Hardingfela. 37 
The prominent part which the fiddle plays in the popular 
poetry and legends, also accounts for a long life upon the soil 
of Norway. 
The Harding-fiddle has always remained a peasant’s fiddle, 
and it was not till comparatively recent times that it became 
known to the townspeople. The first time recorded a *slaatt” 
was written down, was in the year 1695. Four musicians from 
Bergen heard a “Halling” being played without their seeing 
the fiddler, and they firmly believed that it was subterranean 
music. 
