Post on 03-Feb-2023
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Scandinavian folklore, as is likely the case with folklore
worldwide, reflects a part of the culture from which it comes and some
of its history. It is interesting how much it varies, as some
folktales can be longer than others. Some can be even a sentence long,
which is just enough to express some sort of cultural sentiment.
Others lay out a detailed fairytale that have all the functions and
characters listed by Vladimir Propp. Of course these tales have
fantastic creatures, which always seem to be the most interesting
feature and may obviously represent some feature of everyday life and
how it is viewed by the people who tell and listen to these tales. The
changes that occur in that perspective can also be noticed, as some
stories reference the earlier religious beliefs of Scandinavia, while
others are mixture of old and new. The subject manner is also widely
varied, as it could be overly religious, or concern itself with the
proper way to go about daily jobs, or they may be meant to simply
provide entertainment.
Scandinavia consists of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and the
Faroe Islands, as well as Finland. However, Finland differs from the
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rest of Scandinavia in both ethnic background and language. It is
included in the mixture of Scandinavian folklore because it was ruled
by Sweden until 1809 and the social and cultural ties between the
Finns and their neighbors remained strong. Those Swedish-speaking
parts of Finland represent the tradition of that community and
therefore of Scandinavian traditions (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1998:
3). When one thinks of the people belonging to Scandinavia, the image
of Vikings may be the first to come to mind. The Vikings make up a
considerable amount of history for these people, as the Viking Age is
thought to have begun in the eighth century AD and lasted to the
eleventh. Their emphasis on battle and honor, which were connected to
their pagan religion, can be seen in various folktales even after the
Christianization of Scandinavia. The Christianization of these lands
came later than the rest of Europe, which could explain why these
aspects of the Viking culture remain within folktales
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Scandinavia#Viking_Age).
These remnants are most noticeable in stories that have come
from collections such as the Prose Edda, like the tale “The Strange
Builder” which mentions gods, specifically the Norse gods Loki and
Frejya, as well as referencing the Norse term for earth, Midgard
(http://worldoftales.com/European_folktales/Scandinavian_folktale_12.h
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tml). Another example would be the tale “Lake Peipus” which mentions
how this tale occurred at a time when:
“No merchants had yet arrived in ships from foreign shores, nor
had invading armies conquered with sharp swords to set up the
cross of the Christian God, and the people still lived in perfect
freedom” (Asala 1995: 17).
This beginning demonstrates the ties to the past that these
folktales contained, and is further emphasized by the mention of the
three benevolent gods of the nearby forest that the king and queen
prayed to, as well as the three evil gods that cause the misfortune in
the story. The last part of this sentence could be read as either a
stylistic element of how the distant past is thought of as being
ideal, or how difficult the Christianization of Scandinavia was for
those living there. With the adoption of this religion, specifically
by the monarchy like that of Norway in the early eleventh century, the
practices of the pagan religion and its adherents were persecuted
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_history#Viking_Age).
The Viking age and the Christian age are both represented in the
Prose Edda, which is a collection of Old Norse poems written around
1200 by Snorri Sturlson. He was a Christian, but included the ancient
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Pagan mythology in his works, although he created a “quasi-historical
background for the Norse Gods”, making this work one of the first
attempts to rationalize mythological and legendary events (Brodeur
1916:1). Although not tales, I thought it necessary to research more
into this document because of the inclusion of both Christian and pre-
Christian traditions that show up also in the more regular folktales.
Snorri has at the beginning of his work a summary of the Biblical
story of the creation and deluge, followed with an account of the rise
of the ancient pagan faith which has the old gods appear as men
(Brodeur 1916: 9).
In his account, the pagan gods were actually from Troy, which he
described as being having twelve chieftains, one of whom “was called
Munon or Mennon; and he was wedded to the daughter of the High King
Priam, her who was called Troan; they had a child named Tror, whom we
call Thor” (Brodeur 1916:13). According to this history, Thor was
raised in Thrace and then “went forth far and wide over the lands,…
overcoming alone all berserks and giants, and one dragon, greatest of
all dragons, and many beasts” (Brodeur 1916: 13).
In these tales are many creatures which could be classified as
“beasts. The most frequent of these creatures it seems would be the
multiple manifestations of the “hug’, which was the embodiment of the
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human soul. The idea of the spiritual aspect on the soul was likely
influenced by Christianity, brought by missionaries from England and
Germany, in which the idea of the soul is linked with spirituality,
being dichotomous to the actual body. However, the “hug” of these
tales is connected with the more mental aspects of one’s life, instead
focusing on features such as personality, feelings and desires
(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 41). It was believed that the hug could
affect both inanimate and animate objects, either consciously or
unconsciously, and that the deliberate manipulation of the hug was the
basis for all magic (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 41).
