“Take them out again, our time is past; it is now these who shall rule over us.”
In the end Puke became dissatisfied with everything and moved to Götland, where he was some time later found by a ship’s master, to whom he gave a box, and bade him offer it upon the altar at Lofta while the people were in church, cautioning him strongly not to open it before.
“If you do as I bid you,” said the Giant, “you will find, under the left fore-foot of Lofta’s white mare—meaning the church—a key, with which you are to proceed to Puke Mountain. There you will see a door, which you shall open. When you are inside you will meet two black dogs. Do not be afraid of them, but press forward into the room, where you will find a table and upon it many beautiful silver vessels. Of [[54]]them you may take the largest, but if you take anything more, misfortune will surely overtake you.”
The captain kept this all in mind, but when he approached Puke Mountain, on his journey homeward, the conversation of the ship’s people was turned to the box. After many deliberations, it was determined to throw it overboard onto a small island which lay near by. This was done, and upon the instant the island was in flames, and even to-day it is brown and desolate as if it had recently been swept by a fire. [[55]]
[1] This legend is a complex of different giant stories localized at Puke Berg—Puke Mountain. Nearly every parish has its legend, in which the resident giant has been angered with the noise of the church bells, and has sought to destroy his disturber. The legend of the giantess who took the children from their plowing and bore them to her giant parent is not confined to the Giant Puke. Similar legends are current in Kläppe, in Oldesborg parish, in Dalland, etc. [↑]
Katrineholm Manor.
In one of the picturesque valleys of romantic Småland and on the Black River is a noted waterfall called Stalpet, which, after placidly winding, by many hundred bends, for a considerable distance, through green meadows, here makes a precipitous descent over a rocky cliff, then quietly pursues its course to a lake a short distance beyond.