less, the belief in "underground" folk, huldre,[1] jutuler (giants), or, as they are also called in Sundalen, Bobber, as well as the belief in ghosts, remain to the present day.
Aged dairywomen have a great deal to relate of what has been seen and heard in the remote sæter[2] valleys, concerning horses, oxen, and cows, belonging to the huldre-folk. If one caught sight of such animals when one had steel in one's possession, one might capture some of them, but it was a difficult matter to come near enough to the huldre-folk, for, however much one strove to approach them, they always seemed as far off as ever.
When the peasants in the autumn returned from the sæters to their dwellings in the valley, the huldre-folk would flock in again with their animals, and many maintain that they have seen such a fairy procession approaching the sæters.
The following tales are told about the huldre-folk:
1. A man of the name of Hans, called Skindfeldhans, for he was a Skindfeld[3] maker, was once in the autumn fishing in a distant lake. The fish were biting exceptionally well that day, but, as he stood there, his eye fell on a number of animals that came down to the lake on the same side as himself followed by a man and a woman. On the other side of the lake there lay a sæter which had just been left by the farm people. Hans understood at once that these might be huldre-folk em-
- ↑ The huldre-folk, who, I was told, are about four feet high and very ugly, were supposed to take up their abode in the sæter huts directly the peasants left them, and it was very unlucky to return to a hut, after leaving it in September, before the following June. (Compare stories 1, 18, and 20.) The dairy girls, during the three months up at the sæters, often saw the huldre-folk and their animals. (Compare stories 4, 9, and 16.) Dr. Feilberg adds that the same beliefs are found in other mountainous regions, and refers to Archiv f. Volkskunde, I. p. 239 (Switzerland); W. Herz, Deutsche Sagen in Elsass (1872), p. 68; Deutsche Volkssagen (1878), p. 196; Rochholz, Schweitzersagen aus Aargau (1856), p. 384; H. N. Tvedten, Sagn fra Telemarken (1891), p. 61; O. Sande, Fraa Sogn (1887), I. pp. 14, 96; Asbjörnsen, Huldreeventyr og Folkesagen (1870), p. 167; Wigström, Folkediktning (1880), pp. 135, 167; and Hofberg, Nerikes gamla Minnen, p. 239.
- ↑ The sæters are the pastures and dairies up in the mountains to which the peasants take their animals during the months of June, July, and August. All the cheese and butter-making is done there.
- ↑ Skinfelds are sheep skins cured and lined with a home-spun cloth, and used as bed coverings in the winter.
