Northern mythology

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98 SWEDISH TRADITIONS.
hood, and by his ill-timed mirth waked the ram, which
soon stuck him on his horn, and would have killed him,
had not a handsome young damsel come and saved him
for when young girls come to him the ram becomes as
gentle as a lamb.
THE DRAGON, OR WHITE SERPENT.
Among the fabulous beings of former days must be
reckoned the Dragon, concerning which many traditions
and songs are extant. In the heathen Sagas no mention
is made of its colour; but in later writings we find it
usually designated the White Serpent.
This must not be
confounded with the white Tomt-serpent (Tomtorm), which
in the southern parts is numbered among good domestic
sprites, and is gladly fed by the inmates of the house in
which it vouchsafes to take up its abode under the flooring.
The White Serpent now to be spoken of is very rarely
seen, some suppose only every hundred years, and in desert
places. Sorceresses were in the habit of seeking for it,
and boiling it in their magical compounds, for the attainment
of profound knowledge in the secrets of nature ; for
by insinuating itself, in the innermost parts of the earth,
around the roots of rocks and mountains, among the lowest
fibres of the trees and plants, it is believed to have imbibed
their occult virtues, and to communicate them to the individual
by whom it allows itself to be found. If any one
finds a White Serpent, he should instantly grasp it by the
middle of its body, when it will leave its skin. Only to
lick this is thought to strengthen the inward powers of
man, so that, without previous instruction, he will know
the virtues of plants, earths and stones, how to heal wounds
and cure all kinds of diseases. This is called ' To become
cunning'.'
A poor little peasant boy, who had wandered out of his
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