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Popular Tales from the Norse
Embodying the fears, fantasies, and forebodings of the people who lived in northern Europe when the world was a darker and more frightening place, these 42 authentic folktales were culled from the rich legacy of Norse and German mythology by noted folklorist George Webbe Dasent. They include stories of princes and princesses who have been transformed into animals, trolls, and maneating giants who possess magical powers, and good-hearted, clever young men and women, often poor and ridiculed, who eventually come away with wealth and love beyond measure.
In addition to such well-known favorites as "Dapplegrim," "Katie Woodencloak," "Tatterhood," and "Legend of Tannhäuser," this collection also brings to light many gems difficult to find elsewhere. In "The Werewolf," a cruel stepmother thwarts a beautiful princess's marriage plans by transforming her fiancé into a hunted denizen of the forest. The hilarious "Such Women Are" proves the world is never without a sufficiency of fools, while "The Three Dogs" tells of a youth whose four-legged friends defeat a serpent with the nasty habit of devouring a town's young women. Among many other hard-to-find stories are "King Gram," "The Magician's Pupil," "The Outlaw," "Temptations," "The Widow's Son," "The Three Sisters Trapped in a Mountain," and "The Goatherd" (the inspiration for Washington Irving’s story of Rip van Winkle).
These stories preserve the ancient myths of Western Europe that have been passed down from generation to generation, but aside from their importance as seminal folktales, they are simply good reading — full of passion and excitement, magic, mystery, and sheer storytelling power. Popular Tales from Norse Mythology will delight any student or admirer of myths and mythology.
Excerpt:
The Dasent family is believed to have been originally of French extraction, the name having been traced to an ancient Norman source. It has owned property in the West Indies since the Restoration, and is repre sented in the island of St. Vincent at the present day. Some of its members were amongst the earliest colonists in St. Christopher's at a time when that island and Martinique were held jointly by the French and the English; and the highest judicial and administrative offices in St. Christopher's, in Nevis, in Antigua, and, more recently, in St. Vincent itself were filled by Sir George Dasent's ancestors.
In addition to such well-known favorites as "Dapplegrim," "Katie Woodencloak," "Tatterhood," and "Legend of Tannhäuser," this collection also brings to light many gems difficult to find elsewhere. In "The Werewolf," a cruel stepmother thwarts a beautiful princess's marriage plans by transforming her fiancé into a hunted denizen of the forest. The hilarious "Such Women Are" proves the world is never without a sufficiency of fools, while "The Three Dogs" tells of a youth whose four-legged friends defeat a serpent with the nasty habit of devouring a town's young women. Among many other hard-to-find stories are "King Gram," "The Magician's Pupil," "The Outlaw," "Temptations," "The Widow's Son," "The Three Sisters Trapped in a Mountain," and "The Goatherd" (the inspiration for Washington Irving’s story of Rip van Winkle).
These stories preserve the ancient myths of Western Europe that have been passed down from generation to generation, but aside from their importance as seminal folktales, they are simply good reading — full of passion and excitement, magic, mystery, and sheer storytelling power. Popular Tales from Norse Mythology will delight any student or admirer of myths and mythology.
Excerpt:
The Dasent family is believed to have been originally of French extraction, the name having been traced to an ancient Norman source. It has owned property in the West Indies since the Restoration, and is repre sented in the island of St. Vincent at the present day. Some of its members were amongst the earliest colonists in St. Christopher's at a time when that island and Martinique were held jointly by the French and the English; and the highest judicial and administrative offices in St. Christopher's, in Nevis, in Antigua, and, more recently, in St. Vincent itself were filled by Sir George Dasent's ancestors.
436 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1859
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About the author
George Webbe Dasent
148 books12 followersSir George Webbe Dasent was a British lawyer, translator of folk tales and contributor to The Times.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
October 27, 2010
A good book, but it has very little to do with Norse mythology, and for that it gets a low rating for false advertising.
