Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend (Volume 15) (The Nordic Series)

"Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend", Kvideland & Semsdorf editors.A fascinating collection of over 400 Scandinavian folktales and stories. To paraphrase what the Editors state in the introduction, this compellation is one of the first modern collections of tales covering the totality of Scandinavia, vs. several others that are country specific. Not unlike Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's collection of folk tales, these stories run the gambit of morality plays, teaching tools for children and adults to just interesting and fun. Some are simple common sense applications to everyday life. Unlike many of the Grimm's stories, (or Sturluson's works, for that matter), most of these stories have not got that heavy handed Christian Church influence that so often changes the original intent of the tale. Conversely, the stories that do deal with Church subjects, the Devil etc, have not been modernized to the point where the original folk wisdom fails to shine through.The majority of these tales are stories that had been told around camp fires and villages for a thousand years or more. These stories have evolved as time went on, as all oral traditions do. Now, having said this, it must be remembered that these works have been written down for several hundred years or so and have an oral history that stretches back into the mists of ,"AGO", as in," Once upon on a time, a long, long time ago". This was a time when children, or adults for that matter, were not sheltered from the realities of life, sickness and death. Some of the tales are quite, (no pun intended), Grimm. So, if you have a wimpy sheltered child that needs a trophy for placing 12th in a race so their self-esteem wont be shattered and the rest of their lives ruined, you may want to find another venue for story time.Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was that while most of these stories were rather brief, all were well remarked on and footnoted. This was a delightful change from many of the works available today. All and all, highly recommended for anyone interested in the folk history of Northern Europe.In Frith,Spence The Elder"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc"M. Addams

This is a really informative and interesting book surrounding a not well known outside of Scandinavia look at the beliefs and mythology that makes up the beliefs that "real people" believed. This is not about, the known Gods, i.e. ODIN, THOR, LOKI FREDA,etc. It is how the regular layman looked and in some places still look at their lore. There are not a lot of in-depth stories but there a lot of them and they cover every part and indigious peoples on Scandinavia. If you are looking for the real beliefs, or a scholar. or have a 16 year old daughter (as I do) who really loves this part of the world, you will enjoy this book. I bought this for my daughter and she is really enjoying reading this book. We are in no way Scandinavian and that is one of the great things about this book as with any folk legend and folk belief book is you do not have to be to learn and enjoy the book! I

I bought this for my daughter who loves Nordic mythology, and she loved it.

As a scholar of Norse myth and folklore, having an encyclopedic text of folk tales and anecdotal tales from all across Scandinavia is a God(s)send. While most of the legends and tales provided are short and primarily from post Viking age Norway, Sweden, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Finland and Denmark, its easy to spot the old Norse influences (if that's what you're looking for). All of the folk lore is told either in a very abridged fashion or recited as if from verbatim, which adds to the charm of this tome.Keep in mind, this isn't a sit down and read through kind of text, you'll want to treat it like reference material and jump about what interests you. There is plenty great stories to read and the makers were kind enough to provide information on each tale from where it originated from to estimated dating and even some explanation for obscure references.Pick it up if you love Scandinavian anything, mythology, or an European Anthropologist.

GREAT book. a little more scholarly than i thought it would be. but that makes it better. lots and lots of short folktales with footnotes about their origins.

Nice stories. Bought for husband to scare the children to sleep with.