Myling

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A myling (Swedish: myling , myrding ) was in Swedish popular belief a revenant of an unbaptized, newborn child who was murdered and hidden by his mother. According to some traditions, the dead child was even buried under the wooden floor in the hut to hide the unwanted birth of the child.

etymology

The word comes from the Swedish myrding or mörding , derived from old Swedish: myrða with the meaning "morden". Myling means "murdered". The word has been in Swedish usage since 1647. It corresponds to the Norwegian "utburd".

Form of manifestation

The folk tales tell how the mother becomes known when the Myling sings a song about his fate. Mylinge was believed to be found in places where young mothers might have hidden their dead child, for example under dog roses , in compost heaps, in bogs , on forest slopes or in storage rooms. Children could sometimes be heard screaming from these places. The unbaptized child could also be heard calling for help with the words: “Give me a name!” And the child could be saved by answering: “You can have mine, my name is NN”. One could also help by finding the body and then burying it in consecrated earth in the cemetery.

Say

A legend tells of an old day laborer who was on his way from the bar and was addressed by a little boy with the following words: Grandpa, Grandpa, will I get papa? "(The word" papa "is dialectal and means to breastfeed ) The old man refused to answer the question, but the boy kept asking the question until the old man replied: "If you have a papa, let yourself be breast-fed, but you will not be breast-fed by me." The boy disappeared When the old man finally came home to his room, he found his daughter, who was still at home, dead on the pull-out sofa full of blood that flowed from her breasts. The old man's answer gave the boy the opportunity to take revenge on his mother. When the boy had been given permission to be breastfed, he knew where to go.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bengt af Klintberg: Svenska folksägner. Norstedts, Stockholm 2014, ISBN 978-9-11-306545-8 .
  2. ^ Bengt af Klintberg: The Types of the Swedish Folk Legend. Academia Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki 2010, ISBN 978-9-51-411053-5 , pp. 81-88.
  3. ^ Myling. In: Svenska Academies ordbok . Svenska Akademin, accessed on March 17, 2016.
  4. ↑ Patricia Lorenzoni: Mama Dolly. Norstedts, Stockholm 2013, ISBN 978-9-11-304528-3 .
  5. ↑ Juha Pentikäinen: The Dead Without Status. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Ind.) 1989.
  6. ↑ Jacqueline Simpson (Ed.): Scandinavian folktales ( Penguin folklore library ). Penguin, London 1988, ISBN 0-14-059505-8 .

literature

  • Bengt af Klintberg: Svenska folksägner. Norstedts, Stockholm 2014, ISBN 978-9-11-306545-8 .
  • Bengt af Klintberg: The Types of the Swedish Folk Legend. Academia Scientiarum Fennica, Helsinki 2010, ISBN 978-9-51-411053-5 .
  • Patricia Lorenzoni: Mama Dolly. Norstedts, Stockholm 2013, ISBN 978-9-11-304528-3 .
  • Juha Pentikäinen, Elizabeth Simpson, in: Henning K. Sehmsdorf, Reimund Kvideland (eds.): Nordic folklore. Recent studies (= Folklore studies in translation. 99-0588351-7). Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Ind.) 1989, ISBN 0-253-33125-0 , pp. 128-136.
  • Juha Pentikäinen: The Nordic dead-child tradition: Nordic dead-child beings. A study in comparative religion. FF communications, Helsinki 1968.
  • Myling. In: Svenska Academies ordbok . Svenska Akademin.
  • Jacqueline Simpson (Ed.): Scandinavian folktales ( Penguin folklore library ). Penguin, London 1988, ISBN 0-14-059505-8 .