Short Fiction · Chapter
Finn-Blood explained
Eilert, a young lad from Svartfjord, is drawn to the neighboring Finn family despite his parents' hostility.
What happens
Eilert, a young lad from Svartfjord, is drawn to the neighboring Finn family despite his parents' hostility. He befriends the Finn girl Zilla, learning tales of mermen and draugs. As tensions rise over fishing grounds, Eilert steals grave-mould from a Finn burial ground to help his father's catch, then seeks forgiveness. Later, he publicly rejects Zilla to avoid social shame. After a shipwreck, Eilert is rescued by a sea-girl who leads him to an underwater realm.
Themes in this chapter
Supernatural and Folklore
The chapter is steeped in Finnish tales of mermen, draugs, and sorcery, with Eilert's encounter with a sea-girl and underwater realm.
Community and Isolation
Eilert is torn between his affection for the Finns and the community's ostracism of them, leading to his public rejection of Zilla.
Transformation and Identity
Eilert's internal conflict over Finn blood and his own identity, culminating in his rescue and entry into a supernatural world.
Characters to notice
- Eilert
Protagonist who befriends the Finns, steals grave-mould, rejects Zilla, and is rescued by a sea-girl.
- The Merman
Father of the sea-girl; mentioned as the ruler of the underwater realm.
- The Draug
Evil sea spirit that appears on the strand and in the boat, causing fear.
- The Finns
Neighbors of Eilert, considered sorcerers and outcasts; Zilla's family.
Key passages
“They told him that the Draug usually showed himself on the strand in the moonlight on those spots which were covered with sea-wrack; that he had a bunch of seaweed instead of a head, but shaped so peculiarly that whoever came across him absolutely couldn’t help gazing into his pale and horrible face.”
The Finns described the Draug as a moonlit figure with a seaweed head, whose terrifying face compelled onlookers to stare.
Introduces the Draug as a key supernatural element in the chapter.
“He also heard tell of something beyond all question, and that was the shame of having Finn blood in one’s veins, which also was the reason why the Finns were not as good as other honest folk, so that the magistrates gave them their own distinct burial-ground in the churchyard, and their own separate 'Finn-pens' in church.”
Eilert learned that Finn blood was considered shameful, leading to segregated burial and seating in church.
Highlights the social stigma against the Finns.
“She then said that she wanted to take him to her father, who was waiting for them. She added that, if he didn’t find the old gentleman precisely as handsome as he might expect, he had, nevertheless, no need to be frightened, nor was he to be astonished too much at what he saw.”
The sea-girl told Eilert not to fear her father, despite his likely strange appearance.
Foreshadows Eilert's entry into the underwater realm and meeting with the Merman.