My real issue with this book is that the title is rather misleading. I hadn't gotten through perhaps four stories before it became very clear that these, while certainly stories, were much less so Norse, or even mythological.
There are only two stories into which Norse religion factors, one of these being a brief appearance of Odin, the other being the brief appearance of a valkyrie who then gives up her power to wed a mortal.
These stories are not mythological in that they do not follow the definition of a myth; they are folk tales, and rarely carry any religious undertone, lesson, or purpose. In short, you're going to see a lot of farmer's children stumbling on magical artifacts which make them strong, beautiful, and rich, but very little of anything else.
I was even more astounded to see that the title header on the left page read, not 'Popular Tales from Norse Mythology', as it should, but 'Scandinavian and North German Tales', which is both a far better description of what this book contains, and probably what the title of the book should have been.
Then, there is the fact that this is rather shoddily put together. The 'author' contributed an introduction, as well as a few footnotes, but these are woefully unintelligently done. The introduction makes grand generalizations and tries to shoehorn these tales into the Norse tradition, when it is clear that they have little to do of the sort, and makes quite a few (major) false assumptions about the meaning and sources of these tales.
The footnotes, which occurred maybe five times in the book, were helpful in that they pointed out similar versions of given tales, and perhaps gave a bit of background info, but there were certainly too few of them. There were some pretty clear parallels between many of the tales in this book, which shared many elements with each other, and with some of the more popular fantasy tales (Disney movies come to mind), but these were not elaborated upon or even noted for the reader who is too lazy to make his own as he goes along.
Now, this isn't to say that I didn't enjoy this book, as the tales were very interesting and at least somewhat related to the topic that the book claimed to be about. I enjoyed them very much. I'm just rather annoyed that I paid for what I thought was Norse mythology, and did not receive it.
My real issue with this book is that the title is rather misleading. I hadn't gotten through perhaps four stories before it became very clear that these, while certainly stories, were much less so Norse, or even mythological.
There are only two stories into which Norse religion factors, one of these being a brief appearance of Odin, the other being the brief appearance of a valkyrie who then gives up her power to wed a mortal.
These stories are not mythological in that they do not follow the definition of a myth; they are folk tales, and rarely carry any religious undertone, lesson, or purpose. In short, you're going to see a lot of farmer's children stumbling on magical artifacts which make them strong, beautiful, and rich, but very little of anything else.
I was even more astounded to see that the title header on the left page read, not 'Popular Tales from Norse Mythology', as it should, but 'Scandinavian and North German Tales', which is both a far better description of what this book contains, and probably what the title of the book should have been.
Then, there is the fact that this is rather shoddily put together. The 'author' contributed an introduction, as well as a few footnotes, but these are woefully unintelligently done. The introduction makes grand generalizations and tries to shoehorn these tales into the Norse tradition, when it is clear that they have little to do of the sort, and makes quite a few (major) false assumptions about the meaning and sources of these tales.
The footnotes, which occurred maybe five times in the book, were helpful in that they pointed out similar versions of given tales, and perhaps gave a bit of background info, but there were certainly too few of them. There were some pretty clear parallels between many of the tales in this book, which shared many elements with each other, and with some of the more popular fantasy tales (Disney movies come to mind), but these were not elaborated upon or even noted for the reader who is too lazy to make his own as he goes along.
Now, this isn't to say that I didn't enjoy this book, as the tales were very interesting and at least somewhat related to the topic that the book claimed to be about. I enjoyed them very much. I'm just rather annoyed that I paid for what I thought was Norse mythology, and did not receive it.
April 8, 2024
It takes WAY too long for the author to stop talking about the 'Aryan race' and get to the actual mythology that is advertised by the title of the book. The forward takes up 20% of the book! It's like if your slightly racist grandfather, who teaches mythology at Oxford, came over for Christmas dinner, got very drunk, and then started rambling semi-coherently about the Norse origins of Jack & The Beanstalk. It's occasionally quite interesting, but I'm not sure how seriously I should be taking what he's saying. When it gets into the actual mythology it's pretty good. Then the author surprised me at the end of the book by talking about African mythology, & pointing out the similarities with the 'Aryan' mythology. The book would actually be better off without the forward; It really doesn't add anything of value. I'm not saying it should be censored however; this is a period piece, a product of it's time, & should be left unmolested. Let's have some respect for the dead eh?
