In the Norse world, the deep and vast woods are home to many strange creatures. The most beautiful and wonderful of them all is Huldra. There are numerous tales of her ability to lure men into peril and death. Even in modern times, she has been sighted on moonlit nights, hiding amongst the trees in her white dress, as quickly gone as she appeared.
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I was all alone in the wilderness. My plan had been to go fishing, and I was on my way to a perfect little lake, deep in the mountains. This was my secret hideaway, where I knew the big trout were anxiously waiting for me. The walk was long, and I had begun a little late, so I decided to spend the night by a big pond in the lowlands in stead of stumbling along in darkness. I had passed this place dozens of times before, but never slept here. To be honest, I had always found it somewhat eerie. The dark, dense trees reminded me of tall and lanky trolls leaning over me as I craned my neck to study their imposing figures. The pitch-black water seemed to stretch forever down into oblivion, and behind the shifting mists I could imagine every horrible creature of mythology.
This time however, I was determined not to let childish superstition cloud my judgement. I was no gullible schoolboy anymore. I was a man. I was educated, and I was done with stupid, irrational fears. As any good university student, I had learned to rationalize everything I could not readily explain, thus stripping the World of its mystique and danger. Or so I tried to convince myself.
The pond was almost a perfect circle, ringed by a dense, red-green mat of moss. Tufts of the crimson carpet had torn itself loose and was drifting lazily along the edges of the water, looking like the filthy hair of whatever skulked beneath the surface. Sorry excuses for saplings tried to eek out a living amid the sparse tufts of grass, toppling over or drying out once they realized there was no firm ground to stand on. The nearest solid surface was the probing roots of tall fir trees standing by the edges of the mire. Their pointed spires were just an inkling darker than the blue night sky beyond.
When I arrived at the pond, the sun had already set. The trees cast long, dark shadows over the swampy edges of the water. A slight breeze made them whisper to me like voices from ages past. The whispers continued towards the water, stirring up tiny ripples of silver which reflected the full moon and made the light flicker across my surroundings. Above the sparkling surface, streams of mist began to search upwards, inches at a time and dancing like elves from a long-forgotten fairy tale. I almost thought I could see the fragile creatures holding hands as they frolicked and jumped in circles before eventually drifting off to dissolve in the thin air. They were immediately replaced by new brethren, continuing the eternal dance until they too vanished in the cooling night or amongst the dark stems of the fir trees.
I sat down on a mossy stump, completely transfixed whilst watching the mist and feeling the heavy mood of the forest. An owl hooted in the distance, followed by the trollish drumming of the common snipe. Something small and frightened rustled amongst the foliage behind me. Small fish fed on the night's last buzzing midges. I savoured all the familiar sounds around me, letting the chill and tranquility soothe my tired body. It was like staring at a painting from within, experiencing all the details and meaning hidden behind the master's strokes.
Suddenly I noticed an anomaly behind the otherwise perfectly composed symphony of nature. The moment I noticed it, it seemed to spring to my attention like a soldier caught sleeping on guard, occupying all my curiosity and concentration. I had no idea when it had begun. It had probably gone on for a while, slowly increasing in volume until it became impossible to ignore. There was, amidst the humming, a periodical rise and fall in pitch like nothing I had expected to find so far from civilization. It was almost as if the forest was singing to me. A beautiful song of no words. Telling myself how silly this was, I looked around for the source of the sweet voice, but it seemed to come from all directions at once.
With growing curiosity of my surroundings, I suddenly caught a glimpse of motion among the trees on the opposite side of the pond. A moment later it was lost behind the dark stems. The sight made my heart race. It almost looked like a person, but no person could move that quickly. I tried to stare at the same spot until my eyes began to water and dark blotches obscured my view. Focused on catching the figure's next appearance.
A white shape, definitely human, once again appeared in the corner of my eye. This time I could discern an unnaturally long river of golden hair trailing behind the feminine figure, flowing in much the same way as the sylvan mist around it. The song was still echoing in my mind, seeming to come from vibrations through my skull rather than sensed through my ears. I knew that I had to find the woman humming this wonderful song.
Not realizing how strange all this was, I got to my feet and stumbled across the bog towards the trees where I had seen the figure, leaving all my gear behind by the stump. As I approached the other side, I saw her again, slipping behind a large boulder. This time I could clearly see her yellow, silky hair and a gossamer thin, white dress fluttering in the breeze. Once again, I marked the striking resemblance between her movements and that of the fog. A moment later the figure had vanished like before, but the voice continued her alluring tune, lulling me into an awakened sleep with nothing else on my mind.
When she next appeared for a fleeting moment, a beautifully shaped body was barely visible through the moonlit dress, and my fascination for the song was accompanied by an erotic craving. I never got the chance to study her features, but what little I could see was stunning beyond words. The slender body moved quickly with feline grace, and a sweet smell lingered everywhere she had swept her small feet.
