Chapter III

Once upon a time a girl was hunting for berries on Kusabo mountain, and was taken into the hill. But she wept, night and day, which disgruntled the trolls, and they let her out again. But just as they were letting her out, one of the trolls hit her such a blow on the back that she was hump-backed for the rest of her life. She herself used to tell how she had been kept in the hill.

NOTE

Primitive faith and superstition are reflected in these three
"Tales of the Trolls" (communicated from mss. belonging to Dr.
v. Sydow-Lund). The first is also current in Norway; the others
tell of women who have been _bergtagen_, "taken into the
mountain." It is not so long since that every humped back,
every weak mind, in short, every ill that had no visible
explanation, was ascribed to the troll folk.