Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1901 — SUPERSTITIOUS NORWEGIANS. [ARTICLE]

SUPERSTITIOUS NORWEGIANS.

Their Forests, Mountains and Gorges Peopled with Fairies. Like the Japanese, the Norwegians are very superstitious, and, as in Japan, the forests, the mountains anci the gorges are peopled with fairies, 6ays W. E. Curtis, in the Chicago Rec-ord-Herald. Aissen is» the good fairy of the farmers. He looks after the cattle particularly, and if he is well treated they are healthy and the cows give lots of milk. To propitiate him it is necessary to put a dish of porridge on the threshold of the cow stable on Christmas morning. Whenever the family move this invisible being goes along with them and sits on the top of the loads. • In haying time he always rides on theloadsof hay.and the “bedstemoder” or grandmother in every farmhouse can tell the children dozens of interesting stories about the mischief or kindness of Nissen. He is invariably represented in pictures of farm life; he appears on the illustrated advertisements of farm machinery; his figure is carved in wood, is sold at all the curiosity stores,

and he appears as a prominent character in most of the fairy stories that deal with farm life. He is represented as a short, fat, bow-legged man, with big whiskersand long white hair, wearing a red hat like those worn by clowns in circuses. He usually appears in his shirt sleeves, with an open collar, a blue vest and knickerbockers upon his legs* which are as slim as those of a brownie. His circumference is far greater than his height and his head is almost as largeashis body. . Noek is the fairy of the waterfalls and is a sort of merman. You never see more than half his body. He is very, very old, his hair and beard are long and white and his face is always pale and pensive. He carries a harp and plays to amuse the spirits in the waterfall. A statue of Ole Bull has recently been erected in his native city of Bergen. He stands upon a pedestal which rises from a fountain, and the water flows over the head and shoulders of a Noek at the-base.