Published in the United States by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in Norway by Dreyers Forlag.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Asbjørnsen, Peter Christen, 1812–1885.
Norwegian folk tales.
Translation of: Norske folke-eventyr.
Reprint. Originally published: Oslo : Dreyers
Forlag, 1960.
1. Fairy tales—Norway. I. Moe, Jørgen
Engebretsen, 1813–1882. II. Iversen, Pat Shaw.
III. Norman, Carl. IV. Title.
PT8661.A8 1982 398.2′1′09481 82-6401
eISBN: 978-0-307-82822-4 AACR2
v3.1
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
THE NORWEGIAN FOLK TALES AND THEIR ILLUSTRATORS Pat Shaw
THE BOYS WHO MET THE TROLLS IN THE HEDAL WOODS Asbjørnsen
THE SEVENTH FATHER OF THE HOUSE Ashjørnsen
THE PARSON AND THE SEXTON Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe
THE ASH LAD WHO MADE THE PRINCESS SAY, “YOU’RE A LIAR!” Asbjørnsen
TAPER-TOM WHO MADE THE PRINCESS LAUGH Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe
THE CHARCOAL BURNER Asbjørnsen
THE THREE PRINCESSES IN THE MOUNTAIN-IN-THE-BLUE Asbjørnsen and Moltke Moe
THE GOLDEN BIRD Asbjørnsen
THE SQUIRE’S BRIDE Asbjørnsen
LITTLE FREDDIE AND HIS FIDDLE Asbjørnsen
SORIA MORIA CASTLE Asbjørnsen
THE PRINCESS WHO ALWAYS HAD TO HAVE THE LAST WORD Asbjørnsen and Moltke Moe
THE ASH LAD WHO HAD AN EATING MATCH WITH THE TROLL Jørgen Moe
THE COMPANION Asbjørnsen
BUTTERBALL Asbjørnsen
THE RAM AND THE PIG WHO WENT INTO THE WOODS TO LIVE BY THEMSELVES Asbjørnsen
THE FOX AS SHEPHERD Asbjørnsen
THE MILL THAT GRINDS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA Jørgen Moe
THE OLD WOMAN AGAINST THE STREAM Asbjørnsen
THE HARE WHO HAD BEEN MARRIED Asbjørnsen
THE HOUSE MOUSE AND THE COUNTRY MOUSE Asbjørnsen
THE BEAR AND THE FOX WHO MADE A BET Asbjørnsen
SQUIRE PER Jørgen Moe
THE KEY IN THE DISTAFF Asbjørnsen
THE BOY WITH THE BEER KEG Asbjørnsen
THE COCK AND THE FOX Asbjørnsen
NOT DRIVING AND NOT RIDING Asbjørnsen
THE GOLDEN CASTLE THAT HUNG IN THE AIR Asbjørnsen
WHITE-BEAR-KING-VALEMON Asbjørnsen
“GOOD DAY, FELLOW!” “AXE HANDLE!” Asbjørnsen
THE TABBY WHO WAS SUCH A GLUTTON Asbjørnsen
THE DEVIL AND THE BAILIFF Asbjørnsen
THE ASH LAD AND THE GOOD HELPERS Asbjørnsen
GUDBRAND OF THE HILLSIDE Jørgen Moe
THE TWELVE WILD DUCKS Asbjørnsen
THE NORWEGIAN FOLK TALES AND THEIR ILLUSTRATORS
Pat Shaw
If Norway were to show the world a single work of art which would most truly express the Norwegian character, perhaps the best choice would be the folk tales, published for the first time more than a hundred years ago and later illustrated by Erik Werenskiold and Theodor Kittelsen.
The folk tales of countries in more southern latitudes have preserved more of the romantic splendor that characterizes the folk tales which originated in the Far East and thence spread throughout the world. The Norwegian folk tales, however, contain an undertone of realism and folk humor that makes them unique. The Grimm brothers, collectors of some of the most famous folk tale classics, were aware of this. The Norwegian folk tales, said Jacob Grimm, have a freshness and a fullness that “surpass nearly all others”.
