traveler relates this typical incident: He
had lost his purse shortly after leaving Vossevangen for Stalheim.
Altogether unconscious of his loss, he walked on placidly. Suddenly
hearing hurried footsteps following him, he turned about and faced a
lad who thrust the pocketbook into the owner's hand and disappeared
before the Englishman could get a coin from his pocket to reward the
boy for his honesty. The Norwegian boy very properly did not expect
a reward for doing the only thing open to his mind upon finding the
purse.

Kindness to animals is another virtue of the Norwegian people.
Illustrating this trait we again quote William Eleroy Curtis:

"There seems to be a close relation between the human kind and
their animals. The men and women talk to the horses and cattle as
if they were understood. We had a _skydsgut_, or driver, one day,
who held continuous conversation with his horses. Every time he
would come to a hill he would walk beside them and talk to them
all the way up in a gentle, caressing sort of way, like a child
talking to a doll, and once when he stopped for water and the near
horse wanted to drink more than the driver thought was good for
him, he scolded like an old woman. The horse shook his head and
rattled his harness impatiently, as much as to say, 'You get back
onto your box and attend to your business and I'll attend to
mine.'"

That intellectuality is one of the traits of the Swedes and Norwegians
alike is evidenced in the long list of names that have become
famous in the world's literature. In spite of the high intellectual
attainments of these people, they are fond of the quiet, simple life,
with friends and kinsfolk and home employments and home enjoyments.
And they are very superstitious, too, and, in spite of their Lutheran
faith, they have never discarded the customs that grew from belief in
gods many, and fairies, trolls, gnomes and norns without number. The
forests, the mountains and gorges, are inhabited by these people
still. Nissen is the good fairy of the farmers. He looks after the
cattle particularly, and if he is well treated they are healthy, and
the cows give lots of milk. To propitiate him it is necessary to put
a dish of porridge on the threshold of the cow stable on Christmas
morning. Whenever the family move, this invisible being goes along
with them and sits on the top of the loads. In haying time he always
rides on the load