SWEDISH FOLKTALES AND LEGENDS (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)

One hundred-and-fifty newly translated Swedish folktales feature stories ranging from the ribald to the magical, where sirens, trolls, princesses, dunces, and rakes all come to life. 10,000 first printing.

Introducing this well-organized anthology, Lone Thygesen Blecher explains the purpose and background of folktales and legends. They were passed down within families as tools of learning, illustrations of right and wrong, and explanations of what could not be readily understood. While folktales were understood as fantasy and entertainment not to be believed literally, legends were supposedly based on real occurrences. The creatures of imagination that appear repeatedly in these particular tales are numerous, varied, and familiar--giants, trolls, household spirits, forest spirits, water spirits, nightmare hags, etc.--and their stories, sorted into such categories as "True Dummies and Clever Folk," "How to Win the Princess," "Heroes and Heroines," and "Moral Tales," are funny, unusual, and enlightening. Both the stories and the lessons to be learned from them entice reading aloud, whether to oneself, to guests at a party, or to children on a rainy day. In all, a wonderful collection chock-full of both what at least Swedish Americans may feel are old chestnuts and new discoveries for everyone. Lindsay Throm

The usual suspects-princesses and peasants, giants and ghosts, wise folk and simpletons-populate this adeptly translated collection of 150 archival tales. Varied in length, these narratives also range from the moral to the comic, from the romantic to the ribald, with parsons and sextons often the targets of the coarser tales. The many "wonder" or fairy tales are perhaps the most engaging. Tomtar, knallar, and other particularly Swedish beings lend local flavor to what are often familiar plots. Black-and-white illustrations (including some by John Bauer and Elsa Beskow) recall a Swedish golden age earlier in this century. Brief factual notes on the tales are appended, but this volume is clearly intended for general reading and should be of interest to more than just readers of Swedish heritage.
Patricia Dooley, Univ. of Washington Lib. Sch., Seattle
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.