Draugen på havet, han sitter i en båt
English. 2. 6.
The Draugen
Here in the North, we have many stories about the sea. Have you heard of the Draugen?
He is very scary! Do you want to see? He is sitting in the boat.
The Draugen is a ghost after all those who got lost at sea and died. The Draugen is big, black and headless! He sits in the back of your boat so that it becomes heavy to row. When you try to chase him away, your boat breaks in two! If you are not close to land then, your last hour has come. There are many scary stories about him.
Here is my favourite story about the Draugen:
English. 2. 6.
It was evening in the fishing village. The fish had been gutted and hanged from the drying racks. The roe was salted. Fishermen went to bed and crawled under their sheepskin blankets. A fisherman went down to the dock to wash his mittens. He washed them into the sea and began to slap them against a seaweed-grown rock. In the dark, the man could not see the stone very clearly. He hit it with a great force. Just as it was, the stone lifted itself, shook itself and plunged into the sea so that the water sprayed around it, while he was screaming harmfully. Then the man realized that it was the Draugen he had beaten. The man knew, that the Draugen was going to take revenge. The man was still quick-witted enough to try to defend himself. «When you get up in the boat docks of people, you have to take the consequences yourself,» shouted the man after the Draugen. And this Draugen must have had a more forgiving soul than most of them because he did not seek revenge.