"FOLKTALES OF NORWAY" BY REIDAR CHRISTIANSEN.

"Folktales of Norway" by Reidar Christiansen.

"Folktales of Norway" by Reidar Christiansen

The editor of this volume, Reidar Christiansen, an important Norwegian folklorist, drew on both earlier published collections and archival sources to illustrate a wide variety of genres of oral narrative in Norwegian tradition.

Some pieces are anecdotes about supernatural beings, illuminating, but uninspiring if read in bulk for amusement. Some of the legends are extremely well told, and nicely localized in terms of Norwegian landscapes. The concluding portion is made up of first-rate wonder tales, mainly Norwegian variants of international fairy tales, told with unusual complexity and skill, which are closest to what the Amazon age rating would suggest.

It is a rewarding book for adults, and probably for teenagers, and perhaps late pre-teens; anyone buying it for small children will not be so happy with it, with the exception of those comfortable with retelling the tales, or with drawing inspiration from them for your own.

Some Norwegian folktales, although rarely identified as such, are surprisingly well known. According to my own completely unscientific survey, those which are remembered and recognized by their origin tend to be a couple of anecdotes about Trolls, bridges, and Billy-Goats, which is a shame, given the actual variety and sophistication of the tradition. (Of course, some of the best may tend to be lumped in with their fairly close counterparts elsewhere.) Those who enjoy the present work may wish to turn elsewhere for more stories; the seriously curious will look for more examples of beliefs and legends.

Iversen's more modern English *might* make stories in the final section easier for some readers. On the whole, Dasent's translation, although a bit old-fashioned, does lend itself to reading to children -- if the adult is familiar with the story first, and exercises ...