“There is not a doubt of that,” said Torkel, “all Tellemarken knows Nils of Bygland, and it is a great pity, when we were crossing the lake the other day, that we did not stop at his house; he was never known to let a stranger go to bed sober yet.”
“I should think he was seldom without company, then,” said Birger.
“It seems to have answered very well in this particular case,” said Jacob, “but I do not think you can trust beings without souls, after all. It is best just to make your offering to Nyssen, and to the Lady of the Lake, and two or three others, and then to have nothing more to do with them.”
“You certainly had better keep a sharp look-out,” said Torkel, “But I think we Norwegians know how to handle them, and so do our gallant friends the Danes. Did you ever hear how Kallendborg Church was built?”
The Englishmen, at all events, had not, and Torkel went on.
“Esberne Snorre was building that church, and his means began to run short, when a Troll came up to him and offered to finish it off himself, upon one condition, and that was, that if Snorre could not find out his name he should forfeit his heart and his eyes.
“Snorre was very anxious to finish his church, and he consented, though he was not without misgivings either; and the Troll set about his work in earnest. Kallendborg Church is the finest church in the whole country, and the roof of its nave was to stand on four pillars, for the Troll drew out the plan himself. It was all finished except half a pillar, and poor Snorre was in a great fright about his heart and his eyes, when one evening as he came home late from the market at Roeskilde he heard a Troll woman singing under a hill—
“Tie stille, barn min,
Imorgen kommer Fin
Fa’er din,