The Hidden People
-
Upload
mona-torgersen-johannessen -
Category
Documents
-
view
277 -
download
14
description
Transcript of The Hidden People
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