Norwegian fairy tales

Collected by Peter Christian Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe
Collaboration: Roger Willemsen
Translation: Friedrich Bresemann
The Other Library Volume 5

352 pages. Hardcover. 13 x 18 cm.

"The best fairy tales there are." Jacob Grimm

Every Norwegian child knows them: The folk tales by Peter Christian Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe are as popular in western Scandinavia as the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are here.
In the early 1830s, the two friends set about collecting and recording the legends of their homeland. They first appeared in print between 1841 and 1844 and quickly spread throughout the country. The wondrous world that unfolds here is populated by strange trolls and dragons, jealous giants and spiteful shopkeepers, stargazers and the harsh north wind. The heroes in the stories—disguised princes, misunderstood maids, and poor miller's apprentices—have to assert themselves in their adventurous search for fortune.

For the first time with an essay by Roger Willemsen.

Look inside the book...

Peter Christian Asbjørnsen (1812-1885) was a Norwegian naturalist, forester and writer.

Jørgen Mo (1813-1882) was a Norwegian writer and clergyman. The "Norske Folke-Eventyr" (Norwegian Folk Tales), compiled jointly by Asbjørnsen and Moe and first published between 1841 and 1844, are as well known in Norway as the Brothers Grimm's Household Tales are here.

Friedrich Bresemann (1809-1850), born in Witzin, Mecklenburg, the son of a forester, worked as a language teacher at a Copenhagen commercial academy and published his own literary works alongside linguistic writings. His highly acclaimed translation of "Norwegian Folk Tales" was first published in Berlin in 1847.

Roger Willemsen , born in Bonn in 1955 and died in Wentorf near Hamburg in 2016, initially worked as a lecturer, translator, and correspondent from London, and from 1991 onward also as a television presenter, director, and producer. He was the author of many successful books and an honorary professor of literature at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He received numerous awards for his work, including the Bavarian Television Award and the Adolf Grimme Gold Prize.

Here you can find more fairy tales , legends and more about Norway ...