The tales, or eventyr as they are called, wandered to Norway probably during the Middle Ages. They were absorbed into the existing lore, undergoing constant change through generations of storytelling. The storytellers themselves were highly esteemed if they were good, and each one had his own style of telling a story. It seems that there was a difference between the stories told by old men and old women. The old women usually kept to deep, mystic or eerie themes, while the men best related humorous, sometimes bawdy, stories.
Rural life in Norway has always been centered in the family farms — small isolated communities, often surrounded by great forests and high mountains. There, according to Werenskiold’s description of his childhood home, “one sat in the darkness by the oven door … from the time of the tallow candle and the rush light … in the endless, lonely winter evenings, where folk still saw the nisse and captured the sea-serpent, and swore that it was true.” In the old days the Church was the sole authority in life and faith, but everyday problems were solved by belief — belief that was never questioned.
The folk tales reflect the tremendous imagination of the people as well as their independence and self-reliance. A Norse historian once complained that the tales always “belittle the king”. He referred to the fact that the king was often depicted as a fat, genial farmer who could be approached as an equal. There is biting satire in the tales, and the humor is often broad and earthy. The representatives of the Church are treated rather irreverently. Nonetheless, standards of guilt and justice prevail, and moral law is present, even in the world of the Trolls. The Trolls are awesome, but stupid, and are invariably outwitted and vanquished. The hero is Askeladden (literally, the Ash Lad, because he always sits by the fire and roots and pokes in the ashes). He is the youngest, the dreamer, the “ne’er-do-well”, often despised by his parents and brothers. However, he is kind and honest, and possesses an open, unprejudiced mind. Of humble birth, he surmounts overwhelming obstacles to win the princess and half the kingdom.
Near the middle of the nineteenth century scholars began “discovering” a rich, native tradition that had lain fallow and almost forgotten during the years of foreign cultural influence. Ballads, painting and folk music were unearthed and revived in the “National Renaissance” that was sweeping through the greater part of Europe at that time. Among the Norwegian scholars of native culture were the two men responsible for the most extensive collection of Norwegian folk tales ever made — Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe.
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen was born in 1812, in Christiania (now Oslo), where his father was a glazier. In his childhood he heard eventyr from the workmen and apprentices in his father’s workshop. These apprentices, who came from all parts of the country, often took Asbjørnsen along on their Sunday excursions while he was still very young, and, according to one of his friends, “thereby instilled in him a growing interest in the life of forest and field”. In 1824 his father sent him to a school in Norderhov, north of Christiania. The two-year stay, in a rural community steeped in traditions, made a deep impression on him. But of the greatest importance was his meeting with Jørgen Moe, who was to become his closest friend and later his collaborator in writing down the folk tales.
Jørgen Moe was born on a farm at Hole in Ringerike. Jørgen evidenced his love for books at an early age and became a voracious reader. Asbjørnsen and Moe met at the Norderhov School in the summer of 1826. The two boys had many interests in common, especially their love for the outdoors. They spent every spare hour together hunting, fishing, or taking long hikes, and both dreamt of the day when they would be poets.
In 1834, Asbjørnsen went to Romerike in eastern Norway, where he remained for three years as a private tutor. During his student days he had begun writing down some of the folk tales he had heard in his childhood, and later in Norderhov. Once more surrounded by the living tradition, he kept up his avocation.
The first collection of Norweg
ian folklore, published in 1833, by a clergyman, Andreas Faye, aroused considerable public interest. Two years later, when it was rumored that Faye contemplated another collection, an assistant in the State Archives sent him some stories that had not appeared in his first book, including three “from one of my friends, student Asbjørnsen”. Faye was most appreciative, and sent Asbjørnsen a letter of thanks in which he concluded by saying, “I hereby appoint you Folk-Lore-Ambassador-Extraordinary.” Accepting this challenge, Asbjørnsen soon submitted twelve legends and a folk song.
At this time he began thinking seriously of publishing a folk tale collection of his own, and discussed with Jørgen Moe the possibility of collaborating on such a project. They did not come to a serious agreement, however, until they had both read Grimm’s Kinder und Hausmärchen. In a joint letter to Jacob Grimm, written in 1844, they describe how “an early acquaintanceship with your honorable Kinder- und Hausmärchen, and an intimate knowledge of the lore and life of the people in our homeland, gave us the idea, eight years ago, of preparing a collection of Norwegian folk tales.”
