Northern mythology

DANISH TRADITIONS. 16/
said the Varsel, '' that thou hast answered so, for otherwise
I would surely have broken thy neck."
At Niverod as a woman was going to milk her cows,
she saw a corpse that
had been washed up on the sand,
and noticed that a large money-bag was bound round its
body ; and no one being near, she was tempted to take
the money, to which she had as good a claim as any one
else. But the next night the Strand-varsel came to the
village and made a great noise before her window, desiring
her to come out and follow him. Supposing that
she had no alternative, she bade her children farewell and
accompanied the Varsel.
village, the Varsel said to her :
When they were outside of the
''
Take me by the leg and
draw me to the church." But the nearest church lay
three-quarters of a mile distant. When the church appeared
in sight, the Varsel said :
^'
Let me go now ;
then
go to the house by the church gate, and desire the people
to sit up until thou comest again. When thou hast helped
me over the churchyard wall, run as fast as thou canst,
lest the Kirkegrim should seize thee." She did accordingly,
and scarcely had the corpse been placed over the
wall, when the Kirkegrim came out after
the woman and
seized her by the petticoat, which being old gave way, and
so she slipt into the house in safety. From that time all
went well with the woman, who lived contented Avith her
children on the money she found on the Strand-varsel.
HYLDEMOER—ELDER.
There dwells in the elder-tree a being called Hyldemoer
(Elder-mother) or Hyldeqvinde (Elder-wife). She
avenges all injuries done to the tree. Of an elder standing
in a small court in the Nyboder ^, it is related, that
'
A quarter of Copenhagen, built for and inhabited by persons belonging
to the navy.