December 12, 2015
Translated from Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe's collection. You may have heard of this particular collection; J.R.R. Tolkien cites it in "On Fairy-Stories." And you definitely know one tale: "The Three Billy-Goats Gruff."
There are a lot more here. Has some animal tales, and some anecdotes of fools or knaves -- I particularly liked "Boots Who Made the Princess Say, 'That's A Story'", as the twist that makes her say it is clever. But there's "The Twelve Wild Ducks", which has elements of "Snow White" and of "The Seven Swans." "The Cat on the Dovrefell" is about some trolls getting their Christmas revels interrupted. "East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon" is a classic of the Search for the Lost Husband. Others include "Bushy Bride" and "Doll i' the Grass." A number are variants of commonly known types
There are a lot more here. Has some animal tales, and some anecdotes of fools or knaves -- I particularly liked "Boots Who Made the Princess Say, 'That's A Story'", as the twist that makes her say it is clever. But there's "The Twelve Wild Ducks", which has elements of "Snow White" and of "The Seven Swans." "The Cat on the Dovrefell" is about some trolls getting their Christmas revels interrupted. "East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon" is a classic of the Search for the Lost Husband. Others include "Bushy Bride" and "Doll i' the Grass." A number are variants of commonly known types
August 13, 2018
Apparently the old Norse used American $USD. Lots of "fairy tales" about good guys killing bad guys and winning a kingdom and princess and gold.
As for bad reviews/comments, The title says it all; it's popular tales from the Norse, not about the Norse. A lot of retellings and variants of tales found here and elsewhere. Has a few references of "Hamlet's Mill".
Can't recommend. The first quarter is the best... kind of drags on after that IMO, with multiple variants of the same stories. But the first quarter is quite good.
As for bad reviews/comments, The title says it all; it's popular tales from the Norse, not about the Norse. A lot of retellings and variants of tales found here and elsewhere. Has a few references of "Hamlet's Mill".
Can't recommend. The first quarter is the best... kind of drags on after that IMO, with multiple variants of the same stories. But the first quarter is quite good.
May 4, 2015
Not finished yet, but not sure if I will...
Giving 2 stars for bad editing and misleading title/cover/introduction. The title suggests that the content is going to be Norse Mythology, which is reinforced by the cover (Odin and Brunhilde), and the introduction goes on at length about the history of the Norse gods, influence by Christianity, recent collection of the stories about the gods in writing, etc. - but it's not. It's German and Scandinavian folk tales, think "brothers Grimm" not Heathens.
As to the editing - the table of contents attributes the inspiration for "Sleepy Hollow" to "The Goatherd" while the back says that "The Goatherd" was inspiration for "Rip Van Winkle" - yet more misleading information in this book.
While the tales are interesting enough, it's frustrating and I don't know if I trust this book very much because of it. On one hand I want to finish the stories, on the other hand I'm at the point where I'm starting to wonder if half of them are going to end up being from France or Italy, etc.
Giving 2 stars for bad editing and misleading title/cover/introduction. The title suggests that the content is going to be Norse Mythology, which is reinforced by the cover (Odin and Brunhilde), and the introduction goes on at length about the history of the Norse gods, influence by Christianity, recent collection of the stories about the gods in writing, etc. - but it's not. It's German and Scandinavian folk tales, think "brothers Grimm" not Heathens.
As to the editing - the table of contents attributes the inspiration for "Sleepy Hollow" to "The Goatherd" while the back says that "The Goatherd" was inspiration for "Rip Van Winkle" - yet more misleading information in this book.
