Unlike the painted Sclavi, who were naked, or clad only in the skins of bears, and armed with bows and spears of flint, the mannikin wore a grey doublet with large horn buttons, and an enormous red cap, which was nearly three feet in diameter, though he was barely two feet in height. He had a large and solemn visage, a long hooked nose, a back with a prodigious hump, and a heavy paunch; he carried a flute about twice the length of himself, whereon he began to play melodiously at the approach of the saint, who, on hearing the music, felt his feet beginning to trip; and had he not signed the cross in time, nathless his sacred character, his palmer's gown, which had lain for a time in the holy sepulchre, his staff, which had been cut on Mount Calvary, and his escallop from the shores of Galilee (for St. Knud had just returned from Jerusalem), he would have been compelled to dance like all who heard the fairy music of this grotesque little gnome, who was king and liege lord of all the Trolds in Denmark.
On beholding the sign of the cross, the Trold stamped his little foot with rage, and broke his immense flute into a hundred pieces, all of which vanished with a shrill sound.
"By that sign, I know thou shalt conquer!" said the imp, passionately.
"Who art thou that knowest this?" asked St. Knud.
"I am called Skynde, king of the Trolds," said the mannikin, under his enormous mustaches, which, with his beard, resembled a frozen waterfall, "and I am come to meet thee in the name of all the underground people, whom thy coming hath alarmed; and we hope to sign a peace or truce with thee, that we may not be driven out of this pleasant land, where we have dwelt since the waters of the flood subsided, and permitted us to crawl out of the crannies of the great ark—yea, ages before the days of Dan, son of Humble—ages before the Cimbri, the Goths, or the Jutes had a name, or came beyond the green rampart of the Danesvark. We are kind and benevolent to all who do not molest us; but savage and revengeful to those who do. Your Maker is also ours, for when he created men, he also made the happier little Trolds, and a thousand other spirits which such gross eyes as thine cannot see; but if thou wilt pray to this good Master for us—but not against us—we will never molest thee, nor thy servants, nor followers, even unto the end of time."
Then the saint promised that he would pray every day for the little Trolds of the land; and thereupon King Skynde threw up his red cap with joy, and again stamped with his feet. Then two little imps, each about a foot in height, bare-armed and bare-legged, with leather aprons, and beards descending to their knees, and all begrimmed with smoke and dust (for they had just ascended from some fairy forge far down in the bowels of the earth), appeared, bearing between them a large goblet of gold, and, staggering under its weight, with their leather aprons they gave a last polish to the magnificent chasings which adorned it, and, scrambling down a mole-track, disappeared.
"Brother Knud," said the elfin king, with grave majesty, as he placed his hand upon the edge of the cup, which was higher than his girdle, "take this goblet; it is one of thousands made by my smiths; keep it for the first church you build in Holstein; and rest assured, while it remains in the land of the Sclavi, thy good people shall never be molested by the Trolds."
"This cup," continued the priest, "or one said to be it, is still shown in the convent of St. Knud at Eckernfiörd; and, whether it be the fairy goblet or not, we must acknowledge that never did mortal hands frame a more magnificent chalice."
Father Ignatius had just reached this point in his story, when, as we passed Kiel on our left, his eye observed the human figure still dangling from the lofty spire, with the crows flying in circles round it. With some asperity, he asked the count what this display meant; and Kœningheim, who long before this had recovered his equanimity of mind and calm, intrepidity of manner, replied briefly—
"A Dane, whom we strung up as you see, for guiding a night attack."