The Lady of Kynast was a strong minded woman, rather than a really strong woman; but there were others, who really distinguished themselves by extraordinary physical strength. It would seem that the habit of taking violent exercise had finally developed their muscles and sinews to such a degree, that few men could be found strong enough to overcome them in a wrestling match, or in armed combat. Such was the noble Brunehilt, queen of Isenstein, in Norway. _Soothsayers, Godmothers, Fairies, Strong Women, and Serpent Women_ are not the only women of this class which we ought to mention here perhaps. We might also speak of the _Swan Women_, who floated on the water in the dim morning mist, clothed in a cloak of eider down; and the _Forest Woman_, who was honored every year by the burning of a spindle full of hemp, to keep her from doing any harm; and the _Water Sneezers,_ to whom you had to say three times “God bless you!” in order to save their souls from purgatory; and the little _Moss Gatherers_, who could not escape from their enemies, the Forest Woman and the Wild Huntsman, unless a benevolent charcoal burner would mark some trees with three crosses, behind {417}which they could conceal themselves. But we must make haste to conclude. However, as the great _Wild Huntsman_ has accidentally been mentioned, we do not think it would be fair to leave him out and pass him over in silence. [Illustration: 437] He is the Lord Hackelberg. Most imprudently he had begged God to allow him to exchange his place in heaven for the right to hunt upon earth for all time to come. To punish him, God granted {418}his prayer, and ever since he has been hunting, with horns blowing and dogs barking, without respite or repose. He hunts continually, day and night, to-day as yesterday; he must hunt to-morrow as he does to-day, and yet he must hunt the same deer, which forever escapes from him, and ever will escape. Which of the two is most to be pitied, the everlasting huntsman, or the everlasting game? How many others could claim a right to be mentioned here as well as he? These are the people who are _condemned to remain standing forever_, and those who are _condemned to dance forever,_ another variety of bewitched people. You do not think my material is all used up? By no means! In the first place, I might have told you all about mythological animals; of Thor’s _buck-goat_, which enjoyed the same privilege as the boar of the Walhalla, of daily satisfying the powerful appetite of its master and his guests, and yet being replaced in all its bodily fullness, provided only care had been taken to put all the bones aside.