er land and water, and the halloo of the
riders, the snorting of the horses, the rattling of the iron bits,
occasion a tumult which is heard from far. Whenever they throw a saddle
over a house, there must some one die, and wherever they perceive that
there will be bloodshed or murder, they enter, and seating themselves on
the posts by the door, make a noise and laugh in their sleeve. When one
hears the Aasgaardsreija coming, one must throw oneself on the ground
and pretend that one sleeps. If one does this not, one is carried away
by the troop, and struck down in a fainting-fit in a place far distant
from where one was. People often, after this, are low-spirited and
melancholy all their days. But the virtuous, who throw themselves down
immediately on the approach of the troop, suffer nothing, excepting that
every one of the airy company spits upon him in passing; when the troop
has passed by, then one spits again, and the affair has then no further
consequence."

Harald added that this troop was commonly out at Christmas, and nothing
was more possible than that they themselves might meet it on this very
evening, and in that case Susanna had nothing more to do than to
dismount from the sledge, throw herself with her nose on the ground, and
bury her face in the snow, till the wild herd were gone over.[5]

Susanna declared, it is true, that she had not any faith in the story;
but Harald said so gravely that one of these days she would see that the
affair was true, and Susanna was naturally so inclined to believe in the
marvellous, that she very often, especially in narrow passes of the
valleys, directed her glance to the heights, half fearing, half wishing,
that the black horses, with the fiery eyes and the red-hot bridlebits,
might make their appearance. But she only saw bright stars look down
upon her, now and then dimmed by the Northern lights, which waved their
shining, fleeting veils over the vault of heaven.

Arrived at Semb, she saw the customary faint light in the windows of her
lady. Susanna's heart was affected, and with a deep sigh she said, "Ah,
how wicked this world is! To lay yet stones upon the burden, and to make
misfortune into crime. What, what can we do to shield her from the
attacks of malice?"

"Madame Brun shall at least not spread her lies further," said Harald.
"I will drive to her to-morrow morning, compel her to swallow her own
words, and terrify her from ever letting them again pass her lips."