One assumed form of the hug is that of sickness, which was
explained as resulting from a hug that had entered the body of sick
person or animal; it was thought dangerous to let one’s mind wander
because it could cause this to happen and harm someone else; sneezes,
yawns, and hiccups were thought to be caused by a another person’s hug
entering the body. Sometimes the folktale could be vague or specific,
such as the saying “When your toe throbs” which says that “A throbbing
sensation in your big toe means that someone is thinking about you. If
it is the big toe of your right foot, it is a man; if it is the big
toe of your left foot, it is a woman” (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988:
41, 43). Something similar is seen in the tale of “When your ears
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ring” which says that if it is the right ear, someone is saying
something nice and if it is the left, it is something nasty (Kvideland
and Sehmsdorf 1988:44).
Another of a hug’s manifestation is that of the “Evil Eye”. In
addition to possibly influencing someone’s thoughts and feelings with
the help of magic, called hug-turning, it was believed that the power
of the hug could be transferred to another though sight, touch, or
speech, often with the intent to do harm (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
1988: 49). Most manifestations of the hug embody some sort of harmful
feature of life, such as sickness. But the next is the personification
of an emotion that was perceived as harmful to one’s well beings. Envy
(Danish avind, Norwegian ovund, Swedish avund) was a powerful
manifestation of the hug, feared for its supposed strong, adverse
effect on people, animals and even inanimate objects (Kvindeland and
Sehmsdorf 1988: 52). The tale “A Prayer against Envy” is a blend of
earlier traditions with its magic formula combining conjuration and
ritual, and Christian influences since it is addressed to the Virgin
Mary. It is somewhat ironic since it is a magic ritual to protect
against witches doing magic against the person who is praying, with
the line “May witchcraft and demons and envy come to naught!”
(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988:53). Another tale associated with
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keeping away envy and its power is the “Knock on wood” tale that is
also responsible for the common saying.
The Nightmare, likely the most well-known form, is interpreted
as the visitation of someone’s hug into another’s dream, usually
described as a weight on the sleeper’s chest. Sexual dreams play a
large part of this manifestation of the hug, as reflected in the tale
“Married to the mare”. This tale is about a farmer who has his help
plug up all holes in his bedroom except for one, since he believes the
mare is tormenting him. The mare comes but then is trapped once the
hole is plugged and in the morning, the farmer finds a woman in his
bed, which he then marries and has many children with, despite being a
demonic being. However, the farmer eventually shows her the hole
through which she came in and she slipped out to never be seen again.
This idea is similar to the seal woman stories, but I will cover that
later (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 54, 57-58).
The mare was later interpreted as a separate “supranormal being”
and it was believed that a woman “could ease birth pains by crawling
through the fetal membrane of a foal” but that her children would
become a mare, if a daughter or a werewolf if a son. However it was
often thought that a person could be saved from this fate if spoken
to, like in the tale “He spoke too early” in which a woman is freed
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from her mare existence when a tailor calls out “I believe you are a
mare!” as she is materializing, but too soon so that not all of her is
materialized. Her little finger was lost (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
1988: 54, 57).
Another personification of a potentially harmful emotion is that
of longing, also referred to as “elsk” (love). A person could become
ill in body and mind from being longed for by someone else. Usually
this longing was of an erotic nature, and the lover might be a human
or a supranormal being, such as the “hill man” in the tale “Snowshoe-
Pernille” in which a girl has an elsk put on her by this supranormal
being and could only be rescued by sleeping with a fully armed soldier
for three nights. This remedy was believed to “ritually extend the
protective power of the soldier’s arms to the girl” (Kvideland and
Sehsmdorf 1988: 58-59).
The elsk could also be imposed by the dead on a surviving
relative and make him or her sick, or a living person could long for
the dead and keep the loved one from finding peace, such as in the
tale “The dead child complains”. In this tale a woman who lost her
child grieved so much for the child that its ghost appears to her in a
dream. When the woman asks her child why it had taken so long to
appear to her, the ghost replies that her tears are weighing him or
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her, as the gender is never mentioned, down. This tale is interpreted
as a message against excessive grieving. It is interesting that the
motif of the dead complaining of the elsk can be found also in Eddic
poetry. (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 58-60).
