# Need a book on Scandinavian Folklore & Fairy Tales **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588 "2008-01-22T23:09:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/1 "2008-01-22T23:09:57Z")
Can any Dopers recommend a book on Scandinavian Folklore & Fairy Tales? Post-Pagan era, after the Viking times, please. I am particularly interested in beings called Troll-Wives, sometimes called the Huldra. My Great-Grandfather, an immigrant, told me a story about them & our family. But I was very small, & do not recall it. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/2 "2008-01-22T23:37:12Z")
Well, I’ve got a big book called _Scandinavian Folk & Fairy Tales_, edited by Claire Booss, published by Gramercy. Don’t know if it’s got the particular stories you’re thinking of, but there are definitely a lot of troll-related ones. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/3 "2008-01-22T23:54:20Z")
**Scandinavian Folktales** , translated and editied by Jacqueline Simpson, published by Penguin. Part Seven is the one you want. **Folktales of Norway** , edited by Reidar Christiansen, from the University of Chicago Press, is even better, has a several good paragraphs about Huldre folk in the introduction, but may be a little harder to find. The Claire Booss one **Baldwin** mentioned has good stories, too, but quite as directly on the subject. If you remember any of your great-grandfather’s story, or find another family member who remembers more of it, I would _love_ to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/4 "2008-01-23T00:08:45Z")
Doing a quick Google, I got [huldre folk](http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=huldre+folk&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) A couple good articles turned up, mixed with dreck. Also found an interesting article connecting the huldre tales with Orkney lore: [Huldre and Orkneys](http://www.orkneyjar.com/folklore/finfolk/huldre.htm) Ibsend used some huldre folk lore in his play **Peer Gynt** , so you might want to listen to Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from the “Peer Gynt Suite” while you read some of the folklore. Just for the fun of it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/5 "2008-01-23T00:39:37Z")
[QUOTE=Tapiotar] **Scandinavian Folktales** , translated and editied by Jacqueline Simpson, published by Penguin. Part Seven is the one you want. **Folktales of Norway** , edited by Reidar Christiansen, from the University of Chicago Press, is even better, has a several good paragraphs about Huldre folk in the introduction, but may be a little harder to find. The Claire Booss one **Baldwin** mentioned has good stories, too, but quite as directly on the subject. If you remember any of your great-grandfather’s story, or find another family member who remembers more of it, I would _love_ to hear it. [/QUOTE] No such member. ☹ Supposedly, one of our ancestors _married one_, & we are descendants. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/6 "2008-01-23T01:08:22Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Supposedly, one of our ancestors _married one_, & we are descendants. :eek: [/QUOTE] You don’t subscribe to [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) do you? That’s something I’d like to see posted in someone’s family tree. Just out of curiosity, was the troll (huldra) male or female? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/7 "2008-01-23T01:14:44Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] You don’t subscribe to [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) do you? That’s something I’d like to see posted in someone’s family tree. Just out of curiosity, was the troll (huldra) male or female? [/QUOTE] According to my Great-Grandfather, female. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/8 "2008-01-23T01:40:05Z")
Yep, Huldra was female. It had some of the properties of a succubus - temptation and damnation - but I haven’t been able to track it’s origin. Is the OP looking for books to answer questions, or just for the pleasure of the read? 'Cause I’ve got a few books at home regarding Norwegian folklore and fairy tales, but they’re in Norwegian. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/9 "2008-01-23T02:41:58Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] No such member. ☹ Supposedly, one of our ancestors _married one_, & we are descendants. :eek: [/QUOTE] Now that’s the coolest ancestry I’ve ever heard. If you want a boring, rational explanation for the origin of the folklore, I can give you one from classes I took years ago. But if I were you, I’d prefer to have the otherworldly influence in the family tree – and think of how you could use it as an excuse whenever anyone calls you task on anything. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/10 "2008-01-23T03:38:59Z")
I originly thought what I found was not what you wanted. I think with your latest information it might be of help. [Go to Project Gutenberg and use advance search found to the left of this screen.](http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/results) Once you’re in Advanced Search type in these terms in the Full Text search at the bottom. You are meant to do 3 separate searches. Huldre “troll wives” Huldra This gives no more than 20 books to check out. I ran across references to what the word means. Something about the faerie queen, the invisible or hidden ones. also some stuff about where they came from. Open the books in your browser if you can do it quickly with your internet connection. Search the page with the browser’s edit menu “find in this page”,with the phrase originally searched . I ran across a reference to something that is of interest to me. which I’ll look at and then select a few of the books in those searches to read. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/11 "2008-01-23T03:49:38Z")
