SOURCE: "The Earth Draws" (Weird Tales from the Northern Seas, 1893)  by Jonas Lie

DESCRIPTION: "Then he felt, as it were, the blow of a heavy hand which tried to thrust him aside; but, at the same time, some one laughed so merrily close by. The same instant he saw a young woman in the fore-part of his boat. She was leaning, with broad shoulders and hairy arms, over a meal-sack. Her eyes laughed and shot forth sparks as from a smithy in the dark, but her face was oddly pale...But as he sat there and looked and looked at it, the black crackling and sparkling eyes of that pale face stood out more and more plainly before his eyes. He didn't exactly know whether he thought her ugly or handsome—the uncanny creature!" ("The Earth Draws" by Jonas Lie)

NOTES: The Underground Folk are faery creatures that live in the ground. The young storekeeper's assistant discovers the underground folks' secret drawers of wealth in the rocky side of a fjord. Using a magic ring he found he examines endless wealth (for a storekeeper, including gold and silver but also meerschaum pipes!) The man is drawn to the spot more and more until he fights off the power of the ring, marries and the store owner's daughter and becomes a prosperous merchant. Every Christmas Eve the faery folk draw him back through the ring but he returns for Christmas Day. Tiring of this he defies them, throws the ring away, and his life energy is drained from him through the ground and he dies.

HISTORY: Lie based his stories on the local legends of his Swedish homeland. While certain parts of the story seem fairy-talish (and almost silly) the over-all effect is haunting and quite creepy in a way that more standard Victorian ghost stories aren't. Arthur Machen got the same power from his Welsh background.