Ian Cumpstey's Blog
November 2, 2025
New Release: The Language of Birds
I am happy to announce the release of my fiction title ... The Language of Birds is a novel in the form of myths or folktales. I hope you will enjoy it!
The paperback edition has illustrations by the author ... me.
Buy link.
The Language of Birds
Ian Cumpstey
October 2025
The paperback edition has illustrations by the author ... me.
Buy link.
December 12, 2017
Staffansvisan
Tomorrow is Lucia in Sweden ... a good day for singing. I've written here about one song that has become a traditional Lucia song, though it has historical links to St Stephen's day (after Christmas). It's called Staffansvisan (Staffan's song) or Staffan Stalledräng (Staffan the stable boy).
Here's the link:
http://balladspot.blogspot.co.uk/2017...
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Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2017 Ian Cumpstey
Here's the link:
http://balladspot.blogspot.co.uk/2017...
-----
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2017 Ian Cumpstey
May 10, 2017
New ballad blog posts
The latest from my ballad blog is a post on Little Kerstin the Stable Boy, a classic cross-dressing ballad from Sweden. Here's the link:
http://balladspot.blogspot.co.uk/2017...
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Other recent posts include:
Sinclair's Ballad
Bendik and Årolilja
The Power of the Harp
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Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2017 Ian Cumpstey
http://balladspot.blogspot.co.uk/2017...
-----
Other recent posts include:
Sinclair's Ballad
Bendik and Årolilja
The Power of the Harp
-----
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2017 Ian Cumpstey
August 23, 2016
Sir Svedendal ... reading on Soundcloud
I have posted a recording on Soundcloud of a reading of one of the ballads from the new book, The Faraway North.
In this ballad, Young Sir Svedendal calls upon the assistance of his dead mother to help him free himself from a love curse ...
This medieval Scandinavian ballad was instrumental in reuniting two separated poems from the poetic Edda. In the 19th century, Grundtvig, a ballad scholar from Denmark, realised that an Eddic poem (called Groagaldr) starring a young hero named Svipdag corresponded to the first half of the Danish/Swedish ballad here called Sir Svedendal, but also known as Unge Svejdal etc. Then, Bugge, a ballad scholar from Norway, pointed out that the second half of the ballad corresponded to a second Eddic poem, also starring Svipdag, called Fjölsvinnsmål. Since then, these two Eddic poems have usually been treated as a single poem, called Svipdagsmål, following Bugge's suggestion.
Svipdag calling on his dead mother by John Bauer
The ballad tells the story in typical ballad style ... listen to my translation of the ballad here:
https://soundcloud.com/skadipress/sir...
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2016 Ian Cumpstey
In this ballad, Young Sir Svedendal calls upon the assistance of his dead mother to help him free himself from a love curse ...
This medieval Scandinavian ballad was instrumental in reuniting two separated poems from the poetic Edda. In the 19th century, Grundtvig, a ballad scholar from Denmark, realised that an Eddic poem (called Groagaldr) starring a young hero named Svipdag corresponded to the first half of the Danish/Swedish ballad here called Sir Svedendal, but also known as Unge Svejdal etc. Then, Bugge, a ballad scholar from Norway, pointed out that the second half of the ballad corresponded to a second Eddic poem, also starring Svipdag, called Fjölsvinnsmål. Since then, these two Eddic poems have usually been treated as a single poem, called Svipdagsmål, following Bugge's suggestion.
Svipdag calling on his dead mother by John Bauer
The ballad tells the story in typical ballad style ... listen to my translation of the ballad here:
https://soundcloud.com/skadipress/sir...
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2016 Ian Cumpstey
May 5, 2016
New Blog Posts
I have made a couple of blog posts over at my new blog balladspot. Here are the links in case you want to check them out:
Sir Olof and the Elves
The Mermaid
Sir Olof and the Elves
The Mermaid
December 17, 2015
Holger Dane --- Danish King Under the Mountain
Holger Dane Asleep
Holger Dane (called Holger Danske or Ogier le Danois) sits sleeping in a vault under Kronborg Castle at Helsingør with his beard grown fast to the ground. But the story goes that the day Denmark is in peril, he will emerge to save his country. Thus Holger Dane has a role like that of King Arthur in Britain --- as a so-called king under the mountain.
