Tales From the Old Norse

And so we reach the final volume in this small collection of tales from the north. Originally I intended to complete the series with the Finnish volume, but as ever, there were just too many fabulous stories in my archive to call such an immediate halt.

In this volume we have work collected by Jørgen Engebretsen Moe and Peter Christen Asbjørnsen taken from East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon and Norske Folkeeventyr, much of which I have adapted from George Webbe Dasent’s translations in Popular Tales from the Norse and from Andrew Lang’s Red Romance Book.

Norse mythology is generally considered to be the body of myths of the North Germanic peoples , stemming from Norse paganism and continuing after the Christianisation of Scandinavia and into the Scandinavian folklore of the modern period. The northernmost extension of Germanic mythology, Norse mythology consists of tales of various deities, beings, and heroes derived from numerous sources from both before and after the pagan period, including medieval manuscripts, archaeological representations, and folk tradition.

The collecting of generic Scandinavian folklore began when Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden sent out instructions to all of his priests in the 1630's to collect the folklore of their area. They collected customs, beliefs that were not sanctioned by the church, and other traditional material. As a result of their common Germanic origin, Scandinavian folklore shows a large correspondence with folklores elsewhere, such as England and Germany, among others.

So, for the final time from the winter lands of the north, I hope you enjoy these stories as much as I do.