DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52552#0019
MODERN FOLK-LORE
3
have been the case in other districts, and if in this connection
we may rely entirely on the existing records, it seems that the
thunderstone belief in some places divided into two branches,
so that the ideas which mainly concerned milk, churning, etc.,
were associated in some parts with echinites, whilst flint an-
tiquities were looked upon as thunderstones.
The Danish thunderstones, then, have externally only one
common feature, a special shape which differs from that of the
common rude flint and is of fairly but not very frequent oc-
currence. It is not recorded that other natural stones or stone
antiquities have been looked upon as thunderstones in Denmark.
The side-issues of the belief in the power of the thunder-
stone are, as has been said above, in the main easily intelligible
from a consideration of the fundamental idea. On the other
hand, this nucleus, round which the other ideas seem to have
grown, demands an explanation which the Danish tradition
does not of itself provide. To obtain even a probable solution,
the forms which kindred popular beliefs have assumed in other
countries must be taken into consideration : in this way the
main facts and details, which will afford a support for the
explanation, may come to light. In the first place, we must
turn to the kindred peoples in the east and north, and to the
neighbouring country in the south.
In Norway the thunderstone belief does not seem to have
such importance as in Denmark. In the greater part of the
country “ certain round and smooth stones” have been looked
upon as thunderstones; whereas the axes of the stone age
are so regarded only in the southern part of Norway, nearest
Vendsyssel. Of these only a few and for the most part brief
records exist [86-89], and the derived ideas referred to above
seem practically unknown.
In Iceland thunderstones are scarcely known in popular
tradition, for the simple reason that thunderstorms are a rare
phenomenon ; consequently they have been of no importance
in the realm of popular ideas and have left no trace in it.
From modern times we have only scattered information about
thunderstones; everything suggests that these ideas are of late
origin, introduced no doubt through foreign literary channels.
1—2
3
have been the case in other districts, and if in this connection
we may rely entirely on the existing records, it seems that the
thunderstone belief in some places divided into two branches,
so that the ideas which mainly concerned milk, churning, etc.,
were associated in some parts with echinites, whilst flint an-
tiquities were looked upon as thunderstones.
The Danish thunderstones, then, have externally only one
common feature, a special shape which differs from that of the
common rude flint and is of fairly but not very frequent oc-
currence. It is not recorded that other natural stones or stone
antiquities have been looked upon as thunderstones in Denmark.
The side-issues of the belief in the power of the thunder-
stone are, as has been said above, in the main easily intelligible
from a consideration of the fundamental idea. On the other
hand, this nucleus, round which the other ideas seem to have
grown, demands an explanation which the Danish tradition
does not of itself provide. To obtain even a probable solution,
the forms which kindred popular beliefs have assumed in other
countries must be taken into consideration : in this way the
main facts and details, which will afford a support for the
explanation, may come to light. In the first place, we must
turn to the kindred peoples in the east and north, and to the
neighbouring country in the south.
In Norway the thunderstone belief does not seem to have
such importance as in Denmark. In the greater part of the
country “ certain round and smooth stones” have been looked
upon as thunderstones; whereas the axes of the stone age
are so regarded only in the southern part of Norway, nearest
Vendsyssel. Of these only a few and for the most part brief
records exist [86-89], and the derived ideas referred to above
seem practically unknown.
In Iceland thunderstones are scarcely known in popular
tradition, for the simple reason that thunderstorms are a rare
phenomenon ; consequently they have been of no importance
in the realm of popular ideas and have left no trace in it.
From modern times we have only scattered information about
thunderstones; everything suggests that these ideas are of late
origin, introduced no doubt through foreign literary channels.
1—2