Water Beings
Below you’ll find records and collections that have been registered with the keyword “water beings.” Here are legends about encounters with what was hidden in sea and lakes. One example is the legend type ML 4085 Sea Horse and Sea Serpent in Battle, collected by, among others, Svale Solheim på Karmøy and Sjur Bøyum i Balestrand in the 1930s. Another example is the stories about the kraken, a large sea monster, especially told by fishermen, such as in Sykrakjen, collected by Knut Strompedal in Helgeland in the 1920s.
The keyword Sea Serpent yields stories from many lakes in Norway that have had visits from such creatures. The keyword The Nixie gives stories about a quite different water being.
Kittelsen’s most famous water being is perhaps The Nixie, but he also drew the sea serpent in Ålesund.
Image: “The Sea Serpent in Ålesund” by Theodor Kittelsen, National Museum / Anne Hansteen