The first volume of Norwegian Folk Tales, collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, appeared in 1845. After the second edition in 1852, the book became exceedingly popular. The collaborators continued their research, one covering Gudbrandsdal and the other Telemark, districts rich in folk tradition. As the result of these and other trips, they published additional volumes as well as single stories in newspapers and magazines. However, as Jørgen Moe’s clerical duties took up more and more of his time, he was gradually forced to abandon active collecting and research. His son, Moltke, had acquired an interest in the folk tradition at an early age, and it was not long before he had stepped into his father’s shoes, and was collaborating with Asbjørnsen. He later became an distinguished folklorist in his own right, and his contributions to the Norwegian folk tradition are manifold.
For some time Asbjørnsen had contemplated an illustrated edition of the folk tales. This project was not realized, however, until 1879. Some of the most famous Norwegian painters of the time were selected to do the drawings, along with a young, unknown artist, Erik Werenskiold.
Erik Werenskiold was born in 1855, in Kongsvinger where his father was commander of the town fortress. Even in his childhood Werenskiold was a keen observer of nature and people, and his father told him folk tales and read aloud from the ancient myths and sagas. At the age of seventeen Werenskiold entered the University, but after a year he decided that he was more interested in studying art. In 1874, he enrolled at the Royal Norwegian Art School — much against his father’s wishes. At that time Munich was a mecca for Norwegian art students. Werenskiold arrived there in 1875, and remained for five years.
His first drawing for the folk tales was composed to illustrate the tale “Taper-Tom Who Made the King’s Daughter Laugh”. In the summer of 1877, when plans were under way for the illustrated edition, this and others of his drawings were shown to Asbjørnsen. Delighted with Werenskiold’s work, Asbjørnsen invited him to participate in the project.
Realizing that he had seen very little of Norway, Werenskiold went to Vågå and Lom, in the Gudbrandsdal valley, to familiarize himself with the setting of the folk tales. On the large old farms he found the ancient patriarchal customs still alive. As he once remarked, “Here on the great farms there were still small kings, and the tenant farmers were their serfs. Behind this primitive life, behind these vigorous, strongly pronounced human types, and this unique architecture, one could sense the Middle Ages; and behind the large forest lay the Troll world of the Jotunheim mountains. I have never since found anything that seemed more Norwegian to me than Vågå!”
In Werenskiold’s drawings, the king appears as the farmers must have imagined him. He wears crown and scepter, and generally shuffles around in slippers, smoking a long pipe. Genial in appearance, he is also gruff and authoritative. Werenskiold brings the eventyr world to life by using the valleys and forests and rural architecture of eastern Norway as a natural setting.
The drawings for the folk tales established Werenskiold as one of Norway’s foremost artists. Asbjørnsen realized that he had found the right man, and, when the second illustrated edition was planned, Werenskiold alone of the original group was asked to carry on. He immediately requested that one of his friends, a completely unknown artist named Theodor Kittelsen, be invited to work with him.
Theodor Kittelsen was born in Kragerø in 1857. He started to draw at a very tender age, and was considered by his townspeople as somewhat of a prodigy. Having attended an art school in Christiania for about two years, he continued his studies in Munich, where he arrived in 1876, and where he met Werenskiold.
Werenskiold seemed to have sensed that Kittelsen’s temperament was even closer to the folk tales than his own. In a letter to Asbjørnsen, Werenskiold wrote, “Kittelsen has a wild, individual, inventive fantasy.… For many years I have had the constant thought that he should be the man to do that side of your eventyr which none of the rest of us has yet been able to accomplish, namely the purely fantastic creations!”
At first, Asbjørnsen was shocked by the power and originality of these drawings, which bore no resemblance to the pale romanticism of contemporary art. When trying them out on children, however, he realized that they satisfied the unspoiled juvenile hunger for fantasy. Thus, Kittelsen was brought in on the project in 1881, and the happy collaboration began.
The tales, as illustrated by Werenskiold and Kittelsen, quickly established themselves as a national treasure. There is no doubt that they have had a considerable impact upon Norway’s cultural history, and they are cherished and read with as much enthusiasm today as when they were first published.
THE BOYS WHO MET THE TROLLS IN THE HEDAL WOODS
On a small farm in Vågå, in Gudbrandsdal, there once lived, in the old days, a poor couple. They had many children, and two of the sons, who were half-grown, always had to wander about the countryside begging. So they were familiar with all the roads and trails, and they also knew the short cut to Hedal.
One day they wanted to go there, but they had heard that some falconers had built a hut at Mæla, and they wanted to stop there too, to see the birds and how the men caught them, so they took the footpath over Longmoss. But it was already late in the fall and the dairymaids had gone home from the summer pastures, and there was nowhere the boys could find shelter, nor food either. So they had to keep to the road to Hedal, but that was only an overgrown cowpath, and when darkness came they lost the path, nor did they find the falconers’ hut either, and before they knew it, they were right in the midst of the thickest part of the Bjølstad forest. When they realized that they couldn’t find their way out, they started cutting branches, made up a fire, and built themselves a shelter of pine branches, for they had a hatchet with them. And then they gathered heather and moss, of which they made a bed.
A while after they had lain down, they heard something snuffing and snorting very hard. The boys were all ears, and listened well to hear whether it might be an animal or a Forest Troll which they heard. But then it started snorting even harder and said, “I smell the smell of Christian blood here!”
Then they heard it tread so heavily that the earth shook under it, and they could tell that the Trolls were out.
“God help us! What’ll we do now?” said the younger boy to his brother.
“Oh, you’ll just have to stay under the fir tree where you’re standing, and be ready to take the bags and run for your life when you see them coming! I’ll take the hatchet,” said the other.
Just then they saw the Trolls come rushing, and they were so big and tall that their heads were level with the tops of the fir trees. But they had only one eye among the three of them, and they took turns using it. Each had a hole in his forehead to put it in, and guided it with his hands. The one who went ahead had to have it, and the others went behind him and held onto him.
“Take to your heels!” said the elder of the boys. “B
ut don’t run too far before you see how it goes. Since they have the eye so high up, it’ll be hard for them to see me when I come behind them.”
Well, the brother ran ahead, with the Trolls at his heels. In the meantime, the elder brother went behind them and chopped the hindmost Troll in the ankle, so that he let out a horrible shriek. Then the first Troll became so frightened that he jumped, and dropped the eye, and the boy wasn’t slow in grabbing it up. It was bigger than two pot lids put together, and it was so clear, that even though it was pitch black, the night became as light as day when he looked through it.
When the Trolls discovered that he had taken the eye from them, and that he had wounded one of them, they started threatening him with all the evil there was, if he didn’t give them back the eye that very minute.
“I’m not afraid of Trolls or threats,” said the boy. “Now I have three eyes to myself, and you don’t have any. And still two of you have to carry the third.”
“If we don’t get our eye back this very minute, you’ll be turned into sticks and stones!” shrieked the Trolls.
But the boy felt there wasn’t any hurry; he was afraid of neither boasting nor magic, he said. If they didn’t leave him alone, he would chop at all three of them so they would have to crawl along the hill like creeping, crawling worms.
When the Trolls heard this, they became frightened and started to sing another tune. They pleaded quite nicely that, if he gave them back the eye, he would get both gold and silver, and everything he wanted. Well, the boy thought that was all very fine, but he wanted the gold and silver first. So he said that if one of them would go home and fetch so much gold and silver that he and his brother could fill their bags, and give him and his brother two good steel bows besides, they should get the eye. But until then he would keep it.
The Trolls carried on and said that none of them could walk as long as he didn’t have an eye to see with. But then one of them started yelling for the old woman, for they had one old woman among the three of them. After a while there was an answer in a mountain far to the north. So the Trolls said that she was to come with two steel bows, and two pails full of gold and silver, and it wasn’t long before she was there. When she saw what had happened, she started threatening with magic. But the Trolls became still more frightened and bade her be careful of that little wasp. She couldn’t be certain that he wouldn’t take her eye, too. So she flung the buckets, and the gold and the silver, and the bows at them, and strode home to the mountain with the Trolls. And since then, no one has ever heard that the Trolls have been about in the Hedal Woods sniffing after Christian blood.
Norwegian Folktales Page 1
