Popular Tales from Norse Mythology [Paperback]

George Webbe Dasent (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 2001

Full of giants, trolls, heroes, and beautiful princesses, these 42 folktales include such favorites as "Temptations," "The Magician's Pupil," "Legend of Tannhäuser," "The Outlaw," "The Widow's Son," and "The Goatherd."

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; Dover Ed edition (August 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 048641812X
• ISBN-13: 978-0486418124
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,223,653 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Popular Tales from Norse Mythology, April 17, 2002

By 

James Latimer (CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Popular Tales from Norse Mythology (Paperback)

Just a warning to those fooled by the title: Don't expect to find any mention of Odin of Thor in this book. Rather than mythology, the stories in the book would be more appropriately described as folktales or perhaps even fairy tales. Most involve a fair maiden in distress who is rescued by a "once-was-a-peasant-found-a-magic-belt-or-met-a-troll-and-became-a-knight" type of hero.

Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed the book. As the author says, the folktales in _Popular Tales from Norse Mythology_ are overall good reading. They are full of excitement and adventure and a great deal of humour. These factors probably made it possible for the stories to survive as Scandinavian oral tradition until they were finally written down in the last century.

Although the book rarely mentions Norse gods directly, a number of characters can be identified as one of the old gods, particularly Odin, slipping into an overall Christianized story. I found that interesting.