The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various CountriesKeightley, Thomas
General
The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries
Keightley, Thomas
Fairies; Fairy tales; Folk literature; Folklore
There goes a story that there was once among these Troll-people of
Bröndhöi an old crossgrained curmudgeon of a Troll, whom the rest
nick-named Knurremurre (_Rumble-grumble_), because he was evermore the
cause of noise and uproar within the hill. This Knurremurre having
discovered what he thought to be too great a degree of intimacy
between his young wife and a young Troll of the society, took this in
such ill part, that he vowed vengeance, swearing he would have the
life of the young one. The latter, accordingly, thought it would be
his best course to be off out of the hill till better times; so,
turning himself into a noble tortoiseshell tom-cat, he one fine
morning quitted his old residence, and journeyed down to the
neighbouring town of Lyng, where he established himself in the house
of an honest poor man named Plat.
Here he lived for a long time comfortable and easy, with nothing to
annoy him, and was as happy as any tom-cat or Troll crossed in love
well could be. He got every day plenty of milk and good groute[184] to
eat, and lay the whole day long at his ease in a warm arm-chair behind
the stove.
Plat happened one evening to come home rather late, and as he entered
the room the cat was sitting in his usual place, scraping meal-groute
out of a pot, and licking the pot itself carefully. "Harkye, dame,"
said Plat, as he came in at the door, "till I tell you what happened
to me on the road. Just as I was coming past Bröndhöi, there came out
a Troll, and he called out to me, and said,
"Harkye Plat,
Tell your cat,
That Knurremurre is dead."[185]
The moment the cat heard these words, he tumbled the pot down on the
floor, sprang out of the chair, and stood up on his hind-legs. Then, as
he hurried out of the door, he cried out with exultation, "What! is
Knurremurre dead? Then I may go home as fast as I please." And so saying
he scampered off to the hill, to the amazement of honest Plat; and it is
likely lost no time in making his advances to the young widow.[186]
_Kirsten's-Hill._
There is a hill on the lands of Skjelverod, near Ringsted, called
Kirsten's-hill (_Kirstens Bjerg_). In it there lived a Hill-troll
whose name was Skynd, who had from time to time stolen no less than
three wives from a man in the village of Englerup.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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