[Folklore] In Scandinavian folklore, a "household spirit" responsible for the care and prosperity of a farm. A nisse was usually described as a short man (under four feet tall) wearing a red cap with a tassel. While belief in guardian spirits is a very old tradition in Scandinavia, belief in nisser was prominent in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Denmark, southern Norway and southern Sweden. Many farms claimed to have their own nisse. The nisse took an active interest in the farm by performing chores such as grooming horses, carrying bales of hay, and other farm-related tasks. These chores were usually done much more efficiently and effectively than by their human counterparts. However, nisser were very temperamental, to say the least. If the household was not careful to keep its nisse satisfied (usually in the form of a single bowl of porridge with butter in it left out on Christmas eve) the spirit could turn against its masters. In one story, a girl is instructed by her fam...
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