_THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAUG_

[Illustration: _THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAUG._]




THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAUG


On Kvalholm, down in Helgeland,[1] dwelt a poor fisherman, Elias by
name, with his wife Karen, who had been in service at the parson's over
at Alstad. They had built them a hut here, and he used to go out fishing
by the day about the Lofotens.

There could be very little doubt that the lonely Kvalholm was haunted.
Whenever her husband was away, Karen heard all manner of uncanny shrieks
and noises, which could mean no good. One day, when she was up on the
hillside, mowing grass to serve as winter fodder for their couple of
sheep, she heard, quite plainly, a chattering on the strand beneath the
hill, but look over she durst not.

They had a child every year, but that was no burden, for they were both
thrifty, hard-working folks. When seven years had gone by, there were
six children in the house; but that same autumn Elias had scraped
together so much that he thought he might now venture to buy a
_Sexæring_,[2] and henceforward go fishing in his own boat.

One day, as he was walking along with a _Kvejtepig_[3] in his hand, and