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Woodland Gnomes

"Round about A.D. 1200 the Swede Frederik Ugarph found a well-preserved wooden statue in a fisherman's house in Nidaros (now Trondheim) in Norway.  The statue was 15 cm. (just under 6 in.) high, not including the pedestal.  Engraved on the pedistal were the words:

NISSE
Tiktig Storrelse

which means "Gnome, actual height."

The statue had been in the fisherman's family as long as anyone could remember, and Ugarph succeeded in buying it only after days of negotiation.  It is now part of the Oliv family collection in Uppsala.  X-ray tests have proved the statue to be more than 2,000 years old.  It must have been carved from the roots of a tree that is no longer known; the wood is incredibly hard.   The letters were carved many centuries later.  The statue's discovery and dating illustrate what gnomes themselves have always said - that their origins are early Scandinavian.  . . ."

©"Gnomes" by Wil Nuygen (text) and Rien Povrtvliet (illustrations), published 1977

There is more to this story that may be found in "Gnomes" by Wil Nuygen (text) and Rien Povrtvliet (illustrations), published 1977 by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 77-82805, ISBN 0-8109-0965-0.  (approx. 107 pages, 8.5" x 11")