Weird Tales from Northern Seas

This catalog describes a single story by Jonas Lie, "The Fisherman and the Draug," translated from Danish by R. Nisbet Bain with illustrations by Laurence Housman (1893). The narrative follows poor fisherman Elias of Kvalholm in northern Norway. After harpooning what appears to be a monstrous seal, Elias later encounters a supernatural creature resembling the seal in his boat-shed—a draug, a malevolent sea spirit from Nordland folklore. Years later, having prospered, Elias purchases a remarkably well-crafted but unusually light boat and sails homeward with his family during a violent storm. Alongside him races an identical boat whose crew appear corpse-like. A series of massive waves progressively wash overboard his two youngest children, then his wife and another son, while Elias struggles to maintain course and save his remaining sons despite his anguish.