THE VETTIR

All supernatural beings, good and evil alike, had one name in common, Vettir (vœttir, véttir, “spirits,” “sprites”), which is still to a certain extent in use. The good ones were called Kind Sprites (hollar vœttir), and the evil ones were called Bad Sprites (meinvœttir, úvœttir). To the Kind Sprites belonged the so-called Land-Sprites, guardian divinities of a given country. In Iceland the Land-Sprites were held in high esteem; according to the earliest legal code (“Ulfljot’s Law”), it was forbidden to sail a ship of war into any Icelandic harbor bearing at the prow a “gaping head or snout,” which might terrify the Land-Sprites. The worst misfortune one could bring to a man was to invoke upon him the hostility of the Land-Sprites. This was exactly what Egil Skallagrimsson did when to gain revenge he raised a “libel-pole” against Erik Bloody-Axe. Before sailing away from Norway, Egil went ashore on an island lying far out to sea. As the story runs: “Egil walked up on the island. Carrying a hazel pole in his hand, he made his way to a rocky headland looking out upon the mainland. Taking a horse’s head, he fixed it on top of the pole. Then, making use of a certain formula (a curse), he spoke thus, ‘Here I erect this libel-pole, and I turn the libel against king Erik and queen Gunnhild,’ — and with these words he turned the horse’s head toward the mainland —; ‘I aim this libel against the Land- Sprites of this country, to the end that they shall go astray and that no one of them shall reach or find his dwelling until they have driven Erik and Gunnhild forth from the land.’ Thereupon he drove the pole into a crevice and left it there. He also turned the head landwards, and on the pole he wrote runes containing all the words of this curse. Then he went on board his ship.”
Among the Kind Sprites may be reckoned all Æsir, Vanir, and Bright- Elves; among the Bad Sprites, Giants, Dwarfs, and Dark-Elves. After the coming of Christianity, however, no distinction was made between the Sprites; either they were all regarded as evil, or at any rate they were supposed beyond doubt to imperil the salvation of any man who should remain their friend. The Catholic clergy made it a point to arouse hatred against all the race of Sprites rather than to break down men’s reliance on them. Numerous myths eventually sprang up having to do with Sprites that had suffered expulsion by means of the chants, the prayers, or the holy water of the priests, and so perforce had abandoned their dwelling places in stones or mounds. Each spring during Ascension Week in the North, as everywhere else throughout Catholic Christendom, the priests walked in procession around meadows and fields, holy water and crucifix in hand, intoning prayers and benedictions, and thus compelling the Sprites to flee the cultivated acres. During this particular week1 there were several processional days;2 besides these, there were two fixed processional days: the “greater,” on April 25th; and the “less,” on May
1 Gangdaga-vika: “procession week.”
2 Gangdagar.
1st. Ceremonies of just this sort lent themselves directly to the maintenance of belief in the Sprites; even in our own times traditions persist relating to “Sprite mounds” and “Sprite trees,” sacred trees that no hand must touch, — where the Sprites not long since were accustomed to receive offerings of food.
Among more recent superstitions concerned with the lesser supernatural beings, those relating to Elves and Giants (Jutuls, Trolls, Mountain-Trolls) are by far the most prevalent. Among the Elves must be counted the Huldre Folk,1 who occupy a conspicuous place in the superstitions of Iceland. These Elves have quite the appearance of human beings. They make their homes under ground or in the mountains, and are not always hostile toward men but at times rather amiable and friendly; for this reason they are occasionally given the designation Darlings.2 Among the Norwegians, too, there are numerous stories about the Hidden Folk or the underground people (mound folk, mountain folk), and above all about the Huldre herself, the Hill-Lady. She is often malicious; but at other times she shows a friendly demeanor toward men, as when she appears before the herdsman and speaks and dances with him. The Hill-Lady is often very beautiful as seen from the front, an impression enhanced by her blue smock and white linen hood. From behind she is hideous: her back is hollowed out like a trough and she has a tail that she is never able to conceal.
