Showing results by author "Jörgen Moe" in All Categories

Magic and myth inhabit these chapters in figures both familiar and strange. Giant trolls and talking animals are everywhere. The winds take human form. A one-eyed old woman might seem reminiscent of the Norse god Odin. We meet sly aunts, resourceful princesses, and devious robbers. These stories, set in Norway's majestic landscape of towering mountains and dense forests, are filled with humor, mischief, and sometimes surprisingly cruel twists of fate. All are rendered in the deceptively simple narrative style perfected by Asbjørnsen and Moe.

Often called the Scandinavian "Beauty and the Beast", this Norwegian folktale follows the journey of the youngest daughter of a peasant, who - for the sake of her poor but large family - agrees to leave everything she has ever known and accompany a white bear to his mountain castle. After discovering the white bear’s true identity, she seeks to rescue him from a forced marriage to a troll princess.

A cat eats so much that its owners decide to put her outside, but when they offer her a bit to eat, she gobbles it up, and runs to find her next meal. Then she eats everything in sight. Nothing's safe from the cat in this classic Danish fairy tale for all ages.

Christian Peter Asbjörnsen (1812-1885) und Jörgen Moe (1813-1882) waren gewissermaßen die Grimms des Nordens. Anfang der Dreißiger Jahre des 19. Jahrhunderts begannen sie, Märchen zu sammeln und aufzuschreiben. Ihre Norske Folkeeventyr erschienen erstmals in den Jahren 1841-1844 in einer Reihe von vier Heften, die Übersetzung von Friedrich Bresemann ins Deutsche erschien 1847. Die Volksmärchen haben nicht nur künstlerischen und nationalen Wert, sondern stellen auch wissenschaftliche Dokumentationen dar, durch die man Erkenntnisse über Vergangenes gewinnen kann.