INTRODUCTION

This little book depicts some of the creatures found in Scandinavian

Folklore. It is the final project for the first year of Mona Torgersen’s

degree in illustration at The Arts University College at Bournemouth.

One day God came to visit Earth, where he met a woman. He

asked to see her children, but since she hadn’t had the time to

wash all of them, she only showed him those who were clean.

God then said “that which man hides from God, God will hide

from man”, and the dirty children became the hidden people.

HULDRA

Huldra is a female sub-terrestrial creature. She looks like a beautiful

young maiden, except for one thing; she has a hollow back and a

cow’s tail. She can lure men out in bogs, where they will sink and

die. Not all of them do this though. If a hulder blows down the

barrel of your rifle, you will never miss your target. Some men marry

hulder women. They will lose their cow tail if it’s a church wedding.

If the husband treats her nicely, she will remain beautiful and

easy-going. However, should she get mistreated, she will turn

into a horrible old hag!

MARE

A mare is a female demon that comes into the bedrooms of

humans and rides them at night time. This will cause the human to

have a nightmare. They also like to ride horses. They can tangle

your hair while you sleep, and they can also tangle tree branches.

NØKKEN

Nøkken is an evil water-sprite. He dwells in rivers, ponds and lakes,

and children are warned about him. If he sees a child, he will lure it

out in the water and drown it. He is especially interested in children

who haven’t been baptised yet, so you better get your newborn

baby to church as soon as possible!

ELVES

The elves are beautiful, otherwordly females. They meddle with

magic and illusions, and, according to myth, have a very close

connection to the mist; It is said that they dance in it. In Iceland,

it is common to build roads around any hills, mounds or rocks, as

those are the homes of the elves. You should never throw stones,

because you might hit an elf. If you can, do avoid making the elves

angry, as it may be very bad for your health and sanity.

NISSE

A nisse, or tomte, is a gnome-like creature. They live on farms, and

will help the farmer with taking care of the place. They wear red,

pointy hats, and are associated with christmas. A nisse is very shy,

and it is very rare to ever see one. But they are always there. Should

you be so unfortunate as to offend your farms nisse, bad things will

happen. If you are lucky, he will only do an innocent prank, but if

he is really upset, he can kill your livestock. On Christmas Eve you

should always put out a bowl of porridge for him, preferably with a

little butter on the top.

FOSSEGRIMEN

Fossegrimen is a sprite that lives in waterfalls. He plays the sounds

of the forest on his fiddle. He can teach you how to play the fiddle

if you, four Thursdays in a row, bring him cured sheep meat stolen

from your neighbour. However, if the meat is of poor quality, or if

you tell anyone about it, he will dance naked in front of you. This

has been described as a very traumatizing experience by some

poor unfortunate milk maids.

TROLLS

Trolls are big (some even as as big as mountains) and very ugly.

They often have trees growing on their noses. Trolls are able to smell

the blood of Christian humans, and they enjoy a human snack if

they can catch one. But if you get caught, it’s easy to trick them

into to releasing you, since they are rather daft.

CHANGELINGS

The hidden people sometimes swap their own newborns with

human babies. These are called changelings. Changelings are

impossible to deal with. They never learn how to walk, and they just

spend all their time in their crib crying. They are ugly, and often

deformed, and they are usually boys. A way to get your own baby

back is to torment the changeling, so that its own parents will feel

sorry for it, and change it back.

THANKS TO

My family and friends for the support

Wilfred Tomescu for joining me on a very illegal camping trip

Jake Middleton for also joining, and for providing a tent

Ana-Maria Nascinschi for constructive criticism

Mathew Brewer for the help with the fiddle problem

The Arts University College at Bournemouth

The Enterprise Pavillion