Thy father,
And gives thee Esberne Snorre’s eyes and heart to play with.
[22] Esberne Snorre is the Danish Faust. In no country whatever was the reformation popular among the peasantry, and therefore the popular legends invariably assign the leaders and causes of it to the devil, as in the case of Faust himself, who, whatever Goëthe may say, really was a very respectable tradesman, and had no more to do with the devil than is involved in the invention of that art which became so powerful an instrument in the hands of reformers—printing. Esberne Snorre was what very few of the Danish Reformers were, a really good and conscientious man, who might well have built the Church of Kallendborg, or even have given his eyes for it. Nevertheless, pre-eminently before all the reformers, the devil carries him off bodily in every legend of the time, just as he did Faust.
[23] Equivalent to “spoiling a market” in Ireland, or “opening a Sheriff’s ball” in England,—“Goth’s garden” being the cant name for a place of execution in Stockholm, which is adorned with permanent gibbets, and is so called from the name of the first man who was hanged there. The saying is Swedish, not Norwegian, not only because it is local, but because there are no capital punishments at all in Norway.
[24] Christina, daughter of the great Gustavus Adolphus, a popular and able sovereign, abdicated voluntarily,—wearied of the toils of government,—and is said to have uttered some such speech as that attributed to her by Torkel on crossing the little stream which in those days separated her late dominions from those of Denmark.
[25] Between “the two lights,”—that is to say, twilight,—is always the time in which all spirits of the middle earth have the greatest power; of course the reason is, that seen indistinctly in the doubtful light of morning or evening, natural objects take strange forms, and exhibit appearances which are ascribed to the supernatural.
[26] A sort of scallop, of very beautiful colour.
[27] In the Swedish Church there used to be a regular private confession made to the priest before every Communion, on which occasion an offertory, called confession-money, was deposited on the altar. It is, indeed, the rule of the Church still, though, since a royal ordinance, in 1686, forbade penitents to select their own confessors, confining them to the priest of their parish, the custom has fallen into disuse; still the old expressions are frequently retained.
[28] The mal is said to be a great-headed, wide-mouthed monster, with a long beard, of the same colour as the eel; and, like the eel, slimy and without any perceptible scales. It is said to grow to the length of twelve or fourteen feet, to weigh three or four hundred pounds, and to carry on his back fin a strong, sharp lance, which it can elevate or depress at pleasure. It is supposed to lie seeking whom or what it may devour in the deepest and muddiest holes of rivers or lakes. The author has heard this fish talked of very often, but has never seen one, and believes fully that it may safely be classed with the Black Horse, the Mid-Gard Serpent, and Dr. Clarke’s Furia Infernalis.
[29] The leading fish of each shoal, or school, as it is called,—usually a salmon of considerable weight and experience—is so termed by the Irish fishermen.