This article explores the representation and implications of Nordic and Scottish in the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf's novella Herr Arnes penningar (Lord Arne's Silver) and the German writer Gerhart Hauptmann's drama Winter ballade (Winter Ballad), the latter directly inspired by Lagerlöf's text. Focusing on the significance of the juxtaposition of Nordic and Scottish with regard to relations of power and gender, the study draws on work by the Danish critic Hans Hauge as well as Homi Bhabha and Benedict Anderson. Demonstrating the role of the Scots and Scottish culture in power in the central section of Lagerlöf's novella, where they combine into a temporary setting for a bold exploration of gender and agency, the article goes on to highlight the importance of the previously neglected juxtaposition of Nordic and Scottish in these texts by assessing the very different representations in Hauptmann's drama, in which relations of power and gender turn out to be considerably more traditional.