This was awful, really awful. This disease had spread around Europe and many people were in pain and died. It had been so many years of this spreading plague, beginning from the south and then reaching the north. Norway could really feel this after a long time. As soon as the disease came, one got sick, then 10, then 50 and God knew how many died after a year! Norway started to feel sick. It was not because of the disease, countries could not get sick from bacteria's and viruses, but with so many of his people getting sick and die, that left him affected. Without his people, there would be no Norway.
"What shall I do?" Norway thought to himself in despair.
Since it was the Norwegian people that kept him going, that meant he loved them very much. He wanted his people to live well but now there was no chance with all this going on. He wanted to stop all this but he didn't know how. Not only did Norway worry about his people, he worried about his little brother Iceland. Iceland was all alone with no countries connected to him and was surrounded with only water.
"
In the cottage he was currently living in, Norway looked out from the window staring at the gloomy grey weather. From the window he could see some farms with their dead fields. There wasn't a soul outside, everything looked so abandoned.
"What in the world?" Norway said to himself when he suddenly noticed something.
Out of nowhere a black, crunched figure appeared. It was most likely an old woman by the looks of it, an old woman carrying two things. In one hand she carried a rake and in the other she carried a broom. She stopped at the nearest farm and she started to rake in front of the farm. What was she doing? The old woman didn't rake anything away; she was actually just using the rake to scrape on the gravel. There was something unusual about this old woman, Norway was sure of it. The old woman stopped scraping and started to walk to the next farm. Norway squinted so he could take a better look at the old woman. But oh, what a bad idea that was. When Norway got a good look at her, she turned her head and they got eye contact with each other. Norway was so startled, he stumbled and fell on the floor. He sat on the floor trying to even his breathing, calm down and then try to forget what he just saw. That was the scariest thing he has ever seen in his life! The old woman had such an ugly face, a face that resembled a rotting corpse with wide eyes of a wild animal with missing teeth. No one could have a face like that, Norway was sure that this old woman was some sort of a demon or witch. With shaking legs he got up with a weary breath and ran out towards the farm this old woman was just in front of.
"Something must have happened" Norway said to himself.
The rake thing must have been a ritual, which would explain why the whole thing was odd and unusual. Although Norway really wanted to forget it, he remembered he saw hate and some sort of blood thirst in her eyes. Who was she and what does she do?
"
Norway stood right in front of the farm. He felt like he was stuck to the ground as he stared at this farm. He had no idea if that was possible but he felt a stronger aura of death and the area had become darker. Should he go inside? He really wanted to know what this sort-of-ritual did to the farmers, so he opened the door and went inside not caring if this was rude or not.
"Hallo? Anybody here?" Norway said in a mix of shouting and whispering.
The house was a mess! Thrown clothes and firewood all over the floor, rats creeping around and no lighting, it was completely dark inside.
"Who is there?!" An anxious mans voice responded.
Norway went towards where he heard the voice, opening the door to another room. His eyes widened at what he saw. In this room there were about 10 people. Some laid completely still, not moving at all, and the rest laid there moaning in pain and were breathing heavily.
"Thank God, you are not pesta" A man, half lying, half sitting said.
Pesta? What was pesta? Norway went closer towards the man, sitting down next to him.
"What are you saying?" Norway asked.
"It was pesta, she did this" The man stretched his arm out, pointing at the other people.
"Who is pesta?"Norway asked.
"All the other didn't believe us but it all was true, she exists and kills the people of Norway"
The man coughed into his hands, leaving some blood on them.
"I suppose we were lucky, she must have used the rake since some of us are still alive"
The rake. That old woman! She was pesta, she had to be! It all made sense now.
"Pesta is an old woman carrying a rake and a broom, isn't that right?" Norway asked so he could be completely sure.
"Not only that, she is a deadly disease! The rake kills some people and the broom kills all people" The man said.
