Little wonder though I am troubled,
So many stories about me in every place. 
Some that are unjust will be saying,
“It is all owing to himself, that affair”. 
Judge not except as you know,
Though the Son of God were awaking you;
No one knows if I have deserved more
Than a rich man that is without care.

Although I am in trouble at this time,
Verily, I shall be doubly repaid;
When the call comes to me from my Saviour,
I shall receive mercy and new grace;
I fear no more vexation,
When I ascend to be with Thy saints;
O Thou that sittest on the throne,
Assist my speaking and accept my prayer.

O God, make me mindful
Night and day to be praying,
Seeking pardon richly
For what I have done, on my knees. 
Stir with the spirit of Truth
True repentance in my bosom,
That when Thou sendest death to seek me,
Christ may take care of me.

The bocan was not the only inhabitant of the spirit-world that Donald Ban encountered during his lifetime.  A cousin of his mother was said to have been carried off by the fairies, and one night Donald saw him among them, dancing away with all his might.  Donald was also out hunting in the year of the great snow, and at nightfall he saw a man mounted on the back of a deer ascending a great rock.  He heard the man saying, “Home, Donald Ban,” and fortunately he took the advice, for that night there fell eleven feet of snow in the very spot where he had intended to stay.

We now take two modern Icelandic cases, for the purpose of leading up to the famous Icelandic legend of Grettir and Glam the Vampire, from the Grettis Saga.  It is plain that such incidents as those in the two modern Icelandic cases (however the effects were produced) might easily be swollen into the prodigious tale of Glam in the course of two or three centuries, between Grettir’s time and the complete formation of his Saga.

THE DEVIL OF HJALTA-STAD {246}

The sheriff writes:  “The Devil at Hjalta-stad was outspoken enough this past winter, although no one saw him.  I, along with others, had the dishonour to hear him talking for nearly two days, during which he addressed myself and the minister, Sir Grim, with words the like of which ‘eye hath not seen nor ear heard’.  As soon as we reached the front of the house there was heard in the door an iron voice saying:  ’So Hans from Eyrar is come now, and wishes to talk with me, the —–­ idiot’.  Compared with other names that he gave me this might be considered as flattering.  When I inquired who it was that addressed me with such words, he answered in a fierce voice, ’I was called Lucifer at first, but now I am called Devil and Enemy’.  He threw at us both stones and pieces of wood, as well as other things, and broke two windows in the minister’s room.  He spoke so close to us that he seemed to be just at our side.  There was an old woman there of the name of Opia, whom he called his wife, and a ‘heavenly blessed soul,’ and asked Sir Grim to marry them, with various other remarks of this kind, which I will not recount.