led through the great hall into a
bed-chamber, the like of which she had never seen. There the mistress of
the house, to whom she had been fetched, was awaiting her. She got
through her duties successfully, and stayed there until the lady had
completely recovered, nor had she spent any part of her life so merrily;
there was naught but festivity day and night: dancing, singing, and
endless rejoicing reigned there. But merry as it was, she found she
must go, and the nobleman gave her a large purse, with the order not to
open it until she had got into her own house; then he bade one of his
servants escort her the same way she had come. When she reached home she
opened the purse, and, to her great joy, it was full of money; and she
lived happily on those earnings to the end of her life."[15]

It is a long leap from Carnarvonshire to Lapland, where this story is
told with no great variation. A clergyman's wife in Swedish Lappmark,
the cleverest midwife in all Sweden, was summoned one fine summer's
evening to attend a mysterious being of Troll race and great might,
called Vitra. At this unusual call she took counsel with her husband,
who, however, deemed it best for her to go. Her guide led her into a
splendid building, the rooms whereof were as clean and elegant as those
of very illustrious folk; and in a beautiful bed lay a still more
beautiful woman, for whom her services were required, and who was no
other than Vitra herself. Under the midwife's care Vitra speedily gave
birth to a fair girl, and in a few minutes had entirely recovered, and
fetched all sorts of refreshments, which she laid before her
benefactress. The latter refused to eat, in spite of Vitra's reassuring
persuasion, and further refused the money which the Troll-wife pressed
upon her. Vitra then sent her home, bidding her look on the table when
next she entered her cowherd's hut and see what she would find there.
She thought no more of the matter until the following spring, when on
entering the hut she found on the table half a dozen large spoons of
pure silver with her name engraved thereon in neat letters. These spoons
long remained an heirloom in the clergyman's family to testify the truth
of the story. A Swedish book, published in 1775, contains a tale,
narrated in the form of a legal declaration solemnly subscribed on the
12th April 1671 by the fortunate midwife's husband, whose name was Peter
Rahm, and who also seems to have been a clergyman. On th