The skarven and the eider-duck both wished to wear down, and could not determine which of them should have that privilege. They came to a decision that it should belong to that one of them who first saw the sun rise next morning and cried to the other: ‘The sun is up!’ Accordingly, they seated themselves among the rocks side by side that evening. The eider-duck fell asleep immediately after sunset; but the skarven, knowing that he was a sound sleeper, formed the wicked resolution not to go to sleep that night, lest he should oversleep himself. Thus he became almost assured that he, and not the eider-duck, should get the down. The skarven sat full of pride in his resolve to keep awake the whole night. This was easy enough at the outset; but later on in the night his head grew heavy and he had to fight hard with sleep; however, he held out until it began to be light in the east; then, elated with joy, he cried: ‘Now the east becomes blue!’ But by this outcry, the skarven awoke the eider-duck, who had enjoyed his accustomed sleep; while, on the other hand, the skarven could no longer keep his eyes open. When the sun really rose, the eider-duck was not slow to cry to the skarven: ‘The sun rises over the sea!’ Thus the eider-duck received the down. As for the skarven, his punishment was very severe. Because he could not keep silence, but by his outcry awoke the eider-duck, from that time forward he has been tongue-tied as well as without down.
V. A TALE OF SANDOE.
West of the town of Sand is a great hole deep in the ground, where a witch used to live. A man from Sand once went down into this hole and saw a woman standing crushing gold in a hand-mill, and a little child sitting by her playing with a gold stick. The old crone was blind. After a little reflection, the man went softly up to the woman and took away the gold which she was crushing. Hereupon she said: ‘Either a mouse is being crushed, or a thief is stealing, or else something is wrong with the quern.’ The man left her, took the gold stick from the child, whom he struck and made to cry. The old woman now instantly divined that something was wrong. She jumped up and groped after the man in the hole. But he was no sooner out of the cave than he ran home at a gallop with the gold. The witch then called a neighbour crone, related her misfortune, and besought her help. The neighbour forthwith ran with all speed after the man. She jumped across certain lakes on the way, and here her footprints may be seen in the stone on each side of the water to this day. But the man escaped her until he came to a marshy tract of land, where she succeeded in laying hold of his horse’s tail. However, he whipped the horse forward so that its tail broke off. Nor did this stop him. On he went until he came in sight of the church. Here the witch could do him no harm, but was obliged to turn back. To this day, it is said that one may hear the old blind witch crushing gold in the cave.[4]
VI. THE MAN AND THE BROWNIES.
The village of Gaasedahl, in Waagoe, has no level beach, but is almost fifteen fathoms straight up from the sea, so that boats could not very well be kept there. Moreover, the inhabitants are too few to man a large boat for sea-fishing. They have, therefore, their boat jointly with the neighbouring village of Boe, with the men whereof they associate in fishing. One night a man from Gaasedahl went by appointment east to Akranes, where the men from Boe wanted to take him in the boat to row with them to the fishing. When he had come to Skardsaa, he observed a boat which lay by the land in the appointed place; and, fearful lest he should delay the others, he hurried down to it. He saw that there were seven in the boat, and that a place was vacant by one of the thwarts. He believed, therefore, that all was as it should be, although he could not recognise any of the men, because of the darkness. Then he jumped briskly into the boat and sat down by his oar; but, to his great terror, he now perceived that he knew none of the men, and he did not fail to understand that he had got among the brownie folk. Still, he would not let them see that he was afraid, but sat down to row as capably as the others. They steered north of Waagoe towards Ravnemulen, a fishing-place to which the men of Waagoe are accustomed to row.
The elves now began to put bait on their hooks and to cast out; but the Gaasedahl-man sat still because he had only a line with him; his hooks were in Boe. Then the leader of the elves gave him both hooks and bait, with which he made a cast, and immediately caught a big cod. When he had pulled up the fish and killed it, the leader took and marked it, and in the same way he marked every other fish caught by the man. They fished until the boat was full, then rowed home, and touched the land by Akranes, where the Gaasedahl-man had come to them. The brownies threw on shore to him all the fish he had caught. When he was going away, the Gaasedahl-man remembered that he had left his knife behind him in the boat, and said to the brownies that ‘the sharp thing by his thigh’ was left in the boat. The brownie thereupon took the knife and threw it at him to hurt him, but it did not hit him. Then he said: ‘You were a doomed man; but you are a lucky man;’ and the other brownies then rowed off, abusing him because he would not thank them for the use of the boat.[5]
VII. ABOUT WITCHES.
It is said that witches are fond of visiting people’s houses, especially when they find them empty. North of Núgvunes, in Borgardahl, on the island of Myggenes, there is a little but well-built house for shepherds to pass the night in, when at certain times in the year they come here to look after the sheep, because this part of the island is far away from a village. One night, at an unusual time, one of these shepherds went thither; but when he was about to take shelter in the house, he heard much noise and racket within the building. He stationed himself by a little window, and perceived that the house was full of witches, who were holding carnival. They danced and sang: ‘Cold is the witches’ home in the hills. It is better within the house on the cliff by Skálavellir—trum, trum, trallarei—to dance close to the doors.’
But it was much worse at Troldenes, which is the most northerly village in Kalsoe. Thither the witches used to come every Twelfth-night in such multitudes that the townsfolk were at that time forced to flee to the nearest town, Mygledahl, and stay there while this witches’ revelry lasted; hence this town got the name of Troldenes (Witches’ Point). It happened once that an old woman was not able to flee with the others to Mygledahl on Twelfth-night. She lay under a table in the kitchen and hid herself from the witches. In the evening, she saw the witches come in and begin to shout and dance. But in the height of their merriment the old woman under the table cried out: ‘Jesus, be merciful to me!’ When the witches heard the blessed name of Jesus, which they hate and tremble at, they began to scream, and said to each other: ‘Gydja[6] disturbs the dance.’ Thereupon they disappeared from Troldenes, and they have not dared since to trouble that village. When the people came back from Mygledahl after the festival, they expected to find the old woman dead, but she then told them of her adventure with the witches.