Tales of Treasure

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
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visit LibriVox dot org. Folklore and Legends Scandinavian author Various
story tales of treasure there are still to be seen

(00:27):
near Flinsbourg, the ruins of a very ancient building. Two
soldiers once stood on guard there, But when one of
them was gone to the town, it chanced that a
tall white woman came to the other and spoke to him,
and said, I am an unhappy spirit who has wandered
here these many hundred years, but never shall I find

(00:49):
rest in the grave. She then informed him that under
the walls of the castle a great treasure was concealed,
which only three men in the world could take up,
and that he was one of the three. The man,
who now saw that his fortune was made, promised to
follow her directions in every particular, whereupon she desired him

(01:09):
to come to the same place at twelve o'clock the
following night. The other soldier, meanwhile, had come back from
the town just as the appointment was made with his comrade.
He said nothing about what unseen he had seen and heard,
but went early the next evening and concealed himself amongst
some bushes. When his fellow soldier came with his spade

(01:32):
and shovel, he found the white woman at the appointed place,
but when she perceived that they were watched, she put
off the appointed business until the next evening. The man
who had lain on the watch to no purpose, went
home and suddenly fell ill, And as he thought he
should die of that sickness, he sent for his comrade
and told him how he knew all, and conjured him

(01:55):
not to have anything to do with witches or with spirits,
but rather to see council of the priest, who was
a prudent man. The other thought it would be the
wisest plan to follow the advice of his comrade, so
he went and discovered the whole affair to the priest, who, however,
desired him to do as the spirit had bidden him.
Only he was to make her lay the first hand

(02:18):
to the work herself. The pointed time was now arrived,
and the man was at the place when the white
woman had pointed out to him the spot, and they
were just beginning the work. She said to him that
when the treasure was taken up, when half of it
should be his, but that he must divide the other
half equally between the church and the poor. Then the

(02:39):
devil entered into the man and awakened his covetousness, so
that he cried out, what shall I not have the whole?
Scarcely had he spoken, when the figure, with a most
mournful wail, passed in a blue flame over the moat
of the castle, and the man fell sick and died
within three days. The story soon spread through the country,

(03:03):
and a poor scholar who heard it thought he had
now an opportunity of making his fortune. He therefore went
at midnight to the place, and there he met with
a wandering white woman, and he told her why he
was come, and offered his services to raise the treasure. She, however,
answered that he was not one of the three, one
of whom alone could free her, and that the wall

(03:25):
in which was the money would still remain so firm
that no human being should be able to break it.
She told him that at some future time he should
be rewarded for his good inclination. And it is said,
when a long time after he had passed by that
place and thought with compassion on the sufferings of the
unblest woman. He fell in his face over a great

(03:46):
heap of money, which soon put him again on his feet.
The wall still remains undisturbed, and as often as any
one has attempted to throw it down, whatever's thrown down
in the day is replaced again in the night. Three
men went once in the night time to Clemhoy to
try their luck for a dragon watches there over a

(04:08):
great treasure. They dug into the ground, giving each other
a strict charge not to utter a word whatever might happen,
otherwise all their laborer would be in vain. When they
had dug pretty deep, their spades struck against the copper chest.
They then made signs to one another, and all with
both hands laid hold of a great copper ring that

(04:31):
was on the top of the chest, and pulled up
the treasure. When they had just got it into their possession,
one of them forgot the necessity of silence and shouted
out one pull more, and we have it that very
instant the chest flew away out of their hands to
the lake store up. But as they all held hard
on the ring, it remained in their grasp. They went

(04:52):
and fastened the ring on the door of Saint Olav's church,
and there it remains to this very day. Near dang
Strung there is a hill which is called Dangburg Dawns.
Of this hill, it is related that it is at
all times covered with a blue mist, and that under
it there lies a large copper kettle full of money.

(05:14):
One night two men went there to dig after this treasure,
and they had got so far as to they hold
of the handle of the kettle. All sorts of wonderful
things began then to appear to disturb them at their work.
One time a coach drawn by four black horses drove
by them. Then they saw a black dog with a
fiery tongue. Then there came a cock drawing a load

(05:37):
of hay. Still the men persisted in not letting themselves speak,
and still dug on without stopping. At last a fellow
came limping up to them and said, see, Dangstrup is
on fire. When the men looked towards the town, it
appeared exactly as if the whole place were in bright flame.
Then at length one of the men forgot to keep silence,

(05:59):
and the moment he uttered an exclamation. The treasure sank
deeper and deeper, and as often since as any attempt
has been made to get it up, the trolls have,
by their spells and artifices, prevented its success. The end
folklore legends Scandinavian author various story tales of treasure