Curious traditions are still found among the country people in Sweden,
Denmark, Germany and some other European countries, of mountain-dwarfs,
and suchlike mysterious inhabitants of the country, having been forced
to emigrate on account of the bell-ringing. To note one instance:--
In Holstein, people say, a large number of mountain-dwarfs, greatly
troubled by the sounds of the many new church-bells introduced, made up
their mind to leave the country. Accordingly, having arranged their
affairs, they set out in a body and travelled northwards until they came
to the River Eider, at a place where there is a ferry. It was late in
the night when a knock at the door aroused the ferryman from his sleep.
He thought he must have been dreaming; for, it had never happened that
anybody had called him up in the middle of the night to be ferried over
the river. He therefore took no notice of it, and soon fell asleep
again. But after awhile he was awakened by the sound of another knock at
the door; and this time he felt sure he had not been dreaming. So he
dressed himself quickly, and opened the house-door to see who was there.
But, strange enough, he saw no one at the door; and when he called out
in the dark, inquiring who wanted him, he got no reply. Then he thought
the best thing he could do would be to go to bed again. However, he had
scarcely taken his coat off, when there came a bang at the door which
quite startled him, so loud it was. Taking up a bludgeon from a corner
of the room, and putting on his hat, he at once went out of the house to
scrutinise the place.
He had gone only a few steps in the direction towards the river, when to
his great surprise he saw before him in a field a multitude of
gray-looking dwarfs, who moved restlessly to and fro like ants when you
open an ant-hill. Presently one of them, a very old fellow with a long
white beard, approached the ferryman and requested him to convey the
whole company over the Eider.
"You will be duly paid for your services," said the pigmy with the long
beard. "Only place your hat upon the bank of the river for our people to
throw the money into as they enter the boat."
The ferryman did as he was desired; but he would rather not have had
anything to do with these people. The boat was soon crowded with them.
They scrambled about everywhere like insects, and he had to make the
passage several times before he had carried them all over to the
opposite bank of the river. He observed that each of them threw what
appeared to be a grain of sand into the hat; but this he did not
mind--thinking only how glad he should be when he had got rid of them
all. In fact, he did not trust them, especially as the fellow with the
long beard informed him that they were compelled to migrate to some
other part of the world on account of the church bells and the
hymn-singing, which they could not put up with any longer.
When the ferryman had carried over the last load of the little
emigrants, he saw that the whole field near the place where he had
landed them was glittering with lights, which flitted about in every
direction. The little wanderers had all of them lighted their lanterns.
But when he had returned to the bank near his house, and came to take up
his hat, how he opened his eyes! Certainly he had never been so
surprised in all his life. The hat was full of gold!
He joyfully carried the treasure into his house, and was immensely rich
ever after. In short, this simple man became in no time one of the most
respectable gentlemen in the country, and died actually worth thousands
of pounds.