The vardoger is another form of the hug-message, which announces
a person is about to come, typically in the shape of that person or by
sounds usually associated with said person’s arrival. This idea is
similar to the doppleganger idea that is more commonly known
(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988:64). This is seen in the tale “Meeting
one’s fylgje” which is only a sentence long, stating “If a person
meets his or her own fylgje, it is a sure sign that he or she will die
soon” (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 68-69). The fylgje is a
manifestation of the hug that accompanies a person, taking human shape
or that of an animal, and is typically only seen by those with second
sight. This form, unlike the others so far, also had a more positive,
protective function in medieval literature like the Icelandic sagas,
and was later incorporated with the Christian idea of a guardian
angel. In more recent tradition the fylgje and vardoger are used
interchangeably within tales. It is thought that the shape of the
fylgje or vardoger revealed a person’s character and could be anything
like a cat, a fox, a wolf, or a horse (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
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1988:66-67). In the tale “Seeing the vardoger to the door” the folk
belief that is a person is separated from their vardoger or fylgje,
then that person could become sick or go mad (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
1988: 68).
The idea of multiple forms that a soul can take or that it can
become separated from the body is similar to shamanistic beliefs.
There is also another folk tradition that deals with such a separation
of soul and body that has its roots in Lappish shamanism, an area in
northern Norway. These tales are about specifically a Finn who sends
his hug on a journey, and are recorded mostly in Lappland of course,
but also in Sweden and even as far as Denmark (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
1988: 71).
There are other tales which involve the transformation of the
body as well as the hug, into were-wolves and man-bears, caused by a
self-induced transformation of hostile magic. These creatures often
were said to be part of the bodyguard of early Scandinavian kings and
chieftains, known as berserkers (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 74-75).
An example of this, although probably not the best, is from the tale
taken from the Prose Edda from “The Death of Baldur”. There is a line
that mentions these creatures, “Odin called for four Berserkir to hold
the horse, but they could not secure it till they had thrown it to the
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ground”. The idea of transformation into a werewolf or man-bear is
related to the idea of a girl transforming into a mare if a mother
eases birthing pains by crawling through fetal membranes of a foal,
and so the idea of the transformation not being permanent is also
found in tales that feature werewolves, which can be stopped by
calling out the man’s name in the same manner as with calling out the
woman’s name, seen in the tale “Now I am Free” (Kvideland and
Sehmsdorf 1988: 76).
It also is a significant example of the impact of the Viking
religion with its values of strength in addition to the obvious
mention of the Old Norse gods like Odin. The folktales are obviously
told by the folk, which are typically the rural population, who lived
close to nature and were quite literally a part of it. The Norse
religion, like that of the Finns and Lapps, was concerned with the
orientation of this world and included beings such as elves which were
beings of nature rather than transcendent beings (Kvideland and
Sehmsdorf 1988: 8-9).
Medieval literature of Scandinavia suggests that prior to
Christianization, it was an accepted fact that there were beings with
supranormal powers. In both the Elder Edda and the Prose Edda, skills
attributed to “Othin” are basically the same as those attributed to
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later practitioners of magic, notably shape-shifting, magic flight and
the use of spells to control the elements and to conjure the dead
(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 159). The church rejected such ideas,
going so far as to prohibit the belief in witches, such as the “The
Witches Hammer” discusses along with ways to identify witches. It
includes folk traditions such as the witches’ Sabbath, the use of a
familiar to steal milk, the passing of magic skills from mother to
daughter and so on. The witch trials in Scandinavia were from the
Reformation to the early eighteenth century, reinforcing the folk
belief in witches and their powers (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988:
159).
Often people of low positions of society, generally the poor, but
also beggars and strangers- Lapps, Finns, and gypsies- were believed
to use magic to force others to share certain necessities with them,
such as food and lodgings. It was thought that if one of these
people, especially gypsies, were denied, then they used magic to take
revenge in forms like sickness, accidents and other misfortunes.
Stories include actions like sticking pins in a doll (Kvideland and
Sehmsdorf 1988: 161).
As already mentioned in tales that concerned the hug, the motif
of the dead and the living is prominent within Scandinavian folktales.
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Reflected in these folktales is the belief that the soul can be seen
separating from the body at the time of death. In Iceland, the
departing soul is connected to the idea of the fylgie. In the tale
“Opening the door to let the soul out”, the idea that the soul needs a
clear path to leave reflects this belief in fleeing souls, but is also
similar to the tale “Married to the mare” which is a manifestation of
a soul (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 80). This could possibly be
another folk tradition that a soul could remain behind, or be trapped,
if not given a clear path to leave. This idea could account for the
stories in which ghosts appear. Aside from omens and signs that are
supposed to be connected with death, tales were concerned with
journeys to an "other world", usually divided into two major types
which consist of stories about emphasizing messages from the other
world, and the mutual promise of two friends to go to the other’s
wedding, whether alive or not (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 89).
