Huldra
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- Huldra is also the name of a witch in Sheri S. Tepper's The True Game series of novels.
In Scandinavian folklore, the huldra (Norwegian, derived from a root meaning "covered" or "secret") is a seductive forest creature. Other names include the Swedish skogsrå or skogsfru (meaning "lady (ruler) of the forest") and Tallemaja (pine tree Mary). A male hulder is called a huldu, or in Norway a huldrekall.
It should be noted that huldra is the definite form in Norwegian ("the hulder") - the indefinite form is ei hulder ("a hulder"). The plural indefinite form is huldrer ("hulders"), and the plural definite form is huldrene ("the hulders"). In the plural it is also common to use the collective form huldrefolk (indefinite) and huldrefolket (definite).
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[edit] Features
The huldra is a stunningly beautiful, sometimes naked woman with long hair; though from behind she is hollow like an old tree trunk, and has an animal's tail. In Norway, she has a cow's tail, and in Sweden she may have that of a cow or a fox.
In Norway, the huldra has often been described as a typical dairymaid, wearing the clothes of a regular farm girl, although somewhat more dazzling than most girls.
[edit] Folklore
There is a story of a huldra being kind to a collier, watching his charcoal kiln while he took a much needed rest. Knowing that she would wake him if there were any problems, he was able to sleep, and in exchange left provisions for her in a special place. A tale from Närke illustrates further how kind a huldra could be, especially if treated with respect (Hellström 1985:15).
A boy in Tiveden went fishing, but he had no luck. Then he met a beautiful lady, and she was so stunning that he felt he had to catch his breath. But, then he realized who she was, because he could see a fox's tail sticking out below the skirt. As he knew that it was forbidden to comment on the tail to the lady of the forest, if it was not done in the most polite manner, he bowed deeply and said with his softest voice, "Milady, I see that your petticoat shows below your skirt". The lady thanked him gracefully and hid her tail under her skirt, telling the boy to fish on the other side of the lake. That day, the boy had great luck with his fishing and he caught a fish every time he threw out the line. This was the huldra's recognition of his politeness.
In some traditions, the huldra lures men into the forest to have sex with her, rewarding those who satisfy her and often killing those who do not. The Norwegian huldra is a lot less bloodthirsty and may simply kidnap a man or lure him into the underworld. She sometimes steals human infants and replaces them with her own ugly huldrebarn (changeling huldre children).
The huldra has long been associated with hunting; she might blow down the barrel of a huntsman's rifle, causing it never thereafter to miss a shot. Some men are not so lucky, or perhaps skilled, and escape her only after surrendering their sanity.
Sometimes she marries a local farm boy, but when this happens, the glamour leaves her when the priest lays his hand on her, or when she enters the church. Some legends tell of husbands who subsequently treat her badly. Some fairy tales leave out this feature, and only relate how a marriage to a Christian man will cause her to lose her tail, but not her looks, and let the couple live happily ever after. However if she is treated badly, she will remind him that she is far from weak, often by straightening out a horseshoe with her bare hands, sometimes while it is still glowing hot from the forge.
If betrayed, the huldra can punish the man severely, as in one case from Sigdal, when she avenged her pride on a young braggart she had sworn to marry, on the promise that he would not tell anybody of her. The boy instead bragged about his bride for a year, and when they met again, she beat him around the ears with her cow's tail. He lost his hearing and his wits for the rest of his life.
After the introduction of Christianity in Scandinavia, the main occupation of the old sky god Odin came to be to chase down and kill as many huldra as possible in the Wild Hunt. The rationale behind this antipathy is never clearly explained in the accounts. The Wild Hunt was alien to Norse tradition and was imported from southern Germanic traditions. Inferably, Odin's Wild Hunt connoted a violent storm where much lightning struck the wild forests where the huldras lived. This storm suggested Odin's berserker rage against his rivals, the trolls, including huldras. (Before Christianity, the storm god Thor was credited with lightning strikes against the giant trolls, in the form of his hammer.)
Another piece of folklore also comes after Christianity. A tale recounts how a mother had washed only half of her children when God came to her cottage; ashamed of the dirty ones, she hid them. God decreed that those she had hidden from him would be hidden from mankind; they became the huldrer.[1]
In modern day Iceland, stories still abound of the huldufólk. It is said that work crews building new roads will sometimes divert the road around particular boulders which are known to be the homes of the huldufólk.
The huldra is one of several rå (keeper, warden), including the aquatic sjörå (or havsfru), later identified with a mermaid, and the bergsrå in caves and mines who made life tough for the poor miners.
The huldra may be connected with the German holda. The huldra is also known in Finnish folklore.
The Norwegian municipality Lardal has a hulder in its coat of arms.
More information can be found in the collected Norwegian folktales of Peder Christian Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ K. M. Briggs, The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature, p 147 University of Chicago Press, London, 1967
- Hellström, AnneMarie (1985). Jag vill så gärna berätta. ISBN 91-7908-002-2
