The Lapp in Magpie Form.1

A Finn in the forests of Säfsen, having for a long time suffered ill luck with his flock, determined, let the [201]cost be what it would, to find, through a Lapp well versed in the arts of the Trolls, a remedy for the evil he was enduring.

To this end he set out for the home of his to-be-deliverer, and after a long and fatiguing journey through the wilderness, he came at last to a Lapp hut which, with no little quaking, he entered, and there found a man busied with a fire upon the floor.

The Lapp who, through his connection with the Trolls, already knew the purpose of the visit, and very much flattered thereby, greeted his guest kindly, and said:

“Good morning, Juga, my boy, are you here? I can give you news from home. Everything goes well there. I was there yesterday.”

The Finn was terribly frightened at the discovery that he was recognized, but now more when he heard that the Lapp had made the same journey forth and back in one day, that had cost him so many days of wandering.

With assurance of friendship, the Lapp quieted his fears, and continued:

“I had a little matter to attend to yesterday at your home, and sat upon the housetop when your wife went over the garden, but I saw she did not know me, for she threatened me with the house key.”

The Finn now made known his errand, and received for answer that his animals were even now doing as well as he could wish. The presents brought by the Finn greatly strengthened their pleasant relations, and the Lapp agreed willingly to initiate him into the mysteries of Trolldom. [202]

When the Finn reached home, the incidents of his journey were circumstantially related to his wife, even to the Lapp’s account of his visit, and the threats with the house key.

“Yes, I remember now,” said she, “that a magpie sat upon the roof the same day that the animals seemed to revive, but I believed it to be an unlucky bird, therefore tried to frighten it away with the key.”

The Finn and his wife now understood that it was their friend, who had transformed himself thus in order to do them a service, and from that time held these creatures in great veneration. [203]

1 The magpie in folk-lore is an ominous bird, and is avoided by the peasantry, because one can not know whether it is the spirit of a Troll, friend or foe. When the magpies build near the house it is regarded as a lucky omen, but if they build on the heath, and meantime come to the house and chatter, it bodes evil. ↑