If the reader should ever happen to visit Lagga, a parish in the
south-west of Sweden, the people will point out to him an enormously
large stone which a giant once threw at a church, and in which the marks
of his strong fingers are still discernible. It was, Afzelius says, a
common practice with giants in Sweden to hurl stones at the churches,
but they never hit them. Moreover, the sound of the church bell was very
hateful to them. Near Lagga is a mountain celebrated as the former
domicile of a giant, who lived there until the time of the Reformation,
when the church of the place was provided with bells. One morning the
dejected giant addressed a peasant from Lagga, whose name was Jacob,
and who happened to be at the foot of the mountain. "Jacob!" said the
giant in a subdued tone of voice, "come in, Jacob, and eat of my stew!"
But Jacob, alarmed at the kind invitation, replied rather hesitatingly:
"Sir, if you have more stew than you can consume, you had better keep
the rest for to-morrow."
Upon this sensible advice, the dejected giant complained: "I cannot stay
here even till to-morrow! I am compelled to leave this place because of
the constant bell-ringing, which is quite insupportable!"
Whereupon Jacob, getting a little courage, asked him: "And when do you
intend to come back again?"
The dejected giant, hearing himself thus questioned, ejaculated
whiningly: "Come back again? Oh! certainly not until the mount has
become the bottom of the sea, and the sea itself arable and fertile
land; if this should ever happen, then I may perhaps come back again."
[Illustration]
[29] 'Deutsche Sagen, herausgegeben von den Br¸dern Grimm.
Berlin, 1816.' Vol. I., P. 355.
[30] 'Sagen, M‰rchen und Lieder der Herzogth¸mer Schleswig,
Holstein und Lauenburg, herausgegeben von Karl M¸llenhoff. Kiel, 1845.'
Pp. 116, 118.
[31] 'Norddeutsche Sagen, M‰rchen und Gebr‰uche, herausgegeben
von Kuhn und Schwartz. Leipzig, 1848.' P. 4.
[32] 'Die Sprichwˆrter der Polen, von C. Wurzbach. Wien, 1852.'
P. 135.
[33] 'Allemannisches Kinderlied und Kinderspiel aus der
Schweiz; gesammelt von E. L. Rochholz. Leipzig, 1857.' P. 58.
[34] 'Nieders‰chsiche Sagen und M‰rchen, gesammelt von
Schaumbach und M¸ller. Gˆttingen, 1855.' P. 57.
[35] 'Niederl‰ndische Sagen, herausgegeben von J. W. Wolf.
Leipzig, 1843.' P. 562.
[36] 'Iceland, its Scenes and Sagas, by Sabine Baring-Gould.
London, 1863.' P. 194.
[Illustration]