In the town of Vinje, in the province of Telemark, there is Lake Totak. In winter it does not freeze until Christmas.
In the old days there was a small farm on the shore of this lake, and a peasant named Dire Vo lived on it. There was a rumor about him that he was not afraid of anything in the world.
One Christmas Eve Dire Vo was sitting on his farm. The time was approaching midnight, when suddenly a terrible roar was heard from across the lake. Everyone who was on the farm was scared, but Dira Wo didn’t care. He calmly left the house, launched the boat and swam to the other side of the lake to see what was happening there.
There was darkness - even if you poked out your eyes, Dire Vo could only make out some shadow in the darkness. Dire Vo guessed that this was a troll. And he stands right next to the water and doesn’t know how to get across the lake. The troll Dire Vo saw and shouted:
-Who are you going to be?
“I’m called Dire from the Vo farm, but who are you and why did you come here?”
“And I am a troll from Ashaug,” the giant answers.
- And where are you going? - Dire asks him.
- Yes, I need to go to Glomshaug, my bride is waiting for me there. Maybe you can take me across the lake? - says the troll.
- Why not transport it, sit down.
But as soon as the troll stepped into the boat with one foot, the boat immediately sank under the water.
- Eh, but, but, take it easy! - shouts Dire.
- Okay, have it your way. If you want it, I will shrink and become lighter,” the giant answers.
So Dire transported the troll across the lake and said goodbye to him:
“But I still want to see what you really are like.” Show yourself in your true form, I wonder how tall you really are.
“I don’t have time right now, and I don’t want to scare you.” Come to this place in the morning and you will see what I am like: I will leave something for you as a keepsake.
Dire Vo comes ashore on Christmas morning and sees something like a bag lying at the bottom of the boat. I looked closer: it was a thumb from a troll's glove. “Why waste something,” Dire thought, “everything will be useful on the farm,” and from then on he began to keep grain in that “mitten.” It was no small mitten, since two full bushels of grain fit into one of its fingers.
[A bushel is a measure of volume equal to approximately 16 liters.]
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru