The tale of the “Blood stone”

Next to the road at Løkjen, there is a large boulder called the “Blood stone”, to which a dramatic story is attached: They were extremely eager to get their own land, the old ones. A few men assumed all the land they could get hold of in Åseral. Valter Austrud took everything on the eastern side, in the hills and at home. The victim of this aggressive behaviour was his neighbour, known by the name of Berg. Valter took the land from him, patch by patch. And the other one never retaliated, he only withdrew from the conflict. In the end, he retired to a mountain farm at Løkjen, in the Røysland valley, and that was his very last patch of land. If he could not keep this place, he had to move out of the valley. So finally, he put up a fight against Valter. But Valter beat him to death. The battle took place next to a large boulder on the mountain farm, and to this day, it has been called the «Blood stone».