Haugtussa (Fairy Mound Girl) is a cycle of poems, written by Norwegian author Arne Garborg in 1895. The cycle tells the story of a young girl in his home area Jæren in the county of Rogaland (south-western Norway), who is granted Psychic Powers, and how she eventually copes with them, her feeling of being cut off from her friends, her potential boyfriend, and her connection to otherworldly powers, both The Fair Folk and eventually the secondary worlds of heaven and hell. The journey through the land of the dead is described in the sequel, called I Helheim ("In Hell").
Gislaug is the youngest of three daughters, her mother is a widow. The oldest sister is dead, the other lives a loose life in a nearby town, and Gislaug, regularly called "Veslemøy" (little maiden), tends to her mother. Veslemøy is known for her ability to tell stories, and her friends gather at her home to hear her tell them, or to play riddle games.
From the beginning, she has some traits of a Mysterious Waif, and it only gets worse when her dead sister appears to her, to give her "the sight", because she is destined to learn more than regular people. From then on, the otherwordlly powers communicate with her, and even tries to abduct her - even the local fairy king is after her. Her sights scare off a number of people, and partly drives her mad. In this ordeal, she eventually falls in love, with a boy from the neighbouring farm, and she is happy for some time, until he betrays her with a richer girl. From then on, she despairs, and is abducted by the fairies, has some encounters with the old giant trolls (who ruled the country in olden times), and is eventually set free.
Finally at home, she meets her dead sister again, and sets off with her on a spiritual journey to the halls of Hell, and gets a glimpse of heaven as well. For outsiders, she is deemed to be in a coma for two weeks.
The journey tells of a number of punishments and blessings, and she is, in addition to her sister, accompanied by a völva, a seer from heathen times. When she wakes up, she is freed from her visions, but has evolved into a wiser and more consoled human being, who sets off on her journey through life with a purpose of good spirit and forgiveness for all. Her original nickname, "Veslemøy" is changed to "wise maid".
The work shows examples of the following tropes:
- Animal Motifs: Every person Veslemøy sees has an animal following him or her, mirroring their personality. Sometimes Played for Laughs, as in the christmas revels, but also Played for Drama, when the local rich farmer (who owns twelve farms already) is trying to get her mother to sell hers to him because of her debts to him. Veslemøy starts in her bed when she sees a dragon behind him. Her reaction startles the rich man to a point where he leaves in a hurry, pale as death.
- Coming of Age Story: Gislaug/Veslemøy is an adolescent teenager, most likely. When she returns from her ordeal, she has grown to mental maturity.
- The Chosen One: The older sister states that she is "chosen" in some way to do her part.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: How people around Gislaug see her. "They said she had lost her wits."
- Cursed with Awesome: Our heroine gets an awesome power alright, but It Sucks to Be the Chosen One.
- Dark Is Evil: The old giants inside the mountain states as much, saying they resent the light of Christ coming over the country, because it drove them from power. They are, of course, plotting to get that power back.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Take a stroll to Hell, literally, and come out with new insight and absolvation.
- The Fair Folk:
- Even has their own chapter: "They wish to take her".
- At one point, Gislaug encounters a nasty little hobgoblin who really messes it up for her. She is haunted by a wraith (draug) who insists she has to put a misplaced leg-bone back in his coffin - and the hobgoblin steals it, making her deal with the wraith impossible to fulfill. The wraith then pours all his wrath over her.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Our heroine defies it, because she states it is better to see than not "see what is true".
- I See Dead People: It begins with her uncle who greets her at the moment of his death, and later, she sees a number of others. Those parts are truly played for horror.
- Mysterious Waif: When the sights take hold of her, the poems state she is going around by herself, mumbling dark words, at times scaring her own mother.
- Mythology Gag: Garborg recycled the rich farmer Per Aase from another work of his (The Teacher), which in turn is part of a greater cycle of books.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Although Gislaug is her given name, the name "Veslemøy" stuck and got so popular it still serves as a girl´s name in Norway. And of course: "Haugtussa".
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Gislaug is reckoned somewhat out of her wits by her fellow men, but she has a knack for seeing through them anyway.
- True Sight: Gislaug's power is essentially this. At one point she lampshades it herself:I rather see with my eyes than walk deaf and blind through the world and not understand the truth.
- Women Are Wiser: The name "Veslemøy" translated as "little maid". The last poem of the cycle is titled "Wisemaid" (Vismøy), and serves as an epilogue. It turnes out that Gislaug after her ordeal, and for the rest of her life, embodies this trope to a T.
