Once upon a time, probably on the outer side of Senja, they were expecting a storm. This was late in the late autumn, perhaps at the end of November or the beginning of December. There were storm lights in the sky and then it fell completely still. The fog vas like a wall out in the sea, and occasionally one could see flashes of lightning far out there. A storm was coming, and probably not just a little one.
\nThey sat down at the sea shed, mending nets and discussing from which direction the wind would come from. 'He\u2019s coming from the north,' Petter claimed, 'when the lightning flashes out at sea like that, he\u2019s coming from the north.' Not everyone agreed with this, and it turned into a long discussion with a lot of joking around.
\nInside the nook of the shed stood an old boat stove that they eagerly fired up, and on top of it stood the coffee kettle and roasted. Yes, because this was before people had thermos flasks, and not to mention TV jugs. What would they need a TV jug for when the TV hadn't been invented yet? No, they just moved the kettle a bit to the side of the stove, and then it could stay there and keep warm.
\nGradually, people began to realize that the wind would probably be northly, and that it would come out in the middle of the night \u2013 with the high tide, around half past two \u2013 three o\u2019clock. So they were out on the dock checking the moorings and getting things ready before a north wind blew. Afterwards, they went back into the shed and threw more water into the coffee kettle. One have to get a little warmth into the body. All that tobacco chewing and coffee drinking naturally led to a bit of traffic outside to \u201creleasing the pressure,\u201d as they said. Hagbart wasn\u2019t very strong in the stomach. He gradually felt a bit unwell. Down on the dock, they had an outdoor toilet. It was so airy and nice there, and it had a good slope. That\u2019s where Hagbart went. So there he sat and meditated. The relief was considerable, but he stayed a while longer. It was so nice to feel the wind brushing over the backside. But it did get a little cold, so he took a page from a newspaper that was lying there, tore off a suitable piece, and began to rub it so it would become nice and soft to wipe with. While he sat there in his own thoughts, fiddling with that scrap of paper, he suddenly heard the waves crashing against the pier, and then he sensed a strong smell of the seaweed \u2013 that rotten tang and ocean smell and all sorts of things. But then he heard this:
\n\u00abHut..t\u2026t\u2026t..t.t, hut..t\u2026t\u2026t..t.t. L\u00f8ys f\u00f8rr norden og bett for synden. Hut..t..t\u2026t..t.t.\u00bb (the draug speeks norwegian, ofcourse. It means loosen for the north and tie for the south)
\nHan Hagbart became both sweaty and cold at the same time. What was this? He ripped on his clothes and slammed the lid on the bench. Then he carefully peeked through the door to see if anyone was there. No, no one. He hurried into the shed and told the others what he had heard.
\nAfter a lot of coffee brewing and spitting tobacco, they eventually came to the conclusion that it must have been the draug who had warned them, and that they needed to fix the moorings again. They glanced around at the quay and under the pier, but saw nothing. Then they walked, a little anxious, on the quay in a gathered group and secured the moorings against the south wind. That is, everyone except Petter. He stood his ground \u2013 \"It will be a north wind, I say.\" \"Do you want to risk shipwreck and loss just out of superstition?\"
\nBut that's how it turned out. Petter's boat was moored for a north wind, and all the others for a south wind. And the night came, bringing with it a strong southwesterly gale that whistled between the houses like an organ concert with inserted timpani beats as it threw fish crates around, and with half-liter raindrops that came rushing horizontally.
\nBy mid-morning he calmed down a bit, and there was also a bit of daylight so one could see. Everything was somewhat in a mess and chaos after the gale, but the boats lay nicely in front of the quay, all of them \u2013 except for Petter's. It had capsized and was lying on its side over by the shore. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Det var en gang, antagelig p\u00e5 yttersia av Senja, at dem venta uver. Detta var seint p\u00e5 svarthausten, kanskje i slutten av november eller begynnelsen av desember. Det blei s\u00e5nn uverslys p\u00e5 himmeln og s\u00e5 datt han heilt i stavstilla. … Continue reading