Eilev Bråtene

A Norwegian storyteller born in 1828, Bø in Telemark. Described as a very short hunched man with round glasses in front of intelligent eyes. He used an axe as a walking stick, wore a rucksack that always had stuff hanging out of it and held various tinkering tools in his other hand that he used as a counterbalance. He hardly ever bathed, but was still welcomed by everyone as both young and old knew him as a captivating storyteller.

According to himself, he had met both a Jutul (type of giant) and the hulder who tried to seduce him. He married a widow 24 years older than him, who was known for her physical strength. On the day of their wedding, she that carried him over a river they had to cross to get to the church, to the amusement of the locals.

Some of his stories was documented by Ingebret Moltke Moe, son of Jørgen Moe who gathered stories that you might know like "Three Billy Goats Gruff" and "Chicken Little".

Eilev Bråtene died in 1899 when the 70 year old lost his footing and fell into a river. The newspaper obituary described him as an (roughly translated) "old weirdo".