Customer Reviews

Swedish Fairy Tales (Library of Folklore)

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These tales were originally published by Baron Djurkou in the 1880's, but Hippocrene Books Inc. has chosen to republish this translation by H.L. Braekstad, which was first printed in 1901. We are entertained by stories like "Lars, My Lad." These words call a little Swedish genie to do the bidding of a duke who has Lars build him a palace and thereby wins the daughter of the king who lives nearby. We catch a rare glimpse of the genie himself and of the wagonloads of shoes he has worn out in service to the duke and others who have called him over the centuries. "St. Peter and the Two Women" gives the same wish to two women, but there couldn't possibly be more difference in the way the wish is carried out--one woman is lucky, the other unlucky. But a wisher does to a certain extent make her own luck, and in "The Old Woman and the Fish" the old woman's wish brings her bad luck indeed. In "The Valient Chanticleer" a cockerell born to a poor woman insists he will marry the king's daughter--and does, once she has wrung his neck and turned him into a handsome prince. A very learned king issues an edict: anyone so learned he could stump king and council can have his daughter and half the kingdom. A farmer's son uses his native intelligence and his gift for making up words to stump the king. Typically Swedish, these stories and the rest of the 18 stories in the book entertain us with their innate good sense.