When i was little I used to stand with my arms out in the forest, pretending to be a tree so that the birds would dare to come near me and they did. I’ve always loved birds. There was one bird I specially wanted to see, I’d seen it far off but never near.

We were moving the reindeer with my family in Kautekeino. We were up in the high mountains, nearly to the place where the calves are born. I took my children to a place where I used to play when I was little. We had a little lavo tent and earth house we played in. Stones we used to jump over and one large rectangular flat stone. I told my children this is the place where we used to knock on the stone and call for Huldra to come. And i started to call out; “Huldra, Huldra mother, let us in!” and the children said, “Mummy, stop it.”
The weather was very clear, perfect and warm. So I lay down on the stone with my arms out. The children ran away and played. I lay there in the sun my eyes closed but after a while I kept having the feeling that someone was looking at me.
I opened my eyes and right over me was a large white creature its wings spread wide, looking me right in the eyes. It was quite still, just the tips of the wings fluttering. It was a snowy owl, the bird I had so wanted to see. Here it was just above me. I jumped up and it stayed for a moment and then flew gently away. I called out to the children, “Did you see, did you see?” No they hadn’t noticed anything.

Soon afterwards I was visiting an elderly relative and I told her what had happened. She was quite clear. “When you have called Huldra, she will come, maybe not in the form you expect, but she will be here.”

Maret Buljo, Forfjord