Customer Reviews

East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon (Works in Translation)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My name is Elizabeth, and i think that this book is the BEST book I ever read. This book is about a young maden who is so beautiful. One day ever father becomes ill and she needs to fetch him a cup of spring water from the fountain far away. When the maden gets there she drops the cup into the spring. Then a frog gets the cup. he said that in order to do this she must let him have one wish. Then the madens fther becomes better. The maden lives a happy life once again. The frog comes to her house and asks her to kiss him. The maden refuses. Find out what happens to the maden..... she searches far and wide for the one she loves.... I recomend this book because it was so good I remember when my grandfather read it to me and i absolutl loved it! This IS my favoite book!

This was my absolute favorite book when I was little. The illustrations are absolutely gorgous, the writing (translation is by Sir George Webbe Dasent) is quirky and reads well.
I find it hard to believe that this version is out of print. If you ever see it, get it, for yourself or for a young friend. Both of you would enjoy it.

I bought this book for my granddaughters and immediately began looking for other books illustrated by Lynch, because it is so beautiful. The story is well-told and nicely paced---altogether pleasing.

This book was amazing, captivating and entertaining. The first time I read it was when I was 7 years old and I still enjoy it today.

This is the most wonderful story to read to children. My grandmother read it to me as a child. The story gives children a dreamy sense of enchantment and restful time away from today's world. This has always been my favorite childhood book and I have read it hundreds of times to my children and grandchildren.

I haven't read the fairy tales yet, but I trust the translation by G. W. Dasent is excellent. I figured I should fill in some missing information to make the search for this English translation easier for any Norwegians looking.

The illustrations and drawings are taken from the original, so they should look familiar to most Norwegians. From inside this book: "Seventy-seven pictures have been added and are taken from P. Chr. Asbjørnsen og Jørgen Moe, Samlede Eventyr, Norske Kunstneres Billedutgave, 3 vols., Norsk Forlag, Oslo, 1936.". The artists are Erik Werenskiold, Theodor Kittelsen, Dagfin Werenskiold, Alf Rolfsen, Otto Sinding, Per Krohg, Henrik Sørensen and Eilif Petterssen.

In the "Notice to Second Edition" inside the book the Translator specifically says that he is hates family versions of anything, "Family Bibles", "Family Shakespeares". If I understand the notice in its entirety, it shortly says that he received some criticism for the translation not being "gentle", and that he has chosen to completely ignore it to be able to present an accurate translation. I myself prefer this, but if you are looking for bedtime stories for your children, you might want to consider some on-the-fly censoring as you're reading.

Below is listed all the stories in this book:

True and Untrue
Why the Sea is Salt
The Old Dame and her Hen
East o' the Sun, West o' the Moon
Boots who ate a Match with the Troll
Hacon Grizzlebeard
Boots who made the Princess say, "That's a Story"
The Twelve Wild Ducks
The Giant who had no Heart in his Body
The Fox as a Herdsman
The Mastermaid
The Cat on the Dovrefell
Princess on the Glass Hill
How One went out to Woo
The Cock and the Hen
The Master-Smith
The Two Step-Sisters
Buttercup
Taming the Shrew
Shortshanks
Gudbrand on the Hill-side
The Blue Belt
Why the Bear is Stumpy-tailed
Not a Pin to Choose between Them
One's own Children are always Prettiest
The Three Princesses of Whiteland
The Lassie and her Godmother
The Three Aunts
The Cock, The Cuckoo, and the Blackcock
Rich Peter the Pedlar
Gertrude's Bird
Boots and the Troll
Goosey Grizzel
The Lad who went to the North Wind
The Master Thief
The Best Wish
The Three Billy-Goats Gruff
Well Done and Ill Paid
The Husband who was to Mind the House
Dapplegrim
Farmer Weathersky
Lord Peter
The Seven Foals
The Widow's Son
Bushy Bride
Boots and his Brothers
Big Peter and Little Peter
Tatterhood
The Cock and Hen that went to the Dovrefell
Katie Woodencloak
Thumbikin
Doll i' the Grass
The Lad and the Deil
The Cock and Hen a-Nutting
The Big Bird Dan
Soria Moria Castle
Bruin and Reynard
Tom Totherhouse
Little Annie the Goose-Girl

I plan to buy a couple more of this book as a gift for friends.

P.J. Lynch's illustrations could only be rivaled by Mercer Mayer's version. I am an adult who collects fairy and folk tales in a very picky and frugal fashion - I ONLY buy if both the story and illustrations are worth investing in a hardback edition. This is such a book. I'll enjoy reading this to my children (currently 4 and under) when they get a little older and more patient with story time. Amazon has a great price on this book as well.

well the pictures are nice, but quite honestly the telling of the story is kind of choppy, to the point where you can almost feel the gaps as you're reading it, but the progression is faithful to older versions of the myth. i consider a 4 to be a pretty decent rank when it comes to these things, and i wouldn't have given this story a 4 if is was just the print, but the pictures were pretty nice. They were colourful with an attention given to detail (which maybe should've been directed to the storytelling) that almost made up for what i disliked about the book. and on top of that this fairy tale is one of my favourites so maybe i'm just being hard on it for that reason.

This is a wonderful reference book for anyone interested in fairy tales. The stories are engrossing and would be enjoyed by children with excellent reading skills at about 4th-5th grade level and up. The information given by Amazon is that the reading level is for ages 4-8, so I thought I would correct that mis-information. The vocabulary is sometimes rather arcane and the sentence structure complex. The book would be equally enjoyable to young adult and adult readers as to young readers.

This is one of my favorite children books, both for the story and the rich, lavish illustrations. They make the story leap off the page. I would highly recomend it.