While the tales are interesting enough, it's frustrating and I don't know if I trust this book very much because of it. On one hand I want to finish the stories, on the other hand I'm at the point where I'm starting to wonder if half of them are going to end up being from France or Italy, etc.
November 19, 2013
The tales in this book were not so much tales of Norse Mythology, but rather Scandinavian folktales. I liked the stories well enough and was interested to see how many of these tales resembled each other as well as some of Grimm’s Fairytales. I also thought that it was interesting that many of the stories probably did exist prior to the Christianization of the Norsemen, and how subtle changes were made in them to “de-paganize” them.
It is worth a read if you like this type of material, but don’t expect to find tales of Thor, Odin, Freya, or any of the other Nordic gods. They just aren’t in here.
It is worth a read if you like this type of material, but don’t expect to find tales of Thor, Odin, Freya, or any of the other Nordic gods. They just aren’t in here.
December 4, 2016
First of all, this was not mythology. It was Scandinavian folk tales. There's a big difference. Otherwise these stories weren't bad but they did start to get a bit repetitive. There were very similar elements in a lot of them which started to get a little boring. You could see some elements of more well known fairy tales later written by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen which I thought was interesting.
February 7, 2011
Not really Norse at all, which was unfortunate as I was reading it to get into the right frame of mind before going to Norway. But I had a great time in Norway anyway.
But back to the book, the stories were a bit repetitive and had quite bizarre lessons to be learned. Not something to read to children before bed.
But back to the book, the stories were a bit repetitive and had quite bizarre lessons to be learned. Not something to read to children before bed.
October 8, 2014
If you're looking for tales of Thor, Odin, frost giants &c, you won't find them here. You will, however, find charming fairy tales in which the youngest child always comes out ahead, the ogres always die, and beautiful princesses are rescued.
October 13, 2017
Pretty much every single tale follows the same storyline: a clever young man👨🏽 meets a troll/witch/giant👹 who is probably keeping a pretty girl prisoner👸🏼, and he slays the brute and marries the girl💏. It gets kind of old. 😖
July 20, 2016
This particular collection was more concerned with the sagas of kings and heroes than with anything "mythological" per se. I was hoping for many tales of the gods of Asgard, and did not get them.
November 11, 2017
Excellent source of folktales from the Norse area. One of the first translations of these tales into English.
October 18, 2022
Don't get this particular printing!
It's possibly the strangest printed book I've ever purchased!
6"x9" volume in 8pt font. No publisher's page, no table of contents, structure, divisions. No chapters.
It begins with the 58 page introduction, claiming it is the 2nd Edition. And then the stories flow ceaselessly from there. As if each is a continuing paragraph from the previous story.
ISBN 9781483936529
This is out in the public domain, but damn if this seller on Amazon didn't scam on creating an actual book.
It's possibly the strangest printed book I've ever purchased!
6"x9" volume in 8pt font. No publisher's page, no table of contents, structure, divisions. No chapters.
It begins with the 58 page introduction, claiming it is the 2nd Edition. And then the stories flow ceaselessly from there. As if each is a continuing paragraph from the previous story.
ISBN 9781483936529
This is out in the public domain, but damn if this seller on Amazon didn't scam on creating an actual book.
March 12, 2018
Read these Norwegian folk tales to my daughter on random nights. Had lots of laughs.
December 25, 2019
Some fun stories with princesses, knights, warriors, trolls, witches and hags... challenges, kingdoms to be won, riches to be claimed. Entertaining if not particularly what i was expecting.
April 12, 2016
This work takes some of George Webbe Dasent's translation of P. C. Asbjoernsen and J. Moe's 1842 publication of Norse folk tales and presents it to modern readers. I am glad that I read Jack Zipes, "The Complete First Edition: The Original Folk & Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm," because the introduction does a better job explaining the times. The introduction in this book is only part of Dasent's and it doesn't put it in its historical context. I think an update or a comment from a scholar from today would have made it stronger for the modern reader.
