In reading this story I see that it is from an area in Norway that some of my ancestors are from..Hjuksebo..do you know how I can get in contact with the historian referred to in the story, Jon Hvitsand? -----Original Message----- From: Margit <margit@eot.com> To: NOR-OPPLAND-L@rootsweb.com <NOR-OPPLAND-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Thursday, November 06, 2003 6:44 PM Subject: [Oppland] Stavangerflint & Margit Hjuske >Hi all, >I love to collect Stavangerflint plates and have purchased a few on ebay >over the years. The other night I was looking on ebay and found one. I asked >Olaf to translate what it said, then I looked at the picture of the back of >the plate and it said Stolt Margit. I decided there and then I had to have >the plate. I could buy it for $12, but instead bid and got it for $8. You >can view it here: ><http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2668518089&ssPage Name=AD >ME:B:EOAB:US:6> >I am happy as a kid at Christmas, especially when Olaf translated the story >he found below and also a song that is written about Stolt Margit! :-)) I >finally have met another Margit! >Margit > > >Margit Hjukse > In the place once called Saude Parish, there lived a maiden, on >the splendid farm Hjukse in Hjuksebø. Her name was Margit, and the legend >about her has inspired both verse and song. It is not exactly known when she >lived but some would believe it was in the 1700s, even though the melody has >a sort of medieval sound about it. Historian Jon Hvitsand in Bø believes he >has found that she was a daughter Torstein Sud-Aurud and Ingrid >Halvorsdottir Jønsi. Margit seems later to have gotten a man by the name >of Tord as stepfather, when her real father died in 1776. > Margit made herself ready one day to go to church, says the legend. She >saddled her horse, and set off in the direction of Bø. But when she came to >a rocky cliff, there stood the Mountain King and spoke to her, with >his long, white beard. The Mountain King tempted her with a silver-gilded >chair, then he gave her two red skirts. Twelve maidens came and combed >her hair and the thitreenth set a gold crown upon her head. The Mountain >King then poured her the finest wine -the elixir of forgetfulness- and >this bewitched Margit so she remained in the mountain with the Mountain King >as husband. Here she bore three sons and daughters. > But one day, after a time, she heard the church bells from Bø. They >awakened Margit, and she longed to go home to her family. She asked for >permission to go to visit what she had missed. Permission she got, but she >could not be away for more than an hour or two. > Margit went to Hjukse, and there she met her father, who saw to his dear >daughter for the first time in 14 years. "I have wept for you so many a >tear," said Tord Hjukse and set Margit down in her mother's chair, which now >stood empty. Margit felt so happy to be at home and free, at the same time >she felt a deep sorrow about her mother, who had died in grief over the >years. > She was away much longer than was permitted by the Mountain King. But >then came the Mountain King as quick as a flash, and asked: "Are you not >coming home to the children tonight?" To resist the Mountain King >was impossible for Margit. He had too much power over her. So Margit had to >leave her home and father for ther last time. "Fare well now, then, all in >my home. Now I will never come to you again." And so, they went back into >the mountain. > This is a powerful story, and one must be careful about de-mythifying >such things. But a de-mythification of this legend, which does not diminish >the story is this: Margit was, as is knowwn, from a grand >farm, with proud and religious parents. In the communities at that time, >dowries were important and Margit, as the only heir to the farm, certainly >gave great expectations and wishes as to who she was to marry. Probably she >would have chosen one of the Christian and rich sons of yeoman in the >community, so that both Margit and the Hjukse were won. > But Margit did not follow this expectation. She fell in love with a >heathen and cotter under Svalbjør on the moors, and she wished to marry >him. But her parents absolutely forbade this, and would rather disown her if >she wished to do so. Margit was certain of herself, and one day she readied >herself and said she would ride to the church in Bø. In this Margit lied, >for she did not ride there, but up to her lover at Svalbjør. There she >remained and had several children in short order. Nor did Margit and the >cotter marry, and they lived as her parents saw it, in great sin and shame. > After a time, she got the urge to go home to see her parents. Perhaps >they would be happy to see their grandchildren. But when she got there, she >was not allowed to go back up to the heathen at Svalbjør. But the cotter >came and brought her back. This the parents did not like at all. The parents >had made up a story that she had been bewitched, to explain away that it had >gone so badly with their daughter. Later Margit died in childbirth. The >cotter went to the priest and asked to have her buried in consecrated >ground, but the priest said that she had not held to the church in her life, >so she could die as she had lived. > Musician Lars Fykerud (1860-1902) from Sauherad was very entranced with >the story about Margit Hjukse, either for one reason or the other, or >perhaps both the stories he had heard. Perhaps he recognized in himself as >bewitched by the music he worked on. He composed a stirring melody of the >legend and called it 'Margit Hjukse.' > >Song: > >Margit Hjukse > >Stolt Margjit ho reidde seg til kyrkja å gå, tidi fell meg >longe, so tok ho den vegen til fjølle låg. Det er eg som ber sorgi so >tronge. > >Proud Marit readied herself to go to church, in good time, so she took where >the mountain way. It is I who bears the grief so heavily. > >Og som ho no kom fram med bergjevegg, då kom bergjekongen med det lange, >kvite skjegg. > >The as she came to a mountain cliff, the came the mountain king with his >long, white beard. > >Og bergjekongen tukka fram sylvforgylte stol: "set deg der stolt Margjit og >kvil din fot!" > >And the mountain king brought forth a solver-gilded chair: "Sit here, Proud >Margit, and rest your feet!" > >Så var ho i berget i åri dei ni, og ho fødde sønir og døtrar tri. > >Then she remained in the mountain for years nine, and she bore sons and >daughters three. > >Og Margjit ho sat med sin handtein og spann, då høyrde ho Bøherads >kyrkjeklokkur klang. > >And Margit she sat with a spindle and span, when she heard Bøherad's church >bells ring. > >Stolt Margit ho tala til bergjekongen so: "Å må eg få lov til min fader å >gå?" > >Proud Margit she spoke to the mountain king so: "May I be allowed to go to >my father?" > >"Å du må få lov til din fader å sjå, men du må 'kje vera burte hot ein time >hell tvo." > >Yes, you may go your father to see, but you must not be away more than an >hour or two.! > >Å då som ho kom der gangand' i gård, hennar sæle fader ute for henne står. > >And then as she came walking onto the farm, her blessed father stood >outside. > >So leidde han inn stolt Margjit med glede og gråt, so sette han henne i sin >moders stol. > >Then he led in Proud Margit with happiness and tears, and set her in her >mother's chair. > >Men då kom bergjekongen snøgt som ein eid: "Kjeme du inkje heimatt til bonni >i kveld?" > >But then came the mountain king quick as a wink: "Come you not home to >prayers tonight?" > >"Fare no vel då alle i min heim! no kjeme eg alli til dikkon meir." > >"Fare now well then all in my home! now come I never to you more." > >Stolt Margjit ho sette seg på gangaren grå, ho gret fleire tårir hell hesten >ha hår > >Proud Margit, set off on her gray way, she wept more tears than a horse has >hairs. > >Music to the song: <http://home.t-online.de/home/pheld/1skand.htm> > > > >==== NOR-OPPLAND Mailing List ==== >Visit http://www.fellesraad.com/ >Norwegian-American Bygdelagenes Fellesraad > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >