Untitled - Centrostudirpinia.it

HOME-SPRITE. 511
the beds of sluggards, blows their light out, turns the best cow s
neck awry, kicks the dawdling milkmaid s pail over, and mocks
her with insulting laughter ;
and love of mischief, he becomes a (
his good-nature turns into worrying
tormenting spirit. Agemund
in the Eeinardus 4, 859-920 seems to me no other than a house-
daemon, distorted and exaggerated by the poet, disturbing the
maid in her sleep, her milking and churning (see Suppl.). 1
Servants, to keep on good terms with him, save a little potful
of their food on purpose for him, which is surely a vestige of little
sacrifices that were offered him of old (p. 448). That is probably
why one Swiss goblin bears the name Napfhans, Potjack. But
in many cases it is only done on holidays, or once a week. The
sprite is easily satisfied, he puts up with a saucerful of porridge,
a. piece of cake and a glass of beer, which are left out for him
accordingly ; on those evenings he does not like any noisy work
to be going on, either in or out of doors. This they call in
Norway at holde qvelvart (qvellsvart)/ to hold evening rest.
Those who desire his goodwill, give him good words : kiare
granne, gior det ! dear neighbour, do this ; and he replies con
formably. He is said at times to carry his preference for the
goodrnan so far as to pilfer hay and straw from other farmers
barns or stables, and bring it to him (see Suppl.).
The Nissen loves the moonlight, and in wintertime you see
him merrily skipping across the farmyard, or skating. He is a
good hand at dancing and music, and much the same is told of
him as of the Swedish stromkarl (p. 493), that for a grey sheep
he teaches people to play the fiddle. 2
The home-sprite is contented with a trifling wage : a new hat, a
red cap, a parti-coloured coat with tinkling bells he will make
shift with. The hat and cap he has in common with dwarfs
(p. 463), and therefore also the power to make himself invisible.
Petronius (Satir. cap. 38) shows it was already a Roman super
stition : sed quomodo dicunt, ego nihil scivr, sed audivi, quomodo
incuboni pileam rapuisset, et thesaurum invenit/ Home-
1 The description of his figure (a horse s mane, hawk s bill, cat s tail, goat s
beard, ox s horns and cock s feet) can hardly have been all invented there and then.
2 Unless Wilse (Beskriv. over Spyd. 419) has confounded Nissen with nocken ;
yet the German goblin Goldemar was likewise musical (Ir. Elfenm. Ixxxiii.). Wilse,
and Faye, pp. 43-45, give the best account of the Norwegian Nissen, and Thiele i.
134-5 of the Danish.