Chapter 18

We have just had an instance of the last kind: the Edda accounts for all the hein-rocks by portions of a giant's club having dropt to the ground, which club was made of smooth whinstone. There is a pleasing variety about these folk-tales, which to my thinking is worth closer study, for it brings the living conception of giant existence clearly before us. One story current in the I. of Hven makes Grimild and Hvenild two giant sisters living in Zealand. Hvenild wants to carry some slices of Zealand to Schonen on the Swedish side; she gets over safely with a few that she has taken in her apron, but the next time she carries off too large a piece, her apron-string breaks in the middle of the sea, she drops the whole of her load, and that is how the Isle of Hven came to be (Sjöborg's Nomenkl. p. 84). Almost the same story is told in Jutland of the origin of the little isle of Worsöekalv (Thiele 3, 66). Pomeranian traditions present differences in detail: a giant in the Isle of Rügengrudges having to wade through the sea every time to Pomerania; he will build a causeway across to the mainland, so, tying an apron round him, he fills it with earth. When he has got past Rodenkirchen with his load, his apron springs a leak, and the earth that drops out becomes the nine hills near Rambin. He darns the hole, and goes further. Arrived at Gustow, he burst another hole, and spills thirteen little hills; he reaches the sea with the earth that is left, and shoots it in, making Prosnitz Hook and the peninsula of Drigge. But there still remains a narrow space between Rügen and Pomerania, which so exasperates the giant that he is struck with apoplexy and dies, and his dam has never been completed (E. M. Arndt's Märchen 1, 156). Just the other way, a giant girl of Pomerania wants to make a bridge to Rügen, 'so that I can step across the bit of water without wetting my bits of slippers.' She hurries down to the shore with an apronful of sand; but the apron had a hole in it, a part of her freight ran our 'tother side of Sagard, forming a little hill named Dubberworth. 'Dear me! mother will scold,' said the hüne maiden, but kept her hand under, and ran all she could. Her mother looked over the wood: 'Naughty child, what are you after? come, and you shall have the stick.' The daughter was so frightened she let the apron slip out of her hands, the sand was all split about, and formed the barren hills by Litzow. (39) Near Vî in Källasocken lies a huge stone named Zechiel's stone after a giantess or merwoman. She lived at Edha castle in Högbysocken, and her sister near the Skäggenäs (shag-ness) in Småland. They both wished to build a bridge over the Sound; the Småland giantess had brought Skäggenäs above a mile into the sea, and Zechiel had gathered stones in her apron, when a man shot at her with his shafts, so that she had to sit down exhausted on a rock, which still bears the impress of her form. But she got up again, and went as far as Pesnässocken, when Thor began to thunder (då hafver gogubben begynt at åka); she was in such a fright that she fell dead, scattering the load of stones out of her apron higgledy-piggledy on the ground; hence come the big masses of rock there of two or three men's height. Her kindred had her buried by the side of these rocks (Ahlqvist's Öland, 2, 98-9). These giants' dread of Thor is so great, that when they hear it thunder, they hide in clefts of rocks and under trees: a högbergsgubbe in Gothland, whom a peasant, to keep him friendly, had invited to a christening, refused, much as he would have liked to share in the feast, because he learnt from the messenger that not only Christ, Peter and Mary, but Thor also would be there; he would not face him (Nyerup's Morskabsläsning, p. 243). A giant in Fladsöe was on bad terms with one that lived at Nestved. He took his wallet to the beach and filled it with sand, intending to bury all Nestved. On the way the sand ran out through a hole in the sack, giving rise to the string of sandbanks between Fladsöe and Nestved. Not till he came to the spot where Husvald then stood, did the giant notice that the greater part was spilt; in a rage he flung the remainder toward Nestved, where you may still see one sandbank by itself (Thiele 1, 79). At Sonnerup lived another giant, Lars Krands by name, whom a farmer of that place had offended. He went to the shore, filled his glove with sand, took it to the famer's and emptied it, so that the farmhouse and yard were completely covered; what had run through the five finger holes of the glove made five hills (Thiele 1, 33). In the Netherlands the hills of Hillegersberg is produced by the sand which a giantess lets fall through een schortekleed (Westendorp's Mythol. p. 187). ---And these tales are not only spread through the Teutonic race, but are in vogue with Finns and Celts and Greeks. Near Päjände in Hattulasocken of Tawastoland there stand some rocks which are said to have been carried by giant's daughters in their aprons and then tossed up (Ganander's Finn. myth. pp. 29. 30). French traditions put the holy Virgin or fays (p. 413) in the place of giantesses. Notre dame de Cléry, being ill at ease in the church of Mezières, determined to change the seat of her adoration, took earth in her apron and carried it to a neighbouring height, pursued by Judas: then, to elude the enemy, she took a part of the earth up again, which she deposited at another place not far off: oratories were reared on both sites (Mém. de l'acad. celt. 2, 218). In the Charente country, arrond. Cognac, comm. Saintfront, a huge stone lies by the Ney rivulet; this the holy Virgin is said to have carried on her head, beside four other pillars in her apron; but as she was crossing the Ney, she let one pillar fall into Saintfront marsh (Mém. des antiquaires 7, 31). According to a Greek legend, Athena was fetching a mountain from Pallene to fortify the Acropolis, but, startled at the ill news brought from a crow, she dropt it on the way, and there it remains as Mount Lykabettos. (40) As the Lord God passed over the earth scattering stones, his bags burst over Montenegro, and the whole stock came down (Vuk. 5).

