# Old Agnete — Short Fiction character guide

> Old Agnete in Short Fiction by Selma Lagerlöf.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Poor old Agnete

**First appearance:** 0040-old-agnete

## Snapshot

A thin, wizened old woman who spins flax in a hut beside the glacier, far from any village, and begs God for someone to need her.

## Who they are

Old Agnete lives alone above the tree line, close to the ice, with all her kin dead and only her spinning to keep her from hunger. After a sermon on death and the doomed, she climbs home terrified of the glacier's wandering shadows and admits aloud that she is frozen to the heart by loneliness. Her one prayer is to be of use to somebody, and that unfulfilled longing is the hinge on which her story turns.

## In the story

### [Short Fiction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/short-fiction)

An elderly woman experiencing sorrow and spiritual encounters.

### [Old Agnete](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/old-agnete)

The protagonist, a lonely old woman living alone near a glacier, who seeks purpose by burning candles and fire for the doomed souls.

### [Old Agnete](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/old-agnete)

She meets a stern monk who encourages her to help the doomed, leading to her nightly ritual.

### [A Story from Halstanäs](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/a-story-from-halstan-s)

Mentioned as the pauper woman whose son is the laborer; her corpse was hidden after Vestblad's earlier prank.

### [The Inscription on the Grave](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/the-inscription-on-the-grave)

The grieving mother who mourns her child and fears public shame.

### [The Holy Night](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/the-holy-night)

The narrator's grandmother, who tells the story of the holy night and dies when the narrator is five.

### [The Emperor's Vision](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/the-emperor-s-vision)

The ancient sibyl who sits on the cliff, lost in a vision of the Nativity, and later prophesies to Augustus.

### [In the Temple](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/in-the-temple)

The mother who searches anxiously for her son in Jerusalem.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/i)

The old woman who returns to her childhood hut; she is nearly ninety years old and deeply sorrowful.

### [The Sacred Flame](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/the-sacred-flame)

Old Agnete is depicted as a sorrowful figure seeking redemption through the sacred flame.

### [The Girl from the Marsh Croft](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/chapters/the-girl-from-the-marsh-croft)

An elder figure who observes or comments on Ingrid's situation.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/characters/old_agnete
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_50_se/characters