Scandanavia

SCANDINAVIA

Du vare syv og hundrede Trolde,
De vera bade grumme og lede,
De vilde gjöre Bonden et Gjaesterle,
Med hannem baade drikke og aede.
ELINE AF VILLENSKOV.

There were seven and a hundred Trolls,
They were both ugly and grim,
A visit they would the farmer make,
Both eat and drink with him.

 

UNDER the name of Scandinavia are included the kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, which once had a common religion and a common language. Their religion is still one, and their languages differ but little; we therefore feel that we may safely treat of their Fairy Mythology together.

Our principal authorities are the collection of Danish popular trañitions, published by Mr. Thiele, [a] the select Danish ballads of Nyerup and Rahbek, [b] and the Swedish ballads of Geijer and Afzelius. [c] As most of the principal Danish ballads treating of Elves, etc., have been already translated by Dr. Jamieson, we will not insert; them here; but translate, instead, the corresponding Swedish ones, which are in general of greater simplicity, and often contain additional traits of popular belief. As we prefer fidelity to polish, the reader must not be offended at antique modes of expression and imperfect rimes. Our rimes we can, however, safely say shall be at least as perfect as those of our originals.

These ballads, none of which are later than the fifteenth century, are written in a strain of the most artless simplicity not the slightest attempt at ornament is to be discerned in them; the same ideas and expressions continually recur; and the rimes are the most careless imaginable, often a mere assonance in vowels or consonants; sometimes not possessing even that slight similarity of sound. Every Visa or ballad has its single or double Omquaed [d] or burden, which, like a running accompaniment in music, frequently falls in with the most happy effect; sometimes recalling former joys or sorrows; sometimes, by the continual mention of some attribute of one of the seasons, especially the summer, keeping up in the mind of the reader or hearers the forms of external nature.

It is singular to observe the strong resemblance between the Scandinavian ballads and those of England and Scotland, not merely in manner but in subject. The Scottish ballad first mentioned below is an instance; it is to be met with in England, in the Feroes, in Denmark, and in Sweden, with very slight differences. Geijer observes, that the two last stanzas of 'William and Margaret,' in Percy's Reliques, are nearly word for word the same as the two last in the Swedish ballad of 'Rosa Lilla,' [e] and in the corresponding Danish one. This might perhaps lead to the supposition of many of these ballads having come down from the time when the connexion was so intimate between this country and Scandinavia.

We will divide the Scandinavian objects of popular belief into four classes:- 1. The Elves; 2. The Dwarfs, or Trolls, as they are usually called; 3. The Nisses; and 4. The Necks, Mermen, and Mermaids. [f]

[a] Danske Folkesagn, 4 vols. I2mo. Copenh. 1818--22.

[b] Udvalgde Danske Viser fra Middelaldaren, 5 vols. l2mo. Copenh. 1812.

[c] Svenska Folk-Visor fran Forntiden, 3 vols. 8vo, Stockholm, 1814--16. We have not seen the late collection of Arvideson named Svenska Fornsangur, in 3 vols. 8vo.

[d] The reader will find a beautiful instance of a double Omquaed in the Scottish ballad of the Cruel Sister.

There were two sisters sat in a bower,
Binnörie o Binnörie
There came a knight to be their wooer
By the bonny mill-dams of Binnörie

.And in the Cruel Brother,

There were three ladies played at the ba',
With a heigh ho and a lily gay;
There came a knight and played o'er them a',
As the primrose spreads so sweetly.

The second and fourth lines are repeated in every stanza.

[e] These are the Swedish verses:

Det växte upp Liljor på begge deres graf,
Med äran och med dygd--
De växte tilsamman med alla sina blad.
J vinnen väl, J vinnen väl både rosor och liljor.
Det växte upp Roser ur bäda deras mun,
De växte tilsammans i fagreste lund.
J vinnen väl, J vinnen väl både rosor och liljor.

[f] Some readers may wish to know the proper mode of pronouncing such Danish and Swedish words as occur in the following legends. For their satisfaction we give the following information. J is pronounced as our y; when it comes between a consonant and a vowel, it is very short, like the y that is expressed, but not written, in many English words after c and g: thus kjaer is pronounced very nearly as care: ö sounds like the German ö, or French eu: d after another consonant is rarely sounded, Trold is pronounced Troll: aa, which the Swedes write å, as o in more, tore. Aarhuus is pronounced Ore-hoos.