Dasent was a professor and philologist who admired the Brothers Grimm, as well as, Asbjoernsen, and Moe's works, as they reflected the idea of shaping a corpus of folk tales as a way to prove literature as a part of a vast Indo-European tradition. He retains the flavor of the folk tales as told by middle class or peasants. Unlike Zipes book there are only a few footnotes that explain where the tales came from historically. Dasent wanted the stories to be read as popular not scholarly tales. I found Zipes book quite fascinating as to where the Grimms got their tales either from medieval manuscripts or different people representing different classes. I can't help but think Asbjoernsen and Moe's work had that but have never read their work.
Philologists like Dasent, Grimm, Asbjoernsen and Moe, try to show how many folk tales descend from eastern tales before being absorbed by the culture and transformed into unique stories representing local legends and more. Through isolation, the Norwegians absorbed and developed their own flavor for telling stories mixing Christianity, Norse myth, socioeconomic status and landscape. I would have liked to have seen this footnoted like the Grimms collection as it shows more clearly the literary roots of the tale. Cinderella is found in the folk tale, "Katie Woodencloak," who has to battle trolls with the help of a Bull. And who would have come up with a wood cloak? Only a culture that values the tall pine forests and woods that were critical to shipbuilding and more. There are magical snowshoes, reindeer, and wool, to name a few. Odin is now a mysterious figure in a broad-brimmed hat and cloak that brings fortune to any character he helps. He is never named but it is obvious who he is as well as Valkyries and Loki-like tricksters. The tales are about marginalized, poor men that succeed through some magical help and gain wealth or a kingdom, harsh stepmothers, dads, or mothers, sibling rivalry, the underdog that triumphs, and strong people that abuse power.
While the narration is male-oriented, like Grimm's, there are a few stories with strong, intelligent females. Katie Woodencloak is one such character. However, it is the triumph of the youngest boy out of three sons that comes through the most. He is the wanderer who triumphs over injustice and evil in the end. What I find odd with these pieces is that Dasent like Grimm is male; yet many of the oral stories were recited by women. I can't help but wonder if the slant of these stories would have been different if a scholarly female in the 1800's wrote them with a philological bent.
Dasent's introductory essay was 160 pages when first published and a collection that covered 60 folk tales. That is not the case here. The introduction is about 20 pages and there are 42 stories in the collection. I'm not sure why the editors put mythology in the title. This is very misleading. They are really just popular tales with only implied mythology.
Dasent writes with a consistent, colloquial style that is easy to read. Some of the stories are violent and many remind me of ones I read in the Jack Zipes book, except the violence is more toned down than Grimms. Two sisters get their heads cut off and the third sister uses a troll's magic potion to put their heads back on. Or the queen's babies are thrown into a pit full of snakes (which reminded me of Ragnar Lothbrak's fate in that Viking legend) only the babies are fished out after the queen's treachery is exposed. The "Nasty Flax Spinning" and "The Three Aunts" are quite similar. One story that repeats often and that I don't recall reading as much is the Samson-like character who gets strength from drinking water from a flask and killing three trolls or the character has a girtle or ribbon that gives him strength. But don't quote me on that... I have a wickedly poor memory when it comes to details. Dasent wanted his stories to be a window into oral traditions, peasant life and cultures. This does just that.
Dasent was a professor and philologist who admired the Brothers Grimm, as well as, Asbjoernsen, and Moe's works, as they reflected the idea of shaping a corpus of folk tales as a way to prove literature as a part of a vast Indo-European tradition. He retains the flavor of the folk tales as told by middle class or peasants. Unlike Zipes book there are only a few footnotes that explain where the tales came from historically. Dasent wanted the stories to be read as popular not scholarly tales. I found Zipes book quite fascinating as to where the Grimms got their tales either from medieval manuscripts or different people representing different classes. I can't help but think Asbjoernsen and Moe's work had that but have never read their work.
