Location: Vestre Slidre, Oppland, Norway

Year: Around 1780

Informant:

O. Brandt

Item:

For Skurv og for Flein.

Jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu Merg og i Bein,
jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu Bein og i Kjøt,
jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu Kjøt og i Blo(d),
jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu Blo(d) og i et Byg-Korn,
jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu det Byg-Korn og i et Havre-Korn,
jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu det Havre-Korn i en Strimmel,
jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu den Strimmel i en Stein,
jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu den Stein i et Sand-Korn,
jeg maner den Skurv og Flein utu det Sand-Korn ut i Inte.

Dette læses i lidt Raatjære og gammelt Ister, og giv saa dem ind først af Tjæren og siden smøres paa af Isteret og af sit eget Skurv. Saa gaar det bort.

English translation (Eirik Storesund for Mimisbrunnr.info, 2025)

For sores and boils.

I command the sores and boils out of marrow and into bone, 
I command the sores and boils out of bone and into flesh
I command the sores and boils out of flesh and into blood,
I command the sores and boils out of blood and into a grain of barley
I command the sores and boils out of the grain of barley and into a grain of oat
I command the sores and boils out of the grain, into a strip,
I command the sores and boils out of the strip, into a stone
I command the sores and boils out of the stone, into a grain of sand,
I command the sores and boils out of the grain of sand, into nothingness.

This is read over a bit of pine tar and old lard. Give them first the tar to eat, and then anoint them with the lard as well as some of their own ecthyma. Then it will go away.

Source:

• NFS Varia 11, 54 

• Bang, Anton Christian. 1901. Norske Hexeformularer og magiske Opskrifter, p. 20, entry 39. Kristiania: I Commission hos Jacob Dybwad. A. W. Brøggers Bogtrykkeri. URL: https://www.nb.no/items/1994a3ddbed624be42e2ce42e7c8dc3a?page=69
  

Observations:

Eirik Storesund:
‘Skurv’ and ‘flein’ are terms for various diseases (e.g. orf, ecthyma) affecting livestock such as sheep, some of which are zoonotic. Perform them on yourself once you're done with your livestock!

This is the first of many examples of charms taken from Anton Christian Bang’s Norske Hexeformularer og magiske Opskrifter (1901), which should contain the vast majority of Norwegian examples, with the exception of sources that Bang was not aware of at the time, that have since emerged. I do not personally have an overview of how many that would be, but it’s not impossible that other narrative charms exist that were not included in his compendium for this or some other reason. I have used Bang in conjunction with a current version of the registry of known Norwegian grimoires to determine “informants” (which here should be taken to mean the known owners or compilers of a given manuscript, where that is possible to determine). The latter has also been useful to identify the shelfmark of the manuscripts themselves (which I have added to the sources). Bang’s Hexeformularer presents all items in a running, numbered order, with Merseburg II-style charms conveniently comprising the first chapter (which numbers 40 charms), though I include charms from other sections as well for sake of variety, as well as formulaic proximity.

Note that the translator does not acknowledge the Norwegian regional reform of 2020, hence the old counties are listed as if this never happened. This is not just an act of arbitration on my end: omitting centralized regions that did not exist prior to 2020 will also make the geographical designations more in line with older works of secondary literature, which otherwise might perplex the international reader.