drive ashore was on the shores of
Iceland. It may possibly have influenced the tradition you relate of
Silkeborg."

"Possibly," said the Pastor; "but of traditions of places, there are
very many, and, as an example, there was in Randers province an
island, and on the island a mansion; and when the family owning it
were absent, three women-servants determined to play the priest a
trick. They dressed up a sow like a sick person in bed, and sent for
the priest to administer the sacrament to a dying person. The priest,
however, saw the wicked deception, and at once left the island in his
boat. Immediately the whole island sank as soon as he lifted his foot
from the shore of the island. But a table swam towards him, on which
was his Bible, which in his anger and haste he had forgotten to take
with him. Where the island sank can, it is said, yet be seen the three
chimneys of the mansion deep down in the water; and there are some
high trees growing up through the water, to which, when they grow high
enough, will the enemies of Denmark come and fasten their ships."

"This story is only one of a class to the same effect," continued the
Pastor. "It has many variations to a similar effect. You have heard of
Limfjord in North Jutland. It derives its name after our tradition to
the following: At the birth of Christ a Trold woman was so enraged at
the circumstance of his birth that she produced a monster at a birth,
and this monster gradually took the form of a boar; and it is related
that when the boar was in the woods, its bristles were higher than the
tops of the trees. This boar was called Limgrim, and rooted up the
land so as to create the inlet of the sea that we call Limfjord; the
name originally was Limgrimsfjord, since abbreviated to Limfjord."

"What is your view of the origin of these traditions?" asked Hardy.

"They are to me," said the Pastor, "an evidence of the continuous
change the world undergoes, has undergone, and will undergo. The older
the tradition, the more antagonistic it is to the known laws of
nature; the later the tradition, the less improbable it is. We have
seen how heathenism, with its unreasonable and wild vagaries, gave way
to the early Christian Church. Then arose the ultramontane Church,
which was succeeded by the purer light let in by Morten Luther; and
changes are taking place, and will take place; and the use of these
old traditions is to teach us that change must be. Age succeeds to
age, and