What you need is the D’Aulaires–who were Norwegian. Specifically, [The book of trolls](http://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Trolls-Review-Childrens-Collection/dp/1590172175/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201059764&sr=1-3) and _East of the sun, west of the moon_. You may also enjoy their [Book of Norse myths](http://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Norse-Myths-Ingri-DAulaire/dp/159017125X/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201059764&sr=1-2), as it’s a classic. The original collection titled _East of the sun, and west of the moon_ was the first collection of Scandinavian folktales. Many of them have almost died out now; Scandinavians (and Europeans generally) seem to favor H C Andersen tales over the old folktales. Your library should have all of these books. They’re all classics of folklore. I should add that we have the troll book, and there is lots about huldre in it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/12 "2008-01-23T08:06:01Z")
If you can get copies of “The \ Fairy Book” series, there are some fairy tales in them that have Troll-Wives. But you’ll have to comb through them to find the stories you want. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/13 "2008-01-23T08:24:12Z")
[QUOTE=dangermom] Many of them have almost died out now; Scandinavians (and Europeans generally) seem to favor H C Andersen tales over the old folktales. [/QUOTE] Oh dear. I think you need to meet more Norwegians - or perhaps simply a better class of Norwegians 😉 The stories of the hidden folk are far from dead! And I’ll tell you why - because if you’re up in the mountains after dark, it doesn’t take much imagination to realize they are still there. You can hear them. You can sense them. You’ll swear you can smell them. But of course you can’t _see_ them - which is why the only sensible thing to do is to stay indoors by the fire. And keep the poker handy so you can clobber any hidden folk who try to sneak in… can’t be too careful up there. THE classic Norwegian fairy tale collection is [Asbjørnsen and Moe](http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsen_moe.html). Unfortunately I don’t remember if there are any huldre tales (no pun intended) in there, but there are certainly many tales involving other races of hidden folk. If you can find an English translation with the original artwork, particularly Kittelsen’s illustrations, you’ve hit paydirt. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/14 "2008-01-23T11:30:38Z")
[QUOTE=flodnak] Oh dear. I think you need to meet more Norwegians - or perhaps simply a better class of Norwegians 😉 The stories of the hidden folk are far from dead! And I’ll tell you why - because if you’re up in the mountains after dark, it doesn’t take much imagination to realize they are still there. You can hear them. You can sense them. You’ll swear you can smell them. But of course you can’t _see_ them - which is why the only sensible thing to do is to stay indoors by the fire. And keep the poker handy so you can clobber any hidden folk who try to sneak in… can’t be too careful up there. THE classic Norwegian fairy tale collection is [Asbjørnsen and Moe](http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsen_moe.html). Unfortunately I don’t remember if there are any huldre tales (no pun intended) in there, but there are certainly many tales involving other races of hidden folk. If you can find an English translation with the original artwork, particularly Kittelsen’s illustrations, you’ve hit paydirt. [/QUOTE] Beautifully written, **Flodnak**. **Norwegian Folktales** , published by Pantheon, consists of English translations of tales collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe. And I do want to recommend **Folktales of Norway** again. A decent English-language source. An aside: East of the Sun, West of the Moon, is my all-time favorite fairy tale. ---
**Author:** ![Septima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Septima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Septima)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/15 "2008-01-23T16:36:03Z")
**Asbjørnsen and Moe** are the definitive authority on Norwegian Folktales, and yes, there are stories of the huldra in there. While any individual huldra one encounters is most often female, the word _hulder-folk_ is used to describe an entire seperate people, who live in the ground or in the mountain. Sometimes reffered to as the _grey folk_, or simply _the others_. One very rarely hears of encounters between hulder-women and human men that end well, or of descendants on “our side”. I’d be very interested in hearing that story. Lets see if any of this rings a bell. A huldra woman can be beatiful to look at, and charming, but Beware! Her back is hollow and she has a tail. Don’t go with her, or you’ll be locked in the mountain for ever. But she can be bound to do your will if you touch her with iron, in wich case she is burned as if the iron was red hot. Then she must obey until the one who bound her frees her. Mostly, they are freed by some trickery not to long after, but sometimes they do leave children behind. These are human, but will have a conection to the hulder, and the mother can sometimes be heard outside the windows at night, pitifully crying and calling for her child. However, such children can never be touched by the others. Did something like this happen? Common variations include the hulda bound through christian prayer, or by being tricked into accepting a bible, or speaking a verse from it. A hulder can never enter a church, or stand the sound of church-bells. