, if ever, hear of friendly elves or
companionable gnomes there. The supernatural beings that haunt those
shores and seas are, for the most part, malignant and malefic. They seem
to hate man. They love to mock his toils, and sport with his despair. In
his very first romance, "_Den Fremsynte_," Lie relates two of these
weird tales (Nos. 1 and 3 of the present selection). Another tale, in
which many of the superstitious beliefs and wild imaginings of the
Nordland fishermen are skilfully grouped together to form the background
of a charming love-story, entitled "Finn Blood," I have borrowed from
the volume of "_Fortaellinger og Skildringer_," published in 1872. The
remaining eight stories are selected from the book "_Trold_," which was
the event of the Christmas publishing season at Christiania in 1891.
Last Christmas a second series of "_Trold_" came out, but it is
distinctly inferior to the former one.

R.N.B.

* * * * *

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAUG

II. JACK OF SJOEHOELM AND THE GAN-FINN

III. TUG OF WAR

IV. "THE EARTH DRAWS"

V. THE CORMORANTS OF ANDVAER

VI. ISAAC AND THE PARSON OF BROENOE

VII. THE WIND-GNOME

VIII. THE HULDREFISH

IX. FINN BLOOD

X. THE HOMESTEAD WESTWARD IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS

XI. "IT'S ME!"

* * * * *

_THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAUG_

[Illustration: _THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAUG._]

THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAUG

On Kvalholm, down in Helgeland,[1] dwelt a poor fisherman, Elias by
name, with his wife Karen, who had been in service at the parson's over
at Alstad. They had built them a hut here, and he used to go out fishing
by the day about the Lofotens.

There could be very little doubt that the lonely Kvalholm was haunted.
Whenever her husband was away, Karen heard all manner of uncanny shrieks
and noises, which could mean no good. One day, when she was up on the
hillside, mowing grass to serve as winter fodder for their couple of
sheep, she heard, quite plainly, a chattering on the strand beneath the
hill, but look over she durst not.

They had a child every year, but that was no burden, for they were both
thrifty, hard-working folks. When seven years had gone by, there were
six children in the house; but that same autumn Elias had scraped
together so much that he thought he might now venture to buy a
_Sexaering_,[2] and henceforward go fishing i