“There was a hunter in the West-Hills,” said Thor Ulvsvolden, “called Gudbrand Glesnë. He was married to the grandmother of the lad you saw at the sæter yesterday evening, and a first-rate hunter they say he was. One autumn he came across a huge buck. He shot at it, and from the way it fell he couldn’t tell but that it was stone dead. So he went up to it, and, as one often does, seated himself astride on its back, and was just drawing his knife to cleave the neck-bone from the skull. But no sooner had he sat down than up it jumped, threw its horns back, and jammed him down between them, so that he was fixed as in an arm-chair. Then it rushed away; for the bullet had only grazed the beast’s head, so that it had fallen in a swoon. Never any man had such a ride[150] as that Gudbrand had. Away they went in the teeth of the wind, over the ugliest glaciers and moraines. Then the beast dashed along the Gjende-edge; and now Gudbrand prayed to the Lord, for he thought he would never see sun or moon again. But at last the reindeer took to the water and swam straight across with the hunter on its back. By this time he had got his knife drawn, and the moment the buck set foot on shore, he plunged it into its neck, and it dropped dead. But you may be sure Gudbrand Glesnë wouldn’t have taken that ride again, not for all the riches in the world. “I have heard a story like that in England, about a deer-stalker that became a deer-rider,” said Sir Tottenbroom.[151] “Bliecher, in Jutland, tells a similar one,” I said. “But what sort of a place was this Gjender-edge you spoke of, Thor?” he interrupted me. “Gjende-edge, you mean?” asked Thor. “It’s the ridge[152] of a mountain lying between the Gjende-lakes, and so horribly narrow and steep that if you stand on it and drop a stone from each hand, they will roll down into the lakes, one on each side. The reindeer-hunters go over it in fine weather, otherwise it’s impassable; but there was a devil of a fellow up in Skiager—Ole Storebråten was his name—who went over it carrying a full-sized reindeer on his shoulders.” “How high is it above the lakes?” asked Sir Tottenbroom. “Oh, it’s not nearly so high as the Rondë-hills,” said Thor. “But it’s over seven hundred ells high.” ----- Footnotes: ----- Footnote 147: See footnote, p. xxvi. Footnote 148: Literally, “with his tail.” A gun loosely slung over the shoulder bears a certain resemblance to a tail sticking up in the air. Footnote 149: Literally, “tail.” Footnote 150: “Skyds”—conveyance. Footnote 151: An English sportsman who accompanied Asbjörnsen on his rambles. Footnote 152: “Rygge”—backbone, _arête_. ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Transcriber’s Note