Norway felt guilty. He witnessed pesta using the rake and he didn't do anything, he only stared. He wanted to protect his people and all he did was staying inside his cottage watching this witch kill the farmers by her witchcraft. What if she used the broom?
"I am so sorry" Norway said in a tearful tone and looked down.
"Why? There is nothing you could have done, pesta is deadly"
"I wanted to protect my people and I have done nothing for you!" Norway started to cry.
"Your people? Wait a minute…" The man said and cupped Norway's cheeks.
The man studied Norway's face carefully, shifting his head here and there while drying his tears away.
"Are you Norway?" The man asked.
Norway nodded. The man's face lit up a huge smile and grabbed Norway's hands, snuggling them.
"It is an honor to have you here on my farm, herr Norway!" The man said.
"Please, just call me Lukas" Norway said.
He didn't feel like the nation Norway now, in fact, he hasn't felt like a nation for a very long time. And how is it an honor for this man to have him here? Norway hasn't done anything for them and he just recently found out about pesta.
"Well Lukas, I am Arvid" The man said.
Arvid told Norway everything about pesta. Nobody knew where she came from or how she came. In Norway, she was the Black Death. Pesta was like Norway somehow, he was the personification of the country and she was the personification of the Black Death. There were theories on how the Black Death came to Europe. One theory was that bacteria came from fleas that came to rodents and then the disease spread very fast. But in Norway it apparently was a witch-thing that gave them the Black Death. How could they get rid of her? This was almost like a war, a war that pesta was close to win. If she continued killing the Norwegian people, Norway would die. What could Norway do to stop her?
"Do you think pesta can be killed?" Arvid asked Norway.
Norway shook his head.
"No, both of us are personifications, which means that we can't be killed like normal humans"
"How do personifications die?"
"With countries we die when the nation goes rock bottom, one example is when all the people dies"
"How would that be like when it comes to pesta?"
"Well, I think that when she doesn't have people to kill she would die eventually"
Norway took a deep breath.
"That means pesta will die when I am dead"
Arvid made a face showing sadness and fear. Could this really be the end of Norway? Norway felt anxious of the thought of him dying because of all this. Not only could this be the end for Norway, what if whole Europe died eventually? Or maybe one country in Europe has already died…
"There is a way" A woman said.
Norway jumped when he suddenly saw a woman coming out of nowhere. Actually, she was next to Arvid all the time with blankets covering her completely. Norway did know there was a person lying next to Arvid, but he thought that was a corpse. The woman did look like one, her face was greyish pale, the eyes bloodshot and exhausted, her hair was a complete mess and there was slime dangling out of her nose and mouth.
"Møyfrid, don't get up, you must rest!" Arvid exclaimed.
She gave Arvid a weak smile.
"Elskling, I am fine, really"
Møyfrid looked at Norway.
"So this is our country? I never knew that Norway was such a lovely young man"
"Oh yes, Lukas this is my wife Møyfrid" Arvid said.
Norway and Møyfrid shook hands. Norway nearly shivered as he toched her hand,the hand was ice cold. Norway almost made a smile. Although Møyfrid was sick and dying she still managed to try keeping herself up and claim she was fine even though everybody could see that was a lie.
"What do you mean there is a way, can you tell me?" Norway asked.
"Of course, kjære deg"
Møyfrid laid back down, covering herself up with the blankets till only half of her face showed. She grabbed his hand, holding it tight.
"Lukas, you must go the løv street, there you will find an old house"
Møyfrid coughed.
"In this house there is a hidden sacred room, in there she will not be able to get you"
"Oh yes, det evige fristedet" Arvid said in a "oh I remember" tone.
"In there you are safe from absolute any creature. Demons, robbers, people with black magic and all that" Arvid continued.
"If you stay there you will rescue the rest of us, but if pesta gets you first, the rest of us will die" Møyfrid said in a dark tone making Norway's spine shiver.
