One peasant, a good friend of Pastor Eirik, was returning one spring from Njardvik after winter fishing. He rode on horseback, and he kept the horse with him all winter. On the way, he stopped in Vokhsous to see Pastor Eirik. He came out to the threshold, hugged the peasant and asked how things were going. The peasant replied that things were not going well - the horse had grown thin over the winter and was poorly shod.
“Still, you need to hurry home,” said Eirik, “your wife is dying, an evil spirit has possessed her.”
- What should I do? - The peasant was frightened.
Eirik walked up to his horse and spat on its hooves.
“Nothing, go,” he said. “The horse endures for now, and it seems to me that it is hardy.” As you approach the barn, you will hear the screams of your wife there. Run there quickly, don’t say hello, but just tell the spirit: “Eirik from Vokhsous wants to see you,” and see what happens.
The peasant thanked him for his good advice and left. His horse ran briskly, and he arrived home the same day. Women's screams could be heard from the barn. The peasant did everything as Pastor Eirik told him. His wife immediately felt better, and soon she completely recovered.
That same evening, someone knocked loudly on Pastor Eirik’s house; he himself responded to the knock and returned to the room a little later. They asked him who came.
“Yes, this is for me, on business,” answered Eirik.
And when the peasant went fishing again, he generously thanked Pastor Eirik for his help.
One day, a young married peasant from the Vestmannaeyjar Islands lost his wife. It was like this.
One morning she got up and, while her husband was still sleeping, went to make a fire. The peasant woke up and could not understand why his wife had not returned for so long; he was even annoyed. He looked in the house - she was nowhere to be found. He went out into the street and began asking everyone, but his wife disappeared into thin air. The entire village went out to search, but she was nowhere to be found.
Out of grief, the peasant fell ill, stopped eating, sleeping, and day by day he became weaker; it was hard for him to live, not knowing what fate befell his wife. People believed that his end was not far off, and consolations only made him feel worse. But then one day a friend comes to him and says:
“If you gather your strength and get up, I will give you the right advice on how to find out what happened to your wife.”
“I’ll do it with pleasure,” the peasant answers.
“Then get up, eat and go to Vokhsous to see Pastor Eirik.” He'll tell you exactly where your wife went.
The peasant rejoiced at the good advice, ate, became a little more cheerful, and hit the road. So he arrived in Vokhsous. Pastor Eirik came out, hugged the newcomer and asked what his business was. The peasant told the pastor that his wife had disappeared.
“I can’t say right away what happened to your wife, stay with me for a few days, I’ll try to help you,” said Pastor Eirik.
The peasant agreed.
Two or three days passed. And so Eirik brings two white horses - one beautiful and well-groomed, and the other skinny and shabby. Eirik orders the skinny one to be saddled for himself, and the sleek one for the peasant.
“Well, let’s go,” he says.
“Is it really possible to ride on such a bed?” the peasant was surprised.
But Eirik pretended that he had not heard anything, and they set off. A strong wind was blowing and rain was pouring down. When they passed the mouth of the river, Oder ran faster. The peasant tried his best to keep up with Eirik, but he very soon disappeared from sight. The peasant rode alone for a long time and finally arrived at the Circumferential Rocks. And they are called that because they stand on the border of two districts - Aurtness and Gudlbringi. Eirik was already there. He opened the thick book and placed it on the largest stone. The bad weather was still raging, but not a single drop of rain fell on the pages of the book. Eirik walked around the stone against the sun, muttering something to himself.
“Look carefully, your wife will appear now,” he said to the peasant.
Here a lot of people came out of the stones and rocks. The peasant looked at each and every one, but his wife was not among them.
“She’s not here,” he said to Eirik.
“Thank you for coming, and go in peace,” Eirik addressed the newcomers.
With these words they disappeared. Eirik turned a few pages in the book, and everything repeated itself all over again. Then Eirik summoned the spirits for the third time.
“Are you sure that your wife didn’t appear here the first, second, or third time?” - he asked the peasant when the last spirit disappeared.
The peasant replied that she definitely wasn’t there.
“It’s no joke to help you,” said Eirik, turning gloomy. “After all, I called here all the spirits of the earth and sea that I know.”
Then he took out a catechism from his bosom, looked into it and said:
— I’m calling the spouses from Khayukhlid! He placed the open catechism on top of the book and walked around the stone again towards the sun. And then a married couple appeared, they were carrying a glass house, and in that house the peasant’s wife was sitting.
“You did a bad thing when you took your wife away from her husband!” - Eirik said to the spirits. - Go to your place and don’t do that in the future. And let my anger be your punishment.
The spirits disappeared, and Eirik broke the glass house and set the woman free. Then he put her on his horse behind him, collected the books and wanted to ride, but the peasant stopped him.
“Let my wife come with me,” he asked. “Your bed can’t take you both.”
“This is still unknown,” answered Eirik, touched the reins, and the horse and its riders disappeared in the east of the Lava Field. The peasant also went to Vokhsous. Eirik was already waiting for him there. At night, he laid the peasant’s wife on his bed, and he lay down next to him on a folding cot.
In the morning the peasant began to get ready to go home.
“It’s unreasonable to let you go alone with this woman, I’ll see her off myself,” said Eirik.
The peasant thanked him. Pastor Eirik sat down again on his bed, placed the woman in front of him and set off. The peasant followed. And this time Eirik quickly galloped forward, and the peasant did not see him until he reached the house. In the evening, the peasant and his wife went to bed, and Eirik guarded them. For three nights he guarded the woman and every morning he gave her a special drink so that she would remember everything that happened to her.
“It was not in vain that I stayed awake these three nights and especially the last one,” he said to the peasant goodbye. “But from now on, your wife is no longer in any danger.”
After this, Pastor Eirik returned to his home, having received rich gifts from the peasant.
Here is another case, a little similar to the previous one. A peasant couple from Elfus once traveled south to Innesjakaupstadir. On the way back they spent the night on the plateau. In the morning the peasant went to get the horses, and when he returned, his wife was not in the tent. He looked for her, looked for her, did not find her, and went home alone, not himself from grief. He was advised to contact Pastor Eirik.
“Go home,” Pastor Eirik said to the peasant, “take the tent in which you spent the night then, and all the things you had with you.” Place the tent in the same place where it stood so that each peg falls into the same hole.
The peasant left and did everything as he was told. Then Pastor Eirik came to him on the plateau, walked around the tent against the sun, then went inside and asked the peasant to see if his wife had appeared. The peasant looked and saw: he was walking towards the tent of people, visibly or invisibly, but his wife was not among them. He told Eirik about this. Then Eirik left the tent, thanked the spirits and asked them to disperse. The spirits immediately disappeared.
“All the spirits of the earth came here except the couple from Herdubraid,” said Eirik.
He returned to the tent again, and a long time passed before the couple appeared, bringing with them the peasant's wife. Eirik came out of the tent and took the woman from them.
“Go away and leave this woman alone,” he said. “It’s a bad custom to take a wife away from her husband and generally take people away from the village.” Promise that old Eirik will never hear of such tricks again.
The couple reluctantly made a promise and disappeared, and the peasant and his wife went home. Eirik saw them off for a while and returned to Vokhsous. Since then, evil spirits have never bothered this woman again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru