1920. The primitive stuff of these legends is to be found scattered up and down, here and there, in the folklore of Brabant and Flanders. They were written in the idiom of the 16th century, the period to which the latest and longest of them roughly belongs. Contents: Brotherhood of the Cheerful Countenance; Three Sisters; Sir Halewyn; and Smetse Smee.
Charles-Théodore-Henri de Coster was a Belgian author; though the son of a Flemish father and Walloon mother, he wrote in French. He died on May 7, 1879 (aged 51) in Brussels, Belgium.
Flemish folklore is tough to find. These stories are not quite folklore--they are legends, remnants of ballads--long and complex stories. This deceivingly slender volume contains four of these stories, which give a wonderful taste of Flemish humor and values. However, they can also be quite dark--the story of Sir Halewyn, in particular, is quite gruesome, and will keep you on the edge of your seat. (It also has an interesting history--according to Wikipedia, it is a well known ballad, dating back to Carolingian times.)
Може да се каже, че попаднах случайно на тази книга и освен, че надмина всякакви мои очаквания, много силно се впечатлих и от самия превод на български език. Отдавна не бях попадал на толкова цветен език и толкова забавно и умело използвани архаизми, че имам чувството, че дори да говорех френски и да я бях прочел в оригинал, нямаше да вникна толкова дълбоко в емоцията и страстите на героите и да се забавлявам толкова много. Беше истинско удоволствие и нямам търпение да продължа с „Легендата за Тил Уленшпигел“.
A random download from Project Gutenberg. Strange book! Written in the 19th century, basically fairytales set in Medieval times, although probably not for children. Pretty gruesome stuff. Entertaining at times, very weird. A strong three or a weak four, I'm not sure.