Philologists like Dasent, Grimm, Asbjoernsen and Moe, try to show how many folk tales descend from eastern tales before being absorbed by the culture and transformed into unique stories representing local legends and more. Through isolation, the Norwegians absorbed and developed their own flavor for telling stories mixing Christianity, Norse myth, socioeconomic status and landscape. I would have liked to have seen this footnoted like the Grimms collection as it shows more clearly the literary roots of the tale. Cinderella is found in the folk tale, "Katie Woodencloak," who has to battle trolls with the help of a Bull. And who would have come up with a wood cloak? Only a culture that values the tall pine forests and woods that were critical to shipbuilding and more. There are magical snowshoes, reindeer, and wool, to name a few. Odin is now a mysterious figure in a broad-brimmed hat and cloak that brings fortune to any character he helps. He is never named but it is obvious who he is as well as Valkyries and Loki-like tricksters. The tales are about marginalized, poor men that succeed through some magical help and gain wealth or a kingdom, harsh stepmothers, dads, or mothers, sibling rivalry, the underdog that triumphs, and strong people that abuse power.
While the narration is male-oriented, like Grimm's, there are a few stories with strong, intelligent females. Katie Woodencloak is one such character. However, it is the triumph of the youngest boy out of three sons that comes through the most. He is the wanderer who triumphs over injustice and evil in the end. What I find odd with these pieces is that Dasent like Grimm is male; yet many of the oral stories were recited by women. I can't help but wonder if the slant of these stories would have been different if a scholarly female in the 1800's wrote them with a philological bent.
Dasent's introductory essay was 160 pages when first published and a collection that covered 60 folk tales. That is not the case here. The introduction is about 20 pages and there are 42 stories in the collection. I'm not sure why the editors put mythology in the title. This is very misleading. They are really just popular tales with only implied mythology.
Dasent writes with a consistent, colloquial style that is easy to read. Some of the stories are violent and many remind me of ones I read in the Jack Zipes book, except the violence is more toned down than Grimms. Two sisters get their heads cut off and the third sister uses a troll's magic potion to put their heads back on. Or the queen's babies are thrown into a pit full of snakes (which reminded me of Ragnar Lothbrak's fate in that Viking legend) only the babies are fished out after the queen's treachery is exposed. The "Nasty Flax Spinning" and "The Three Aunts" are quite similar. One story that repeats often and that I don't recall reading as much is the Samson-like character who gets strength from drinking water from a flask and killing three trolls or the character has a girtle or ribbon that gives him strength. But don't quote me on that... I have a wickedly poor memory when it comes to details. Dasent wanted his stories to be a window into oral traditions, peasant life and cultures. This does just that.
June 27, 2012
As a collection of fairy tales from antiquity I think it's fantastic. I love Norse mythology. This is the stuff of trolls, witches, princesses, glass balls, knights in armor, mysterious secret passageways, and the like. Fairies tales are magical. We can't argue with a fairy tale; if 'to look into a mirror' will get us trapped inside forever, well...that's that. It won't do us any good to complain about whether or not such a thing is possible; we just mind to obey.
There are some cultural cues in the book that no longer jive with modern readers. For example, at the end of each tale the narrator concludes with, "And if [X Character] isn't [doing said punishment, or enjoying said reward], then s/he is probably there still." Sometimes this final phrase is a little odd, such as in one particular tale when the phrase comes out, "And if he hasn't died yet, well, then he's alive still." Seriously.
It's fun to read the stories; I think it's also fun to see modern interpretations of them. Jim Henson borrowed _heavily_ from this book for his popular series, "The Storyteller." For instance, "The Giant's Heart" was taken nearly straight out of it, only with a lot of changing to make the story less cruel.
There are some cultural cues in the book that no longer jive with modern readers. For example, at the end of each tale the narrator concludes with, "And if [X Character] isn't [doing said punishment, or enjoying said reward], then s/he is probably there still." Sometimes this final phrase is a little odd, such as in one particular tale when the phrase comes out, "And if he hasn't died yet, well, then he's alive still." Seriously.
