18 
Gabriel  Gustafson. 
[No.  7. 
When  it,  as  has  been  stated  previously,  is  probable  that  the 
Persian  article  is  a  modern  specimen  of  an  apparatus  which  must 
have  been  used  in  that  country  in  far  older  times,  it  is  conceivable 
that  also  here,  in  the  North,  where  the  apparatus  was  known  in 
the  early  iron  age,  it  has  possibly  been  preserved  through  the  in- 
tervening  ages.  It  might  therefore  be  worth  while  to  search  for 
parallels  among  objects  in  the  keeping  of  the  peasantry  of  our  own 
time.  In  the  Museum  here  we  do  not  possess  any  such  article,  and 
neither  is  any  known  in  the  Christiania  museums,  and  just  as  little 
by  any  of  the  peasants  and  others  whom  I  have  hacl  an  opportunity 
of  questioning.  Dr.  J.  Undset.  of  Christiania,  thinks,  however, 
that  he  has  somewhere  seen  something  similar,  and,  Mr.  P.  Gr. 
VlSTKAND,  Amanuensis  in  Stockholm  has  also  informed  me  "that  he 
fancies  he  has  somewhere  seen  something  like  it" .  In  Nordiska  Museet 
in  Stockholm  there  is  no  parallel  to  it  to  be  found;  I  have  to 
thank  Dr.  A.  Hazelius  for  his  kindness  in  having  made  a  search 
into  the  subject,  in  the  splendid  collections  of  that  museum. 
Every where  in  the  Northern  countries  there  is,  however,  found 
something  called  "tanke-ring"  (ring  puzzle),  "narre-stikke"  (decep- 
tive  object),  "dagdvelja"  (time  killer)  &c,  but  everyone  of  them 
that  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing,  differs  materially  from 
the  apparatus  here  spoken  of.  In  these  the  question  is  to  put 
together  and  again  release  lo  ose  pieces  of  wood,  and  there  is  no 
question  of  carving  out  of  a  single  block  of  wood.  For  comparison 
I  will,  however,  speak  of  some  specimens  of  that  kind  of  puzzle. 
Fig.  12  shows  such  an  article  from  Sætersdalen,  which  is  now  pre- 
served in  the  collection  of  antiquities  in  Christiania  University 
(No.  2910).  It  consists  of  eight  pieces  of  wood  of  similar  size  (22 
cm.  long)  and  shape,  in  whose  one  side  there  is  a  deep  incision. 
two  pieces  of  the  same  shape  but  a  little  longer,  and  one  piece  45 
cm.  long  with  the  point  diminishing,  whose  lower  part  is  used  as  a 
shaft  or  handle.  All  these  parts  may  be  put  together  in  the  manner 
shown  in  the  illustration.1)  In  Sætersdalen,  where  this  puzzle  had 
been  preserved  for  a  long  time,  it  was  called  "Thorshammer". 
although  the  shape  is  quite  different  from  the  Thorshammers 
known  from  the  time  of  the  Vikings  (vide  e.  g.  Montelius,  Anti- 
quités    Suédoises,   hg.   624 — 628);    it    is,    however,  conceivable 
')  I  have  to  thank  Prof.  0.  Rygh,  for  the  dra  whig,  description  and  in- 
formation, concerning  this  puzzle,  as  well  as  for  permission  to  publish  it. 
