The Legend of the White Reindeer 
When old Sveggum built the Vand-dam on 
the Lower Hoifjeld, just above the Utrovand, 
and set his 7zdesten a-going, he supposed that 
he was the owner of it all. But some one was 
there before him. And in and out of the spout- 
ing stream this some one dashed, and sang 
songs that he made up to fit the place and the 
time. He skipped from s&yjeke to skyeke of the 
wheel, and did many things which Sveggum 
could set down only to luck—whatever that is ; 
and some said that Sveggum’s luck was a 
Wheel-troll, a Water-fairy, with a brown coat 
and a white beard, one that lived on land or 
in water, as he pleased. 
But most of Sveggum’s neighbors saw only 
a Fossekal, the little Waterfall Bird that came 
each year and danced in the stream, or dived 
where the pool is deep. And maybe both were 
right, for some of the very oldest peasants will 
tell you that a Fairy-troll may take the form of 
a man or the form of a bird. Only this bird 
lived a life no bird can live, and sang songs 
that men never had sung in Norway. Wonder- 
ful vision had he, and sights he saw that man 
never saw. For the Fieldfare would build be- 
S21 