Norway realized it was true. He was the whole country and if pesta got him, no matter if it was the rake or the broom, he and all the people would die. Since he had been around his people from the beginning of the disease, there was no problem for pesta to kill the people. But if he was in a sacred place where no one could touch him, pesta would lose her powers and gradually die. Norway was now really scared and felt a great pressure. He had to go there all by himself with the risk of getting killed. Møyfrid reached out her arm, holding something in her hand.
"Take this with you"
Norway took the thing out of her hand. It was a rosary with a crucifix.
"Not only is this a rosary, it is also a good luck charm that has helped our family for generations"
Møyfrid tucked her arm back under the blankets.
"Our luck has runned out a long time ago but we give you what's left, Lukas"
Norway looked at the rosary. Although he was still scared, he felt a hope for making it.
"Tusen takk, I hope I will make it" Norway stood up and went towards the door.
"We will pray with our lives for you" Arvid said.
"
Here he was walking in a forest in the middle of the night. Norway knew where the løv street was and there was no other way than through the forest.
"It`s going to be okay" Norway thought to himself.
In his hand he held the rosary and was fiddling with it. He wasn't sure how this rosary was going to protect him, aren't those things protecting you when it involves religious creatures only? Whether pesta was a religious creature or not Norway didn't know, but he believed pesta had a great power that could surpass a simple rosary.
Norway looked behind him and it was almost like the trees grew closer and closer together, the path slowly disappearing. All he could hear was the wind making its creepy sound through the trees, his own steps making sounds on the gravel and howls from animals. The howls did not make loud sounds; the sounds came and disappeared all the time. Norway had the feeling of being followed so he kept looking behind him. And looking at all the sides and also up and down.
"Make it stop!" Norway thought.
He suddenly just stopped. Norway was halfway and he started to hesitate. He could either go back or go to det evige fristed. He felt like no matter what he chose, it would be both wrong and right. He felt so trapped! Any minute pesta could come for him, or maybe he would get lost because it was too dark to really see anything.
"I can't do this!"
Norway was over the edge. A panic attack was building up inside him but he couldn't let it out, he only managed to stay still. Tears rolled down his cheeks; as much as he wanted to sob he could not, fearing to break the absolute silence in the forest. That was the last thing he wanted, the silence. Norway wasn't sure how but the forest became silent all of a sudden, no animals and no wind blowing. Norway almost couldn't breathe, whether it was because he was so scared or because he feared making sounds, he wasn't sure.
"Think about something nice"
He closed his eyes and thought about the things that made him happy. He thought about the time before Black Death came, he thought about children running around while laughing and playing, he thought about the time he spent with Iceland when they were younger and how Iceland followed him around, pouted at the times he couldn't come with Norway, the times he called Norway "Storebror" and Norway loved seeing couples being obvious of their love for each other and their families.
"
Norway felt his heart warm up a bit and the tears stopped falling from his eyes. His fear melted away a bit and now he was ready to continue; for his people and for his family. Norway actually went with his eyes closed, not that it was any trouble, he literally knew the way with his eyes closed. And walking with his eyes closed somehow helped a bit, with his eyes closed he could see images from his mind, images that were nice to think about. There were time to time he opened one eye to make sure if he really went the right way and he saw he was almost there.
"I think I will make it!"
Suddenly he bumped into something.
"Did I hit a tree?"
He rubbed his head and opened his eyes to see what he bumped into. And for the first time after a while he let out a fear filled scream. He looked right into the eyes of pesta! As a reflex he backed away quickly and tripped when twigs curled around his leg. He felt the heart in his chest pound like as it was about to come out of his chest and vise versa with the pulse in his neck. Pesta breathing sounded like she was choking and she glared at him with her horrific eyes. Norway thought her glares felt like stabs and he thought he had started to bleed, but it was only sweat running from every single part of his body. Norway got his "survival mode" on and managed to untangle his foot from the twigs and ran as fast as he could. He hit many branches from the trees and got some cuts on his face, mostly from thorns that probably stabbed in him. As he looked behind him he could see pesta being right behind him. Norway was very tired from the running, he felt the taste of blood in his mouth and he was sure if he coughed, he would cough out an organ. He almost stopped running until he saw something pointy with a cross on top.