Illustration of Holger Dane by Heath Robinson for H.C. Andersen
Holger Dane and Burman
Holger Dane became widely known in Scandinavia around the end of the medieval era, and part of his fame was surely due to his role as a ballad hero. This ballad describes his fight against a fearful opponent, the giant Burman.
An illustration of Holger Dane's fight with Burman appears on a fresco on the vaulted ceiling of Floda Church in Sweden as one of a quartet of paintings of famous ballad stories. And a snatch of the ballad text is also included in this painting, which dates from around 1480. So we know that this ballad was sung and widely known this early, even though the full text was not written down in Danish until the 1500s and in Swedish in the early 1600s.
The ballad opens with a statement of intent by the villain of the piece:
But as the chorus of the song tells us (Holger Dane won victory over Burman), things do not go well for Burman in the end. Luckily, the King has the champion fighter Holger Dane close at hand, and can call on him for help: Holger has been held in one of his prisons for the past fifteen years. And when the King's daughter Gloria goes to the prison to set Holger free, our hero is all too willing to chip in and help the cause by fighting Burman.
Holger Dane Begins
Holger Dane is an unusual Scandinavian hero in that the stories about him seem to have been told first in the southern European legends of Charlemagne, and then made their way north through translations from French in Karlamagnus Saga (Charlemagne's Saga), and Olger Danskes Krönike (Holger Dane's Chronicle --- in 1534). Holger appears in the French Song of Roland, and he is the main character of the French chanson de geste Chevalerie d'Ogier de Danemarche.
There is a record that gives an idea of who the historical Holger Dane was: In an old chronicle from St Martin's abbey in Cologne, it is written that in 778, after being destroyed by the Saxons, the abbey was rebuilt by "Olgerus dux Daniae" i.e., Holger, leader of the Danes, with the help of Charlemagne.
The ballad of Holger Dane and Burman will be part of a collection of Scandinavian ballad translations to be published in 2016.
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
Holger Dane (called Holger Danske or Ogier le Danois) sits sleeping in a vault under Kronborg Castle at Helsingør with his beard grown fast to the ground. But the story goes that the day Denmark is in peril, he will emerge to save his country. Thus Holger Dane has a role like that of King Arthur in Britain --- as a so-called king under the mountain.
Illustration of Holger Dane by Heath Robinson for H.C. Andersen
Holger Dane and Burman
Holger Dane became widely known in Scandinavia around the end of the medieval era, and part of his fame was surely due to his role as a ballad hero. This ballad describes his fight against a fearful opponent, the giant Burman.
An illustration of Holger Dane's fight with Burman appears on a fresco on the vaulted ceiling of Floda Church in Sweden as one of a quartet of paintings of famous ballad stories. And a snatch of the ballad text is also included in this painting, which dates from around 1480. So we know that this ballad was sung and widely known this early, even though the full text was not written down in Danish until the 1500s and in Swedish in the early 1600s.
The ballad opens with a statement of intent by the villain of the piece:
Burman stood outside the town,
He let his weapons shine:
"Now listen up, O Issland’s King,
"Your daughter will be mine!"
But as the chorus of the song tells us (Holger Dane won victory over Burman), things do not go well for Burman in the end. Luckily, the King has the champion fighter Holger Dane close at hand, and can call on him for help: Holger has been held in one of his prisons for the past fifteen years. And when the King's daughter Gloria goes to the prison to set Holger free, our hero is all too willing to chip in and help the cause by fighting Burman.
Holger Dane Begins
Holger Dane is an unusual Scandinavian hero in that the stories about him seem to have been told first in the southern European legends of Charlemagne, and then made their way north through translations from French in Karlamagnus Saga (Charlemagne's Saga), and Olger Danskes Krönike (Holger Dane's Chronicle --- in 1534). Holger appears in the French Song of Roland, and he is the main character of the French chanson de geste Chevalerie d'Ogier de Danemarche.
