DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52552#0085
SOURCES
69
The owner allowed me to take one of them, but the other was
to remain as a protection against strokes of lightning. In a
farm at Smidstrup, in about i860, a long and beautifully
polished flint axe and a dagger were found placed in the
same manner. A cottager at Ravnemark, in levelling a small
mound, found several stone implements, which he placed under
his roof opposite the chimney, next to a stone axe which was
already there; they were to act as a protection against thunder,
and nobody was allowed to take them down. In a neigh-
bouring house a flint dagger and a large flint axe were fixed
in the corresponding place under the roof for the same purpose,
and nobody was allowed to take them away. These instances
might easily be added to ; many flint axes in my collection
have been obtained by examining the inner side of the roofs
of old houses, near the chimney. Most old people formerly
believed quite firmly that they protected the house against
“thunder” (i.e. strokes of lightning) when they were fixed
under the roof or placed near the chimney. After a fire at
a neighbouring farm, in about 1870, I found on the site two
flint axes, which had been fixed in the roof. These the
owner had never allowed to be removed from their place. (All
from places in the south-western part of the district of Sorb.)
[Communicated in 1909 by Mr Jespersen, landowner, Tran-
derupgaard.]
7. During a summer’s residence at Refsmes (district of
Holb;ck) in 1877 or 1878 I visited the peasants in search of
stone antiquities. At a farm where I went for that purpose
the farmer’s wife showed me a stone axe fixed under the
thatched roof; but she would not sell it, as, according to
her, it protected the house against lightning. [Communicated
in 1909 by Mr Peter Kobke, secretary to the city board of
Copenhagen.]
8. Near the fireplace stood a box full of flint wedges and
the like. They had been found on Thue’s allotment. He
would not sell them for a “daler” (/.<?. two shillings) or even
more. “It’s all the same to me whether I get that‘daler’ or
not,” he said. “ I’ll keep the thunderstones found on my lot.”
69
The owner allowed me to take one of them, but the other was
to remain as a protection against strokes of lightning. In a
farm at Smidstrup, in about i860, a long and beautifully
polished flint axe and a dagger were found placed in the
same manner. A cottager at Ravnemark, in levelling a small
mound, found several stone implements, which he placed under
his roof opposite the chimney, next to a stone axe which was
already there; they were to act as a protection against thunder,
and nobody was allowed to take them down. In a neigh-
bouring house a flint dagger and a large flint axe were fixed
in the corresponding place under the roof for the same purpose,
and nobody was allowed to take them away. These instances
might easily be added to ; many flint axes in my collection
have been obtained by examining the inner side of the roofs
of old houses, near the chimney. Most old people formerly
believed quite firmly that they protected the house against
“thunder” (i.e. strokes of lightning) when they were fixed
under the roof or placed near the chimney. After a fire at
a neighbouring farm, in about 1870, I found on the site two
flint axes, which had been fixed in the roof. These the
owner had never allowed to be removed from their place. (All
from places in the south-western part of the district of Sorb.)
[Communicated in 1909 by Mr Jespersen, landowner, Tran-
derupgaard.]
7. During a summer’s residence at Refsmes (district of
Holb;ck) in 1877 or 1878 I visited the peasants in search of
stone antiquities. At a farm where I went for that purpose
the farmer’s wife showed me a stone axe fixed under the
thatched roof; but she would not sell it, as, according to
her, it protected the house against lightning. [Communicated
in 1909 by Mr Peter Kobke, secretary to the city board of
Copenhagen.]
8. Near the fireplace stood a box full of flint wedges and
the like. They had been found on Thue’s allotment. He
would not sell them for a “daler” (/.<?. two shillings) or even
more. “It’s all the same to me whether I get that‘daler’ or
not,” he said. “ I’ll keep the thunderstones found on my lot.”