The Northern races further fancied that the spirits of the dead were sometimes allowed to revisit the earth and appear to their relatives, whose sorrow or joy affected them even after death, as is related in the Danish ballad of Aager and Else, where a dead lover bids his sweetheart smile, so that his coffin may be filled with roses instead of the clotted blood drops produced by her tears.
“‘Listen now, my good Sir Aager!
Dearest bridegroom, all I crave
Is to know how it goes with thee
In that lonely place, the grave.’
“‘Every time that thou rejoicest,
And art happy in thy mind,
Are my lonely grave’s recesses
All with leaves of roses lined.’
“‘Every time that, love, thou grievest,