There is a record that gives an idea of who the historical Holger Dane was: In an old chronicle from St Martin's abbey in Cologne, it is written that in 778, after being destroyed by the Saxons, the abbey was rebuilt by "Olgerus dux Daniae" i.e., Holger, leader of the Danes, with the help of Charlemagne.
The ballad of Holger Dane and Burman will be part of a collection of Scandinavian ballad translations to be published in 2016.
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
September 12, 2015
Horga, the Horga Song, and Other Stories
It happened that one Saturday evening, the young people of the village of Horga in Sweden were all assembled together to dance. This was nothing particularly unusual in itself. But that evening something unusual did happen. At the dance a mysterious stranger turned up. He was wearing a hat and cloak that quite covered up his features, but he had brought a fiddle with him. And he took out his fiddle, and he started to play.
Well if the young people of Horga had been dancing before, they were certainly dancing now. The fiddler was playing a wild and magical music, and everyone was feeling an irresistable urge to dance.
When the fiddler began to walk away, through the scattered houses and into the woodland surrounding the village, they all followed. As he played on, more wildly than ever, the young people of Horga began to tire. Their legs were aching, their feet were sore, their shoes began to show clear signs of wear ... but they couldn't stop dancing.
The fiddler played on, and he climbed up through the woods towards the top of Horga barrow, a long hill with a flat, rocky top that overlooked the village. All the time the young people, still dancing, followed after him. They started to beg him to stop playing. They were too tired to carry on dancing, but they felt the urge to continue. But the fiddler didn't reply. He just kept right on playing.
Just as they were emerging onto the summit of Horga barrow, the fiddler's cloak caught on a branch and lifted it for a moment, revealing his leg. One of the girls happened to glance at that moment, and she saw, not a human foot, but a goat's hoof. And she cried out, realising that it was none other than Satan himself who had come to play for them that night.
The next morning it was Sunday. When the people of Horga got up to go to church, they wondered where all the young people were. They couldn't find them anywhere.
But the young people of Horga were still dancing with the devil high up on the top of Horga barrow, until one by one they dropped dead of exhaustion.
Nice story ... but what more?
This story is also associated with a traditional tune, called Horgalåten (the Horga song).
Here is a version of Horgalåten from youtube (Leif Billyz):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7BVr...
There are also different texts written for the Horgalåten tune. One traditional song tells the story of the fiddler and the young people of Horga. Before I started translating ballads, I translated a number of songs from Swedish, and Horgalåten is one of them. Translating a song like this presents a slightly different challenge to ballads. Here is my translation:
The Horga Song
The fiddler drew his violin up,
And raised his bow towards the Sunday sunrise dawning.
Then started up the Horga people,
Forgetting God and all around them.
Dancing over hills and meadows,
High up on Horga barrow's top.
Wearing out their shoes and boot-soles,
When would their dancing ever stop?
Where do you come from tell me, fiddler,
Say who has taught you this music so wild and crazy?
Our hearts will burst if you don't stop now.
Oh God preserve us, he has goat's feet.
Church-bells were ringing in the valley,
And there came father, mother, brother all to pray, but,
Where can now Horga's youth have got to,
Oh dear Lord they're dancing yet still.
Dancing to the Horga lay-song,
High up on Horga barrow's top.
Tears of tiredness will come before long,
Dancing till soul and body drop.
Cease with your playing, fiddler, now, or,
We'll dance the life and soul and bones from all our bodies.
No he will never end his dance,
Until everybody's fallen down dead!
Good, but what more?
The name Horga (or Hårga) bears a striking resemblance to Hörg, the old Norse word for an outdoor hilltop pagan altar. Hörg is also found in some English placenames as Harrow.
Good, but what more?
Also in Norwegian there is a similar story: the devil on the fiddle, recognised by a glimpse of his foot.
The occasion for this incident was a wedding in Hol in Norway. Two young men had started to argue, and this had escalated into fighting. While this was going on, the inkeeper went down into the cellar intending to fetch up beer to give to the one who won the fight. While he was in the cellar, he saw a fiddler sitting on a beer barrel. He was playing a tune that the innkeeper had not heard before. Moreover he was holding the fiddle the wrong way round, with the neck pointing towards his chest, and he was keeping time by beating with his foot against the beer barrel. But the inkeeper saw that this foot was no ordinary foot, but a goat's hoof. He knew straight away that this was the devil. When the inkeeper ran up again, one of the two young men lay dead in the yard.
