Northern mythology

24 NORWEGIAN TRADITIONS.
place a soft
loaf, a cup of beer^ or sometliing of tlie kind,
by the millstone, that the Qvsernknurre might increase
the flour in the sacks. For some time he took up his
abode in Sandager waterfall, where a man had a mill.
often as the man began to grind corn the mill stopt.
Knowing that it was the Qvsernknurre that caused this
annoyance, he took with him one evening, when he w^as
about to grind, some pitch in a pot, u.nder which he made
a fire. As soon as he had set the mill in motion it stopt
as usual. He then thrust downwards with a pole, in the
hope of driving away the Qvsernknurre, but in vain. At
last he opened the door to see, when lo ! there stood the
Qvsernknurre with extended jaws, and of such magnitude
that while its
As
lower lip rested on the threshold, its u:]:>per
one touched the top of the doorway. It said to the man :
^'
Hast thou ever seen such great gaping ? ^^ Instantly
seizing the boiling pitch-pot, the man dashed it into his
mouth, with the words "
: Hast thou ever tasted such hot
boiling ? " With a howl the QvsernknuiTe vanished, and
was never again seen.
A being nearly resembling the Qvsernknurre is the Urisk of the Scottish
Highlands, which is described as a rough hairy sprite that sets mills at
work in the night, when there is nothing to grind. He is sent howling
away by a panful of hot ashes thrown into his lap while he is sleeping i.
THE FINNGALKN.
This monster is often named, though not accurately
described in the later romantic Sagas.
According to these
it has a human head with enormous teeth, a beast^s body
and a large heavy tail, terrific claws and a sword in evei'y
claw ^.
1
Keightley, F. M. p. 396, from the Quarterly Review, 1825.
" Keyser, p. 163. See Snorra-Edda, edit. Rask, p. 342.