This book of 85 stories from medieval Iceland illustrates a variety of supernatural beliefs concerning elves, gigantic trolls, water monsters, ghosts, wizards and black magic rites, buried treasure and religious tales. The stories are intimately linked to the landscape and reflect the hopes, fears, hardships and preoccupations of everyday life. The translation of each tale is accompanied by an explanatory introduction and notes.
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Book Description
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Language Notes
Text: English, Icelandic (translation)
From the Publisher
This book of 85 stories from medieval Iceland illustrates a variety of supernatural beliefs concerning elves, gigantic trolls, water monsters, ghosts, wizards and black magic rites, buried treasure and religious tales. The stories are intimately linked to the landscape and reflect the hopes, fears, hardships and preoccupations of everyday life. The translation of each tale is accompanied by an explanatory introduction and notes.
Jacqueline Simpson is one of Britain’s most distinguished folklorists and Old Norse scholars. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great translation and collection,
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This review is from: Icelandic Folktales & Legends (Revealing History) (Paperback)
This is a collection largely of material collected by Jon Arnason in the 19th century. The book focuses on four a few basic areas of folk stories generally believed to be true. These involve elves, trolls, ghosts, black magic, water spirits, and the like.
The translations are crisp and clear, and there is a general sense of the folk tale that comes across in Ms Simpson's masterful translation. Each story is further cited as to its origin, and sometimes additional notes are provided for comparative purposes. These notes are often quite helpful for more advanced students, and they are well enough marked that those who are not interested in this level of detail can ignore them. For advanced students of Scandinavian studies, and the like, this work makes it possible to construct a more holistic worldview in which to place the Sagas, magical traditions, etc. For those who are not, the stories stand well on their own. Highly recommended.
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