Tradition: Swedish Mythology
Alternative Names: The Giant of Skalunda, Skalundajätten
Category: Giant
The Myth
The Skalunda Giant was an ancient giant who once lived inside Skalunda Mountain, near the local church in Sweden. When a church was built nearby, he grew increasingly uncomfortable with the sound of its bells. Unable to endure the ringing any longer, he abandoned his home and settled on a remote island far out in the North Sea. Over the years, he grew old and blind, eventually becoming a mysterious figure who sat warming himself before a log fire.
One day, a ship was wrecked near the island, and several of the survivors came from Skalunda. The giant asked them where they came from and, upon hearing the name of his former home, wanted to know whether Sweden still possessed people with warm blood. He asked one of the men to give him his hand. Afraid to touch the giant, the man instead handed him a red-hot iron bar from the fire. The giant gripped it so firmly that molten iron ran between his fingers. Satisfied, he declared that Sweden still had warm blood.
The giant then asked whether Skalunda Mountain was still standing. The man replied that the hens had scratched it away. The giant was astonished, explaining that his wife and daughter had piled up the mountain in a single Sunday morning. He had built the Hallenberg and Hunneberg mountains himself, and the man confirmed that both still stood. The giant also asked whether Karin, who lived at Stommen, was still alive. Learning that she was, he gave the survivors a girdle for her, asking that she wear it in remembrance of him.
When the men returned home, they delivered the girdle to Karin. Before putting it on, however, she wrapped it around an oak tree growing in her courtyard. Immediately, the tree tore itself out of the ground and flew northward, carried away by a powerful storm wind. A deep pit remained where the oak had stood. Its enormous roots had left cavities in the earth, and one of these root-holes was said to supply one of the finest springs in Stommen to this day.
Sources
Stroebe, Clara, ed. The Swedish Fairy Book. Translated by Frederick H. Martens. Illustrated by George W. Hood. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1921. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37193