In the old days, on Blaahvam at Blaafjeld, there once lived giantess named Kraaka. She lived in a cave, traces of which are still found today. It is so high between the cliffs of Blaahvam that men are still unable to reach it.
Kraaka did much harm; she often attacked the livestock of the people of Mygsö, killing their sheep and the people. She was man-crazy, and liked it little to live alone. So it was that she often took men from the villages below and kept them to herself. But few were able to survive; they either ran away or killed themselves.
She once took a shepherd from Baldersjem named Jon, who she took into her cave and tried to please. He found little to like, refusing everything that she served him. She tried everything imaginable that she thought he would enjoy, but nothing helped. Finally the shepherd let it be known that he would again find his appetite if he could dine on a 12-year-old seal.
Through her magic, Kraaka found that such a seal was only to be found on Siglunes and although it was far from Blaahvam, she was determined to try to catch the seal. So she departed, leaving the man behind. But when she had gone only a short way, she realized that it would be safer to be sure that he was well kept and that he had not escaped as soon as she had turned her back. So she went back to her cave, where the herder still sat quietly. She then left again; this time she went a bit further before the same fear overcame her that the man may have been unfaithful. So she ran back again to her cave, only to find him just as the first time sitting quietly there just as before.
She left once again in earnest, believed that she had nothing more to fear from the herder. She went the most direct way to Siglunes, north over Hrisey Island and across the Oefjord. No more is told of her trip other than she was able to catch the seal, returning the same way that she had come.
No sooner did the shepherd believe that Kraaka had traveled the full way then he crept out of the cave and stole away. Shortly after he had left, Kraaka returned and soon saw that he had escaped. She immediately began in haste to follow him. When the shepherd had gone only a short way toward the farm at Baldershjem, he heard a loud roar coming from behind him; he knew what it meant: that Kraaka was coming. As she was close enough for him to hear her voice, she called, “Here is the seal, Jon; it is 12 years old, almost 13!”
The shepherd paid no attention to her, and when he reached the farm where the farmer was working at his forge he ran inside, hiding behind the farmer just as Kraaka reached the door. The farmer took the glowing iron from the forge and walked toward Kraaka, threatening to thrust the hot iron into her body if she didn’t turn around if she didn’t promise never again to bother his people.
Kraaka saw that she had no other choice but to turn around, which she did. From this day, on, one never heard again that she came too near the farmer from Baldershjem.
But on another occasion, Kraaka took a shepherd from Grönnewand, dragging him along into her cave. It happened as before that the shepherd would not eat anything that Kraaka put before him, and that bothered her greatly. Finally, he told her he would eat young ram meat.
But at that time, there were no young rams except on the Hafrafells peninsula at Oexefjord. And although it was a far distance away from Hvam for her to get it, Kraaka wanted to try to get the ram meat. But before leaving, she took a monstrously large stone and set it in front of the cave entrance; this time she did not want to lose this herder as she had the previous one.
She then went on her way. When she came to the Jökel, a stream between the mountains, she jumped from one cliff to another over the stream. To this day, that place is called Witch’s Jump.
No more is known about her travels until she came to the Hafrafells peninsula. Here she took two rams, tying them together at the horns and throwing them over her shoulder. She then returned to her cave over the same path, crossing over the Jökel at the same place.
But after crossing the stream, she found that she was very tired from the trip and so wished to take a short nap. So she set the rams free, setting them in the meadow in a nearby ravine, which still today is called Ram’s Ravine. After she had rested a while, she took the rams and continued her trip.
It is told that in the meantime, the shepherd had tried thousands of tricks to escape from the cave. But nowhere could he find a hole or crevasse through which to escape. Finally, he found a large, sharp sword and used it to pry the stone that blocked the cave entrance, making a hole large enough through which to escape. After coming out, he ran with all his strength and returned to a settled area. No more is known of him except that he returned home unharmed.
One Christmas, Kraaka invited others of her kind to a big holiday feast, and took great measures to provide only the finest. But she found that she lacked one thing: she was unable to offer humans as appetizers. So on Christmas Eve she traveled to an area where people were living. But when she came to the largest farms in Mygsö she found that they were all empty; everyone had left for church in nearby Skutustad.
It was then the custom to hold services each holy night, and everyone was already in the church. Kraaka approached the door of the church and saw a man sitting on a bench in the corner. She reached out her arm for him to pull him out of the church. But with all his strength, he kicked toward her with his feet, crying loudly for help.
Immediately others came to his aid, and the result was that the whole community united against Kraaka to tear the man out of her hands. Still, she held him fast; as a result, a church wall became loose, bending outward. The story continues that Kraaka became angry and wished that the church wall never again would be stable.
This evil wish seems to have been fulfilled, as ever since then the south wall of the church at Skutustad is always in need of repair. It is also told that because of this as well as other tricks that the residents of the upper area of Mygsö had played on her, she promised that she would also get even with a trick of her own over which she would long think.
Above the village, where the farmers had a summer meadow, there was a large lake. One day, Kraaka went there and gathered a large bundle of brush and twigs. She then combined it with turf and gravel to make a huge load. This, she dragged behind her from the lake down to Mygsö and through the village to the Lax River near where it flows out of Myg Lake.
Here, where she had dragged the large mass, there now was a deep ditch. Kraaka then used her mass to re-channel the stream into the ditch so that it now flowed into Mygsö and remained so as long as the village was occupied. This flooded the meadows and fields so that the only thing that the people could find to stop the flooding was the same material Kraaka had used to make her own load. This resulted in the destruction of the upper part of the village.
The stream, which to this day still flows in that same place, is named after her and is called the Kraaka. It caused great harm to the farmers of Mygsö, running over the meadows of the farms of those most prominent in the village and damaging them so that each year the good land was washed away and sand was washed up.
Each year in the spring, it washed away the banks and poured sand and clay over the meadows. Many of the farms were in danger of being destroyed; each year the holes are filled with brush, gravel and turf – the same things that Kraaka used to make her load. But soon there was such a lack of brush around Lake Myg that there is hardly enough as was needed to plug the banks of the Kraaka.
For both young and old, it became clear that old Kraaka’s curse and evil predictions would soon become true.