A woman who was born in the 1860's
in the village of Bro once told how her grandfather had been hit by
a troll. Her grandfather it seems was a very good fiddler, and was thus often
employed to play at dances. On one such night, with his fiddle tucked under
his arm, he was going home after a playing in Vestkinde. He picked a shortcut
that went straight right through Bro church-yard as his home was directly
on the far side. He had not taken many steps in the graveyard when he saw
a pig walking along next to him on his left hand side. At that time it was
not all that very unusual to see pigs out in the middle of the night because
they were allowed to go walking around where-ever they chose, so at first
he was not surprised at all. But after looking closer at his companion he
began to understand that something was wrong. They walked on silently each
next to each other until they came to the church gate. Here the man said aloud:
-"You go your way! I'll go mine!" As he uttered these words, he was hit hard
on his left shoulder, - so hard that he almost was knocked off his feet. The
pig had vanished. The next morning his shoulder still hurt very badly. When
it was examined clearly visible were red marks from five fingers. These marks
stayed on the man all his life, and when bad weather was on the way his shoulder
always hurt.
Source : Gotlandish folk tale
retold by Shaun D. L. Brassfield-Thorpe. Original sources Gotländska sägner
uppt. av P.A.Säve , Gustavson & Nyman.; Sagornas ö, Nihlén.