Nábrók
Mythical trousers in Icelandic folklore
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Key Takeaways
- Nábrók or nábuxur (calqued as necropants , literally "corpse breeches") are a pair of pants made from the skin of a dead human, which are believed in Icelandic witchcraft to be capable of producing an endless supply of money.
- The Strandagaldur (The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft) houses a reconstructed nábrok , on exhibit (shown right) .
- According to this superstition, anyone who desired never to run out of money would attempt to obtain a pair of skollabrækur (pl.
- " demon pants ").
Nábrók or nábuxur (calqued as necropants, literally "corpse breeches") are a pair of pants made from the skin of a dead human, which are believed in Icelandic witchcraft to be capable of producing an endless supply of money. It is highly unlikely these pants ever existed outside of folklore.
The Strandagaldur (The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery and Witchcraft) houses a reconstructed nábrok, on exhibit (shown right) .
Folklore
The folklore surrounding these magic pair of pants, called by several appellations in Iceland, were described by Jón Árnason in his folklore collection, under section on "töfrabrögð" ('magic tricks'), and translated into English by Jacqueline Simpson under "Lappish Breeches".
According to this superstition, anyone who desired never to run out of money would attempt to obtain a pair of skollabrækur (pl. case, "devil's breeks", "Old Nick's breeches"; cf. "demon pants").
The same magical wealth-gathering apparel was otherwise also known as Finnabrækur ("Breeches of Fins", "Lappish Breeches"); gjaldbuxur ("Money Trousers", "Money Breeches"); nábuxur/nábrók ("Dead-man's pantaloons", "Corpse Breeches"); or Papeyarbuxur ("Papey Breeches").
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