The tale “Two Friends” is about how two men decide to make a
promise to attend the other’s weddings, and if one should die
beforehand, then the other would go to the grave and blow on a clay
pipe to wake up his friend’s ghost. Of course this is what happens,
and during the wedding reception, the ghost takes his friend on a walk
back to his grave and they see two fields of cattle, one in a barren
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field yet with fat cattle and the other with a lush, green field and
skinny cattle. At some point, the bridegroom falls asleep and wakes
after 700 years to find the world completely changed and remarking how
his money was no good anymore. The fields of cattle in this tale also
show the blending of Christian tradition, as they are reminiscent of
the pharaoh’s dream in the book of Genesis (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
1988: 90-91).
This tale also demonstrates another common theme, which is that
of a returning dead person. Usually these tales are about a dead lover
returning to pass on a message or to exact revenge, or to respond to
grief, like in tales concerning the "elsk” manifestation of the hug
(Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 91). Often, tales that include ghosts
also include churches, and there are many tales that have to do with
midnight masses at church involving the dead (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
1988: 93). An example of this is the tale “Jorgen and his Dead Master”
as well as “The Nocturnal Church-Goers”. In the first, a man named
Jorgen falls asleep inside a church and wakes up to see the church
filled with specters, one of them being his former master who had
recently died. His master assumes that Jorgen must also be dead since
he is in the church at midnight, and takes him back to his house to
haunt his wife. In this tale, Jorgen has to be clever, otherwise the
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ghost could cause him actual physical harm, using a frozen glove to
make the ghost think he was dead and then asking the ghost how to
avoid getting his spirit stuck in the ground, so that he could learn
how to keep his master’s ghost from coming after him. However, before
he seals the ghost in its grave, he also asks where his master left
his hidden treasure that his wife has been looking for, since his
master’s ghost had been saying he was enjoying haunting her because
she couldn’t find it and it was frustrating her (Asala 1995: 44-45).
In the other tale, another man happens to go to a midnight mass,
except on Christmas Eve since he saw the building lit up and thought
he was late for mass. Once there, he was turned away by a ghost who
told him that this wasn’t a mass for him and his family, which was the
next day. The ghost also told the man to return on St. John’s Eve if
he wanted to make his fortune. Of course the man returns to the church
at the requested time, and is told how to perform a magic ritual to
unearth buried treasure. However, the man witnesses various monsters
appearing as part of this ritual and loses his nerve, fleeing the
sight, and losing any chance at getting at the buried treasure again
(Asala 1995: 55-57).
Buried treasure is another motif, which also connects the past to
the present with these stories. It was common practice to bury caches
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of gold and silver coins as well as other valuables with the dead for
use in the afterlife or simply for safekeeping. The theme of buried
treasure is often connected with the motif of unsuccessful attempts,
such as in the before mentioned stories. Often there were
preternatural beings that protected the treasure, such as the ghost of
the original owner, and spells were also used to have a treasure
bound. In order to retrieve the treasure, there was usually some sort
of magical ritual and/or strict conditions that the treasure hunter
would need to meet in order to in a sense earn that treasure. Other
times, it could be as simple as someone observing another burying his
or her treasure, and then retrieving it once they have left (Kvideland
and Sehmsdorf 1988: 317).
Trickster figures are another feature in Scandinavian folklore,
with the expected and unexpected filling those roles. The most obvious
figure would have to be the well-known Loki, who is found in the prose
Edda works. In the tale “The Death of Baldur” it is him that causes
this god’s death by making another believe that it was disrespectful
not to throw a weapon at Baldur, who had been protected with various
spells to ward off all weapons, except for mistletoe which Loki learns
and fashions a weapon out of which does kill Baldur. Another trickster
is the unlikely smith, who was believed to possess magic powers and
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could hypnotize people. These stories concern the skill of the
trickster to entertain the audience, as well as this character’s
ability to make fools out of his superiors with impunity. In this
sense, trickster stories could act as a kind of protest against social
privilege
Outsiders were also warily viewed, and could be seen as
tricksters. This could include the authoritative ministers, who were
treated as ambivalent figures in folktales. He was rarely born in the
parish he served, and remained an outsider due to his background and
education, it was thought by the folk that the minister’s education
was proof that he had been trained at “the Black School at
Wittenberg”, particularly after the Reformation. Ministers were
thought to have been given the “Black Book” which gave them magical
powers. They were seen as defenders of the folk who tricks Satan, but
at the same time is treated as wielding equivocal powers (Kvideland
and Sehmsdorf 1988: 7).
