I grew up with a Norwegian prankster named Toofta. Our next-door neighbors, the Haugen sisters from Seattle, observed many Old World Norwegian customs, and also drank like Vikings, hitting the bottle after breakfast was not unheard of during the holidays. We pretended we didn't notice when their drinks went missing, we played along with them looking for Toofta, an invisible wight (similar to our leipreachán), who had a fondness for screwdrivers and eggnog.
Toofta is an invisible singularity of a wight—he is not in the internet, he's unlisted. Perhaps that's a good thing. He's a thief with a fondness for booze. Perhaps he's a Nisse, a Vittra (but they're plural social beings) or a singular entity, Tomte.
"Other names are tuftekall, tomtegubbe or haugebonde, all names connecting the being to the origins of the farm (the building ground), or a burial mound."
Tomt means house, or farm loft.
What
excites me is finding the word: tufte-kall. Toofta, is that you? He was
associated with Christmas.... And perhaps Toofta was the Haugan sisters' own
personal wight. Haugkall means mound man... Think Harry Potter's house-elf, Dobbin.
I was about 4 or 5 years old when I first heard about Toofta. He was generally associated with theft of food or drinks. He was most active during the Christmas holidays, when we were baking cookies.
I wrote more formally about him here (with this new addition) for Alan Dundes' folklore class.
Folklore: Foodways, saying, a food thief/ house sprite. But that post is far away from my Marconi Station post.
The Haugen's parents came from Bergen, if I remember correctly, Janet, Sally (who was simple), Einer, Borg and Agnes grew up in Seattle in a Norwegian-speaking household. I went to visit their family in Seattle, they had a big house on a hill overlooking Puget Sound. Einer must've lived in that house with his sons David and Ken. (I wrote about Ken here: Puget Sound). Last time I saw the Haugen boys was 1981.
Janet lived at their summer home on Vashon Island, taking care of Sally. They had an uncle Otto who lived in Norway, and I remember when he came to visit at Agnes's place. He didn't speak a word of English, but he also mentioned Toofta. They observed many Norwegian customs, some of which I've inherited by osmosis.
I was about 4 or 5 years old when I first heard about Toofta. He was generally associated with theft of food or drinks. He was most active during the Christmas holidays, when we were baking cookies.
I wrote more formally about him here (with this new addition) for Alan Dundes' folklore class.
Folklore: Foodways, saying, a food thief/ house sprite. But that post is far away from my Marconi Station post.
The Haugen's parents came from Bergen, if I remember correctly, Janet, Sally (who was simple), Einer, Borg and Agnes grew up in Seattle in a Norwegian-speaking household. I went to visit their family in Seattle, they had a big house on a hill overlooking Puget Sound. Einer must've lived in that house with his sons David and Ken. (I wrote about Ken here: Puget Sound). Last time I saw the Haugen boys was 1981.
Janet lived at their summer home on Vashon Island, taking care of Sally. They had an uncle Otto who lived in Norway, and I remember when he came to visit at Agnes's place. He didn't speak a word of English, but he also mentioned Toofta. They observed many Norwegian customs, some of which I've inherited by osmosis.
See also What is risengrod?
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