1 Huldufólk: “the hidden folk.”
2 Ljúflingar, lýflingar, from ljúfr, “dear,” “friendly”; a formation like that of German Liebling, from lieb

She owns a large herd of fat cattle and dogs to shepherd them (“huldre dogs”). She sings and plays well, but always in a melancholy strain; her tunes are called the “Hill-Lady’s harping.”
The underground folk are unable to beget children with each other. For this reason they desire to decoy young men or women in order to wed with them. They also have a bad habit of stealing human children; instead they lay one of their own brats in the cradle, the so-called changelings.1
Other Sprites are the Nix and the Water-Sprite. They live in rivers and lakes, and in certain localities are considered evil beings; in Telemark, for example, traditional report has it that the Nix demands each year a human sacrifice and that he is impelled to draw down to himself persons who approach the water after nightfall. As a rule, however, these Water-Sprites are guileless and friendly; they are adept at playing the fiddle, and it is possible to induce them to teach the art. Having no hope of eternal salvation, they are melancholy of mood; but they are made happy when any one promises to bring about their redemption, and they often demand the prospect of heavenly bliss as a reward for instruction in playing the fiddle. When the Nix is heard moaning and groaning, it is an omen that some one is about to be drowned. The Nix is able to reveal himself under various guises: as a handsome young man with long hair, as a dwarf, or as an old graybeard.
Out in the ocean dwell Merman and Mermaid.
1 Old Norse skiptingr, víxlingr.
They too sing and play beautifully and entice human beings to their haunts. They have the power to foretell future events. The upper part of their bodies has a human shape and the lower part has the likeness of a fish; the Mermaid appears beautiful as long as she does not let her finny tail be seen.
Among the Sprites the Brownie (Modern Norwegian Nisse) occupies a position of his own. He is a small boy or a small man dressed in gray clothes and a red cap; the crown of his head remains always moist, and his hands lack thumbs. Lingering about the farmsteads, he makes himself most useful so long as he is well treated; but if he takes umbrage at his hosts, he is capable of causing a great deal of trouble. If the Brownie is pleased with his surroundings, he will help the stableboy feed the horses, will assist the milkmaid in the care of the cows, and will even steal from the neighbors both hay and food to supply the farm on which he lives; but if he grows dissatisfied, he will bewitch the cattle, spoil the food, and bring misfortunes of other kinds upon the house. It may happen that two Brownies from two different farms encounter each other in foraging for hay, and then they will perhaps start a spirited fight armed with wisps of the hay. On Christmas Eve prudent folk are accustomed to set out for the Brownie a dish of Christmas pudding.
Whenever a person in sleep felt a weight upon his chest or when he dreamed disquieting dreams, he had no doubt that the Nightmare or Incubus was abroad, that he was being “ridden” by the Nightmare.1
1 Old Norse, mara trað hann: “the Nightmare was treading him.”
According to one account the Nightmare has no head, and is in fact hardly anything more than a mere brown smock; according to another description she is an actual woman who has the faculty of moving about by night and pressing her weight upon the sleeper. Thus the Nightmare does not differ widely from the so-called Werewolves,1 who by day are actual human beings, but who during the night assume the shape of wolves; in this guise they course about bent on sinister mischief, attacking people in sleep, exhuming and devouring corpses in the churchyards. An ancient legend connected with one of the first Yngling kings in Sweden, Vanlandi by name, relates that a witch named Huld came over him in the form of a Nightmare and choked him to death. So firmly rooted was the belief of our forefathers in such things that the old ecclesiastical law of Eidsifa contained the following provision: “If evidence shows that a woman rides (as a Nightmare) any man or his servants, she shall pay a fine of three marks; if she cannot pay, she shall be outlawed.” Nightmare and Werewolf are obviously related to the Dark-Riders or Night-Riders already mentioned,2 and during later times no great distinction was drawn between them. One who had the ability to disguise his outward semblance was, in the ancient phrase, “multiform” (eigi einhamr), and was sometimes also called “shape- shifter” (hamhleypa).