The Origin of the Lake of Tiis

Legends of foreign lakes afford an occasional parallel, not in detail, but in the idea of a supernatural origin, to these wild stories of our own. The following one, borrowed from Denmark, being curious, we give it welcome as a specimen:—

THE ORIGIN OF THE LAKE OF TIIS

Soon after the preaching of Christianity in Zealand, a church was raised in Kund, and the cheerful clang of the bells was often heard, scattering their holy music abroad, and exciting devotion. But the chimes, as all other things connected with Christian ceremonial, were very distasteful to a troll who haunted the neighbourhood; and at last his annoyance became so intense, that he crossed over to Funen, and there abode.

Some time after he met a man from Kund, and made many inquiries about his old neighbours. At last, seeming to recollect something on a sudden, he changed the subject, and said to the man, "Will you oblige me by delivering this letter which I am dropping into your pocket, without showing you the address? There is a little secret about it, and you will oblige me by throwing it over the churchyard wall in Kund, where my friend is already expecting it." The man promised to do as desired, but on his return he forgot all about it. At last, being one day out in the low meadow, which now forms the basin of Lake Tiis, he suddenly recollected the letter, and, forgetting the injunction, he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it. He observed with surprise that drops of water were trickling out of the corners. But terror soon succeeded to surprise when it flew open, and a mighty torrent began to rush from it. He had time, however, to escape before the hollow of the land in which he stood was filled with water. The revengeful troll had enclosed the whole lake in that pestilent letter; and if his evil design had succeeded, the church, and perhaps the whole town of Kund, would have been inundated.

End of this Story