Meet the Middle Ages
BackThe children of the plague
A legend about the terrible Black Death:
"Before this awful disease had reached our country, I have heard that some poor little children were wandering around in the province, asking people:
"Shall we sweep or shall we rake?"
Well, of course the answer was that they had better sweep, it gets much cleaner then. You see, people thought it was a joke. Later on, though, no-one laughed. The Black Death came, and swept the country clean, leaving the parishes more or less deserted."
This legend comes from Risinge in Östergötland.
When you sweep, you use a broom and all dirt is swept away. When yourake, you scrape the ashes from the fire-place, and a little will be left. According to the legend, the Black death swept everything clean.