"Det evige fristedet!" Norway exclaimed.
He felt a boost of new energy enter him. Now he was very determined to make it, despite being so tired to almost be able to breathe anymore. He ran faster and faster and det evige fristedet became more visible as he came closer. A sentence from Møyfrid haunted his mind:
"If you stay there you will rescue the rest of us, but if pesta gets you first, the rest of us will die"
He got to the door, but it was locked.
"No, no! Don't be locked!" Norway panicked and slammed at the door.
Less than a meter, pesta stood right behind him. Norway was stiff of fear, what was he going to do now? Pesta didn't look tired at all, this couldn't be real!
"Please let this be a nightmare!" Norway yelled and folded his hands, doing his last pray.
Pray? Yes, of course! Norway remembered he had the rosary from Arvid and Møyfrid! He nearly ripped the rosary around his neck of and held it out in front of pesta.
"Gå tilbake der du kom i fra, onde jævel ånd!" Norway didn't know any "prayer sentences" but he just felt like he had to say that and he also wanted to express some feelings.
But it didn't work, nothing happened to pesta. She let one of her strangled noises and picked out the broom. Norway knew what would happen and without knowing it himself, the rosary was stabbed in pestas eye. Pesta let out a horrific scream, a scream making Norway snap back to his senses and he took the rake, which next to pesta, and used it to try opening the door. Surprisingly enough, the door opened and Norway rushed right in. The place was dark and moist, not so much of a surprise since it hasn't been used for years. Norway went down on all four, searching wildly for a trapdoor. There were no stairs to any attics and there were no other doors, so it had to be a trapdoor here somewhere.
"There!" Norway said and he found a handle on the floor.
As he opened up the trapdoor, pesta entered the building. Her stabbed eye was gone and blood and slime drained down her face. Panic hit Norway like a lightning and he nearly jumped down instead of using the stairs down the hidden cellar. As he was down there, he searched like mad after a door. The cellar was narrow but luckily it wasn't so long. Heavy breathing and someone using stairs were heard. Pesta was most likely furious at Norway now! Norway started to feel at the wall, searching for a doorknob in the dark cellar. He found one.
"Please, don't be locked" Norway put both hand on the knob.
Behind him he saw pesta coming towards him snarling with her rotten teeth and showing her long, claw-like nails. Norway pushed the knob, opening the unlocked door to his great luck, and went straight in. Norway closed the door just in time and locked it when he noticed the key inside the keyhole. Det evige fristed looked like a small living room. Inside was one chair, a lot of matresses around everywhere and one half broken fireplace and the room had no windows. Norway sat down against the wall, pulled his knees to his chest and covered his ears as he heard pesta claw at the door.
"It's over, it's over, it's over" Norway kept repeating in his mind.
Norway tried to cover his ears even more as he closed his eyes, tear running down his face.
"
It has been so long. Norway didn't know if he had been here for days or years, he stopped counting down the days and weeks a long time ago. He was so very tired for barely have slept ever since he got here. He was busy looking at the door, fearing pesta would still be out there. While looking at the door he held the fire iron from the old fireplace. There were times he fell asleep for a few minutes while sitting on the floor, but woke up soon again and was all on guard. Neither has he eaten anything, but being a country he wouldn't die of starvation although he could feel the pain of it.
"How much longer can I handle this?" Norway whispered to himself.
Suddenly the doorknob started to move and he heard there was someone behind it. Norway panicked as he saw the door being ripped off.
"N-norge, is that you?" Denmark said.
Denmark? What…How? It had been so long since he has seen any others and still being in the state of shock, he pointed the fire iron at Denmark.
