Tales of guidance and warning
We gather around the fire on a dark evening. There we tell tales about ghosts and ghosts. Someone who was saved from storm and accident.
This story is from Lofoten
A band of men used to pass their evenings playing cards. They drank and swore as they played for each other’s money, and accusations of cheating were thrown back and forth. Cards-mad people like these were often known as “card dogs.”
One autumn, the men played so much that their work suffered. Yet again, there was talk of cheating and claims that a card had disappeared. As one of the men crouched down to the floor to look for it, he had a terrible fright. Right there, underneath the table, lay a large, black dog with its gaping mouth glowing in red and yellow. None of the men had a dog, and neither did any of the neighbours, so the man understood that this was the Devil himself.
Startled, he hurried home. For the rest of his days, he never played another round, and the other “card dogs” also mellowed after that frightful night.
Read more stories
The story of the Devil in the cards is part of the exhibition “Did you hear that? – Tales of guidance and warning” .