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Overview
These folktales and legends from Iceland range from the 14th to the 17th century. They originate from a number of sources, but primarily from the diligent work of Árni Magnússon in the 17th and Jón Árnason of the 19th centuries, both Icelandic scholars, librarians, collectors and compilers of itinerant manuscripts.
These unique and fascinating stories shine a light on Iceland's late medieval rural legends and beliefs in such things as ghosts, trolls, witches, the lindworm -- Iceland's version of the Loch Ness monster -- and the hidden people, or Huldrefolk, that are still given deference and respect even today.
Where practicable, this second revision now includes a number of e-links to Google street or satellite views of the locales as they are today. Please note that most locales are, as they were then, private residences and are not open to the public. Most have been rebuilt elsewhere on the same location and are not the places they once were.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940032939153 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Jack Turbes |
| Publication date: | 12/06/2011 |
| Sold by: | Smashwords |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
In the ongoing process of indexing the Icelandic sagas, I became intrigued with Icelandic folk tales from sources not then available in English. I wanted to make these stories available to readers who otherwise would not know of them, their fascinating themes and origins. This results are translations of previously published German works, "Icelandic Fairy and Folktales" and "Icelandic Fairy and Folktales" as Smashwords eBooks.
Those first efforts have drawn me into more both factual and fictional plans for the future. Besides the recent addition of an aside glance at peacetime military service called "A Torrejón Anthology" also available on Smashwords, the following print books are nearing completion or are in the pipeline:
"Icelandic Folklore of the 19th Century" – a print translation of Konrad Maurer's "Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart". Dr. Maurer (1823 - 1902) traveled through Iceland in 1858, gathering and then compiling unpublished oral tales of Iceland's hidden people ("huldrefolk"), elves, trolls, ghosts, the undead, giants and other natural and supernatural legends and beliefs. It includes the legend of the "necropants" (https://youtu.be/6mvMZcsQ4go) made from a dead man's skin. Removed whole from the waist down and worn like trousers through the night, on the following day the wearer steals a coin which he keeps in the scrotum, believing it will multiply.
"The Siding" – WWII had for the most part ignored the little German village of Muhlendorf, a stream-side town in the hills of the province of Hesse/mid-Germany. The outside world is either by a narrow, rough road or over a single-track railroad line served by one train daily. Except for rationing and frequent droning of overhead flights, life for Muhlendorf is little disturbed by the war until one cold January day, a long train of boxcars flying swastika flags slows and then stops. Soldiers on board uncouple the last two cars, pushing them off onto a remote dead-end spur behind the train station. The train then moves on.
No one pays any mind until two local youth, Trudi and Detlef, hear unnerving noises coming from the boxcars and investigate further. The whole town must come to terms with a nest of human misery left in their midst. Trudi, daughter of the local shopkeeper, Detlef and his Jewish physician father as well as the local Burgermeister (mayor) and reluctant party Gauleiter, the stationmaster/policeman and others are forced to deal with the intrusion into their lives. This dilemma and its consequences, seen particularly through the eyes of Trudi and Detlef, form the narrative of the story.
"The Eel Monger" – an 11th-century North German trader Aldstan of Meldorf, Saxony, and his family dwell on the Baltic coastline. Aldstan and his partner/friend Wirich sail the Saxony coastal markets along the North and Baltic seas, trading mostly in cured eel, dried stockfish, smelting charcoal and occasionally transporting a passenger or two. On the promise of greater winnings, they take the risk of larger cargo such as hardwood timber, "korn" (brewer's barley), etc. with the hope of returning with highly prized walrus ivory and talc-rich, easily worked soapstone for making implements or decorative items.
On one such trip from Bremen in hopes of reaching Visby, Sweden with oak timber and casks of barley, a violent storm blows them off course. Instead of arriving in Sweden, they're driven into the Norwegian coast where they are captured and held by Vikings. They are given two choices: accept service as raiders on the local earl's longboats, or remain behind as slaves. Either way, fate determines that they will not be returning home in the near future.
So stay tuned...and thanks for watching!