They say that in the last years of the papacy in the east of Iceland in Borgarfjord on the Kvol farm there lived a rich couple. They had a lot of livestock and kept several workers. Not far from this farm in the mountains lived a skessa; people never considered it dangerous.
But then one Christmas night, the owner of Kvol left the house and did not return, they searched for him for a long time, but they never found him. And a year later, again at Christmas, one of the workers disappeared. He was not found either, and no one knew what became of him. After this incident, the widow and all her household left Kvol, but she sent people there every day to feed the cattle. In the spring, the widow returned to the farm and lived there all summer. For the winter, she was going to move next door to Gilsaurvellir, so that her workers would have the convenience of caring for the livestock that remained in Kvola and transporting hay there. The widow had four cows, one calved at the end of summer. Two days before leaving Kwol, the widow had a dream. She dreamed that an unfamiliar woman in an old Icelandic outfit, not rich in appearance, came to her, greeted her in a friendly manner and said:
“One of your cows has already calved, but my cow won’t calve until Christmas.” My three kids are without milk, so I ask you: every day, when you start feeding your workers, pour me some milk into the jug that you will find on the shelf in your closet. I know that in two days you are going to move to Gilsárvellir because you are afraid to stay here for the winter. This is understandable, because you don’t know why your husband and employee disappeared during those winters. But I will tell you this secret: the giantess who lives nearby on Mount Stadarfjall has given birth to a child. He is very angry and capricious and demands human flesh every Christmas. So the giantess had to drag away first your husband, and then the worker. This winter she will drag someone away again. But if you stay in Kvol and fulfill my request, I will give you good advice and help drive away this evil spirits from your place.
Having said this, the woman disappeared, and the hostess woke up and thought about her dream. It was daylight, she got up and found a wooden jug on a shelf in the closet. The hostess filled it with fresh milk and put it back on the shelf. The little jar immediately disappeared, and in the evening it reappeared in its original place.
Almost until Christmas, the housewife filled the jug with milk, and on the night of Torlauk's mass she again had a dream. The same woman came to her, greeted her in a friendly manner and said:
“You turned out to be not curious and didn’t even try to find out who has been taking milk from you for so long.” But now I will reveal: I am an aulva and I live in a hill next to your house. You acted nobly, but I don’t need your milk anymore, my cow calved yesterday. Accept from me in gratitude the trifle that I put on the shelf where I used to put my little jar. And I will also teach you how to save yourself from certain death. On Christmas Day, at exactly midnight, you suddenly want to leave the house - do not resist this desire and go out. In the yard you will see a huge ugly skessa, it will grab you, carry you across the meadow, ford the river and head towards Mount Stadarfjall. Let her move away from the river, and then you will say: “What am I hearing?” She will ask: “What do you hear?” You will say: “I hear someone calling: “Mama Gedliver! Mama Gedliver!” She will be surprised because no one knows her name and will say: “This must be my baby!” Then she will throw you on the ground and rush home. While the giantess is busy with you, I will torture her degenerate a little, but by the time she arrives I will disappear. And you, as soon as she lets you go, run as fast as you can to the river and try to get to the sandbank. There the giantess will catch up with you and say: “What a stupid sheep, she couldn’t wait!” - and again drags you to his cave. Let her move away, and then you will say, like the first time: “What do I hear?” She will ask: “What do you hear?” You say: “I hear someone calling: “Mama Gedliver! Mama Gedliver!” “This is my cub!” - she will say, abandon you and run to her cave. At this point, without wasting any time, run straight to the church. You need to get to the church before she returns. She will be very angry because I will kill her child, and she will not return to let you go home. And if you don’t have enough strength, I will help you.
When the hostess woke up, it was already light; she went into the closet and found a bundle on the shelf, in which lay a beautiful, skillfully sewn dress. She took the dress and hid it in the chest. Christmas Eve arrived, everything was quiet and calm. At midnight on Christmas Day, the inhabitants of Kvol were already fast asleep, only the hostess could not sleep. Suddenly she really wanted to leave the house. She did not resist this desire and went out, and at that very moment a huge skessa grabbed her, jumped with her across the meadow and forded across the river. And then everything happened exactly as the aulva had predicted. Here the skessa abandoned the mistress of Kvol for the second time, and she ran to the church. And then it was as if someone had grabbed her by the arms, so it became easy for her to run. Only suddenly stones fell with a roar along the rocky slope of Stadarfjall, and in the bright light of the month, the hostess Kvola saw a giantess rushing through the hollow towards her. The woman was seized with such horror that she would certainly have fallen, but someone lifted her and carried her all the way to the church. There they pushed her inside and locked the door behind her. There were a lot of people in the church, the bell ringer rang the bell as hard as he could. The porch shook from someone’s heavy tread, and people saw an ugly skessa in the window, who shouted when she heard the bell ringing:
- Oh crap! – and turned away, kicking out a large piece of the church wall. - May you fail! – she added angrily.
Mistress Kvola stayed in the church throughout matins and mass, and then went home, and nothing more is known about her.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru