Old Woman Plague and the Black Death

I have done a post about some of these images before, but the whole Death-theme over at told_tales gave it new relevance. So I've added lots more images, and some text which ended up expanding the post quite a bit.

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In Norway there are many legends and stories about the Black Death. They all usually start with: "The Black Death came to Norway in 1348, and when it left there was hardly a person alive"

My favourite story was the one later illustrated by Theodore Kittelsen, and it goes something like this; During the Black Death the plague took the shape of an old woman, who hobbled from village to village, farm to farm. She’d be in old, raggedy clothes and carried a rake and a broom. If you saw her use the rake that meant that some of the people in the area would die. If she used the broom then everyone, yourself included, would be swept away.

( The Black Death )

Old Woman Plague and the Black Death

I have done a post about some of these images before, but the whole Death-theme over at told_tales gave it new relevance. So I've added lots more images, and some text which ended up expanding the post quite a bit.

------



In Norway there are many legends and stories about the Black Death. They all usually start with: "The Black Death came to Norway in 1348, and when it left there was hardly a person alive"

My favourite story was the one later illustrated by Theodore Kittelsen, and it goes something like this; During the Black Death the plague took the shape of an old woman, who hobbled from village to village, farm to farm. She’d be in old, raggedy clothes and carried a rake and a broom. If you saw her use the rake that meant that some of the people in the area would die. If she used the broom then everyone, yourself included, would be swept away.

( The Black Death )