Skip to content Skip to footer

Who are the huldufólk?

At the end of a muddier-than-expected hike up to Kallur Lighthouse, on the island of Kalsoy in the Faroe Islands, I probably should have been looking down at the waves breaking against the crags, or marveling at the lonely lighthouse atop the steep precipice.

Instead, I asked my guide, “Do the cows ever get lost?” The fields high above the town of Trøllanes — with a population of 12 — were full of cows, and on hills so vast and difficult to traverse, I thought managing the cows must be difficult for farmers. “They don’t get lost,” my guide replied with a knowing smile, “except when the huldufólk take them.”  That’s the Nordic way.

Read more courtesy of Matador Network.