The Cross on the Mountain Wall
0
Once upon a time, there was a witch who was engaged to a handsome fellow—until he left her for a beautiful maiden from Geiranger. He proposed, and soon the groom, his bride, and the entire wedding party set sail into the fjord toward Stranda Church. The witch was far from pleased. When she saw the wedding procession depart, she filled a bowl with water in her kitchen. She spun the bowl round and round, breathing and panting furiously. Out on the fjord, the wind grew stronger, the waves swelled—and when the witch overturned the bowl, every boat in the wedding party capsized, sinking with all aboard. This story is recorded in the local village chronicles. It’s said that the parish priest rowed out into the fjord and painted a white cross on the mountain wall, low by the water’s edge—the very one we’re passing now to the north. And so, this place came to be known as Korsen—"The Cross." In Norway there were around 300 people sentenced to death for witchcraft and wizardry, but the witch that this story refers to, was not one of them.