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/16 "2008-01-23T17:18:37Z")
[QUOTE=flodnak] Oh dear. I think you need to meet more Norwegians - or perhaps simply a better class of Norwegians 😉 The stories of the hidden folk are far from dead! [/quote] Well, I’m very glad to hear that. 🙂 > [@](#): > > THE classic Norwegian fairy tale collection is [Asbjørnsen and Moe](http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/asbjornsen_moe.html). Unfortunately I don’t remember if there are any huldre tales (no pun intended) in there, but there are certainly many tales involving other races of hidden folk. If you can find an English translation with the original artwork, particularly Kittelsen’s illustrations, you’ve hit paydirt. That’s the collection I was thinking of! I couldn’t find the authors’ names for some reason. I had understood that if you get a huldra girl to church and marry her, when the bells ring her tail will drop off and she’ll gain a soul. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/17 "2008-01-23T18:02:30Z")
You did ask for post-Viking but TSR’s Dungeons And Dragons Viking era setting book has some wonderful information on Huldre and such (OTTOMH Mahaset, Dvirge, Alfar etc). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/18 "2008-01-23T19:09:49Z")
[QUOTE=dangermom] What you need is the D’Aulaires–who were Norwegian. Specifically, [The book of trolls](http://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Trolls-Review-Childrens-Collection/dp/1590172175/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201059764&sr=1-3) and _East of the sun, west of the moon_. You may also enjoy their [Book of Norse myths](http://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Norse-Myths-Ingri-DAulaire/dp/159017125X/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201059764&sr=1-2), as it’s a classic. [/QUOTE] It is, but, like their _Book of Greek Myths,_ it’s written for children; and I recall no mention of a Huldra, nor any human-troll relations. (The _Book of Greek Myths_ includes all the usual goings-on between mortals, nymphs, satyrs and gods – all bowdlerized for a juvenile audience, of course.) ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/19 "2008-01-23T20:24:59Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] It is, but, like their _Book of Greek Myths,_ it’s written for children; and I recall no mention of a Huldra, nor any human-troll relations. (The _Book of Greek Myths_ includes all the usual goings-on between mortals, nymphs, satyrs and gods – all bowdlerized for a juvenile audience, of course.) [/QUOTE] True. The Norse Myths book does have jotuns in it, which AFAIK are legendary trolls, and there are jotun maidens who marry with gods and mortals. But I was recommending that one as an aside, since the OP asked for Norwegian folklore, not Norse myth. Their book of trolls is all about the folkloric trolls, and _East of the sun…_ is a large collection of folktales. I’m happy the books are back; the Scandinavian ones were out of print when I was a kid, and I grew up with the Greek myths book (I read it so often that the illustrations are still how I picture the Greek gods). Now my kids have all of them! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588/20 "2008-01-23T20:42:56Z")
[QUOTE=dangermom] The Norse Myths book does have jotuns in it, which AFAIK are legendary trolls . . . [/QUOTE] Well, yes and no. [Jotunn:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jotun) > [@](#): > > A Jötunn, sometimed anglicized as Jotun (pronounced yōtən[1]), is a giant in Norse mythology, a member of a race of nature spirits with superhuman strength, described as standing in opposition to the races of Æsir and Vanir, although they frequently mingled with or were even married to these. Their otherworldly homeland is Jötunheimr, one of the nine worlds of Norse cosmology, separated from Midgard, the world of humans, by high mountains or dense forests. Other place names are also associated with them, including Niflheimr, Utgarðr and Járnviðr. In some legends and myths they are described as having the same height as humans. > > In later Scandinavian folklore, the nature spirit called Troll (deriving from the term for ‘magic’) takes over many of the functions of the more ancient concept of Jötunn. [Troll:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll) > [@](#): > > A troll is a fearsome member of a mythical anthropomorphic race from Norse mythology. Originally more or less the Nordic equivalents of giants, although often smaller in size, the different depictions have come to range from the fiendish giants – similar to the ogres of England (also called Trolls at times, see Troller’s Gill) – to a devious, more human-like folk of the wilderness, living underground in hills, caves or mounds. In the Faroe islands, Orkney and Shetland tales, trolls are called trows, adopted from the Norse language when these islands were settled by Vikings. Precision in mythological taxonomy is often a challenging business . . . [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-a-book-on-scandinavian-folklore-fairy-tales/434588.md?page=2)