Setting: A cozy living room in Trondheim, Norway, mid-December. Snowflakes drift outside the window, and the smell of gingerbread fills the air.
Lars: (carrying a bowl of steaming risgrøt toward the door)
Alright, time to make peace with the fjøsnisse. Can’t have him tying knots in the horse’s mane again this year.
Ingrid: (raising an eyebrow from the couch)
Lars… we don’t have a horse.
Lars:
Okay, last year it was your shoelaces. Remember how they kept getting mysteriously tangled?
Ingrid:
You mean the time your cat Pudding slept inside my sneakers?
Lars: (grinning)
Coincidence. Or maybe Pudding’s in cahoots with the nisse. I’m not taking any chances. The porridge goes out, as it should.
Ingrid: (sipping her tea)
You know the fjøsnisse is just folklore, right? A psychological holdover from when people needed a way to explain random barn mishaps. It’s like blaming the gnomes instead of mice or bad weather.
Lars: (placing the bowl outside carefully)
You scientists always need a logical explanation. But can you explain why, when we didn’t put the porridge out in 2019, the pipes burst, the fridge died, and your sourdough starter molded overnight?
Ingrid:
Lars, that was because you forgot to insulate the outside tap, the fridge was from 2003, and you left the sourdough near the radiator. That’s called cause and effect.
Lars: (shaking his head dramatically)
Nope. It’s nisse revenge. They’re petty like that. Didn’t your grandma ever warn you?
Ingrid:
She also told me not to whistle indoors or I’d summon trolls. I loved her, but I’m not building my life around 19th-century troll management strategies.
Lars: (sitting down with a cookie)
Alright, explain this then: My cousin in Tromsø swears the year he forgot the porridge, the snowblower wouldn’t start for three weeks. The next year, he left out an extra-large serving with cinnamon and butter—no problems. Not even a flat tire.
Ingrid:
Or… he remembered to change the oil in the snowblower that year. And winter tires are a thing.
Lars: (winking)
Maybe the nisse reminded him.
Ingrid: (laughs)
Okay, look—I get the tradition. It’s charming. Leaving out porridge is like a cultural love letter to our past. But believing a tiny invisible barn elf is messing with your appliances? That’s a stretch.
Lars:
But isn’t it kind of nice? To imagine there’s a little guy in a red cap making sure we respect the old ways?
Ingrid: (softens)
Sure, I like the idea. Just not the fear. I don’t want you to panic every time your phone glitches and blame it on angry nisse. Maybe it’s just a bad update. Or the fact that you’re still using a Galaxy S8.
Lars: (defensive)
It has a headphone jack! That’s a feature!
Ingrid: (laughs)
Look, if it makes you happy to leave out porridge, do it. But maybe also check your smoke detector battery while you’re at it. That’ll really keep the house safe.
Lars:
Deal. But if your shampoo disappears mysteriously again this Christmas…
Ingrid:
I’ll consider the nisse theory. Right after checking if you borrowed it again for “beard conditioning.”
Lars: (smirking)
What can I say? The nisse and I both appreciate good grooming.
Ingrid: (raising her mug)
To fjøsnisse, folklore, and functional plumbing.
Lars: (clinking mugs)
Skål!
[End Scene]
Science Vs Superstition 
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