Like the goddess, like the giants, the devil takes such burdens upon him. In Upper Hesse I was told as follows: between Gossfelden and Wetter there was once a village that has now disappeared, Elbringhausen; the farmers in it lived so luxuriously that the devil got power over them, and resolved to shift them from their good soil to a sandy flat which is flooded every year by the overflowing Lahn. So he took the village up in his basket, and carried it through the air to where Sarenau stands: he began picking out the houses one by one, and setting them up side by side; by some accident the basket tipped over, and the whole lot tumbled pellmell on the ground; so it came about, that the first six houses at Sarenau stand in a straight row, and all the others anyhow. Near Saalfeld in Thuringia lies a village, Langenschade, numbering but 54 houses, and yet a couple of miles long, because they stand scattered and in single file. The devil flew through the air, carrying houses in an apron, but a hole in it let the houses drop out one by one. On looking back, he noticed it and cried 'there's a pity (schade)!' (see Suppl.).

The pretty fable of the giant's daughter picking up the ploughing husbandman and taking him home to her father in her apron is widely known, but is best told in the Alsace legend of Nideck castle:

Im waldschloss dort am wasserfall

In forest-castle by waterfall

sinn d'ritter rise gsinn (gewesen);

the barons there were giants;

ä mol (einmal) kummt's fräule hrab ins

once the maiden comes down into the

thal,

dale,

unn geht spaziere drinn.

and goes a-walking therein.

sie thut bis schier noch Haslach gehn,

She doth as far as Haslach go;

vorm wald im ackerfeld

outside the wood, in the cornfield

do blibt sie voll verwundrung stehn

she stands still, full of wonder,

unn sieht, wie's feld wurd bestellt.

and sees how the field gets tilled.

sie lüegt dem ding ä wil so zu;

She looks at the thing a while,

der pflui, die ros, die lütt

the plough, the horses, the men

ischer ebs (ist ihr etwas) neus; sie geht derzu

are new to her; she goes thereto

unn denkt 'die nimm i mit.'

and thinks 'I'll take them with me.'

D'rno huurt sie an de bode hin

Then plumps down on the ground

unn spreit ihr fürti uss,

and spreads her apron out,

fangt alles mit der hand, thut's 'niin,

grasps all in her hand, pops it in,

unn lauft gar froh noch hus.

and runs right joyful home;

sie springt de felswei 'nuf ganz frisch,

leaps up the rock-path brisk,

dort wo der berg jetzt isch so gäh

where the hill is now so steep

unn me (man) so krattle mus in d'höh,

and men must scramble up,

macht sie nur eine schritt.

she makes but one stride.

Der ritter sitzt just noch am tisch:

The baron sits just then at table:

'min kind, was bringste mit?

'my child, what bringst with thee?

d' freud lüegt der zu de auge 'nuss;

joy looks out at thine eyes;

se krom nur geschwind din fürti uss;

undo thine apron, quick,

was hest so zawelichs drin?'

what hast so wonderful therein?'

'o vatter, spieldings gar ze nett,

'O father, playthings quite too neat,

i ha noch nie ebs schöns so g'hett,'

I ne'er had aught so pretty,'

unn stelltem (ihm) alles hin.

and sets it all before him.

Unn uf de tisch stellt sie den pflui,

On the table she sets the plough,

d' bure unn ihri ros,

the farmers and their horses,

lauft drum herum unn lacht derzu,

runs round them and laughs,

ihr freud isch gar ze gross.

her joy is all too great.

'Ja, kind, diss isch ken spieldings nitt,

'Ah child, this is no plaything,

do hest ebs schöns gemacht'

a pretty thing thou hast done!'

saht der herr ritter glich und lacht,

saith the baron quick, and laughs,

'geh nimm's nur widder mit!'

'go take it back!'

die bure sorje uns für brot,

the farmers provide us with bread,

sunsch sterbe mir de hungertod;

else we die with hunger-death;

trah alles widder furt!'

carry it all away again.'

's fräule krint, der vatter schilt:

The maiden cries, the father scolds:

' ä bur mir nitt als spieldings gilt

'a farmer shall be no toy to me.

i liid (ich leide) net dass me murrt.

I will have no grumbling;

pack alles sachte widder iin

pack it all up softly again

unn trah's an nämli plätzel hin,

and carry it to the same place

wo des (du's) genumme hest.

where thou tookst it from.

baut nit der bur sin ackerfeld

Tills not the farmer his field,

se fehlt's bi uns an brot unn geld

we are short of bread and money

in unserm felsennest.'

in our nest on the rock.'

ENDNOTES:

39. Lothar's Volkssagen, Leipz. 1825, p. 65. Temme's Pomm. sagen, nos. 190-1; see Barthold's Pommern 1, 580, who spells Dobberwort, and explains it by the Pol. wor (sack). Back

40. Antigoni Carystii hist. mirab. cap. 12, Lips. 1791 p. 2: th de Aqhna, feroush to oros, d nun kaleitai Lukabhttoj, korwnhn fhsin apanthsai kai eipein, oti Ericqovioj en fanerw thn de akousasan riyai to oroj, opou nun esti th de korwnh dia thn kakaggelian eipein, wj eis akropolin ou qemij auth estai afikesqai. Back