Danish mythology and tales, the Nokke

Nokke, Norse mythology

In the nordic mythology and in Danish folk traditions we find this creature called Nokke, or Amanden, which possesses supernatural conditions and lives in streams or rivers.

Since the Middle Ages the Danish tradition has spoken about the requests of Nokke, who calls for sacrifice humans with a rather peculiar rhyme "Tiden er kommen, men manden er endnu ikke kommen" (The time has come, but man has not arrived).

In other northern countries, such as Norway and Sweden, the Nokke is spoken of as a musical creature, who teaches others to master the art of melody in exchange for a sacrifice. Not necessarily human, but something that feeds it.

Una widely spread legend talks about a boy who wanted to learn to play the violin and thought about exchanging a ham for teaching the Nokke. However, on his way to meet the spirit, he became hungry and ate a portion of the ham. When he offered the food to change, the Nokke taught him to play the violin, but in punishment for not bringing a whole sacrifice, the Nokke put a spell on him to learn to play but not to stop. So the boy played the violin until his fingers bled.