Foreseeing the Coming Calamity: the Ghost Ship

Grimm's Saga 281: The Phantom Ship

People who live on the Baltic Sea believe they can often foresee a shipwreck or stranding because the ship appears as a phantom several days or weeks before it sinks, at the very spot of its future demise. In the dark of night all parts of the ship, hull, rigging, mast and sail appear enveloped in fire. This they call wafeln. Men who will drown wafle as do houses that will burn and cities that will fall . On Sundays you can often hear the bells of sunken cities ringing, as they lie beneath the waves.


Fairytale Factum:
Wafeln probably comes from the Anglo-Saxon word wafian or the Old Norse vafra. It means to move unsteadily or flicker. Wafeln describes a swaying motion similar to undulating waves; the object seen is often enveloped in an eery light. According to folk tradition, Wafeln portends coming calamity to those who can perceive it. Waffle, waver and waft probably derive from this word. 

Fairy Tale from Latvia: The Old Witch, The Devil and The Bear

A Fairy Tale from Latvia: The Old Hag is Coming:

Once a harp player met the devil on one of his sojourns. The devil asked him: “Where are you going?” –

“I myself do not know,” was the reply. “They chased me away because my fingers became stiff!”

And so they walked together. They walked and walked until they met a bear. The bear asked: “Where are you two going?” 

“We don’t know ourselves,” was the reply. We were chased away!”

“Dear brothers! Let us walk a while together. We all have the same fate. The other bears have also chased me away!”

They walked and walked and then they decided to build a house. So good, they built a house and drank a beer and then an entire barrel of beer. Suddenly they noticed that the beer in the barrel was receding. Now what? They decided to guard the barrel. The bear took over the first watch and crouched next to the barrel. Yes, it was only a matter of minutes before he saw an old woman approaching with a broad hatchet in her hand.

Now the bear broke off a tree and flung it at the old woman. But unfortunately only branches hit her: the old woman shook herself a bit and then raised the hatchet and struck the bear in its back. She hit him so miserably that the poor animal could only return home with the greatest effort. The next evening the devil stood watch. Again the old woman took aim. The devil threw stones into the woman’s face rather haphazardly. But the old woman aimed her hatchet at the devil, and he, too, only escaped under enormous effort.

Now the harp player went out in the middle of the night to guard the barrel. He sat down next to the barrel and played his harp. The old woman came and slithered up close to the player and listened intently with both ears, but the harp player continued playing. Finally the old woman was so pleased with the music that the hatchet fell from her hand. The harp player quickly seized the hatchet, took aim at the old woman and quickly chopped into the woman’s back. Then he buried her under the threshold of a house and lay down to sleep. When he awoke in the morning, he saw the blood of the old woman running into the house, and a young maid sat before it. The maiden spoke: “Why are you approaching? Don’t you know that an enormous robber lives here? But if you can raise this ball and this sword, you will be able to overcome the robbers.”

The harp player pulled and pulled, but could not lift up the ball or sword. “Don’t worry!” the maid said. “Here in the corner is a potion to give you strength. Take a sip!” The harp player drank and now he could lift the ball like a marble and the sword in his hands wasn’t much heavier than a shingle wood chip. He immediately lifted up the ball and flung it against the house door: the door now collapsed. Then he took the sword, killed the robber and led the maid back to the devil and bear, who was looking out the window and called out: “Friend, the old woman is coming, the old woman is coming!”  Both the devil and bear thought to themselves: “That terrible old woman, now she is coming to kill us both!” And they fled immediately. But the harp player lived alone in the house with his young bride.

For Earth Day: a Fairy Tale of the Moon, Earth and Cosmos

The Moon, the Earth, the Cosmos 

In ancient times there was a land where night was always black and the heavens were draped like a black shroud. The moon never rose and the star, in perpetual gloom, never twinkled. When the world was created, endless evening shadow had sufficed. Out of this land once journeyed four fellows. And on their wanderings they came to another kingdom where the sun had vanished behind the hills and where a shining orb hung from an oak tree and spread a soft glow far and wide. Here it was possible to see and distinguish everything, even if the light wasn’t as bright as the sun.

The wanderers stopped and asked a farmer driving by in his wagon what kind of illumination lit up the sky. “It is the moon,” he answered. “Our mayor bought it for three Talers and hung it on the oak tree. Every day he must pour in oil and keep it clean so that it always burns brightly. In exchange we pay him one taler every week.”

When the farmer had driven away one of the fellows said “We could use this lamp. At home we have an oak tree that is just as big and we could hang it from there.  What joy there will be when we don’t have to stumble around in the darkness!” The second fellow said “You know what? Let’s fetch a horse and wagon and take the moon away. They can buy another one here.”  The third fellow said “I am a good climber. I can bring it down.”  The fourth brought his horse and wagon and the third fellow climbed the tree, drilled a hole in the moon, slipped a string through the hole and lowered it to the ground. When the shining ball lay in the wagon, they covered it with a cloth so that no one would discover their theft.  Happily they brought it to their country where they hung it on the bough of a giant oak. Old and young alike rejoiced at the illumination that the new lamp spread over all the fields, rooms and chambers. The gnomes came out of their caves and the elves in their red jackets danced a roundelay on the meadow. 

The four chaps took care of the moon with oil, cleaned the wick and in exchange received one taler weekly. But when they became old men, one fell ill and knew his end was near.  He ordered that the quarter of the moon that belonged to him should be laid with him in his grave. When he died, the mayor climbed the tree and with the hedge clippers cut down a quarter of the moon and laid it in the coffin. The light of the moon was now diminished, but not by much. When the second fellow died, his quarter was placed in his grave and the light decreased. It became even weaker after the death of the third fellow, who likewise took away his portion. When the fourth man was carried to his grave, the black night returned. When people went out at night without a lantern, they stumbled into each other and bumped their heads.

When the four parts of the moon were reunited in the underworld where darkness had always reigned, the dead became uneasy and awoke from their sleep. They were amazed at what they could see. Their eyes had become so weak that they could not bear the light of the sun. They got up, rejoiced and began their old lives all over again. Some went out dancing, others went to the pubs, where they drank wine, got drunk, raged and bickered, and finally lifted their bludgeons and beat each other. The pandemonium became more and more bitter and finally rose to the heavens. 

St. Peter, who guarded heaven’s gate, believed the underworld was in revolt and called out to the heavenly host.  “Depose the evil one,” he cried for “he and his disciples shall enter the place of the blessed.” But they never arrived so he mounted his steed and rode out beyond heaven’s gate to the underworld.  There he calmed the dead, commanded them back into their graves and took the moon away, which he then hung up in the heavens.

Happy St. Patrick' Day!

Rapunzel: Read a Fairy Tale!

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