“The Terrible Olli” is about a folk hero, specifically a Finn,
who continuously tricks the troll and his wife who lived on the side
of the mountain near them, and grew richer daily despite his
wickedness. The troll tries to kill the Finn each time he comes to his
house, but the Finn, the youngest of three brothers, outwits his
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plans, keeping himself and his brothers safe while also stealing the
troll’s horse, and his large bag of money and gold ball, and then
killing the troll’s wife by pushing her into the oven that she was
preparing for him. The troll comes home with his troll folk and they
eat the wife, thinking it was the Finn. When they do realize who they
actually were eating, they decided to finish, since they had already
eaten so much of her anyway, and then go after Olli. But because they
took so long, the troll was caught out in the daylight and burst.
After that, there were no more trolls in that area, because they were
too afraid of the terrible Olli (Asala 1995: 59-65).
Trolls and giants are the oldest creatures found in Scandinavian
folklore, identified in stories concerning the creation of the world
and they often play the role of the enemies of the gods and the human
community, and later the Church. These creatures feature in stories
that explain the origin of natural phenomena, like huge rock
formations, lakes, and the so-called “giant potholes” (Kvideland and
Sehmsdorf 1988: 299). Prominent characteristics of trolls and giants
are there great age and enormous strength, although trolls were
imagined to be dim-witted and slow to react (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
1988: 302-303). Trolls and giants were thought to have great wealth,
and folktales often feature a hero going into their houses to steal
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such a treasure, as already mentioned in “The Terrible Olli”. Trolls
were sometimes portrayed as cannibals and man-eaters, as also featured
in that story (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 303-305). However, there
are cases where a giant was cast in a better light, such as the tale
about the good-natured giant Vral, who was famous for his appetite and
strength, and fell in love with the girl who aided his mother in her
work and married her (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 305-306). Ogres
and ogresses are also features in folktales (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf
1988: 302).
The “Invisible Folk” are “heterogeneous groupings” of
preternatural beings found in different areas of Scandinavia and have
a variety of names (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 203). They were
often considered to be demonic beings and encountering them could be
dangerous. They were often blamed for sickly or retarded children,
believing that the original human child had been replaced with one of
the invisible folk’s, which were changelings. But it wasn’t just
children that had to be looked after, as adults could also be
affected. If a person went missing or suddenly suffered some mental
disorder, it was thought that his person had been “taken into the
mountain” by one of these beings (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 207).
It appears though, that people were both afraid and attracted to
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the idea of these beings. In some stories, there might be an actual
liaison between a human and one of the invisible folk, resulting in
the birth of a child, the disappearance of the person, or the
absorption of the person into the invisible folk’s society (Kvideland
and Sehmsdorf 1988: 214). The invisible folk were believed to be
beautiful in front, but hollow in the back, or that they had a cow’s
tail or some other animal trait (Kvideland and Sehmsdorf 1988: 216-
217).
There are numerous varieties of these invisible folk, with some
specific to certain areas. In a sense then, these stories not only
incorporate parts of the overall Scandinavian history, but individual
bits of culture as well. Each individual aspect of a form of monster
relates somehow to the way the people in this area think and go about
their lives, as well as adapting to the changes brought about by time
and interactions with other cultures. Many retain the older traditions
alongside the Christian influences and pertain to a rural lifestyle
even as the land was becoming more industrialized. Although there is
no one grouping of people that can be referred to as Scandinavians, it
is still interesting to see how these creatures and other aspects of
storytelling bring these smaller groups into one larger cultural unit
even today.
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Bibliography
1. Asala, Joanne. Scandinavian Ghost Stories And Other Tales of
the Supernatural.1995. Penfield Press. Iowa City, Iowa
2. Kvideland, Reimund and Sehmsdorf, Henning K. Scandinavian
Folk Belief and Legend.1988. University of Minnesota Press.
Minneapolis, MN.
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3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
History_of_Scandinavia#Viking_Age . “ History of Scandinavia”
5/5/12
4. http://worldoftales.com/European_folktales/
Scandinavian_folktale_12.html . Tibbits, Charles John. Folk-
lore and Legends: Scandinavia. 1890. W.W. Gibbings, London.
5/5/12
5. http://www.runatyrkindred.com/media/pdf/The_Prose_Edda.pdf “
The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson” Translated by Arthur
Gilchrist Brodeur [1916]. 5/5/12