l. The sow was
simply vicious. Kristen at once offered to drive the devil out of the
sow. He instructed the Bonde and his men not to open the door of the
stable in which the pig was, even if they saw him (Kristen) come and
knock and shout, as the devil would take upon him his appearance, to
enable him to escape better. Kristen went into the stable and began to
exorcise. The sow, however, rushed at him and chased him round the
stable, and every time Kristen passed the door, he shouted to the
Bonde and his men to open it, but they, pretending to follow his
instructions, would not. At last, when Kristen was nearly dead with
fatigue, they opened the door. Of course, Kristen never heard the last
of that sow."

"That is not a bad story," said Hardy.

"You have read Holberg's comedies?" said the Pastor. "In one of them
you will recollect a thief is discovered from amongst the other
domestics of the house, by their being ranged behind the man who had
been asked to discover the thief, and who tells them all to hold their
hands up. He asks if they are all holding their hands up, as his back
is towards them. They all reply, 'Yes;' and the man then asks if the
person who has stolen the silver cup is holding up his hand. The thief
replied 'Yes,' thus discovering himself. There is a story of a watch
being stolen in a large household in Jutland. The white witch was sent
for, and he discovered the thief by ranging the domestics round a
table and making each domestic put a finger on the table, over which
he held a sharp axe. He asked each if they had stolen the watch, as
the axe would fall and cut off the finger of the one who had. He
detected the thief by his at once removing his finger."

"Verily a wise man," said Hardy. "In Norway I used to meet with the
word 'Dvaerg,' as applied to supernatural beings.

"Dvaerg is dwarf in Danish," replied the Pastor; "but there are many
stories of them, and in a superstitious sense. Dvaerg are analogous to
Underjordiske, or underground people. The tradition of their origin
is, that Eve was one day washing her children at a spring, when God
suddenly called her, at which she was frightened, and hid two of the
children that were yet unwashed, as she did not wish Him to see them
when dirty. God said, 'Are all your children here?' and she replied,
'Yes.' God said, 'What is hidden from Me shall be hidden from men;'
and from these two children are descended the Dvaerg and Underjordiske.
The most stri