Only 15 km from the first town, Valabærjet is remote enough to feel like you’re in the middle of the woods. Nature and animals live almost undisturbed here, as well as other beings.
There are some old myths surrounding this place, especially about some caves at the steep north side of the hill. There, the cliff falls about 135 meters straight down into the lake below. We have a viewpoint on the top of it, a fabulous place to sit and watch the moon rising from behind the hillside on the other side of the lake. The lake itself is also very deep in certain places, specifically at the base of the cliff. Many have tried to measure its depth. On the cliff, about half way up, there is a big cave nearly impossible to reach without climbing gear. The myths tell about a Troll that lived in that cave, and for all we know, it may still be there.
The legend says that one day a man rowed out on the lake to measure the depth outside the steep cliff. He put a weight on the shoemaker thread and let it go in the water. When he got to the third skein and still had not reached the bottom, a horrible scary voice called from the big cave:
“If you measure my depth I will measure your wits!”
It was the Troll calling, with a voice like roaring avalanche, as he declared that the lake was his. The man got so scared that he lost his shoemaker thread into the water and hurried back towards land and ran back home. In the myth, it is said that the poor man went into hiding and totally lost his mind. He never became sane again, and later, no one has ever managed to measure the real depth in this place of the lake.
"Skogtroll" by Theodor Kittelsen
Well, we tried ourselves to measure the depth of the lake, but we neither saw nor heard the Troll. Maybe it is just having a long deep sleep inside its cave. Anyway, we put on a new fishing line (100 meters) with a heavy fishing weight attached to it and let it out in the lake. It went down until there was no more line left, and we had still not hit the bottom. So at this place in the lake, it is more than a 100 meters deep. Since there are also some underwater caves in the lake, who knows what or who lives down there in the abyss. Maybe dragons still exist, and sleep deep in those undersea caves. Sometimes during winter, we can hear long strange howls coming from the frozen lake. Is it the ice singing or could it be the dragon turning and making noise ?
As the Troll controls the big cave, there are some smaller caves further down towards the shore. These are inhabited by “Nisser” or Little People (beings like pixies and gnomes, but more humanlike and small).
"Nigth picture of our own Nisse, Efus" by Morten
These creatures live in houses, barns, cabins or caves and are very good at handcrafting. Mostly peaceful and helpful, they always make sure that livestock, pets and wild animals are always treated well and are helped if injured. But know this, you should never behave badly towards them. Then they would get angry and use magic. Otherwise, they are funny creatures which never let a chance of doing a prank go by. These pranks are never bad or hurtful, but more an irresistible opportunity to give them a good laugh.
So yes, Nisser, Little People, are around, in the house as well as in the forest. Quite often, they have fun with small pranks like hiding stuff and moving objects around. I guess they have a good laugh observing us running around looking for those items. What's missing always shows up again, but never at the place expected. They are at the same time very nice, helpful, take care of us and keep the house safe. So we thank them and offer small gifts to them every now and then, as we appreciate having them around.
Morten
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