Tradition: Swedish Mythology
Alternative Names: Black Gentleman
Category: Demon
The Myth
The Black Gentleman appears as a fine gentleman dressed entirely in black, arriving in a black coach drawn by two black horses. He comes to claim the wicked Lady of Pintorp and take her away for punishment.
The Lady of Pintorp was a cruel noblewoman who abused the people living on her estate. She imprisoned innocent people in underground dungeons, set vicious dogs upon children and beggars, and brutally punished workers who failed to arrive at the appointed time.
One morning, she ordered a farm-hand who had arrived late to cut down the largest oak on the estate and bring it to the castle courtyard before evening. When the man despaired over the impossible task, he encountered an old man in the woods who told him to sit upon the fallen tree. Invisible bearers then carried the tree rapidly to the castle. The Lady recognized that Erik Gyllenstjerna and Svante Banér were somehow helping the farm-hand, but responded with anger rather than remorse.
At that moment the earth shook, and the Black Gentleman arrived at the castle in his black coach. He descended, bowed to the Lady, and ordered her to prepare herself and follow him.
Knowing who he was, the Lady desperately begged for more time. She first requested three years, then three months, three weeks, and finally three days. The Black Gentleman refused every request and granted her only three minutes to put her affairs in order.
She then asked that her chaplain, chamber-maid, and valet accompany her. The Black Gentleman permitted this, and they entered the coach. The horses immediately carried them away with such supernatural speed that the people at the castle saw only a black streak.
After travelling for some time, they arrived at a magnificent castle. The Black Gentleman led the Lady inside, where she removed her costly clothes and put on a coarse coat and wooden shoes. He then combed her hair three times until she could no longer endure it and danced with her three times until she was exhausted.
After the first dance, the Lady gave her golden ring to her valet, but it burned his finger like fire. After the second, she gave her bunch of keys to her chamber-maid, but the keys seared the girl’s hand like red-hot iron.
After the third dance, a trapdoor suddenly opened in the floor. The Lady disappeared through it amid smoke and flames.
The chaplain looked down into the opening, and a spark rose from the depths and struck him in the eye, leaving him blind in that eye for the remainder of his life.
The Black Gentleman then allowed the three servants to return home, but warned them not to look behind them. They entered the coach and travelled along a broad, even road. Eventually, however, the chamber-maid could no longer resist her curiosity and looked back.
Immediately the coach, horses, and road disappeared. The three travellers found themselves in a wild forest, from which it took them three years to find their way back to Pintorp.
Sources
Stroebe, Clara, ed. The Swedish Fairy Book. Translated by Frederick H. Martens, with illustrations by George W. Hood. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1921. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37193