The wild hunt for Saggy Long Tits
A spectre is haunting Denmark - the spectre of Odin.
In the fall and during Christmas time, the sound of a wild hunt can be heard, rushing over people at night like a whirlwind. Anyone out at night may be forced to hold the hunter's ferocious dogs, risking being torn apart. There is no peace at home: the hunter and his dogs burst through the yard and house if there are two gates or doors directly opposite each other. Several farmers have unsuccessfully tried to send an angry bull after the hunter and his entourage; the bull was either torn to pieces or simply devoured, though the hunter blessed the farmer and his cattle in return.
In most instances, the hunter is called some dialectal form of Odin, which may include expected variations such as the Jutlandic Wåjens and Våuns, or Goen from the South Sea Isles, as well as more distorted forms like Howns, Hywls, etc. The hunter may also be identified with historical figures such as Saint Cnut and king Valdemar Atterdag, often referred to as Wolmer and Vollermand in the vernacular, or with localized or generic supernatural figures such as Fynshovedmanden, Horsejægeren, the Wild Hunter, the Night Hunter, the Wild Hunt, a hunter, or a nobleman. Sometimes, it is difficult or impossible to draw clear distinctions between this spectral huntsman and other nocturnal ghosts or boogeymen.
The legends of the hunter are known throughout the country, except for Bornholm. While they were mainly collected in the 1800s, they must be much older. It wasn’t only in Denmark that poor peasants had to be wary at night; nocturnal bands of ghosts and wraiths traveling through the air are common across Europe, led by a myriad of historical and supernatural figures. In the Nordic countries, the most famous example is probably the Norwegian oskoreia, but Odin's hunt is unknown in Western Scandinavia. The old god roams the night only in Denmark and Sweden. In Sweden, Odin's hunt has been known since the 1600s. In 1647, Johannes Loccenius wrote that in Sweden there was a widespread superstition that 'if a ghost is seen riding in the evening or night with much noise and clamor, or if it is armed, they [the people] say that Odin passes by
The hunter’s quarry is elf women, and he has a type:
From Lundby near Præstø I was told the following: When the tenant farmers worked in the fields of Lundbygård, it was not uncommon for them to see a tall woman rushing out of the forest at nightfall, her breasts so long that she had thrown them back over her shoulders. Behind her was a rider on a coal-black horse. “Did you see her!” he shouted to the farmers as he disappeared into the darkness. Some time later he returned with the woman lying across the horse in front of him. “See, I got her!” he shouted again to the farmers and rode off into the forest. It was king Atterdag, on the hunt for the elf-woman, my informant explained. (Johannes Neve, Li).
Long breasts that can be slung over the shoulders are a common feature of female supernatural creatures in Danish folklore, appearing among elves, barrow folk, and little people (puslinger). In some legends of the hunt, the generic elf woman is transformed into a more specific, named being:
An old man in Vester-Egesborg met an unusually large woman one evening by the Vejlø bridge, who was panting and moaning so that he could hear her long before she reached him. In the bright moonlight, he saw that her tongue was hanging out of her throat from sheer exertion, and her bare breasts were hanging down to her waist. A little further on, where Nørrestrand runs right up to the main road, he met three fiery red dogs with blazing tongues, and then king Vollermand came rushing on a snow-white horse and asked if he had seen or met a Saggy-Tits [Slattenpatte]. Sure, and she seemed to be in a hurry. “Yes, but that won't help her,” and then he rode on. A moment later, a shot rang out and a piercing wail was heard. That was the last Saggy-Tits. (Peder Nielsen, Næstved).
An aptronym if there ever was one. Slattenpat and Slattenpatte sometimes appear in longer and more distorted versions, such as Slanten Long-Tits or Slage Long-Tits.
Two boys were standing by a fence in the woods of Snerreris. Then the Night Hunter came riding with his dogs and asked the boys to hold them for an hour. After this period, he returned with a woman hanging across his horse. “Now I've been up in Sweden and shot Slanten-Long-Tits,” he said and took his dogs. (Jørgen Hansen, Værslev).
Sometimes Saggy-Tits appears outside the legend of the hunt, in connection with natural features such as a stone near the woods of Everdrup:
The stone is called Slage Long-Tits’ Stone. Slage Long-Tits had to lie down across the stone to feed her two children, who were half fish and always stayed in the water.
Throughout Europe, long breasts are associated with various supernatural creatures: the Langtüttin of Tyrol, who chases after children offering them her long breasts—one flowing with milk and the other with poison—or the female vegetation demons, such as Roggenmuhme or Tittenwief, who impale children with their breasts or iron nipples, and the Kornmutter, who forces children to suckle her burning breasts. In contrast to these legends, Slattenpatten’s breasts do not cause harm but can be a boon to those who help the hunter:
King Valdemar, because he loved hunting so much, was buried in an open grave along with a horse and hunting gear. He rides through the air at night with all his hounds, howling and wailing behind him. A man from Ormitslev has heard it many times. Once he was hunting for a mermaid called Saggy-Tit [Slattenpat]. He met a boy who had to shovel dung at night because he couldn't get enough work done during the day. The hunter then asked the boy to hold his dogs while he rode on hunting for a while. And the boy did hold them, and the hunter rode off, but he returned immediately with a lady hanging across his horse. In return for his trouble, the boy was allowed to suckle the woman, which made him so strong that when the farmer wanted to chase the boy into the field the next evening, the boy took him and threw him over the side of the house. (Christen Rasmussen, Ormitslev).
The powers gained from suckling the same saggy tits have led some scholars to propose that she was originally a Zealandic river goddess, and that the female guldgubber with bared breasts, found in Guldhullet on Bornholm, were offerings to Odin. However, other scholars have criticized this interpretation, arguing that the evidence is too speculative.
Literature:
August F. Schmidt - Danmarks Kæmpesten i Folkeoverleveringen, 1932.
Axel Olrik - “Odinsjægeren i Jylland” in: Dania, vol. 8, 1901, p. 139-173.
Axel Olrik & Hans Ellekilde - Nordens Gudeverden, vol. 2: Årets Ring, 1951.
Evald Tang Kristensen - Danske Sagn som de har lydt i Folkemunde, vol. II, 1893.
Flemming Kaul, “Folkeminderne og arkæologien 1: Vandgudinden Slattenlangpat” in: Skalk, nr. 4, 2018, p. 25-29.
Hilding Celander - “Oskoreien och besläktade föreställningar i äldre och nyare nordisk tradition” in: Saga och Sed, 1943, p. 71-175.
Kent Otte Laursen - “Troldtøj og guldfigurer. Om et par nye tolkninger af fund fra germansk jernalder i lyset af nyere tids sagn” in Kuml, 2019, p. 223-251.
Wilhelm Mannhardt - Wald- und Feldkulte. Erster Teil. Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme, 1875.