Norske Folkeeventyr
Encyclopedia
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
folktales
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
and legends by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen was a Norwegian writer and scholar. He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore...
and Jørgen Moe
Jørgen Moe
right|thumb|Norske Folkeeventyr Asbjørnsen and Moe Jørgen Engebretsen Moe was a Norwegian bishop and author...
. It is also known as Asbjørnsen and Moe, after the collectors.
Asbjørnsen and Moe
Asbjørnsen, a teacher, and Moe, a minister, had been friends since the age of 13 or 14 by the time they published the folktales – the collection of which had been an interest of both for many years. The work must be seen in connection with Norway’s new-won independenceNorway in 1814
1814 was a pivotal year in the history of Norway. It started with Norway in a union with the Kingdom of Denmark subject to a naval blockade being ceded to the king of Sweden. In May a constitutional convention declared Norway an independent kingdom. By the end of the year the Norwegian parliament...
, and the wave of nationalism that swept the country in the 19th century. The authors considered the stories remains from Old Norse
Old Norse
Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....
mythology, and the period of Norwegian greatness before the union with Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
Norwegian orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
at the time was very similar to Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
. The language was therefore poorly suited for retelling fairy tales, which stemmed from a uniquely Norwegian tradition, and had its sources in local dialects that were even more conservative than they are today. Asbjørnsen and Moe solved the problem by applying the principles of the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
: using a simple linguistic style in place of dialects, while maintaining the original form of the stories. At the same time the language in the tales also contained many words from Norwegian dialect, and helped create an autonomous Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
written language, distinct
Norwegian language struggle
The Norwegian language struggle is an ongoing controversy within Norwegian culture and politics related to spoken and written Norwegian. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Danish was the standard written language of Norway due to Danish rule...
from Danish.
The fairy tales of Asbjørnsen and Moe were first released in small pamphlets. Later they were re-published in one collection in 1845 and another in 1848. In 1870 the collection known today was published, and the original language has been retained in since then. Later editions of the work were famously illustrated by the Norwegian artists Erik Werenskiold
Erik Werenskiold
Erik Theodor Werenskiold was a Norwegian painter and illustrator. He is especially known for his drawings for the...
, Theodor Kittelsen
Theodor Kittelsen
Theodor Severin Kittelsen was a Norwegian artist. He is one of the most popular artists in Norway. Kittelsen became famous for his nature paintings, as well as for his illustrations of fairy tales and legends, especially of trolls.-Biography:Kittelsen was born in the coastal town of Kragerø in...
, Otto Sinding
Otto Sinding
Otto Ludvig Sinding was a Norwegian painter, illustrator, poet and dramatist. Sinding drew on motives from Norwegian nature, folk life and history.-Personal life:...
and others.
Translation into English
The tales were first translated into English by Sir George Webbe DasentGeorge Webbe Dasent
Sir George Webbe Dasent was a translator of folk tales and contributor to The Times.Dasent was born 22 May 1817 at St. Vincent, West Indies, the son of the attorney general, John Roche Dasent...
. His first version of the collection was called Popular Tales from the Norse (1859). In later editions at least thirteen more tales were included. Asbjørnsen and Moe evidently approved of Dasent's translations: "In France and England collections have appeared in which our tales have not only been correctly and faultlessly translated, but even rendered with exemplary truth and care nay, with thorough mastery. The English translation, by George Webbe Dasent, is the best and happiest rendering of our tales that has appeared."
Fairy tales
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The Master Thief The Master Thief is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe. The Brothers Grimm included a shorter variant as tale 192 in their fairy tales. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book... (Mestertyven) Three Billy Goats Gruff Three Billy Goats Gruff is a Norwegian fairy tale. The fairy tale was collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr, first published between 1841 and 1844... (De tre bukkene Bruse som skulle gå til seters og gjøre seg fete) The Husband Who Was to Mind the House The Husband Who Was to Mind the House is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr.It is Aarne-Thompson type 1408 The man who does his wife's work.-Synopsis:... (Mannen som skulle stelle hjemme) Dapplegrim Dapplegrim is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.-Synopsis:The youngest of twelve sons goes off to serve the king for a year... (Grimsborken) Farmer Weathersky Farmer Weathersky is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr.Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book as "Farmer Weatherbeard".... (Bonde Værskjegg) Lord Peter (fairy tale) Lord Peter or Squire Per is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe.It is Aarne-Thompson type 545B.-Synopsis:A couple died, leaving their three sons a porridge-pot, a griddle, and a cat... (Herreper) The Seven Foals The Seven Foals is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe.The hero of the story is sometimes called, in an analogue to Cinderella, Cinder-lad.-Synopsis:... (De syv folene) Bushy Bride Bushy Bride is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe. It is Aarne-Thompson type 403, the black and the white bride.-Synopsis:... (Buskebrura) Boots and His Brothers Boots and His Brothers is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr.-Synopsis:A king had his castle shadowed by a great oak tree, and had no well that held water year round... (Per, Pål og Espen Askeladd) Tatterhood Tatterhood is a fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe.It is Aarne-Thompson type 711, the beautiful and the ugly twin... (Lurvehette) Katie Woodencloak Katie Woodencloak or Kari Woodengown is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr. Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.... (Kari Trestakk) Doll i' the Grass Doll i' the Grass is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their Norske Folkeeventyr.It is Aarne-Thompson type 402, Animal Brides... (Dukken i gresset) Soria Moria Castle Soria Moria Castle is a Norwegian fairy tale made famous by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their classic Norske Folkeeventyr... (Soria Moria slott) Little Annie the Goose-Girl Little Annie the Goose-Girl is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr.When George Webbe Dasent made his translation of these tales, in his preface he forbade children to read the last two stories, of which this was one. J. R. R... (Vesle Åse Gåsepike) The Charcoal Burner The Charcoal Burner is a Norwegian fairy tale, collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe.Published in the book Norwegian Folk Tales 1 ISBN 82-09-10598-1... (Kullbrenneren) King John and the Bishop King John and the Bishop is an English folk-song dating back at least to the 16th century. It is catalogued in Child Ballads as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index 302.... (Presten og klokkeren) White-Bear-King-Valemon White-Bear-King-Valemon is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by the artist August Schneider in 1870, after a peasant woman, Thore Aslaksdotter , in Setesdal. The tale was for the first time retold and published in Peter Christen Asbjørnsen's Norske Folke-Eventyr. Ny Samling... (Kvitebjørn kong Valemon) The Companion The Companion is a Norwegian fairy tale, published in Norwegian Folktales by Asbjørnsen and Moe.The tale follows a young boy who sets out to search for his dream princess. On the way, he ransoms a sinner who had been put into a block of ice. A short time thereafter, he meets a mysterious figure... (Følgesvennen) |