"Easy Norge, it's me, Danmark" Denmark said as he sat down the same level as Norway.
Norway started to hyperventilate, letting go of the fire iron he put his hands to his head, gripping his hair.
"It's okay Norge, no one is going to harm you" Denmark said and touched his arms.
Norway looked at Denmark carefully and used his hands to touch every inch of his face, just to be sure that this is no dream. As he felt the warm skin and Denmark's features, Norway glomped him.
"Let's get out of here" Denmark said.
He got back to his feet and right after he helped Norway get up. Norway's legs were shaking and he couldn't stand properly, so Denmark had to support him with an arm around his shoulder.
"
Denmark and Norway went to a little cottage where Denmark currently stayed. In the cottage Norway bathed, got food to eat and water to drink. Norway came back to his senses after doing all this, sitting down on a bench next to Denmark.
"Look at you, you are so thin and you look so tired!" Denmark exclaimed.
"Is it over, the black death?" Norway asked.
Denmark smiled and nodded.
"Yes it's over and pesta is long gone"
"Did it really work?"
"Yes Norge, pesta died not long after you got to det evige fristed"
"How do you know?"
Denmark put his and on Norway's hand.
"I went to you to see if your situation was just as bad as mine, but you were nowhere to be found"
Denmark inhaled.
"The rumors said that you went to this place called det evige fristed"
Denmark told Norway that no one saw pesta anymore so that meant she was dead. Denmark said he looked after Norway to tell him it was safe for him to come out, but he had no idea where det evige fristed was.
"How were you sure you found the right place?" Norway asked.
Denmark dug in his pockets.
"I found this"
Out of his pocket he dug out the rosary given to Norway by Arvid and Møyfrid, with pestas eye still stuck to the cross. Norway fell off the bench, screaming in horror. Denmark threw it out of the window, as he found out he triggered a bad memory for Norway.
"Oh no,no,no, I am so sorry!" Denmark said as he tried to calm Norway down.
"What is going on?!" Someone said with worry in his voice.
Norway turned around and immediately stopped screaming at the sight of the person. It was Iceland, his precious, darling little brother! Norway got up and hugged Iceland tight.
"Thank god, I have missed you so!" Norway said.
"I have missed you very much too" Iceland said.
Norway eased the hug and looked at him.
"Are you alright?" Norway asked.
"Yes, the Black Death never came to me, I am perfectly fine"
Iceland looked at him sadly.
"I am so sorry I couldn't come too you during all this"
Norway didn't care much of that, he was happy Iceland was unharmed by all this. All three sat down on the bench.
"How many….died?" Norway asked.
Iceland put a hand on Norways shoulder.
"About 2/3 of the population are dead. I am sorry"
"Many countries of Europe have lost a lot of its people, but it all is over now" Denmark said.
In a mix of relief and despair, Norway clung into Denmark's chest and cried hard. Denmark held Norway tight and let him cry as much as he wanted. In this long time of being isolated, Norway could finally let out the emotions trapped inside him. Norway cried for about an hour till he fell asleep on Denmark. Denmark placed Norway's head on his lap, petting his head while Norway still sobbed in his deep sleep.
"You have to rest now; you have earned it after this long time" Denmark whispered to him.
This is about the Norwegian folklore with pesta being the Black Death. Pesta means "the plague". Since this is about Norway's hard time I had to put in some Norwegian words and all that. Here are translations (don't trust google translate):
Hallo- Hello
Herr- Mr
Elskling- dear
Kjære deg- darling (lit. dear you)
Løv steet- Løv means leaf and this is a street I made up
Tusen takk- thank you
Storebror- big brother
Det evige fristed- the eternal sanctuary
Gå tilbake der du kom fra, onde jævel ånd- Go back to where you came from, evil bastard spirit. (Jævel is a common insult, the word comes from djevel, meaning devil)