It's fun to read the stories; I think it's also fun to see modern interpretations of them. Jim Henson borrowed _heavily_ from this book for his popular series, "The Storyteller." For instance, "The Giant's Heart" was taken nearly straight out of it, only with a lot of changing to make the story less cruel.
June 9, 2015
All the stories I heard at bedtime as a child! I giggled while reading the book as I remembered my father's voice imitating the trolls and other things that aren't supposed to talk.
The book starts out with a big introduction part, about history, origins of tales and comparing them to similar ones all over the world. And of course about mythology; I print screened the first page where Åsgård came up (it's my last name).
Then we have the main part, with all the Norwegian fairytales about trolls, royals, farmers, talking animals and magical items.
Honestly these tales are a little violent, but I guess it's just us northerns being vikings, hahah. Too bad some of them were poorly translated to English. I mean, calling Espen Askeladden for Boots? He's "ashlad", or even "cinderboy" - that was even mentioned in the introduction, he's the male counterpart of Cinderella! Except his brothers Per and Pål are biological.
Anyway, the book ends with Ananzi stories (a little weird, but I like them) and all the footnotes from the introduction (probably cause I read this on my phone).
I recommend this to everyone!
The book starts out with a big introduction part, about history, origins of tales and comparing them to similar ones all over the world. And of course about mythology; I print screened the first page where Åsgård came up (it's my last name).
Then we have the main part, with all the Norwegian fairytales about trolls, royals, farmers, talking animals and magical items.
Honestly these tales are a little violent, but I guess it's just us northerns being vikings, hahah. Too bad some of them were poorly translated to English. I mean, calling Espen Askeladden for Boots? He's "ashlad", or even "cinderboy" - that was even mentioned in the introduction, he's the male counterpart of Cinderella! Except his brothers Per and Pål are biological.
Anyway, the book ends with Ananzi stories (a little weird, but I like them) and all the footnotes from the introduction (probably cause I read this on my phone).
I recommend this to everyone!
May 24, 2023
Honestly, it's most interesting for the different versions of similar elements rather than the tales in and of themselves. The standouts were "The Master Thief" and "Katie Woodecloak," a proto-Cinderella story. The Ananzi stories were a weird inclusion. Just read
Nordic Tales: Folktales from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark
; it's a better curated collection with better and weirder stories.
October 17, 2015
After briefly checking out the back of the book, I thought "this is something right down my alley!"; This feeling only got confirmed by reading the rather long and interesting Introduction! But then it went downhill... 2 stars simply cos they are nice tales, folk tales. Imo it doesn´t even come close to mythology... VERY DISAPPOINTING!
August 5, 2011
Some of these are a hoot, but most are duplicates of fairy tales from other countries and cultures, which the editor goes into in excessive detail in the overlong introduction. Of interest only to explorers of comparative folk culture.
March 20, 2025
The stories seem very redundant and in the middle of a rewrite from pagan to Christian. Often seems like you gave many people the same elements and asked for a story using them so not the same but almost the same.
September 12, 2011
A wonderful edition of some really good tales. Introductions to the tales would have been welcome, or at least some notes, but this doesn't detract at all from the stories themselves. Tons of fun.
February 13, 2012
I actually read this last year but forgot to input it. It's not fresh in mind my so I cannot write a review.
June 20, 2012
Great collection of classic tales. Very enjoyable and entertaining.
October 23, 2012
It was good, but had nothing to do with Norse myth. Infact, the end went into African myth. So the low star rating is for the very misleading title.
Currently reading
October 31, 201210/31: Introduction was 22% of the book and overly pedantic. That's a crime. Just starting on the actual stories now after several days of reading.
June 30, 2013
Both deceptive and repetitive.
June 3, 2013
It was just ok as I read it. Everything is in three's.
December 29, 2013
Very much a retread. Seen elsewhere but done better. Disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews