Short Fiction

and get out the fembøring, and row Madame herself to the yacht with the last lading. She should go with him to Bergen. There she should get both a silk dress and a shawl, and a gold watch and chain into the bargain, and engage a Bergen serving-wench.

It was still early in the day when the yacht lay in the bay with her flag flying, all ready to start.

When they had hoisted the sail, that wench Toad, heavy and stout, came, puffing and blowing, across the bridge, in full parade, with rings on all her sprawling fingers, and her body covered with all the yellow and green and red ribbons she could possibly find room for on her ample person.

There she stood waiting for them to come back in the stately fembøring and take her on board.

And when they began to raise the anchor, and the general dealer appeared on deck with his large meerschaum pipe and his telescope, she smirked and minced and wriggled and twisted, and cried aloud, “It’s me!”

She thought he wanted to peep at her splendour through his spyglass.

All at once she saw Madame standing by his side in full travelling costume, and understood that they were going away without her.

Then she kicked out so that the planks of the bridge groaned and creaked beneath her. Eight into the sea she plunged, and caught hold of the anchor, and tugged and held the ship back till the cable broke.

Then head over heels she went with both her hoofs in the air.

But the yacht glided away under full sail, and the general dealer stood there and laughed till he nearly fell overboard.

Endnotes

1. Evje signifies a stream with a slow current. ↩

2. Norwegian peasants bear the same name as their estates. As there are no nobles in Norway, the farmers or owners of estates occupy a much higher social position than in Germany. ↩

3. The Skydo-Bauern along the principal roads supply travellers with beds and food. ↩

4. A district in northern Norway. ↩

5. A boat with three oars on each side. ↩

6. A long pole, with a hooked iron spike at the end of it, for spearing Kvejte or hallibut with. ↩

7. A large boat with five oars on each side, used for winter fishing in northern Norway. ↩

8. The chief port in those parts. ↩

9. Hin Karen = “the devil.” “Karen” is the Danish “Karl.” ↩

10. The Klör, or clews, were rings in the corner of the sail to fasten it down by in a strong wind. Setja ei Klo = “take in the sail a clew.” Setja tvo, or tri Klör = “take it in two or three clews,” I.e., diminish it still further as the wind grew stronger. ↩

11. A demon peculiar to the north Norwegian coast. It rides the seas in a half-boat. Compare Icelandic draugr. ↩

12. See note 6. ↩

13. Være med hu, Mor. Hu is the Danish Hun. ↩

14. This untranslatable word is a derivative of the Icelandic Gandr, and means magic of the black or malefic sort. ↩

15. The northernmost province of Norway, right within the Arctic circle. ↩

16. The huts peculiar to the Norwegian Finns. ↩

17. To sing songs (here magic songs), as the Finns do. Possibly derived from the Finnish verb joikun, which means monotonous chanting. ↩

18. The Norse Kverva Syni is to delude the sight by magic spells. ↩

19. I.e., the boat he (Jack) wanted to build. ↩

20. A mountain between Sweden and Norway. ↩

21. I.e., the boat he would be building. ↩

22. Meaning that he would never have a chance of building the new sort of boat that his mind was bent on. ↩

23. The Finn’s hut. ↩

24. Tvinde Knuder. When the Finn tied one magic knot, he raised a gale, so two knots would give a tempest. ↩

25. I.e., where the Gan-Finn let out the wind. ↩

26. An eight-oared boat. ↩

27. A place where seabirds’ eggs abound. ↩

28. A contraction of Sexæring, i.e., a boat with six oars. ↩

29. Eng. dialect word (the Norse is staur) meaning impediments of any kind. ↩

30. Daudvatn (Dan. Dödvand), water in which there is no motion. ↩

31. Lille Jule-aften, i.e., the day before Christmas Eve (Jule-aften). ↩

32. A fishing-station, where fishermen assemble periodically. ↩

33. I.e., at nothing⁠—a house having usually only four walls. ↩

34. See “The Fisherman and the Draug.” ↩

35. See “The Fisherman and the Draug.” ↩

36. A small two-oared boat. ↩

37. Hulder, huldre, a name for anything elfin or gnomish. Compare Icel. Hulda, a hiding, covering. It implies the invisibility of the elfin race. ↩

38. Ligorm, serpent that eats the dead. If we have Lichfield and lichgate, we may have lichworm too. ↩

39. A long slow dance, and the music to it. ↩

40. A Sæter (Swed. säter) is a remote pasturage with huts upon it, where the cows are tended and dairy produce prepared for market and home use during the summer.