When the sea rises, it disappears from sight, as if hidden by the waves, then to resurface again...

Along the coasts of Norway, Sweden and Denmark there are legends telling of uknown lands – called hulderlands - usually invisible to human eyes, but which at certain times appeared from the sea. In the old Gutasaga from approx. 1300, it is told that Gotland was originally such a land, first located by a man named Tjelvar: "Gotland was such an elvenland, it sank during the day and resurfaced at night, Tjelvar however, brought fire to the land, and it never sunk again."

As a rule, these islands rose into the light of day with the help of fire, steel or the sign of the cross, as the legend recounts. Yet out of fear for retaliation from invisible, might forces, the acquisition usually takes place by the help of a domestic animal – a horse, ox or pig – which accidentally found its way to the land. The owner notices that the animal repeatedly disappears, ties a piece of steel to it, and in so doing finds his way to the promised lands.

Norwegian geographer Amund Helland (1846-1918) wrote that the legends may have been influenced by crustal rebounds dating from prehistoric times, which people must have come across and pondered over. The origin for them, however, is most likely the widespread notion of a paradise island far out in the sea in the west, recounted in the classic tradition of Atlantis, the mythical island kingdom that vanished in the sea in one single night.

In Norwegian territory, these notions are most clearly formed in the fishing legends of Utrøst and Utvega, beautiful and resource-rich elvenlands so far out to sea that they were sheltered from humans and animals. In Norwegian writer Diderik Brinck's (1631-1685) Latin description of the Lofoten islands, Prodromus e Norvegia, sive Descriptio Loufodiæ, from 1676 it is written that

the inhabitants of Røst looks to the west and spots another island, called Utrøst, about 20 miles in circumference, which when the sea rises, it disappears from sight, as if hidden by the waves, then to resurface again. In Nordland, such a land is called huldreland-land (elvenland).

In 1849, Norwegian scholar and collector of folklore, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) wrote about the same island in the introduction to the legend of "Skarvene fra Utrøst" (Eng. The Cormorants of Utrøst):

Upon their return, it is not uncommon for the Nordland fishermen to find grain straw attached to the rudder or barley grain in the fish's stomach. Then it is believed, they have sailed over Utrøst or another of the invisible islands, spoken of in the legends of the northern lands. They come into view only to pious and far-sighted people, who are in danger of death at sea, and appear where no other land exists. The subterranians, who live there, holds kettles, poultry and fisheries like other people; yet the sun shines over greener meadows and richer fields than anywhere else in the Northlands, and happy is he who comes to, or may see, one of these sunlit islands; "he is berga," says the northerner.

To berge is a term which may be interpreted in two ways. In the common folk belief, the idea that the subterraneans could lure people into their realm - bergta, was well established. In this sense, it means to capture. On the other hand, to berge also means to save, to rescue. Berg literally means mountain. 

Utrøst is told to be several miles offshore Røst, how far no one knows for sure, and many have searched for the island without finding it. Yet the tradition also contains many accounts of sailors and fishermen in distress at sea, to whom the land suddenly appeared to and provided salvation and shelter until the storm had subsided.

Hans Gude (1878/79) "When he got closer, there were only three cormorants sitting on a piece of driftwood." Illustration for 'The Cormorants of Utrøst' in P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, Norske Folke- og Huldre-Eventyr i Udvalg, Kjøbenhavn 1879

Sources:

• Ørnulf Hodne. Norsk folketro. Cappelen, 1999