The
tremendous mountains along the coast of North Trønderlag and Helgeland have
obviously stimulated peoples imagination to create a lot of myths and folktales.
One of legends is the love drama between "The maiden of Leka" and
"Hestmannen". The maidens beauty made Hetsmannen obsessed with
love.
The story gives us an explanation of how these peculiar and fabulous landmarks
was created.
The maiden of Leka
An old legend says that was a beautiful female ogre maid living on Helgeland (northern Norway) with her seven sisters. When Hestmannen, a giant troll, caught sight of Lekamøya he couldn't take his eyes off her and wished to marry her. On the run south to avoid Hestmannen. Furious at such behavior, the troll bent his bow and send off an arrow in hope that he could stop her. The arrow missed and went through Torghatten. At the same moment the sun rose and they all turned to stone. Some of the mountains in this story include "Hestmannen", The seven sisters" and "Torghatten" with the big hole through the mountain
