1) I was visiting Norway when I met an old fisherman who took me up one of the mountains near the coast to show me the famous whirlpool or Maelstrom. 2) We watched it for some time and then started to go down the mountain again.
3) Then the fisherman started to speak and told me why his hair was white.
4) One day in the summer, his two brothers and him were coming back from the islands, where the fishing is excellent.
5) All at once the horizon was covered with a cloud and in less than a minute they were in a terrible storm.
6) With the wind and waves, they were going in the direction of the whirlpool and nothing could save them!
7) The boat was on the inside of the enormous whirlpool and they were going round in circles at great speed together with other objects in the whirlpool - trees, barrels, parts of ships and even pieces of furniture.
8) He tied himself to a barrel to help float and got ready to throw himself into the water.
9) Some time after he left the boat, which sank once and forever into the bottom of the whirlpool.
10) Soon afterwards, the whirlpool grew gradually less and less violent, the sky was clear, the winds calmer and the moon was shining.
11) The waves soon carried him to an area where the other fishermen were. 12) When he told them his story, they did not believe it.