De groote betoovering by Selma Lagerlöf is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set in 18th-century Värmland, it centers on a royal signet ring buried with General Bengt Löwensköld; when the ring is stolen, a chain of misfortune and obsession spreads through peasants and gentry alike, blurring superstition and justice. Early on we meet the Löwensköld family, the worried farmer Baard Baardson and his household, a sober-minded pastor, and a peaceable cavalry captain drawn into the ring’s ominous wake. The opening of the novel presents the general’s portrait and his cherished ring from King Charles XII, buried with him in the family crypt. When the vault lies open after a child’s burial, Baard and his wife slip in at night, pry open the coffin, and take the ring; their home burns that same night, and a series of calamities follows. Years later, destitute and dying, Baard summons the pastor, confesses the theft, and hands over the ring; his son Ingilbert then tries to seize it on a marsh path but is foiled when the pastor escapes. After the pastor informs the Ritmeester, a search party goes into the woods and instead finds Ingilbert dead—apparently terrified to death—while the ring has vanished; suspicion shifts to three farmers carrying the body, who are arrested when only an empty goatskin purse turns up.
