The Huldra: Beautiful, Dangerous and a Little Hollow

The huldra (Norwegian, also hulder; Swedish skogsrå, "forest spirit") is a female nature spirit from Scandinavian folklore. From the front she appears as an enchantingly beautiful young woman – but her back betrays her: it is hollow like a rotten tree trunk, or she has a cow's tail. The name belongs to the "huldufólk", the "hidden folk".

Seductress of the forest

In the tales the huldra lures lonely men – charcoal burners, hunters, herdsmen – deeper into the forest. Whoever falls for her disappears or loses his mind. But some tales are conciliatory: if a man treats her with respect or even marries her (in church, whereupon her tail falls off), she can become a faithful wife – though of uncanny strength.

Mistress of cattle and forest

As skogsrå she is also a guardian spirit of the forest and its animals. Those who worked in the forest made her small offerings and were careful not to anger her. So the huldra belongs to an old idea: nature is animate, and whoever takes from it must behave decently.

"Wits must he have who wanders wide, but all is easy at home."Hávamál 5, after Henry A. Bellows 1923 (public domain)

The huldra shows how alive Norse folk belief remained far beyond the Viking Age – a reminder that the forest is a place with its own rules.

Read more with us

The Draugr – the walking dead · The Trolls · Nisse & Tomte · Seiðr – the magic · The Wild Hunt.

Sources & literature

Asbjørnsen & Moe, Norske folkeeventyr; standard literature on Scandinavian folklore (skogsrå/hulder); Rudolf Simek; quote public domain (Bellows 1923).

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