section>THE NORWEGIAN FAIRY BOOK BOOKS IN THE "FAIRY SERIES"
The English Fairy Book The Welsh Fairy Book The Irish Fairy Book The Scottish Fairy Book The Italian Fairy Book
The Hungarian Fairy Book
The Indian Fairy Book The Spanish Fairy Book The Danish Fairy Book
The Norwegian Fairy Book
The Jewish Fairy Book The Swedish Fairy Book The Chinese Fairy Book
"AN OLD WOMAN CAME LIMPING ALONG, AND ASKED HIM WHAT HE HAD IN HIS KNAPSACK"
--Page 17
THE NORWEGIAN FAIRY BOOK
EDITED BY CLARA STROEBE
TRANSLATED BY FREDERICK H. MARTENS
NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1922, by
Frederick A. Stokes Company
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America [v] PREFACE
These Norwegian tales of elemental mountain, forest and sea spirits, handed down by hinds and huntsmen, woodchoppers and fisherfolk, men who led a hard and lonely life amid primitive surroundings are, perhaps, among the most fascinating the Scandinavian countries have to offer. Nor are they only meant to delight the child, though this they cannot fail to do. "Grown-ups" also, who take pleasure in a good story, well told, will enjoy the original "Peer Gynt" legend, as it existed before Ibsen gave it more symbolic mean-ings; and that glowing, beautiful picture of an Avalon of the Northern seas shown in "The Island of Udrost." What could be more
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human and moving than the tragic "The Player on the Jew's-Harp," or more genuinely entertaining than "The King's Hares"? "The Master-Girl" is a Candida of fairy-land, and the thrill and glamor of black magic and mystery run through such stories as "The Se-cret Church," "The Comrade," and "Lucky Andrew." In "The Honest Four-Shilling Piece" we have the adventures of a Norse Dick Whittington. "Storm Magic" is one of the most thrilling sea tales, bar none, ever written, and every story included in the volume seems to bring with it the breath of the Norse mountains or the tang of the spindrift on[vi] Northern seas. Much of the charm of the stories lies in the directness and simplicity of their telling; and this quality, which adds so much to their appeal, the translator has endeavored to preserve in its integrity. He cannot but feel that "The Norwegian Fairy Book" has an appeal for one and all, since it
is a book in which the mirror of fairy-tale reflects human yearnings and aspirations, human loves, ambitions and disillusionments, in an imaginatively glamored, yet not distorted form. It is his hope and belief that those who may come to know it will derive as much pleasure from its reading as it gave him to put it into English.
Frederick H. Martens. [vii]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE I Per Gynt 1
II The Isle of Udrost 9
III The Three Lemons 16
IV The Neighbor Underground 23
V The Secret Church 26
VI The Comrade 30
VII Aspenclog 48
VIII The Troll Wedding 51
IX The Hat of the Huldres 54
X The Child of Mary 56
XI Storm Magic 62
XII The Four-shilling Piece 69
XIII The Magic Apples 76
XIV Self Did It 81
XV The Master Girl 83
XVI Anent the Giant Who Did Not Have His Heart About Him 101
XVII The Three Princesses in Whiteland 110
XVIII Trouble and Care 118
XIX Kari Woodencoat 136
XX Ola Storbaekkjen 152
XXI The Cat Who Could Eat So Much 155
XXII East of the Sun and West of the Moon 165
XXIII Murmur Goose-egg 181
XXIV The Troll-Wife 197
XXV The King's Hares 202
XXVI Helge-Hal in the Blue Hill 213
XXVII The Lord of the Hill and John Blessom 224
XXVIII The Young Fellow and the Devil 227
XXIX Farther South Than South, and Farther North Than North, and in the Great Hill of Gold 229
XXX Lucky Andrew 236
XXXI The Pastor and the Sexton 244
XXXII The Skipper and Sir Urian 247
XXXIII The Youth Who Was to Serve Three Years Without Pay 250
XXXIV The Youth Who Wanted to Win the Daughter of the Mother in the Corner 265
XXXV The Chronicle of the Pancake 274
XXXVI Soria-Moria Castle 279
XXXVII The Player on the Jew's-harp 293 [ix]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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"An Old Woman Came Limping Along, and Asked Him What He Had in His Knapsack" Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
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THE NORWEGIAN FAIRY BOOK
I
PER GYNT
IN the old days there lived in Kvam a marksman by the name of Per Gynt. He was continually in the mountains, where he shot bear and elk, for at that time there were more forests on the Fjall, and all sorts of beasts dwelt in them. Once, late in the fall, when the cattle had long since been driven down from the mountain pastures, Per Gynt decided to go up on the Fjall again. With the exception of three dairy-maids, all the herd-folk had already left the mountains. But when Per Gynt reached Hovringalm, where he intended to stay overnight in a herdsman's hut, it already was so dark that he could [2]
"And who are you?" asked Per Gynt, for he noticed that it moved.
"O, I am the crooked one," was the answer. And now Per Gynt knew as much as he had before. So he went along its length, "for sooner or later I will come to the end of it," thought he.
As he went along he again struck against something, and when he felt it, it was again something cold, and large and slippery. "And who are you?" asked Per Gynt.
"I am the crooked one," was
