Scandinavian folklore is replete with eerie stories that make your blood run cold. You shouldn't wait for the happy end of the story - everything is very serious here. These are not the same fairy tales that are told to children at night so that they fall asleep faster. Here is a short description of the most scary stories taken from the folklore of the Scandinavian peoples. Kolobok and Ivan Tsarevich will not be here, and a happy wedding at the end will not take place either. Here are some very scary bedtime stories.
Swedish tale about an orphan
The town of Dalland was engulfed in a terrible epidemic. The townspeople were seized with panic, and no one knew how to defeat this mysterious disease. Panic gradually began, and many decided to flee the city. And then an old man from Finland came to Dalland, who knew how to defeat this attack.
It turns out that in order to save the inhabitants, it is necessary to sacrifice someone, and not just kill, but bury them alive in the ground. At first, the inhabitants of the town buried a live rooster, but the disease did not recede, then it was the goat's turn, but this did not give the desired effect. Now it was decided to sacrifice a man, but who?
The choice of the inhabitants of the town fell on a hungry orphan boy (who will regret about him). Sly adults lured the child with bread, and the naive boy fell into a prepared grave.
The townspeople began to throw the hole in spite of the fact that the orphan cried and begged not to do it. Subsequently, some people claimed that they heard the boy's screams from underground even after his death. The innocent child accused people of cruelty and complained about his unhappy fate.
A Swedish tale of the ghosts of Christmas
Usually, before Christmas, all evil spirits on earth become powerless for a while, but apparently this does not apply to Sweden.
One woman decided to go to the midnight Christmas service at church. She took bread baked in the shape of a cross with her on the journey to satisfy her hunger. On the way, she met two witches. The sorceresses wanted to kill her, but they were frightened off by the cross that was in the woman's pocket.
The unhappy parishioner nevertheless made it to the church, but when she sat down on the bench, she heard the voice of her godfather. He told her that she might die, but he will try to save her.
Suddenly, the woman noticed that all the people who are in the church have no heads. The poor woman rushed to the exit in horror, and the ghosts rushed after her and managed to rip the handkerchief from her head.
When the unfortunate woman returned to the church in the morning, she saw that her handkerchief had been torn into small pieces, which were scattered among the graves in a nearby cemetery.
Swedish tale about the cunning Kitta Grau
Kitta Grau was such a wicked woman that she even personally knew the devil himself. Once, Kitta argued with the Prince of Darkness himself that he would be able to cause more harm to people than he.
The wicked woman said that she would be able to embroil the newlyweds, whom the devil himself had not previously been able to separate. The challenge was accepted, and as a reward for her success, Kitta was promised extraordinarily beautiful shoes.
Kpitta Grau persuaded a young woman to shave her husband while he slept in order to banish anger from her heart forever and become absolutely happy.
Then the treacherous woman went to her young husband and told him that his beloved was going to stab him in a dream. And now the man pretends to be asleep, and the naive wife comes up to him with a razor. And such a scandal begins that the recently happy newlyweds almost killed each other.
The marriage was ruined, and Kitta Grau received new shoes.
Norwegian tale that explains why the sea is salty
One poor man came to his brother with a request to give his family some food. A rich relative gave the poor man a piece of good ham, but said that next time, let him turn to the devil for help. The poor man heeded his brother's advice and found the devil's hut, where he successfully exchanged a piece of ham for a magic mill that could grind whatever his heart desires.
Things in the poor man's family went smoothly, now he became richer than his successful brother and could get any thing he wanted. The rich brother began to ask his former poor relative about the secret of his sudden well-being, he innocently told him about the magic mill received from the Devil.
The envious brother offered to buy the mill for any money, and the poor man agreed, only he did not tell the greedy relative how to stop the mill.
Blinded by greed, the rich man ordered the mill to make porridge and herring and made so much of it that he flooded the whole city. Then he again ran to his brother and asked to take the devil's mill back, for which the resourceful poor man demanded an even larger amount of money from his relative. The deal went through.
Time passed, and one rich visiting merchant, who traded in salt, which was very expensive at that time, and decided to get it for himself at any cost, found out about the amazing mill. After lengthy negotiations, the merchant bought the mill for a huge sum and immediately hit the road.
True, the overseas merchant also did not know how to stop this devilish mechanism. He ordered the mill to make salt. At this time, the ship sank, the greedy merchant himself died, and the mill is still working, making the water in the sea salty.
Danish tale of the pastor's wife
One woman married a pastor, but there was a deep fear in her soul: she did not want to have children. She decided to seek advice from a local witch, who made her seven children. The witch said that the woman needed to take and throw seven stones - then she would not have children.
The woman performed the ritual and her life with the pastor went on as usual. One evening, the pastor discovered that his wife did not cast a shadow. He realized that his wife had committed some terrible sin, but she categorically refused to explain anything to him. Then the angry pastor kicked the woman out of the house and forbade all the villagers to help her. He cursed her and said he would forgive her only when a red rose grew on the stone table in his kitchen.
The unfortunate woman wandered along different roads for a long time, until she met another priest who volunteered to help her in her grief. He told her to spend the night at church with a book that he would give her. It was necessary not to give the book to anyone until morning, although many of her would ask for it.
All night the souls of her unborn children circled over the poor woman, and the next morning the priest told her that she was forgiven, but she had to leave this world today.
The woman went to her native village to see her husband before his death, but he was not at home. One villager took pity on her and gave her shelter. On the same day, the poor woman died, and a red rose blossomed on a stone table in the pastor's house. The pastor rushed in search of his wife and found her dead in the house of his fellow villager, distraught with grief that fell on him and died.
Finnish fairy tale about a sly fox and a wolf
The wolf and the she-wolf had three children. However, the she-wolf soon died. The inconsolable wolf needed to find a nanny for his cubs. He searched the entire forest for a suitable candidate. The cubs were very fond of lullabies, but none of the forest dwellers could sing them so that the wolf liked his lullabies. In the end, the wolf met a fox who could sing amazingly well. He asked her to look after the wolf cubs while he hunted.
On the first day, the wolf brought fresh horse meat from the hunt. He wanted to see his children, but the fox said that they were already asleep. The wolf went hunting again, and the fox itself ate the horse meat, which was left for the wolf cubs. The fox did not want to look after the cubs, and she simply ate one wolf cub.
As time went. The wolf came from hunting tired, and the fox gradually ate all his children. Once the wolf firmly stated that he wants to finally see his offspring and then the fox realized that she was in trouble and began to run away. The wolf chased after her, but did not have time to catch. It seems that he managed to grab her paw, but the fox deceived him again, giving the paw for the root of a tree. The fox disappeared, and the wolf was left completely alone and desperate.
