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 tale is from Ofoten
Lars was going to build a new barn and had found a good plot of land for it. When half the job was done, he had a dream where he stood by the barn as a stranger came to speak to him: “You have made a mistake building your barn here. Your livestock will have nothing but misery.”
Lars carried on and moved his animals into the new barn when autumn came, but they could not settle. They were rowdy and prone to escaping their booths. When a cow fell ill and died, Lars remembered his dream.
The following summer, as Lars went walking along the fields, he met a man and they got talking. “Let’s go home to me,” the man said. Suddenly, they found themselves in a splendid parlour. An old woman was spinning yarn, and children played. The man pointed to the ceiling: “Look. This is from your barn.” Lars could see a big brown mark that was dripping onto the table. “Now you see what we must live with. Move your barn if you want your animals in peace.” Lars moved the barn, and the animals calmed down.
Read more tales
The tale of the warning from the underworld is part of the exhibition “Tales of guidance and warning.