Good, but what more?
To finish off, here comes the tune the devil played on his fiddle that time in Norway. This is called Fanitullen, played on the Hardanger fiddle with a special tuning called the troll tuning. This is a version from youtube (Christian Borlaug):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc-WG...
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
Well if the young people of Horga had been dancing before, they were certainly dancing now. The fiddler was playing a wild and magical music, and everyone was feeling an irresistable urge to dance.
When the fiddler began to walk away, through the scattered houses and into the woodland surrounding the village, they all followed. As he played on, more wildly than ever, the young people of Horga began to tire. Their legs were aching, their feet were sore, their shoes began to show clear signs of wear ... but they couldn't stop dancing.
The fiddler played on, and he climbed up through the woods towards the top of Horga barrow, a long hill with a flat, rocky top that overlooked the village. All the time the young people, still dancing, followed after him. They started to beg him to stop playing. They were too tired to carry on dancing, but they felt the urge to continue. But the fiddler didn't reply. He just kept right on playing.
Just as they were emerging onto the summit of Horga barrow, the fiddler's cloak caught on a branch and lifted it for a moment, revealing his leg. One of the girls happened to glance at that moment, and she saw, not a human foot, but a goat's hoof. And she cried out, realising that it was none other than Satan himself who had come to play for them that night.
The next morning it was Sunday. When the people of Horga got up to go to church, they wondered where all the young people were. They couldn't find them anywhere.
But the young people of Horga were still dancing with the devil high up on the top of Horga barrow, until one by one they dropped dead of exhaustion.
Nice story ... but what more?
This story is also associated with a traditional tune, called Horgalåten (the Horga song).
Here is a version of Horgalåten from youtube (Leif Billyz):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7BVr...
There are also different texts written for the Horgalåten tune. One traditional song tells the story of the fiddler and the young people of Horga. Before I started translating ballads, I translated a number of songs from Swedish, and Horgalåten is one of them. Translating a song like this presents a slightly different challenge to ballads. Here is my translation:
The Horga Song
The fiddler drew his violin up,
And raised his bow towards the Sunday sunrise dawning.
Then started up the Horga people,
Forgetting God and all around them.
Dancing over hills and meadows,
High up on Horga barrow's top.
Wearing out their shoes and boot-soles,
When would their dancing ever stop?
Where do you come from tell me, fiddler,
Say who has taught you this music so wild and crazy?
Our hearts will burst if you don't stop now.
Oh God preserve us, he has goat's feet.
Church-bells were ringing in the valley,
And there came father, mother, brother all to pray, but,
Where can now Horga's youth have got to,
Oh dear Lord they're dancing yet still.
Dancing to the Horga lay-song,
High up on Horga barrow's top.
Tears of tiredness will come before long,
Dancing till soul and body drop.
Cease with your playing, fiddler, now, or,
We'll dance the life and soul and bones from all our bodies.
No he will never end his dance,
Until everybody's fallen down dead!
Good, but what more?
The name Horga (or Hårga) bears a striking resemblance to Hörg, the old Norse word for an outdoor hilltop pagan altar. Hörg is also found in some English placenames as Harrow.
Good, but what more?
Also in Norwegian there is a similar story: the devil on the fiddle, recognised by a glimpse of his foot.
The occasion for this incident was a wedding in Hol in Norway. Two young men had started to argue, and this had escalated into fighting. While this was going on, the inkeeper went down into the cellar intending to fetch up beer to give to the one who won the fight. While he was in the cellar, he saw a fiddler sitting on a beer barrel. He was playing a tune that the innkeeper had not heard before. Moreover he was holding the fiddle the wrong way round, with the neck pointing towards his chest, and he was keeping time by beating with his foot against the beer barrel. But the inkeeper saw that this foot was no ordinary foot, but a goat's hoof. He knew straight away that this was the devil. When the inkeeper ran up again, one of the two young men lay dead in the yard.
Good, but what more?
To finish off, here comes the tune the devil played on his fiddle that time in Norway. This is called Fanitullen, played on the Hardanger fiddle with a special tuning called the troll tuning. This is a version from youtube (Christian Borlaug):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc-WG...
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
July 21, 2015
A picture tells of a translated verse
The cultural impact of a work of art or literature can often grow in unexpected ways. What better illustration for this than the way that the ballad of Hilla-Lill and Hillebrand has made its way into international consciousness.
A beautiful and enigmatic painting can reach out to a wide audience. And indeed, recently (in 2012), a scene from this Scandinavian medieval ballad was voted Ireland's Favourite Painting.
The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (Hellelil and Hildebrand) is an 1864 watercolour painting by Frederic William Burton. In creating this painting, Burton, an artist from County Clare in Ireland, was inspired by the 1855 translation of the Danish ballad by Whitley Stokes.
The ballad tells of how a princess, Hilla-Lill, has fallen in love with one of her guards. Needless to say, this is not a match that would be welcomed by the princess's father the King. And as ever in the world of balladry, things will not go smoothly.
The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton (National Gallery of Ireland)
The painting captures the two lovers in an early moment of intimacy, tinged by the inevitability of their downfall.
A new translation of the Swedish ballad Hilla-Lill is included in Warrior Lore.
(As ever with such old ballads, there is quite some variation with the spellings of the names, and indeed of the names themselves. Hellelil and Hildebrand are taken from a Danish variant; I have preferred Hilla-Lill and Hillebrand for my translation from the Swedish.)
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
A beautiful and enigmatic painting can reach out to a wide audience. And indeed, recently (in 2012), a scene from this Scandinavian medieval ballad was voted Ireland's Favourite Painting.
The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (Hellelil and Hildebrand) is an 1864 watercolour painting by Frederic William Burton. In creating this painting, Burton, an artist from County Clare in Ireland, was inspired by the 1855 translation of the Danish ballad by Whitley Stokes.
The ballad tells of how a princess, Hilla-Lill, has fallen in love with one of her guards. Needless to say, this is not a match that would be welcomed by the princess's father the King. And as ever in the world of balladry, things will not go smoothly.
The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton (National Gallery of Ireland)
The painting captures the two lovers in an early moment of intimacy, tinged by the inevitability of their downfall.
And it was young Sir Hillebrand,
I fled with him from my father’s land.
Hillebrand saddled his palfrey grey,
He lifted me up and we rode away.
A new translation of the Swedish ballad Hilla-Lill is included in Warrior Lore.
(As ever with such old ballads, there is quite some variation with the spellings of the names, and indeed of the names themselves. Hellelil and Hildebrand are taken from a Danish variant; I have preferred Hilla-Lill and Hillebrand for my translation from the Swedish.)
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2015 Ian Cumpstey
May 16, 2014
Skiing Ballads
As we remember the successes of the Norwegians and Swedes in the cross-country skiing and biathlon at the Olympic games in Sochi, we may think also that skiing has featured in the culture of the people of these countries for centuries. Warrior Lore is my new collection of translations into English of medieval-style Scandinavian folk-ballads, and it includes two ballads in which skiing plays a prominent role. Narrative folk-ballads were part of an oral storytelling tradition in Scandinavia. Many of these ballads survive as they were written down by collectors from around 1600 to the 1800s. The two folk-ballads in question tell quite different stories, but they both have as their hero a skier, Heming the young.
In Heming and the Mountain Troll, based on a Swedish ballad, skis are used as a means of getting around, and getting around quickly. Heming's girl has been kidnapped by a troll woman, and he makes his way to the mountains to find her. They then make their escape on skis, with the troll woman in hot pursuit.
Extract from Heming and the Mountain Troll:
And Heming took the maiden out,
They had to ski away.
She fell in a faint his fair young maid,
When the mountain shook and swayed.
So Heming took some powder snow,
To rub her forehead there.
She came to life his fair young wife,
And Heming smiled at her.
Heming and the girl do escape, but that has as much to do with the troll's susceptibility to being turned to stone as to his ability to ski quickly.
The Ballad Heming and King Harald is translated from the Norwegian. It tells the story of a sporting contest between King Harald Hardrada and the young Heming. In fact, after they compete at archery, and nothing can separate them, Harald sets Heming some difficult challenges. The skiing is one of these.
Extract from Heming and King Harald:
“I hear you Heming the young,
“It seems you have no fear,
“You shall ski out on the fell,
“The one the boys call Snara.”
“Yes I shall ski out on the fell,
“The one the boys call Snara,
“And you, O King, shall stand below,
“All so your view is clearer.”
Heming skied on Snarafell,
His skis they turned on high.
The King he thought he seemed to see,
The stars falling out of the sky.
Heming skied on Snarafell,
His skis they ran on the snow.
He took the King by the shoulder-bone,
So his nose hit the earth below.
This story doesn't end well for Harald. But from this ballad, we can see that the Norwegians were involved in sporting skiing, and indeed biathlon, competitions a long time ago.
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2014 Ian Cumpstey
In Heming and the Mountain Troll, based on a Swedish ballad, skis are used as a means of getting around, and getting around quickly. Heming's girl has been kidnapped by a troll woman, and he makes his way to the mountains to find her. They then make their escape on skis, with the troll woman in hot pursuit.
Extract from Heming and the Mountain Troll:
And Heming took the maiden out,
They had to ski away.
She fell in a faint his fair young maid,
When the mountain shook and swayed.
So Heming took some powder snow,
To rub her forehead there.
She came to life his fair young wife,
And Heming smiled at her.
Heming and the girl do escape, but that has as much to do with the troll's susceptibility to being turned to stone as to his ability to ski quickly.
The Ballad Heming and King Harald is translated from the Norwegian. It tells the story of a sporting contest between King Harald Hardrada and the young Heming. In fact, after they compete at archery, and nothing can separate them, Harald sets Heming some difficult challenges. The skiing is one of these.
Extract from Heming and King Harald:
“I hear you Heming the young,
“It seems you have no fear,
“You shall ski out on the fell,
“The one the boys call Snara.”
“Yes I shall ski out on the fell,
“The one the boys call Snara,
“And you, O King, shall stand below,
“All so your view is clearer.”
Heming skied on Snarafell,
His skis they turned on high.
The King he thought he seemed to see,
The stars falling out of the sky.
Heming skied on Snarafell,
His skis they ran on the snow.
He took the King by the shoulder-bone,
So his nose hit the earth below.
This story doesn't end well for Harald. But from this ballad, we can see that the Norwegians were involved in sporting skiing, and indeed biathlon, competitions a long time ago.
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2014 Ian Cumpstey
Hi Fans
So I've signed up for Goodreads, and this seems like a good place to report the latest news:
In the past few weeks, I've released Warrior Lore as an ebook. This is a second volume of Scandinavian folk ballads translated into English verse, following Lord Peter and Little Kerstin. These narrative ballads were part of an oral tradition in Scandinavia, and were first written down around 1600. Included in this book are stories of heroes and fighters, Vikings, and trolls.
The legendary hero Widrick Waylandsson comes face to face with a troll in the forest. Thor resorts to cross-dressing in a bid to recover his stolen hammer. The daughter of the King of Sweden is abducted from a convent in the Swedish countryside. A young fighter has to show off his prowess in skiing and shooting for King Harald Hardrada. And more....
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2014 Ian Cumpstey
In the past few weeks, I've released Warrior Lore as an ebook. This is a second volume of Scandinavian folk ballads translated into English verse, following Lord Peter and Little Kerstin. These narrative ballads were part of an oral tradition in Scandinavia, and were first written down around 1600. Included in this book are stories of heroes and fighters, Vikings, and trolls.
The legendary hero Widrick Waylandsson comes face to face with a troll in the forest. Thor resorts to cross-dressing in a bid to recover his stolen hammer. The daughter of the King of Sweden is abducted from a convent in the Swedish countryside. A young fighter has to show off his prowess in skiing and shooting for King Harald Hardrada. And more....
Scandinavian folk ballads --- Skadi Press Books
http://www.northerndisplayers.co.uk/
(C) 2014 Ian Cumpstey
