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Discover the Yule Lads in Chapter One Below!

In Icelandic folklore, thirteen troll brothers known as ‘Yule Lads’ visit for the thirteen nights leading up to Christmas Eve. Children leave their shoes on the windowsills, and the designated Yule Lad for that evening places a gift inside for good behavior. If the child is naughty, he or she gets a rotten potato instead.

If you’ve ever smelled a rotten potato in your pantry, you know the Yule Lads aren’t messing around. At least they don’t eat your flesh like the worst version of Krampus, Santa’s hairy, fanged buddy. Krampus has issues.

Luckily for Icelandic children, the Yule Lads are just weird. Really weird.

There’s Sheep-Cote Clod (Stekkjastaur), who harasses sheep, and Gully Gawk (Giljagaur), who hides in gullies to bother livestock.

Then there’s the kitchen contingent—Stubby (Stúfur), who steals food from pots, Spoon-Licker (Þvörusleikir), who licks unwashed spoons, Skyr-Gobbler (Skyrgámur), who eats all the yogurt, Pot-Scraper (Pottaskefill), who scrapes pots for leftovers, and Bowl-Licker (Askasleikir), who—you guessed it—licks bowls.

Believe it or not, the last six brothers are even stranger. There’s the Door twins (Hurðaskellir)—one who slams doors to wake people like an angry poltergeist, and his brother, who sniffs at entryways, looking for food. Then there is Candle-Beggar (Kertasníkir), who steals candles, Sausage-Swiper (Bjúgnakrækir), who is pretty self-explanatory if not rife with phallic innuendo, and Meat Hook (Kjötkrókur), who sounds terrifying, but who only uses his hook to steal smoked lamb from the rafters.

This delightful group is rounded out by Peeper (Gluggagægir), who peeps into your house, looking for things to steal. He sounds a little creepy, but after hearing about the rest of his dysfunctional family, he doesn’t come as a surprise.

Their mother, Grýla, must be so proud.

Actually, the Yule Lads’ mother probably is proud, because she’s a troll, too, and this sort of behavior is cool by troll standards—especially a couple of pranksters like Grýla and her lazy husband Leppalúði.

It’s safe to say most of the residents of Pineapple Port have never heard about the Yule Lads.

But they will.