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From Västmanland
Now Håkan Is Hot
This happened at the ironworks in Ramnäs. The older smiths talked about it when I was apprenticing there.
During the old days, when they used the German method in refining iron and got paid by the pound for it, the smiths got help from a tomte. And he had to get his payment, too.
When Christmas Eve came, the master told one of the journeymen - his name was Håkan - to carry a bowl of porridge downstairs and put it on a tree stump for the tomte. But Håkan ate the porridge himself, shit on the plate, and put it on the stump for the tomte.
On the third day of Christmas, when the journeyman was firing up the ovens, the tomte threw the journeyman into the furnace, pushing him in bit by bit, until only his wooden shoes were left outside. Then he woke up the master and said:
"Up, master up! Now Håkan is hot!"
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