Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/376

 32 2 Collectanea.

fortunate whilst the other caught nothing, folk believed that det onde die ("the evil eye") misdirected his line. They therefore tried by various ways to persuade the pastor to go with him to the river and look upon the line, as his eye would thus chase away the " evil eye."

11. When Yule-ale is being brewed, the quality depends as much on the good luck of those who brew as on the quality of the malt. Folk were afraid of strangers coming into the brewery, and, to pre- vent them from bringing " evil " with them, a knife or other piece of steel was put in the brewing vat. It was also good to put a cross at the bottom of it.

12. If no butter were produced in the churning, it was because the cows were bewitched by a wicked woman, and the safest thing to do was to cast old silver into the churn.

13. Not very long since an old man,^ who was very superstitious, lived at the farm of Ovre Nesja. He set salmon traps in the river, and caught many fish both in spring and autumn. When his fishing went wrong, he kindled naueld ("needfire"), — gnideiid, which means rubbing or friction fire — whereupon the fishing prospered again, for probably there was witchcraft afoot. This natield \\a.s produced in the following manner: — Folk used, and still do so, here and there, the simple, but clumsy bordstole (" plank stool ") ^ to spread their meals upon. These bordstole are made of a single fir-trunk, 27 tommer^*^ in diameter. [Pieces of the trunk] of a suitable height were cut off and set up ; about half an ell from the ground, a single wide plank from the tree was placed upon these stumps ; this plank, which was planed, formed the board or table top. The Nesja man (farmer) took two such plank stools and set them up at a suitable distance from each other, with the smaller ends of the boards towards each other. In these he made a hole, in which he set a pointed rod, and round the rod he

owner of the farm.
 * The old man of Ovie Nesja was Endre Nesja, grandfather of the present

' The boards or tops of these tables were loose, and, when in use, rested on two or three large stumps, made of bottom sections of fir-trees. The top of this particular table is still in existence, and is made of one solid piece of wood 3 metres long and i metre wide. I have seen it.

^^ One tomme= i "029 inches.